June! I’ve got a vegetable garden this year, and flowers too. This makes such a bright and pretty yard to look at. I think I should be out there painting things.
Word of the Month
Renewal
Bible Verse of the Month
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” – (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT)
This month’s reading diary is at the bottom of this page, after the book list.
My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/lindajm
★ – I’m reading it.
✓ – I finished reading it. Yay!
⇗ – Still reading at the end of the month.
⇓ – I did not like it or finish it. (DNF = Did Not Finish)
∅ – Stalled – I started but didn’t finish. (Soft-DNF)
Challenges
1. June on the Range – This will be my third year of participating in June on the Range, a Booktube event for reading Westerns.
2. Summer of Sport – This is my second year of co-hosting the Summer of Sport.
3. Reading Books I Already Own – During 2025 I commit to reading books I’ve already bought, and not buying more… hopefully, for the most part. Progress: 14/100
4. The Visual Theology Christian Reading Challenge – 37/73
5. The 2025 Biblical Studies Challenge – this challenge asks us to read one book monthly on a topic one would study if lucky enough to attend a Bible college. The June topic is Heaven. I’ll be reading Heaven by Randy Alcorn.
Finished Reading This Month
✓ Western Nonfiction: The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend, by Glenn Frankel
This was recommended to me after last June, and I bought a paperback copy. It is about a girl captured by Comanches at the age of nine when her Texas farm was raided in 1836. The first half of the book is about her and her son, Quanah. The second half of the book is about the novel based on her life, and the movie, The Searchers, starring John Wayne. My review.
✓ Survival: Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World’s Greatest Scientific Expedition, by Stephen R. Bown
This book was about the first and second Kamchatka expeditions led by Vitus Bering. Review
✓ Slave Narrative Memoir: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs
I’m very close to the end, but not close enough. I can finish reading this in June.
Update: I finished reading this on the first day of the month. A wonderful memoir, worth reading. Review
Reading Intentions
∅ Western Memoir: A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, by Isabella Lucy Bird
I hope this book works for both June on the Range and the Summer of Sport.
☆ Western Fiction: The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt
This looks good and a lot of other Booktubers participating in June on the Range are reading it – so I’m following the pack and hoping for a good read. (In my case, an audio-read.)
☆ Classic Western Fiction: Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey
I meant to read this last year but read a different Zane Grey instead. Hopefully I’ll get through it now.
★ Historical Journal: The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California To which is Added a Description of the Physical Geography of California, with Recent … from the Latest and Most Authentic Sources, by John C. Fremont
I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time. I’d like to start it this month during June on the Range.
★ Christian Nonfiction: Heaven: A Comprehensive Guide to Everything the Bible Says About Our Eternal Home, by Randy Alcorn
I’m reading this for this month’s Biblical Studies Challenge.
★ Biography: Truman, by David McCullough
This book is for the McCullough Readalong.
★ Christian Amish Fiction: Her Brother’s Keeper, by Beth Wiseman
I started this in April and read more in May. Maybe I’ll finish it in June.
Did Not Finish – aka: DNF
Nothing DNF’ed yet during June.
My June 2025 Reading Diary
June 1 – My son’s birthday!
June 5 – I like to talk about writing, apparently.
The story I read is on this website: A Cake Delivery Girl’s Bear Story
June 11 – A recap of books I read last month.
June 12 – I decided to talk about my Nanowrimo experiences.
June 16 – The month has been busy and distracting. My older son got married this last weekend! Plus I had to take a trip to Yreka for my driver’s license renewal and to get my eyes examined. New glasses are being made now.
Meanwhile … I framed it! I liked this painting so much it is now framed and hanging on the wall in my greatroom:
I’m not doing so well with my reading this month. Too many distractions, like all those riots that have been on my TV screen, and now another war. Terrible, terrible!! I’ve made progress in reading Truman which is an exceptionally thick book, and I’m reading Island of the Blue Foxes on audio, and The Seekers, a nonfiction western saga. The truth hurts. But it seems I’m into nonfiction this year so there are things I’m wanting to learn about.
I got a new cowboy hat for my June on the Range videos! Here’s the unboxing of it:
June 30 – This has been a terrible month for reading, for me. I got too emotionally involved with some of the news stories this month. I finished only three books. Two were lengthy.
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