Category: Monday

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Current Reads:

• The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
• Crows and Cards by Joseph Helgerson
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – for the Classic Club Spin.
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien – for the #FanspeakTheRing Read-Along.

  

Finished:

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

 

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 11 out of 51
• March TBR Challenge: 2

Total pages read: 880

Total # of books for the year: 14.

My Top Commenter: Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Current Reads:

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – for the Classic Club Spin.

  

Finished:

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 9 out of 51
• March TBR Challenge: 0

Total pages read: 554

Total # of books for the year: 12.  This past week was rough.  I’m behind on everything, or I feel like I’m struggling to keep up, and I’ve got so much more that has to get done during the limited hours when I’m not at work.  So many things are vying for my time and energy, and I just want to shut myself away in a quiet well-lit room when I don’t have a headache and do nothing but read my books and ignore the world outside of them.  With that being said, I will probably be taking an extended blogging break until mid-April.  I’ll still do my weekly Monday’s Minutes and #FitReaders Check-In posts, but if you don’t see anything else from me, it’s because there’s too much going on right now in my life.  The Boyfriend and I are moving the first week of April, and until our actual moving day, we’ll be busy sorting, organizing, and packing up our stuff and cleaning when we’re not working or sleeping.

My Top Commenter: Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Current Reads:

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch

  

Finished:

• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 8 out of 51
• March TBR Challenge: 0

Total pages read: 240

Total # of books for the year: 11.  For the first time in my life, I’ve come across people who have negatively judged me for my accomplishments.  Several of my new coworkers have decided they don’t like me because I have a college education.  On top of that, it seems like the only topics of conversation at work are babies and child care.  I’ve never seen anyone with a book or overheard them talking about a book.  I’ve also never heard anyone talk about anything geeky.  In other words, I don’t fit in with my new coworkers, and I have to wait until I get home to relieve my starvation for an intelligent conversation that doesn’t involve mentioning anything to do with children.  At least work isn’t stressful.  *Sigh*  Everyone has to start somewhere, and hopefully it won’t be long until I move on to someplace much better.

My Top Commenter: Is Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

Current Reads:

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch
• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

   

Finished:

• Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 7 out of 51
• COYER: 7 out of 10

Total pages read: 470

Total # of books for the year: 10.  This week has been interesting.  Just as I was beginning to figure out a new routine, I sprained my ankle and, due to a couple of other injuries and physical limitations, exercising went out the window.  Then, I went to a doctor’s appointment to meet my new PC, and I discovered that the quality of care at the VA clinic I go to has completely changed.  Before, many of the people working there were rude and not very helpful, wait times for anything were worse than the DMV, and my former PC spent more time lecturing me than working with me to improve my health or informing me about any of my lab results.  Now, every person I came across was friendly and more than willing to help, I never waited more than ten minutes for anything, and my new PC is the best doctor I’ve ever had in my life.  I was with her for an hour and left feeling as if, finally, I received the health care I needed.  On Saturday, the Boyfriend and I finally went to see Dead Pool.  Afterwards, we binge-watched the second half of the final season of Mad Men.  Both were amazing, but this is a book blog so I’ll spare you my ravings.

My Top Commenter: Is Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch – This is on hold until March since it’s an ebook and I’m participating in Feel the Paper Love February.
• Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead

   

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 6 out of 51
• COYER: 7 out of 10

Total pages read: 206

Total # of books for the year: 9.  My first week of working full-time flew past.  I had a freak out moment Tuesday evening because I felt like I was never going to find enough time to read and blog or exercise again.  I managed to get through the week, and then on Friday night, I turned to the wonderful bloggers participating in #FitReaders as well as the Book Bloggers Do It Better group on Facebook.  I got lots of great advice, and I no longer feel overwhelmed.  Instead, I’ve got a plan.  We’ll see if it works.  However, because I haven’t gotten much reading accomplished this past week, I don’t have much to blog about for this week.  There will be some days that I don’t post anything, but I will try to space them out.  If my plan works, the sparse posting will only be temporary.

My Top Commenter: Is Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch – This is on hold until March since it’s an ebook and I’m participating in Feel the Paper Love February.
• Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead – Since I DNF’d the piece of brain candy that my book club chose for this month, I decided to return to a Paranormal Romance series I actually like.  To give you an idea of how rare it is for me to read something like this, the Boyfriend saw it sitting on the table and exclaimed, “What the Hell is this?!”

   

DNF:

• Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 6 out of 51
• COYER: 7 out of 10

Total pages read: 352

Total # of books for the year: 9.  The Boyfriend and I celebrated Valentine’s Day on Saturday since he had to work on Sunday.  I made us a nice breakfast and then we went to look at an apartment that we’re planning on moving into next month.  After that, we got smoothies and headed to one of the many parks in Austin that has walking trails.  By the time we were done, we were ready for an early dinner at a little Cuban restaurant he found for me.  While I’m glad we went, I don’t plan on ever going back.  The food was only ok, and the highlight of our dinner was getting an ice cold can of Iron Beer, the Cuban take on root beer, and my favorite soda.  It was still barely evening, so we headed to the used bookstore to see if I could find a hardcover of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.  I found a hardcover of the first three books instead, which is even better IMO.  It was supposed to be my one book purchase this year, and we had already exchanged gifts (he got me a hardcover edition of Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon, and I got him A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin).  However, the Boyfriend bought it for me and told me to save my book money for something new <3  After that we headed home to eat lots of chocolate and watch Shrek.

My Top Commenter: Is Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch – This is on hold until March since it’s an ebook and I’m participating in Feel the Paper Love February.
• Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge – This is a book club read.

   

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 6 out of 51
• COYER: 7 out of 10

Total pages read: 100

Total # of books for the year: 9.  This week has been so busy.  I accepted a full-time job offer on Tuesday, but since I’m not starting until the 16th, I’m still working my part-time job until then.  I’m also still doing freelance editing work.  As soon as the Boyfriend and I knew that I’ll soon have a steady income, we began looking for a new place and figuring out budgets and how much it will cost to move when our current lease is up in April.  There’s a bunch of other stuff going on as well, and it all added up to us feeling overtasked and a little overwhelmed.  We went out to breakfast on Saturday after looking at yet another place and had a long talk to hash everything out, and then made an agreement to do no more adulting for the rest of the day.  I think we both feel better and are more prepared to handle all the changes coming up within the next few months.  Before that, though, there was Harry Potter Book Night.  I put a lot of work into it, so I was a little disappointed that only one lovely person participated.  However, we both had a lot of fun, and I’m glad she came over to the blog to show her support.

My Top Commenter: Is Litha from Victorian Soul Critiques.  Thank you! 🙂

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch

  

Finished:

• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Stories I Told Myself by Patrick E. McLean
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling – for the HP re-read.

  

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 6 out of 51
• COYER: 7 out of 10

Total pages read: 603

Total # of books for the year: 9.  I signed up for Litha’s Feel the Paper Love February, so I’ll be reading nothing but the physical books on my TBR shelf this month.  I forgot this is the last month of COYER, though, so I guess I won’t be making my goal of 10 books.  Oh well, at least I got seven ebooks/audiobooks off my TBR.

My Top Commenters: It’s a tie between Terri @ Second Run Reviews, and Felicia @ The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

•  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling – for the HP re-read.
•  An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

  

Finished:

• The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 5 out of 51
• COYER: 5 out of 10

Total pages read: 821

Total # of books for the year: 6.  This week has been busy.  I’ve been doing a lot of running home from my part-time job to quickly change into interview clothes, and then do the same thing in reverse soon after the interview (my part-time job is two hours each day during the week; one in the morning and one in the afternoon).  I don’t even know how many resumes, cover letters, and job applications I’ve submitted, and I’ve spent more time talking on my phone than I have for the past several months combined.  I’m happy that things are moving along a lot more quickly than earlier this month, but I’m also ready for it to be over with already so I can finally be bringing home a full-time paycheck.  Even with all the busyness, though, I’ve been doing my best to set aside at least one hour every night to read before I go to bed.

My Top Commenters: It’s a three-way tie between Litha @ Victorian Soul Book Critiques, Terri @ Second Run Reviews, and Shaina @ Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

•  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling – for the HP re-read.
•  An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
• The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson

  

Finished:

• My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem
• The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
• Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

  

Challenges:

• Show Your Shelves Some Love: 5 out of 51
• COYER: 5 out of 10

Total pages read: 884

Total # of books for the year: 5.  Now that the 24 in 48 readathon is over I’ll be catching up on reviews.  I’m also determined to finish The Paris Winter this week.

My Top Commenter: Felicia @ The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog

What are you reading this week?