First half of the year is gone, my brain still claims it is March, despite the beautiful weather in the last two months. Some obvious disconnect between my perception of time and what is actually going on, but I won’t be bothered about it, clearly it is the world that goes too quick not my brain too slow.

I started exercising again and as always I hate waking up early to do it, but when I’m done I feel fantastic, this emotional down and up repeats every morning, because somehow I still have not developed this fixed association: exercise=endorphins. I hope I’ll get there at some point, but now I still cannot honestly say I like exercising, I actually hate it, I like the high after 😉

Reading this month was definitely better than in previous months, looks like I needed a slow start to the year and now things are picking up. I’m participating in 20 Books of Summer challenge hosted by Cathy at 746books, and I’m making good progress with nine books finished and one DNF, I am however falling behind on the reviews, as only got is published so far. Focusing on the positive – I am reading more and enjoying it, reviews will come. You can see my list as it grows here.

I am falling behind on my 12 bookshops for 12 months challenge, this month Word on the Water was up. I had time, the weather was nice, but somehow I just don’t want to go there, so today I did some soul searching to find out why. Apparently the reason is that it is so small and there’s no space, my brain literally cringes at the thought of such small space with all the books and possibly people, that may even want to chat! I guess I am just not in sociable mood those days so again in the spirit of taking it easy I am letting myself off the hook. I am writing this post on a Saturday, last day of June and I think I will resort to a little cheat. I plan to go to Greenwich Park today to enjoy reading a book in the sun on the grass and on the way there I am going to pop in to Greenwich Watersones, as some would say ‘my local’. I know it is a chain but I still like the vibe in the Greenwich branch and they definitely have more space than Word on the Water.

This is what I read this month, you can see there is a very strong Spanish theme going on, my brain is definitely preparing for vacation in September. I do go to Portugal in August too, but it was a lot more difficult to hunt down books related to Portugal, I will give it another shot today.

37. In Her Absence – Antonio Munoz Molina (r)
36. The Tomb in Seville – Norman Lewis (r)
35. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson (r)
34. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera (r)
33. Spain – Jan Morris (r)
32. A Ja Żem Jej Powiedziała… – Katarzyna Nosowska (r)
31. Wish You Were Here: England on Sea – Travis Elborough (r)
30. The Blind Man of Seville – Robert Wilson (r)
29. A Death in Valencia – Jason Webster (r)
28. How to Be Both – Ali Smith – DNF (r)

What have you been up to in June? How do you motivate yourself to stay healthy and move more (I know lying down with a book is always a more sexy option for me)?

Photo by Violetta Kaszubowska @vkphotospace.com