What are we reading in July?

Happy second half of 2020, everyone! What are you reading in July? I'm in the middle of Cold Steal by Alice Tilton and enjoying it quite a bit. How about you?

I'm finishing up The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley which is left over from last month and I'm starting Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson, the next one up for me in the Longmire series. I also have three holds from the library "in transit" which I hope will be here later in the week.

I have started July with a ghost story called The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle, so far I am really enjoying it. Also I am reading Pride of Lancashire by Anna Jacobs which is also shaping up nicely.

Currently reading The Inconvenient Indian, by Thomas King.

I am reading Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels which describes Hasidic Jews (about whom I knew very little) who go against the grain and break out and away from the strict codes of their Hasidic community.

I just got back from picking up a couple of holds at the library and hope to start Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich and The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell this weekend.

I'm reading Prisoner's Base by Rex Stout. Next are two books by Australian writers: The Sunken Road by Garry Disher and The Returns by Philip Salom.

Reading as much of Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, by Margaret Atwood, as I can before my library hold expires (it's an ebook). Also continuing the non-fiction trend with Safety Differently, by Sidney Dekker.

Finished Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels as well as The Runaway Beignet and My Life in Thirty-Seven Therapies. Starting A Trip to the Beach and Charmed by the Cook's Kids.

I'm about to start The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner.

Prisoner's Base was seeming a bit predictable, so I blamed Rex Stout for writing too many similar mysteries. Ha! I'd read it in 2012.

Now reading The Returns by Philip Salom. One of the main characters runs a bookshop, so I can use it in a Bingo square. It's shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.

I should learn to check the touchstone before I save the message.

>11 pamelad: Just put The Returns on hold. I must admit I had bypassed it before as I really do not like the cover. I'm sure the old saying is true in this case - but some covers I can definitely tell I should avoid the book!

I just finished A Robot in the Garden which I loved as just a delightful read to make you smile.

Three chapters into White As Snow for my fairy tale retellings category. Enjoying it so far, although I could probably do without the talk of male members!

Finished The Invention of the White Race Volume 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control yesterday, which was really interesting - the author puts forward some interesting theories and I am looking forward to Volume 2. Continuing with The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple and Deep Rivers.

Currently I am reading The Island by Victoria Hislop. The island in the title is Spinalonga, which is just off the coast of Crete and was one of the last leper colonies to be closed in Europe. This book is very good and I am learning a lot about leprosy and the treatment of lepers. I have also started The Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake and it's shaping up to be a fun adventure story.

I devoured Mary Balogh's Slightly Wicked yesterday, and next I think I will start The Q by Beth Brower.

I'm reading Doc by Mary Doria Russell and Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island by Will Harlan.

Finished The Returns. Starting The Shifting Landscape. Both are Australian, set in Melbourne.

I've just started Murder Is Bad Manners by Robin Stevens, which seems like it's going to be fun!

Just finished Harvey Holds His Own for NetGalley. I am reading Death on Windmill Way and The Gown

Feeling a bit unfocused reading-wise, but most compelled to start The Women of the Copper Country, by Mary Doria Russell.

>20 rabbitprincess: - Just finished it. Excellent.

Just finished Death on Windmill Way, currently reading Christmas in Bayberry. I need a little Christmas right this very minute!

I'm attempting to read King Lear, but it might be too hot to read Shakespeare at the moment. So I'll give The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August a go.

I'm continuing to read Doc by Mary Doria Russell and for a quick read, starting A Quiet Life in the Country, a mystery by T. E. Kinsey.

I am reading Holy Island by LJ Ross, a police procedural and another first in a series, sigh. I am also about to start Hospital Station by James White - yes, again another first in a series!!

I've started rereading Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede and am enjoying it immensely! I forgot how much I liked this book. :)

I just finished Christmas in Bayberry for NetGalley. Still reading The Gown.

After talking about Juliet Marillier on someone's thread recently (sorry, I've totally blanked on who!), I've decided to finally finish the Bridei trilogy with The Well of Shades.

I ended up grabbing a re-read yesterday: Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne, translated by Robert Baldrick. It is my much-loved Puffin Classics edition.

I am reading the third book in Candice Fox's Crimson Lake series, Gone by Midnight, and the second in Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians series, China Rich Girlfriend.

Just finished The Gown by Jennifer Robson and now I am reading An Amish Mother's Secret Past by Jo Ann Brown and An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Amy Vanderhoof.

I have two books on the go right now that I am really enjoying. Gypsy Rose Lee's The G-String Murder and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. I think I am going to park myself outside this afternoon and indulge myself!

Finished Death in Captivity, by Michael Gilbert. Next up from the ebook pile will be Chop Suey Nation, by Ann Hui.

Chop Suey Nation was really interesting, and now I want Chinese food.

Continuing the food and drink theme with Brewed in the North: A History of Labatt's, by Matthew J. Bellamy. The method-actor part of me is tempted to go to the Beer Store and buy a can of Labatt's to go with it.

>34 rabbitprincess:, seems like the appropriate thing to do to give a "full" review.

>34 rabbitprincess: I spent my teens/early 20's in Ottawa and Labatt's sure rang a bell with me. Labatt's 50 was the beer of choice among the young in those days and probably still is! Nowadays, I have to admit I find the Chinese food more appealing. ;)

>35 Kristelh: I have bought a can of Labatt's 50, so I am all set :)

>36 DeltaQueen50: Yep, I have seen people partaking of 50s at shows, back when I used to go to shows... My grandmother worked at Labatt's in London, so that's what drew me to this book. I've never actually had Labatt's, though! I'm usually drawn to the craft beers with goofy names and fun labels rather than the big brands.

Trying to decide which non-fiction book to read next:

Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home, by Tom Wilson
Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them, by Adrienne Raphel

I just finished An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof. It was cool that I had visited some of the islands to which they sailed. Currently reading His Pretend Amish Bride for NetGalley. I think I read at least a couple of sample chapters of this book previously, maybe at the end of another book.

I've started The Color of Lightening by Paulette Jiles.

I've started The Color of Lightening by Paulette Jiles and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson.

Continuing the non-fiction trend with Sea Fever, by Sam Jefferson (which was my RandomCAT choice for June).

Also browsing through Things Ain't What They Used to Be, by Philip Glenister, and I predict I'll have to re-watch Life on Mars after this.

I'm reading Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton.

I finished The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple - main message, stay out of cults, even if the leader purports to doing good things... Also finished Deep Rivers, by Peruvian author Jose Maria Arguedas, which was a great read about Ernesto, a boy with feet in two worlds, who doesn't feel a member of either. Ernesto was raised by Peruvian Indians, and traveled across Peru with his father, a lawyer, before he went to a Catholic boarding school in the town of Abancay, while his fathered traveled to another town to take on a case.

I'm now reading Knife of Dreams, the 11th book in the Wheel of Time series, and decided to read The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time alongside it. I'm also juggling James K. Polk: A Biographical Companion and Fads and Fallacies In the Name of Science.

I've finished my library books The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell and Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich and am dashing through Midwives by Chris Bohjalian.

Finished A Cottage Wedding for NetGalley. It is a clean and cute read from Hallmark. I am now reading Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow.

I am reading The Reader by Bernhard Schlink and The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov.

I'm reading The Villa in Italy by Elizabeth Edmondson, a writer I've not read before. It's set in the fifties and seems nice and light, so far.

I decided on a couple of shorter, lighter reads to finish out the month so I'm reading The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini whichis the next one in the quilt series I'm reading and The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie for one of my Bingo blocks. I should finish both today and may start my August reading early.

Yesterday I breezed through Cruising Attitude, by Heather Poole. Light and amusing, and all about planes!

Next up will likely be False Value, by Ben Aaronovitch.

I am reading The Village Shop of Lonely Hearts and just finished Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow. I also started a YA novel Quintessence by Jess Redman.

I'm reading Bone on Bone, a series I had forgotten about, and stumbled on while I was cleaning up my Kindle content. Sometimes I get started on a series, then the next few books aren't readily avaialble, then I tend to forget about them. I' m glad I revisited this series, it's pretty good.

I am finishing off the month with Along the Broken Bay by Flora Solomon, a WWII story about resistence in the Phillipines which I am quite enjoying, and I am also cruising through The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne, a mediocre thriller.

I've been working on Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and during breaks trying to fit in shorter reads.

I've started The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore which is the next book for my book club.

I'm reading The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict.

I've decided to reread Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles. So many of you have read it this year for the "published in 1820/1920" Bingo square that you've inspired me to pick it up again too! :)

I read What You Wish For by Katherine Center. I thought it would be a fun read because it was about teachers, but it was awful. Not worth the time. I am glad at least one reviewer agreed with me. I am now reading Behind the Frame by Tracy Gardner (no touchstone) and finishing Dancing in Combat Boots.

Currently rereading Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

I just finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Excellent, just as I expected. I've been reading about the Tudors for decades and this was the best.