June has been active and busy in our little household. As well as parkruns each Saturday, daughter and I ran in a race held in the pretty little Cotswold town of Fairford – we knew we had arrived in the Cotswolds when a Lamborghini passed us – and it wasn’t even a tractor. I posted run reports for: Simmons Park Parkrun; Brickfields Park Parkrun; and Fairford 10k.
The Simmons Park event was held in Okehampton, convenient for a short break husband and I enjoyed in the area. I posted a review of the hotel we stayed in, The Mill House, and then of the adventures undertaken on Dartmoor as viewed through the lens of Edward, my teddy bear.
The following weekend we had a lovely, family oriented few days to celebrate younger son’s birthday. The weather was warm and sunny so we were able to make full use of our newly cleaned patio and outdoor furniture – including a couple of new benches purchased when the old ones fell apart on trying to move them. I’m trying not to buy new stuff but when things we actually use break they are replaced.
Daughter had a week of annual leave so she and younger son have been doing some walking in preparation for next month’s family holiday on Exmoor. Elder son is still recovering from various injuries, which meant he couldn’t run in the Fairford race as planned, so we hope he recovers sufficiently to enjoy the time away.
Husband finished painting our little bedroom, concluding his most recent spate of decorating, so I was able to move furniture around and get the house looking more as I want it. This included some deep cleaning – my strength training proved its usefulness when moving heavy furniture. My next task will be to tackle what was the children’s playroom, now effectively a junk storage room. I anticipate a great deal of decluttering as I try to make it less of a dumping ground for things I suspect we may never use again.
I posted reviews for 6 books in June, another mix of new publications and titles from my TBR shelves.
To read my thoughts on each book you may click the title below.
Fiction
Spit by David Brennan, published by époque press
Burnt Paper Sky by Gilly MacMillan, published by Little Brown
Translated fiction
The White Bear, by Henrik Pontoppidan (translated by Paul Larkin), published by New York Review Books
Children’s fiction
They Stole Our Hearts by Daniel Kraus (illustrated by Rovena Cai), published by Henry Holt
They Set the Fire by Daniel Kraus (illustrated by Rovena Cai, published by Henry Holt
Non fiction
A Crumpled Swan by David Collard, published by Sagging Meniscus
Sourcing the books
I received 2 books this month: a chunkster I cannot yet talk about(!), and a fun little set of stories reviewed for Bookmunch.
Robyn managed to fit in some reading during her annual leave so we have a few reviews of summer romances to look forward to from her next month, and she treated herself to these additions to her shelves.
As ever I wish to thank all who send me their books to review – the arrival of book post remains a cheering event in my day.
My thanks also to those who share my words across their social media platforms – whichever ones you are now using – your support is always appreciated. I am no longer on Twitter but you may find me on Instagram and Threads.
And to everyone reading this, I wish you and yours good health and fine days. May the coming month be kind to you, and may you find many good books to read.
