May and June Roundups

I have been in Italy for over a month and I had planned on posting on my tablet from there but it wouldn't let me post pictures, so instead of the 'sporadic posts' that I mentioned I have been missing unintentionally, but not permanently. Now I am back and service will resume as normal.
While I was away too, just after my arrival, it was The Octogon's 5th Birthday on the 18th May, so I was pretty disappointed not to be able to put something on here. Five years... wow!
I was living in Florence while I did a language course to learn Italian, it was the best fun and a delight to have the excuse to pretend that I lived in my favourite city. Part of me has stayed there, I felt so at home, and hope to go back as soon as I can.
In the meantime, did I do much reading...?
Read - one book. Yes, only one!
Completed -
The Gathering by Anne Enright
Currently Reading -
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Literary Genius edited by Joseph Epstein
Adventures of a Waterboy by Mike Scott
The Natural Navigator by Tristan Gooley
The Last Elf by Silvana De Mari
TBR Pile - currently at 127 (according to GoodReads) with 2 added...
If This Is A Man / The Truce by Primo Levi
The Drowned and The Saved by Primo Levi
Challenges -
Read The Gathering by Anne Enright, winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize, which fits with #8 of my challenges to read a prizewinner.
Reading The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks to fit in with #6 of my own challenges, to read at least one title acquired in a book swap at work. It also seemed a fitting tribute to the author who died earlier this year too.
Wishlist Additions
The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Discoveries -
The fantastic bookshop Paperback Exchange in Florence, Italy. Selling books in English it is an excellent place to spend time, with a good assortment of titles and translations, new and second-hand, in a couple of rooms with seats to encourage browsing. The staff are very friendly, and they run a loyalty scheme and will also buy back your unwanted books for credit in the shop. I indulged in more than a few visits. It was here also that I bought the Primo Levi titles mentioned above. I have always wanted to read more after being amazed by Moments of Reprieve years ago. When I came across more in this bookshop, it seemed apt and special to buy them while in Italy.
Events -
Apart from feeling like I was in an E M Forster novel while walking around Florence, and seeing where the Rossetti's lived and where George Eliot and Henry James stayed while visiting the city, Florence is an incredibly artistic and literary place to be, inspiring, beautiful, historic, but also very current. I miss it terribly, but I know I will be back soon.