As usual, July was another month of ups and downs. The temperatures have been really warm, so I’ve spent a lot of time at home. The humidity has been pretty high, and there was even a day where there was an orange haze all over my area from wildfires in Canada. Mom and I have spent a lot of time in the house, although I do go outside daily to water the outside plants. We planted four tomato plants in a raised planter, and two have been growing up a storm while the other two seemed to be dying. I like to name my plants, so we had Tommy, Timmy, Tammy, and Tara Tomato. Unfortunately, Tara died while Timmy resurrected and has now become the largest of the plants. He got renamed as Lazarus.

A lot of my time this month has been devoted to taking care of Mom, trying to get assistance that she needs, and attending appointments for both of us. Consequently, I didn’t do as much reading as I would have liked. Mom is requiring more assistance each month, and caretaking is not an easy job. I chose to not have children because I know myself enough to know that I am not selfless enough to be able to put a child as my top priority, but now it feels like I got a kid to care for anyway. I have three siblings, and not a single one of them really does anything helpful for her, so everything falls on me whether I am capable and willing or not.

ChatGPT has been a lifesaver, since it offers a hack to create ADHD-friendly to-do lists. I create a new list each day, and try to focus on whatever I can get done throughout the day, after prioritizing my appointments. It has really helped me identify what strategies work best for me, and what doesn’t, allowing me to recalibrate so I can maximize each day. However, it always feels like no matter how much progress I make, I barely make a dent in the list of things that are expected of me. One thing I have been learning to do is to be accepting of my fatigue and know my limits. If I try to do too much in one day, I run out of energy and am just crushed by fatigue for the next day or so. 

I would have liked to be able to read more, but I simply don’t have the time or the energy after spending an entire day dealing with my mom and her needs. Prioritizing comes into play a lot, and I am able to get the super important stuff done (usually) and forgive myself on low-energy days. 

There were some really great reads in July, although I have been slogging through an ARC since July 10th, and I’m only about 25% in. While it is fascinating, I might have to DNF this one for now, since it’s entirely too slow moving even though I do enjoy learning about the characters. 

Here’s some of my July highlights:

• My reading took me to Washington, DC; Chicago, Illinois; the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; Cambridge University, England; Montana; Vatican City; Bushwick, Brooklyn; and Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
• I read 11 books, with no DNFs. 
• There was a mix of really good books and ones that were just meh for me. 

Here’s my breakdown of monthly totals for July: 

July Totals:

• Books read: 11
• Books DNF’d: 0

Genres Read:

• Cozy Mystery: 2
• Fantasy: 1
• Horror: 2
• Literary Fiction: 1
• Magical Realism: 1
• Mystery: 1
• Thriller: 2
• True Crime: 1

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 0
• 2026 releases: 11

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 10
• Nonfiction: 1

Format Read:

• Print: 2
• Digital: 4
• Audio: 5

Age Range:

• Adult: 11
• YA: 0
• MG: 0

My favorite book of the month was The Tuxedo Society by Paul Rudnick.

Here’s what I read in July:

1. The Tuxedo Society by Paul Rudnick (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. The Mortal Enemy Murder Club by Gloria Chao (Hu Done It #2) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. Murder at the Campfire Cookout by Darci Hannah (A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery #7) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains by Reena McCarty (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. Sisters of a Halved Heart by Nayantara Roy (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
4. The Vampire’s Cult by Chet Hardin (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

3 stars

1. The Way It Haunted Him by Laura R. Samotin (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. The Whisper by Chelsea Iversen (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. Honey by Imani Thompson (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

How was your reading in July? Did you do anything fun?