July 2023 Reading Recap

Kathie MacIsaac

Jul 31

Hi there!

I know it's been quite a while since I posted on our blog, but with the gradual collapse of Twitter, I've noticed several authors struggling to connect and get the word out about their books. I decided it was time to up my reading game in August and help promote new and upcoming middle-grade titles, so I requested several eARCs to read and review in the coming weeks. I'll try to share many of them here, but you can find me on Twitter and IG at @kathiemacisaac if you want to stay up to date on what I'm reading.

As many of you know, I left my position at the library in the fall, so this is my first summer without organizing and running a summer reading program in 13 years! Although I miss many things about the library, including my young patrons, I'm finally settling into a new position in the aviation industry and enjoying something completely different. My reading life is busy and fulfilling without the summer burnout I usually experience in late July/early August.

I've been very busy reading for the Bit About Books Summer Reading Challenge. I completed five boards (some of the titles I read before the challenge), with others just short of completion by two or three books. I decided not to worry too much about the mystery/adventure, historical, and debut boards but to go "Off the Grid" and create a Canadian board, which I just started and I'll be sharing soon.

After tallying my June stats, I realized my numbers were down significantly in the areas of nonfiction, underrepresented authors, and Canadian authors, so I challenged myself to read a minimum of 6 titles in each of these areas this summer. I'm really pleased with my progress so far.

Here's a look at my reading stats for July. A couple of stand-out titles included The Wishing Season by Anica Mrose Rissi, The Beautiful Something Else by Ash Van Otterloo, The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter, and The Bellwoods Game by Celia Krampien.