First Impressions by Charlie Lovett (I will be rereading this one at some point. It was so good!)
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (Finally reading this series that I should have read when I was a kid.)

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (You know, I think I added this one to my TBR - and later bought it - on the title alone. I realized as I started reading it that it wasn't quite what I expected, and I don't think I ever even read the blurb on the back!)

Think No Evil: Inside the Story of the Amish Schoolhouse Shooting. . . and Beyond by Jonas Beiler (Book club book for July.)

I saw this tag by Kate at Opinionated Book Lover last week. I don't normally take a look at the books I've read mid-year (outside of the statistics), but this looks like a fun way to do so!

I've had a lot of five-star reads this year, but the one that's stuck with me the most is The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson.

I've started a lot of series this year. Continued, not so much. I adore the Penderwick series, and I finally let myself read the last book (although there are rumors of a fifth!). The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall is amazing.

I love travel narratives, and I just discovered Tsh's podcast, so At Home in the World by Tsh Oxenreider is a must read for me.

Okay, technically Goodreads tells me this book was released on June 27, but I don't follow new releases that closely to know what all is out there, so I'm going to count it. I loved 100 Cupboards, so I'm definitely on board for a sequel - The Door Before by N.D. Wilson.

New Zealand is on my list of places I want to travel someday, so I was really looking forward to reading Slipping Into Paradise by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. But something about his writing voice just rubbed me the wrong way, and it was not the enjoyable reading experience I thought it would be.

I was hugely surprised by how dark The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo actually is. I don't know how Disney ever made a kids' movie out of it. I'm glad I read it, but it was not exactly what I was expecting.

My book club read The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. It wasn't my first read by him, but it was the one where I decided I would do my best to read everything else he's written!

I'm rereading Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series this year, and I'm enjoying revisiting Thursday's relationship with Landen. Landen seems like he makes a really fun husband (if you can just work out that whole blinking out of existence randomly thing).

Frank is such an incredible character. There were things about the rest of the book that drove me crazy, but I could have kept reading about Frank forever in Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson.

Okay, I have to repeat here (should have looked ahead at the categories). The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall literally had me sobbing. I rarely cry at books, but this one did it!

I just finished First Impressions by Charlie Lovett yesterday morning. This book was just so delightfully bookish that I couldn't help but smile while reading it.

Um, I have a one-year-old. I haven't watched a movie in a very long time. Sorry, but I can't answer this one!

Reviews really seem to have fallen by the wayside this year, but here are two posts that I enjoyed writing and discussing in the comments: How Do You Read a Series? and Cover Confusion.

I'm not sure if "beautiful" is the right word, but I love love love the cover of Around the World in 50 Years by Albert Podell.

This could be a very long list. But I desperately want to read The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley. I was planning to get it during my last library trip, but it was already checked out. I was so disappointed! Next time, for sure!

Happy Fourth of July (to my American visitors - but I suppose everyone has a fourth of July to celebrate in some way)! We finished a big project this weekend. We replaced our chain link fence with a wood fence. It's been a month worth of weekends, but it's all done now!

The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove (I didn't even notice that this book had some second-book-in-a-series-itis going on until I was done. I was so invested in the world and the story that the 500 pages flew by.)
Edge of Extinction: The Ark Plan by Laura Martin (You need to read this book, and any middle graders in your life need to read this book. It was SO GOOD!)

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde (Fforde's books never fail to be delightful and crazy!)

First Impressions by Charlie Lovett (I really enjoyed The Bookman's Tale, and this one is about Jane Austen, so I'll automatically love it more!)

Somehow we're halfway through the year already. I feel like a broken record on these wrap-up posts, because in every one, I say that I can't believe how fast the year is going. But it's still true!

Favorite book this quarter: ​Tie between A Hope Undaunted by Julie Lessman and The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. I had a surprising number of 5-star reads this quarter. It's hard to narrow it down!

The lure of the library has been strong this quarter. Only 37% of the books I read are books I own, although I have been listening to a fair amount of audiobooks, which come from the library. So that makes the number look worse than it is. Overall for the year, sixty percent of the books I've read are books I own. Still okay, but I'd like the swing the percentages back the other way for the third quarter and read a lot more of my own books!

We went on a little weekend getaway this weekend, and I discovered just how different traveling with a kid is. We went to the other side of the state, so my little guy got his first experience with Lake Michigan. He loved playing in the sand, but not so much in the cold waves. I did get a surprising amount of reading in, though. What else are you going to do when you have to be back at the hotel at 8:00 for bedtime, but you don't want to go to bed yourself yet?

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig (A fun read, but not my favorite of this series.)

The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove (Such a creative world!)

Edge of Extinction: The Ark Plan by Laura Martin (I heard about this one on the Read-Aloud Revival podcast, and I'm really looking forward to it!)

In keeping with my post last week called How Do You Read a Series?, in which I bemoaned the fact that I am terrible about finishing series, I decided to tweak the topic of this week's Top Ten Tuesday (or Theursday) post. Instead of talking about ten series I've been meaning to start, I'm posting about ten series that I've read the first book in, but somehow haven't made it to the second book yet. I have an equally long list of series where I've read the first two or three, but not any farther. And an even longer list of series that I want to start, but I feel like I should tie up some of these loose ends first. I may have a problem. . .​

I had some family visiting over the weekend, so I got a chance to play tourist in my area, which was fun. It was especially fun to see my little guy interacting with his second cousins. Lots of giggles!

Grace Alone by Ruth Meyer (This book was so good! Uplifting and romantic, with a twist in the middle you could never see coming!)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo (That's how it ends?? What??)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (I'm glad I read it, but it was a pretty tedious read. They drink, do drugs, sleep with women, and travel across the country. Repeatedly. I got the point by about page 30, but there were still 300 to go!)

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig (I'm trying to be a good reader - this is both a book I own and the next book in a series I'm taking forever to read. I'm looking forward to it.)

The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove (This is a thick book. Hopefully I can finish it by its due date at the end of the month!)

I am terrible at finishing series. I have so many series that I've started but never finished, even if there's only one more book to read. This might be because I can't get a hold of the next book, or it might be because the series didn't hold my attention enough to continue.

But very frequently, it's neither of these reasons. Case in point - 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson. I loved that book, and my library has book two on its shelves. But did I check it out the next time I visited the library, or even the time after that? No, I didn't. One of those times, I even saw it on the shelf, yet decided not to check it out. The same thing happened with The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter. As soon as I finished it, I was dying to read the next book - yet chose not to get it from the library. I read that book a year ago, and I still haven't checked out the sequel. I have a feeling the same thing will happen with The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. I just finished that book, and absolutely loved it. But will I get the next book from the library when I go in a couple of weeks? Past history shows that that's unlikely.

I can't figure out why this is. So I'm curious how you read a series. Do you devour all of the books as quickly as you can get them (assuming that all of the books have been published)? Do you space them out a little bit to savor the experience? Or do you let the series hang there for months or years until you get around to finishing it, if ever?

Summer is hitting us here in Michigan with a vengeance this week! High 80s and low 90s to look forward to all week long. We bought and installed a window air conditioner over the weekend, so we at least have one room in the house that is bearable. Time to break out the kiddie pool!

The White Princess by Philippa Gregory (The last third of the book picked up a bit and drew my interest back in, so I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would.)
​The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (Five star read!! Must get my hands on the next book in the series!)

Grace Alone by Ruth Meyer (Book club book for June. Please don't judge this book by its terrible cover. It's a fun Christian romance!)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo (I should be finishing this one up this week!)

On the Road by Jack Kerouac (This is a modern American classic that I always felt I should have read. So now I am!)

Okay, I'm a few days late on getting this post up. But this seemed like a fun topic - the ten books from whatever genre you choose that you most recently added to your TBR list. It'll be no surprise to anyone who is a regular visitor to Smiling Shelves that the genre I picked is travel narratives. I am always ready to read about travelling to a new place!