GUYS! I’ve reviewed BOTH of Savannah Grace’s books on this blog, and I absolutely love them! If you love travel memoirs, you NEED to go check her out, and her books are FREE TODAY!
I know, Haley, LOTS OF CAPS LOCK! But I’m excited. Click the linky below and go grab her books right away! Think teenage Elizabeth Gilbert. You’re gonna love her.
What are you currently reading?
The Iliad by Homer
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
What did you just finish reading?
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin
Backpacks and Brastraps with Savannah Grace
Before I Go by Colleen Oakley
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Regulators by Richard Bachman
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
I’m always both sad to see a Readathon end…and a bit relieved. Sad, because Readathons are FUN! Everyone reads as much as they possibly can, we put aside everything else and go into marathon reading mode. Many of us forgo all TV and any other activities and plow through as many books we possibly can. There are reading sprints, friendly competitions. I always keep track of how much I’m reading each day and try to beat my numbers.
But, by the end of it, I’m usually ready for a TV day. My brain is worn OUT. It doesn’t help that I’m in the middle of rereading Game of Thrones right now, either!
So, how’d I do?
Books Read:
A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham
Before I Go by Colleen Oakley
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (Page 1-57)
Backpacks and Brastraps by Savannah Grace
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin (Up to Page 408)
Plus a short story per day, usually 3-7 pages.
Pages Read: 2,900
I did all but one of the challenges. Sorry Saturday…I just am not graphically inclined enough to recreate a book cover!
I skipped over The Iliad, which technically was on my TBR list before most of these, but that would have sucked up the whole challenge time. I will read that soon, I promise. I also am overdue on an ARC, but it’s only readable on my tablet, which died right before the Readathon started. Yikes! Other than that, I think I did pretty well. I would have been able to read a higher number of books if I hadn’t been reading Martin, but I got through a lot of actual pages, so I’m happy with the turnout.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to wait very long before reading the next book in Savannah Grace’s saga. I was really looking forward to experiencing the next leg of her family’s trip, and I wasn’t disappointed!
Backpacks and Brastraps follows the family as they take a short, and slightly scary, stint up into Russia, through a few Central European countries and into Western China, Tibet, before finally arriving in Nepal in time for trekking season.
Savannah’s writing is really taking off in this second book. I could tell that she’s becoming more and more comfortable in her own skin as she’s out in the world, and she’s discovering more about herself. She’s not nearly as much the whiny teenager as she was in I Grew My Boobs in China, although there still is a bit of that, she is settling down and opening her eyes. I was pretty amused when a friend from home joins them for the trek in Nepal and Savannah almost rolls her eyes at her inexperience.
Overall, though, I love these stories and I can’t wait for the third book, which, sigh, isn’t due out until August 2016! I’ll have to mark my calendar for that one.
What are you currently reading?
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
What did you just finish reading?
Breeder by KB Hoyle
The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
What do you think you’ll read next?
Before I Go by Colleen Oakley
Backpacks and Brastraps by Savannah Grace
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin
I am also overdue to read The Iliad, but I am saving that until after the readathon. I’ll be hitting that up as soon as this week is over, so we’ll see how many books I get though! I keep putting it off, and I need to get to it!
What are you currently reading?
The Camelot Conspiracy by E. Duke Vincent
What did you just finish reading?
A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
Breeder by KB Hoyle (This is an ARC and part of a blog tour, so the review won’t be posted until Dec. 10.)
I Grew My Boobs in China by Savannah Grace
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer
A Feast For Crows by George RR Martin
What are you currently reading?
A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
What did you just finish reading?
I Grew My Boobs in China by Savannah Grace
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
First There Wasn’t, Then There Was by Troy Blackford
What do you think you’ll read next?
Breeder by KB Hoyle (This is an ARC and part of a blog tour, so the review won’t be posted until Dec. 10)
The Camelot Conspiracy by E Duke Vincent
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
Travelling has always been a great dream of mine, especially international travel. America is wonderful and vast and varying, but aside from a jump across Niagara, I’ve never been out of it.
There’s so much world to see, and the more travel memoirs I read, the more I long to go.
When I read I Grew My Boobs in China, I was hit with two impressions:
1. Holy crap, I want to smack this super annoying teenager right in the face. Seriously, her whining drove me crazy the entire time. One moment she’d come up with some really deep, well thought out things about how much this trip was changing her…and then boom, she’d start back in on how terrible everything was and how she missed the internet. But…I’m an adult reading a book written by a girl going through puberty in a foreign country with a giant pack strapped to her back. I’d probably whine too if it were me.
2. If Elizabeth Gilbert had a daughter…Savannah Grace would be her. The way she talked about her mom’s journey through divorce–giving up her life, taking off on this epic journey across Asia, that’s what it reminded me of.
I finished this in one day, and thankfully it was a lazy, “do nothing but laundry and read” kind of day, because I couldn’t put this down. I Grew My Boobs in China is only the first part of a 3 part series (at least so far): Sihpromatum. The first two are on Kindle Unlimited, and you should definitely check them out. I am looking forward to the second book, to see what happened to the family in Russia!
What are you currently reading?
Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham
What did you just finish reading?
A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Fairies by Skye Alexander
My Days with Princess Grace of Monaco by Joan Dale
What do you think you’ll read next?
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
I Grew My Boobs in China by Savannah Grace
A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
As I Lay Reading 