BOOKS READ:

The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3) by Dan Brown
Dawwang: Mga Kababaihang Tagapagtanggol ng Kordilyera by Gantala Press
It’s Not Summer Without You (Summer, #2) by Jenny Han

ONGOING:

The Secret Lives of Introverts: Our Hidden Worlds by Jenn Granneman (50% progress)
The Philippines Is Not A Small Country by Gideon Lasco

BOOKS BOUGHT:

Conjugal Dictatorship by Primitivo Mijares
Dawwang by Gantala Press (Illustrated by Nina Martinez)
The Only Child by Mi-ae Seo
Genesis by Karin Slaughter
I See You by Clare Mackintosh
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Public Has the Right to Know by Bienvenido A. Tan Jr.
Five Hundred Years Without Love by Alex Lacson
The Philippines Is Not A Small Country by Gideon Lasco
Twice Blessed by Ninotchka Rosca
Presidential Plunder: The Quest for the Marcos Ill-Gotten Wealth by Jovito R. Salonga

I’m back with another wrap up discussion of the books that I’ve read this month. And for the month of June, which was quite a busy month for me given that it’s my husband’s and brother’s birthdays, I am happy that I got to squeeze in three books. Though one of them was a comic book of sorts, but still.

So the first book that I finished was my carry over from last month, which was The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3) by Dan Brown. I have also posted my review on that here on my blog. Though I enjoyed reading and flipping through its pages, I have to say that it’s my least favorite Dan Brown novel. It dragged a bit in the beginning unlike his previous works, but it picked up pace somewhere in the middle. I had fun learning about the Masonic brotherhood though. Rated it 3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The second book was the comic book that I’ve mentioned. It’s a non-fiction comic book called Dawwang that tells the story of the women who have fought for the Cordillera region in the Philippines. Reading Dawwang made me realize that there are so much more happening in our country. We think we know everything, yet there are battles that we do not know of, battles that we should be well-aware of so that we can help these indigenous peoples fight for their right. I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars. I might have mentioned this a couple of months back, but I’d like to mention it again: part of my personal reading resolution is to read at least one non-fiction, and these days, I’m more inclined to reading non-fiction books about the history of my country because we badly need to write and talk about it in order to let the next generation know of the atrocities and human rights abuse that we have suffered from — so that they would not allow it to happen once again, and in order for individuals like me to talk about it and share facts on social media and the world wide web, we should relearn our history and refresh our minds of the things that we have studied in school before. As a Filipino, I believe that it is my duty to spread the truth and fight disinformation.

Lastly, I finished reading the second book to the Summer trilogy, It’s Not Summer Without You (Summer, #2) by Jenny Han. The trilogy has been one of the highlights of my teenage years and has been my favorite back then. Given that the series aired this month, I wanted to first reread the whole trilogy and refresh my mind of the events in the book. Also, I was trying to gauge my feelings towards it, if I still feel the same way about the characters and the story itself. Gladly, I still enjoyed the first and second book which I have written my review here on my blog. I rated It’s Not Summer Without You (Summer, #2) 4 out of 5 stars.

I’m currently reading The Philippines Is Not A Small Country by Gideon Lasco. I even brought it with me during our trip to Bohol to take photos of the book by showcasing how large our country is. So excited to share my thoughts on this because it’s really beautifully written.

How about you? How many books have you read this month? Any titles that stood out? Let me know in the comments!