It’s a three-day holiday weekend, but I’m not spending it reading… Instead, I’m helping my hubby build a RC airplane from a kit. It’s a pretty cool project and we’re having lots of fun, but it’s not helping me finish any of my in-progress books. Even though I didn’t finish anything this week, I still managed to add two books to my inbox and add a book to my in-progress stack…

Inbox (books acquired)

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Kindle) — This went on sale on Amazon. It was one of the books I’d marked as a “someday/maybe” for my 2015 reading diverse authors project. So, I grabbed it. I don’t know much about this book except that it’s about a Native American teen, it won the National Book Award, and the author of the book was the one who appeared on the Colbert Report during the Amazon/Hachette kerfuffle and gave Edan Lepucki’s debut novel, California, the “Colbert (sales) bump.” I have a signed hardback of California in my physical TBR pile, so it seemed fitting, I guess, that I also read this book…
• Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (library ebook for Kindle) — I sort-of borrowed this book from the library on accident. I went looking to see if my book club book was available in ebook from the library and, once I put a hold on that, I ended up checking to see if any of the more expensive books on my to-read list were available from the library on ebook. I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while. It’s kind of a writing “meta” book — it’s about a young woman writing a story where the novel she’s writing sort of intertwines with her story. Anyway… the library had it available, one of the only ones I looked up that didn’t have a hold, and so I clicked the “check out” button before I put too much thought into it. Now I have something less than 21 days to finish this before it goes “poof” and disappears off my Kindle. Yikes!

Outbox (books finished)

• no books finished this week… 😦

Queue (what I’m reading next)

• I plan on finishing Bone Clocks before this weekend is over. I have a feeling things are going to pick up after this “Crispin” section, and then I’ll be able to cruise on through the rest.
• I started Dreams of Gods and Monsters (the third and final book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy). We got off to a rocky start, this book and I, but now I’m in it and am resisting the urge to devour the rest because it’s on Kindle and can wait until Tuesday when I’m back on my commute.
• Because I couldn’t decide between Americanah and Half a Yellow Sun, I downloaded samples for both. I read the Half a Yellow Sun sample first, and I got pretty sucked into it, so I’m thinking I may attempt that book. Both have a queue for the digital versions at the library. So I may end up buying one, unless my hold comes up before I’m done with my two in-progress books and the one I just downloaded from the library this week.

Now… back to helping Hubby finish building this plane so I can get back to reading!

Note: I’ve decided that I’m going to move these weekly posts to Sunday (instead of Saturday). Posts will cover my reading from Monday through Sunday of each week, starting with the day in the title of the post.

The first week back after two weeks of vacation ended up being a very busy week at work which left very little time for reading. I’ve also realized that trying to take physical books with me on my commute is pointless. Weekday reading needs to be on Kindle or it just isn’t going to happen.

Inbox (books acquired)

• The Enchanted: A Novel by Rene Denfeld (Kindle) — Every year I like to scan the “top five” books of the year lists from each of the Powell’s staff to see if there are any books I missed and should add to my TBR pile. This year the friendly folks at Buzzfeed combined all the “top five” lists and came up with an overall top 13 based on some super secret math. I then made a Goodreads shelf to keep them top of mind, since several are ones I already own. Then I added the Kindle versions of the owns I don’t own to my private “someday/maybe” wish list on Amazon so I can snag them if they go on sale. (This process takes way too long, BTW…) As I was doing that, I noticed this book *was* on sale (and I had some shipping credits). So, I bought it (for 99 cents after my credits were applied). Phew. That was a long story for how I came to acquire this book this week, when I said I was going on a book-buying freeze…
• The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson (paperback) — Amber Benson (maybe better known to you as Tara, Willow’s girlfriend, from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer) came to my workplace on Friday for her book tour. This is not her first book. She’s actually written (I think the interviewer said) 20 books in 15 years. I find this to be seriously impressive. I got a free (paid for by my employer), signed copy of the book for attending the event. I probably won’t read it right away because witches aren’t really my thing, but I’ll add it to the ever-growing physical TBR pile. Amber was really cool and down-to-earth. I feel like I owe it to her to read her book. And also, based on the Q&A discussion, I now need to read Lock In by John Scalzi (which she reads in audiobook form). But that’s a story for another day…

Outbox (books finished)

• Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (Kindle) — I have lots of thoughts about this collection of essays, and I’m still processing those thoughts. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I completely understand why everyone is making such a (positive) fuss about it. The essays are passionate, conflicted, thoughtful, heartfelt, and amusing — all at the same time. Her views on pop culture (TV shows, books, movies, music, etc.) align very much with mine, and/or gave me new ways of considering things. Her essay “The Trouble with Prince Charming, or He Who Trespassed Against Us” neatly (and amusingly) summed up many of my complaints about both the Twilight series (which I read, but didn’t really enjoy), and the Fifty Shades trilogy (which I won’t read, not because I’m squeamish about the contents, but because I won’t support that type of “fairy tale” with my time or money). I am also a “Bad Feminist” who resisted the label for most of my life for similar reasons. But, as she says, “I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all.”

Queue (what I’m reading next)

• Oh hey, work book club came and went, and I didn’t finish Bone Clocks yet. Don’t misinterpret my inability to make substantial progress, I am enjoying this book. The problem is I am reading a hardcover edition of the book. Hardcovers and bus commutes, regardless of how cushy the commute is, just don’t mix well for me. I’m giving up on lugging this beast with me and making this a weekend/evening book.
• Work book club picked Half a Yellow Sun as the next book to read. I was planning on reading Americanah by the same author (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). Now I have to decide between reading the book club pick (even though I never seem to be able to attend said book club, even when I do finish the book on time), or reading Americanah as planned, or just reading both. I don’t own either yet. So, no commitments have been made, and either would qualify for my 2015 book project. If anyone has read both and prefers one or the other, please feel free to influence my decision in the comments…

Now I will now resist the urge to start something new, or surf the Sunday night Interwebs, and return to reading Bone Clocks…

Not much to report this week… it was a slow week for books around here…

Inbox (books acquired)

• Amazingly, I aquired no books this week! None. Zero. Zip. Not even a library book. Or a gift. That’s fine by me… as I mentioned, I’ve got plenty to read in my TBR pile…

Outbox (books finished)

• I made some progress on Bad Feminist, but didn’t finish it (yet). I am enjoying it, and it’s definitely giving me plenty of food for thought. So far the “How to be Friends With Another Woman” article is my favorite (online here).

Queue (what I’m reading next)

• Bad Feminist… (see above)
• I need to get back into The Bone Clocks because my work book club meets on Friday and I’m not done yet…

Okay… enough blogging for tonight. I need to get back to reading. 😉

This past week has been a blur of travel and work and family and friends and presents and festivities. So, there wasn’t much time left over for books…. I did carve out a little reading time, though… Here’s what was going on in my book life this past week…

Inbox (books acquired)

• On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King (paperback) — I gave a lot of books to friends and family for Christmas this year, but this was the only book I received for Christmas this year. One of our friends was reading this when we were vacationing together this summer, and we were talking about it. He remembered and got me a copy for Christmas. Pretty cool.

Outbox (books finished)

• This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Kindle) — This just came out in the US on Tuesday and I started it almost right away. It’s a companion book to These Broken Stars, which I think came out last year. I had such high hopes for this book because I loved These Broken Stars. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this one as much as the first book. I did like it. It was a fun, fast-paced read. There’s tons of tension on almost every level: action, mystery, romance, etc. The tension really keeps the story moving and kept me reading, wanting to know what happened next. The characters were fine. Each chapter is written as first-person narration, alternating by chapter back and forth between the two main characters’ perspectives. They start to sound too much alike after a while, and I had to keep reminding myself who was “talking” in each chapter. They fall for each other quickly (expected), but the story doesn’t really support the instant attraction, so it didn’t feel entirely believable to me. I think the overall plot had the potential to be even better than the first book. But, in the end, I just didn’t love it as much as the first. I have enough thoughts about it that I’ll probably post a more in-depth review this week.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

• It’s about time for me to finish reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell in preparation for my work book club discussion coming up in two weeks…
• I have several other in-progress books I’d like to finish before the end of this year… we’ll see how that works out…

I’m due for some end of year posts… at the very least, a “best of” 2014, and definitely some discussion about my reading plans for 2015. So, stay tuned for more from me in the next few days…

This post is a little late, but I didn’t forget about it — I just didn’t have access to to the Interwebs for most of yesterday. But I did a lot of reading (and book buying) this week. So, let’s get started…

Inbox (books acquired)

• Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay (Kindle) — This book has come highly recommended from several different sources, and it’s showing up on a lot of “best of 2014” lists. I thought it might be an interesting way to kick off my 2015 reading project (which I will talk about in a future post). So, when I saw it was only $4.99 on Kindle, I grabbed a copy.
• The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (Kindle) — This book came highly recommended from one of the women in my UCBx Craft of Reading class. She had it on her “top five” list and raved about it. This came on sale and I went to buy it, but then I saw the reviews and hesitated. There are a lot of negative reviews for this book. I spent some time skimming the reviews (to avoid spoilers) and trying to determine if I would like this book or not. Then I saw that it’s going to be a movie staring Emma Watson, and I figured I’d trust the woman I knew from class over a bunch of random Amazon reviewers. We’ll see how that turns out…
• The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler (Kindle) — I might have mentioned that Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is one of *my* “top five” favorite books. So, when I saw that Erin Morgenstern made a list of *her* favorite books over on her blog (back in 2012), I added them to my “someday / maybe” book list. This was one of those books, and it went on sale this week, so I snatched it up.

Outbox (books finished)

• The Giver by Lois Lowry (paperback) — Okay. I read it. But I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. I think there are other books that tackle the theme / message better, and I didn’t really enjoy the story, characters, or writing. Maybe this is just one of those books that you have to read when you’re in middle or high school in order to love it…
• Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (Kindle) — This book, on the other hand, I loved. I’ve mentioned before, when I read Eleanor and Park then Fangirl, that I could probably read Rainbow Rowell’s grocery lists and love them. I still think that’s probably true. This book is the first one I read by her that features adult characters with jobs. But, like Eleanor and Park, this book is firmly set in that “Y2K” window of late 1999 to early 2000. I loved the characters, I loved the writing, and the story is just unbearably sweet. If you want a warm and cozy, holiday read, this is your book. I plan on giving it to several family members who I think will also enjoy it.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

• I started Bad Feminist and have been reading the essays at a leisurely pace. I might finish it this week.
• My pre-order of This Shattered World should magically appear on my Kindle on Tuesday, and I am so excited to dive into that one. I’m debating re-reading These Broken Stars before I start this one. I don’t think it’s necessary because this isn’t exactly a sequel, but it might be fun.

Hope you are all having a festive holiday season!

Another strong week for reading! I finally finished The Algebraist and I’m only one book away from meeting my annual reading goal of 36 books.

Here’s what I’ve been up to in my book life this week…

Inbox (books acquired)

• Reluctantly Royal (Suddenly Royal book #3) by Nichole Chase (kindle) — I picked this up on a whim… I had some Amazon credits for opting to ship things the slow way, so I decided to get myself a little book candy. This is the third (and last) book of the “Royals” series that started with Suddenly Royal. I read the first two and debated skipping the third, but I read the sample chapter and decided I’d give it a chance. (More on this below…)
• To Ride Pegasus (The Talents Saga book #1) by Anne McCaffrey (kindle) — I’ve been wanting to re-read this one for a while now. I think this may have been the first “young adult” science fiction book that I read as a teen. It was my introduction to Anne McCaffrey and kicked off the Talents series. I went on to devour the remaining books in this series in short order and eventually moved on to several of her other series. I’ve been keeping an eye out and I’ve noticed that the publishers are slowly making her books available on Kindle. I don’t think this entire series is available yet, but the first three books are, as are some of the Rowen series that also take place in this world. I probably won’t read this right away, but I am looking forward to revisiting the start of one of my favorite series by one of my favorite authors.

Outbox (books finished)

• Reluctantly Royal (Suddenly Royal book #3) by Nichole Chase (kindle) — Book three in this series, like the first two, is an easy-reading, hot and steamy, contemporary, if slightly fantastical, romance. Like the others, it is light on plot and the story is mostly driven by the will-they / won’t-they physical attraction of the two main characters. Except you pretty much know they will. It’s just a matter of when, or how many times. Ahem. Anyway… I liked this one better than the second book, but not as much as the first book. I like the story, plot, and characters in the first book best. The male lead in this one was a little too possessive for my tastes (I got a lot of Twilight series vibes…), and the over-use of the noun “fist” as an adjective to describe the action of grabbing someone’s shirt or hair, etc., I found to be distracting and a little off-putting. But, if you’re looking for a steamy romance and have already read the first two, grab this one, or just read the first book, skip the second, and then read this one.
• Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann (hardcover) — I really wanted to like this little book of poetry. I liked the concept (flipping around fairy-tale ideals to empower modern young women), but I’m pretty far removed from my teenage angst and I’m not really a poetry person. Even when I was a teen, I was never one of those young girls who wrote poetry. I don’t read poetry. The only poetry I’ve found that I really like is in the lyrics of some singer / song-writers. So, I’m clearly not the target audience for this book. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I just couldn’t really get into it. I think maybe it’s great for some young girl out there, maybe many young girls, girls who are struggling with body image or eating disorders or relationships and the ideals of love and friendship. But too many of the poems seemed to be saying the same thing, and saying it in a way that just didn’t resonate with me. It just wasn’t for me. So I’m going to pass it on.
• The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks (library hardcover) — This epic space opera was my first introduction to Iain M. Banks. It was also an epic slow read for me, mostly because there are a lot of made up names for worlds and characters and futuristic space traveling activities that you need to sort out and remember. But, all that imaginative fake science was worth it. The book addressed several meaty concepts and themes through tight world-building. One surprising highlight of this book was the well-written, funny, realistic, and engaging conversation between the characters. Not something you usually get in a classic space opera. Another surprising highlight was the almost two page character rant on meeting culture. I guess even in the space traveling distant future, some things never change. You may have some difficulty finding a copy of this book (I had to rely on my trusty library), but if you’re a space opera enthusiast, I recommend you pick this one up.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

• I haven’t decided yet… but I’ll probably read The Giver next… bu, it’s a pretty short book, so I’m sure I’ll have time for something else…
• I may also read the next book in the Crystal Singer series… Killashandra…
• Or… one of the many books I purchased earlier this year and are sitting in my virtual TBR pile on my Kindle…

Since I am only one book away from my 2014 reading goal, and since some of the books I read this year were quite short, and since I still have a stack of books I’d like to get through before the end of this year, I’m going to see if I can achieve a stretch goal of 40 books read in 2014. That’s only five more books. I can do that easy, right?