Everything I Read in June, 2026

June:

67. The Tripods: The White Mountains by John Christopher (The Tripods #1) - An alien takeover of the world happened at least 100 years ago. Will and his family live in a village in England that works much like a Medieval village. His only friend is about to turn 14 and go through a "capping" that ushers him into manhood. Capping is done by the Tripods and for some individuals it doesn't work; they're known as Vagrants and the capping messes up their brains. When Will speaks to someone who is pretending to be a Vagrant and finds out what the capping really involves, he decides to escape. What follows is a journey across the English Channel and through what used to be Europe to get to the White Mountains, where others who have escaped before capping live. But, it will be a perilous journey. The first in a children's series and I'm excited to read on. Published in 1967, the author admits that he realized he'd accidentally stolen the idea of Tripods from H. G. Wells after submitting the book for publication as he'd read The War of the Worlds in childhood and completely forgotten about it. I wondered! But, the tripods are the only ditto; the rest is unique. A super-quick adventure; the pages flew. 

68. Cat + Crazy, Vol. 1 by Wataru Nadatani - The first in a manga series tells about a girl who has a bit of a crush on her classmate but then she follows him to find out why he stops every morning on his way to school and discovers that he's taking photos of cats and writing down notes. He's cat crazy! Kensuke Fuji can't have a cat, though, so he just photographs and admires them. When a favorite stray goes missing, he goes in search of the missing cat, saves it from a murder of crows, and comes across a cat whisperer. How can Fuji learn to be a cat whisperer? The cat guru sets him a task and agrees to be his mentor if he passes. The girl, meanwhile, becomes more of a side character who at first thinks these cat lovers are crazy (she has a dog) but eventually starts to understand their love of cats, to a certain extent. Loads of fun by the same author who has done the Cat + Gamer books, so the art is first rate. 

69. Brothers in Arms: A True WWII Story of Wotjek the Bear and the Soldiers Who Loved Him by Susan Hood and Jamie Green - A children's picture book that tells the true story of a bear found as a cub, bought for a young woman, then donated to a group in the Polish Army who were mostly teenagers and orphans, themselves. It tells about how Wotjek, who was very gentle, became a friend and comrade to the soldiers, wrestled with them, played with the dog of another group of soldiers, and accompanied them to Monte Cassino for the battle that opened up a path to Rome and helped facilitate the end of war in Europe. It's interesting but I was actually a little disappointed and I'm not sure why. However, the author has included lots of extras: photos, a timeline, and additional resources. I'd be curious to read this story in better detail; that might have been the problem, that I wanted to know more than a children's picture book had to offer, because I did find the story interesting and the illustrations were great. 

70. The Tripods: The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher (The Tripods #2) - Continuing on with this series, Will has been living in the White Mountains for months with others who escaped being Capped by the Tripods and thus becoming subservient to them. There, he has been training for games that will determine who is to be taken into the city of the Tripods to serve as their slaves. By going inside, the group hopes that some will be able to learn the weaknesses of the Tripods. Will is one of two boys chosen to be slaves; one to a cruel and abusive alien Master, the other to one who treats him decently. In this second entry to the Tripods series, they will find out whether the Tripods are actual creatures or mobile units, where the aliens came from, and their plans for Earth. But, will either of the boys survive long enough to figure out a way to escape from the domed city to share what they know? This book was more difficult to read because the aliens are gross and the boys go through a lot of hardship but it's part journey, part mystery as they seek answers to help them fight back against aliens who have been in charge for over a century. I didn't like the experience of reading as much, but still . . . this is a pretty fun and adventurous children's series and it's worth wading through for the unfolding of the aliens' tale. 

71. The Tripods: The Pool of Fire by John Christopher (The Tripods #3) - It's incredibly unusual for me to read series books bang-bang-bang, one after the other, but here we are. I found the first book in The Tripods series so adventurous I had to keep going and then I wanted to know how it all ended. In The Pool of Fire, the aftermath of Will and Fritz's time as slaves to the aliens is shown as the Uncapped refugees gather what's been discovered about the aliens and make a plan to fight back that involves a team of Uncapped returning to the domed city while two teams do the same to alien cities in other parts of the world. There are successes and failures and a lot of the people they've recruited to help in the fight are killed. Overall, I found the ending satisfying. This particular book skips over some large gaps in time because they have to plan and prepare but, like the rest of the series, it's adventurous and quick reading. This is the final book in the original trilogy but there's also a prequel in the boxed set and I will read that soon. 

72. The Tripods: When the Tripods Came by John Christopher (The Tripods #0.5) - Well, how's that for "soon". I decided I wanted to read the prequel before moving my focus on to other in-progress books and I'm glad I did. Because When the Tripods Came happens 100 years before The White Mountains and the author wrote it in 1988 (the others were written in 1967 and 1968) the contemporary setting has home computers, television sets that everyone owns, and space travel. When several Tripods show up on Earth, not much happens, apart from a Tripod in England destroying a farmhouse and killing the inhabitants. Laurie and his friend Andy witness the destruction but soon it's over. Not long after, a new TV show about the Tripods is aired and people begin acting oddly, including Laurie's half-sister, Angela. 

Trippies, as the TV show's addicts are called, become violent and then eventually leave to hang out around the Tripods that have reappeared. Because the local doctor figured out what was happening to Angela, Laurie's family understands the danger. Laurie's stepmom, Ilse, is in Switzerland and it seems safe there, so they go on a dangerous journey. But, when it becomes apparent that no place is safe, they go into hiding. This story brings the original full circle, back to the "White Mountains" of the first book (the Alps). I loved it and found the ending very satisfying, although it's much shorter than the rest and clearly the author didn't originally intend to write a prequel, since it took him 20 years to get around to it. No problem; it was nicely done. To be honest, I'd love to read everything written by John Christopher, now, but I will be selective. 

73. Cat + Gamer, Vol. 2 by Wataru Nadatani - This is the second entry in the manga about a gaming-obsessed young lady who adopts a kitten and a reread for me. In this book, Musubi starts climbing things and causing havoc, so Riko goes to the store for advice and ends up buying an elaborate cat tree then later visiting the shopkeeper at home to see how she's set up spaces for her 3 cats and 1 dog. Finally, Riko gets a visit from her sister, whom she seldom sees, and they come to an understanding. I first read this series via Hoopla and then decided I wanted to own a handful of the physical books and I'm glad I bought them. 

74. The Disasters by M. K. England - 4 young people who have washed out of a space program on the moon are preparing to head home to Earth when they get caught up in a dangerous plot and barely escape from the pursuers who want them dead. When they figure out what's happening and what those who tried to kill them are intending to do, they get help forming another plan. Now, 5 young people are out to save colonists on other planets from a deadly plot. Will they survive to save the day? Very action-packed, which I loved, but this YA sci-fi had a little too much shoulder-nudging, grinning, wink-wink innuendo. I would have preferred a book that just focused on the action. I did, however, like the LGBTQ representation and the diversity of the crew. And, the ending was very satisfying. 

75. Empty World by John Christopher - I liked The Tripods series so much that I decided to give another book by this author a try. Empty World is a pandemic book, fair warning. But, it begins with a terrible automobile accident. Teenaged Neil Miller is the only person in his family to survive the crash that kills his brother, sister, and parents. No longer interested in making friends or being mischievous, he chooses to move in with his grandparents in a tiny English village rather than go to boarding school. But, then a plague strikes. After the first round in India ends, scientists learn a bit about how it kills, but they're not able to stop the second round of the virus from becoming a worldwide pandemic. At first, it attacks only old people but then people of all ages begin to sicken and die. After a time, Neil is one of very few people left in the whole of England. He must learn to fend for himself but what he wants more than anything is to find other survivors. What he discovers is that loneliness can drive you crazy (I won't spoil how that happens). While not as adventurous as The Tripods, there's a clarity of writing and plot to John Christopher's writing that I appreciate. Empty World was probably Young Adult before the category existed; it's a quick and easy read. I'm quite anxious to read more of his work, hopefully for adults. 

Side note: Part of Empty World takes place in London and is fun reading if you're a fan of London and know it pretty well as the author has main character Neil walking (and sometimes driving) through London. 

76. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler - I've heard of this book but only recently heard someone talking about it and decided I wanted to read it. In rhyming text, it tells the story of a mouse who manages to hold off animals like a fox and an owl who think he might be a tasty treat by telling them of the fictional gruffalo. But, when a real gruffalo shows up, he must find a clever way to keep it from eating him, as well. And, it's definitely clever. I wish my grandchildren were the right age for this book. 

77. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 3 by Beth Brower - The third installment in this charming series has Emma dropping in on her tenant while he works on his photography studio and getting to know him better (although still not enough to satisfy her curiosity), running into the Duke of Islington repeatedly, bending to her aunt's whims to make cousin Arabella look an even better prospect for marriage, searching for clues to a hunt that will lead to earning tickets to a local production of Julius Caesar, and dealing with Archibald after he's injured and blames her. Absolutely delightful. This series gets better with every volume. I don't think I've given any of them less than 5 stars. 

This is Percy in the flatlay photo:

And, the new kid, Pippin (story below):

Fiona is still hanging in there at 16 and hunting fishy mouse (everything she hunts is some form of "mouse":

OMG, what a month! We left old lady cat Fiona and kitten Sir Percy with our son for a long weekend trip and then came home, took Percy for his next round of shots, and asked if they had any kittens at the veterinary clinic because Percy needed a buddy. They had 8! Goodness. From this lot, I made the hasty decision to get a second orange/ginger kitten, this one more of a standard tabby with white socks and some white on his face. The rest of the month has been a literal "herding cats" situation. It is crazy around here and my reading suffered. But, what a great reason for it to suffer! We are having such fun. 

We didn't settle on a name quite as easily with our second kitten. I wanted to name him Henry the Usurper because Percy was a little put out, at first. Husband wanted to name him Pete. We decided he's a redhead, as any ginger kitty, so we looked up Irish names. Pippin was our favorite from the list we found and it seemed to fit, plus "Percy and Pippin" sound cute together. The Lord of the Rings fans I know are big fans of his name (I'm embarrassed to say that I've only read The Hobbit, although the LOTR series is on my 2026 You Should Have Read This Years Ago pile). So, now we have 3. I still ache over the loss of my beloved Isabel but there is a great deal of laughter and chaos in our home and that helps. 

So . . . books read. I started the month reading the first in the Tripods series and then just kept going, occasionally inserting some other easy read in for a change of pace. Nothing I read this month was heavy or even all that long so my pile is not a big one. Hopefully, as we adjust to our busy cat-herding lifestyle, my reading will improve. It's been very good for us; Isabel's loss was a hard one and kittens are both distracting and a lot of work. I know it won't always be this chaotic. 

How was your reading month? 

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