Author: Rachelle

Down the TBR Hole #82

Published on by Rachelle
Image: hjl

How it works:

  • Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?
My TBR pile went up again to 1064 books thanks to some really great books that I added to my wishlist.

This week’s books:

Lemprière’s Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk – KEEP.  Years ago, I read and fell in love with John Saturnall’s Feast.  This is Norfolk’s debut novel, so while I’m not expecting it to be as great as John Saturnall’s Feast, I’m hoping it’s at least close. The Weight of Sound by Peter McDade – GO.  This is not quite what I thought it was when I added it to my wishlist back in 2017.  I’m also skeptical of a book that has nearly all 5-star reviews, but only 40 of them; it looks a little too much like the author got all of his friends and family to talk up his book. The Moral Animal by Robert Wright – KEEP.  A book about the science of morality (or the lack thereof) sounds fascinating, and I’ve read another book by Wright, The Evolution of God, that was excellent. Nonzero by Robin Wright – KEEP. Another book by Wright about Evolution and Humanity that sounds extremely interesting. Sorry Please Thank You by Charles Yu – KEEP.  This one is a collection of Science Fiction short stories all by one author, which I usually prefer to short story anthologies.  The three stories mentioned in the synopsis sound like the whole book is probably good.
My TBR pile is down one to 1063 books. Next week, most of the books are Horror ebooks I bought and haven’t looked at since adding them to my Kindle.

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle
  • This check-in is for April 9th – 15th.
  • Last week, I didn’t say why I was having more doctor’s appointments and tests done. It’s my heart, and it’s not something that can be fixed with diet and exercise, though I am taking steps to reduce any strain on my heart at least until I know what needs to be done.
  • I also quit my job so that I can deal with the appointments without having to worry about requesting the time off, and also so I can spend more time with my family.  The job I had required me to work pretty much every weekend and some evenings, and my days off never matched up with my boyfriend’s.
  • If you have a FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Active Days: 2/5
  • Steps: 31,333
  • Miles: 12.81
  • Total Miles: 182/1,000
  • Active Minutes: 46/150

Monday’s Minutes

Published on by Rachelle

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • American Sherlock by Kate Winkler Dawson
  • All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter
  • F*cked at 40 by Tova Leigh

Finished:

  • Codex Born by Jim C. Hines
  • Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert
  • Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford
  • How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe

Challenges:

#ShelfLove – 12 of 51 books from my TBR.

Total pages read this week: 685

Total books for the year: 17 of 90.

Both Follow Me to Ground and How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps were fairly short, so I got a couple of quick “wins” to add towards the #ShelfLove challenge and my annual reading goal. I’m still 7 books behind schedule, but now that I’m working, it will probably take me a lot longer to catch up, if I’m able to at all.

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle
  • This check-in is for April 2nd – 8th.
  • What was supposed to be one of the last Doctor’s appointments I had resulted in a need for more tests.  I also started a new job this week, and now have to spend the majority of my time off at those appointments, assuming my scheduling requests get accepted.  I’m grateful for the medical care, but I am so tired of there being something wrong with me and not knowing exactly what it is.
  • If you have a FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Active Days: 2/5
  • Steps: 29,775
  • Miles: 12.18
  • Total Miles: 169.19/1,000
  • Active Minutes: 136/150

Monday’s Minutes

Published on by Rachelle

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert
  • Codex Born by Jim C. Hines

DNF:

  • Start Late, Finish Rich by David Bach

Finished:

  • The Stolen Letter by Paige Shelton

Challenges:

#ShelfLove – 9 of 51 books from my TBR.

Total pages read this week: 591

Total books for the year: 13 of 90.

Despite how much I’m reading, I’m not finishing books fast enough to catch up to my annual goal. I’m now 10 books behind schedule. I have no idea if I’m going to be able to catch up anytime soon, either, since I’m starting a new job on Wednesday.

Down the TBR Hole #81

Published on by Rachelle
Image: hjl

How it works:

  • Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?
My TBR pile shot up again to 1060 books thanks to finding even more books that never got added to Goodreads; this time thanks to a whole slew of ebooks I forgot I had.  With that, I think I’m done with having a goal to work towards.  Even if I were to not buy a single book for the next decade (about how long it would take me to read all of the books I currently own), that still leaves my ever-growing wish list, which now stands at 265 books.  I’m never not going to find more books I want to read.  So, no more goals (other than my annual reading goal).  Instead, I will just continue these posts until I don’t want to write them anymore.

This week’s books:

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk – GO.  As long as this has been on my wish list and as many opportunities as I’ve had to either check it out or buy it, but didn’t, I think I need to accept that I’m never going to read it. Monsterland by Michael Okon – GO.  This sounds a little too much like Jurassic Park, but with monsters, and after looking at some of the reviews, I’m not the only person to think that. Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint – KEEP.  This book was recommended to me years ago, and I own it, but still haven’t gotten around to reading it.  Considering de Lint is a “must-read” author for Fantasy fans, I’m moving this one up closer to the top of my TBR for this year. The Victorian Book of the Dead by Chris Woodyard – KEEP. It’s frustrating that I still haven’t found a physical copy of this book in any bookstore, whether new or used.  I might have no choice but to buy it on Amazon. Understanding Cemetery Symbols by Tui Snider – KEEP.  Another one I’ll have to eventually buy a physical copy of on Amazon. Grave Suspicion, Consumed, Indian Summer, and The Hand of Andulain by Aaron Mahnke – KEEP.  I grouped these 4 books together since they’re all by the same author, who is also the creator of the “Lore” podcast, and a whole bunch of other awesome stuff I enjoy.  They’re all still on my wish list because I haven’t been able to find them in paperback (except for on Amazon, of course).  I love reading Horror novels in paperback.  Perhaps because that’s how I always read Stephen King novels when I was a teenager. Journeys of Frodo by Barbara Strachey – KEEP.  This will always be a part of my permanent collection, whether I ever finish reading it or not.  For a while, I had been trying to complete the “Walk to Mordor” challenge, and I followed along in the book as I made progress.
My TBR pile is down to 1058 books. Next week, all of the books are a mix of Fiction and Non-Fiction, and the kinds of books start to vary instead of being whole series or by the same author.

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle
  • This check-in is for March 26th – April 1st.
  • Only a couple more Doctor’s appointments to go, and then hopefully I’ll be done until next year.
  • If you have a FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Active Days: 2/5
  • Steps: 29,618
  • Miles: 12.08
  • Total Miles: 157.01/1,000
  • Active Minutes: 84/150

#ShelfLove 2021 – Still the Oldest Books

Published on by Rachelle

For March, the #ShelfLove Challenge participants are discussing the oldest books on our shelves.  I decided to look back to the books I had written about in 2017, and discovered that I had only read one of the books I had mentioned, and the rest are still on my TBR. The book I’ve owned the longest and still haven’t read has moved from place to place, country to country with me since 2005!

  1. The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton – This book was mentioned in an episode of Gilmore Girls.  It wasn’t an easy book to find at the time, especially since I was living in Korea, but I tracked a copy down through a used bookseller that didn’t have a problem shipping to an APO.  I was a bit obsessed with the Beat Generation and majorly obsessed with all things Gilmore Girls; otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of finding it.
  2. Memory Mambo by Achy Obejas – After my Abuelo passed away, I began finding and buying any book that might bring me a little closer to the Cuban part of my family.
  3. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne – This book, and the next three, were bought free on my brand spanking new first-generation Nook right before I deployed to Iraq in 2009.
  4. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
  5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
  6. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins – Though I started reading this one last year, I never finished it, so it deserves to stay on the list.
  7. Book Lust by Nancy Pearl – Always a fan of books about books, as soon as I saw this offered on Nook, I snatched it up.
  8. Hiking Alone by Mary Beath – I purchased this while on a road trip in 2011.  I had stopped for the night in Albuquerque, NM and when I got up the next morning, I realized my hotel was just across the street from the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.
  9. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens – I bought this from a little independent bookstore and coffee shop in Utah during that same road trip.  Their largest cup was “The Hagrid” and I’ve wished that coffee and tea shops everywhere offered “Hagrid”-sized drinks ever since.
  10. The First Pillar by Roy Huff – This one is the oldest on my Want to Read list on Goodreads. Though I know there are books I have owned for far longer, this one, along with 22 others, is from when I started tracking my TBR in 2014.


Since half of these books are in storage right now and the others are ebooks, I’m probably not going to get them off my TBR this year. The only exception to that might be The First Pillar since one of the prompts for a reading challenge I’m participating in is “Oldest on TBR.”  

What are some of the oldest books on your shelf?

Monday’s Minutes

Published on by Rachelle

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • The Stolen Letter by Paige Shelton
  • Start Late, Finish Rich by David Bach

Finished:

  • The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
  • Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
  • The Library Book ed. by Rebecca Gray

Challenges:

#ShelfLove – 9 of 51 books from my TBR.

Total pages read this week: 900

Total books for the year: 12 of 90.

Since all of the books I’ve been reading lately have come from the library, they don’t count for the #ShelfLove challenge. That’s ok, though, since any book I finish counts towards my annual reading goal, and I’m still 9 books behind schedule.

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle
  • This check-in is for March 19th – 25th.
  • I have yet another Doctor’s appointment today, and I’m honestly starting to get tired of it.
  • If you have a FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Active Days: 1/5
  • Steps: 18,707
  • Miles: 7.65
  • Total Miles: 144.93/1,000
  • Active Minutes: 11/150