Month in Review for July 2016: August, Be Nice!

The Life of a Mama Cow

Although I had a great day on my birthday, the rest of July was not as good. I went Montana for my grandma's 90th birthday, but I had to use a cane 100% of the time due to my knees being excessively wobbly and my balance being off (by a mile). Usually when I get new symptoms, I try to ignore them if at all possible, but between the weirdness that was my numb arm and my current geriatric walking style, I visited doctor's offices 4 times last month (plus one appointment on August 2nd). That translated into less time on the blog, less time looking at other people's posts, and less time reading. I'm hoping August will be different (hence the reprimand in this post's title), but I'm pretty sure my career as a test subject hasn't ended yet.

Statistics:
 Total Posts: 9
  Total Critiques: 2
  Genres:
    Sci-fi: 2
    Part of a Series: 1

Most Popular Posts of July:
The Best Books I've Read in 2016 (So Far)
Month in Review for June 2016: An Overdue Reflection
Fortnightly Update #14: More Books and an Oddball Birthday Cake
Wild Seed (Patternmaster #1) by Octavia E. Butler
"Restoree" by Anne McCaffrey

Flashback Post (From July of a Previous Year):
"Fevre Dream" by George R.R. Martin

Pageviews for the Month: 2800!
Comments: 24!

Reading Challenges Updates:

Travel the World in Books Challenge

Applicable Books:
None!
Total for 2016 So Far: 10 of 15 Books, 6 of 5 Countries

Sci-Fi Summer Reading Challenge

The Rule of Luck: A Science Fiction Romance by Catherine Cerveny
Mind of My Mind (Patternmaster #2) by Octavia E. Butler
"Restoree" by Anne McCaffrey (reviewed on the blog)

Goal: 6+ science fiction books
Total Read So Far: 4 books

Reading Stats:

Books read this Month: 6

Book Stats:
Has a Diverse Main Character: 2
Doesn't Have a Diverse MC: 4
Female Main Character: 5
Male Main Character: 0
Pair and/or Group of Female/Male Main Characters: 1
Genre:
 Sci-fi: 3
 Historical Romance: 3
Published in 2016: 3
Published in 2000-2015: 1
Published in 1970s: 1
Published in 1960s: 1
Self-Published, Small Press, or Other: 1
Traditionally Published: 5
Series Books: 5
Standalones: 1
Ebook Version: 6
Paper Version: 0
Favorite of the Month: Mind of My Mind (Patternmaster #2) by Octavia E. Butler (because the heroine rocks).
Least Favorite of the Month: The Rule of Luck: A Science Fiction Romance by Catherine Cerveny, because the characters annoyed me.
Most Interesting of the Month (or Book I Learned the Most From): I think this one also goes to Mind of My Mind- it's the only book that really made me think this month.
From the-pile: 0
From the-invisible-pile: 5
Recently acquired: 1
Added to the-invisible-pile: 2
Books bought: 14
Pages Read in 2016 Thus Far (according to Goodreads): 18,394 pages

Ratings:
5 Stars: 0
4-4.5 Stars: 1
3-3.5 Stars: 4
2-2.5 Stars: 1

Author Stats (1 = 1 book read by x author):
Male: 0
Female: 6
Male/Female Team: 0
Diverse: 2
Not-so-Diverse: 4
Living: 4
Deceased: 2

Planning to Read in August:

Magic Binds (Kate Daniels #9) by Ilona Andrews
Expected Publication: September 20th 2016
I was very surprised I got this on NetGalley after requesting, but I'm super excited as well. The Kate Daniels series is my favorite urban fantasy series ever- something about a snarky heroine with a sword just makes me cheer.

I've also been reading Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam #1) by Margaret Atwood for my Sci-fi Challenge (see above), since it's ebook version and ebooks have been easier for me to read lately (it's hard to tote around an armful of books and support yourself with a cane, or so I've learned).

Upcoming Posts:

I have a bunch of reviews in the works, but they'll only get done if I have good days with my brain (yesterday was National Miserable Fuzzy Brain day for me). Other than that, I'll have The 5 Literary Characters Who Should Run For President on for the Sunday Fun Five on August 14th (because literary characters should rule the world).

Happy Reading!