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Reading report for June 2010

Of the 28 books I read in June, 3 were TBR challenge books, 21 were non-challenge, and there were 1 each from the Top Mysteries Challenge, Global Reading Challenge and the Bibliophilic Book Challenge. 1 was a re-read.

The links lead to the reviews and teasers I posted over the past month.

The books:

Tentative reading plan for July:
Of the books I had tentative plans to read in June, I finished two: The Oxford Murders and Wash this blood clean from my hand.

Of the others, I have started reading (and plan to finish in July) Time and Again , which is a Top Mysteries challenge book, I think the only piece of speculative fiction on the whole list. It looks promising. I also started reading Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, but gave up in frustration when the book started to literary fall apart in my hands. I plan to find a better binding and continue reading it, because it promises to be a great tragi-comic read.

I returned both prospective Africa books to the library, but chanced upon Ways of Dying as an African read for the Global Challenge. Ideally, I would have preferred to read a book from a country I had not read a book from before, but the choices here are limited, and in any case it was a good read.

For July, I plan to focus more on non-fiction. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s travelogue Between the Woods and the Water has lain half-read for long enough and I want to finish it. In June I started reading The Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin’s classic travelogue, but will probably put it aside until I have finished Fermor.

I also have several books on history that beckon, but I will let my mood decide which one I tackle. I will also re-read at least the second Harry Potter book, and hopefully make some headway with the Top Mysteries Challenge.

I did consider starting reading After Babel, George Steiner’s seminal book on linguistics and translation, but decided that one big book at a time is enough and will finish Darwin before I start on Steiner. Besides, I am going to do a close reading of it with a view to translating it, so maybe I’ll wait until winter when there isn’t so much lovely good weather to distract me.
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