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June Recap 2020

Geoff W

lifeguard chair on beach with bright blue sky and white clouds, Boston Harbor Islands in the distanceThis is going to be a relatively short recap since not much has changed since March and I’m just sort of trekking along. Tim’s finally back to a normal schedule, but I’m still WFH probably through the end of the year at this point (just speculation on my part) and we had to cancel our big August/September trip but are still hoping we’ll be able to get a house somewhere for a week at least.

On the reading front, I definitely slowed down this month. This was mostly due to the slog that was Cervini’s The Deviant’s War. It was well enough written, but I just wasn’t feeling it as I read it. I’ve spent most of my time playing Animal Crossing (for Switch) and playing Horizon on my PS4 after seeing how awesome the second release in the series for PS5 looked!

Books and Bookish Things
Photo of a drink menu with "Tequila Mockingbird" in focus; made from Bribon Tequila, Licor 43, ruby red grapefruit and pink peppercornsOne new thing this month was that we were able to go out to eat at a restaurant for Tim’s birthday. They opened the week of his birthday and we were able to get a Friday night reservation. We had to wear masks and sit outside, but it was nice to pretend things were somewhat normal again (even if a lot of idiots didn’t wear their masks appropriately or at all). They had a couple of great literary pun drinks that made me laugh (left) and the food was okay—they must’ve been out of practice as so many people had to send steaks back!

I reigned my reading spree in a little bit this month only reading five MM romances, one YA novel and an LGBT nonfiction ARC. As you can see, I’m still madly obsessed with Annabeth Albert’s work and tearing my way through her oeuvre. But, this month, I was introduced to Con Riley, via an ARC, who might give her a run for her money. I need to read a few more by Riley to see if she can hold up through a few books.

  1. On Point (Out of Uniform #3) – Annabeth Albert
  2. Mr. Right Now – Annabeth Albert
  3. The Deviant’s War – Eric Cervini*
  4. Wheels Up (Out of Uniform #4) – Annabeth Albert
  5. Camp – L.C. Rosen
  6. Forgive and Forget – Charlie Cohet
  7. His Horizon – Con Riley*

I also picked up two digital books this month by Mikki Kendall and Ijeoma Oluo. Similar to the rest of the world I watched as society responded to the murder of George Floyd and I wanted to learn more. I haven’t read them yet, but I’m interested in both as they had great reviews and think pieces written about them. I stayed away from some of the other super popular ones because of the critiques. I also accepted a couple of ARCs (*) to once again put myself further behind.

The ARCs are a caveat as I haven’t actually received the three of them yet, so we’ll see if the authors and/or publishers follow through.

This month was also Pride Month and there were so many lists out there and wonderfully adorable (hey PBS!) social media posts I restrained myself to two.

And I also came across this via Colossal, which is how I find 90% of the cool bookish art and design things that I share. It’s definitely one of those things that are overlooked in American (maybe all Western) education. Sure, Gutenburg created the first movable printing press, but look at this beautiful block printed book from 40 years before that!

What’s Next?
I’m hoping to keep making inroads on my ARC back list. I’m about 80% of the way through Once You Go This Far by Kristen Lepionka and have six more to go on my list. I’m looking forward to a quiet July 4th and hopefully we’ll be able to get out of the city for a little bit even if only to go for a walk somewhere further up the coast one day.

 

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