Welcome to the Read.Write.Repeat. monthly wrap-up. Every month, I give a quick overview of what books I read, the progress made on the 100 Best Novels goal, a few book-related links, and general blog news.
January News
As much as I totally, thoroughly, hate winter with every cell in my body, I do have to admit that this month has provided the perfect weather for curling up inside with a book. Lots of snow and frigid temperatures here in the Midwest have cancelled plans and kept us indoors. We even got a few snow/cold days off from work, which is an unprecedented miracle.
All the forced days at home paid off. I read more books this January than I did in January 2012 and January 2013 combined! Actually, I read more books this month than I have any month in the past two years. What a great way to start the year!
And don't think that all the reading means I was not productive. Kevin and I have started 2014 strong. We've decided this is going to be our year. We've done some major cleaning and organizing in our lives. I've started being more proactive about cutting down our grocery bill and planning ahead. I started (yet another) part-time job tutoring online. I also started my grad program, which I am absolutely loving so far. Things are off to a great start!
Here on the blog, I participated in quite a few book tours, which largely account for the amount of reading I did. I'm signed up for quite a few this winter/spring. There are two in February which I am particularly excited about!
If you missed Movie Mondays this month, both were classic adaptations of classics. Animal Farm didn't come close to living up to the book, but The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie had me fan-girling pretty hard for Maggie Smith.
I also kicked off what I hope will become a great discussion about the Harry Potter books. Kevin and I are going through them together (his first time) and I really want to use this chance to reminisce with all you HP fans out there. Make sure you vote in the poll in the right hand column and share what your favorite HP book is!
All the forced days at home paid off. I read more books this January than I did in January 2012 and January 2013 combined! Actually, I read more books this month than I have any month in the past two years. What a great way to start the year!
And don't think that all the reading means I was not productive. Kevin and I have started 2014 strong. We've decided this is going to be our year. We've done some major cleaning and organizing in our lives. I've started being more proactive about cutting down our grocery bill and planning ahead. I started (yet another) part-time job tutoring online. I also started my grad program, which I am absolutely loving so far. Things are off to a great start!
Here on the blog, I participated in quite a few book tours, which largely account for the amount of reading I did. I'm signed up for quite a few this winter/spring. There are two in February which I am particularly excited about!
If you missed Movie Mondays this month, both were classic adaptations of classics. Animal Farm didn't come close to living up to the book, but The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie had me fan-girling pretty hard for Maggie Smith.
I also kicked off what I hope will become a great discussion about the Harry Potter books. Kevin and I are going through them together (his first time) and I really want to use this chance to reminisce with all you HP fans out there. Make sure you vote in the poll in the right hand column and share what your favorite HP book is!
Books Read
- Taking What I Like - Linda Bamber - 1/1/14
- The End - G. Michael Hopf - 1/3/14
- James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra - Colm McElwain - 1/10/14
- The Long Road - G. Michael Hopf - 1/17/14
- The Perfume Collector - Kathleen Tessaro - 1/19/14
- Eva Braun: Life with Hitler - Heike B. Gortemaker - 1/23/14
- Austenland - Shannon Hale - 1/24/143
- Legend - Marie Lu - 1/25/14
- The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford - 1/31/14
- A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle - 1/31/14
- The Lord of the Flies - William Golding - 1/31/14
Pages Read: 3,337
Favorite Book Read: I cannot wait to share The Perfume Collector with you! I have been wanting to read the book for a while and was offered a spot on the book tour. I'll be raving about this work on February 13. You won't want to miss it!
100 Best Novels Progress
- 2 completed this month (The Good Solider and Lord of the Flies)
- 19% complete
Articles
If you are a movie lover as well as a book lover, make sure you start on this list of 16 Books to Read Before They Hit Theaters. My dear friend and cousin-in-law Jamie is going to be blogging her way through the list this year. She'll be doing a few guests posts here, but make sure you check out her blog as well!
Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl had plenty of twists and she's not stopping for the movie. It was recently announced that Flynn has written a whole new third act for the adaptation.
Need a gorgeous way to display your books? Try these ideas from Huffington Post. My favorite is the under the stairs idea.
Buzzfeed has a great list of book-inspired accessories.
I'm about due for a quarter-life crisis. Here are some books to get through it.
The best books are the ones you cannot put down. Half Price Books was kind enough to compile a list of 100 such gems.
Reading a long book takes commitment. Huffington Post thinks these worth the effort.
In a perfect world, I would read all day and eat 3 gourmet meals a day. These books create the effect without the calories.
Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl had plenty of twists and she's not stopping for the movie. It was recently announced that Flynn has written a whole new third act for the adaptation.
Need a gorgeous way to display your books? Try these ideas from Huffington Post. My favorite is the under the stairs idea.
Buzzfeed has a great list of book-inspired accessories.
I'm about due for a quarter-life crisis. Here are some books to get through it.
The best books are the ones you cannot put down. Half Price Books was kind enough to compile a list of 100 such gems.
Reading a long book takes commitment. Huffington Post thinks these worth the effort.
In a perfect world, I would read all day and eat 3 gourmet meals a day. These books create the effect without the calories.
~ ~ ~
Well, that's it for January. Here's hoping February brings balmier temperatures and great books. It will take some luck and dedication for me to read anything in the two weeks the Olympics are on. If you think I love books, you've never seen me around the Olympics. For someone who is generally uninterested in sports, I get a bit crazy when the Games roll around. Any suggestions on Olympic-themed books I can read while I watch?
No comments:
Post a Comment