August Review and Goals for September!

 

August is typically a great reading month for me - not only is it the end of summer vacation for the kids - which often means a little vacation - it's also my birthday month, so I typically take some extra time for myself to do the things I love.  Unfortunately, this August, I had a big work deadline and found myself distracted having to spend time on that, and then often so tired in the evenings that I wasn't able to focus on reading anything.  To this point, while I rarely watch television, I actually watched two short series in August (White Lotus and The Chair) - which was nice shared experience with my husband.  I did manage to get through about half-way of a few books, so I suppose that gives me a bit of a head start on September!  My goal books for August were:

1. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (Fiction/Book Club)
2. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff (Nonfiction/Book Club)
3. Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason (Fiction/Loaner)
4. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Fiction/Library)

The books I actually read in August were:

1. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Fiction/Library)
2. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (Fiction/Shelf)
3. How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps  by Cherie Jones (Fiction/Library)
4. Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt (Fiction/Loaner from my kid!)

Goals for September:

1. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Fiction/Library)
2. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff (Nonfiction/Book Club)
3. Range by David Epstein (Non-Fiction/Shelf for Book Club)
4. Fiction book from my shelves at home!

I also want to get my to-read shelf in order for the fall/winter.  Moving away from the beach reads to the cozy mysteries!

~ Happy Reading!! ~

Update from July and Goals for August!

 

I can't believe we're already in August.  The summer is nearly over (as marked by the start of school, no longer by Labor Day!) and I don't feel like I had the relaxing chalk-full of reading summer that I always want.  But, I have still managed to get some good reads in.  One thing I am also working on is (slowly) going through the books on my shelves and making relatively quick decisions about which ones I'm just not interested in and moving on!  On a positive #goals note, I reached my Goodreads goal of 52 books this month!  I still think 4 books a month is a good goal...so I'll hope to squeeze in 20 more before the year ends!

Here were my goal books for July:

1. Arsenic & Adobo by Mia Manansala (Fiction/Book Club)
2. Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason (Fiction/Loaner)
3. The Arm by Jeff Passan (Non-Fiction/My Bookshelf)
4. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Mystery/Library)

Here's what I actually read in July:

1. Arsenic & Adobo by Mia Manansala (Fiction/Book Club)
2. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Mystery/Library)
3. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf (Fiction/Library)
4. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (Fiction/Library)
5. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (Fiction/Shelves)
6. Where the Grass is Green and the Girls are Pretty by Lauren Weisberger (Fiction/Loaner)

Here are my goal books for August:

1. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (Fiction/Book Club)
2. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff (Nonfiction/Book Club)
3. Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason (Fiction/Loaner)
4. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Fiction/Library)

Happy End-of-Summer Reading!

Update from June & Goals for July!

 

I can't believe one month of my summer reading is over!  I made the mistake again this month of not referring to my goals, and in addition to a few other things, that made me feel like my reading this month was very haphazard.  Here were my goal books for June:

1. Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman (Memoir/Book Club)
2. The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konakova (Memoir/Book Club)
3. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Fiction)
4. This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel (Fiction/My Bookshelf)
5. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (Fiction/Loaner)

Here are the books I actually got through in June: 

1. Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman (Memoir/Book Club)
2. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Fiction)
3. Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger (Fiction)
4. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (Fiction)
5. This Isn't What it Looks Like by Psuedonymous Bosch (Children's Lit/Fiction)

My Goal books for July:

1. Arsenic & Adobo by Mia Manansala (Fiction/Book Club)
2. Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason (Fiction/Loaner)
3. The Arm by Jeff Passan (Non-Fiction/My Bookshelf)
4. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Mystery/Library)

Update from May & Goals for June!

 

I felt like May was a slow reading month.  I'm not quite sure why - I think I felt more tired and had trouble focusing in the evenings.  Plus, I did get sucked in by a few episodes of Bosch.  Here were my goals for May (I completed the ones in bold, but not the one that should have been the easiest read!)

1. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei (Graphic Novel/Book Club)
2. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (Memoir/Book Club)
3. One book that has been loaned to me!
4. One book from my own bookshelves!

And here's what I ended up managing to get through:

1. All Adults Here by Emma Straub (Fiction/Loaner)
2. Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour (Fiction/Library)
3. Writers & Lovers by Lily King (Fiction/Library)
4. Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay (Fiction/Library)
5. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (Memoir/Library)
6. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine (Fiction/My bookshelf)

Goals for June:

1. Orthodox by Deborah Feldman (Memoir/Book Club)
2. The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konakova (Memoir/Book Club)
3. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Fiction)
4. This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel (Fiction/My Bookshelf)
5. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (Fiction/Loaner)

I anticipate that June will be a rough month for work.  But, I am committed to keeping up on exercise (if on the treadmill does mean reading time), and sometimes reading does increase due to procrastination.  But, I also intend to prioritize sleep this month so that my work won't suffer, so that could affect the reading...we shall see how the patters emerge!

April Review and Goals for May

 

A book exchange at my kids' school this week allowed me the time to go through our bookshelves.  I purged a bit and reorganized a bit, but mostly I noted that I have so many books that have been on my shelves for years that I have never read.  It renewed my goal to get through them this year - not all of them, but many of them.  I know I will decide after a few chapters to set some to the side, but I just want to make some decisions and start looking at empty space or new books up there!  

April was a good reading month for me.  I'm not quite sure what to attribute that to - I did spend a little more time on the treadmill (obviously I don't go very fast since I'm able to read and walk/job at the same time), and maybe I was better at reading while waiting for my kids at their various practices, rather than just scrolling mindlessly through my phone!  Whatever the case, I had some fun ones in there.  I read all my goal books for April, and added six more.

Goals for April:

1. The Adventure Gap by James Mills (Non-Fiction/Book Club)
2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Fiction)
3. All God's Children by Fox Butterfield
4. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi (Fiction)

Books read in April:

1. The Adventure Gap by James Mills (Non-Fiction/Book Club) 
2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Fiction/Library)
3. All God's Children by Fox Butterfield (Book Club)
4. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi (Fiction/Library)
5. The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs (Fiction/Library)
6. Outlawed by Anna North (Fiction/Library)
7. The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger (Fiction/My Shelves)
8. The Bride Test by Helen Hoang (Romance/Library)
9. His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie (Fiction/Library)
10. Girls with Bright Futures by Tracy Tobmeier & Wendy Katzman (Fiction/Loaned to Me)

Goals for May:

1. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei (Graphic Novel/Book Club)
2. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (Memoir)
3. One book that has been loaned to me!
4. One book from my own bookshelves!

I know I'm bound to find an amazing book that has just been sitting unread on my shelves for decades...can't wait to see what it is!

March Review & Goals for April

My goal books for March were:

1. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Fiction/Book Club)
2. The Adventure Gap by James Mills (Non-Fiction/Book Club)
3. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Mystery)
4. Friends & Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan (Fiction)

I didn't get to The Adventure Gap, as it is actually a book club pick for the first week of April, so hopefully I will read it this weekend!

In March, my reading felt a bit haphazard.  I had been trying to focus on one book at a time to see if that helped me focus, or get more into a given book at a given time.  I always think that I read multiple books at a time because I never know what mood I'll be in when I feel like reading - I might want a fiction book, I might want a mystery...but this month I realized that it's not so much about mood as about convenience.  I focused on one book, but then found myself running out the door and couldn't find that book so I just grabbed another, or I decided to read in the bath, but didn't want to go downstairs to grab a book and just took the one on the bedside table.  And, so I found myself in the middle of about 10 different books before I knew it!  Some happy medium must be discovered!

The books I finished in March were:

1. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Fiction/Book Club/My Shelves)
2. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Mystery/Library)
3. Friends & Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan (Fiction/Library)
4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Fiction/Library)
5. Eat a Peach by David Chang (Memoir/Library)
6. The Roommate by Rosie Danan (Romance/Library)

On my to-read list for April (I can't believe we're in April!).  

1. The Adventure Gap by James Mills (Non-Fiction/Book Club)
2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Fiction)
3. All God's Children by Fox Butterfield
4. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi (Fiction)

I have so many books from the library piled up on my entry table, I need to stop the requests from coming in and spend time catching up!  Happy Reading!

February Review & Goals for March

 My goal books for February were:

1. A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet (Fiction/Book Club)
2. Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
3. The Last Mrs. Parrish (Mystery)
4. Hamnet (Fiction)

I realize as I look back now, that I never reviewed these goals during the month and completely forgot that I planned to read The Last Mrs. Parrish - so needless to say, I didn't read that.  My completed books for February were:

1. A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet (Fiction/Book Club)
2. Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo (Non-Fiction/Book Club)
3. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell  (Fiction)
4. Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger (Fiction)
5. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London (Fiction/Romance)
6. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (Fiction)
7. Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (Fiction)

My goal books for March are:

1. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Fiction/Book Club)
2. The Adventure Gap by James Mills (Non-Fiction/Book Club)
3. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Mystery)
4. Friends & Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan (Fiction)

Happy Reading!