Christine Seifert's Blog: Lady Professor Reads, page 8

What I Read: September 2018

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September was a busy month, but I still found time to read. I read nine books including one re-read. My favorite of the month was Penance by Kanae Minato. Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall was a close second.

Here’s the complete list of what finished this month with my 1-sentence summary of each.

Penance by Kanae Minato— Revenge is toxic and lasts a lifetime.   She Was the Quiet One by Michele Campbell—Fancy boarding school kids are awful; toxic masculinity is part of fancy boarding school...

What I Read: October 2018

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September was a busy month, but I still found time to read. I read nine books including one re-read. My favorite of the month was Penance by Kanae Minato. Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall was a close second.

Here’s the complete list of what finished this month with my 1-sentence summary of each.

Penance by Kanae Minato— Revenge is toxic and lasts a lifetime.

  She Was the Quiet One by Michele Campbell—Fancy boarding school kids are awful; toxic masculinity is part of fancy boarding schoo...

The Book I Didn’t Know I Needed in My Life

I’ll go ahead and wait right here while you go buy this book and read it. Come back and let’s talk about how we’re going to reclaim our time.

 

“I am plotting all the ways I can steal your time and you are too busy to notice.” –Your Phone

 

Finished. Started. Anticipating.

Finished
If you love time travel, history of the Middle Ages, and the black plague, you must read this book immediately.

It could’ve used a stronger editor because it was a little bloated at times. I can forgive that, though, because the characters were solid and the research really brought this time period to life.

I’m not sure I’ll tackle the sequels right away, but I really did enjoy reading this one.

 

 

Started
Oh, how I love a good unreliable narrator. I’m only about 15% into this one,...

Some Thoughts: Education by Tara Westover

I usually don’t read memoirs–mostly because they feel self-absorbed to me. There are few things more self-involved than writing an entire book about yourself. I suppose I gravitate toward fiction because the author’s voice can be couched in characters’ voices.

But occasionally I find a memoir that’s every bit as good as fiction: Education is one of them. Not only is the writing excellent, the story itself is bonkers. Tara Westover grew up in rural Idaho to a mentally ill father with delusion...

What I’m Reading Now

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I’m reading The Doomsday Book because a trusted reader recommended it to me. So far so good.

I’m reading Animal Farm because I’ve never read it before, and I feel like this is one of those books everyone should read.

I’m re-reading Dear Committee Members in anticipation of Julie Schumacher’s new book. I’m not ashamed to say this is my third reading. Still hilarious.

Five Incredible Historical Novels

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I always forget that I love historical fiction until I start reading a good historical novel, and I’m like, “Oh, yeah. This is my jam.”

I started reading Varina by Charles Frasier this week, and while I’m not terribly far into it, I’m enjoying it so far. Here’s the description:

Her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects the secure life of a Mississippi landowner. Davis instead pursues a career in politics...

What I Read: August 2018

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Farewell, August. I loved you and all the time you gave me to read.

I read twelve books in August. I’m listing them below along with my 1-sentence summary of each.

Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin, 2015
If you eat carbs, you probably suck and have no self-control.   The High Season by Judy Blundell, 2018
Never be a social climber in a beach town; you’ll always lose.   I Love You, Michael Collins by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, 2017
It’s hard to be a c...

Review: Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl

Genre: YA Fiction
Publication Date: 2018
Publisher: Delacorte

Elevator Pitch: Five friends at Darrow-Harker School are devastated when their friend Jim ends up dead. A year later, the classmates meet up once again. Beatrice Hartley is determined to find out happened to Jim, her first love. But a tragic car crash happens on a rainy night, and all five characters end up stuck between life and death. In order to stop living the same day over and over again, they have to unanimously vote on who...

Morning Reading

I’ve been trying to establish the habit of reading (for fun) for 10 or 15 minutes in the morning before I go to campus or start work. It’s been two weeks since I decided to begin Project Morning Reading.

Status update: zero days of success.

Reading for a few minutes every morning isn’t a new activity for me. I did it religiously as a kid–for as far back as I can remember. My favorite time at school was the silent reading portion of the day, so I decided to implement my own silent reading bef...