Author: Rachelle

Monday’s Minutes

Published on by Rachelle

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

Currently Reading:

  • Sixpence House by Paul Collins
  • Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

Finished:

  • White Night by Jim Butcher
  • Packing my Library by Alberto Manguel

Challenges:

#ShelfLove – 7 of 51 books from my TBR.

Total pages read this week: 291

Total books for the year: 7 of 90.

I’m getting back into a normal routine in my new home, and that means I’m reading more, especially before bed. I also got my Columbus public library card!!! I’m super excited because, well, DUH! But also because the Columbus public library has over 30% of my current wishlist available to check out! Neither the San Francisco or Oakland public library systems had even half of that. Since I can’t buy any books this year, I’m thrilled that I will be able to check out so many of the books I’ve been wanting to read, especially since the majority of my books are currently in storage.

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle
  • This check-in is for February 19th – 25th and February 26th – March 4th.
  • The Boyfriend and I made it safely to our new home with our two furbabies and a moving truck full of stuff.
  • The Taji 100 ended on the 28th of February.  I didn’t make it to 100 miles, but I did make it over halfway.
  • If you have a FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Active Days: 7
  • Steps: 81,283
  • Miles: 32.98
  • Taji 100 Miles: 64.77/100
  • Total Miles: 120.24/1,000
  • Active Minutes: 70/150

Monday’s Minutes

Published on by Rachelle

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

Currently Reading:

  • Sixpence House by Paul Collins
  • Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff
  • White Night by Jim Butcher

Total pages read this week: 120

Total books for the year: 5 of 90.

This week’s post is for the past two weeks since I was on the road with the Boyfriend and our two furbabies moving from California to Ohio. I didn’t get my computer set up in our new apartment until Saturday so this week’s #FitReaders Check-In will also be covering the past two weeks. I’ll also cover 10 of my TBR books in this Saturday’s Down the TBR Hole post. Now that we’re mostly settled in and back into a somewhat normal routine, I’m hoping to at least finish reading White Night.

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle
  • This check-in is for February 12th – 18th.
  • Today is the day the Boyfriend and I put everything we own into a moving truck.
  • I’m doing the Taji 100, a race to get 100 miles during the month of February.  If you would like to sponsor me and the San Francisco chapter of Team RWB, you can do so HERE.
  • If you have a FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Active Days: 5/5
  • Steps: 35,173/48,000
  • Miles: 14.39/19.18
  • Taji 100 Miles: 38.82/100
  • Total Miles: 87.26/1,000
  • Active Minutes: 121/150

Thursday’s Things: Freebies!

Published on by Rachelle3 Comments
1001 Things
                Original Image: Viktor Hertz

“Thursday’s Things” is a roundup of book-related links I’ve come across while wandering down the rabbit hole that is the internet.


I’m on a book buying ban for this year’s #ShelfLove Challenge.  The Boyfriend and I are also packing up the apartment to move across the country, so any new books I acquire have to be free and digital. Since this month’s discussion for #ShelfLove is all about where we find free books, here is a list of 20+ websites where I have gotten my book shopping fix for free:

  • The Online Books Page – There are over 2 million free books on this website, thanks to the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Read Print – Here are a few thousand more.
  • The Baen Free Library – and here are even more.
  • Bookyards – …and some more.
  • International Children’s Digital Library – Looking for free kid’s books?  Here ya go.
  • Storyline Online – How about famous actors reading children’s books aloud?  There are tons of videos on this non-profit site.
  • Library of Congress – Of course, there’s always the Digital Collection of the Library of Congress.
  • Planet eBook – Need to find that Classic you’ve been meaning to read since forever ago?  There are over 80 Classic Lit books on this site.
  • ManyBooks – This site boasts that they have over 33,000 free books.
  • Project Gutenberg – Most serious readers know about this one, but I have to list it because this is the go-to place for the Classics, and it will save your wallet if you’re a Classic literature addict or a member of The Classics Club.
  • Internet Archive – I LOVE this website!  It’s got so much more than free books, so make sure you’ve got some time to kill because you might not leave this site for a while.
  • Open Culture – This site has a ton of free downloadable media, including ebooks and audiobooks.
  • Open Library – You don’t have a library card?  First of all, shame on you!  Second, go to the Open Library and sign up for a free account.  Third, start borrowing ebooks to your heart’s content.
  • LibriVox – Free audiobooks.
  • Lit2Go – Another site for free audiobooks, but many of the books also have a free downloadable PDF.
  • Free Classic Audiobooks – in case you need yet another site for finding free downloadable audiobooks.
  • Classic Short Stories – Look through the list to find the short story you want to read, and click on it to download.
  • East of the Web – This site has short stories you can read online, but you can also click on the “Printable Version” link and then save it as a PDF.
  • Nightmare Magazine – This is a Horror and Dark Fantasy short story magazine I recently discovered.  You can read the short stories online or download the audio/podcast.
  • Storynory – This is a Children’s audiobook site that, amongst so many other kid-friendly downloads, includes Classic Children’s literature.
  • Kiddie Records – If you’re looking for children’s records from the 1940s and ’50s, this is the site to check out.  The downloads, including a Winnie the Pooh story, are all free.
  • BookBub – This is actually a website/newsletter to find out about the free (and on sale) books being offered under the genres you’re interested in by major booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  I’ve discovered quite a few free books that I felt were worth downloading, but be careful since there is the temptation of .99 books.

Monday’s Minutes

Published on by Rachelle

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

Currently Reading:

  • Sixpence House by Paul Collins
  • Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff
  • White Night by Jim Butcher

Total pages read this week: 108

Total books for the year: 5 of 90.

Not much more reading this week than last week. More packing and I haven’t even been listening to any podcasts. I have to have everything ready to put in the moving truck by Friday.

Down the TBR Hole #80

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?

I will be repeating this process until I’ve filtered out my entire TBR.

My TBR pile shot up again to 932 thanks to finding even more books on my shelves that never got added to Goodreads when I brought them home.

This week’s books:

The Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff – GO.  Meh.  Not interested.

More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz – KEEP.  Need I explain myself?

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby – KEEP.  I’m a little skeptical about whether or not this will actually be interesting, but I’m willing to give it the 50-page test.

Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire – KEEP. I love fairy tale retellings, and I’ve never heard anything bad about Maguire’s writing.

Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French – KEEP.  Another one I’m not sure about but willing to give a chance.

My TBR pile is down one to 931 books. Next week’s books are all still on my wishlist.  I suppose we’ll see if I still want them.

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle
  • This check-in is for February 5th – 11th.
  • This has been a crazy week of packing, taking photos of stuff that the Boyfriend and I are trying to sell, and moving furniture around.  I also took some time off from all of that to spend a day with a wonderful friend and Vietnam-era veteran.  We did a lot of walking together and had an excellent time.
  • I’m doing the Taji 100, a race to get 100 miles during the month of February.  If you would like to sponsor me and the San Francisco chapter of Team RWB, you can do so HERE.
  • If you have a FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Active Days: 6/5
  • Steps: 29,826/48,000
  • Miles: 12.14/19.18
  • Taji 100 Miles: 24.43/100
  • Total Miles: 72.87/1,000
  • Active Minutes: 160/150

Monday’s Minutes

Published on by Rachelle

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

Currently Reading:

  • Sixpence House by Paul Collins
  • Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff
  • White Night by Jim Butcher

Total pages read this week: 80

Total books for the year: 5 of 90.

Not much reading at all this week. Instead, I’ve been packing up all of my books, discovering that lots of them never got scanned into my Goodreads, and listening to the “Reading Glasses” podcast to distract me from everything else. When I do read, I can’t stay focused for very long, so with the exception of the 80 pages of White Night, I’ve read part of “The Cozy Issue” of Bella Grace magazine while soaking in the tub with a Lush “Comforter” bubble bar.

Down the TBR Hole #79

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?

I will be repeating this process until I’ve filtered out my entire TBR.

My TBR pile shot up to 884 thanks to finding books on my shelves that I forgot to add to Goodreads when I brought them home.

This week’s books:

The Card Catalog by The Library of Congress – KEEP.  This is the ultimate coffee table book for library and book lovers.  I still don’t own a copy of it, but I will someday.

100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith – GO.  Meh.  The synopsis doesn’t inspire me to want to pick this book up.

The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury – GO.  The cover and title made this book seem so much more interesting than the synopsis does, which sounds like a stereotypical YA Romance in a Fantasy setting.  No, thank you.

Donny’s Brain by Rona Munro – GO.  Another non-inspiring synopsis.

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone – KEEP.  This book is about a teenage girl struggling with mental illness while trying to navigate high school and everything else that comes along with being a teenage girl.  It will probably be a difficult read, but I enjoy stories that don’t sugar coat that time of life.

My TBR pile is down to 881 books. Because of how up in the air everything in my life is right now, I don’t know if I’ll finish any books by next weekend, but next week’s post will be mostly made up of more free audiobooks I got during Audiobook SYNC.