Castle in the Clouds

This likely comes as no surprise given the year it has been, but I did not successfully complete  my 2021 reading challenge . I started out strong. I even decided to have some fun with it and create a dedicated Instagram account  to help catalog my reading adventures. That didn't last beyond April 2021.  Considering what was going on in my life then, this is no surprise.   So...here's hoping next year's challenge goes much better. 

This year I aim to complete the PopSugar Reading Challenge .  I intend to use a mix of ebooks, hardcovers, and paperbacks to complete this challenge.  I'm not assigning anything in advance. I'm going to let my mood choose as I go. However, I am going to do my best to read books I already own and haven't yet read. Wish me luck!  2021 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge A book that's published in 2021 An Afrofuturist book A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign A dark academia book A book with a gem, mineral, or rock in the title A book where the main character works at your current or dream job A book that has won the Women's Prize For Fiction A book with a family tree A bestseller from the 1990s A book about forgetting A book you have seen on someone's bookshelf (in real life, on a Zoom call, in a TV show, etc.) A locked-room mystery A book set in a restaurant A book with a black-and-white cover A book...

Back in late December of 2019, I wrote a blog post about my 2020 reading goals .  My main objective was to read some of the books I already owned at that time.  I own hundreds of unread books, so setting aside around 40-50 titles seemed the least I could do to tackle the overflowing TBR.    I picked paperbacks and a hardcover.  I picked ebooks from my Kindle Cloud.  I did a fairly good job of reading from these pre-selections, but I definitely didn't read them all.  And I definitely strayed!  I read some newly purchased titles and some library loans. For a full accounting of my reading year, you can visit my 2020 Goodread's Reading Challenge page.   One of the bigger challenges I set for myself this year was to finally read some of the trilogies or series I've been slowly collecting over the years.  This meant that I needed to not only read the one or two titles already sitting in my TBR, but that I needed to procure the other titl...

I'm going to change things up a bit this year and actually list the books I want to finally get to in 2020.  These are books that have been gathering dust in my basement bins as well as e-books that have been buried in my Kindle Cloud. As per usual, I want to read 75 books in 2020.  But instead of letting myself pick out something to read based on their appeal in that moment, I want to make sure these books finally get read. Let's start with the Kindle books first.  I have so many that I have bought from the Kindle Daily Deals listings that I really, really want to read.  Some of them are stand alone novels, but most of them are part of a trilogy or series.  In trying to determine which e-books to add to my Must Read in 2020 List , I've decided that any full trilogy must be on the list.  Let's see what we get! I've already read The Bone Witch.  Just need to complete the trilogy. I don't even know how long I've had these ones.  Yep, ...

Main Reading Goals: If you will recall, I have a few reading goals I'd like to meet this year.  Among the 75 books total that I'd like to read, there should be at least five classics, five Christmas-themed books, and five Halloween-themed books.  Additionally, in an effort to knock down the TBR piles, I'd like to make sure that at least 30 of those 75 books come from my physical TBR and 20 come from my Kindle TBR. At the end of February, here's what I've accomplished so far in 2019: -A total of 24 books read. -Of those 24 books, only one was a classic. -Six of those books were from my physical TBR and eight of them were from my Kindle TBR. -I've not yet picked up any holiday themed titles, but that's okay. February Overview: Another great reading month! I read a total of eleven books, which broke down into ten novels and one comic book (not pictured thanks to the collage software being a pain - it would only let me select ten photos for inc...

I'm changing things up a bit for 2019.  While I'd like to read more than 75 books, I really do think this is the most reasonable and attainable number, so that number remains consistent.  So, too, does the five classics; although, I really anticipate reading more than five if my book club keeps going.  I also kept the Kindle TBR number the same. What did I change then? The mini-goals are new.  I thought writing them down would help me be more fiscally responsible and help me get through my backlog of unread books. I also removed the non-fiction and re-read a series goals I had in 2018.  Instead, I want to force myself to get into the holiday mood come fall.  This means I'm adding in some mandatory Halloween and Christmas books.  I also upped the number of physical books I want to get through.  The bins are overflowing and need to be tackled.  This is the year I am determined to focus on making some legroom for myself under my scrapbookin...

When I was putting that collage together I was surprised by the fact that I had somehow gotten through five books and one comic book (not pictured!) this month.  Two of these books took forever for me to finish, so I really expected the overall tally to be fewer in number. I had started February with Lincoln in the Bardo , which was such a fast, enjoyable read I borrowed through Overdrive.  I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend because he thought I would enjoy it for it's focus on Abraham Lincoln as well as it's somewhat experimental storytelling style.  He was right.  I did.  I found the juxtaposition of quoted material and pure fancy to be intriguing.  I didn't check the quoted material, though, so I have no way of knowing how much of it was factual.  Those passages are presented in order to situate Willie's tragic passing in a time and place.  They give the reader an idea of how the war was going, what distractions the presiden...

Reading is many things to me.  It's entertainment and education.  It's the broadening of mind and spirit.  It's escapism.  Looking the books I read in January, I can see how each of those elements is represented in my reading choices. Harry Potter was pure escapism.  Reading it was a chance to get reacquainted with old friends, to ride alongside in an adventure I could fully anticipate because it was well known and comfortable, even in its saddest moments.  And that last book is so very sad! Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists was meant to broaden the mind and spirit by exploring the challenges faced by women around the world.  I discovered that while we still have a ways to go here in America, Nigeria seems to have an even longer road ahead of it when it comes to equality for all.  Little slights or outright abuses need to be addressed and rectified whenever necessary. What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypot...

First, there's the #RetroRereads challenge that I feel is rather timely.  It took me some time but a list eventually emerged.  As I said on the Goodread's challenge board , most of these titles were selected in order for me to continue on in a series.  Only items #1, #7, and #10 were added for the simple pleasure of rereading an old favorite. 1. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 2. A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin (GRRM hereafter) 3. A Clash of Kings by GRRM 4. A Storm of Swords by GRRM 5. A Feast of Crows by GRRM 6. A Dance of Dragons by GRRM 7. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 8. Scar Night by Alan Campbell  9. Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold 10. 1984 by George Orwell I also intend to continue reading books that I already own.  Thus, so continues the #ReadYourOwnDamnBooks challenge.  I'm hoping to move at least twenty books off the physical TBR in 2017 and twenty off the virtual (Kindle) bookshelves.   That...

In January I posted about my 2016 Reading Goals. This is a check-in to see how I did.  If you didn't click on the link above, here's a brief summary of the goals:   1) I wanted to read my own damn books in an effort to reduce the TBR shelf. 2)  Read some of the Kindle Freebies I've downloaded. 3) So, there's the recap.  Here's the progress made.... Item #1:  I have read quite a few books that I owned prior to 2016.  Looking through my Goodreads challenge widget, these titles meet the requirement.  Item #2: There were only a few books that fit into this category.  Not nearly as many as there should have been, though, as I am a compulsive downloading fool in the Kindle bookstore.   Item #3: As you can see I didn't finish a book my mom loves, which would be the Bible.  I tried.  I made decent progress into the Old Testament before I got distracted by, well, everything else.  T...

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love books.  I am never without one.  At home, I have shelves of to-be-read titles.  On my Kindle I have an ever-growing multitude - so many freebies! With the Kindle Cloud Reader, I can access my e-books from my phone or iPad, which are always within arms reach. To say I read a lot is not an exaggeration.  If I had to provide a very unscientific average of the number of books I read in a year, I'd say it's somewhere around 50.  That's something like four books a month.  And that's in a slow year.  There have been years when I've read closer to 75 books.   Imagine how many books would be read if I'd give up television! Last night, for example, I might have caught up to my co-readers of the MaddAddam trilogy if I hadn't decided to watch the X-Files and then Castle with the family.  My decision to veg on the couch for those two hours seriously cut into my reading, which left me conflicted b...

Over on Book Riot they have a 2015 Read Harder Challenge that I decided to join.  In the spirit of the thing, I also joined their Goodread's group where I am one voice among many recording my reading accomplishments.  Those posts get lost, though, so I thought I'd create a blog entry to highlight the challenges I completed. Spoiler alert:  I completed all of the challenges! Challenge:  Read a Collection of Short Stories For this task I selected Sherman Alexie 's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist-Fight in Heaven .  I had picked up this Kindle version a few months prior and thought of it as soon as I read the challenge.  If double-counting a book were allowed, I could also use this to satisfy the "Read a Book by or About an Indigenous Person".  Instead, I've elected to count it toward my short story reading goal. I've read Sherman Alexie's work before and quite enjoyed it.  This time was no different.  The stories were interesting...