Review: This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets

This book was definitely not what I thought it would be. Of course by now I don't really remember what I thought was going to happen anyway. It's very...stream of consciousness, and most of that conscious thought is being put toward sex. It's a very unhealthy attitude I think.

It follows this woman who loses her mother. Blanca never really learned how to be an adult. Her father died when she was young, and her mother sounded like she was a bit flighty. Okay, a lot flighty. Not exactly the best mother material here, but to each their own. She came from an era where people were a lot more...free with their child rearing.

Blanca falls into a spiraling depression when her mother passes, from some illness that isn't clarified at first but appears to have dementia as part of it. They never fully say what it was that took her mother from the world, as the book seems to be Blanca trying to deal with it and how she gets over it.

I don't like the book. I tried. I really really did. How can anyone who treats people the way she did still have friends? I know if I were to treat my family and friends like that, I'd be out on the street faster than I can say my own full name. She is incredibly rude and sometimes just downright condescending to the people who care about her and want to help her. I may just be missing something in what appears to be middle-class Spanish culture. I don't know. It just didn't strike my fancy at all.

I think the biggest problem I had with the book was her reaction to the loss of her mother. The title of the book makes one assume that it's the story of her letting go of her pain and moving on with her life. That she's going to come to terms with it and learn to live the way her mother would have if she had still been alive. No. Not even remotely close. In fact, Blanca tells the reader how long her mother has been gone at one point (34 days) and how she is never going to get over it. There was still no hope at page 145. She was still just obsessed with her mother's death and avoiding all of her mother's possessions.

I rated this book a 2/5 stars, and I would have given it less if I hadn't been intrigued by what was going to happen. I received the book for free from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review. I'm just sorry I didn't actually like it. 

February 2017 Wrap-Up

This month was not a particularly good reading month for me. Things just all sort of ended up needing to be done this month and I only had time to finish two books. I will still go over them though, for you lovely folks. 

Book #1: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father’s antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise — she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels. Late one night while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer. As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story. Both women will have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets... and the ghosts that haunt them still.

I did nearly give this book 5 stars, but it went too quickly to justify. I enjoyed the way she would wait until you became comfortable in the story, thought you had everything all worked out...and would then throw a great big spanner in the mix and everything you thought you knew would collapse around you. Some of the twists you could almost see coming, most of them not. It was a mystery at first. Why would Ms. Winter, who never told anybody the truth, pick a random bibliophile and amateur biographer to be the one to write her story? I couldn't figure it out at first. Then it was revealed. This might have been the closest a book has ever brought me to tears. Of course a lost twin would understand. Would be able to accurately tell the story of a woman who was on the verge of losing her own sister...only...not? The twist at the end is something to die for. I would never have seen it coming. I'm rather surprised at how quickly Margaret figured out the secret that Vida told her without actually telling her. Not even the fact, I think, that Charlie is Emmeline and Adeline's father. The girls looked nothing like their father and had all the features of their Uncle Charlie. I would definitely recommend this to friends if they ask me. It's very good and has a lot to make you think.


Book #2: This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets

Blanca is forty years old and motherless. Shaken by the unexpected death of the most important person in her life, she suddenly realizes that she has no idea what her future will look like. To ease her dizzying grief and confusion, Blanca turns to her dearest friends, her closest family, and a change of scenery. Leaving Barcelona behind, she returns to Cadaqués, on the coast, accompanied by her two sons, two ex-husbands, and two best friends, and makes a plan to meet her married lover for a few stolen moments as well. Surrounded by those she loves most, she spends the summer in an impossibly beautiful place, finding ways to reconnect and understand what it means to truly, happily live on her own terms, just as her mother would have wanted.

This book was definitely not what I thought it would be. Of course by now I don't really remember what I thought was going to happen anyway. It's very...stream of consciousness, and most of that conscious thought is being put toward sex. It's a very unhealthy attitude I think. It follows this woman who loses her mother. Blanca never really learned how to be an adult. Her father died when she was young, and her mother sounded like she was a bit flighty. Okay, a lot flighty. Not exactly the best mother material here, but to each their own. She came from an era where people were a lot more...free with their child rearing. Blanca falls into a spiraling depression when her mother passes, from some illness that isn't clarified at first but appears to have dementia as part of it. They never fully say what it was that took her mother from the world, as the book seems to be Blanca trying to deal with it and how she gets over it. I don't like the book. I tried. I really really did. How can anyone who treats people the way she did still have friends? I know if I were to treat my family and friends like that, I'd be out on the street faster than I can say my own full name. She is incredibly rude and sometimes just downright condescending to the people who care about her and want to help her. I may just be missing something in what appears to be middle-class Spanish culture. I don't know. It just didn't strike my fancy at all. I think the biggest problem I had with the book was her reaction to the loss of her mother. The title of the book makes one assume that it's the story of her letting go of her pain and moving on with her life. That she's going to come to terms with it and learn to live the way her mother would have if she had still been alive. No. Not even remotely close. In fact, Blanca tells the reader how long her mother has been gone at one point (34 days) and how she is never going to get over it. There was still no hope at page 145. She was still just obsessed with her mother's death and avoiding all of her mother's possessions. I rated this book a 2/5 stars, and I would have given it less if I hadn't been intrigued by what was going to happen. I received the book for free from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review. I'm just sorry I didn't actually like it

Friday Reads: 04 February - 24 February 2017

Currently Reading

- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (29%)
-  A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (48%)
- To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (01%)
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (03%)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (12%)

- The Clouded Sky by Megan Crewe (25%)
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (100%)
- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (12%)

- The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon (34%)

- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (71%)

* * *

I really did mean to post on Friday the 10th, and the 17th, I did. But sick me, sick sister, sick mom, sick dad, nearly sick dog...actually sick cat....it was just unbelievably hectic around here. You have no idea. I hope you never have any idea. I do not wish this on anybody.

So, I got myself the sampler of A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro, and when I made it to the end, I folded. I went down like a cheap card table and just had to buy a copy of the book. I got the eBook for cheap and I love it. I'm zipping right through. I love Sherlock Holmes, by now that should be obvious. When I found a copy of a "modern" Holmes & Watson story, I needed it. Like really really needed it. I think this might be the best $1.99 I've ever spent.

I got an email alert the other day, like ya do, from Twitter. It said that someone had followed me. I thought nothing of it of course because I'm followed by so many weird accounts that I just don't pay all that much attention any more. Except, this one caught my eye. Why on earth would a New York Times, USA Today (I read that paper now and then), and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author that I've never heard of follow me on a platform I hardly use? I don't tweet. I rarely ever retweet unless it's something from Goodreads or the like. So I look her up. Who is this Bella Andre and why did she decide to follow the least Twitter friendly person on Twitter?

Turned out, she writes romance novels. Not even a different genre/romance. No. Ms. Andre writes sappy, cheesy romance novels. The one and only type of novel that I actively avoid. I suppose I should give her some sort of benefit of the doubt and at least attempt to read one. Just the one. I'm assuming I'm not going to like them much.

On...Tuesday, at least I think it was Tuesday, I got a message from a friend. Naturally I didn't see the first part of what she had said. I only saw these two photographs of absolutely gorgeous leather bound classics novels. I fell in love immediately. How could I not? I needed these in my collection. I scrolled up to see what she had said just before hand because the notification was indicating there were three new messages.

SHE HAD ASKED ME IF I WANTED THEM!!! What?! There are a few (Candide by Voltaire, The Canterbury Tales by Jeffery Chaucer, and Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery to be specific) are volumes I've been looking for. How could I ever turn that down? Someone explain to me how I could possibly say no to such a wonderful collection?

I suppose that will be all for now. I'll see you soon.

January 2017 Book Haul

Sorry I skipped a whole month again! I swear I won't this time. I still won't do the book hauls, unhauls, and wrap-ups until the end of the month. I think that's just plain silly to do it early. Even if I have 50+ books (July), I will just update the post until the last day of the month, then put it up.

Anyway, so far for the month of January I have purchased or acquired 6 new books. They are as follows:


Book #1: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father’s antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise — she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels. Late one night while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer. As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story. Both women will have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets... and the ghosts that haunt them still.

This is just the kind of book that I know I'm going to enjoy. It's about reading and the protagonist has a love of reading that my own nearly rivals. I've been wanting to pick this up for ages, but I either didn't want to pay the full cover price or I didn't have the money on me for the other discount store prices. I finally found it in the Salvation Army for $2, and got my dad to buy it. I've started it already (at the writing of this, I am on page 57) and I absolutely love it. I can't wait to finish it.


Book #2: Android Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters co-author Ben H. Winters is back with an all-new collaborator, legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, and the result is Android Karenina an enhanced edition of the classic love story set in a dystopian world of robots, cyborgs, and interstellar space travel. As in the original novel, our story follows two relationships: the tragic adulterous romance of Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, and the much more hopeful marriage of Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya. These four, yearning for true love, live in a steampunk-inspired 19th century of mechanical butlers, extraterrestrial-worshiping cults, and airborne debutante balls. Their passions alone would be enough to consume them-but when a secret cabal of radical scientific revolutionaries launches an attack on Russian high society's high-tech lifestyle, our heroes must fight back with all their courage, all their gadgets, and all the power of a sleek new cyborg model like nothing the world has ever seen." Filled with the same blend of romance, drama, and fantasy that made the first two Quirk Classics New York Times best sellers, Android Karenina brings this celebrated series into the exciting world of science fiction.

I do plan to read this, then pass it on to my mother. She absolutely loves Russian literature (I don't know why), and I think this would be one of those weird books right up her alley. It looks hilarious. I never did finish Pride and Prejudice and Zombies published by Quirk Books, but I hope to actually finish this one and maybe give that one another try.


Book #3: Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Everybody has a Cordova story. Cult horror director Stanislas Cordova hasn't been seen in public since 1977. To his fans he is an enigma. To journalist Scott McGrath he is the enemy. To Ashley he was a father. On a damp October night the body of young, beautiful Ashley Cordova is found in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Her suicide appears to be the latest tragedy to hit a severely cursed dynasty. For McGrath, another death connected to the legendary director seems more than a coincidence. Driven by revenge, curiosity and a need for the truth, he finds himself pulled into a hypnotic, disorientating world, where almost everyone seems afraid. The last time McGrath got close to exposing Cordova, he lost his marriage and his career. This time he could lose his grip on reality. ONCE WE FACE OUR DEEPEST FEARS, WHAT LIES ON THE OTHER SIDE?

I have been hearing nothing but good things about this book. I'd been wanting it for a while, but not able to find it anywhere. Then I found it in, of all places, a Dollar Tree. I've been trying to get my hands on it, and I don't care that they told me to stop buying books. I want to read this. I've been getting more into crime thrillers and mystery novels. This just looks so cool to me that I can't pass it up. Especially not for $1.


Book #4: Keys of Life: Sword of Fire by Carolyn Shield and Tom Vorbeck

The second installment of the Keys of Life trilogy. The violent war between the Pure of Heart and the Children of the Nephilim continues and Cordy and Ash run from Europe to New Orleans. The pair, along with a new ally, search for hidden family treasures to help them defeat the Nephilim. Meanwhile, the Guardian, a spirit of Earth, warns them that their next battle could be the most catastrophic the planet has ever seen rivaling the Great Flood. Jon Lafitte, are reformed pirate and consummate Frenchman, vies for Cordy's affections while steering the trio along the Louisiana bayou to their biggest showdown yet. But Cordy finds it difficult to choose between the unpredictable Lafitte, and the one who's always been there for her, Ash. Set sail with the Pure of Heart as they try to save not only their legacy, but also the earth as we know it.

I have no idea. I got the first one for free and then I saw the second one free and thought, why not? I'll grab that one too and just continue the collection. It's free anyway. Um. Haven't read either one yet. They are on the to-be-read list though!


Book #5: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood—those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but a twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers an ability she didn’t know she had. Except . . . her blood is Red. To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince and Mare against her own heart.

Yes. I finally found my way to the Red Queen bandwagon. Not exactly on it yet, as I haven't started reading the book, but it was on sale for less than $10 at Walmart, so I grabbed it. I meant to pick it up during December of last year, but I got a different book instead. It looks interesting and my mother said "So Twilight meets Divergent then?" I can't wait to find out if she's right.


Book #6: The Elementary Cases of Sherlock Holmes by Ian Charnock

In this compelling collection of seven stories, the young Stamford joins Sherlock Holmes, the world’s first consulting detective to untangle a series of mysterious crimes. 

The Record of the Tarleton Murders 
The body of a woman in her late thirties is found in Seven Dials with a serene smile on her face. The Honourable Clive Moreton-Ashbee is found dead in his family home in Oxfordshire also wearing a chillingly peaceful smile. In light of these murders, Sherlock and Stamford travel to Sibberton Hall to find the connection between the fatalities but with Pennington, Sherlock’s biggest rival from the past, lost on an expedition to the Yucatan, this case will be no ordinary one. Tension arises when another is found dead by the hearth. Will Holmes be able to solve these mysterious murders? 

The Case of Vamberry, the Wine Merchant 
Young Stamford invites Holmes to a dinner at his parents’ house where the Kentish Brewers’ Association, of which his father is President, is honouring a guest from France who happens to be a chemist. Holmes suspects that one of the guests, Josiah Vamberry, a man with the largest store of top-class claret in the whole of England, is in a bad financial situation. Following an awful argument between Mr Stamford and Mr Vamberry, the latter is found with his throat cut and Mr Stamford arrested. Holmes is desperate to save his friend’s father. Mr Stamford is among the several investors whose finances took a severe knock with the failing of the chateaux but would financial ruin prompt him to kill? Holmes sets out to prove the innocence of his friend’s father and a gripping case unfolds. 

The Adventure of the Old Russian Woman 
After an absence from the Reading Room of the British Museum, Holmes returns to find his usual place occupied by a strange Germanic man with grizzled hair. Holmes’ curiosity is aroused when the man lets out a deep-throated grunt, says that no one can frighten him and fiercely crumples a piece of paper in his hands. When an old Russian woman empties the wastepaper baskets, the German leaves behind a piece of paper containing a strange symbol and beneath this symbol the letters ARX are written. Can Holmes solve this seemingly impossible and perplexing case? 

The Singular Affair of the Aluminium Crutch 
Determined to make his own way in the world, Sherlock places a discreet advertisement in several newspapers offering his services as the world’s first consulting detective. A young woman soon shows up at Montague Street asking for his help to find her crippled fiancée who, all of a sudden, disappeared from her life. As Holmes investigates he finds a mysterious laboratory, a crutch left behind, a large amount of strangely shaped ash and a distinct burning smell. Can Holmes work out if this is a murder, suicide or death by misadventure? 

Other stories include: 
Mrs Farintosh and an Opal Tiara 
Matilda Briggs and the Giant Rat of Sumatra 

A Full Account of Ricoletti of the Club Foot 

What can I say? I'm a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. Any way I get it is a good way to me. Of course I have no recollection of buying this eBook, nor does it show up in my order history...but I will take it as a sign that I just forgot. The very last one, A Full Account of Ricoletti of the Club Foot, made me think immediately of the BBC special The Abominable Bride, in which the name of the bride was Ricoletti. Now I'm even more excited for it.


Book #7: The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry

Jack McNulty is a 'temporary gentleman', an Irishman whose commission in the British army in the Second World War was never permanent. In 1957, sitting in his lodgings in Accra, he urgently sets out to write his story. He feels he cannot take one step further, or even hardly a breath, without looking back at all that has befallen him. He is an ordinary man, both petty and heroic, but he has seen extraordinary things. He has worked and wandered around the world - as a soldier, an engineer, a UN observer - trying to follow his childhood ambition to better himself. And he has had a strange and tumultuous marriage. Mai Kirwan was a great beauty of Sligo in the 1920s, a vivid mind, but an elusive and mysterious figure too. Jack married her, and shared his life with her, but in time she slipped from his grasp.

I'm sure it's obvious, but Second World War. That was why I wanted this because it ties in there. I have no idea what else this is about, but I figure for $2, I'd grab it and find out. Worst that will happen is I donate it to the library or another bookstore.


Book #8: The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman

Tooly Zylberberg, owner of a bookshop in the Welsh countryside, spends most of her life reading. Yet there’s one tale that never made sense: her own life. In childhood, she was spirited away from home, then raised around Asia, Europe and the United States. But who were the people who brought her up? And what ever happened to them? There was Humphrey, a curmudgeon from Russia; there was the charming but tempestuous Sarah, who hailed from Kenya; and there was Venn, the charismatic leader who transformed Tooly forever. Until, quite suddenly, he vanished. Years later, she has lost hope of ever knowing what took place. Then, the old mysteries stir again, sending her – and the reader – on a hunt through place and time, from Wales to Bangkok to New York to Italy, from the 1980’s to the Year 2000 to the present, from the end of the Cold War, to the rise and wobbles of U.S. power, to the digital revolution of today. Gradually, all secrets are revealed…

It's about books, a war, Wales (I love Wales and I have no idea why), and a lot of things that just sound like my cup of tea. I saw the books on the cover and just had to get it. When I got it, I didn't understand why the dust jacket was folded into it. I realized why shortly after. The copy I bought is signed. I have no idea if it is Tom Rachman's signature or not...but I hope to find out. It looks really good. I already owned the only other book he wrote, and I can't wait to read them.


Book #9: The Wake by Anna Hope

Wake: 1) Emerge or cause to emerge from sleep 2) Ritual for the dead 3) Consequence or aftermath.


Hettie, a dance instructress at the Palais, lives at home with her mother and her brother, mute and lost after his return from the war. One night, at work, she meets a wealthy, educated man and has reason to think he is as smitten with her as she is with him. Still there is something distracted about him, something she cannot reach...Evelyn works at the Pensions Exchange through which thousands of men have claimed benefits from wounds or debilitating distress. Embittered by her own loss, more and more estranged from her posh parents, she looks for solace in her adored brother who has not been the same since he returned from the front...Ada is beset by visions of her son on every street, convinced he is still alive. Helpless, her loving husband of 25 years has withdrawn from her. Then one day a young man appears at her door with notions to peddle, like hundreds of out of work veterans. But when he shows signs of being seriously disturbed—she recognizes the symptoms of "shell shock"—and utters the name of her son she is jolted to the core...The lives of these three women are braided together, their stories gathering tremendous power as the ties that bind them become clear, and the body of the unknown soldier moves closer and closer to its final resting place.

I had been watching Bletchley Circle on Netflix (yeah, I'm really into WWII, I don't get it either) and well, this is women in the same general time frame and I just had to have it. The fact that it was on sale in a store, for I think $2, was definitely an added bonus.

* * *

I think I did well for sticking to my book buying limit. I only got 9 this month. Let's see if I can stick with it for the rest of the year!

Friday Reads: 01 January - 03 February 2017

Currently Reading

-  A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (10%)
- To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (01%)
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (03%)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (12%)

- The Clouded Sky by Megan Crewe (25%)
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (14%)
- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (09%)

- The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon (34%)

- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (71%)

* * *

I have been meaning to start this silly Friday Reads post for a very long time now. I would begin it and then never actually continue. So! To begin the actual first Friday Reads of the year, we will go over what was left from last year that I know of that I never actually finished. I have an actual physical paper reading journal and I will probably be taking a lot of the content of my Friday Reads from that. Be warned!!

This post will be the longest, mostly because I kept forgetting to do it all throughout January, so it will have all of January's comments in it. I just....forget a lot. I even had this set up to go up last week and blanked entirely on it. Oops. I hope you forgive me my folly.

I'm going to look for some highlights from Oct-Dec 2016, just in case there was something super important that I missed that ought to be shared. I did finish one of the more popular books of the year in October. Soundless by Richelle Mead and The Martian by Andy Weir. I don't remember what I thought of them. Oh well. 

I was also reading the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. I never did read the third one. I just couldn't. I hated Luce. She was such a stuck up girl. How could she be so dense? How?! No one I know has ever been so boy-stupid. I DNF'd Torment, then picked it up again because I did want to at least finish it, even if I didn't finish the series. I have nothing against the author. Only against Lucinda herself.

Not long after that, I discovered BookOutlet....and have already placed four orders. When I have the money again, I will be buying even more books. They have fantastic prices and shipping is reasonable. It does tend to take a bit to get here, but then they are shipping from Canada. I got rid of 150+ books, only to start buying them again by the box load. Oops? Oh well. I mean, I like reading!

Library finally opened to the public around September and I have been slowly starting to take more books out. I finished most of them, and did renew a few that I barely missed the deadline on. Hopefully I can start going again soon with my sister on Fridays. My library has such weird times. Usually 2-3 hours a day Monday through Friday. I should look into working there.

Finally got Room by Emma Donoghue from the library. Though the librarian actually asked me if they had it when I asked to put it on hold. I wouldn't have asked if they didn't! I had been holding it in my hand 3 days earlier, at the grand reopening of said library. Why would I have asked for something I knew they didn't have? 

It's taken me a while, but I've figured out that I want to read at least 5 books a month, reducing the goal from 100 for the year, to just 60. I know I can do it, but I don't want to push myself to a goal that I might not make. I might put 60 as my goal every year. Right now I'm only 1 book behind for the goal. I am nearly 75% of the way through one, so I will definitely be almost on track to get there shortly. I applaud the people who can read you know, 150+ (one person read nearly 400) books in a year. I definitely don't have the patience for that. I can barely read 2 in the same week.

So far for 2017, I've read 3/60 books! You can see the books I read in my upcoming January 2017 Wrap-Up. I don't think it would do to post them three or four times. I'll post what I'm currently reading for the week, then anything finished will go on the Wrap-Up.

Diversathon? No. I didn't know about it, as I didn't know, I didn't plan on participating. Read-alongs are not something I generally participate in to begin with. I'm not the kind of person who reads a certain number of books in X number of days (typically 5-7). I tried last year and didn't even finish one. I think this year, it was all of the hullabaloo over my grandmother and the beginning of her very long hospital stay that sort of just had me not paying much attention to things like I normally do. Typically, I'm all over the "a-thons" (haha love that title for these), but I've just been too busy to even notice. Maybe I'll try for the next one when I find out what it is.

Sorry this went up late, I wasn't home! See you next week!