July Reads

It’s August and so that means we’re already into autumn (well, you are if you’re Irish as that’s how we base our seasons)! July saw the BookTubeAThon, which I did not do as well as last year but I’m still glad I did it! I can’t even remember how much I’ve read this year, so going through my Goodreads for this post will be interesting!

July Reads

Think Like a Freak by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt

This was on of my books on my 2014 Releases I’m Looking Forward To post and one I was lucky enough to receive on NetGalley to read. I did a full review here if you’re interested but the basic idea behind the book is exploring how if you change the way you think or act, you can improve your life. It’s not a self-help book, it’s more a collection of stories of ‘freaks’, or people who have stepped outside the box and used different thinking to achieve their goals. Find out why it’s sometimes a good thing to say ‘I don’t know’, why Nigerian scams are so badly written, the upside to quitting and why Van Halen requested no brown M&Ms in the tour rider! If you’re a fan of their previous books, you should be aware that it’s not quite the same, it doesn’t use economics like the first two books but it’s still an interesting read.

 

White Rabbit by K.A. Laity

Another book I got thanks to NetGalley and one I recently reviewed earlier this week, you can find that post here. It’s a detective story with a supernatural twist. Draygo is a disgraced ex-detective who has a big blot on his career and an even bigger drug problem. He finds himself working as a fake psychic, even though he has very real psychic powers. When the soon to be ex-wife of media mogul is gunned down during a consultation with Draygo, he finds himself holding the gun and being framed for the murder. After bail is posted for him by journal Saunders, he finds himself reluctantly dragged into an investigation of the White Rabbit and the dangerous world linked to it. A short, witty and highly entertaining read.

 

Persepolis: The Story of Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

This was the first book I read for the BookTubeAThon challenges. It covered two challenges; read a book with words and complete a series (this is book one). It’s a graphic novel (can you say that when it’s not a novel but a memoir? Would you just say graphic memoir? Though that sounds like it’s a memoir with lots of graphic scenes!) about Marjane, a young girl who lived in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It’s told in little snippets and stories of Marjane’s life, as well as giving some historical context to life in Iran. It’s a fascinating read and I found it very funny in places as well. Well worth picking up!

 

The Hive by Gill Hornby [audiobook]

I kept seeing this around Christmas time in shops but never picked it up, despite being intrigued. It wasn’t until Beth over at Plastic Rosaries gave it a good review that I decided to give it a go. I got it at Audible as I wanted a book to listen to during BookTubeAThon while walking to work.

The story follows the mothers of St. Ambrose school over a period of one school year and the change in dynamics between the mothers and the Queen Bee of the mothers. I really liked some of the characters, they were fun, and I found the I liked seeing how the dynamics were changing. I’ve heard some people say how they thought it was boring but that’s probably because there’s no massive plot twists or climaxes, it more character driven.

July Stats

Number of books read- 4

Ratio fiction to non-fiction- 2:2

Number of eBooks- 2 (Think Like a Freak and White Rabbit)

Number of audiobooks- 1 (The Hive)

Number of books borrowed from library- 1 (Persepolis)

Number of books from Reading Resolutions- 1 (Read more books from genres I don’t usually read)

And that wraps up July! 4 books is pretty pathetic but I’m in the middle of several books at the moment (The Antiques Magpie, Because I Said So!, Lost, Stolen or Shredded and 2nd Persepolis book), I just got super distracted and never completed them. Though I will, hopefully pretty quickly as I have loads of books to get through, books I own, books from library, ebooks I’ve purchased and NetGalley books! Keep me away from bookshops please! (Not really, if you take me to one I’ll love you forever).