Saturday, July 1, 2023

Books I read in June -- MONTHLY WRAP UP


MONTHLY WRAP UP
June 2023

This might look like a pretty short stack of books for a whole month of reading. But wait! June was the month I went on a Baltic cruise with my mom and sis. After much handwringing, I ended up taking seven books with me on the trip, five of which I read in June (the other two in July, on the plane home). But those five books are not in this picture because I passed them on to my cruising companions.

Here’s a list of the 11 books I read in June, along with a few amazing marzipan bon bons I picked up in Kiel, Germany:

PICTURED

Lucia's Progress by E. F. Benson, the second book in Volume Two of the Mapp & Lucia series. I love all these books, with their mix of village charm and catty snark. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

Trouble for Lucia, also by E. F. Benson, the last book in the series. I definitely see myself reading all these again some day. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier, which I read with a lively group of women friends on Instagram. Who doesn’t love a sexy pirate? ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

Horse by Geraldine Brooks. This was a birthday gift from a friend because I usually don't have brand new hardbacks. I am so glad she gave it to me because it is such an excellent book! ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

NOT PICTURED

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain, which my mom, sister, and I all read and loved. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Definitely a highlight. I look forward to the rest of the books in the series. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

The Grave Gourmet by Alexander Campion. Good premise, but I found it oddly off kilter. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman. Laugh out loud funny. My favorite of the trip. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

A Simple Country Murder by Blythe Baker, a surprisingly good WWII cozy. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny. I’m making definite progress with this favorite series. I read this one with my ears because they are such wonderful audiobooks. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

Assignment in Brittany by Helen MacInnes, a WWII spy novel published in 1942, which I also read as an audiobook. It has a doppelgรคnger theme similar to Daphne du Maurier’s 1957 novel, The Scapegoat, although the plots are completely different. ๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒน

NOTE

I got behind on posting monthly wrap up posts this year. I'm going back and filling in some missing posts.