Monthly Wrap Up: June edition featuring #BookBuddyathon, #GGRReadathon, and #Romanceathon

How can it be July already? I am writing this as the month starts and I am conflicted. There is a lot of that was supposed to happen (more on that below) personally and it has affected me more than I like to admit. Summer is ramping up both weather wise (rainy days, hot days, humid days which I am not a fan of) and with the pressure I am starting to feel with work obligations. Before we get into all of this, let me break down what I managed to read in June.

I wrapped up June reading nine books, which I am ultimately happy about because I fought through a reading slump that took over a couple weeks. I had hoped to read more, but I am trying to get over my reader's guilty of not reading enough because of my career as a school librarian. So much guilt, but that is for another post.

Here is what I was able to read in June:

Book Buddy-athon Update

For the month of June, I did the Book Buddy-athon hosted by Elena Reads Books on Youtube with Rachael Fryman from YouTube, who is a fellow school librarian. She graciously agreed to it after I reached out to her towards the end of May. While neither of us managed to complete what we set out to do, we both are happy because connecting with a new friend is always something appreciating. These are the books that I read specifically for Book Buddy-athon:

• Buddy's 5 Stars Pick: The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
• Buddy's Favorite Color (purple): Four Days of You and Me by Miranda Kenneally
• A Book with Friendship: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Graphic Novel by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo

Along with the book prompts Elena also encouraged us to speak with our buddy weekly--Rachael and I shredded that by talking every few days. Even though the month has ended, we are still chatting here and there, which is WONDERFUL in my opinion. :) We were also tasked with the challenge to share and promote what our buddy shares and I think she and I both have been doing that. Rachael has graciously been linking to my blog in her videos and I try to promote her whenever I can too. :) Go check out her challenge. Some of the other tasks we did not do, but I feel that we were quite successful in our first foray into buddy reading. I hope that Rachael is willing to keep doing buddy reads with me. 

Golden Girls Readathon Update

Along with Book Buddy athon, Rachael hosted the Golden Girls Readathon during a week in June. For this readathon, we picked a Golden Girl to represent and I picked #GGRTeamSophia because I liked the prompts. Here are the books I read for this particular challenge:

• Female Friendship: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Graphic Novel by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo
• Set in Italy: Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes
• Audiobook: Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
• Little in the Title: Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

So out of seven prompts for the readathon, I managed to complete four books by overlapping one book from the month long Book Buddy athon with friendship.

Romanceathon Update

The last challenge I tried to participate in this month is the Romanceathon hosted by Gabby Reads and Jacqueline from We Be Book'N. This one ended the month and I was again, trying to work myself out a reading slump. Here are the books I read specifically for this reading challenge:

• Illustrated Cover: The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler
• Favorite Trope: The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata
• New Author: A Taste of Sage by Yaffa Santos

So I managed to finish the three books during this one week, which considering how the month had gone--I was quite happy with it! I did not complete two challenges or the group read, but technically if I double dip I finished all five by using The Wall of Winnipeg and Me as a book with five words or more and A Taste of Sage has a 2020 publication date are the two other challenges remaining. I did not pick up If I Never Met Up which is the group read, but I was not overly drawn to it anyway.

Thoughts About Life in June:

Home: June has been a bit of a struggle. Without a doubt, I know that my family is privilege and we do not have many of the challenges others have had. It is still hard to maintain a cheery upbeat mentality when my daughter is struggling and so many things have had to be canceled. We spent the month finishing up school for both myself and my daughter.  My daughter finished up her last year in middle school and is now working on a couple summer classes to get a jump on high school. She has also returned to swimming, working on building up her endurance before she tries out for her high school team and a different club team. 

The saddest part about this summer is we are missing out on our trip to Europe. As I write this we are supposed to be in France boarding a cruise ship. The cruise industry has taken a beating during the COVID pandemic and with the uncertainty in everything going forward, we have decided we are going to do it ourselves instead of relying on a cruise. I am working on planning our trip for next summer, in the hopes that the pandemic has calmed down enough and as a US citizen, we will be allowed to travel in Europe. To be an optimist, I am using Rick Steves' material to help plan our new trip. If you have any tips from your own trips to Europe (France, Guernsey, and Great Britain specifically), please let me know below!

Work: I led four professional development workshops at the end for my school district along with a lot of work I need to do in the school library at the end of the year. I have more of that work left to do, and as I said above, I am starting to feel the pressure of all of it. I will end up doing more work in July and some will carry over into August before we actually return to school. I have a lot I want to accomplish this month, but more on that in my July update. Even school librarians work over summer break! 

Let's Chat!

How did your June go overall? Were you happy with the amount you read? Be sure to let me know what your favorite title was in June so I can see if I have read it. I hope you are doing well!