Renee's - (12) Upped to 70! book challenge

[Renee]

I know - for most people, 12 books is nothing! A book a month, how hard can that be?

For me, it's sometimes very hard. Between work, work travel, and family, it seems like I rarely have time to sit down and just read... so I'm hoping that regular posting here (at least 2x a month!) will help me find the time to set aside.

So here we go... I'm coming off a reading binge during the winter break, and I've started with Euphoria (Lily King) and also hope to get through A Spy Among Friends in January.

Hopefully, i'll exceed my goal, but we'll find out!

[Renee]

For the middle of the month - i've actually made a lot more progress than I thought i would (courtsey of a long flight with less-that-required work done). I finished both Euphoria and A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal so far. I liked Euphoria, especially given some of the twists in the book.

I really really liked A Spy Among Friends - both because of the story and the way it was written. I think i prefer my history books written as a narrative, with characters, plot, etc, rather than a more "text book" approach.

Now I'm trying to continue my streak, and i've started 2 new books: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Aviator's Wife. I've borrowed both from the library as e-books, which will certainly make taking them on travel easier! So far, I like "the immortal life" better than "the Aviator's wife", but i'm not very far into either book yet.

I'm excited i've gotten so far towards my goal already in January, and i hope i can keep it up...

[Jodi]

I just bought The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks! I am looking forward to seeing what you think about it.

[Ashley]

I have read both The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Aviator's Wife. Both were fabulous! I hope you enjoy! :)

[Renee]

So, i've been bad about commenting/updating, but i've been good at reading! I've figured out how to get library books on my tablet, and a combination of travel, wanting to finish before the book goes back to the library, and some good books means I'm way ahead of my 12 book goal for the year... I've read 17 so far, and i've upped my goal to 25 for the year.

Now for some of my favorite books so far:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - I really liked this one. I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but after this one, i might start.

I have to admit i didn't like The Aviator's Wife much - i think it had more to do with not liking one of the characters than the story itself.

The Martian - this book is AWESOME! I've been recommending it to everyone after i finished it. Basically, it's how to save your life via engineering. Any engineer will love this book (and then argue about whether things are true or not!)

After enjoying The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, i also read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, trying to expand more into non-fiction. I definitely enjoyed it, and it gave me a different perspective about WWII. I'm definitely planning to read more by this same author later this year.

One last book for this post: All the Light We Cannot See - i see now why there was such a long wait for this book at the library! This book was great, and I especially liked the way it was structured. Since i read this right after "in the garden of the beasts", there were some great links between the books that made them even more impactful... although i have had my fill of WWII at the moment.

These aren't all the books I've read, but i'm going to try and be better about posting as I go... I think I have things set up so i can post from my tablet now :) Maybe if i actually do that, the next step will be to actually join some discussions!

[Renee]

And my update for June - the combination of library books and travel continues to be fun! I've read a bunch more books since late May.

I finished I, Robot since i was kind of done with WWII. I've always wanted to read this classic, and i really enjoyed it. I think more Science Fiction is going to go on my reading list.

I also finished Still Alice which was amazing. Not necessarily a "happy" ending, but an amazing story and such a different insight into someone's world.

I also did a quick read of The Selection for some YA in my reading... I can't say that i liked it a lot, but i'll probably get the other books from the library, because i'm one of those people who can't start a series without finishing it...

I definitely love the ability to get e-books from the library no matter where i am. It's done so much for my reading!

[Renee]

One upside to all the travel recently has been all the reading... I've upped my goal to 60 for the year! I got back into Historical fiction with The Lady of the Rivers and will be adding more of those to my list.

I also read a string of mystery/thrillers, like Sharp Objects and The Girl on the Train. I liked Sharp Objects the best so far.

I also read Act Of Terror which made me want to read more of that kind of book, so now i have Command Authority on my list as well.

And i continue to LOVE the library and the fact that i can download books wherever and whenever i want. It makes for such great reading opportunities! there's been more than these books that i've read lately, and i've been trying to be good about rating them to get more recommendations. Maybe i should check out the challenges coming up to figure out what else to read next!

[Renee]

I read several good books in august... some of the more interesting ones were:
Native Son - sad/interesting to see how similar the world in this book (written in the 1930's) was to our time, as the author described racism/race relations, etc. I'm sure in some ways its better, but is it better enough? A thought provoking book, even if it was a bit preachy/word at times.

Forty Signs of Rain - another timely book, with presidential candidates out doing each other on trying to pretend climate change isn't a problem. I have to admit, maybe the scenario described in the book is the way to get politicians to pay attention? I'm going to see if i can find the other 2 books in this series.

The stone cutter - Camilla Lackberg is one of my new favorite authors, i think! I loved this book, and how it ties a bunch of different stories together. The ending was (to me) the right combination of a "happy ending" of fiction and "loose ends" of real life. I hope to find more of her books to read.

I also read Command Authority - those kinds of books are always fun to me...

All this reading makes me not mind my long flights as much! And the ebooks make it so easy to bring multiple books, or check out a new one over the free airport wifi before getting on board... Love it! support your local library, even from across the country!

[Jackie B. -]

You're making great progress on your goal, Renee! I can't help but notice that your message title here states a goal of 12 books, you upped your goal in May to 25, and your personal Reading Challenge page has a goal of 60 books which you upped in August! Do you think you'll keep pushing the ceiling there? Why do you think you were able to read so much more than your original goal?

[Renee]

Jackie B. wrote: "You're making great progress on your goal, Renee! I can't help but notice that your message title here states a goal of 12 books, you upped your goal in May to 25, and your personal Reading Challen..."

You're right Jackie! I didn't realize i could update my title and move the thread, so i have. I've changed to match my challenge of 60 books. I may end up reading more than that, although we are getting to the end of the year pretty quickly!

The biggest reason i was able to read more books that i thought i would is the combination of ebooks and the library! I travel a lot for work, and always have my tablet with the Overdrive and kindle apps with me. I love that i can download a library ebook (for free!) anywhere that i am, and have new things to read on the plane, while waiting at the airport, sitting in my hotel... It's awesome! I don't even mind delays as much any more! All these books to pick from. Even if my library (LA county) doesn't have all the books i want, all the time, they always have something.

I am super excited about what i can get from the library and how much its helped me read more books, and a greater variety of books. And Goodreads has helped too, with new recommendations and a way to track what I've read. I think i've always read a lot (it's one of my hobbies) but i don't think i realized how much i read!

tl;dr version: I love my library's ebooks!

[Renee]

And my update for the last few months... i feel like i've read so much! I also found and got into a bunch of challenges since my last post. It was fun to analyze what i've read so far, and find other books to ready. I even made a spreadsheet! (yes, i am a nerd...)

Some of my favorites in the last few months:
- ok, so i've decided i love spy books. And John le Carre is one of my favorite authors of spy books. But seriously?! do they all have to end the same way? I'll probably read more, because they are so good.

Also, i really liked Ready Player One. It was fun to read about a potential future and how the internet became a part of all of our lives. Even some of the "what would that mean" deeper thoughts were worked out in this book... It was fun and thought provoking, even if parts of it read like a giant WoW book.

One of those books i couldn't stop reading, even as it got more insane was Up Jumps the Devil. It starts (ok, chapter 2) with bestiality, and only gets crazier from there. But it was well written enough that i wanted to keep reading it. However - note to all - don't have sex with people who are in a coma. Thank you.

There were other books i read and enjoyed, like I Am Pilgrim and And Then There Were None, both of which were good. The only book i didn't really enjoy, but finished for the A-Z challenge was Zeroville and that was mostly because, even though it was a good story, i'm pretty sure it was written by a film buff who was high on something, and since i am neither, i got the sense that a lot of it passed me by.

I've downloaded a bunch of new books, some for my challenges, and some just random ones, for the next couple of weeks. I'm definitely on track to exceed even by 70 book goal, so let's see how many i can get to!

[Renee]

Well, i definitely exceeded 70 books, with 89 for the year so far...

Some of my favorite since last month:

The Preacher - i really like Camilla Lackberg. I wish more of her books were translated into english. But they stand alone, and they're a lot of fun, so i'll keep reading...

The King's Curse and The Taming of the Queen - i liked both these Philippa Gregory books, and i'm sad i finished the series. I'll have to explore more of her books in 2016. I like historical fiction as "brain candy"

Iron Curtain : The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956 - definitely NOT brain candy, more like brain vitamins. This non-fiction book is really well written, and a super interesting look at events that we don't often think about. I forgot why i started reading this book, but i'm glad i did.

One book i cannot get into for the life of me: Lila - i don't know what it is about this book, but i can't make myself read more than about 2 chapters at a time. I'm going to finish it (because i hate leaving books unfinished) but it's going to be on my "currently reading" list for a while...

I've also been reading poetry for the december challenge, but i'll cover those separately...

[Megan]

Congratulations on smashing your goal!

[Jackie B. -]

I also love my library AND Ready Player One. You're in good company here. I found that my library, plus a combination of participating in reading challenges this year really helped push my goal.

Congrats on beating your newest goal! Will you continue to push you reading limits in 2016?

[Cassandra]

Congratulations on reaching not one but two goals this year! That's so awesome.