Here’s a list of what I read during the month of June. It seems awfully heavy on the fantasy/sci-fi scale, but I did actually read other stuff, too, honest! Twenty-one books, with a total of 8,322 pages. (Actually, a short list for me, but I did a lot of knitting–the Peacock, you’ll remember!)

Here’s my reading list for June:

1. HIGH DERYNI by Katherine Kurtz. 346 p. Fantasy. Third in her original Deryni series.
2. EYRE AFFAIR by Jasper Fforde 374 p.
3. LOST IN A GOOD BOOK by Jasper Fforde 399 p.
4. WELL OF LOST PLOTS by Jasper Fforde 360 p.
5. SOMETHING ROTTEN by Jasper Fforde 393 p. His four “Thursday Next” books. I love these—entirely creative, wacky, fun, silly, unusual, clever, and just amazingly different. Resurrected dodoes, wooly mammoths and Neanderthals. An evil villain named Acheron Hades. Hamlet. Mrs. Havisham. The Cheshire Cat. A look behind the scenes at how a book is built. Spec Ops. Literatec (Literary Detectives) Shakespeare groupies . . . I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like this series . . . no wonder I keep going back!
6. JENNA STARBORN by Sharon Shinn. 331 p. Well, I had just read about Jane Eyre . . . this is kind of a sci-fi retelling of that story, by one of my absolute favorite authors. Good stuff, even if it isn’t my favorite of hers, it’s a darn good story told darn well.
7. FALL OF NESKAYA by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J Ross. 557 p.
8. ZANDRU’S FORGE by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J Ross. 528 p.
9. FLAME IN HALI by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J Ross. 543 p. Ms. Bradley may be gone, but her memory is being kept alive. These are “Darkover” books, in the world she created, but by a new story-teller. There haven’t been many (any?) series I can think of where someone else picked up the torch and did justice to the thought and creativity of the original author, but this is a very good try. (Though I liked the books about Marguerida Alton better, but then, I liked the character.)
10. KNITTING ON THE EDGE by Nicky Epstein. 165 p. True, not actually a lot to read, but still a lot of information in this great reference.
11. HARRY POTTER #1. 309 p.
12. HARRY POTTER #2. 341 p.
13. HARRY POTTER #3 by JK Rowling. 435 p. As we approach the publication of book #6, I’m re-reading the current books, one each weekend. Do I really need to say more?
14. WORLD WITHOUT END by Sean Russell. 606 p.
15. SEA WITHOUT A SHORE by Sean Russell. 598 p. Also Fantasy, also a great favorite. I reread this duology about once a year. Love them. This man can write and he tells a great story. Imagine Charles Darwin set off on a voyage of discovery and found that there was still Magic in the world, that could not be explained by the science that he lived by . . . great.
16. FINDER’S KEEPERS by Lynne Sinclair. 453 p. A completely forgettable, predictable, boring sci-fi, “space opera” wanna-be. Boring. I could see where the story was going by the 5^th page, and the writing wasn’t interesting enough to make me want to go along for the trip. Techno-babble thrown in to justify its sci-fi label. Amateurish writing. And did I mention how predictable it was?? I’ll stick with Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden books from now on. They’re marvelous and pretty much exactly what this book aspired to be.
17. MAN WALKS INTO A ROOM by Nicole Krauss. 248 p. After reading her “History of Love,” I wanted to read this, the one other book she’s written. I admit I liked the other better, but this was good. Sampson, a college professor, suddenly loses all memory of everything since he was 12, because of a brain tumor, and slowly tries to pick up the threads of his life. Kept making me think of the movie “Regarding Henry,” but it was a nicely put-together piece of mental exploration. I was pulling for Sampson all the way.
18. PEGASUS IN SPACE by Anne McCaffrey. 373 p. Continuing the sci-fi trend. She’s written 3 “Pegasus” books, precursors to her “Talent” series, and this is the most recent one, touching on mankind’s step into Space, using the powers of telekenisis and other mental Talents that we had hitherto believed were unreal. Nice little world she’s got going here.
19. 1776 by David McCullough. 294 p. A slim book by his usual standards, but chock full with various goings-on here in the Colonies during the title year. Yes, there was the Declaration of Independence, and the fabled Christmas Eve Crossing of the Delaware, but there was a lot more, too . . . it wasn’t looking good for General Washington!
20. LAPSING INTO A COMMA by Bill Walsh. 227 p. The title alone . . . this is a little style guide gem of a book that touches on various mistakes that can be made in print, with an emphasis on newspaper writing (since the author does, in fact, write for and edits on a newspaper).
21. JOUST by Mercedes Lackey. 442 p. The first of a new fantasy trilogy. Picture . . . ancient Egypt with dragons, and two countries at war . . . Good.

• Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading • Permalink:June Reading //