I finished The Hunger Games Trilogy yesterday, after what was a pretty crazy month of reading. I finished 14 books in August, which amounted to just over 4,500 pages. I don’t think I’ve ever had a reading month that productive. But it was also exhausting! Especially reading the Hunger Games books straight through, three days [...]
About three months ago, Boyfriend and I were invited to join a wine tasting group here in Madison called WASTED – it’s an acronym for something, but no one can see to remember what!
We’re heading off to another WASTED meeting this afternoon, which made today seem like the perfect time to review a narrative nonfiction book I just recently finished about the history of wine in the United States, The Wild Vine by Todd Kliman.
This is just a quick post to let you know that I’ll be unplugged for the next week or so. I’m moving this weekend, as I mentioned in my Sunday Salon post, and getting ready has been more work than I anticipated. I’ll also be without internet at home from Saturday until the middle of next week.
I haven’t done The Sunday Salon in a long time, and I’ve found myself really missing it. I liked having a space and excuse to do just have a sort of personal musings and readings post, so I’m going to try and start up again.
Right now seems like a good time for a general reading and life update, if you’re interested in this dork’s life, with pictures!
This post is part of Diana Wynne Jones Week, August 1-7, hosted by Jenny at Jenny’s Books. Head over there to see a whole lot of posts by this really lovely YA fantasy author.
When I think Diana Wynne Jones, I usually think back to the first series I read – The Dalemark Quartet. I only have hazy memories of the plot, but remember loving the adventuresome kids, use of myth and magic, and four separate but interconnect stories about the world of Dalemark.
Monday Tally is a weekly link round-up of some of my favorite posts discovered over the week.
Monday Tally is a day early this week because tomorrow is my discussion for Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. I can’t wait!
Top Picks
My reading has slowed pretty dramatically the last three weeks because, like always, I’ve gotten addicted to a new tv show. I love tv on DVD or from Netflix, but try not to start new shows because I have this personality where if I start one I cannot stop watching it even when I have more important things to do.
The last show this happened with was Damages. I basically stopped doing anything for three days and watched an entire season. It’s that good.
The current show is Avatar: The Last Airbender, an Americanized anime series that originally played on Nickelodeon and was just recently made into a (controversial) feature film.
I didn’t like Bill Bryson’s travelogue The Lost Continent because I thought his sense of humor was too dark, mean, and inconsistent for my tastes.
I decided to give Bryson’s travel writing a second try by listening to an audio book of In a Sunburned Country, a travelogue about Australia. While I liked In a Sunburned Country better than The Lost Continent, I’m not sure that I’ll ever love Bryson as a travel writer because he travels a lot like me, and I travel pretty boring.
Today is my 24th birthday! And what do I want? Books!
Now, I’m not much of a new book buyer. It’s probably blasphemous to say that, but it’s true. I’m much happier perusing used book stores or seeing what kinds of cheap reads I can snag online rather than getting them new. If I do buy new, I almost always wait for the paperback and then try to use as many coupons and deals as I can. After spending 19 years as a student, I’m still cheap.
One of my goals in the last two years has been to take good notes while I read. I’ve found having notes helps when I start to write reviews because I have ideas, quotes, and impressions jotted down already.
A few people have mentioned they can’t seem to take notes while they read, so I wanted to write a post with five easy tips on how to get in the habit.