I thought July was supposed to be a quiet month ... but it wasn’t quiet here at the Independent. Indeed, while D.C. was roasting in the summer heat, we were sizzling with activity! (Cheesiness fully intended: thank you.) Our contest to give away a signed copy of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane was a huge success. We also posted 32 book reviews and 13 other book and author related features. Here are the five posts that garnered the most views:

1) I Hear America Reading: A Fourth of July Ode by Martha Toll. A literary reflection on Independence Day and a wonderful essay by one of our valued contributors.

2) Author Q&A: Interview with Susannah Conway by Annette Gendler. The author of This I Know talks about writing of her journey through grief.

3) Author Q&A: Interview with Oonya Kempadoo. The author talks about her third novel, All Decent Animals, and about writing about Trinidad.

4) Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City by Gordon Young. Jim Schulman reviews this love poem to arson-prone deindustrialized Flint, Michigan.

5) July Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri. Where would our Top 5 list be without an appearance by Grace’s wonderful monthly feature on books of and about poetry?

If you missed any of these the first time around, give them a read, or peruse any of the 40 other July reviews and features on the site. And don’t forget to let us, and our writers, know what you think!