High Summer Readathon Update

High-Summer Read-a-thon Update

I've been reading:


Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
on pg. 120 of 401




I Ching: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Decision Making by Christopher Markett
on pg. 118 of 288

High Summer Readathon

Next week I am participating in my first Read-a-thon of the year, the High Summer read-a-thon, hosted by Michelle at The True Book Addict.

I think this read-a-thon will be good for me. I have been having a lot of trouble reading the past week since I had to put my cat to sleep. She was my reading companion for fourteen years. Every time I pick up a book my mind wanders to thoughts of her. I am hoping that by being able to focus on the read-a-thon instead of just reading will help me to get back into it easier.

I am not planning on participating every day, but I will be participating for several days. I am planning on continuing Her Fearful Symmetry and read some in my Jane Austen Illustrated about Emma, which is the next chapter.

Will you be participating? Go sign up and then come back and let me know!

Harry Potter Meme

I thought I would participate in Tif Talks Book's Harry Potter meme in honor of the last movie being released (and my constant nagging for someone to please go see it and enjoy it with me.) Here we go:


When and Where (when you first discovered the series): I don't recall where I first heard about it or when, but I remember one of my college roomies was obsessed with HP. I thought it was childish (gasp!) UNTIL I walked in from class one day and she was watching the The Sorcerer's Stone. I remember I stood mesmerized as Harry's owl delivered him the mail. I sat down and watched the rest of the movie. From then on, I was an HP fan. Now I just need to read the books. But any Harry Potter fan worth their weight is not giving their books to the used book store and that is all I can afford right now. I am on the waiting list at the library to read them in 2015.

Favorite Character: Ron. He is an underrated character, I think. He is the comic relief in all of the crazy, scary, daring adventures the trio has together. Hagrid is my second favorite.

Most Hated Character: Either Lucius Malfoy (the ego!) or Dolores Umbridge (what a witch!)

Favorite Book: To be determined...

Favorite Movie: Probably Prisoner of Azkaban because I think that was the movie where things got a little more complex but they were not yet dark and twisty.

Rank the Books (1 = favorite, 7 = least favorite):

1. TBD

Most Memorable Scene: The owl scene I mentioned above or Dumbledore's death.

What You Will Miss the Most: Ron, Hermione, and Harry

What You Are Looking Forward To (even despite the end): Pottermore and whatever else J.K. Rowling has up her sleeve, which I hope is a lot.

Short & Sweet Book Reviews

Max by James Patterson (Maximum Ride #5)
****
I obviously enjoy the Maximum Ride series by Patterson since I am on my fifth one. I just really like Max's intelligent, yet witty and snarky personality. I also have found I like the fantasy genre more than I once did. I like that these six kids are human-avian hybrids. You can't say you run into that scenario in every third book on the shelf like you can about, say, vampires. I like reading about vamps, but it does get old after a while. I listened to this one while driving to the beach and I enjoyed the narrator. She did a very bad low voice but I have to say that I do too. I talk like a little girl. People call my phone and want to speak to my mom haha. So I guess I can't complain too much about her low voices. I am looking forward to reading Fang, which is the book about one of the other kids, and the other leader besides Max, in the flock.

Skinny by Ibi Kaslik
***
An emotionally-charged book about a young woman with an eating disorder, Giselle, and her athlete little sister, Holly. They deal with the death of their father, Giselle's ever-shrinking body, the boyfriend Sol, school, and their mother. The ending was good, yet less satisfying than I was hoping. I thought it needed a little more closure. All in all a good first book for author Ibi Kaslik.

Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought to Ask by New Scientist
***
I was a little disappointed in this book. It was not what I expected. I thought that the writers at New Scientist had answered the questions, only to discover that this was only a collection of "The Last Word" column they publish, where readers answer scientific questions from other readers. While I have to say they seem to be accurate (I looked up some by random and other questions had several answers which all seemed to match up), I was still a little weary. I did like a lot of the questions and they were questions I probably never would have thought to ask, such as "How fat do you have to be to become bulletproof?" and "Is there a way to tell how much water is in a rain cloud?" Others I skipped over, like "Why do rubber bands spontaneously melt?" because never have I ever seen this happen nor do I care why they melt and, "Is it okay to eat green skin on a potato?" because there is no way I would even want to eat that, safe or not. It is just unappetizing to me.


Coffee with Shakespeare by Stanley W. Wells
**
I read Coffee with the Buddha by Joan Oliver Duncan in 2009 and loved it. Naturally, I thought I would like another one in the series. Well, not this one so much. I liked learning about Shakespeare, but I did not care for the weird modern voice they gave him. He still had some lovely language, but it was impossible for me to imagine having coffee with Shakespeare without the Old English language.


Naked by David Sedaris
***
Sedaris is a pretty funny writer. This was his take on the ever-popular memoir. He had some very funny jokes and humorous stories in there to be sure, but there were also long stretches of boring, monotonous writing that I could not figure out why he had left in the book. I would like to try another one of his books, namely Me Talk Pretty One Day.


365 Zen: Daily Readings by Jean Smith
**
I read this much quicker than the year I was supposed to allot for it, considering it was 365 daily readings. However, one, I do not think I have ever not read more than one daily reading at a time in any daily reading book, haha. Two, I had to keep reading because many of the readings did not resonate with me at all. I did not feel a sense of zen from them. In fact, many of the readings did not seem to fit the supposed theme of the book at all. And three, these were mostly short quotes, not readings, so I could not think or meditate on them very well. I love Buddhism and I have read about Zen Buddhism, but this, in my opinion, was not it.

Friday Forecast (a little late)

What I read, what I am reading, and what I want to read next.

CURRENTLY READING

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
pg. 25 of 401
(Good from the first paragraph. Picking it up to read more when this post is complete!)

The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
pg. 253 of 500
(Having a hard time with this one, though I loved the other 2 books by Gregory that I have read.)

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham
pg. 90 of 272
(Slowly but surely.)


I Ching: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Decision Making by Christopher Markett
pg. 92 of 288
(Hmm...no progress since June. I didn't realize that until just now. Better pick this back up.)



JUST FINISHED READING

Does Anything Eat Wasps? by Staff of New Scientist
Review coming soon.


365 Zen: Daily Readings, Edited by Jean Smith
Review coming soon.


Max by James Patterson (audiobook version)
Review coming soon.


DID NOT FINISH READING

Luckily nothing, unless you count The Queen's Fool, but I have not given up on it yet. I don't think. :)

WHAT I'M READING SOON

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
I just scored this one at the used book store. I loved Moran's other two books I read, Cleopatra's Daughter and The Heretic Queen. I can't wait to read this one, too!



What books are in your forecast for this weekend?