Category: What Are You Reading?

What Are You Reading…in January?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations, What Are You Reading?9 Comments

itsmondayIt’s been a few weeks since I posted for the What Are You Reading meme from Book Journey, so now seems like a good time for a new installment.

I’ve been making all sorts of headway with my science fiction reading.  I’ve managed to dip into just about every type of sci fi I was planning: Pern, Star Wars, Star Trek and two Burroughs books.  I also finally finished Reflections by Diana Wynne Jones, a wonderful collection of essays about storytelling.

On audio, I’m about halfway through Walden by Henry David Thoreau.  It’s a funny thing–sometimes he seems to just drop brilliant gems every two sentences.  Other times he loses me for five minutes at a time.  But overall I’m enjoying listening.

Pat BooksIt turns out to be a good thing after all that I decided to join the L. M. Montgomery reading challenge…after three weeks of sci fi, my excitement was flagging.  So I was all set to jump into Pat of Silver Bush, which is a completely different world.  I’m midway through now, and may or may not (but probably will) go straight on to Mistress Pat.

After that, I expect to  have renewed eagerness for sci fi, so it’ll be back to Star Wars for Darksaber, the next volume of the Callista Trilogy.  And then…more Star Trek or else Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card.

Still lots of good books in the stack!

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What Are You Reading…in 2013?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations, What Are You Reading?9 Comments

itsmondayWe’re about to turn the calendar to January, making this the perfect time to look ahead at reading plans for the beginning of the new year.  So here’s a new installment of the What Are You Reading meme from Book Journey!

I have been on a mad quest to clear up final reading plans before the end of the year, and so far, it’s going pretty well.  I read Superior Saturday and am midway through Lord Sunday by Garth Nix, to finish off one last series.

I reread Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig over Christmas, and I just madly, madly love this book.  It’s so sweet and adorable and witty and funny and the characters are so good and…well, I just madly love it.

I’m still working on Reflections by Diana Wynne Jones, but since it’s a series of essays, it’ll be an easy one to intersperse among new reading plans…because I start new reading challenges on January 1st and look forward to diving in.

P1020254First of all, I’m joining the Sci Fi Experience, so that should tell you the general trend of my reading for the next couple of weeks.  I think I’ll start with the Pellucidar series, reading At the Earth’s Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs, followed by Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly, then maybe whichever Star Trek book is appealing to me.  Somewhere in there I also plan to read Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey for the readalong, but I haven’t quite decided where yet.  Then I might circle back to the next Pellucidar book, or else I’ll take a break for something completely different…and read Pat of Silver Bush by L. M. Montgomery.

Pat BooksYou see, all against my better judgment, I have also decided to join in with the L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge at Reading to Know.  It only runs for the month of January which is terrible timing…but it’s an L. M. Montgomery reading challenge!  To paraphrase one of her characters, her writing is in the very core of my heart.  I can’t resist.  So, I’ll definitely be fitting in some LMM short stories and poetry in the next month, and hopefully the Pat books in there somewhere too.

WaldenWhile all of that is going on, I also want to get started on my Chunkster Challenge…because if I don’t start in the first month, I’ll never reach my goal there!  The thought of fitting a 1,000 page book into January is making me feel faint (sorry, Les Mis) so I got an audiobook of Walden instead.  I can’t see listening to Thoreau while I’m driving (it just doesn’t feel right…) but while I’m taking a morning walk…yeah, I think that’ll work.

Whew.  If I didn’t enjoy all of this so much, reading plans would be exhausting to contemplate!  But since I very often feel like I want to read all of the books right now, it’s actually quite exciting to have a big stack to pounce on.  I know how I’m spending January 1st!

Addendum: apologies for sending you two posts in one day!  This one accidentally got scheduled a day early.  Oh well…I guess I’m really looking forward to the new year!

What Are You Reading, End of the Year Edition

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations, What Are You Reading?14 Comments

itsmondayIt’s coming down to the end of the year, and a great time to look at final reading plans!  I have been fiercely concentrating for the last month on all those books I really, really wanted to read this year–and have knocked most of them out!  Right now I have my final stack lined up for the last part of December.

First, to look back at last post‘s book list…  I finished Lady Friday by Garth Nix, and I think the books are getting better as I near the end of the series.  Always nice to see!  Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier was truly excellent, and it shouldn’t have taken me this far into 2012 to get to it.  I hope to finish that series in 2013.  The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom came in while I was reading Marillier.  It was an interesting fable, and I already have a review scheduled for later in the month, so I’ll save further thoughts for now.

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz garnered the most attention in comments.  It was definitely an interesting read, not too full of psychology jargon.  He discussed many different aspects of how our brains work and theories of happiness.  If you want actionable tips on living a happier life, you may be better off with The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, but if you want to understand your own synapses, Barry Schwartz is good.  And apparently the solution to my Netflix problem is to be a satisficer, not a maximizer.

After the discussion of how the mind works, I went on to Villette by Charlotte Bronte.  It was flawed in all sorts of important ways, and yet I loved it.  There’s just something about how Bronte puts sentences together.  I do prefer Jane Eyre, but I still want to go find Bronte’s other books.

Now on to future plans…

WAYR1I just began Superior Saturday, continuing through that series, but I might set it aside briefly to read Son by Lois Lowry.  I’ve been eagerly awaiting the conclusion to the quartet, and the library delivered it this weekend.  After both of those books, if I have time before Christmas I’ll read Reflections by Diana Wynne Jones, because…essays about writing by a favorite author?  Definitely not one to put off!

Over Christmas, though, I want to reread The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig.  I read this in February, 2011 (review here), and it was one of my favorite books of the year.  I’ve been looking forward to revisiting it in the proper season, especially now that I’ve read the earlier books in the series and understand who all the characters are!

After that, I plan to finish out the year with Lord Sunday to get one last series done.

Wow, that looks like a lot written out.  But most of these will be fast reads, and I have some long weekends coming up…

And then comes January and the Sci Fi Experience and a whole new stack of books to contemplate!

Are you fitting in a few last books before the calendar page turns?  Let me know about them–and visit Book Journey for more What Are You Reading posts.

It’s…Sunday, What Are You Reading?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations, What Are You Reading?30 Comments

itsmondayAs I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there’s a fun meme by Sheila at Book Journey inviting people to share their reading plans.  Normally it’s on Mondays…but I have a book review already scheduled for tomorrow, so I’m posting early!

I went through my pre-Thanksgiving stack, and weathered the long library close over the holiday weekend.  Legacy was, well, a behemoth.  Mort was enormous fun (of course!) and Roughing It was excellent when Mark Twain demonstrated his talent for tall tales.  When he got into actual history, it was (with exceptions) not as exciting.  But the tall tales and weird adventures were good fun.

Reading Stack

I’m currently reading Lady Friday by Garth Nix.  Next in my line of books is Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier, the next book in her Sevenwaters series–and another book for my Finish-the-Series challenge, though I don’t expect to finish this one by year’s end.

After that, I’m deeply curious about The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, ever since seeing his TED talk.  I’m hoping he’ll help me solve that moment, when you’re on Netflix’s streaming catalog and there are ENDLESS choices and yet nothing looks quite interesting enough.  Not exactly a large-scale problem, I admit!  But I’m always fascinated by why the brain works the way it does.

And after that, probably, Villette by Charlotte Bronte, because I so love Jane Eyre, and this was recommended to me as another good one.

However, everything gets rearranged if either of my two on-hold-at-the-library books come in.  I’m presently #1 of 142 holds for The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom–when I got in line I was around #65.  I’m also #6 of 46 holds for Son by Lois Lowry; I was about #25 when I got in that line, and I’ve had time to reread all three previous books in the quartet while waiting.  Sometimes the library is a little slow about new books…but no matter, they come eventually!

So covers my plans for the next couple of weeks.  What are you reading?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations, What Are You Reading?12 Comments

Sheila at Book Journey does a fun meme every Monday, inviting people to share their reading plans for the coming week.  I’ve increasingly been thinking of my reading in that way, as I stack up library books each weekend for the coming week, so I thought it was about time I jumped in on this!

My book reviews have been slimmer than usual this past week because of NaNoWriMo, but my reading has continued unabated.  I’m currently reading Susan Kay’s Legacy, because I am hopelessly, completely, madly in love with Susan Kay’s Phantom.  I don’t know why it’s taken me eight years to pick up her only other novel!

Legacy is a 600-page behemoth that will probably take me most of the week.  I have a new-to-me Discworld book lined up for the Thanksgiving weekend, though–I’m finally going to read Mort, the first book in the Death series.  Despite what that summary sounds like, I expect it to be a rollicking good time.

I’ve planned out the next two weeks because the library is going to be closed for nearly a week over Thanksgiving.  I find this immensely alarming (understandable, of course, but no library for five days?  Eek!) and had to lay in a good stock ahead of time.  After Mort I plan on Roughing It by Mark Twain, because I promised myself I’d read a new Twain book this year, and we’re getting down to the end!

And then I have Lady Friday by Garth Nix, as part of my ongoing quest to finish his Keys to the Kingdom series by the end of the year.

So those are my plans, for roughly the next two weeks.  What are you reading?