What I Read in June

I did a much better job of focusing and powering through books in June! I am back on track with 7 books finished.  We shall overlook that a bunch were middle grade. :) They were good! I am currently buddy reading All the Light We Cannot See and I may have to read about 324234 books at once to make my way through it.  It's one of those books that I WANT to read but it's hard to get into.  I also got Lowcountry Boondoogle for a review copy and I WANT TO READ IT NOW!!!! So we shall see.

Once a Midwife by Patricia Harman is the third book in a series.  You could read these as stand alone books but they have continuing characters and reading all of them help you get the story.  The timeline in this book is right as US is entering WWII.  Patience's husband Daniel is very anti-war after having served in the first world war.  The country and the town are changing and it has great historical aspects in this good fiction series!

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner was soo good! I hadn't read a book of hers in quite a few years and I'll be honest I wasn't excited about it when my book club picked it.  IT IS SO GOOD.  So good I spent 4 hours one night hurrying up to finish it! It's about two sisters who grow up in suburban Detroit.  It covers their life from the 1950s until present.  It's crazy how many political and social changes has happened in that time frame.  Neither girls adulthood looks like they thought it would.  They both persevered through traumatic situations and got what they wanted, but it took awhile.  Highly recommend!

Celebrate Your Body is a body positive book that talks about the changes that happen during puberty.  I got it for the 9 year old last summer and just read it for myself.  It's written in a matter of fact manner and very well done.

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall is a book I got from the library maaaaaany months ago because I had gone through goodreads and clicked on 'books you may like if you liked CeeCee Honeycutt."  This did not disappoint.  I also recommend it!  Starla Claudelle lives with her grandma in small town Mississippi in the 1960s.  Her dad works on an oil rig and her mom moved to Nashville to follow her dreams to be a singer.  Her grandma is not kind to her.  Starla runs away on the 4th of July and meets a Black woman who also has some big secrets.  Together they may a perilous journey to Nashville to see her mom.  Lots of strong female characters. 

Boxcar Children the Beginning was eh.  I mean it may have been better when I was a kid, but this could have been done better.

Harbor Me by Jaqueline Woodson was really good.  Got rave reviews from the 9 year old too! A group of students meet together in a classroom every Friday and talk about whatever they want.  These kids have a lot of worries, immigration, parents in prison, ADHD, racism and they think they are alone.  Until they start opening up and find hope and help from their fellow classmates.

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed was really good too.  The 9 year old also gave this one 5 stars.  A smart young girl in Pakistan is at the market one day when she insults the wrong person.  She goes from eldest daughter in the family to a servant.  She is strong, speaks her mind and never gives up.  For my 9 year old who reads everything on Malala Yousafzai this was a great fictional book.

My library opens back up for curbside today and we have been requesting books like crazy.  Kind of excited to see what we pick up today, and also thinking I need to be reading like a crazy fool to get ahead of my reading again!

What was your favorite book read in June?