The last month of 2016 is finally here! My school runs classes all the way up to the 23rd, but I have the rest of the month off for Christmas break (my first ever as a teacher!). With the time off comes lots of spare time to read and listen to books. My Sherlock Challenge has officially kicked off this week, so I’ll need to read six (!) Arthur Conan Doyle stories before the month’s end. I also need to work my way through my current library stack so that I can get more books in January. Which means…16 books this month. That doesn’t include any new audiobooks I pick up, either. Looks like it will be a busy December! Let me know what you’re planning to read this month in the comments below.
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Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice. Grab your current read, turn to page 56 or 56%, and post a few sentences!
Today I'm reading: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins "My head leaning against the carriage window, I watch these houses roll past me like a tracking shot in a film. I see them as others do not; even their owners probably don’t see them from this perspective. Twice a day, I am offered a view into other lives, just for a moment. There’s something comforting about the sight of strangers safe at home." (page 1) " I remember the terror I felt when I saw her with Evie down by the fence. I think about that horrible, chilling little smile she gave me when I saw her outside the Hipwells’ house." (approximately page 46) The Holiday Readathon is being hosted by Actin' Up with Books. I will be donating $0.01 for every page I read during the readathon. I have chosen to donate this money to my local Humane Society. Goals: I shouldn't have a problem finishing all of these, since both of the Conan Doyle books are less than 150 pages each. I'm excited to take this opportunity to get ahead on my Sherlock Challenge! Since the books I read during this readathon are "for a cause", I'm going to add a few more. I might not finish them, but they'll add to my page count. Here's to ambition, animal rescue and all-nighters!
What a crazy week. I had two job interviews, two last-minute substitute teaching calls, and I was offered a position (yay!). My reading progress was a little thwarted, but I still completed a few books. What I read: What I'm enjoying now: What's Next: What Belongs to You was one of the most unique books I've ever read. It was very different from what I was expecting, but I liked it. The Geek Feminist Revolution was an enjoyable audiobook, but I couldn't quite buy into the narration.
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, physical or virtual. Don't worry. This week wasn't quite as damaging as last week. My library holds are still trickling in, but not all at once. Since I read so much last week, I also restocked my Audible account. Library Books: Audiobooks: Physical Books: I also went on a thrift shopping date with a friend, and picked up a bunch of books. All together, they only cost about $30. All of the Shakespeare plays are additions to my collection, and Night and Cry the Beloved Country are books that I read in high school. I plan to re-read them soon, and they'll be useful resources for me as a teacher.
Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice. Grab your current read, turn to page 56 or 56%, and post a few sentences!
Today I'm reading: Affinity by Sarah Waters "I was never so frightened as I am now. They have left me sitting in the dark, with only the light from the window to write by." (page 1) "When she was pressed, she broke out in a passion of weeping. She said that the truth was, the house when she is alone in it has begun to frighten her. " (page 57) Every Wednesday, I discuss an upcoming book release. This feature was inspired by Waiting On Wednesday, which has since become inactive. This week, I'm featuring When We Rise by Cleve Jones. Release date: November 29, 2016 Born in 1954, Cleve Jones was among the last generation of gay Americans who grew up wondering if there were others out there like himself. There were. Like thousands of other young people, Jones, nearly penniless, was drawn in the early 1970s to San Francisco, a city electrified by progressive politics and sexual freedom. Jones found community--in the hotel rooms and ramshackle apartments shared by other young adventurers, in the city's bathhouses and gay bars like The Stud, and in the burgeoning gay district, the Castro, where a New York transplant named Harvey Milk set up a camera shop, began shouting through his bullhorn, and soon became the nation's most outspoken gay elected official. With Milk's encouragement, Jones dove into politics and found his calling in "the movement." When Milk was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1978, Jones took up his mentor's progressive mantle--only to see the arrival of AIDS transform his life once again. By turns tender and uproarious--and written entirely in his own words--When We Rise is Jones' account of his remarkable life. He chronicles the heartbreak of losing countless friends to AIDS, which very nearly killed him, too; his co-founding of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation during the terrifying early years of the epidemic; his conception of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest community art project in history; the bewitching story of 1970s San Francisco and the magnetic spell it cast for thousands of young gay people and other misfits; and the harrowing, sexy, and sometimes hilarious stories of Cleve's passionate relationships with friends and lovers during an era defined by both unprecedented freedom and possibility, and prejudice and violence alike. When We Rise is not only the story of a hero to the LQBTQ community, but the vibrantly voice memoir of a full and transformative American life--an activist whose work continues today. I absolutely love reading biographies and autobiographies about activism during the 1960s and 1970s. The fact that this book is about LGBTQ rights makes it even more interesting to me. I'm thinking about preordering the audiobook based on some of the early critic reviews of this book!
What books are you looking forward to this week? The Banned/Challenged Books Challenge is hosted by Book Dragon's Lair. The idea is to read books that have been banned or challenged by governments or other agencies.
I am committing to the Blow-Up Fire level, which means that I will be reading 7-12 banned or challenged books throughout 2017. Many of these are old favourites, but I'm really excited to revisit them. As with all of my challenges, I will be posting a monthly Challenge Wrap Up post! You can also follow along on the challenge page using the site navigation at the top of my blog. Completion: 0/12
Read-o-rama is hosted via Youtube and Twitter. This edition of Read-o-rama took place between November 18 and 20, 2016.
For this readathon, I set out to read three books: Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick, Kwe by Joseph Boyden et.al., and Sex Object by Jessica Valenti. I ended up replacing Scrappy Little Nobody with Trevor Noah's Born a Crime, because I finished the former book before the weekend even started! I managed to finish my three books by Saturday afternoon! This was a great feeling, because I almost never hit all of my goals for readathon weekends. How did you do? Leave a comment below! This week, my goal was simple: read, read, read. I borrowed approximately one thousand books from my library, so I've been trying to power through them. Two much-anticipated audiobook pre-orders were delivered this week, so I also wanted to spend a lot of time listening. I'm no longer commuting for a few hours each day, though, so I really need to make extra time for audiobooks. What I read: What I'm Enjoying Now: What's Next: I really, really wanted to like So You've Been Publicly Shamed. One of my friends adores anything by Jon Ronson, so I had high hopes going in. Unfortunately, the audiobook just wasn't for me. I might give it another try as a physical book one day. On the other hand, Hillbilly Elegy was life-changing. I highly recommend it to everyone who has any interest in politics or sociology. Scrappy Little Nobody was good, but it felt a bit vanilla after reading something so powerful. If you enjoy reading Anna Kendrick's Twitter feed, you'll enjoy her book. Lastly, I started and finished Trevor Noah's new book, Born a Crime. It was another excellent and powerful read!
My week in physical books was a little slower but still successful. I read Kwe: Standing with Our Sisters, which is a discussion of the issues facing First Nations women in Canada. I teach rather frequently in a First Nations community, and I try to read as many Aboriginal stories and essays as I can. It was a short read, and I finished it in one sitting. Sex Object has been recommended to me many times, and I'm so glad that I was finally able to read it! I'm currently reading What Belongs to You and The Geek Feminist Revolution. Both are 2016 releases, and both have been nominated for awards this year. I've had The Geek Feminist on my TBR since before it was released, and it's very similar in style to Sex Object, so I'm looking forward to diving in to the audiobook. Up next in my library stack is Affinity and The Association of Small Bombs. I've been hoping to read Affinity since I read another of Sarah Waters' books during University, and I added The Association of Small Bombs to my holds list when it was nominated for Goodreads Choice this year. As for audiobooks, I'll be listening to In the Country We Love (any OITNB fans in the crowd?) and The Great Beanie Baby Bubble. |