Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge - June Update: Birds, Beasts, and Relatives & The Mists of Avalon

Time flies when you're having fun!  I can't believe that I've already completed the tasks for the June section of Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge!  This month I completed tasks eleven and twelve which required me to read a book that is set more than 5,000 miles from my location and a fantasy novel.  For these two tasks, I elected to read Birds, Beasts, and Relatives (Corfu Trilogy #2) by Gerald Durrell and The Mists of Avalon (Avalon #1) by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  Read on to see my mini reviews and what's next for July:

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This is the sequel to one of my favorite memoir's, My Family and Other Animals, and it's about time I continue this series.  Corfu is approximately 5,100 miles from my home in Ohio.  By the way, the 2005 tv movie adaptation of the first book in the Corfu Trilogy is delightful.  This sequel is totally addicting and I loved being back with the eccentric Durrell family. No matter how ridiculous things managed to get for them and the real characters that they meet you can't help but smile. Overall, I don't think I fell in love with book two to the same degree as I did for the first in the trilogy, but it was still wonderful. I need to try book three, The Garden of the Gods soon.




I read this memoir from July 8 - July 10, 2017 and my review is also on Goodreads.

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What an excellent retelling of Arthurian legend from the women in the classic legends perspective.  I don't know why I put this off for so long - it sat on my shelf gathering dust for far too long.  This feminist retelling is a must read.  I know, it's 876 pages long, but it's worth tackling.  I've never seen an Arthurian retelling quite like this one - I particularly enjoyed how The Merlin and The Lady of the Lake are the titles of an office with multiple people fulfilling those roles.  Otherwise, it's fascinating to see what Bradley makes of this legendary cast of characters.  If only it were easier to keep track of the multitudes of characters, though, since several of them have quite similar names.  Plus, I definitely had Merlin and Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the back of my mind the entire time while I was reading this.

I read this novel from June 15 - 23, 2017 and my review is also on Goodreads.

Next up for the July portion of the Challenge:

13. Read a nonfiction book about technology.

My choice - Elon Musk: Inventing the Future by Ashlee Vance - Elon Musk is definitely one of the most interesting innovators of today.  Plus, he's just about the closest thing to a real life Tony Stark that there is. P.S. I've actually just finished this - my library hold on the audiobook came in quite a bit sooner than expected!

14. Read a book about war.

My choice - Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith - When it comes to women's involvement in WWII, I love learning about the WASPs, the Women Airforce Service Pilots, so this sounds like it will be fascinating.

Thanks as always for visiting my blog, and perhaps even commenting below!  Have you ever taken part in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge?  Have you read any of these books before, and, if so, what did you think of them?