Whatcha Reading?

While I was traveling/moving, I was in love with my Kindle and my tablet. My books were packed up, and Kindle Unlimited had just been announced. I had also just got several books from my library’s ecollection that had been on hold forEVER. I thought it was perfect timing, because I was going to have so much downtime on vacation and no physical books to read.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I hardly read AT ALL.

I maybe read 3-4 books in 3 weeks. Ridiculous. Horrendous. But I was SO busy. We had a blast on vacation, and saw so many amazing people. And pretty much collapsed at the end of every day. And then we moved. And well, you know how moving is.

And I read that horrible Dumas novel. Ugh.

And so now I have unpacked all of my pretties…and have a bazillion electronic books to read. Which is not such a terrible thing, but my fingers are tingling every time I look at my bookshelves…which since they are in my home office…is every day. I may have to start alternating!

Here are the two books I am currently reading:

Anna Karenina I have been listening to since April. That is nothing new. It is one of the most tedious books I’ve ever read. I am not a fan of Russian Lit. It’s SO FORMAL. But, it gets me through chore-doing. And it’s starting to pick up a little bit, and the plot is thickening as much as Russian Lit can. I know it’s a big important classic….it’s just very slow.

Throne of Glass was a little slow to start for me, and I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. My blogger buddies really love this one, but I’m not sure it’ll be a favorite for me. We’ll see.

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Trees of Reverie June Read-A-Thon End

June is ending, so that means the ReadaThon is ending too. Sad Face.

I was able to get through quite a few books on this challenge:

1. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
2. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
3. Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
5. Divergent by Veronica Roth
6. Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein
7. Aimless Love by Billy Collins
8. Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
9. Brooklyn by Colm Tobin
10. Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

I also started The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, She Walks in Beauty by Caroline Kennedy, and listened to a few more chapters of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

By reading these books, I completed quite a few challenges on Trees’ challenge list. I did way better this time than on her last prompt list, so I’m pretty psyched about it.

1. Read a popular or well-known book.
2. Read a book you’ve heard a lot of good things about.
3. Read something recommended to you by a friend.
4. Read a book from your Goodreads to-read shelf.
5. Read a book to go towards a specific reading challenge.
6. Pick out a book from your TBR jar and give it a go.
7. Read a book you’ve been meaning to read.
8. Read a book you’ve been avoiding.
9. Read a book you’ve had lying around unfinished.
10. Read a book by an author you haven’t read before.
11. Finish a book in a series you’ve not yet completed (although I ended up finishing the series by the end of the challenge).
12. Read a Classic.
13. Read a book in the Fantasy genre.
14. Read a book in the Contemporary genre.
15. Read a book from a genre you don’t usually read.
16. Read a book featured in Booktown’s Book Club.
17. Read a poetry book.
18. Read a book written by or focusing on POC #weneeddiversebooks
19. Read a book from thebookishdragon’s Book Lovers List
20. Recommend a book to a friend or a fellow book blogger.
21. Join discussions on the Treesofreverie Read-A-Thom Goodreads Group
22. Share some of your favorite quotes from the books you read
23. Write a book review for one of the books you read.
24. Take pictures of your reading progress.
25. Show off your books by taking more pictures.
26. Start a reading journal (I already had one…so this was a bit of a cheat.)

How did your challenge go?

Currently Reading

Happy May Day! It’s a gorgeous morning, the sky is blue, the trees are flowering…

Goddamn flowering trees. I hate them. My husband and I both have horrible allergies and have been miserable the last few days.

…they sure are pretty!

Today starts the beginning of Tee’s May Book Challenge, which I introduced yesterday. We are kicking it off by discussing what we are currently reading.

People ask me what I’m reading all the time, and that’s always an interesting question. Why? Because I’m never just reading one book. I always have 3-4 books going. Here goes:

1. My Home Book–This is my main book, usually the most challenging of the four, the one I really want to put all of my focus on. Right now, this book is John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. I’m about a third of the way through it, and I’m really enjoying it.

2. My Brain Candy–This book is something I read much faster, usually on breaks at work, and it’s on my phone for in between times when I don’t have anything to do. This kind of book takes me 2-3 hours to finish usually. I just finished Unbearable Lightness yesterday, so I’m not sure what is next for this category.

3. My Audiobook–I have a love/hate relationship with this category. Why? Because the only time I can listen to audiobooks is when I’m a) doing chores b) exercising or c) stuck in bed with a migraine and not able to sleep. Otherwise, I’m not able to focus on the voice. I’d MUCH rather be reading words on a page than having someone else read the book to me. Because of this, I save books that I’ve tried to read myself and struggled with for this format. These are usually books with heavy accents or really long boring books. I read The Red Badge of Courage this way, because I had a really hard time with the way the southern accent was written. I just couldn’t “hear” it. Right now, I’m listening to Anna Karenina. Oh how I hate Russian Literature. It’s SO LONG. I haven’t gone back to it in almost a month now, and I’m starting to wonder if I’m giving up on it again. I’ve made it 17% through and there are 239 chapters to this thing! Good grief.

4. My Poetry Selection–Along side those four, I always have a book of poetry going. Usually in between chapters I’ll read a poem, then alternate. Most of it, I don’t care for, but every once in awhile I’ll find a good one and put it in my journal. Right now, I’m reading The Door by Margaret Atwood.

Whew! That’s it. Obviously, this list never stays the same for long. If you want to see my reading lists (and they are extensive, I’m slightly obsessive about them), check me out on Goodreads. You can click the link at the right, or here.