Where I spent my August
Ok so for a week in August I was in Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island in New Jersey. But for the rest of the month I was all over the place thanks to the five books that I read. Well actually only four of them took me someplace other than my own mind, which is where You are not Your Brain took me!
My Travels Via My August Reads
First, Parnell Hall’s latest Stanley Hastings adventure took me to New York City. In A Fool for a Client Stanley must discover who murdered his boss Richard Rosenberg’s girlfriend. Of course the prime suspect is Richard! I always have a good time when I visit with Stanley and this trip was a good one!
While Mason Cross took me first to Los Angeles where The mysterious Carter Blake helped the LAPD track down a crazy serial killer dubbed The Samaritan.
Then I followed Carter Blake from Los Angeles to Seattle where he was tracking down a computer programmer who had stolen some highly valuable software from his employer. While In Seattle Blake learns Winterlong now sees him as a loose end that needs to be eliminated.
So now Blake has to take flight across the US with a team of trained assassins on his tail!! So I traveled from LA to Seattle then on to Minnesota and Chicago before ending up in upstate New York!
Finally, I traveled to London and the surrounding area to discover The Secrets She Keeps. The secrets are being kept by Agatha and Megan. Two pregnant women living very different lives whose lives and secrets will become very, very entwined!
Reviewing My 2017 Reading Challenges
So all in all it was a great month of reading. Reading those five books brought the total number of books I have read this year to 38. My goal for the year is to read 60 books. At the end of the August, I was two books off of the pace I need to maintain to reach that goal!
Now let’s see where this puts me in relationship to my individual Reading Challenges….
| 2017 Reading Challenges | Kindle | Bookshelves | Library | Total | Goal | % of Goal |
| 2017 Literature Reading Challenge | ||||||
| General Fiction | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 150.00% |
| Classics (Books I should have read but didn’t) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00% |
| Award-Winners | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50.00% |
| 2017 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge | ||||||
| Mystery – New Series | 1 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 150.00% |
| Series that I am behind on (i.e. Gabriel Allon) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 33.00% |
| Current Mystery Authors (series or non-series) | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 25.00% |
| New Mystery Authors | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 8.00% |
| 0 | ||||||
| 2017 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 50.00% |
| 0 | ||||||
| 2017 Nonfiction Reading Challenge | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 12 | |
| Totals | 6 | 5 | 27 | 38 | 60 | 38.00% |
| 20 | 20 | 20 | 60 |
Ok so it looks like I need to read a couple of classic books, an award-winning book, and some science fiction. I also need to read a lot of non-fiction. But even with all that it also looks like I still have room for a few mysteries!! Maybe what I’ll try to do is make a total list of what I need to meet my challenge goals. Then for the next four months I will really focus on picking books to meet those goals. Wish me Luck!!