I spent most of January getting ahead in my 2011 GoodReads Challenge -- a challenge I issued to myself to read at least fifty books this year. That month I read something like two books per week, escaping into novels that took me far away from the miserable Kentucky winter.
Somehow, as we approach the half-way point in the year, I have managed to be merely "on track" for my goal, as opposed to be "way ahead," as I'd planned. I thought with my newfound love for my Kindle that I would read all kinds of books while on tour. Not so. I barely managed to finish the last book in "The Hunger Games" (about as challenging a read as "Twilight") while abroad, even though I'd read the first two in less than a week.
Anyway, I'm currently trying to finish five books, ranging from "baby books" (as my dad refers to anything less than 500 pages) to classics I should have read in high school.
Currently reading:
"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame. I saw this on stage multiple times, but somehow never read it. Not only is it free on my Kindle, but it's by a Scottish author. I've been rather into Scotland lately, if you haven't noticed. Which explains my next title...
"How the Scots Invented the Modern World" by Arthur Herman. Scottish folk remind me of Kentuckians. Whenever there is the most remote connection between Kentucky and something famous, we cling onto it with a proud fervor. Scotland seems to do the same thing. I like this book though because it's at least documented with history, rather than just "Thomas Edison lived here once."
"Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier. Ugh. I've been trying to finish this book for well over a year now, as it was recommended to me by many as the perfect novel to read while traveling in the UK. I've been to the UK three times since starting "Rebecca," but am somehow only on chapter eleven. My English teacher BFF assures me it gets good after Chapter 15, but I'm struggling to care about this narrator. Also, it's not the romance novel that its sultry paperback cover implies.
"Dragonfly in Amber" by Diana Gabaldon. More Scotland tales. I've been audiobooking this for many months now, and I'm so, so close to finishing. The narrator's accent always lulls me to sleep, so it's been a long journey.
"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I know, I know, you read it last year. Good for you. I like it too. This one is a good treadmill read. Almost finished.
I suppose if I fall behind in my challenge, I can just start counting all those travel books I devour, but I never mark them as read. Nor do I count cookbooks, even though I'll read them cover to cover multiple times. I love a good cookbook, but I think I have to stop adding "baby books" to my list. That's not really the point of the challenge.
Somehow, as we approach the half-way point in the year, I have managed to be merely "on track" for my goal, as opposed to be "way ahead," as I'd planned. I thought with my newfound love for my Kindle that I would read all kinds of books while on tour. Not so. I barely managed to finish the last book in "The Hunger Games" (about as challenging a read as "Twilight") while abroad, even though I'd read the first two in less than a week.
Anyway, I'm currently trying to finish five books, ranging from "baby books" (as my dad refers to anything less than 500 pages) to classics I should have read in high school.
Currently reading:
"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame. I saw this on stage multiple times, but somehow never read it. Not only is it free on my Kindle, but it's by a Scottish author. I've been rather into Scotland lately, if you haven't noticed. Which explains my next title...
"How the Scots Invented the Modern World" by Arthur Herman. Scottish folk remind me of Kentuckians. Whenever there is the most remote connection between Kentucky and something famous, we cling onto it with a proud fervor. Scotland seems to do the same thing. I like this book though because it's at least documented with history, rather than just "Thomas Edison lived here once."
"Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier. Ugh. I've been trying to finish this book for well over a year now, as it was recommended to me by many as the perfect novel to read while traveling in the UK. I've been to the UK three times since starting "Rebecca," but am somehow only on chapter eleven. My English teacher BFF assures me it gets good after Chapter 15, but I'm struggling to care about this narrator. Also, it's not the romance novel that its sultry paperback cover implies.
"Dragonfly in Amber" by Diana Gabaldon. More Scotland tales. I've been audiobooking this for many months now, and I'm so, so close to finishing. The narrator's accent always lulls me to sleep, so it's been a long journey.
"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I know, I know, you read it last year. Good for you. I like it too. This one is a good treadmill read. Almost finished.
I suppose if I fall behind in my challenge, I can just start counting all those travel books I devour, but I never mark them as read. Nor do I count cookbooks, even though I'll read them cover to cover multiple times. I love a good cookbook, but I think I have to stop adding "baby books" to my list. That's not really the point of the challenge.
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