Tag: Reading

WWW Wednesday

It’s WWW Wednesday over at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

  • The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (the commute read)
  • Deep Down Popular by Phoebe Stone (on my nightstand)

Just Finished Reading:

  • Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer (Good, so good. You must read this, especially if you love contemporary YA.)

What to read next:

Oh, the choices, but I’ll probably go with one of my library books:

  • Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang
  • Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers

Teaser Tuesday: Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer

It’s Teaser Tuesday over at Should Be Reading. The rules:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

I let out a tiny laugh; I couldn’t help it. “How can you be lonely when so many people love you?”

~p 134, Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer

WWW Wednesday: the post-Rita edition

It’s WWW Wednesday!

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

On Monday evening, I entered the last score for the Rita books I’ve been reading and heaved a sigh of relief. Not that reading for the contest is a bad thing. It’s the pressure, the list of books waiting for their score. They look so sad, sitting there, scoreless. But no more!

So, now, back to talking about books!

Currently reading:

On the nightstand: The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell ~ the new release from the wonderfully talented Saundra, one of the 2009 Debs.

In the car: Matched by Ally Condie ~ this is a great book–and audio book–so far. Really enjoying my commute this week.

 Just finished reading:

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby ~ Wow, this one was … intense, but I got a lot out of it.

Reading next:

For the nightstand: Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer ~ Sara’s debut and I can’t wait to read it.

For the car: The Girl Who Played with Fire by StiegLarsson ~ the first one was a great commute read, minus scratches on the CDs. I have high hopes for this one.

Peeking out …

Peeking out from behind my stack of Rita Award books*. Just one more to go! So … clearly I’ve been reading. And I’ve been writing, too. I just haven’t been writing in my blog (again, clearly).

So what better way to illustrate that than posting a  picture of a kitten and some books! Who doesn’t love kittens? Or books? Plus, Googling “stack of books” + kitten is like gold. Ah, internets, I love you.

I hope to return to a more reliable (oh, who am I kidding, I won’t be that reliable) or more frequent, at least, blogging schedule soon.

Until then, I have books to read.

*Books pictured do not resemble actual Rita books. Any similarity is purely coincidental.

BTT: Is this the real life

From Booking Through Thursday this week:

I am paraphrasing from a friend’s Facebook wall her question:
“How would a teen-age boy who is going to work with his hands ever use Literature of England in his work?”
The age-old “How am I going to use this in real life?” question. How would you answer it?

Participants this week are writing some wonderful answers. For the sake of time, I’m going steal mine. From one of the writing craft books I’m working through (yes, it’s true, the answer to the question about reading is in … a book):

From The Anatomy of Story by John Truby:

Stories don’t show the audience* the “real world”; they show the story world. The story world isn’t a copy of life as it is. It’s life as human beings imagine it could be. It is human life condensed and heightened so that the audience can gain a better understanding of how life itself works.

*Note: The book is billed as a screenwriting book (hence the use of audience), but it applies to all types of stories.

Books, literature, stories teach us empathy. What’s that old saying? You never really know someone until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. Literature lets us do that. Never mind cultural literacy, I believe reading can make us better people.

Plus, having a passing familiarity with the Western Canon means you don’t have to have people explain song lyrics to you.

Happy Book Release Day: The Locket by Stacey Jay

2009 Deb Stacey Jay has a new YA novel out today:

 The Locket

What if you got a second chance to fix your worst mistake?

What if you found out miracles could happen?

What if you found out that sometimes, miracles are curses in disguise…

One girl, two boys, and one very scary piece of jewelry.

Read the prologue here. Congrats to Stacey! This looks like a fabulous book!

BTT: Booking it heavy

Booking through Thursday this week:

What’s the largest, thickest, heaviest book you ever read? Was it because you had to? For pleasure? For school?

Well, I’ve read both War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Anna I’ve read twice, and I think I would like to read again at some point. And yes, it was for school. I did an entire semester of Tolstoy and one of Gogol. I’m pretty well-versed in Tolstoy and Gogol (in fact, my senior paper was on The Church versus the Devil in Gogol’s Ukrainian stories, which is something everyone wants to know about).

I’ve also read Gone With the Wind, which is also pretty hefty. Oh, and let’s throw in some Dickens (Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities). There’s also Leon Uris (Mila 18 and Exodus) not to mention James A. Michener (although, at the moment, I can’t remember what I read, but it probably had a lot of setting).

And, of course, Jane Eyre. Who could forget Jane?

In other words, big, fat books? Bring. Them. On.

WWW Wednesday: it’s here again!

Again, courtesy of Should Be Reading, comes WWW Wednesday:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next? 

Currently reading:

  • Leaving A Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson (Taking a cue from Oh! and going through some of the many writing craft books I own. This one is very low key.)
  • The Hollow by Jessica Verday (commute book on audio)
  • An awesome manuscript written by a friend (on the Kindle. Man, I love my Kindle.)

Recently Read:

  • Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Why hadn’t I read this before? It’s utterly charming.)
  • Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (I just finished this … OMG. I. Loved. It. It’s incredible. I’m going to have to do a fangirl post/review of this one.)

Up next:

  • Rita books. The box has not yet arrived, but I expect it any day now.
  • Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

Teaser Tuesday: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“History is a Rorschach test, people,” she said. “What you see when you look at it tells you as much about yourself as it does about the past.”

~ p. 300, Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Booking Through Thursday: Reading resolutions

From Booking Through Thursday this week:

Any New Year’s reading resolutions?

I would like to up my reading again this year. I read 60 books last year (this includes audio books). This year, I want to read one print/e-book per week, for 52 books, plus whatever I listen to in the car during the commute.

Rough goal: 75 books this year. Can I do it? We’ll see.

I’m going to participate in a reading challenge this year. I didn’t last year and I missed that. War Through the Generations is doing a Civil War reading challenge. And hey, I’m one book in already. My goal is three to five, but I hope to read more than that.

What I plan to read:

  • Two Girls of Gettysburg (halfway done and I’m enjoying it)
  • Louisa May Alcott’s Civil War (All her Civil War writings in one volume—I’m on a LMA kick)

Possible Re-reads:

  • Little Women (see above re: LMA)
  • The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (read, more than once, back in the day as officer professional development)

How about you? Any reading plans? A challenge or two? Tackling the TBR pile?