June Reading List - ANGELICSCALLIWAGS

Welcome to my June Reading List! My goal for this year is to read 150 books. To do this, each month I need to read at least ten books as well as dipping into the five books at the end of this post. This means by the end of the year, these five can be added onto my yearly total. I am determined to read 150 books this year. I had this goal last year, but because of my master’s degree I only managed 39 which is pitiful (although I did read lots and lots of journal articles). These are the books I read during June.

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A Note About Colour Codes

Throughout this June reading list, you’ll notice that I have coloured the list of books. Firstly, the pink books denote fiction books. I am not keen on fiction books as a rule. In 2023 I read 100 books and over 60 of them were non-fiction. I had to work really hard at getting in the fiction I did read and I tended to find an author I liked and then read a few of their books. This year, I want to throw my net wider, so to speak. The goal is to try out lots of different authors and genres. So, I want at least half of my books to be fiction books. And I shall try to read books from different authors…😊

Next, I have used a beige colour to denote the non-fiction. I literally never struggle to find non-fiction books I want to read! This is because there are so many things I am interested in and so little time!

And lastly, I have used a violet colour for the books I shall be dipping into each month. These are non-fiction. In fact, they are mostly nature themed books created to be read over each month or season, rather than being read all at once.

June Reading List: Non-Fiction Books

Non-Fiction

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before by Julie Smith

A clinical psychologist, Dr Julie Smith shares her knowledge and experience of helping others get through life with the least number of scars and the most number of smiles. She cleverly packages each truth (or, if you’d prefer, lesson) in a small easily digestible chapters. These chapters tackle anxiety, criticism, low mood, self-confidence, motivation and forgiveness.

This was a quick read, easy to understand and full of tips for living a fulfilling life. I bought this with the goal of helping Abs cope with the anxiety she has been plagued with over the past year or so. To be honest, I’m not sure if it gave me anything I did not already know to do. But, that’s kind of on me for having such a narrow goal 😊. I think this might be a handy book to dip in and out of as needed. ****

How Big Things Get Done by Professor Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this book! It wasn’t anything like I was expecting it to be. This in and of itself was enjoyable. I like being surprised. I think I was expecting a book in the similar vein of Atomic Habits or The Compound Effect…a book that simply outlines the steps to become or to do what it promises to teach you. This was not that. I chose it to read because I need help finishing two projects which I have been so close to finishing for years but don’t seem to be able to take myself over the actual finishing line. If I wanted a list of steps, this book did not deliver. But if I wanted some really sound principles that I could not only apply to my own projects but also to life itself, this book delivered and then some. *****

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

Oh my. This was not for me. It was recommended by a friend but (in my opinion) it was a little odd…a bit too mumbo jumbo for me. It’s apparently a best seller, so perhaps this one is just a no for me 🤷‍♀️ *

Thinking on My Feet: The Small Joy of Putting One Foot in Front of Another by Kate Humble

Humble is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I love her style, her honesty and, well, her ordinariness. This is another lovely book about the joys of walking and all its accompanying benefits, all packaged in story form a la Kate Humble! *****

Becoming by Michelle Obama

I’m not sure what made me buy this apart from the fact that I’d enjoyed Unleashed by Boris Johnson so much. I really enjoyed it on the whole. It is not as full of colour as Boris’ book, but Boris is probably one of a kind! It explores the idea (although not overtly) of whether a president is born or made, with Obama falling most definitely in the former. An interesting book. ****

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

This was a LOVELY read. Oh my goodness, if you are creative in any way, I SO recommend this book. It will make you look at your own creativity and what it means to be creative. *****

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

Another lovely book from Kleon. A quick read about sharing your work with the masses and just how easy it is to do it in this day and age. *****

Keep Going by Austin Kleon

A book which gives you ten simple rules for how to stay creative, focused, and true to yourself-for life, and they’re not what you think! *****

Fiction

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

I’m only allowing myself one Conan Doyle book a month because otherwise I’d just read him to the exclusion of other authors. I kind of do that regarding books. I find I like an author and super focus on them. That said, I don’t LOVE these books. It might be that I have watched the Sherlock Holmes films and series long before I read them, so the stories and characters are already alive in my head. ***

The Accidental Mother by Rowen Coleman

I really enjoyed this book. Fiction might not be my favourite genre but occasionally I find something which appeals to me and this is one of them. Flawed characters with depth, children who are not angels but just as loveable and a complicated love which is in no way perfect. *****

Poetry

The Waste Land by T S Elliot

Books I’ll Be Reading Every Month

That’s the totality of my June reading list. However, there are also books that I’m going to be dipping into each month. These are books I have either read multiple times over the course of my life and I just love rereading them, or they are part of an ongoing set which brings out a new volume each year. By the end of the year they will be completed but as they track the months and seasons of the year, I’ll not be reading ahead, as it were. However, I’ll be adding them to each of my posts, just in case anyone else is interested in reading them.

Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden

The Cottage Book by Sir Edward Grey

The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2025 by Lia Leendertz

The Cottage Fairy Companion by Paola Merrill

Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling By: Philip Pullman

I hope you have enjoyed my June reading list. If you’d like to take a look at the books I read in 2023 and 2024, please do visit my Books Read Over the Years Page. I shall endeavour to share one of these posts each month.