Tag: reading

Posted in Book Talk

2021 Library Love Challenge!

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all! Last year, I learned of a challenge that was able to wholeheartedly embrace, despite my usual struggles with reading challenges! My impulsiveness will not hinder me for this one, since it’s the 2021 Library Love challenge! Hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart, the goal is simple: read books from the library!

Who doesn’t love the library? When I move to a new place, I always go to the library to check it out and get a card within a day or two of moving in. Usually before I’m even fully unpacked. Priorities, right? đŸ‘ŒđŸŒ

So this year I’m joining the 2021 Library Love challenge and going to shoot for at least 12 books (the lowest tier). Admittedly, last year I blew that goal out of the water, but I’m planning on using a lot of this year to read backlist books on my shelf, so if I’m doing it right then I won’t be seeking out external sources as often! â˜ș

Progress!

If you’re interested as well, go see the full post and sign up link from the hosts! The levels for the challenge are:

  • Dewey Decimal: Read 12 books
  • Thrifty Reader: Read 24 books
  • Overdrive Junkie: Read 36 books
  • Library Addict: Read 48 books
  • Library Card on Fire: Read 60+ books

My reads:

  1. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas
  2. Siri, Who Am I? by Sam Tschida
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

Do you like knowing if a book is the start of a series before reading it?

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all!

I ran into a little issue with a book I read today (and finished today… it was a slow day). While I actually enjoyed Heiress Apparently by Diana Ma more than I thought I would, I also learned that it’s apparently part of a series! I’m not totally sure how or why, since it doesn’t feel totally required by the ending. I’ll probably read it though — I quite enjoyed this one and would follow the characters a bit further!

Anyway, once I found that out midway through the book, it shaded my expectations of it a bit. I got a little bit bitter and suspicious, because it felt like the story could cleanly wrap up in this one book — but I knew it was the first in a series! I started thinking something really frustrating would happen to unnecessarily draw the story out, likely in a way that didn’t make sense and wasn’t needed (which is all too common).

Continue reading “Do you like knowing if a book is the start of a series before reading it?” →
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

Did you get read to as a child?

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all! If you haven’t heard yet, I’m a bit of an avid reader (as you may be too, if you’re reading this blog. â˜ș) I feel like I’ve loved reading ever since I was learning how, but there was always one thing I thought was kind of odd.

I don’t remember my parents (or anyone) ever reading to me when I was little! I guess I just happened to pick it up easily and really enjoy it. My brother was always a big reader as well, and my sister too, in fact. They’ve lost the time to really indulge in it as much anymore, but luckily I haven’t quite yet.

However. There’s a twist. Because even though I don’t remember my parents ever reading to me, apparently my mom totally did all the time. I asked her one time when I was thinking about exactly this, how strange it was that they hadn’t but I came to love reading, and she was practically offended and said “Oh, I read to you guys all the time!” So I have no idea how young I must have been when she was reading to me for me not to remember it at all.

Next step: see if my brother remembers! Because a lot of my early books that I read, I grabbed from his shelf. Hello, Animorphs!

Did anyone read to you as a kid before you were able to read on your own? Either way, do you think that impacted your opinion of reading now? ✌

Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

In Progress with ORESTIN’S OWN

Posted on by Jennifer

Progress: page 230/404 (57%)

WELL WHAT A FANTASTIC FIND!!

Why did I start reading it?

Lucky little me got an offer from the author to read and review this gem, and wow is it absolutely blowing me away! It’s been so exciting right from the start, and I feel like there’s never a good place to put it down because there’s always a crisis happening! I absolutely love it so far. The world and the characters are meeting perfectly. I can feel the cold and the relentless wind of the Wastes, and I’m looking over my shoulder for the bone children in pursuit. LOVING THIS.

Words I’ve Learned:

this one also then taught me “antipyretic” — two for one!

Lines that linger

In Karth-Aemon’s armor even ugly men looked beautiful.

“Are you ready to die?”

“Always. Remember that, Knight, if you remember nothing else of me.”

Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

100 books read!! How did I do with my extended reading goals?

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all!

So a while ago (April I think?) I wrote about how I had already finished my standard book-reading goal for the year: 52 books! And yes, even though I’ve totally destroyed that goal like a boss, I am still going to keep my reading goal at 52 each year.

My further goal for myself once I hit the sheer number amount was to read things I wouldn’t usually, or to read more diversely in general. I’ve now hit 100 books in the year, and I’m curious about how I did with my extended goal in the last 48 books I’ve read. I think I’ve done a good job with it, but let’s take a look and actually judge me on it, shall we? 😁

Continue reading “100 books read!! How did I do with my extended reading goals?” →
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

Word Origins: this is Jeopardy!

Posted on by Jennifer

Today’s word origin post comes after seeing that Alex Trebek, the quintessential host of Jeopardy!, has a book out! For me and many others, he’s a wholesome delight who’s been around for many years. Representing all corners of knowledge, it really sucked to hear he’s been diagnosed with severe pancreatic cancer. It sucks a little less to see that he has a book out, and I can learn more about him than just in his role as host. It also made me think about how weird the word jeopardy is, and what it actually means. I would guess something related to knowledge or facts, since the show by that title is a quiz show of all kinds of information. But then there’s also the phrase “double jeopardy” in law, meaning you cannot be tried for the same crime twice. How do they connect??

Origins of jeopardy

When did it first get used?
late 1300s, but variations and very similar forms have been used since the tenth century!!

What does it mean?
1. a danger or risk
2. a cunning plan
3. a lost game, or a game with even chances

What did it come from?
This stems from old French jeu parti — jeu meaning a game, and parti meaning divided. So in terms of Jeopardy! the quiz game show, it seems that the intent is to show it’s a game where anyone can succeed. Luck is not required because it’s all based on your own knowledge and what you know. I’m not sure that makes perfect sense, but I’ll let it go.

As far as the legal sense, where you cannot be tried for the same crime twice, that seems to link more to the sense of a risk or danger. Honestly, it seems weird that these meanings are in the same word. At the very least, I’m pretty clear on which kind of double jeopardy I would rather be dealing with!

Have you ever shouted out the answers to Jeopardy and wondered why it was named such?

Posted in Chatty

Craigslist Confessional might be too real for me

Posted on by Jennifer

So I’ve been wanting to read Craigslist Confessional for a while, even before it came out. It’s a collection of anonymous stories as told to a woman who put out an offer on Craigslist to Lauren to people who needed it. Pain, abuse, depression, and so many struggles are captured in these stories, but also hope, generosity, love. It’s a sample of humanity in it’s entirety.

I finally got a copy from the library and started it. I read the first story, and damn did it play up my emotions. And this wasn’t even a sad story!! It just had a different kind of pain, and the scary unknown potential of loss.

I think I need to get my own copy of this book so I can read it slowly in pieces and take breaks when it gets really heavy. How do y’all deal with books like this, that just affect you really deeply and make them hard to read even when you want to read them?

Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

In Progress with ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE

Posted on by Jennifer

Progress: page 221/325 (68%)

Finally started this one that’s been hanging around for a while.

Why did I start reading it?

I’ve had this for a while now, and it’s been out for even longer. Long enough for the hype to die down so I don’t hear about it so much anymore. Which means I can finally read it. 😁 I started reading it because I had nothing I particularly wanted to read and this looked nice on my shelf for a sunny day. I actually started it once a while ago but the first incident with the Hollywood waxing made me too sad and I had to stop at the time.

Where have I gone?

(UK English) Words I’ve Learned:

Lemon-colored explosively fizzy boiled sweets – apparently called sherbet lemons?

Lines that linger

The streets were all named after poets – Wordsworth Lane, Shelly Close, Keats Rise – no doubt chosen by the building company’s Marketing Department. They were all poets that the kind of person who’d aspire to such a home would recognize, poets who wrote about urns and flowers and wandering clouds. Based on past experience, I’d be more likely to end up living in Dante Lane or Poe crescent.

“I marveled at the generosity of those humans who performed intimate services for others.”

Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

Library Love Challenge Update — things are going well!

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all! In April I found and decided to join the library love challenge hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart. With a pandemic going on, I knew I wouldn’t be able to physically go to the library for a while, so I thought this challenge would be a reminder to leverage the digital resources they have as well! I usually do already, but I’ve branched out even more.

My goal was to read twelve books from the library. At the time, this was pretty reasonable because it averaged out to about a quarter of the books I read a year. Now… I‘ve already surpassed my usual reading goal by a lot, and I’m not slowing down. 😅 So I’ve definitely completed the twelve book tier, and am now working towards the next tier of 24!

Progress!

If you’re interested as well, go see the full post and sign up link from the hosts! It’s never too late to join. 😀 The levels for the challenge are:

  • Dewey Decimal: Read 12 books (my goal – complete!)
  • Thrifty Reader: Read 24 books (my new goal!)
  • Overdrive Junkie: Read 36 books
  • Library Addict: Read 48 books
  • Library Card on Fire: Read 60+ books

My reads:

  1. Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
  2. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  3. The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin
  4. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
  5. Illidan by William King
  6. Akin by Emma Donoghue
  7. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
  8. Brunch and Other Obligations by Suzanne Nugent
  9. Rascal by Jean-Luc Deglin
  10. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu
  11. Beach Read by Emily Henry
  12. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
  13. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  14. The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
  15. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

Two books I finished while putting off another book đŸ˜…

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all! I don’t know what’s going on, but I keep finishing books way faster than I expect to. I think it’s because I’m currently putting off getting back to a book I haven’t been very into, but am trying to finish anyway. It’s sort of like eating food that tastes terrible but is super healthy. I think this book has a message that is beneficial for me to hear about, but man I am just not entertained. And at the moment, that’s kind of what I need: just some lighthearted happy reading.

Which is probably why I just tore through 2 books in the past few days. I thought they would take much longer to wrap up! Probably because that book I’m procrastinating is skewing my expectations of myself. 😂

One of the books I just wrapped up is Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras, one that’s been on my radar for a while. I finally got to it — and even better, I actually won a copy from Goodreads! Just happiness and smiles all around. It’s a fake-dating trope done so so well. With romance and eating disorders and tragic pasts that get in the way of a future, it absolutely sucked me in. If you need a beach read, this is the one!

The other is May Day by Josie Jaffrey, which I posted about the other day. It’s a book outside my usual genre, since this is a darker vampire detective plot. I’m so glad I took a chance on it though, because it was sexy and funny and captivating. Thank goodness Jaffrey has a whole other series already published in the universe, because I definitely need more!

How are y’all holding up with reading routines? Mine have certainly been thrown out of whack a bit, but they’re still my go-to escape whenever I can manage it. 😄