Summer Reading Goals: 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge

May 31, 2017 jaleenajo 5 Comments

Even though I’m no longer in school, I still find that I always get more reading done during the summer than during any other season. A big part of this is that I love to read outside; there’s just something so nice about lying on the beach or my roof and enjoying the sunshine with a good book. I also love to set summer reading goals and TBRs, so the 20 Books of Summer Challenge, hosted by 746 Books, is perfect. Here are the 20 books I’m hoping to read this summer (although I’m also hoping to get a few more in there); all are on my physical TBR shelf except for a few that haven’t been released yet and two that I’ve pre-ordered on ebook.

Nonfiction:

I have two memoirs at the top of my TBR for the summer. Roxane Gay’s Hunger, a memoir that focuses on her relationship with food and her body, comes out in June, and since she’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors, I’m going to need to read it pretty much immediately. I’ve also had Caitlin Doughty’s Smoke Gets in Your Eyes on my TBR since it was released, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about this memoir by a female mortician.

Next in series:

Sometimes I’m just really in the mood for some fast-paced fantasy in the summer. I haven’t yet started the final book in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Wings and Ruin, which was released in May, and I’m thinking this summer is the perfect time to get to it. Awesomely, Ilona Andrews, one of my favorite fantasy authors, is releasing both the second and third books in her Hidden Legacy trilogy this summer, only months apart, and since I’ve pre-ordered both ebooks, I’m very much looking forward to getting back into this series that focuses on families with magical dynasties and a lie-detecting protagonist. Another anticipated release this summer for me is Seanan McGuire’s Down Among the Sticks and Bones, which is the second book in a YA series focused on children who have traveled to different portal fantasy worlds.

Literary fiction:

I have very, very good feelings about the books in this category. Several are books that I’ve added to TBRs before but haven’t ever actually started; most of them are books that I think have the potential to really wow me.

Short story collections:

I’m falling a little behind on my goal of reading one short story collection per month in 2017, so I’m looking to catch up by reading three collections this summer. I’ve barely started The Unfinished World by Amber Sparks but I already love her lyrical style; I’ve heard that she uses magical realism and science fiction elements in her stories, which I’m always a fan of. I’m thinking that Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild will be absolutely amazing; I’m kind of regretting starting the Amber Sparks collection first because I’m kind of in the mood to start that one. Alexander Weinstein’s Children of the New World is also science fiction, and I think I could get down with some of that this summer.

Classics:

After not reading any classics for about the past two years, I’m trying to get back into them with the help of the Serial Reader app, which helps you read small chunks of classics every day. (It’s free! And it’s really been working for me!) So far, I’m about 1/3 of the way through Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, which was published in 1854 and depicts a romance while also delving into class and labor struggles in nineteenth-century England. I’m definitely enjoying it so far; in the past I’ve loved the BBC miniseries adaptation and I’ll probably need to re-watch it after I finish the book. Next, I’m thinking of picking up Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, which was published in 1915 and is a feminist story about an all-female utopian society. It’s much shorter than North and South, so I’ll hopefully get to start another classic as well before the summer ends.

Science fiction/fantasy:

These might be my most anticipated reads of the summer. Alexandra Olivia’s The Last One depicts an apocalyptic event that takes place during the filming of a survivalist reality TV show; Mishell Baker’s Borderline was nominated for the Nebula and focuses on a double amputee with Borderline Personality Disorder who is in charge of policing the traffic between our world and a fantasy world; and Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon is a first-contact-with-aliens story set in Nigeria. I mean, how awesome do those descriptions sound?

What do you all plan to read this summer? Let me know in the comments!

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Bout of Books Wrap-Up (And Days 6&7 Updates)

May 17, 2017 jaleenajo Leave a comment

So that’s a wrap for Bout of Books! It’s always fun to have a readathon going to help inspire you to read more than you normally would. I definitely wouldn’t say I got a crazy amount of reading done this week, but I think I did a decent job and most importantly have (for the most part) really enjoyed the books I chose.

On Saturday, I had a very productive readathon day. I did have to work, but I listened to the audiobook of Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear..and Why by Sady Doyle on my commute and also while running a bunch of errands afterwards, so my day was doubly productive. When I got home, I finished reading The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley, which turned out to be very good and even weirder than I expected it to be (which is a good thing in my book). It also had more plot twists than I anticipated, so I couldn’t have stopped reading it even if I’d wanted to. I meant to pick up another print book after that, but I started getting some things done around my apartment while listening to Trainwreck and couldn’t stop; it’s very short as far as audiobooks go, and the subject matter is super absorbing. I actually finished it late Saturday night and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a feminist nonfiction read.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, so I spent most of the day with my family and didn’t get quite as much reading done. I did start a new audiobook, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, but only got a little bit into it. I also read a little more of Windwitch by Susan Dennard, which is slower-paced than I had expected.

Here are my stats for the readathon as a whole:

Total books read: 3

Total pages read/audiobook time: 432 pages and 464 minutes of audio

Books started, but not finished: 3

And here are my stats for the last two days of the readathon:

Day 6

Pages read: 237 minutes of Trainwreck, 74 pages of The Beauty

Books started: None

Books finished: The Beauty, Trainwreck

Day 7

Pages read: 12 minutes of Big Magic, 37 pages of Windwitch

Books started: Big Magic

Books finished: None

How did Bout of Books turn out for you guys? Let me know!

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Bout of Books Updates: Days 3-5

May 13, 2017 jaleenajo Leave a comment

Here are my updates at the end of day 5 of this round of the readathon! I’m still having a great time doing Bout of Books, although it hasn’t been perfect: in the past 3 days, I managed to actually finish a book (!) and started a new audiobook, but have been struggling a bit with my physical book reading. My goal for the readathon was to finish 3 books, so I definitely have a ways to go if I want to accomplish this.

Wednesday was my day off from work and I thought I’d be able to get a ton of reading done; I ended up being busier than expected but still managed to get through a decent chunk of Kelly Luce’s Pull Me Under and Susan Dennard’s Windwitch. To mix things up a bit, I started The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley, a short novel set in an isolated community of men after a pandemic has killed all of the women in the world. It’s definitely a very strange story, but the writing is skillful and lyrical.

On Thursday, I finally managed to finish Pull Me Under, a book I’ve been meaning to read for the past 6 months. For most of the book I was enjoying the story, particularly the discussions of Japanese culture, and was thinking about rating it 4 stars; however, for me the book really fumbled with how it handled the main character’s emotions and growth toward the end and it ended up being only a 3-star read. I also read a bit more of The Beauty, which quickly took a very odd turn; I’m really curious to see how the author handles things going forward.

Because I was listening to the audio version of Pull Me Under during my commutes to and from work, I was left without an audiobook on Friday. There were a few available from my library’s Overdrive app that I was interested in, but I ended up choosing Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear…and Why by Sady Doyle and narrated by Alex McKenna. The narrator was a big reason I picked this one up; McKenna also narrated Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, which has been one of my favorite audiobooks to date. I got completely sucked into this nonfiction book on Friday and listened to it for several hours, which is super rare for me as I struggle with paying attention to audiobooks. This book offers really interesting cultural criticism about why we tear famous women down while discussing tons of examples, both historical and modern. It’s so good that I may even finish it in the next few days.

So here are my stats for days 3-5:

Day 3

Pages read: 86 pages of Pull Me Under, 28 pages of Windwitch, 11 pages of The Beauty (125 pages total)

Books started: The Beauty

Books finished: None

Day 4

Pages read: 63 pages of Pull Me Under, 14 pages of The Beauty (77 pages total)

Books started: None

Books finished: Pull Me Under

Day 5

Pages read: listened to 215 minutes of Trainwreck

Books started: Trainwreck

Books finished: None

How is everyone else’s Bout of Books so far?

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Bout of Books Days 1&2 Updates

May 10, 2017 jaleenajo Leave a comment

We’re two days into Bout of Books! Things started off really well for me–I kicked off the readathon late Sunday night (technically after midnight on Monday) by starting The Lover by Marguerite Duras, a short novel that was on the top of my readathon TBR. It ended up being a bit different than I expected; instead of a fast read, the writing is actually very complex and I found myself rereading a lot of her sentences. Her style is complex and disjointed; each few paragraphs the narrative jumps forward and backward in time, so it’s definitely not a quick type of read. I still would really like to finish it during the readathon if I can, although I was only able to get through about 15 pages.

During the day on Monday, I listened to the audio version of Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce (I also have the physical book and I’ve been alternating between the two) during my commute to and from work; I’m really enjoying this story so far. It’s about a woman who killed her bully as a child and has since completely reinvented her life; however, when the death of her father brings her back to Japan, the country of her childhood, she’s forced to confront a lot of things she has kept buried.

I had a long day at work and when I got home I wasn’t feeling ambitious enough to pick up The Lover, so I read a bunch of Windwitch by Susan Dennard instead. This book is the second in a series focusing on two female friends with different magical powers; one can always tell truth from lies, and the other can sense the emotions and connections between other people. I’m definitely liking it so far; another viewpoint character has been added and I really like her, which means that I’m very into four of the five viewpoint characters (one of the love interests really rubs me the wrong way, but I still like the series a lot overall).

Unfortunately, Tuesday wasn’t nearly as successful of a reading day. It ended up being an absolutely crazy day at work, and I had plans to see a movie with friends right afterward (Guardians of the Galaxy 2! It was such a fun movie). The only reading I got done was a brief audiobook session of Pull Me Under during my lunch break. Wednesday is my day off, however, so I’m hoping to make up for some lost reading time today.

Here are my stats:

Day 1

Pages read: 15 pages of The Lover, 64 pages of Pull Me Under, and 30 pages of Windwitch (109 pages total)

Books started: The Lover

Books finished: None

Day 2

Pages read: 10 pages of Pull Me Under

Books started: None

Books finished: None

How is everyone else’s Bout of Books going so far? Let me know in the comments!

Reading Recaps

April Reading Wrap-Up

May 7, 2017 jaleenajo Leave a comment

Here’s my (belated) reading wrap-up for April!

I was actually really impressed with the amount I read during April. I feel like as it keeps getting warmer, hopefully I’ll be reading more and more since I love to read outside. This month, I participated in two readathons, Tome Topple and Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon, and both were really wonderful experiences; I’m looking forward to the next Tome Topple sometime this fall and the next round of Dewey’s in October.

Here are my stats:

Number of books read: 7

#readmyowndamnbooks: 6

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge tasks completed: I think zero 😦

When did I buy the books I read? April 2016 (The Age of Miracles), July 2016 (Sweetbitter), December 2016 (The Queen of the Night), January 2017 (The Grownup), February 2017 (Truthwitch), April 2017 (Replica)

So here’s what I read:

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler (4.25 stars) – I loved this, I really did. For me this was one of a very few books that was really enhanced by listening to it on audio; the narrator’s husky voice and perfect accents really made the characters come alive. But beyond that, I loved the rich language and immersion in Tess’s world. There were a few points where the writing missed the mark for me, and I didn’t love how certain things were handled towards the end, but otherwise this was such a great reading experience and one I’d definitely recommend.

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (3.5 stars) – I was really pleasantly surprised by this YA fantasy. I went in with low expectations and ended up really enjoying the strong female friendship at the heart of this story. I also really liked three of the four main characters; the fourth had these disturbingly sexist moments with abusive overtones that really bugged me

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (2.75 stars) -I thought the premise of this book, that the Earth begins to slow its rotation which has devastating consequences for life on the planet, was really interesting, but I wish it had been told from a different perspective.

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee (3.75 stars) – this is sort of a hard book to rate. I absolutely loved the first half of the book and was completely immersed in late 1800’s France; the second half, unfortunately, had some plot twists that I really disliked and things started to drag somewhat there. The writing, however, was gorgeous and the historical period was obviously meticulously researched.

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn (4 stars) – a perfect twisty, absorbing short read. I’m hoping that Flynn will have another novel out soon since I do like her writing style.

Replica by Lauren Oliver (3 stars) – this was a fun, fast-paced YA read with an unconventional format; however, it wasn’t great.

Saga, Volume 7 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples (3 stars) – at this point, this is the only graphic novel series that I’m following, and it’s still consistently good–although I didn’t think this one was quite as good as some of the earlier volumes.

bout of books, readathon

Bout of Books Readathon TBR

May 4, 2017 jaleenajo 2 Comments

Bout of Books

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

I love it when Bout of Books happens right after (or almost right after) Dewey’s Readathon; that way, if you don’t read as much as you would have liked to during Dewey’s, or if you’re sad that the readathon has ended, there’s another chance right around the corner. Usually with Bout of Books I tend to focus on books that are fast-paced but not necessarily short in length, YA, and graphic novels; this time, I’m going to instead focus on some very short books on my TBR list that sound really intriguing. Also, I usually go with library books for the majority of my Bout of Books reading, whereas this time I’d like to ideally stick to my physical TBR shelf as I continue to try to #readmyowndamnbooks.

So here’s my Bout of Books TBR:

The Lover The Beauty Pull Me Under Bloodchild and Other Stories

The Lover by Marguerite Duras – This book was published in the 1980’s and depicts an affair between a French teenager and an older Chinese man in what was previously known as French Indochina (now Vietnam). I found a copy at a used bookstore in D.C. when I was there for the Women’s March; it’s only 117 pages long, and Roxane Gay gave it a 5-star rating on Goodreads. Seems perfect for a readathon.

The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley – this is a short novel, around 100 pages, about a future in which all of the women in the world have died and the remaining men are attempting to preserve their history using oral storytelling.

Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce – This book was actually my first Book of the Month pick and I keep putting it on TBRs and not reading it. It’s about a woman who was bullied as a child in Japan and accidentally kills the child who was bullying in her; I believe the novel mostly takes place when she is an adult and trying to come to terms with what she has done.

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler – Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors, and this collection of short stories and essays sounds like it will be absolutely amazing.

So, that’s what I have planned for Bout of Books, which starts on Monday. As far as my reading plans go in the meantime, my main goal is to finish the books I’ve been reading for awhile prior to the readathon. This morning I was able to finish Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson, which I’ve been reading forever (it turned out to be pretty meh), and I’m about 2/3 of the way through Difficult Women by Roxane Gay, which is AMAZING so far.

Difficult Women Perfect Little World

After that, I’d like to start one or more longer books that I will likely only be able to begin before the readathon and likely finish afterwards, although I also like having the option of a longer work to pick up during the readathon if I’m not in the mood to read only short books. These three are at the top of my list; ideally I’d like to finish them all sometime in May.

Windwitch (The Witchlands, #2) The Lonely Hearts Hotel A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3)

Is anyone else planning on participating in Bout of Books? What’s on your TBR? Let me know!

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Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon Wrap-Up

May 3, 2017 jaleenajo Leave a comment

april2017

And that’s a wrap on this round of Dewey’s! I’m very late with this wrap-up post (oops) but I had a wonderful time devoting my day to reading on Saturday. I luckily didn’t have too much in the way of conflicts so I was able to focus on reading better than I normally can for long periods of time. Of course, I didn’t read for the entire 24 hours (I never do) but it was overall a really fun bookish day and I very much enjoyed it.

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn Replica by Lauren Oliver Saga, Vol. 7 by Brian K. Vaughan

Here’s my closing survey:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

Hour 17. At about 12:30 a.m. I started to totally crash. I’m normally a night owl, but as it got later I was having a harder time focusing on my physical books, so I ended up switching to audio for the last few hours I spent reading.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged for next year?

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, The Grownup by Gillian Flynn, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Aimee Kaufman, Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?

Nope! I love the readathon as is.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

Everything?
5. How many books did you read?

I finished 3 books and read a bit of a fourth, for a total of 833 pages.
6. What were the names of the books you read?

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn, Replica by Lauren Oliver, and Saga, Volume 7 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples were the books that I finished during the readathon. I also read/listened to some of Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Surprisingly, my favorite book of the readathon turned out to be The Grownup by Gillian Flynn. It was twisty, atmospheric, and impossible to put down. I wish it had been longer!
8. Which did you enjoy least?

I didn’t not enjoy any of my readathon books, but I wasn’t blown away by Replica. It was fun and fast-paced but it did lack a lot of depth for me and I wasn’t into either of the romantic plotlines.
9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

I’m very much looking forward to the next round of Dewey’s in October!

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Monthly Archives: May 2017

Summer Reading Goals: 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge

Bout of Books Wrap-Up (And Days 6&7 Updates)

Bout of Books Updates: Days 3-5

Bout of Books Days 1&2 Updates

April Reading Wrap-Up

Bout of Books Readathon TBR

Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon Wrap-Up

I write about nontraditional beach reads for nontraditional readers