Last month we reflected on our best reads, and we are keeping it up this month. Here are our best reads for June.

Rachel’s Reads

Blogs

• I wrote a guest post for Her Packing List, reviewing my Olympus EP-2 camera.
• I was also interviewed on Her Packing List about my Osprey Aura 65L backpack!
• Brendan’s Adventures looks into how much a Eurail pass can really save you, and Sherry from Ottsworld gives some advice on using a Eurail pass.
• Mark from Migrationology has a delicious looking photo essay about American food.
• Michael of Time Travel Turtle wrote about San Marino, which seems like a fascinating place – I want to check it out!
• Anil from foXnoMad wrote some interesting facts about Moldova, a country I’ve never considered.
• Beers & Beans convinced me to go to B&H Photo the next time I’m in NYC.
• Amanda of A Dangerous Business did a great writeup on the neighborhoods of San Francisco.
• Mike of Fevered Mutterings wrote an excellent piece about different ways to start your story, which I’d very much like to try out.
• Steph of Twenty-Something Travel wrote about how to tell if a place is safe to visit. This is something that was very pertinent in my decision to move to Korea!
• I always enjoy the random observation lists on Never Ending Voyage, and this one on Thailand is no exception.
• Adventurous Kate made me decide to add Istria to my itinerary for Croatia.

Books - I only finished 4 books in June. I was really busy this month. I also took my time with the Mongolia book.

• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. Yes, Jeff wrote about this book before. I can concur that it’s a very good, fascinating read. I learned so much, and I’m more excited than ever to see Mongolia.
• Undead and Unwed and Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson. These are the first two books of the “Undead” series. There are currently 11. It’s a cute romance series about vampires, in the same vein as the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris, except that the main character is actually a vampire. Very light and quick reads. If you like the Sookie books, you’ll probably enjoy it.
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. This book is incredibly fascinating! It goes over several different things that are done with human cadavers, and the history of those things. It’s also written in a pretty humorous way. If you’re not too squeamish, I highly recommend reading it.

Jeff’s Reads

Links

• Here’s an important concept: Public opinion polls are pointless except in a few select circumstances. If most of the public is against the healthcare law, but also in favor of any particular part of the law you ask about, maybe the public just doesn’t know enough to give a useful opinion. The same goes for many other complex issues.
• Infinite Jest made into a play. I read Infinite Jest, it was excruciating. It’s one of the longest novels in the English language, every bit of it is difficult to read, and almost nothing happens.
• What travel guides say about the US. Some things that seem normal to you seem exceptional to visitors.
• A short readable article on why news reporting of scientific studies is very often extremely misleading.
• Why doesn’t rain knock mosquitoes out of the air? Just watch this slow motion video.

Books – I read only 2 books this month. I can appreciate reading a lot, but I can appreciate reading something slowly as well.

• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. This book is basically several interconnected short stories that take place in vastly different time periods. The author likes to play around massively with what kind of language is used in each section which can take a few pages to get used to. It’s really cleverly done. Of course, you’ll probably hear more about it in the next few months. I just found out that a Cloud Atlas movie is coming out later this year.

What were your best reads this month?