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2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

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Some libraries also use Flipster, which give you access to magazines for free. Flipster states: "Your library’s go-to resource for bestselling digital magazines. Flipster is an easy-to-use digital magazine newsstand for libraries and corporations."

Some libraries also use Freading, which has ebooks. "The Freading® eBook Service was the first to offer unlimited simultaneous access to a single book via it’s innovative pay-per-use model."

Don't forget to check your libraries website for potentially more options!

Today I learned

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Climbing Mount TBR - Bookish

Climbing Mount TBR – Bookish

I had three reading goals this year: 1) read 130 books (2 a week plus a third book every other week, 2) buy no books for myself, and 3) read mostly the books I own, whether audiobook, print, or ebook. I excitedly buy books, determined to read them immediately, and then they sit there. I have come to realize that books I buy are lesslikely to be read than ones I do not own, which is embarassing!…

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Peter Pan - A Reflection

Peter Pan – A Reflection

First, A Review

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie is rated 2 stars because I couldn’t get past the sexism and racism rampant throughout this story.

I’m still not sure how to rate this. If this hadn’t been a classic, I absolutely would have not finished this book. Not far into the story, there are several instances of sexism that is appalling. I fully acknowledge that the era in which this was written in…

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WWW Wednesday - A Meme

WWW Wednesday – A Meme

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading and is now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words For this meme, you just answer the three Ws:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Please share your answers in the comments below or link your blog post!

What are you currently reading?

The…

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WWW Wednesday - A Meme

WWW Wednesday – A Meme

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading and is now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words For this meme, you just answer the three Ws:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Please share your answers in the comments below or link your blog post!

What are you currently reading?

The…

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The Color Purple - A Reflection

The Color Purple – A Reflection

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is rated 4 stars because it is a moving and beautiful story which feels authentic.

First, a Review

It’s hard to review a book which is considered a modern classic and is loved by so many. It feels like most anything that could be said about the book has already been said and either you will read it or you will not. But I will attempt to say a few things about this…

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The Perfect Son - A Review

The Perfect Son – A Review

The Perfect Son by Barbara Claypole White is rated 3 stars because while most of this book was very engaging and well done, the last few chapters of the book were too unbelievable to warrant a 4 star rating. This is a book which shows flawed and authentic characters, making a unrealistic ending more damaging to the story.

Note:I have listed trigger warnings at the end of this review. They can be…

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Welcome to my Stacking the Shelves post! Stacking the Shelves is co-hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality

What is Stacking The Shelves all about?

We are all book lovers and the need to share our enthusiasm is sometimes overwhelming. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

My Stack This Week

My stack haul this week has been very, very small. With being as ill as I have been, I’ve barely made it to the library! Plus, my shortlist TBR and currently reading lists are so overloaded, I think I would get stressed out if I added much more to them. In fact, my goal this last week has been to get as much off my currently reading list as possible! Thus, in some ways I’m glad this haul is so small, but it’s also kind of sad!

Library Haul

I grabbed When The Sea Turned to Silver when my hold came in because I knew I was going to need to it soon. It’s my current car audiobook and my previous one, Peter Pan, was almost finished by the time this arrived. I’m getting close to finishing it, so a few days ago, I grabbed Brown Girl Dreaming as my next car audiobook. I’m a bit nervous about how I’ll like a story told in verse in audiobook format, but I decided there was only one way to find out!

This month I have three book clubs and Rebecca was our pick for my friend book club. For my regular library book club, we are reading, The Other Einstein, which I’ve already read. But, for some odd reason, I feel like I should read a book that the group read this year before I joined, which is how I ended up with Necessary Lies in my haul. Honestly, with how heavy my shortlist TBR and currently reading lists are, I probably won’t get to it and will just return it instead. Have you read it? Is it worth it?

Purchases

I am on a book buying ban for the year, but that doesn’t mean books don’t end up appearing on here for a variety of reasons. For one, the book buying ban only applies to books I spend actual money on and not the freebies I come across. Second, I sometimes join Audible during free trials or when their running a membership promotion, so I don’t count this toward my book buying ban. Lastly, occassionally if there’s a really good sale or it’s a book I’ve been wanting for a long time, I have gone ahead and made an exception. But I have to be careful here – it’s way to easy to simply make endless exceptions!

I already own The Fifth Season, in both paperback and ebook, but Audible was having a sale on the audiobook and I broke my buying ban to snatch it up. I obviously don’t need another copy, but I plan on re-reading this again at some point (I’ve already read it twice) and I thought listening to it might be a great way to experience as new all over again! I also broke my buying ban to buy Literary Yarns, which I am super excited about and you will be too! In the book are crochet patterns for literary characters and I plan on making them to post on this blog. I am so excited to review a book and then post little amigurumi literary characters from the book! I don’t feel too bad about breaking this buying ban since I used points for the purchase instead of real money. Not my greatest month for my book buying ban, but not my worst either!

Both Dunaway’s Crossing and Daughters for a Time were free through the Samsung book deals program where once a month, Samsung users are able to buy one of 4 Kindle books for free. Most of these, I never get around to reading, but sometimes I do when I just need something light. I have mixed feelings about whether I should buy these books and I sometimes forget to claim my free book, but I have come across a few gems and thus, I end up hoarding ebooks. Do you also hoard ebooks?

ARCs

I went a bit over board with ARCs this week. I won’t be requesting more for quite awhile. I have too much of a backlog to get through!  I listened to Lydia Kang’s other book, A Beautiful Poison, and greatly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the storyline and while there was a predictable element, there were some surprises along the way. It was a fun read. When I saw her second book, The Impossible Girl, on Netgalley, I immediately requested it. I expect this to be another fun read! I saw other reviews on Goodreads review Confessions of the Fox and those glowing reviews made me scoop up the eARC of this book. I am excited to read it as it will diversifying my reading! Concerto in Chroma Major grabbed my attention with the beautiful, artistic cover. But the description is what made me request it. I am a sucker for a well done music story and I’m hoping this one won’t disappoint!

I wasn’t sure whether to put Imaginary Things in ARCs or purchases. I am part of a short summer book club where we first read Andrea Lochen’s first book, The Repeat Year. At that book club, we were given a free copy of Imaginary Things. There’s no expectation of a review, but I decided to treat it more like a ARC than a purchase since I do feel a bit of an obligation to review it. Her first book, The Repeat Year, was out of my book genre comfort zone, so I was glad to diversify my reading. Imaginary Things might also do that, though I am not sure as I haven’t full read the back blurb!

What books did you add to your stacks this week?

  Stacking the Shelves – A Meme Welcome to my Stacking the Shelves post! Stacking the Shelves is co-hosted by Tynga's Reviews and…

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Carmilla - A Reflection

Carmilla – A Reflection

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu is rated 4 stars, though probably more like 3.5 stars because it was a bit predictable, but otherwise well done and engaging. Though, I say a bit predictable as is if there was a genre for this kind of work before this book, so 4 stars is the more accurate rating, time period considered and all.

NOTE: This review and reflections have all sorts of spoilers, but…

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WWW Wednesday - A Meme

WWW Wednesday – A Meme

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading and is now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words For this meme, you just answer the three Ws:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Please share your answers in the comments below or link your blog post!

What are you currently reading?

The…

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The Month - A Conclusion

The Month – A Conclusion

Danbo enjoying the view from Tokyo Tower | Takashi Hososhima | CC BY-SA 2.0

This post is late and there weren’t posts on Friday or Monday and I am very sorry for that. On Thursday afternoon, I fell very ill and wasn’t recovered until this morning. I was well on my way to getting this post down before my regular 10 am CST posting time until a bird flew into my window. I contacted my local wildlife…

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Ms. Marvel Volumes 1-4 - A Review

Ms. Marvel Volumes 1-4 – A Review

On Tuesday, I finished reading Ms. Marvel Vol. 4. Instead of reviewing that single volume here without having posted reviews of the proceeding volumes, I decided to post all the reviews here in one blog post. I tend to write short reviews of graphic novels making this a great way to review them. This graphic novel series is incredibly important to the genre of super hero comics since it features…

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WWW Wednesday

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and is now hosted by Sam on Taking on a World of Words. For this meme, you just answer the three Ws:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Please share your answers in the comments below or link your blog post!

What are you currently reading?

The book…

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Station Eleven - A Critique

Station Eleven – A Critique

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is rated 4 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed it so much while I was reading it, but now it is less clear whether this book deserves 4 stars

This book really drew me in and I had a hard time putting it down.I was constantly thinking about it. I even watched American Experience: 1918 Flu Pandemic to better understand how such a situation could arise. I needed…

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Sparrow Migrations - A Review

Sparrow Migrations – A Review

Sparrow Migrations by Cari Noga is rated 2.5 stars, rounded up because there was decent character development and I was engaged, but the story wasn’t particularly memorable or interesting

When I read the summary for this book, I thought it was going to be a sad book and thus it spent a long time on my Kindle shelf. But this year, I’ve committed to tackle Mount TBR and have a quarter to half of…

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Book Table|Matteo Tarenghi|CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Well, it feels a bit odd to be closing out a week when there’s been only one post, but since I’m doing a quiet, soft re-launch of my blog, this is a good way to start catching readers up.

What I Read

This week, I finished Sparrow Migrations, The Repeat Year, and Starry River of the Sky. This week was a bit of a mixed bag as I really enjoyed Starry River of the Sky but was meh about the other two reads. The review for The Repeat Year posted yesterday and the review for Sparrow Migrations will post on Monday. I hope to post a review for Starry River of the Sky soon! I went out of town this week and actually skipped a night fo reading, but I was still able to get in a good amount of reading time overall. I’m happy with my reading week!

What I am Reading

I currently have a complicated system of books I read all at the same time. It goes as follows: Children’s audiobook CD for the car: Peter Pan Easy fiction or nonfiction audiobook for working around the house: For the Love of a Dog Classic book reading daily on Serial Reader app: Carmilla Friend book club book: The Color Purple Bed time book: The Woodcutter Day time book: Bad Romance Great Courses book reading through Hoopla: Philosophy of Mind Great Courses book reading through the library: Understanding the Fundamentals of Music Plus a few nonfiction books I am taking forever to get through (see side bar for a complete list)

I started The Color Purple, Peter Pan, Carmilla, and For the Love of a Dog this week.

I think I might have a problem. This week, I added a day time book in addition to my night time book as well as deciding to only read my book club book during the day. I may have over done it. But the book club book needs to be read by Sunday, so it should be off that list very soon and I can get back to a mostly normal number of books I’m simutaneously reading. Which is still a ridiculuous amount.

I started listening to children’s audiobook CDs in the car after I lost Nica in February. I found myself uncontrollably sobbing while driving and decided that had to change. I wasn’t much of a fan of listening to audiobooks while driving because there are distractions from time to time (i.e. trying to not hit things) that prevent me from hearing everything that is said. But I found with children’s books, it’s usually easy enough to fill in the blanks so that I still feel I fully read and understood the story.

In early January, I adopted a puppy. I started reading a bunch of dog training books, watching training DVDs, and attending training classes. And then, I burned myself out on them. Thus, there are a few dog books on my currently reading list that have been lingering there for a bit. There are a few books that are just hanging out on my coffee table. I am determined to get through them, but it’s anyone’s guess whether I will.

At some point, I moved on my from dog training nonfiction craze to intergrative medicine nonfiction craze and thus there are a few audiobooks lingering from that on my currently reading and a few more on my coffee table. I’ve decided to return all the ones I haven’t started to the library, but I am committing to trying hard to finish the ones I started. My biggest problem with those is sitting down to do the practices (I’ve listened to all the rest of the audiobook), but skipping that part kind of skips the whole point of the book, so I just need to find the time.

Well, that was a lot of explanation on why my currently reading list got so long! I’ll save for next week a discussion of why a day time book, the Serial Reader app, and the Hoopla app were added to the list.

What I’m Reading Next

My children’s audiobook for the car is nearly always planned out, so I can say rather confidently that sometime next week I will start When the Sea Turned to Silver. Outside that, I’m not sure. I have a Netgalley back log that I plan on getting to as soon as the Woodcutter is finished. I still need to sit down and plan out when I’m reading what based on release dates. But my next novel will very likely be an ARC.

I also plan on reading another volume of Ms. Marvel this week before it is due back at the library. Outside of that, I am trying very hard to get through all the books on my current reading that have been sitting there awhile because it is out of control!

Well, there’s so much more I could talk about, but that’s enough for now. As I write more of these, it will become clearer what has been going on for the last couple of months and I’ll reconnect with all of you! Glad to be back!

Weekly Conclusion Book Table|Matteo Tarenghi|CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Well, it feels a bit odd to be closing out a week when there's been only one post, but since I'm doing a quiet, soft re-launch of my blog, this is a good way to start catching readers up.