June 2026 Reading Update
June turned into a personal development month around here. I picked up a whole stack of growth and faith-focused books, finished a few of them, and have found myself in the middle of about five more. Part of it is that my library holds kept coming up at the worst possible times (I’ve been waiting on hold for a few of these for two months and now they’re all coming available at the same time).
The fiction side of the month saved me though. I read a twisty thriller, finally sat down with a classic I’d been meaning to get to for years, and started a YA series I bought for my kids and ended up reading first. If you missed it, here’s last month’s reading update, where I wrapped up one of my favorite series in a decade and kicked off most of the books I’m still working through now.
Here’s everything from June.
What I Finished in June
This was my fun, fast palate cleanser for the month. McFadden is the author behind The Housemaid, the thriller that seems to have made its way onto everyone’s nightstand, and The Tenant has the same quick, twisty energy. The setup: a guy loses his job, can’t make the mortgage on his too-perfect Manhattan brownstone, and rents out a room to a tenant who turns out to be a lot more than he bargained for. I wouldn’t call it deep literature, and I don’t think it’s trying to be. It’s a quick read, it’s fun, and a few of the turns actually surprised me, which is saying something because I usually see thriller twists coming. A good one to fly through on a hot afternoon.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I finally did it. I’d somehow gone all this time without reading Pride and Prejudice cover to cover, and I forgot, or maybe never fully realized, how genuinely sharp and funny Austen is. Lizzie Bennet is everything. The wit holds up two hundred years later, and there’s a reason this one has never gone out of print. If you’ve been putting it off the way I was, consider this your push.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
I bought the whole set on sale during Amazon Prime Day after a couple of different friends recommended the series for my kids (I’m always on the hunt for books my kids will get sucked into).
It’s a YA puzzle-box mystery with Knives Out energy. A teenage girl inherits a billionaire’s entire fortune from a man she’s never met, has to move into his riddle-filled mansion, and gets tangled up with his four grandsons while she tries to figure out why he chose her. It’s clever and fast and I read it all in a weekend.
One content note for the parents reading this, because I went in thinking about my own kids: there’s a character who uses a lot of made-up, substitute swear words throughout (“that foxing mother foxer” and “you want to fox him so bad”). It’s invented stand-in language rather than the real thing, but it’s constant, and not something I’m handing my 11 year old. I’ll keep reading the series myself in the meantime, and I’ll revisit in a few years for the kids. There’s “orgasmic” mashed potatoes, someone who describes herself as bisexual, and a lot of focus on sexual tension/feelings/attraction.
(the box set is still on sale here)
The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick
This was our book club pick this month, and I loved it. It follows four women in a 1960s Virginia suburb who start a book club and begin reading Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. The book is them slowly wake up to how much bigger they want their lives to be. I don’t personally relate to the experience of being a woman boxed in the way these characters were, but I still found it really insightful and well-written. I also loved how the growth of different characters wasn’t predictable (the horrid husband from the beginning? he might end up being the one who really sees his wife and her desires and comes around). Highly recommend it if your group is looking for something with substance.
Also, I liked the audio version of this one 🙂
A quick, bite-sized personal development read. One takeaway I liked from this is to focus on habits instead of goals (build the habits and you’ll achieve the goals). Some of the hiring/firing/ business practices didn’t apply to my life but it was still interesting to listen to.
The Six Habits of Growth by Brendon Burchard
Not super notable but I love having something on hand so habits and growth are top of mind. I also want to be better about writing down my takeaways because I finished this a few weeks ago and can’t tell you anhything other than I liked it and thought it was well done.
What I’m Currently Reading
The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane
I’m really enjoying this one. I got about halfway before my library hold expired, and I’ve already put it back on hold to finish. Cabane’s whole argument is that charisma isn’t something you’re born with, it’s a learnable set of behaviors. She breaks it down into three pieces: presence (being genuinely, fully in the moment with someone instead of half in your own head), power (how able you seem to affect the world around you), and warmth (whether people sense you have good intentions toward them). The presence part is interesting to me because you feeling uncomfortable often comes across as you liking people less or being less present which makes people like YOU less. I know in my life I have been guilty of assuming people don’t like me OR are stuck up when, in reality, they’re just insecure or having an off day. Similarly, I’ve had people think I’m being rude/cold/unkind intentionally when I’m uncomfortable or struggling. Cabane walks you through strategies to be at ease with yourself so you can be more fully present with others.
Some of it feels a liiiiitttlllee bit like “how to fake it” but the strategies are sound so far.
The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute
I’d started this one back in May on my brother’s recommendation and almost finished it in June. The framework that stuck with me is the idea of having a heart at peace versus a heart at war, the difference between seeing the people around you as people or seeing them as obstacles. It’s written as a story, which makes a fairly heavy concept go down easy, and it’s the kind of book I can already tell I’ll think about when I’m frustrated with someone and trying to figure out why.
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
I’m about halfway through this one. The central idea is that you are not the voice in your head, you’re the one listening to it, and a lot of our stress comes from believing every word that voice says. Singer’s big move is learning to observe your own thoughts and feelings without getting swept up in them, and to let things pass through instead of clinging to them.
I feel better when I’m applying the principles in this book (letting things go) but I still haven’t bought into it completely. The logic works for me on the small + medium things but … it seems like this book would be best coupled with something on boundaries. So far there has been no acknowledgement for things that should actually cause fear/pain/distress. I also read about the important of feeling your feelings/moving all the way through them and not just suppressing them. I can’t always tell if I’m really letting go of the feelings, per Singer’s suggestion, or supressing them and I’m in for a big eruption of emotion later.
We love Bob Goff in this family, so I’m always happy to be inside one of his books. I’m about halfway through Love Does, which is really a collection of short stories from his very adventurous life, all pointing back to one idea: that love is a verb. It’s not a feeling you sit with, it’s something you go out and do. His whole thing is whimsy and faith in action, and it’s impossible to read him and not feel a little more inspired to actually show up for the people around you. I’ve been listening to this one in the car with the kids and the older ones ask for it each time we get in the car.
The audiobook is on sale for under $5 right now!
The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo
Still working my way through this one, and I’m almost to the end now. It’s a daily book, one short meditation per day, so it’s been a slow and steady companion rather than something I sit and read in big chunks. I’ve liked having it around.
The Hawthorn Legacy (The Inheritance Games Book #2)
I’m just a few chapters into this one but its the same fun energy as book 1 and I’m really enjoying having a physical book to read. Why do I feel like a horrible mom if my airpods are plugged in and I’m tuning out my kids but I feel like supermom if my kids see me reading on the couch in the middle of the day?
What I Set Aside
Gifted and Distractible by Julie F. Skolnick
I’ve put this one down for now. Nothing against it, it just wasn’t the season for it, and I’d rather set it aside honestly than force my way through. I expect I’ll come back to it.
A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Emma Southon
Still parked from last month. Life got in the way, and it hasn’t called me back yet.
What’s Up Next
Atomic Habits by James Clear, which I’m planning to reread.
That’s my June. Tell me what you read this month, I’m always looking for the next thing to add to the stack. Leave me a comment with the best book you finished, (or if you have a rec for a series I can hand my kids with no faux f words in it).