I really cannot believe it’s already November, but here we are. Things have been mighty slow around the blog lately mostly because I’ve had several large mid-semester projects at school which have been my priority. I am slowly getting myself out of the horrible reading/blogging slump I was in for a couple of months and am hoping to get entirely back on track during November. The read-a-thon I participated in two weeks ago definitely helped me get used to the whole blog post/reading a lot thing again.
So, what did I read in October?
Forbidden by Suzanne Brockmann
Bad Boys Do by Victoria Dahl
A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World’s Largest Experiment Reveals About Human Desire by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam
The Sweetest Taboo by Alison Kent
Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough
Seeing Red by Jill Shalvis
Geek Girls Unite: How Fangirls, Bookworms, Indie Chicks, and Other Misfits Are Taking Over the World by Leslie Simon
Don’t Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from my Grandmothers by Adriana Trigiani (For TLC Book Tours)
Okay, so that’s only eight books, but it’s better than the two or three I was reading here and there previously. It also didn’t help that I finished off October without power thanks to the Nor’easter that hit this weekend. Who knew it was so difficult to read in the freezing cold by flashlight?
I’m one of the lucky one’s who has had power restored, as of last night for my house (apparently living on a busy street has it’s merits), I can finally get all caught up on the reviews I intended to write this past weekend. I have a HUGE backlog of reviews that I have yet to finish, some reviews going back a few months. I’m hoping to get some of them polished and up by the weekend which I’ll be doing in between catching up on homework I couldn’t do this weekend, studying for four exams, and working on a few small papers and one large research paper.
I’m also going to apologize now if I don’t stick to the reading/posting schedule I set for myself over the next two weeks. In addition to all of the schoolwork, I decided I wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year, and that kicked off yesterday. I have this horrible, morbid, very basic idea of a story I came up with when I was in a bad mood, and decided to fly by the seat of my pants with it. So that’s another thing I’ll be doing this month.
I also want to mention my reading challenges. Some of them are complete, or nearly complete, and others I’ve yet to start.
My main goal for myself comes from the Outdo Yourself Challenge. I signed up to finish six to ten more books in 2011 than I did in 2010. I read 157 books last year, so I’m shooting for 165 this year. As of today I’ve read something like 145 books (I have to update my 2011 Reads list which lists 141). I’m pretty confident I will reach that goal.
For the Non-Fiction Challenge, I’ve got five categories to go: Art, Food, Medical, Travel, and Money.
The Off-the-Shelf Challenge is one of the two challenges I don’t think I’ll finish, doesn’t mean I won’t try, but I don’t think I’ll finish it. I’m about halfway to my goal of reading 50 books that I purchased before Jan. 1, 2011. The other challenge I’m hesitant about finishing is the Vintage Mystery Challenge which is the one I’ve yet to start on. I’m very much intending to change that this month though.
The lone challenge that I’ve completed is the E-book Challenge. I am signed up for the Obsessed, or 20 e-books level, but when the host added new levels I decided to shoot for those. I believe I have read 48 e-books to date.
Okay, so the last order of business. What am I planning to read this month…
– Rembrandt’s Whore by Sylvie Matton, I started this during the read-a-thon and just have to finish it.
– Persuasion by Jane Austen, I decided it was time for another Jane Austen and this is the lucky one my finger landed on.
– House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, I wanted to read it for Halloween, but realized pretty quickly that it is probably a book best saved for when I’m not forced to read by flashlight.
– Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie, for the Vintage Mystery Challenge.
– The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
– The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
– And lastly, I’ll be reviewing two books for TLC Book Tours this month as well. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead and A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger
As always I’ll be leaving room to change my mind about what I read (with the exception of the tour books), but what’s above is ideally what I will read this month. And with all of that, Happy Reading!
Among Stories 