2016 Reading Challenge Update: July 2016
So I haven’t written much about my reading this month. The main reason is that while I have been reading it seems that I have only finished one book, John Verdon’s Think of a Number, this month. Hopefully, I will finish at least one more book before the end of the month.Right now I have finished 29 books this year. My goal for the year is 60 books, so I’m about half the way there.
Currently Reading
Currently, I am reading The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta. the fourth book in his Lincoln Perry series. Over the last few years Michael Koryta has written many stand alone thrillers and while I have enjoyed these books. I have always liked the Lincoln Perry series, too.So far I am enjoying this book.
I am also reading Howard Blum‘s Dark Invasion:1915 Germany’s Secret War and The First Terrorist Cell in America. This is a fascinating book about the chase to catch the German terrorist who were attacking US ships during the year leading up to America’s entry into World War I. I was totally unfamiliar with almost all of the things presented in the book, including bombing of the US Congress.
Hopefully, I will be able to finish this book and the Koryta book before the end of the month. Finishing these books would at least make my monthly total of books read respectable.
2016 Reading Challenge Update
| The 2016 Socialstudious Reading Challenges | TBR | Library | Total | Goal | % of Goal |
| 2016 Literature Reading Challenge | |||||
| General Fiction | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 50.00% |
| Classics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.00% |
| NY Times Bestseller List | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.00% |
| Award-Winners | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 16.67% |
| 2015 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge | |||||
| Mystery (Series) and Thrillers | 1 | 18 | 19 | 10 | 190.00% |
| Women Mystery Book Authors | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 30.00% |
| 2016 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.00% |
| 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 30.00% |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 29 | 60 | 48.33% | |||
| 2016 TBR Pile Challenge | 2 | 25 |
Projected August Reads
As you can see, while I have read enough books to have reached 48% of my goal, over half of the books read are Mystery Series or Thrillers!! If I take the nine books I am over in that challenge away from the totals I have only read completed 33% of the challenge total (20 of 60 books). So I have some work to do regarding the various challenges!! So here is a potential reading list for August.
| Book | Author | Reading Challenge |
| Life of Pi | Yann Martel | Award-Winners |
| The Everything Box | Richard Kadrey | General Fiction |
| The Night Season | Chelsea Cain | Women’s Mystery |
| Orbus | Neil Asher | Science Fiction |
| Connectograohy | Parag Khanna | Non-fiction |
About The Projected Reads
Life of Pi won the Man Booker Prize and is on many must read lists. It is a book that I have always wanted to read, but somehow have never read.
I picked up The Everything Book at the library early this week. After reading the following on the jacket of the book and seeing a quote from Christopher Moore on the back of the book, I figured this would be a book I will really like1
2000 B.C.
A beautiful, ambitious angel stands on a mountaintop, surveying the world and its little inhabitants below. He smiles because soon, the last of humanity who survived the great flood will meet its end, too. And he should know. He’s going to play a big part in it. Our angel usually doesn’t get to do field work, and if he does well, he’s certain he’ll be get a big promotion.
And now it’s time . . .
The angel reaches into his pocket for the instrument of humanity’s doom. Must be in the other pocket. Then he frantically begins to pat himself down. Dejected, he realizes he has lost the object. Looking over the Earth at all that could have been, the majestic angel utters a single word.
“Crap.”
I have seen Chelsea Cain name for a while now and The Night Season has been on my TBR pile for far to long. It’s time it was read and I enter the world of Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell. Hopefully, it won’t matter that I am jumping into the series at book #4!
Last year I entered the Polity universe of Neal Asher reading Dark Intelligence book one in the transformation series.Orbus is also set in the Polity Universe but is the third book in Asher’s Spatterjay series. Once again I hope I can enjoy a book in the middle of a series.
My final read for August will be Connectography:Mapping the Future of Global Civilization by Parag Khanna. I have already started this book and it is a fascinating analysis of the global connection of communities. It discuss the ways modern technology is connecting areas beyond the made up borders of countries!!
If finish all of these books I may be back on track to come close to my goal of 60 books and take a little bite out of my Reading Challenges – Wish Me Luck!!0