Maternity Leave Reading

Well instead of doing all my reading I’ve been busy with something else…

credit to http://www.carriannephotography.com/

Things have been busy to say the least.  But oh so happy with two little girls to read to in my house!  Thankfully I’ve figured out how to hold a nursing baby while also holding a kindle and I’ve finally been reading as much as possible.  I’ve been doing some YA reading – Throne of Glass – and lots of light romance because honestly I don’t know how long I’m awake at any one period.  I am almost done with my leave and I am hoping to find time in the awake hours to talk books again soon.

I am LOVING Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan.  If you haven’t read Crazy Rich Asians yet get on it! You have time before this third book comes out.

I’m determined to read Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs and Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham.  I’m hoping this baby girl naps in her own bed long enough for me to try to review some books that I loved including Nevernight and Three Dark Crowns.  I also need to do a giveaway of the sweet summer read It Started With Goodbye!

I have a ton of blogs to catch up on and books to find out about.  What have I missed? Any great books I need to check out?

Happy Spring!

 

 

How many books do you read at once?

As I looked at my Currently-Reading shelf on Goodreads last night I realized that my reading style is really kind of crazy lately.  I have 6 books down as currently reading!  And really, 5 of them I am in the process of reading.

1. The Invasion of the Tearling.  Maybe you’ve noticed I can’t shut up about Book 1- The Queen of the Tearling.  Holly and I are reading #2 together and she is taking her sweeeeeeeeeeeet time.  I’m not reading ahead only because I’m the best sister ever.
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel.  This has been on my TBR for years (thanks Mom!) and thanks to the 2015 TBR Challenge I’m finally crossing it off. I’m excited to see the spies in action that inspired the Pink Carnation series.
3. Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World.  My morning commute non-fiction.  I can’t read non-fiction after work or I fall asleep – no matter how good it is.  Shameful! But anyway, this book is awesome! Full of super cool and smart women!
4. Recipe for Disaster by Stacey Ballis.  Honestly I’ve mostly heard of Ballis because she’s Jen Lancaster’s bestie, but that seemed as good a reason as any to pick up her book at ALA this January.  Kind of a cute chick book thus far, good for when I want to read but not tax my brain.
5. Never Be Younger: A YA Anthology.  9 retellings of Shakespeare stories in young adult.  I need to finish asap for a review this week! Thankfully these are fast reads.
6. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  This is the cheater on my current list. I don’t think I’ve picked this up since January.  I clearly need to just go back to page 1. I fear I’d be disowned all around if I quit this without a fair chance.

I like going between different books for commuting and a definitely a different read for before bed.  I really like to reread at bedtime because I don’t want to get so sucked into something new that I have to stay awake- anyone else?

I also like to have a few genres going at a time.  This is a lot – but I’d say I often have a non-fiction and 2 fictions reading at once. Maybe a high fantasy and a contemporary? Or YA and an adult.

Do you read more than one book at once?  Or listen to one and read one?  Please tell me someone has more books going at once than my five!  Holly pointed me to this post at I’m Lost in Books where the blogger reads 12 books at a time! Though that makes my head hurt to think about, she makes the comparison to keeping up with multiple tv shows at once. I think that makes sense- but I don’t watch that much tv either!

Also I’m playing with Riffle as opposed to Goodreads.  Are you on Riffle?  Any reason you might like it better than Goodreads?

Update! I forgot my kindle this morning.  Boo hoo! So my TBR is about to be 7 books because I need something for my ride home!

2015 TBR Challenge Check-In

Well, as we’re a quarter of the way through 2015, it’s time to see how far we’ve made it in the Roofbeam Reader 2015 TBR Challenge. We each listed 12 books that we are determined to get through this year.

Click here for our lists

Holly –

I have finished 3/12. I had #4 out from the library but I didn’t get to it before it was due back, so I’m not sure which I’ll be looking to read next

Little, Big – I have moved this book countless times since 1996, and once I put it on my 2015 TBR List, I knew I had to tackle it first. In defense of the number of years it took me to read this book, I am confident that I got more out of it now than I would have had I read it at 14.

Persuasion – Check out all the fun Amanda and I had reading this book from our readalong posts. I am glad I finally got around to this Jane Austen classic, and now I’m inspired to make it to the rest of her works (maybe not in 2015…).

The Casual Vacancy – My heart is still recovering from this one.

Amanda –

I feel like a failure! I’m at 2/12.  I have started #3-The Hitchhiker’s Guide- but it was over a month ago so I don’t think that counts anymore.  Maybe I’ll start the Scarlet Pimpernel next to go along with our Lauren Willig Pink for All Seasons Readalong.  Those are kind of odd books to flip between!

Persuasion– Loved it!  See above!

Into thin Air – You’re never going to catch me climbing Everest let me just tell you!

Now less typing and more reading!

On New Releases

Blogging about books has certainly changed the way I read. I read more, and pay more attention to details about each book so that I can have something (hopefully) interesting to write about. I keep better track of what I want to read soon, and what books might compliment one another. I have a better awareness of what books are out there, and what is getting good reviews, so I can choose more deliberately. Don’t get me wrong – I read always and only because I find it enjoyable, but blogging has made me a bit more systematic in my approach to books.

However, one thing that has not changed is that I just.don’t.care about reading new books right as they’re released.

Recently, I read this great round-up of books that will be adapted for TV and film in 2015 from River City Reading. I had a moment of panic about all the books I haven’t read yet (but mean to): The Casual Vacancy, Me Before You, The Maddaddam Trilogy, The Martian, and so on and so on! Ahhhh!

And then I remembered that in addition to rarely getting around to new release books (and yes, I realize that there are books on that list/link that are not at all new releases), I am also non-committal about seeing TV/movies when they’re released. I am currently (slowly) watching season 3 of Big Love, and just finished season 3 of Justified. I’m clearly okay with being behind the times.

I understand that there is some benefit of weighing in on cultural conversations when a new book/TV/movie is released. I also understand that many of those conversations take place on the Twitter these days, which is another area I just can’t keep up with. Maybe that’s why I don’t like Twitter – it’s too current. I should probably start reading backlist Tweets to see how that feels.

What do you think? Are you up-to-date on new releases? Or trying to finish books you’ve had since 1996?

One Year Later

Guess what, people? We started this blog exactly one year ago today. In honor of our birthday, we’ve decided to reveal the answers to life, the universe, and everything. Or, just share a few details about what we’ve been doing this year.

What on earth are you guys doing?

I think that it started something like this:

Amanda: You know, one of my friends has a book blog.

Holly: WTF is a book blog?

Amanda: You know, like a blog, about books. We could do that!

Holly: Yeah, I don’t really understand what that means. Let’s do it!

Amanda: Secretly plots how she will get access to all of the books.

Holly: Secretly plots how she will write about random things and vaguely connect them to books. Maybe no one will notice?

Why do you guys do this?

Reason 1: It’s fun, and we think we are hilarious.

Reason 2: We’ve started reading books together to write about, which are probably some of our best posts. If you want to see that for yourself, check out the books we’ve read together this year.

The Cuckoo’s Calling

Grave Mercy

Dorothy Must Die

Dark Triumph

The Silkworm

Reason 3: We have been validated by actual writers, so we feel justified in continuing to write in our own way about books. This post about reading about John Brown received a comment from author Tony Horwitz. That’s Pulitzer Prize winning Tony Horwitz, yo. And Amanda recently got an author comment on her review of a book by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg – a.k.a. superbestsellers.

So, we’ll just keep doing what we do. Maybe we’ll get better. Maybe we’ll update our now out-of-date ‘about us’ page soon.

Why should I read your blog?

a. Because we’re funny?

b. So you know what books to read? (Or not to read?)

c. Because sometimes we give things away. Come back on Saturday because we are giving away a book we love!

d. All of the above. Obviously

e. 42

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On Our Fall To-Be-Read list

Today we’re hooking up with the Broke and the Bookish for their Top Ten Tuesday and here are our Top Ten books to read this fall:

Holly – I honestly have a lot of non-fiction books that I have my eye on, but none of them made it onto this list – probably because they take me longer to read, while I know I can realistically get through most of these while it’s still Fall.

The Silkworm – I know, I know, Amanda and I need to read this book. After all, we LOVED the first Comoran Strike book!

Feed – Amanda told me that I must read THIS Feed, by Mira Grant (currently reading it, sister!), and then I learned there is ANOTHER popular YA book, also called Feed, by M.T. Anderson. I decided I must read both.

Dark Triumph – Not gonna lie, I did not love the first book about teenage nun assassins. But, Amanda has talked me into reading the second, so we should get on that soon. Maybe this one will make more sense?

Silvern – I have some thoughts on Gilded, the first book in this series (trilogy?) – some good, some bad, some undecided, but I am intrigued enough to be ready for Silvern. I shall report back.

Little, Big – Remember when I wrote about the David Foster Wallace article that took me 3 years to read? Well, that ain’t got nothing on Little, Big. I received this book from a co-worker of my dad’s who I adore, for a graduation present. From 8th grade. In 1996. I think I tried to read it then, and I didn’t get very far, but this book has moved all over the place with me, and has a spot on my limited bookshelf. It’s time.

Amanda– I’m doing a happy dance that Holly is reading Feed! Everyone should read it! Seriously!

Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3) – I’m ashamed of how long I’ve had this out from the library.  The end of the second book just about killed me so I really need to start this.  Its huge though and its been intimidating me because of that.  Seriously, the hardcover is 613 pages.

Bitter Greens – Historical fiction and retelling of Rapunzel set in Venice?  Yes please.

The Cure for Dreaming – This sounds delightfully creepy.  Shamefully I have Cat Winters’ first book In the Shadow of Blackbirds on my shelf to read still too.

The Birth of the Pill – This seems timely with the news regarding reproductive freedom.  My next nonfiction to start-I am really excited!

Dark Triumph – As Holly said above, I wasn’t as enamored with the first book as others, but I’m intrigued by Sybella and I think I’m going to have to talk to my sister into reading this along with me very soon.

What are you looking forward to reading this Fall?

Blogging, ARCs, and Obligations

Holly:

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, and you are the observant type (unlike me), you might have noticed that Amanda posts a lot more reviews than me. That is because she reads faster than a speeding bullet. She also receives and reviews a lot more ARCs (that’s Advance Reader Copies) and other books directly from publishers.

I have, since we started blogging, requested exactly one book through Netgalley (a site where bloggers and reviews can request books to read before they are published). It was a Civil War novel called Neverhome and I did not get it. I have, since we started blogging, received exactly one book from a publisher, Dorothy Must Die, because I saw Amanda emailing with the publisher, and I said, “oooh, ask if they’ll send me one too, and we can review it together!” She obliged, and they obliged.

Anyway, I haven’t been too motivated to seek review copies – I have a lot of books on my (small) bookshelf, or downloaded for my Kindle, or available at the library, and I just am not that inspired to keep up with what’s not even out yet. I don’t want deadlines, self-imposed or otherwise, on my reading.

But, I don’t think that’s how Amanda sees it at all, so I thought we should discuss. I started by sending Amanda a link to this blog post where Kim @ Sophisticated Dorkiness argues that blogging “for” books has negative connotations, and calls for bloggers to start thinking of reviews differently – less about reviews “in exchange for” books, and more as “for review consideration.

So, sister, discuss:

Amanda:

I admit it. I read quickly.  I can’t help it.  Reading is also my first choice for entertainment 90% of the time.  I’d rather sit on the couch with a book than watch tv.  Its not always high brow reading and that’s fine!  As a result I’m always looking for my next book.  I have my library hold list maintenance down to a science.  I love knowing what books are coming out soon and stalking my favorite authors for more.  I love hearing what friends are reading and I love talking about books.  So when I realized how many book blogs are out there and that I could really do this myself-with my sister of course-requesting ARCs became part of that.  

I won’t deny that part of the appeal of setting up a book blog was free books-not only that, free books before they’re published.  But I love connecting with people who read even more than me and that read the same random variety that I do.  My goodreads shelf that I’m currently reading now contains chick-lit, fantasy, feminist essays, and historical fiction-both YA and adult.  I will try almost any book you put in front of me and I love finding others like that.

Holly:

Hmm, but does free mean in exchange for a review, or does free mean, review and talk about this book if you really love it? Because some of the books you’ve received do not sound very good – and I’m not sure that those reviews are very helpful to the publishers – uh, I guess unless people are into that sort of stuff…

So are you obligated to review, or not?

Holly again:

Amanda’s response has been to send more more links to read!

A thoughtful response on On Starships and Dragonwings, weighing in on “exchange” and “consideration” and another from There Were Books Involved.

Hmmm, both of these are pretty much in agreement with the first link I sent Amanda, that maybe the sentence “I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review” is not entirely accurate or appropriate.

So maybe Amanda agrees too? And will change her mind about phrasing her reviews? I’m waiting to find out. [Taps foot. I’d whistle too but I am not capable of whistling. #truth]

Amanda:

I guess my basic thought is-why would a publisher give me a book FOR FREE if I wasn’t going to give some kind of opinion on it to the world at large to see?  Why would I ASK for a book if I wasn’t willing to do that?  Yes, there have been some books that I requested and read that either a) weren’t well written or b) insane and icky–but that doesn’t mean they won’t work for someone else.  There are people out there, sister, that consider Twilight high-fiction.  Who said there’s no such thing as bad publicity?  That’s a quote right?  Maybe that’s true in the book business?

Maybe I’d feel differently if I had authors beating down my door trying to give me books I don’t want to read.  Aside from spammy twitter attempts I haven’t really had that happen.  Really the lack of payment exchange is what sums it up for me.  If I want to read something without giving a review and without paying for it I will go to the amazing Chicago Public Library.  If they don’t have it I’ll try Paperbackswap.com.  If they don’t have it I’ll either suck it up and buy or go without.  But if I ask for something to read for free from a publisher I have no problem with their being an expectation for a review or some kind of feedback submitted.

Holly:

You know, I definitely don’t have authors beating down my door trying to give me books I don’t want to read. But you know what I do have? A sister always trying to demand I read more of the books. Sigh.

Amanda:

But come on! Have I been wrong?  Go back and read Quintana and then sigh at me sister.

Whatever. Smooches.

Reading Outside the Box

Holly here – you may have noticed that Amanda has been pumping out the books reviews lately! I must again point out,  in case anyone out there is feeling inadequate, that my sister reads at a super-human speed. In the meantime, I  was slogging my way through a few long books, and happy to let Amanda drive the blog, but she said something to me yesterday along the lines of:  “hey slappy – you better post something soon or else I won’t take you to this place I just heard about that serves Korean BBQ tacos on naan when you visit next month.” Clearly she knows how to motivate me – here I am.

Since Amanda and I started this blog, I’ve been reading more, but I’ve also been reading more deliberately – that is, paying attention to what sort of books I am most drawn to. And, while I am sure that I read across different genres, and a mix of fiction and non-fiction, I’ve noticed a few articles lately about diversity, or the lack thereof, in popular fiction (particularly YA).

At the same time, I was listening to the NPR TED Radio hour podcast recently, and in the episode “Identities,” novelist Elif Shafak was talking about her writing process – writing in Turkish and English, writing as a woman from the Muslim world, and navigating different cultures – and one line about the power of literary characters really struck me:

In my mid-20s, I moved to Istanbul – the city I adore. I lived in a very vibrant, diverse neighborhood where I wrote several of my novels. I was in Istanbul when the earthquake hit in 1999. When I ran out of the building at three in the morning, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. There was the local grocer there, a grumpy old man who didn’t sell alcohol and didn’t speak to marginals. He was sitting next to a transvestite with black – long black wig and mascara running down her cheeks. I watched the man open a pack of cigarettes with trembling hands and offer one to her. And that is the image of the night of earthquake in my mind today.

A conservative grocery and a crying transvestite smoking together on the sidewalk. On the face of death and destruction, our mundane differences evaporated and we all became one, even if for a few hours. But I’ve always believed that stories do have a similar effect on us. I’m not saying that fiction has the magnitude of an earthquake, but when we are reading a good novel, we leave our small, cozy apartments behind, go out into the night alone and start getting to know people we had never met before and perhaps had even been biased against.

Yes yes yes. I think reading a book about a character who you can identify with is extremely powerful, but so it is reading a book about someone who is not like you.

So, as I keep adding to my ever-growing to-be-read pile, I want to make sure I’m seeking out reads that reflect the variety of cultural and ethnic and racial differences in the world. I grew up reading about Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, and their Pacific coast adventures seemed a world away. I’d like to think that I can do better than that now. And I’d also like to think that young readers from every country, creed, or color can find an accessible, published book with characters they can relate to as easily as I was able to.

If you too, are looking to diversify your reading, here’s a few lists to start from:

• This post from American Indians in Children’s Literature covers a number of Young Adult books with American Indians. I’ve added If I Ever Get Out of Here to my TBR list.

• Diversity in YA is a website that celebrates “young adult books about all kinds of diversity, from race to sexual orientation to gender identity and disability.” They’ve got a number of book lists archived here. Noughts & Crosses is one book that jumped out at me, especially because I remembered reading a review of it here.

And, just this week thanks to Cuddlebuggery’s list of Hot New Titles (of all YA releases), I added Gilded, about a Korean-American girl who suddenly moves to Seoul with her Dad. (“Then she discovers that a Korean demi-god, Haemosu, has been stealing the soul of the oldest daughter of each generation in her family for centuries. And she’s next.“) Who’s intrigued?!

Any other recommendations?

Interview with Lauren of Lose Time Reading!

So, we signed up for this Book Blogger Love-A-Thon deal, and, even though I’m still not sure exactly what that means, the best part was that we got paired up with another blogger to interview. It gave us a good reason to check out another blog that we might not have discovered otherwise, and it was super fun coming up with questions for Lauren. We totally enjoyed getting to know her, and you should go check out her blog too – after you read her awesome answers below!

We won’t ask why you started book blogging, because that’s right on your “about me” page. So, we’ll ask this – how has book blogging changed how you read?

The main thing it’s changed was how MUCH I read. I was still a big reader before blogging but I would read probably between 4 to 6 books a month, now I read between 10 and 15 a month! I also have much more broader tastes. I wouldn’t have considered about 95% of the books I read now prior to blogging!

So, you mention that you love organizing AND you clearly love books. Do you keep an organized TBR list? Track your book stats by different categories? (No pressure…we don’t judge either way!

Oh, I definitely love organizing! I do keep an organized TBR although lately I have been deviating from it quite a bit based on my mood. As far as my review books go I do have a TBR to follow with those otherwise it would be a disaster for me. I do track my book stats by different categories… I have Excel spreadsheets for practically anything you can think of(I would be lost without them!). I enjoy keeping track of which genre I read the most of, last year it was contemporary which was a HUGE shock to me! I also keep a bazillion shelves on Goodreads 😛

Okay, we see Divergent on your fave series list! We are not in agreement on the series (our joint review is here). What’s your take on the progression from the beginning to that end?

It’s so funny that you asked this question because lately I’ve found myself really questioning that series. I LOVED the first book, and if I read it again I probably still would. Insurgent I enjoyed as well but Tris really grated on my nerves and honestly, I think if I was to push myself through it again… both Insurgent and Allegiant would be lower ratings. I’m not sure it gave a proper ending to a series that I loved so much initially. I wouldn’t even list it as one of my favorites anymore 😦

E-reader or hard copy?

Hardcopy 100%! I do love my Kindle, it’s light and so easy to take to work but if I had to choose one for the rest of my life, I would always pick the hardcopy.

Favorite place to read?

This is boring… it’s actually my bed. I just want to be comfy when I read and curling up with a ton of pillows, my cat and a book is the perfect way!

Hey, we are terrible at WordPress and doing fancy blog things. Your blog is so pretty! What tips can you tell us to make an eye-catching blog

Thank you ❤ I don’t really have many tips honestly, except do what you love. You look at your blog more than anyone so make sure that YOU love it! Everyone has different tastes so you can’t appeal to everyone! I did a lot of Googling and looking up tutorials and design techniques. I’m constantly adding and changing things and I think that’s the funnest part. I started out on Blogger, but after a few months switched to WordPress because I wanted a bit more freedom. Well… It was terrifying once I started, I had no idea that it was a completely different than Blogger (research would have been helpful!) so I spent a good week learning how to fix things and making a layout to fit a theme. It kind of worked out in my favor though because now I can use WordPress enough to manage and I learned quite a lot! Google really is your best friend!

Favorite book-turned-movie? Least favorite?

I am definitely not someone who likes book-turned-movies but I do have a few favorites (that of course I can’t narrow down!): Anne of Green Gables, The Devil Wears Prada, The Harry Potter series, The Narnia movies, and The Notebook. I think The Hunger Games and Beautiful Creatures are probably my least favorites, at least my most recent least favorites. I didn’t dislike THG but I was just disappointed overall. I also liked a lot of Beautiful Creatures but it was much too different from the book for me to love it the same way. 

You start reading something that you’re just not digging. Put it down, or forge on?

Oh, the question of the year it seems! I’ve only recently been more open to DNFing a book. I have done it in the past but more often than not I will forge on, I just feel like it may get better and THEN what? Code Name Verity bored me to tears for the first 40% of the book but I pushed through and it’s now one of my all time favorites. Recently I have put several books aside though and I realized that I haven’t even thought about them. There are just SO many books, why waste time on something that you are not enjoying? 

Oh we see you mention a requesting/accepting review copies problem! One of us might be developing that problem! What’s the best thing about review copies – besides the obvious free books!?

I like getting the change to read books before they are in stores! I’m not really sure why, it’s just something that I always thought was interesting since I started blogging. I really enjoy being about to rave about a book on release day, tweet about how awesome it is and support different authors as well. I have also had a chance to try books I normally never would have picked up because of it! It’s a neverending cycle though… It really can become an addiction because there are just SO many eyecatching titles!

Favorite book is too hard of a question so, how’s this – what book comes to mind when you think about how much you love reading? 

This is going to be a very random answer but The Baby Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin. I have read a lot since I was a little girl and my absolute favorite books were BSC. Whenever I was able to go shopping with my Mom I would make a list of titles that I still needed and then carefully pick out which ones I wanted at the bookstore. She would also take me to secondhand bookstores and I would find a lot of the ones I needed there. I cherished these books, and one of my favorite reading memories was when I was home sick from school with a head cold. I curled up in my bed and read several Super Specials. Despite being sick, I had a ton of fun that day!

^ This answer killed me! I (Holly) could totally relate! Those books were definitely the jam. Leave us a comment with your answer to that last question! (But I bet you can’t top Lauren’s!)

Why Blog About Books?

Or, Why I’ll Be a Terrible Book Blogger

By Holly

Some confessions: I didn’t even know that so many book blogs existed until just a couple months ago. I have, thus far, proven terrible at keeping up with a Goodreads account. I have an aversion to giving number ratings to books, because usually the way I feel about a good book is far too complex to summarize in a simple number. And, I am not nearly hip enough to keep up with reading books that are just barely published, let alone not even released yet. (When I started checking out book blogs, I kept seeing the term ARC everywhere, and I first thought that must be some e-book format until I finally realized what it meant). Also, I have no interest in limiting my reading to one particular genre, or in spending too much time trying to get a hold of what’s hot in books. I love paperbackswap.com, and I also want to express my heartfelt appreciation for whoever came up with the system where you can request library books when you’re at home in your PJs and pick them up when they are available. In short, I am probably not a trendy enough reader to be a blogger.

However, I do think this book blog is the best idea that Amanda and I have had since we decided (or I decided for us) to go kayaking on the fjords in New Zealand. I love to read. I really love to write. I have thought about blogging a zillion times since blogging became a thing, but the kind of blogs I like to read are not the kind of things I would like to write, so I keep finding myself stuck in this loop in which I want to write but I don’t know what I can write about regularly and consistently and, most important, interestingly.

Enter books.

Amanda has some book blogger friends, and, if I have not mentioned already, her reading is analogous to the running of Kenyans from the Kelejin region. She is crazy speedy, and always looking for more good books. She’s also insightful and willing to share her recommendations, even when sometimes it takes me years to make it through them. On a recent visit, Amanda was telling me about her book blogger buddies and how there are book expos and free copies (that ARC thing, again) and lots of opportunities to connect with other people on the subject of good books. I was hooked from the get-go.

Writing about books with my sister is perfect – she is much better than me about knowing what’s out there and what’s good and she will surely figure out a way to get us to book expos and events. For me, writing about books is an opportunity to write about just about anything – because really, no matter what I’m dwelling on, I can link it to the book I’m currently reading. That link might be the subject matter, because I often look for books related to places I’ve been or things I want to learn, or it might be the fact that I lost myself in a particular novel because the character’s troubles helped put some situation of my own in perspective.

So, with this book blog, I’ve got a new reason to read more, and read more discerningly. I get to write, and I have some measure of accountability (I mean to my sister. Don’t worry – I’m not counting on a flock of readers, since, as I have self-deprecatingly titled this post, I will be a terrible book blogger). And, the most fun part is setting this up with my sister, aka my BFF, giving us plenty to talk about and to crack up about and enough communication to tide us over between visits.