Not to jinx us all, but I woke up early this morning and realized my wife and I had made it to July without turning on the AC. Not bad for D.C. Here at the Independent, we’ve stayed busy through this relatively bearable June, posting 27 reviews and 14 author interviews, essays and other pieces related to books and writing. Here are the June posts that got the most readers:

1) June Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri - All Hail Grace, who once again tops our list with her unique look at books of poems and about poetry.

2) On Pitching to Literary Agents. Y’all seemed to like this piece, which I wrote to help assist people preparing to pitch their work to literary agents at our Books Alive! Conference on June 8. If you wind up with a book deal because of your pitch, don’t forget us little people who helped you out!

3) Recommended Books for Tweens and Teens. Lisa Smilan et al. provide short, to-the-point reviews of eight recently-published books for young adults.

4) The Books Alive! Conference: A Banner Day for the Independent and Writers. Highlights from our successful conference on June 8.

5) Welcome to the Surveillance State: A Short Reading List. In the wake of the shocking revelations that we’re all being spied on by our own government every time we use the internet or make a phone call, I put together a short list of books about intrusive governments ... commenters helped augment the list.