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Caitlyn’s Monthly Wrap Up: June 2024

Hi bookish besties, it’s that time again! You know what the end of the month means. Get comfy and let’s recap the month of June!

June is the busiest month of the year for me in my work life, and that is reflected in my reading for the month. Not that it was a bad reading month at all, but I definitely didn’t read as much as I have the past few months. That being said, I ended up reading a respectable 11 books in June.

I was really glad to finally read some books that I’ve had on my TBR for a while now, such as Firekeeper’s Daughter and The Road Trip. I got a bunch of physical books from my library this month as well which was so nice, I need to make physical library trips more often! 

Books read this month:

  • First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (4 stars)
  • We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller (4 stars)
  • Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (4.5 stars)
  • Chlorine by Jade Song (3.5 stars)
  • What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell (4 stars)
  • Hollow Fires by Samria Ahmed (4.5 stars)
  • Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez (4.5 stars)
  • The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary (3 stars)
  • Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez (4.5 stars)
  • Finally Fitz by Marisa Kanter (3.5 stars)
  • The Last Love Song by Kalie Holfold (4 stars)

Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:

My posts this month:

And now it’s time for my second-quarter stats! These are my reading stats from April through June that I track using the CAWPILE method (I’ve talked about it quite a bit since I started using CAWPILE but here’s a link explaining what CAWPILE is).

In the second quarter of the year, I read a total of 55 books! In April I read 23 books (this is also the most books I’ve read in one month so far this year, in May 21 books, and in June 11 books.

The second quarter also, unfortunately, saw my first two DNFs of the year. In April I DNFd The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Kate Lumsden when I was about halfway through (I was listening on audio). Truthfully, there wasn’t anything wrong with the book, I just didn’t have any desire to read it when I wasn’t reading it, and when I was I zoned out a lot.

In May, and this one is hard to admit because I can already hear the outraged cries already, I DNFd Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett. I got 80 pages in and my intrigue was incredibly low. It was moving too slowly for me, which is something I anticipated, I heard it starts kind of slow, but the bigger issue to me, and why I decided to DNF it, was just that I didn’t think about it when I wasn’t reading it beyond thinking “Oh yeah, I started that, I should go back to it” and then I…didn’t. I wanted this one to work but alas, it didn’t. Still love the covers though, those are beautiful.

In April I read 3,776 pages and listened for 21.92 hours. May was my biggest pages read month of the year with 6,286 pages read, and my shortest hours listened per month with only 8.45 hours. June was the opposite and I listened for 17.87 hours and read just 2,239 pages. This isn’t surprising considering how busy June has been for me, it’s been easier to sit with an audiobook while I work than it has been to sit with a physical book

My goal of reading physically and reading from my physical TBR is still going well! This quarter almost 50% of my reads were physical, 29% were ebooks and 21% were audiobooks. This quarter the majority of my reads were from my physical TBR (just over 45%) and 31% were from my library. I think it’s so important to utilize your local libraries if you can, so I’m glad to see that number so high.

Format wise, as per usual, the majority of my reads were novels, but I did read some plays and graphic novels this last quarter. 

The split of 75/25 for new reads and rereads is oddly satisfying to me, I can’t really tell you why. This quarter I did reread my favorite series, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and honestly, with the announcement that it’s hitting Netflix on August 1st, I already want to reread it.

I read mostly standalones this quarter — which I do think is pretty typical — but I also read quite a few series and companion novels!

Lastly, star ratings! I’ve had a really great reading year honestly. I’ve really been enjoying the majority of the books I’ve been reading — even a lot of my 3 star reads are books that I liked quite a lot, but didn’t feel would stick with me long after I finished them. Most of those 5 star reads were rereads though, in this quarter I only had 3 new 5 star reads (Funny Story, The Girl in Question and The Ballad of Darcy and Russell). Annnnnd we’re not gonna talk about those 2 reads, nope!

This month has been fully focused on work. From the 3rd through the 14th I worked at minimum 7.5 hours every day, and my weekdays since the 10th have seen me in the office from around 7:45 am to 4:15 pm, which will continue until the 9th of August. When I say that work is taking up all of my time, I really do mean that work is taking up all of my time!

When I wasn’t working this month (or trying to sleep, honestly), I’ve been reading whenever I’m able to focus, watching baseball (it’s been a little rough for the Giants as of late, but I’m hoping we’re getting back into our groove!), and setting up my July – December bullet journal

I’ve also got some really exciting things planned for the blog that I can’t wait to share with you all!

And that’s it for the month of June! As I mentioned, aside from work it’s been a pretty low-key month, but I’m so excited for July to arrive and for all the exciting things I’ve got planned! 

Let me know in the comments how June was for you and what you’re looking forward to in July. Until next time!