Books Read: June 2015

The beginning of a new month brings with it the opportunity to look back at the month gone by and to give one last glance at what I most recently read. The below listed books are what I read during the month of June.

1. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
2. Control Point, by Myke Cole
3. Deryni Rising, by Katherine Kurtz
4. Finders Keepers, by Stephen King
5. How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back, by Diana Rowland
6. The Burning Stone, by Kate Elliott
7. Skin Deep, by Brandon Sanderson
8. Skin Game, by Jim Butcher
9. Heaven's Queen, by Rachel Bach
10. Phil Cross: Gypsy Joker to Hell's Angel, by Phil Cross
11. The Pride of Chanur, by C. J. Cherryh
12. Deryni Checkmate, by Katherine Kurtz
13. Infidel, by Kameron Hurley


Best Book of the Month: I'm somewhere between Girl on the Train, Deryni Checkmate, and Skin Game. There was a lot of very good reading this month. 

Disappointment of the Month: I've previously read a couple of books about motorcycle clubs. Like many people, watching Sons of Anarchy peaked my interest. Phil Cross's autobiography seemed like it would be a good one to load up on my Nook for a trip out of town. Sadly, it was light on the details of running the club and appears to have glossed over many of the events that frequently landed Cross in legal trouble. I'm sure there is plenty he can't talk about for club reasons or to not incriminate himself, but with that being the case, the book felt flat.  

Discovery of the Month: I had never read Jim Butcher before his Hugo nomination, and I jumped into Book 15 with Skin Game. It was plenty accessible for a new reader, though I expect I missed all sorts of detail and relationships that long time readers would be intimately familiar with. I expect to go back and read all of the Harry Dresden novels to catch up, though it may take me a while.

Worth Noting: If you've never read Katherine Kurtz's Deryni saga, you're really missing out. I came to the series from a different entry point (Camber of Culdi, which is the start of the next trilogy set 200 years in the past), but everyone should read these books. Deryni Rising is excellent and I think Deryni Checkmate is better. Read Deryni.

Gender Breakdown: After a dip last month when I read fewer female authored books than those by males, I pulled in another solid month with eight out of the thirteen books I read being written by women. This brings my yearly total up to 40 out of 68 and slides my percentage up from 58.19% to 58.82%. I am still on track to hit my goal for my first year where I've read more books written by women. It can happen.



Previous Months:
January
February
March 
April 
May