Monday, January 21, 2013

Reading In the New Year

I'm trying to control my reading by rationing the books that go into my reading bag. I figure I read about 100 paper pages a day, so I check the page count and wait that many days to put a new book in. The result is that I only read a few books at a time, plus all the extras that I scatter about. Of course, book club books don't count, and neither do books that the library wants NOW.

It also sadly means that I can't start a new book until Tuesday, unless I finish the three books currently in my bag.

I'm also scrupulously following C.B.'s TBR Double Dog Dare, and I haven't checked out any frivolous books and any new books I buy go into a special closed box. I hope that by April I'll have my library books down to a small buffer size.

I'm having fun with the Comment Challenge and have added a few blogs to my reader list. I haven't had trouble making at least five comments a day, and often a few more although I stop counting at five.

I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. I'll skip Teach Mentor Texts since I didn't actually finish any kidlit, and I haven't written up the picture books.

This week I read:
  • The Moon Maze Game, Steven Barnes & Larry Niven. Good old high-ideas and plot oriented science fiction.
  • Killbox, Ann Aguirre. NOOK. 
What am I currently reading? Technically I have 23 books open, but really I'm only trying to read about three. Well, four if you count the NOOK book.  I guess that doesn't make me sound much saner, does it?
  • Shadow On the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I bought this last year but didn't get around to it yet. I'm annoyed with the whiny kid for giving his book away. (in my bag)
  • The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, Trenton Steward. I'm enjoying this family book club selection; several laugh out loud moments already. (in my bag)
  • Tears of the Sun, S.M. Stirling. Boy is the back story cumbersome! Every character has to pause to reminisce before getting out of a chair. (in my bag)
  • Succubus Blues, Richelle Meade. NOOK. I'm enjoying this more than I expected.
  • Fleas, Flies, and Friars, Nicholas Orme. Wow, it was expensive. Now I've ordered it back up.
  • The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater. (audio). Still popular, but slow going now that we aren't driving that much.
  • A Parent's Guide to Developmental Delays,  Laurie Lecomer. Reassuring start about trusting your instincts.
  • The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, Martin Gardner. Dipper. I like the negative chapter approach: Why I'm Not a ______ .
  • The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. Dipper. Now I get all the jokes from Little Women.
  • Senrid, Sherwood Smith. Dipper. I find the voices very jarring.
  • The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Dipper. The perils of tipsiness. 
  • War With the Newts, Karel Capek. Dipper. Still very slow.
  • The Enemy, Charles Hudson. NOOK. This was almost our December family book club pick, but no longer. I guess I'll finish it anyway, after I get it back from the library. It expired on me.
  • The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt. (NOOK) Another expiration failure.
  • Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.
The list of the books I started but didn't finish is now a leetle bit shorter. The TBR Dare is a good time to attack these:
  • The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. Was getting dull.
  • Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
  • Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
  • Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
  • Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
  • The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
  • The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
  • Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.
2013 Challenges:
  1. TBR Double Dare: Seven books from my shelves.
  2. Cybils: 4/74. My kids stole all my Cybils books. I have to wait in line.
  3. Where Am I Reading?: I have to re-sign up.
  4. Science Book Challenge: Need to re-sign up.
  5. Reading My Library: Maybe next week.
  6. Best of the Best 2012: 36/25. Wendigo is done, and we're currently enjoying Scorpio Races.
  7. Summer Reading Goal: The next one is working its way up the stack.

3 comments:

Kristen said...

That closed box idea for new books, shoot, I'd have to rent one of those storage units since I have less than zero self-control. :-P Good luck finishing up some stuff this week and not putting anything else in your bag until tomorrow!

MotherReader said...

Thanks for joining us in the Comment Challenge! I'm impressed that you can keep so many books going at a time. I might have a fiction and a nonfiction title at the same time, but that's all I can manage mentally.

Brandy said...

Goodness I don't know how you manage to have that many books at once. I can't do that. One fiction and one non-fiction is the limit for me. Sometimes.