Currently Reading
- The Secret Tradition in Arthurian Legend by Gareth Knight (01%)
- Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco (01%)
- Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix (01%)
- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (17%)
- IT by Stephen King (06%)
- Queen of the Star Pirates by Stephen Landis (06%)
- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en (14%)
- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (39%)
* * *
Well, I picked up a new book journal for 2019 at Books-A-Million. I'm rather proud of this new addition to my own shelves. It's called "High Jinks" and is a bookshelf or series of them. I like that it has two different ribbon markers. That way I can keep one in the Wrap Up and Book Haul section and the other on whatever page I've managed to get to. I love that, though I had to mark the ribbons because I kept grabbing the wrong one. Oops.
My local librarian should be trusted more often with bookish suggestions. I picked out The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn because I rememered the title from the other day when Peter Monn was talking about it on his channel, Peter Likes Books, and I just remember him being excited about it. I figured I would give it a try. I had just read Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz which is sort of similiar in that it is a crime thriller. I think this book would be classed as a psychological thriller. Anyway, getting off track here. My librarian, henceforth known as Ms R, warned me that the beginning could possibly be a bit of a drag to get through, but it would be worth it in the end. So far she has actually been sort of wrong? I liked the beginning pretty well. It was a tad slow, but the second I hit page 50, everything picked up. I enjoy how we are seeing both Anna's reaction to the world and everyone else's. I feel so bad for her. I will look into more A.J. Finn books in the future. He's going to become one of my auto-buy authors.
I got the T5W for the 2nd and the 16th done. I skipped the 9th, because I don't particularly care about new releases? It was a struggle to find something for the last weekend in December of 2019 releases I was excited about!
I found a reading challenge online that I'm going to participate in, and I think I will list out now the challenges and my tentative choices for them....
1. A book you've been meaning to read - The Far Side of the Sky by Daniel Kalla. I have stopped and started this one so many times. Not even because I didn't want to read it, oh no. Because I just got busy/side tracked and forgot I was reading it. I like WWII books, I like books about China...so why would I not read a WWII book set in China?
2. A book about a topic that fascinates you - The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom by John Pomfret. This one is a nonfiction (duh) about the relationship between China and America from 1776 to the present (at the time of publication). The other one that I may use here is Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix. I'm a history buff and I am interested in the Asian countries.
3. A book in the backlist of a favorite author - The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. I don't quite know what that means, but I think it is referencing older books an author wrote? I have read and rather liked the Sherlock Holmes series (and I live in Pennsylvania right near where the Molly Maguires operated which is sort of what inspired the brotherhood in the American mining valley), so this was an easy selection for me.
4. A book recommended by someone with great taste - Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I picked this one at random. I went to the Goodreads page of Bookish Thoughts, someone I watch as often as she posts new videos, because hers was the first one that I recognized and just compared the books so I could pick one I knew I had. This one was already on my TBR shelf, so I just picked it. It's about dragons....?
5. Three books by the same author - The Magicians (trilogy) by Lev Grossman. I've been meaning to read it anyway, I have all three of the books, so why not? I chose it based on the fact that I've seen one and a bit seasons of The Magicians on Syfy and I loved it (Eliott is my favoite!), so I wanted to read the source material. I am assuming that a trilogy will count toward this because it is three books by the same author!
6. A book you chose for the cover - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I liked the cover a lot and picked it up when I saw it in the library. I've seen the series floating about places and thought I would try it out. (done)
7. A book by an author who is new to you - Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. I have never heard of this author or the Languedoc series that she apparently wrote a few years ago, so I suppose this one counts for an author that is new to me? Most authors are new to me, though. (done)
8. A book in translation - The Elegence of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (translated from the French by Alison Anderson). It was just the first book I thought of that was translated. I have My Brilliant Friend around here somewhere, probably on a pile beside my desk (I have lots of books) or I would have chosen that, but I like this book. It's pretty.
9. A book outside your comfort zone - The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. I don't typically read domestic thrillers of any nature. They are not what I like in books, so I tend to avoid them and go for other things. I heard a lot of very good things about this one and I grabbed it from the library when I saw it on the "new to us" shelf. It looks really good. (done)
10. A book published before you were born - Animal Farm by George Orwell. I took this literally and picked a book with a publication/printing year in it of before I was born. I ended up with a 1982 copy of Animal Farm. Yes, I do know what the book is actually about and that sort of intrigues me anyway, so hopefully I can finish it. Who knows?
I think those will do as far as books to read for the challenge. Now then for some other news of various importances. My first TBR jar pick of 2019 is Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco. I recently picked up a copy of Escaping from Houdini by her and to read that one, I first have to read Hunting Prince Dracula. So that was our book of the draw!
I've been buying many more ebooks lately. This week alone I've picked up four or five of them.
I've completed 3/10 of the challenges so far for the year!
- Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco (01%)
- Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix (01%)
- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (17%)
- IT by Stephen King (06%)
- Queen of the Star Pirates by Stephen Landis (06%)
- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en (14%)
* * *
Well, I picked up a new book journal for 2019 at Books-A-Million. I'm rather proud of this new addition to my own shelves. It's called "High Jinks" and is a bookshelf or series of them. I like that it has two different ribbon markers. That way I can keep one in the Wrap Up and Book Haul section and the other on whatever page I've managed to get to. I love that, though I had to mark the ribbons because I kept grabbing the wrong one. Oops.
My local librarian should be trusted more often with bookish suggestions. I picked out The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn because I rememered the title from the other day when Peter Monn was talking about it on his channel, Peter Likes Books, and I just remember him being excited about it. I figured I would give it a try. I had just read Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz which is sort of similiar in that it is a crime thriller. I think this book would be classed as a psychological thriller. Anyway, getting off track here. My librarian, henceforth known as Ms R, warned me that the beginning could possibly be a bit of a drag to get through, but it would be worth it in the end. So far she has actually been sort of wrong? I liked the beginning pretty well. It was a tad slow, but the second I hit page 50, everything picked up. I enjoy how we are seeing both Anna's reaction to the world and everyone else's. I feel so bad for her. I will look into more A.J. Finn books in the future. He's going to become one of my auto-buy authors.
I got the T5W for the 2nd and the 16th done. I skipped the 9th, because I don't particularly care about new releases? It was a struggle to find something for the last weekend in December of 2019 releases I was excited about!
I found a reading challenge online that I'm going to participate in, and I think I will list out now the challenges and my tentative choices for them....
2. A book about a topic that fascinates you - The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom by John Pomfret. This one is a nonfiction (duh) about the relationship between China and America from 1776 to the present (at the time of publication). The other one that I may use here is Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix. I'm a history buff and I am interested in the Asian countries.
3. A book in the backlist of a favorite author - The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. I don't quite know what that means, but I think it is referencing older books an author wrote? I have read and rather liked the Sherlock Holmes series (and I live in Pennsylvania right near where the Molly Maguires operated which is sort of what inspired the brotherhood in the American mining valley), so this was an easy selection for me.
4. A book recommended by someone with great taste - Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I picked this one at random. I went to the Goodreads page of Bookish Thoughts, someone I watch as often as she posts new videos, because hers was the first one that I recognized and just compared the books so I could pick one I knew I had. This one was already on my TBR shelf, so I just picked it. It's about dragons....?
5. Three books by the same author - The Magicians (trilogy) by Lev Grossman. I've been meaning to read it anyway, I have all three of the books, so why not? I chose it based on the fact that I've seen one and a bit seasons of The Magicians on Syfy and I loved it (Eliott is my favoite!), so I wanted to read the source material. I am assuming that a trilogy will count toward this because it is three books by the same author!
6. A book you chose for the cover - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I liked the cover a lot and picked it up when I saw it in the library. I've seen the series floating about places and thought I would try it out. (done)
7. A book by an author who is new to you - Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. I have never heard of this author or the Languedoc series that she apparently wrote a few years ago, so I suppose this one counts for an author that is new to me? Most authors are new to me, though. (done)
8. A book in translation - The Elegence of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (translated from the French by Alison Anderson). It was just the first book I thought of that was translated. I have My Brilliant Friend around here somewhere, probably on a pile beside my desk (I have lots of books) or I would have chosen that, but I like this book. It's pretty.
9. A book outside your comfort zone - The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. I don't typically read domestic thrillers of any nature. They are not what I like in books, so I tend to avoid them and go for other things. I heard a lot of very good things about this one and I grabbed it from the library when I saw it on the "new to us" shelf. It looks really good. (done)
10. A book published before you were born - Animal Farm by George Orwell. I took this literally and picked a book with a publication/printing year in it of before I was born. I ended up with a 1982 copy of Animal Farm. Yes, I do know what the book is actually about and that sort of intrigues me anyway, so hopefully I can finish it. Who knows?
I think those will do as far as books to read for the challenge. Now then for some other news of various importances. My first TBR jar pick of 2019 is Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco. I recently picked up a copy of Escaping from Houdini by her and to read that one, I first have to read Hunting Prince Dracula. So that was our book of the draw!
I've been buying many more ebooks lately. This week alone I've picked up four or five of them.
I've completed 3/10 of the challenges so far for the year!
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