Wednesday, June 30, 2021

June Reading Wrap-Up

 Home library with storage

Photo: Camille Styles

The month of June has brought very hot, humid weather for us.  Because of that, there has not been a lot of animal activity.  However, the dragonflies are out and so are the wasps!  We had a birthday celebration for our oldest son and have also been spending time preparing a rental property for a new tenant.  I have enjoyed a couple of trips to the library.  It feels so good to wander the aisles again!

This month I read 9 books.  Here's the breakdown:

Fiction: 1

Cozy Mystery: 3

Mystery: 2

Non-fiction: 1

Classic: 1

Children's Literature: 1

Fiction: 

Trial and Error


Trial and Error by Robert Whitlow - Buddy Smith has been searching for his daughter for 17 years.  After giving birth to their daughter, his girlfriend left town taking the baby with her. Since that time Buddy has become a lawyer with a soft spot for cases involving missing children. When a member of the local girls softball team goes missing, Buddy is asked to help locate her.




Cozy Mystery:

Peach Clobbered (Georgia B&B, #1)


Peach Clobbered (Georgie B&B #1) by Anna Gerard - Nina Fleet has purchased a charming house in the quaint town of Cymbeline.  She intends to use it as a Bed & Breakfast.  However, she has been harassed by a man claiming the home belongs to him and was left to him by a relative.  To further complicate matters, a man has been stabbed in an alley close by.  





Pint of No Return (Ice Cream Shop Mystery #1)



Pint of No Return (Shake Shop #1) by Dana Mentink - When Trinidad Jones' husband divorced her, he left her his Hot Dog Shop.  Trinidad decides to remodel it and open it as a Shake Shop.  The problem is, Trinidad's ex-husband had other wives and he also left them businesses in the same town.  While this is awkward, Trinidad does her best to get to know other people in town.  One of the people she meets is the man who owns the popcorn shop next door.  Unfortunately, just days before her shop opens, she finds the man dead in his shop.  Now she must figure out who would want him dead. 



A Deadly Judgment (Murder, She Wrote, #6)



A Deadly Judgment (Murder, She Wrote #6) by Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain - Jessica travels to Boston to serve as a Jury Consultant.  The man on trial has been accused of killing his brother.  He claims to be innocent and his lawyer believes him.  He has an alibi for the time of the murder, however, before they can select the jury, the alibi is killed.  As the case becomes more complicated, Jessica feels she is in over her head. 




Mystery:

A Peculiar Combination (Electra McDonnell #1)


A Peculiar Combination (Electra McDonnell #1) by Ashley Weaver - Ellie and her Uncle Mick make their living by cracking safes.  They are good at what they do, but one night they get caught.  They fear they will be sent to jail.  Instead, they are asked to help the government in the war effort.  The government needs someone very skilled at cracking safes to help them recover sensitive weapons plans.  Ellie doesn't like the idea of working for the government, but it sounds more appealing than going to jail.




The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4)


The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot has retired to a quiet town.  However, when a local man is murdered, a family member convinces him to investigate.  The man was stabbed in his study while several people were in the house.  Everybody is hiding something and Poirot has to use his little gray cells to sort it out.





Non-fiction:

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter



The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta MagnusonMargareta Magnusson has death cleaned more than once.  Not for herself, but after a loved one has passed away.  She describes it like this, "For me it means going through all my belongings and deciding how to get rid of the things I do not want anymore. "  This can be done at any point in your life, but the older you get, the harder it becomes.  




Classic:

The Iliad of Homer: Translated by Samuel Butler

The Iliad by HomerThe epic story of war between the Trojans and the Achaeans, involving gods and men. 







Children's Literature:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia, #1)

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are sent to the country to live with the professor during the London air raids.  While there, Lucy discovers a door to the land of Narnia through a wardrobe. I have read this many times and it never fails to be a good story.






That's it for this month.  I hope you have had a June full of wonderful reads!

~ Gretchen


I am linking up with The Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight. 







15 comments:

  1. I love the photo of the room with all the shelves. I need a room with shelves similar to that one!📚🙂

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    1. Isn't it gorgeous! It makes me happy to look at it ☺

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  2. I've loved my return to the library shelves too! It's so nice to wander around instead of having to order my books to pick up curbside (although that was nice too, just sayin'). :) I read The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning myself a couple years back and really liked it.

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    1. Yes, curbside was nice if that was all that was available 🙂.

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  3. Haven't heard of Swedish Death Cleaning - not sure about the name, but it sounds like an interesting concept.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I think the name is a turn-off and if I hadn't known what it was about, I probably would have avoided it because of that.

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  4. Happy belated birthday to your oldest son! I noticed wasps have been building a nest in our garage. We need to get that knocked down soon. Peach Clobbered sounds fun. I really enjoyed A Peculiar Combination and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I hope you have a great July in books!

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  5. Thank you! We have a wasp nest near the entrance to our garage too. It is amazing how quickly they build nests! Have a great July!

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  6. Those cozy mysteries look good! I need to read more of those. And Happy Birthday to your son!

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    1. Thanks, Cheryl! I do enjoy cozy mysteries.

      Have a good July!

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  7. Congrats on a great reading month! It has been so nice being able to revisit bookstores and libraries. <3

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    1. Thank you, Dedra! It has been nice. Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. I love the variety of genres you chose to read in June. Nine books is excellent. I also love the clean white, organized shelves in the photo. I've always dreamed of having a large shelving space built in with a sliding ladder. Our library is also now fully open and so enjoyable to visit.

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