April was another slow reading month, although I did make a significant dent in my NetGalley queue. I read 4 books and 1 short story - not nearly enough to keep up with all my challenges. I need to make some changes to my daily schedule to allow for more reading.
In thinking about the state of my reading (or lack thereof), I made a tough decision. As much as I love NetGalley (and I do - way too much!), once I clear the remaining two books from that site, I am going to take a break from browsing it in search of new books to read. For some reason I have been reading less than usual, so I have been requesting interesting looking books and then letting them sit until I only have a few days left before they expire, and then I have to scramble to get them read and reviewed - and this is stupid. It's also stupid that I have an enormous TBR pile of physical books that I am ignoring in favor of NetGalley books. So for the next couple months I will not be using NetGalley, so I can concentrate on physical TBR books. If I happen to get a review request, I will happily honor it, but I will not request books.
So with all that said, my reading plan for May involves focusing on physical books and some of the challenges that will allow me to clear books from the TBR pile. I am not going to set a number, but I hope to be able to use TBR pile books for most, if not all, of my challenges this month.
One other note - I have not seen any notification of the Language Freak Summer Challenge this year as of yet. Ekaterina usually posts the sign up in April, but there is nothing on her blog. I hope all is well with her! I had planned to read some foreign language books this year, assuming I'd do it in conjunction with this challenge, so I still plan to read those books. If the challenge gets posted I'll happily join as soon as I know about it (so if you see anything, please let me know!). I have a reading theme planned for the month of June that involves some of these books - but first I have to make May a month of real reading progress!
Anybody else having a sluggish Spring?
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
April Reread - The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
This has to be one of the scariest books I have ever read. It's not scary in the traditional sense; it doesn't really have any of the classic elements that people think of when they think of, say, the horror genre, or books like that. No, this book is scary because there is a certain element of our society that I believe thinks this book is some kind of twisted how-to manual and that frightens me to the core. Accordingly, those same people consistently wish to ban this book - probably so we won't know what they're up to. It's #88 on the ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books list. Read this book and think about current events and ask yourself how farfetched it really is. Recommended.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Leaving Berlin - Joseph Kanon
FTC Compliance Statement: I received a free, time-limited, electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.com in exchange for my honest review, which is provided below. I have not been compensated for this review and my opinion is my own.
I read Joseph Kanon's Alibi at the end of last year and enjoyed it, so when I saw this opportunity on NetGalley I leapt at the chance to read more by the same author.
This book paints a detailed, heartbreaking picture of Cold War Berlin. The story is relentless; it's like a slowly coiling noose tightening around the main character's neck. This was a gripping thriller. Recommended.
I read Joseph Kanon's Alibi at the end of last year and enjoyed it, so when I saw this opportunity on NetGalley I leapt at the chance to read more by the same author.
This book paints a detailed, heartbreaking picture of Cold War Berlin. The story is relentless; it's like a slowly coiling noose tightening around the main character's neck. This was a gripping thriller. Recommended.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Mañana - William Hjortsberg
FTC Compliance Statement: I received a free, time-limited, electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.com in exchange for my honest review, which is provided below. I have not been compensated for this review and my opinion is my own.
This book reads like a film noir narrated by a baby boomer. Even though this is a contemporary novel, I easily pictured a 1970s-era film being made of this story. I liked the setting and the relentless plot. Great book for fans of well done crime novels.
This book reads like a film noir narrated by a baby boomer. Even though this is a contemporary novel, I easily pictured a 1970s-era film being made of this story. I liked the setting and the relentless plot. Great book for fans of well done crime novels.
Monday, April 6, 2015
The Kissing Contest - Francis Gideon
FTC Compliance Statement: I received a free, time-limited, electronic review copy of this short story from the publisher via NetGalley.com in exchange for my honest review, which is provided below. I have not been compensated for this review and my opinion is my own.
I liked this philosophical short story from Less Than Three Press. It made a fitting companion piece to The Human Agenda, as it seems to cover the idea that people should be who they really are, and should not have to fake their way through life to a make others happy. I would definitely read more fiction from this author. Recommended.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
The Human Agenda - Joe Wenke
FTC Compliance Statement: I received a free, time-limited, electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.com in exchange for my honest review, which is provided below. I have not been compensated for this review and my opinion is my own.
This book's subtitle, Conversations about Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity, says it all. The book is made up of a series of conversations the author has had with various members of the quiltbag (LGBTQI) community, including the gorgeous Carmen Carrera, who appeared on one of my very favorite TV shows, RuPaul's Drag Race, before coming out as a trans woman. Each conversation is thought provoking, with multiple conversations touching on current issues such as "tolerance" vs "acceptance," trans* people being seen as disordered, even by people who consider themselves allies of gay people, etc. There is a lot of material here for discussion and much food for thought. Recommended.
This book's subtitle, Conversations about Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity, says it all. The book is made up of a series of conversations the author has had with various members of the quiltbag (LGBTQI) community, including the gorgeous Carmen Carrera, who appeared on one of my very favorite TV shows, RuPaul's Drag Race, before coming out as a trans woman. Each conversation is thought provoking, with multiple conversations touching on current issues such as "tolerance" vs "acceptance," trans* people being seen as disordered, even by people who consider themselves allies of gay people, etc. There is a lot of material here for discussion and much food for thought. Recommended.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
March - This Month in Reading
March really got away from me. Between work, social commitments, my own projects and classes and etc., and other misc. nonsense I only managed to read 5 books - and I am still playing catch up, rather than finishing all the reading I had planned to do in March so I'd be set up to tackle the TBR pile in April.
Oh well!
On the plus side, many of the books I did read counted for challenge reading, so that was good.
So for April, I plan to actually catch up with some NetGalley reviews and a library book, and if I happen to do more, that would be great too.
How was your reading in March? Ready for an April shower of books?
Oh well!
On the plus side, many of the books I did read counted for challenge reading, so that was good.
So for April, I plan to actually catch up with some NetGalley reviews and a library book, and if I happen to do more, that would be great too.
How was your reading in March? Ready for an April shower of books?
Sunday, March 29, 2015
My Best Everything - Sarah Tomp
FTC Compliance Statement: I received a free, time-limited, electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.com in exchange for my honest review, which is provided below. I have not been compensated for this review and my opinion is my own.
This is a really enjoyable YA book. Its unusual setting and plot was great - although the book had some classic elements of YA books, the nontraditional elements made it fresh and engaging. The second person narration was effective, more so than I think third person narration would have been - it made me wonder how things had turned out, and kept me reading and turning pages. I was truly sympathetic to the situation the main character finds herself in; she was easy to root for, even if I didn't love all of her decisions. Recommended.
One note on technical difficulties - my electronic copy had teeny tiny type and I couldn't enlarge it no matter what I did. That hadn't happened to me before in Adobe Digital Editions, so I am not sure why it happened now. I sincerely hope it doesn't happen again, because it made this book very difficult to read, so reading took a lot longer than it normally would have.
This is a really enjoyable YA book. Its unusual setting and plot was great - although the book had some classic elements of YA books, the nontraditional elements made it fresh and engaging. The second person narration was effective, more so than I think third person narration would have been - it made me wonder how things had turned out, and kept me reading and turning pages. I was truly sympathetic to the situation the main character finds herself in; she was easy to root for, even if I didn't love all of her decisions. Recommended.
One note on technical difficulties - my electronic copy had teeny tiny type and I couldn't enlarge it no matter what I did. That hadn't happened to me before in Adobe Digital Editions, so I am not sure why it happened now. I sincerely hope it doesn't happen again, because it made this book very difficult to read, so reading took a lot longer than it normally would have.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
March Reread - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The writing in this book is so well done that at all time during the reading you feel as if you are there with the title character, experiencing his day with him. The book's focus on a single day shows just how small the world of a prisoner is; how the life of a prisoner is deliberately put together in such a way as to deprive him or her of the free time for anything other than survival. Because the details matter - in this environment, losing track of the details means death.
I seem to remember reading this book in the original Russian back in my university days, and even then it was easy to see that this book must have been very threatening to the Soviet government. One of these days I will read more of Solzhenitsyn's work too. A modern classic, and highly recommended.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson (spoilers?)
Disclaimer: I can't discuss this book without describing some aspects of it that could be construed as spoilers, so I'm mentioning this up front in case you'd prefer to avoid them.
What can I say about this classic novella (which I didn't realize was so short until I started reading it - that will teach me to do some research before I choose books for the Back to the Classics Challenge!) that hasn't already been said? I have managed to avoid any kind of movies or stage productions of this book, so before I started reading, I only knew that the main story consisted of the titular doctor, who takes a potion of his own invention and turns into Mr. Hyde, a criminal and sociopath. I was surprised that the book tells us this story through peripheral characters; I had expected it to be told more from Dr. Jekyll's point of view. Instead we as readers are also bystanders who find out what occurred through letters written by Dr. Jekyll and some other characters. This was actually effective, because it keeps the main conceit of the plot a secret until the very end.
And what to make of the end? Is Hyde redeemed? Was Dr. Jekyll able to prevail, even though Hyde had appeared to take over completely? I like that there is some room for uncertainty. This would be a fun book to discuss in a book club or college level class. Recommended.
What can I say about this classic novella (which I didn't realize was so short until I started reading it - that will teach me to do some research before I choose books for the Back to the Classics Challenge!) that hasn't already been said? I have managed to avoid any kind of movies or stage productions of this book, so before I started reading, I only knew that the main story consisted of the titular doctor, who takes a potion of his own invention and turns into Mr. Hyde, a criminal and sociopath. I was surprised that the book tells us this story through peripheral characters; I had expected it to be told more from Dr. Jekyll's point of view. Instead we as readers are also bystanders who find out what occurred through letters written by Dr. Jekyll and some other characters. This was actually effective, because it keeps the main conceit of the plot a secret until the very end.
And what to make of the end? Is Hyde redeemed? Was Dr. Jekyll able to prevail, even though Hyde had appeared to take over completely? I like that there is some room for uncertainty. This would be a fun book to discuss in a book club or college level class. Recommended.
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