I had fifteen books planned for June. I only finished five of them (although I did read parts of some other books) and my tier prioritization went sideways. I think that counts as a legitimate reading slump.
My Dad passed away in May, and I read less that month than I’d planned. I had hoped to turn that around in June and read some science fiction, which was his favorite. What was more honoring was giving him a lovely send off, spending time with family, sitting with memories and feelings, and focusing on some rest and self care.
So which books did I actually finish?
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I really wanted to see the movie and I wanted to read the book first. It started streaming in June, so I read it to get ready. I’d wanted to prioritize science fiction this month, and while I didn’t read much, I at least read this one. My Dad loved hard science fiction and that’s what this is. I absolutely loved this book. The hard science really added something, and the relationship between the two main characters was wonderful. I highly recommend this story. The protagonist is the sole survivor on a desperate space mission—and if he fails, humanity is done for. The catch is that he doesn’t know this when he wakes up. And yes, I think the book was better than the movie. Though the movie was still pretty good.
- An Ending on Elliott Bay by DD Black
I try to read every DD Black thriller close to the release date, and this one came out on June 4. Reading a popcorn thriller was exactly the thing I needed. Thrillers are pure escapism for me. This series focuses on the cases of Thomas Austin, a detective based in Kitsap County in Washington. It was fun to catch up with the series and interesting to see where DD Black is taking these characters. I did not guess the ending, so that’s another win. I hate when I guess it.
- City of Others by Jared Poon
I may have hit few goals with June’s list, but this read at least finished off my Spring Reading Challenge from Goodreads. It’s an original fantasy set in Singapore. I picked it because it sounded similar to a book I really enjoyed last year, Electric Blue, Plague Green, by Conor Rennick. In Rennick’s book, the hero dealt with fantastical creatures in Dublin to protect the city. In Poon’s book, the hero works for an organization that manages these creatures in Singapore, and I enjoyed this book for the same reason I liked Rennick’s. That type of premise just appeals to me. I recommend it.
- His Mighty Hand by Shirley Amendt
I enjoyed revisiting this book. It was comforting in a really tough month. This book of poetry was written by my mother, who was also a writer and who was very influential in my writing journey. I am not a poet, at least not yet. But I am trying to read poetry every month to improve my prose. This is a book of Christian poetry embellishing on stories from the Bible, the second of three that she wrote.
- Sheet Pan Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Juana R. Haynes
This was one of my two cookbook picks. I am finding that sheet pan meals are an easy way for me to cook healthy food, so I picked up this one for some more recipe variety. The problem that I encountered with this one, was that I started a low FODMAP diet in June to try and determine what is bothering my digestion. This cookbook has so much garlic that it isn’t at all low FODMAP. I can’t really make any of the recipes right now, and if garlic turns out to be a culprit (and I suspect it probably is), I won’t be able to make much for a while, if ever, unless I can get over the garlic sensitivity. It’s a great cookbook with lots of lovely easy recipes, but they’re just not for me right now.
Though I didn’t finish many books, I actually did at least start a number of them, listed below, that had been on the list. I think I was casting around for something that would appeal in the middle of the slump to get me out of it and I just couldn’t settle on much. But I did try. I made progress on quite a few.
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
This is one I started in May. I am still loving this book, but I didn’t read more than a couple of chapters in June.
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Six of Crows was my “found family” fantasy for my book club in June. I got a few chapters into it and I think I will like it. But I ran out of time for reading it for my book club, and I ended up missing the meeting anyhow due to some annoying business matters. That is a whole other story.
- Fields of Prosperis by Claudia LeBeouf
This book is a Chanticleer Cygnus award winner for 2025. I met the author at the Chanticleer Author’s Conference and got to know her, and she’s lovely. We are going to share a table at the Novel Lattes book festival in Sioux Falls in October. In this book, a space pilot sets out to restore a telepathic adolescent to her clan in defiance of the law. I got partway in, and it’s good so far.
- Dune by Frank Herbert
Just about everyone is familiar with the storyline of Dune, so I won’t recap it. It’s on my 26 in 2026 list. It is really long, and I only got a little ways into the narrative before month’s end, but I still look forward to the reread.
- The Jøssing Affair by JL Oakley
I am proud of myself for getting a good ways into this novel in June. I knew I probably wouldn’t finish it because historical fiction is a slower read for me. This is about the Nazi occupation of Norway in WWII.
- Nemesis by Isaac Asimov
I started this one, but I am not very far into it yet. It does look interesting. In this SF novel, a young telepathic girl on a space colony discovers that the new star they’ve gone to is a threat. I’ve chosen this book to fit a reading prompt for a “nemesis.” I’ve not read a lot of Asimov, but his The Positronic Man was one of my favorite SF novels.
Then there’s a handful of books I didn’t get to at all, and I am going to move them to later in the year. Those include:
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick
This has been on my wish list and I have just never picked it up. I loved the Blade Runner film with Harrison Ford, so I’ve always meant to read it. It will be a great pick later this year. Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter for rogue androids. But the androids fight back.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I am also pushing this further out. This is a book that I did a soft DNF on years ago. I didn’t put it down because I didn’t like it. Life just got in the way at the time and I never got back to it because I would have had to start over from the beginning. In it, Arthur Dent is plucked off of Earth right before it’s being demolished for a galactic freeway. He gets a tour of the galaxy and the answers to all kinds of questions that stump you.
- Cat Tales by Charles Wysocki
This short book is more about the art of Charles Wysocki, who paints whimsical cats, than the words. But accompanying the lovely and detailed illustrations are charming little stories about the depicted cats. I collect cat books, and while I have read the vast majority at the time of acquisition, I don’t want favorite books on my shelves to gather dust. If I am keeping them, it’s because I want to reread them from time to time. It’s short, and I can drop this into my lineup another time.
- The Sheet Pan: 150+ Easy, Creative Meals from Your Most Versatile Pan by America’s Test Kitchen
This is another sheet pan cookbook. It’s a lot thicker than the other one and I had no time to read it, but also looks like it has a similar limitation of lots of garlic in the recipes. I’ll move it to Fall and hope that it will work better for me at that time.
What was your favorite book for the month of June?
Thanks for reading!
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