Reading 15 Books in a Month | July 2022 Wrap-Up

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Welcome back to my monthly reading Wrap-Up! July was incredibly busy for me but I still managed to read 15 books! Between wrapping up uni work and starting to work on my dissertation, I also decided to attempt another 30 books in 31 days reading challenge. Obviously, I didn’t finish it. But without further ado, let’s talk about books and my personal life in this July 2022 Wrap-Up!

The Books I Read in July

When I finished my first 30 books in 31 days challenge, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t do it again. But because I contain multitudes, here I am. I just can’t turn down an opportunity to add some exciting stress to my life! And while I went into the challenge knowing that it was almost impossible for me to actually read 30 books, I’m still very happy with my progress.

Considering that I read on average three books per month for the last few months, reading a whole 15 is a huge improvement! It finally felt like I had some reading momentum and motivation back. This was honestly what I hoped this challenge would do for me, regardless of the number of books I ended up reading.

A Good Idea – Christina Moracho

I randomly picked up this YA thriller from the library and enjoyed the first few chapters. Originally, I gave it 3 stars because I felt that it had potential and parts of it were a fun read, despite my discomfort with some elements. However, the more I sat with my discomfort and read other reviews, the less I felt that could recommend this book. It essentially exploits a real true crime case and also includes some pretty bad racist tropes that are never addressed or have any reason to exist at all. Yikes. If you’re curious about my issues with this book, you can find my full review here.

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth – Chris Hadfield

This memoir has been my bedtime read for a while and I really loved it! Chris Hadfield takes us along his career as an astronaut (and how he came to be one in the first place). Interspersed with this account of his career is a lot of actionable life advice. In many ways, this is one of the best self-improvement books I’ve read. It was enjoyable to read and scratched the right itch in my space-loving brain.

Hell Followed With Us – Andrew Joseph White

I was lucky enough to get an eARC for this and wow, it did not disappoint! Putting my thoughts about this book into words has been a struggle, but you can read my full review here. Hell Followed with Us is a phenomenal YA queer horror full of rage, hope, religious trauma, and body horror. This is genuinely one of my new favourite books!

Vox Machina Origins Vol. 1 – Critical Role

The reading challenge proved to be the perfect opportunity for me to tackle some of the shorter books on my TBR. Particularly, I took some time to scroll through all the ebooks I had. Among them were almost all of the Vox Machina Origins comics, most of which I had never read! Additionally, I’m currently watching and rewatching all campaigns so diving deeper into more Critical Role content was absolutely perfect.

Vox Machina Origins Vol. 2 – Critical Role

I loved getting to see all the backstory from the early Vox Machina days that we never got to see on stream. These events are often referenced and clearly influenced the party, so having a reference point has made me enjoy the first campaign even more! All that aside, I also just love how quick and witty all the comics are.

Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao

Next, I finally read Iron Widow! I’ve been putting it off because I read some mixed reviews and was uncertain where on that spectrum I would fall. Unfortunately, the book just didn’t work for me. I loved the first part but it sadly lost me somewhere around the middle. You can find my full review here.

The Murderbot Diaries- Martha Wells

In July, I finally started reading the Murderbot Diaries! I saw that all the audiobooks were available on Scribd and because I love to milk my subscription for what it’s worth, I basically binge listened to the first four books in a few days. I’d heard so much about this series and I am so happy I finally gave it a shot. It’s definitely one of my favourite sci-fi series now! I’m sparing you my thoughts about each of the individual books I read. All you need to know is this: these books are phenomenal. They’re funny, action-packed and everything I want sci-fi stories to be. I’ll definitely continue reading this series!

By the way, if you would like to test Scribd for 60 days for free, you can use my invite link! It’s totally free (just make sure to cancel if you don’t want to continue using the service!) and if you end up joining I get 30 days added to my own subscription for free!

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 – P. Djèlí Clark

This novella has been on my TBR for a while now! I started it once but wasn’t really in the mood and had to put it back down again. It’s not my favourite out of the Dead Djinn universe, but I still enjoyed it a lot! I’m just obsessed with the world building and the magic and especially the particular kind of humour that the entire series has. I can’t wait to finally read A Master of Djinn soon!

The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen – Critical Role

Continuing my Critical Role kick, I read the first collection of Bright Queen comics! The whole Kryn dynasty arc was one of my favourites in campaign 2 and I’m always hungry for more. Getting to explore some of the history that Matt Mercer has created was delightful. This story is much darker than the Vox Machina comics and I loved it!

City of Shattered Light – Claire Winn

Up next, I finally read City of Shattered Light! Yes, I absolutely used my reading challenge to tackle my ARC backlog. This YA sci-fi was super fun but ultimately fell a bit short for me. I loved the world building but wanted more depth in both the plot and characters. You can find my full review here.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark – Michelle McNamara

While my feelings about true crime as a genre are complicated, this book had been on my TBR for a while. It’s probably one of the most famous true crime books. And surprisingly, I enjoyed it! It’s undoubtedly a great book. Personally, I enjoyed the memoir sections the most. Getting to know Michelle McNamara and her obsession with the Golden State Killer was much more interesting to me than detailed accounts of any crimes. Overall, I did appreciate how sensitive Michelle’s writing was to the fact that she was dealing with real trauma and real people. I wish more true crime content had that awareness!

Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead

Finally, I read Vampire Academy! I’m pretty sure I half-watched the movie years ago but I had never read any of the books. And what can I say, I had a blast! Maybe that’s because reading this book was my only break from entertaining 16 kids for a week. But overall, this was exactly the kind of slightly cheesy vampire YA book I hoped for. I’m just disappointed it wasn’t sapphic but then again, I am gay.

Personal Update

I’ve come to really enjoy writing these little personal update sections of my wrap-ups. They’re a wonderful chance for me to reflect on the month and they always make me feel more connected to you all!

Like I mentioned above, July was a very busy month. Somehow, my months are either ridiculously busy or totally empty. Balance is not my strong suit. I spent the first half of the month wrapping up various uni projects and trying to get the basics of my dissertation sorted. I know have a topic, yay! Unfortunately, there’s still some boring admin tasks I’m procrastinating…let’s hope that doesn’t come to bite me.

The highlight of my month was undoubtedly getting to spend two days in Berlin with some of my best friends! We played D&D, tried various combinations of bubble tea and I introduced them to the magic that is Off Book (aka the best improvised musical podcast ever). Unfortunately, my train back home was cancelled which led to a lot more stress than I would’ve liked. It all worked out in the end though!

The last week of July, I was entertaining/looking after 16 kids for a summer camp! If anyone wants a friendship bracelet hit me up, I remember how to make them now. While I would love to just sleep for a week straight, the show must go on.

I’m a little behind on blog and Instagram stuff (why is being consistent on social media so hard lol) and let’s not talk about the dissertation. It’s my birthday tomorrow and I’m feeling decidedly neutral about it. Turning 24 feels a little weird, who allowed me, a big baby, to be an actual adult? We’re getting into mid-twenties territory here!

Do you follow my bookstagram yet? If not, just click here and you can come say hi!

Mostly, I hope that I can get back into a routine in August! Outside of all the dissertation work, I want to try a new gym routine! I’m genuinely excited about it and can’t wait to hopefully make some progress. Let’s see if my birthday month means that I’ll finally be thriving…

Posts I Wrote

As always, here are the posts I wrote this month, in case you missed them!

• Weekly Reading Update #9 – July 3, 2022
• Review: Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White
• What’s Reading Anway? | June 2022 Wrap-Up
• Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
• Review: A Good Idea by Cristina Moracho
• Weekly Reading Update #10 – July 10, 2022
• Review: City of Shattered Light by Claire Winn
• Weekly Reading Update #11 – July 17, 2022

Some Closing Words

Phew, that was a lengthy Wrap-Up! Thanks for sticking around this long.

As you can see, July was quite the rollercoaster. I’m happy to be back home and settling in again, I do love being in my own space. Overall, I’m incredibly proud of myself for managing to get through all the various challenges I faced this month. I think I’m getting a little better at taking care of myself in stressful times and that’s worth celebrating!

Let’s Chat!

I’d love to hear about your month, so let’s have a chat in the comments!

How was your July? Did you discover any new favourite books? What was your personal highlight of the month, big or small?

I hope you have a lovely day,

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