Wrapping Up My May Challenge Reading & Planning for June

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In late April, I shared my ideas and thoughts about what to read for the May prompts for the Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge. Now it's time to think about what to read in June:

23.  A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author


This category has SO MANY choices, but the timing aligns perfectly for the fourth mystery in the Roxane Weary series. Weary is a bisexual private detective, and it releases July 7. Plenty of time to read the first three, if you haven't already! Start with The Last Place You Look. Another option I plan to read soon anyway: This Coven Won't Break, the sequel to These Witches Don't Burn, which I read earlier this month. 

24. A book with an emotion in the title

I have quite a few options on my shelf that would work for this one, and I'll likely choose on of these titles with love in it:


I only have one Taylor Jenkins Reid book I haven't read, and I've been saving it: One True Loves. I've also had Merritt Tierce's debut novel Love Me Back on my shelf since it came out in 2014. Other possibilities from my Kindle: Love by Toni Morrison, Married Love and Other Stories by Tessa Hadley, First Comes Love Then Comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite, and The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum. 

25. A book related to the arts


This is another prompt with so many choices. Two books I've been meaning to read that fit the category are A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier and Visible Empire by Hannah Pittard. Both are authors whose books I love, but for some reason, I haven't made time for their most recent releases. A Single Thread is the story of women embroiderers and Visible Empire is based on the 1962 Paris plane crash that had many of Atlanta's art patrons on it. Like me, Pittard grew up in Atlanta, and I love the way she writes about the complicated city.

26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards

I started making a list of all the books I have on my shelves that were nominated for these awards, and I ran out of steam. I have A LOT of choices. Most likely:  Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand, Normal People by Sally Rooney, or Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo.

Here's what I ended up reading in May:

19. a fantasy book: These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling 

I really enjoyed this first in a duology about a coven of witches in contemporary Salem. 

20. the 20th book: Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley 

21. a book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer: The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

I stumbled onto this one, which I didn't realize was set at a technology company. One of the possibilities for Maximilian Hell was related to technology, so I counted this gem.

22. a book with a major theme of survival: Stray by Stephanie Danler

Now tell me: what other suggestions do you have for me for these prompts?

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