June 2012 Wrap-Up

June has been extremely busy here at Tony's Reading List.  I've had a few more ARCs than usual, and I've also been trying to fit in some books to take part in Dutch Lit Month, Indigenous Literature Week and, of course, the Japanese Literature Challenge 6.  On top of that, I had my most successful post ever (on translated fiction), and I even managed to knock off the final book from the IFFP 2012 longlist.  Now that's what I call a big month...

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Total Books Read: 11

Year-to-Date: 59

New: 11

Rereads: 0

From the Shelves: 3
Review Copies: 3

From the Library: 4

On the Kindle: 1 (1 Review Copy)

Novels: 5

Novellas: 5

Short Stories: 1

Non-English Language: 9 (3 Spanish, 2 Japanese, Danish, Icelandic, Italian, Dutch)

In Original Language: 0

Murakami Challenge: 0 (0/3)

Aussie Author Challenge: 1 (5/12)

Australian Women Writers Challenge: 1 (5/10)

IFFP 2012 Longlist: 1 (15/15) - COMPLETED :)
Japanese Literature Challenge 6: 2 (2/1) 

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Books read in June were:

1) The Wild Geese by Ogai Mori

2) The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul

3) The Islands by Carlos Gamerro

4) The Whispering Muse by Sjón

5) Legacy by Larissa Behrendt

6) New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani

7) Lost Paradise by Cees Nooteboom

8) Once Were Warriors by Alan Duff

9) Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

10) The Frost on his Shoulders by Lorenzo Mediano
11) Modern Japanese Literature edited by Donald Keene

Tony's Turkey for June is: Larissa Behrendt's Legacy

Perhaps a tad harsh, but Legacy was a lot weaker than the rest of the books this month.  It was overly preachy, dull at times, and compared to my other book for Indigenous Literature Week it was fairly anodyne, despite some of the content matter.  That makes two turkeys for Christmas so far this year...

Tony's Recommendations for June are: Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors
and Miguel de Cervante's Don Quixote

Even in a reputedly inferior translation, Don Quixote is a magnificent book, a must-read for anyone with any literary pretentions (or just a yearning for a rollocking read!).  However, I couldn't overlook Alan Duff's magnificent portrayal of Maori life, so for the first time this year, the honours are shared :)

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Looking forward to July, I'm hoping to read more books for Spanish Lit Month.  That should be fairly simple though as I have another few ARCs of contemporary Spanish-language literature to get through - be careful what you wish for... ;)