Reading: June - September

Books, books and more books. My reading preferences have maybe been changing. I've also done a lot of re-reading, and I won't post those here cause you've already heard about them. But, working backwards, here's what's been occupying my time from now back through June.

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll

Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver

Zoo Story by Thomas French

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Lately my reading interests are falling into very specific categories: 1) True stories about animals that are both amazing and amazingly sad (elephants escaping culls and poaching, chimpanzees who are rescued from animal research facilities, the rescue of zoo animals just days after the most recent war in Baghdad, etc.); 2) Poetry by Mary Oliver; 3) Anything written by Jodi Picoult; 4) Teen books that are turned into movies.

Don't judge.

Reading January - May

So, what - you document all the books you've read monthly for 2 years and then - poof - no more?? What the heck?

Yes, well. Life.

The last time I checked it was February. Now it's June?? How did that happen?? Oh yes, visits from friends, getting ready for a jewelry show (you guys, I created over 100 pieces of jewelry), taking care of my parent's house and cats for an extended period of time, plus all sorts of construction happening in my apartment (central air installation - yessss!! Except one of the guys put his foot through our ceiling and we had some major, major drywall patching...) - yeah, I guess that explains why March through now is a complete blur.

Here's what I've been reading in my very limited downtime...

Currently reading The Goldfinch - all 775 pages of it. I wouldn't say I LOVE it with capitals, but it's certainly interesting and it's keeping me guessing. Nearly 800 is a lot of pages, and it's kept my attention.

Eleanor & Park was pretty great. It's a really sweet story and I just wanted to give the girl a hug and a home.

Part of Sisterland centers around an earthquake and I picked it up right around when we southern Californians experienced a large-ish (for us) earthquake. I was a little disappointed in the direction the story took towards the end.

OMG, I could not get through The Taste of Apple Seeds. Try as I might, I just wanted to move on. I skimmed the last half of it. Sorry, Katharina Hagena, it just wasn't for me.

I love Sarah Addison Allen, she creates fantastic worlds that I just want to step into.

I re-read The Night Circus and enjoyed it as much as the first time

The Debutante was written by the same woman who wrote The Perfume Collector. I really enjoy how her storylines weave all over the place in time.

Hollow City is the second installation of books from Ransom Riggs. What I love most is that he finds old photographs and crafts his story around them. That being said, the story in this felt a little forced, compared to the first book.

I was suuuper hesitant to Gone Girl after I read Dark Places last year, but I was pleasantly surprised. There are some great plot twists in this. Yes, I know I'm probably one of the last ones to read this book, but come on. Dark Places. Almost too much.

I have big goals for the rest of my day. Want to hear about them? I'm going to do laundry, attend a webinar for a new volunteer position I'm starting (more on that another time), and attempt to clean my apartment. Like, put all the boxes away, get rid of the shredding that's been piling up, dust all the plaster and drywall debris off the surfaces, fish the DVD remote out from behind the TV where it's been living for a month, try to make some room in our cabinets for the beautiful set of dishes my grandmother is giving me, and maybe, just maybe, get my oil changed and/or wash my car!! No joke, you have no idea how excited all of this makes me...

A Year of Books

Well, it's happened. 2013 has slipped away into 2014, and I reached my goal of reading 52 books in one year. (I have simple goals, really.) Most of them were new, not too many re-reads, which makes for a change from a few years ago when nearly everything I read was a re-read. Here's how the year looked, book-wise...

1. Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer
2. The Sisters by Nancy Jensen
3. Re-read

4. Son by Lois Lowrey
5. Eva's Story by Eva Schloss
6. Re-read
7. 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
8. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
9. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
10. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehanne

11. Cemetery Girl by David Bell
12. The Girl in the Glass by Susan Meissner
13. Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide
14. Circles of Time by Phillip Rock
15. Lay Me Out Softly by Francesca Lia Block
16. Re-Read

17. Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer
18. The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood
19. Fly Away by Kristen Hannah
20. Re-read
21. Re-read
22. Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh
23. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
24. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
25. He's Gone by Deb Caletti

26. The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
27. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
28. The Pact by Jodi Picoult
29. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
30. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
31. Night Road by Kristen Hannah

32. Desire to Inspire by Christine Mason Miller
33. 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
34. Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian

35. Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
36. The Mourning Hours by Paula Treick DeBoard
37. Re-read
38. The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
39. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
40. The Brave by Nicholas Evans
41. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett

42. In the Woods by Tana French
43. Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
44. Dream with Little Angles by Michael Hiebert
45. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
46. True Believer by Nicholas Sparks
47. Magic Hour by Kristen Hannah
48. Mercy by Jodi Picoult

49. The Memory Thief by Emily Colin
50. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
51. A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd
52. Stella Bain by Anita Shreve

53. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - another re-read, but who cares

Left unfinished: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

What I've noticed while typing out this list is that I read a lot of dark/crime novels, and also a lot of lighter books (Nicholas Sparks, I'm looking at you). Maybe I'll have a slightly more refined palate this year, but you know what? If I don't, who cares? It's who I am.

So here's to 2014 - may it be a year filled with new literary loves!

November Reading

At this point, I only need to read 4 more books to hit my goal of 52 in a year. Small goals, I know. Here's what I got up to last month:

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

Mercy by Jodi Picoult

I really shouldn't have read Dark Places. I found it incredibly disturbing and difficult to get through. I've been reading Dean Koontz since I was in junior high or earlier, and even dipped into Stephen King at that age, and I now read a lot of crime novels and others that could be considered "messed up," so I'm not a stranger to disturbing subject matter. But this book...wow. I had to skip parts because it was just too...I don't know. I'd like to read Gone Girl, but I think I'll have to wait a little while before I do, in case it's as dark as this one.

So it's no wonder I needed to lighten up a bit with Nicholas Sparks and Kristin Hannah. (Really enjoyed Magic Hour.) I kinda swerved back onto the darker side with Mercy, but I don't think I'm staying long. I'm loving the book I'm reading now, but, as it belongs to December, you'll just have to wait until the end of the month to find out what it is!

And, speaking of books, the 22nd Annual Children's Book Illustration Art Show & Book Signing is this Saturday!!! I can't believe it's already been a year since the last book show at Chemers Gallery (a year ago today, to be exact). We will be hosting 5 incredibly talented illustrators and 3 fabulous authors at Saturday's show: Michael Hague, Brett Helquist (whom you may recognize as the illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events!), Molly Idle, Stacy Innerst and John Parra, plus Kathleen Hague, Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer. Such amazing talent all gathered under one roof!

This week will be crazy - more news to come after December 7th.

October Reading

I've gotten "behind" on my reading. I blame The Shipping News. I spent most of October trying to get through it, and I couldn't, I just couldn't. I'm sure it's a great book for someone, but not for me.

No.

Here's what I finished this month - apparently I'm really into crime novels right now.

In the Woods by Tana French

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

Dream with Little Angels by Michael Hiebert

And right now, I'm struggling through another crime novel that I'm sort of wondering why I'm reading. But, I need to know whodunit. I enjoy trying to figure it out before the characters in the books do, and I'm usually pretty good at it. I want to know if I'm right this time.

September Reading

Hello, October, where did you come from? 

The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell - I started this while riding on a bus through Stoke Newington in the middle of what for England could be called a heatwave. Imagine my surprise when one of the characters in the book began his walk home through Stoke Newington and my husband's local park in the middle of a heatwave...totally surreal.

You would think right about now that I had chosen my books specifically for the key on the front cover. This would be an incorrect assumption.

The Brave by Nicholas Evans - see? No key.

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket - call it research

And now begins my favorite time of year at work - the preparations for our annual children's book illustration show! We will be featuring 5 children's book illustrators and their original artwork, plus providing books to pre-order for signing and dedication by these illustrators. This all culminates in a day-long opening reception on December 7th, where about 100 original illustrations are displayed on the walls AND the illustrators (and even a few of the authors!) will be in attendance to sign books, give talks, demonstrations and lectures!

Can you guess how excited I am?

August Reading

If you're wondering why the blog has been so quiet lately, it's because James and I were in London! We got back two nights ago and we miss everyone already. Trips to England are always a little stressful because we never manage to see as many people or spend as much time with them as we'd like. Even if we'd been there for an entire month it still wouldn't have been enough. I started having dreams towards the end of our trip about not being able to see some people, which was really fun (not) because I'd begin my day with a healthy dose of guilt and then finish the day with a mild sense of panic. Yay. I'll tell you more about it next time...

So here's the reading from August.

Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian - I went to high school with Julie and remember her reading her compositions to our English class, so the strangest sensation when reading this book was hearing it in her voice. Congratulations on the book, Julie!!

Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer - about a scientist on a rocket to colonize the moon with robots & his bald, pregnant wife back on Earth. Really not as strange as it sounds.

The Mourning Hours by Paula Treick DeBoard - really, really enjoyed this one

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin - this was a re-read

July Reading

July was one of those months where I feel like I could have read the entire contents of a bookstore. (I couldn't have, really, because that's just a silly idea. A gross exaggeration!) But it was probably down to the mostly "beach reading" type stuff I picked up.

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks - why this needs a student guide I will probably not understand

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Desire to Inspire by Christine Mason Miller - by far the best book I've read in awhile

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

This brings my total for 2013 up to 33 books read. Um, what?

In July I also started setting my alarm for 6am in an effort to make more of the day and focus more on making jewelry. So far it's been relatively easy to haul myself out of bed by about 6:15 and get right to work, but we'll see how this keeps up as we get closer to winter. Hopefully by that point this will have become such a habit I won't be able to stop.

jewelry jewelry jewelry jewelry jewelry

Next time I'll tell you about the day trip James and I took to Balboa Island and how I got sunburned but mostly only on my neck. So it looks like I have a rash.