Well, June has come and gone so it's time for both a monthly and quarterly wrap-up.  Since we're also well into July now, I'll also share a bit about my current reading.  Last month I came out of May's reading funk and was back on my normal pace.  While I read only 5 books, one of them was over 600 pages and reading just over 2000 pages is pretty typical for me.  Here are my complete June stats:

• 5 books (38 YTD)
• 2,044 pages (11,473 YTD)
• 3 written by women
• 1 from the "1001 Books you Must Read Before you Die" list
• 2 from a "new" country for my Reading Across Borders and Lost in Translation challenges

And my June reads, in the order I read them:

• Wives and Daughters - review ( )
• Desertion - review ( )
• Omeros - review ( )
• The House of Mirth - review ( )
• The Girls - review ( )

Summing up the second quarter and 2009 year-to-date (YTD):

• 19 books, 38 YTD
• 5,735 pages, 11,473 YTD
• 12 written by women, 26 YTD
• 2 from the "1001 Books you Must Read Before you Die" list, 10 YTD
• 2 Booker Prize winners, 5 YTD (2009 goal: 12)
• 0 Orange Prize winners, 3 YTD (2009 goal: 8) ... but just wait for Orange July!
• 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, 2 YTD (2009 goal: 6)
• 2 Virago Modern Classics, 4 YTD (2009 goal: 10)
• 4 from a "new" country for my Reading Across Borders and Lost in Translation challenges, 6 YTD (2009 goal: 10)
• 8 "just for fun" -- not associated with any particular reading goal!  I've read 14 YTD. 

My pace has been pretty even, reading 19 books each quarter.  I'm making steady progress towards my 2009 goals; I'll even reach my Orange Prize goal in July!  I need to pick up the pace a bit on Booker & Pulitzer winners, and Virago Modern Classics, but so far it all looks doable.  As for timed challenges, I finished Book Awards II and 1% Well-Read, and signed up for their sequels.  On the other hand, I'm just about certain to fail the Support your Local Library Challenge.  By the end of June only 14 of my 38 reads came from my local library, and even though all of my Orange July reads will be library loans, I'm not likely to reach my stretch goal of 50.  However, I'm so enjoying my "just for fun" category.  I've participated in some group reads and made a few other selections based on mood or friend recommendations, and I'm loving that flexibility.  In fact, this quarter's two 5-star books were "just for fun," so I think I'm on to something!  Speaking of 5-star reads, here's my Top 5 list for 2Q09:

• Sorry - review ( )
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog - review ( )
• Wives and Daughters - review ( )
• Desertion - review ( )
• Miss Mole - review ( )

So enough about the past, what about this month?  Well, it's Orange July and I'm off to a great start.  My 2009 goal was to finish reading all the Orange Prize winners, which means these 5 books:

• 2009 - Home, by Marilynne Robinson
• 1999 - A Crime in the Neighborhood, by Suzanne Berne (complete - read my review)
• 1998 - Larry's Party, by Carol Shields (complete - read my review)
• 1997 - Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels
• 1996 - A Spell of Winter, by Helen Dunmore

I'm currently reading Home, and will move on to one of the remaining two winners after that.  I'll be back next week with a full report!  Have a great week, everyone.

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