July 2017 Wrap-Up

Books I read:

• Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (reread). 2/5 stars, review.
• The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud. 3/5 stars, Goodreads review.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. 2/5 stars, Goodreads review.
• Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. 4/5 stars, Goodreads review.
• Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka. 3/5 stars, review to be posted August 3rd.
• A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. 4/5 stars, review to be posted August 5th.

Average rating: 3 stars.
Books read: 6.

Posts:

• Diversity in Books [Discussion]
• Road Trip 2k17
• The Stranger [Review]
• Policing the Black Man [Review]
• Most Read Authors
• Make Me Read It Readathon 2017
• Mini-Review Compilation #1
• Down the TBR Hole #2
• Unplanned Hiatus

Reading Goal Progress:

This year I have read 36 books so far! My 2017 goal (for now) is 50 books, which means I am 7 books ahead of schedule and 72% of the way to 50. I’m feeling really good about my progress! I’m also hoping that my first read-a-thon (starting this weekend) gives me a solid boost so that I can up my reading goal again! 🙂

Notable Posts by Others:

• A Super Basic Guide to Requesting Physical ARCs by Lauren @ Wonderless Reviews – Some good tips! I love that she included a sample email template and shared her experiences with specific publishers. Mostly geared towards Australia, but can definitely be generalized.
• Top Ten Tuesday: Kinds of Summer Readers by Holly @ Nut Free Nerd – I adore this list! So many fun categories, I definitely fall into a few myself. Take a look and see if you can find yourself on this list. 🙂
• Pacific Islander Books and Erasure by Anjulie Te Pohe – A topic I haven’t really seen discussed at all and something, as a white American, I really know nothing about. Very educational!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons to Love Your Library by Holly @ Nut Free Nerd – I LOVE libraries!! My life has changed for the better since I’ve gotten a library card. Also note that most libraries allow you to borrow eBooks as well. 🙂

Blog Stats:

• I currently have 53 followers, which is up from 43 last month.
• In July I had 145 visitors, which is 47 less than in June, womp womp.
• I published 11 posts in July, which is on par with June, but also behind schedule for where I wanted to be.
• I had 270 views in July, which is 68 less than June.

As I explained in my last post, I’ve had some stressful work stuff going on and haven’t been getting on WordPress as much as I’d like to! This means I made less posts than I wanted, and also interacted with other bloggers less. I feel really detached from the rest of the bookblogging community, so I’m making one of my goals in August to focus more on interacting with others. My second goal is to attempt to post three times a week! I was getting there, until my little hiatus last week, so I’m sure I can do it.

Thanks for reading! How was July for you? Let me know in the comments. You can also follow me on Twitter and Goodreads.