June Wrap Up

1st Jul 2026

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Oh June, I don’t think I will miss you…
A busy month, complete with an awful heatwave and a mini reading slump.

Reading Wrap

In June I read 4 books. Not a bad number, but definitely lower than I wanted, since now I am not currently studying I have more time to catch up on my tbr! Unfortunately I was hit with a small reading slump in the middle of the month which put paid to most of my plans. If you look at the reading timeline on my Storygraph wrap-up, you can see where the slump fully hit, and not reading anything for an entire week felt like an eternity to someone who usually reads every day!

Titles with a * have been gifted.

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandemeer. The book that caused my reading slump. I wanted to love it. The first 25% was SO GOOD. The latter 25% took a week to get through and I was so disappointed.
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. A reread, and one I really enjoyed. The world is so cool and unique and I really am determined to continue the series in a timely manner now…
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman. Climate disaster meets capitalism. I had a good time with this one, though it was actually quite depressing if I let myself think too much about the possible state of the future it is showing us.
Harriet Tubman Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen. I picked this up for the Pagebound Pride Readalong and I’m really pleased I did. I listened to it, and the narration made it much more entertaining than I think it would have been by eye. I learned a lot of new things about certain parts of US history that I never got to study at school in England.

Books ACQUIRED

I gained 4 books in June. 3 from publishers, and one preorder I bought from Honnomushi Cat Books, a really lovely UK based indie bookshop selling translated fiction. (Quite funny that I could copy this sentence from last month.)

Dead Bees Still Sting by Susan Cormier (publisher)
A Bird’s IQ by Louis Lefebvre (publisher)
Break Room by Miye Lee
Alive by Melanie Challenger (publisher)

Reading Challenges

My r/Fantasy Bingo board didn’t change in June, sadly. I could put The Jasmine Throne into the politics square, but that would be my one reread, and I am saving that for a different book.

Hopefully next month I will have some changes!

In terms of other challenges, I thought it would be fun to share my progress towards various Pagebound badges each month. In June I earned the Pride 2026 badge through reading Harriet Tubman. This badge was only available to earn for the month, so I am very pleased that I got it! I didn’t make any progress towards any other badges.

Blog Wrap

June was a slow blog month too, the slump extended to all things bookish, sadly.

REVIEWS:

DISCUSSIONS:

Let’s Talk Bookish: Reading With Pride!

READING UPDATES:

Life Wrap

June was quite a month. During the latter half, the UK and a lot of Europe suffered through a very scary and extreme heatwave. It has only just broken here in the UK, but we recorded our new highest temperature for June of almost 38 Celsius (99.9F). The fact that it isn’t even full summer yet and we had that… Honestly it scares me. Apparently we have more of the same on the way and I am NOT looking forward to it at all.

Aside from that, I recorded my first talking reel for my Bookstagram, which was quite nerve-wracking but exciting. My sister arrived after traveling Asia for almost a year and I am so happy she’s here! I did another pottery class, this time making old mine buildings, which are synonymous with Cornwall, and worked a lot at the cattery!