July Retrospective

 It's been a while since I just went rogue and read according to my whims. It was a pretty successful month. I read 14 books and liked or loved just about everything that I read. I finally got around to reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I have this thing (just ask Ryan) where anything that is pushed too hard as being the next great whatever causes me to get reflexively resistant. I don't do it on purpose and I don't know whether its a natural skepticism or anxiety that it can't live up to the hype, but I just get entrenched and avoidant. Aristotle and Dante won about 20 awards the year it came out, and even though I try to read all the award winners, somehow I just couldn't get around to it. I'm not sure it's as transcendentally awesome as it's hype would suggest, but it is an extraordinary book about identity and growing up. Completely worthwhile on any reading list.

I read four books by Victoria Schwab. Yes, four! I finished out the Cassidy Blake series (which I already posted about) and started the Monsters of Verity Series. Victoria (or V.E.) is swiftly emerging as one of my favorite writers. I love her fantasy worlds. While they are far from drear, there's a darkness to all of them and they are all so very different. 

I also read five books that weren't YA, which is none too shabby. I particularly liked The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry which is delightfully surreal. So, it's been a great month in reading. Below is the list of read books for July:

1. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
2. John Eyre: A Tale of Darkness and Shadow by Mimi Matthews
3. Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman
4. The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry
5. A Fatal Grace by  Louise Penny
6. Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab
7. Phantom Dream, Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya
8. Liselotte &Witch's Forest, Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya
9. Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab
10. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
11. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
12. Phantom Dream Vol 2 by Natsuki Takaya
13. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
14. When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn