July 2009 Wrap-Up

I managed to get 9 books read in July. Here's a wrap-up of what this month's reading had in store:

Books read last month, but reviewed this month:
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer -- 4.5 roses -- Highly Recommended
Nothing to Fear by Karen Rose -- 5 roses -- Loved it!

Books read and reviewed this month:
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris -- 3.5 roses -- Very Good
Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich -- 4 roses -- Excellent
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr -- 3 roses -- Good

Other books read:
Prayers for Bobby by Leroy Aarons (book club pick) -- 3 roses -- good book, but a little out dated
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker -- 3.5 roses -- strange, but very good
True Stories of Law & Order: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Hit TV Show by Kevin Dwyer and Jure Fiorillo -- very interesting, especially if you like Law & Order
They Wrote the Book: Thirteen Women Mystery Writers Tell All edited by Helen Windrath -- fascinating interviews with female mystery authors
The Phantom of Black's Cove by Jan Hambright -- a Harlequin Intrigue -- good, interesting paranormal mystery
Writing Mysteries edited by Sue Grafton -- another great collection of author interviews.

Books abandoned:
None this month, but I still haven’t gotten back to Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky.

Favorite book read this month: My favorites this month were the books full of mystery author interviews. I love reading about how authors do what they do. My favorite fiction book is a toss up between Finger Lickin’ Fifteen and Living Dead in Dallas. Both books were extremely entertaining.

Books I could have done without: None really. They were all good in their own way. I found The Little Giant of Aberdeen County kind of strange and I had a hard time getting into it. But, in the end, I enjoyed it and I’m glad I finished it.

Challenges completed: None, but I’m getting really, really close on a couple of them. I only need to read 2 more library books to complete the Support Your Local Library Challenge. I also only need 2 more books to finish up the Clunkster Challenge. And 6 more will have me crossing off the Countdown Challenge (that sounds like a lot, but it’s not when the challenge was originally to read 45 books ;o)).

Challenges joined: None!

Challenge progress: (those without an end date end on 12/31)
Countdown Challenge (ends 9/9/09) - 39/45
Chunkster Challenge (ends 11/15/09) - 3/5
Book Awards III Challenge - 0/5
999 Challenge - 36/81
TBR Challenge - 2/12
Support Your Local Library Challenge - 23/25
Read Your Own Books (RYOB) Challenge - 24/50
100+ Challenge - 50/100
Pages Read Challenge - 14,522/30,000
What an Animal II (ends 2/28/10) - 1/6
Sookie Stackhouse Challenge (ends 6/30/10) - 2/9
Perpetual Challenges:
New Classics Challenge - 22/100 (0 this month)
Around the World in 80 Books - 10/80 (0 this month)
Science in Fiction - 7 read (0 this month)
Book Around the States Challenge - 24/51 (0 this month)
Raved-About Reads - 18 read (1 this month)

Books I planned to read, but didn’t get around to:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (award winner, book club pick) - I now have the iPhone Kindle edition this one, so I hope to finish it this month - only 1 chapter into it, but it's good so far.

Currently Reading:
You Can’t Hide by Karen Rose
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Plans for August:
To finally finish Lolita! I’ve been reading this since January!
Finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (award winner, book club pick)
Count to Ten by Karen Rose (countdown challenge)
Dirty Little Secrets by Julie Leto (countdown challenge)
Kill Me Twice by Roxanne St. Claire (countdown challenge)
Crazy Hot by Tara Janzen (countdown challenge)
Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan (award winner)
The Confession of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer (countdown and TBR challenges)

Anyone read any of these? Have a recommendation on where to start?