July 2026 Reading Recap
The past two months have been quite busy. Summer reading at the library was in full swing which coincided with the mid-year grant writing season. So, my work life has been a mixture of helping with programming with lots of grant writing in between. As such, I haven't felt like doing too much personal writing in my free time, but that means I've been reading instead.
I also rewatched all of The Big Bang Theory, which was a nice brain break. I've started Young Sheldon but haven't gotten too far into it yet. I also watched the first episode of the new spinoff series Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. It's stupid but hilarious.
I have been blessed to spend the past two weeks on vacation in Puerto Rico visiting with my wife's family, and enjoying my fair share of Piña Coladas and tostones. The time off from work has been much appreciated. I've even gotten some writing accomplished. We will travel back to Texas in a few days. Back to the real world of work, school, grocery shopping, and cooking dinners. So, I thought now would be a good time to sit down and reflect on the books I've read over the past month.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
My wife recommended I read this one after experiencing a bit of a writer's slump. Not my usual reading, but I enjoyed hearing about Gilbert’s own writing experience. The failures, the struggles, the eventual unexpected success. Dogged determination is what it boils down to. Write even when you don't feel like writing.
My favorite line, and piece of advice, from the book was: “Fold your dream into your everyday life.”
I'll let you decide what that looks like for you.
Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Early
I've been reading this one off and on for a few months now. I'm still not finished with it, but I've enjoyed the parts I've read. I've used quotes from it in my past two blog posts. I'll be finishing it up this month.
On writing Well by William Zinsser
I grabbed this on a recent trip to Half Price Books. That trip sparked a whole blog post in and of itself thanks to a piece of advice from this book. It’s more than 30 years old but packed full of quality writing advice. My copy is slowly filling up with underlines, highlights, and dog-eared pages.
Of Blood and Fire by Ryan Cahill
I kept seeing this book series recommended everywhere so I bought the first one to see what all the fuss was about. It shares a lot of similarities to Christopher Paolini's Eragon. Like a lot, a lot. Honestly it felt like I was reading Eragon again.
Farm boy finds dragon egg. Egg hatches, boy becomes dragon rider, boy goes on adventure trying to avoid an evil empire who killed all the dragons millennia ago, boy meets elves, boy meets giants, boy fights a shade-esque creature, boy convinces dwarves to finally fight against the empire that's been repressing them for centuries. Very similar to Eragon, indeed.
However, it was good and I did enjoy it. I've heard the plot really becomes its own unique thing in the subsequent books. So, I will be picking up the next one to see where it goes. Also, I love that giants are featured here. I've long believed that we don't get enough giants in fantasy. I've slowly seen that changing in recent years. I'm here for it.
Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves
This fucking book. I checked out the audiobook on a whim because I was traveling. The premise of Death being some guy living next door intrigued me. I didn't expect it to destroy me. I thought Death would fall in love and cease his work or something. Nope. Great book, but damn. The ending is REALLY good.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I read this when it first came out. I think it took me about two sittings back then to get through it. My wife and I recently saw the movie, which I really enjoyed. I read it again this month for a book club I'm leading for the library. It's still good the second time.
I think that about wraps up my reading for the month.
I picked up a copy of Iron John by Robert Bly from Libería Labertino in Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico yesterday. It’s been on my TBR list for a while now. I thought it was pretty awesome to find a copy in a little book store made up primarily of books in Spanish. They had one small shelf of books in English. I started reading it this morning. Very interesting. Expect something longer form on it in the future.
Also, the guy that worked there used to be a librarian. We had a pretty cool conversation about books, early literacy, and how we both ended up in libraries.
Until next month.