May Reading Wrap Up

I just realized I didn't post once in May. Not once. My bad, guys. That was not my intention. I thought I was getting better at the posting thing. Except then the goblin decided that sleeping at night was lame but getting real mobile was awesome, and so that has been taking up a lot of energy. Seriously, I had to buy the little dude shoes, which is not something I thought I'd need to do for a while still but daycare said differently and time is flying.*

In book news, I finally got connected to my local library and OH MAN, did you know they have tons of books and audiobooks and comedy albums and they just...like let you borrow them?? No charges or anything. Pretty sweet deal I 100% should have started taking advantage of at least a decade ago. Let's look at those stats now, shall we?

Books Read
5
Dark Water Bride by Marty Ross
My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach
The Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar
Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women & the Way Forward by Gemma Hartley
Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson
I also started another book. However, I had to put that book down for reasons I was going to go into here but figure I can save it for another post. Maybe that'll help me keep writing.

Pages read
864

Fiction
40%

POC author
20%
Not 0% so that's something!

Female author
60%

US author
80%

Rereads
20%

Book format
audiobook: 100%

Where'd I get the book
Kindle/Audible: 60%
Library: 40%

Decades published
2000s: 20%
2010s: 80%

Resolution books
40%
Dark Water Bride is by a UK author
The Evil Eye is by Indian-American author
Both were Audible productions that were more like radio plays than a narrated a book and both were super fun. Highly recommended

*In the middle of this the little one awakened from his nap and is demanding just so much attention, so my plans of finishing this post AND another one have been thwarted. It's a cute thwarting but still.

April Reading Wrap Up

I thought this might be my most prolific month (in pages anyway) since the monster's appearance, but alas, second best only. Still, this was fairly successful and almost entirely due to audiobooks. Good thing they are an option or I'd never get any reading done.

Obligatory baby picture

Of course, the challenge with audiobooks is what you're doing while you're listening to them. In my case it's a lot of commuting and then cleaning up around the house. The cleaning part is no big deal but driving. If anyone was looking closely, I'm sure they were wondering why this lady is crying in her car at 8am while sitting at the stoplight because it doesn't matter how many times I read it, The Graveyard Book brings up EMOTIONS. Something I hadn't considered when I started listening to it

Books read
5
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Act Natural: A Cultural History of Misadventures in Parenting by Jennifer Traig
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Strange Weather by Joe Hill
The Dispatcher by John Scalzi

Number of pages read
1,676

Fiction
80%

POC Author
0%

It's no good. I know. I will try to do better.

Female authors
20%

US authors
60%

Rereads
20%

Book club/readalong
20%

Book format
audiobook - 80%
ebook - 20%

Where'd I get the book
Kindle/Audible - 100%

Decades published
2000s - 20%
2010s - 80%

Resolution books
40% both for being non-US authors (Neil Gaiman and Anthony Horowitz) BUT they're both UK authors so it meets the resolution but like, not that impressive, especially considering how bad some of those other stats are

September 2018 Mini-Reviews

I am so close to being done with the mini-reviews for 2018. How exciting is that? Will I get to some actual, for real, full reviews sometime soon? It's always possible! Don't expect full reviews of all of these books I've done mini-reviews for. More likely I will pick and choose those I wish to write more about. Cos it's my blog and I get to do what I want.

Also, for those who are paying close attention to these posts, you may notice that the last time I did mini-reviews, it was for stuff I read in May and June. And then this post is for September. So it would seem I am missing a couple months. EXCEPT, July happens to be when the goblin showed up so my reading over that month and the following tended to be sparse and re-reads.*

Speaking of the goblin, he keeps trying to stand now and it is both exciting and terrifying all at once, which his basically how this whole baby thing has gone.

He's so proud and yeah, the mattress was lowered that night. 

Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
You know those books that you just see a lot and the cover is interesting and it sort of wears you down so you finally pick it up and read it? That's basically what happened here. So good job to the cover designer. The book itself was...fine. It was fine. It's a memoir, I like those. About a woman (yay) in what is often a man's world (chef) though she doesn't much address this. There's much talk about food and I like food so the ingredients are there, but it didn't really come together for me. She's not the most likable narrator which and sometimes it was hard to sympathize with her, when clearly that's what the story was looking for. She comes off as arrogant a number of times, but without the charisma to bring you to her side so even if she has the talent, you sort of get to the point where you don't want to admit it. But her writing is engaging, at least when she's focused on the kitchen and the food.
Gif rating:

Choose Your Own Disaster by Dana Schwartz
Another memoir! What can I say, when I'm looking for a comfort read, memoirs are the way I go, especially memoirs from funny ladies. This is written like a cross between a Buzzfeed quiz and a choose your own adventure book, which was fun but a little gimmicky and sort of a pain on Kindle. About being a white lady in NYC in your early twenties, covering mistakes from bad relationships to eating disorders. The book was funny but ultimately not that memorable. Or at least I can't remember a lot of it now but in Schwartz's defense, I read a lot of it during middle-of-the-night feedings and in general there was a lot of sleep deprivation going on, so this may not be the book's fault. Entertaining but not all that unique (format notwithstanding).
Gif rating:

*Full list of reads July - September 2018
July
Agorafabulous by Sara Benincasa
August
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melineck
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
September
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
Choose Your Own Disaster by Dana Schwartz

March Reading Wrap Up

March is always a pretty neat month cos it's got my birthday and Tom's birthday in it. We spent my birthday hanging out in Central Park, since it was finally a nice day. We ate lots of food which is how I love celebrating things. And besides, I got to spend it with these two, so that was pretty much the best.

Reading-wise was sort of...it was fine. A lot of audiobooks and I find I have a hard time getting into fiction audiobooks so that caused some slow downs with reading but I did it and it all turned out good. Plus there was Kid Gloves which I'd been waiting for since at some point when I was pregnant and heard Knisley was doing a book about pregnancy and was VERY EXCITED. I might even write a real review for that one. Who knows. Spoiler alert: so good!

Let's get to those stats, shall we.

Books Read
5
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisley
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
Sakina’s Restaurant by Aasif Mandvi
A Mind of Her Own by Paula McLain

Number of Pages Read
979

Fiction
60%

POC authors
20%

Not great but not nothing so I’LL TAKE IT

Female authors
40%

US authors
40%

Rereads
0% - that’s been a while

Book Format
Audiobook: 60%
Paperback: 40%

Where’d I get the book
Chain bookstore: 20%
Indie: 20%
Kindle/Audible: 60%

Decades published
2000s: 20%
2010s: 80%

Resolution books
60%

How to Be Good and Early Riser are by UK authors (Nick Hornby is English and Jasper Fforde Welsh)
Sakina’s Restaurant is by a POC author

May and June 2018 mini-reviews

Posting and reading seems to ebb and flow but I am trying to work out a rhythm. I mean, life keeps trying to throw me off said rhythm but still. Rhythm is attempted.

I'm still making my way through mini-reviews from last year, so hey, let's see how that's going

May Reads

And a Bottle of Rum: The History of the New World in Ten Cocktails by Wayne Curtis

This was an impulse buy while looking through rum related cookbooks and then I brought it on vacation when we went to Hawaii last summer because it seemed like a good beach read. I mean, it's a history book, sure, but the focus is on rum, so that's a fun way in. And hey, there's a section all about tiki drinks and yeah, they aren't actually from Hawaii but they pretended to be so it was somewhat environmentally relevant. If you need a gimmick to get you to read about history (I tend to need a gimmick) then this was entertaining. And an older gentleman staying at our hotel had read the same book so there. Building bridges.
Gif rating:

June Reads

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

This was so scary. But it's not a horror novel. It's a memoir. Not even a true crime memoir. No crime, just the human body deciding to go nuts in the weirdest way. It's never good when you hear doctors going "Huh. That's...interesting." Though I suppose it's an improvement over doctors not believing you. Fascinating read and while it does go into medical terminology, it was still easy enough for a layman (aka, me) to understand.
Gif rating:

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Dystopian? Science Fiction? Lit fic? See, this is why I hate trying to categorize what genre a book falls into because what if it falls into so many? Like this one, about an unnamed middle eastern country that people are desperate to leave. There are people who can get you out but there's a cost and of course risks. And doors that will lead you...somewhere. There's a love story, two people who find each other right as things reach a crescendo and fleeing is the best option.
Gif rating:

Hope Never Dies by Andrew Schaffer

Biden and Obama, detective duo. Listen, if you aren't sold on that description, I don't know what to tell you. Is it the best detective novel? It is not? Is it entertaining as hell? Yes of course it is. And it makes people stop on the train to laugh at the cover. Plus the story stays juuuuuuuuuust this side of ridiculous, so you could almost believe this is what Biden and Obama are doing now that they're "retired".
Gif rating:

So there you go. Pretty good couple of months.

Full May & June reading lists
May
And a Bottle of Rum: The History of the New World in Ten Cocktails by Wayne Curtis
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen
June
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer
People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann 

February Reading Wrap-Up

So I wrote this post just before February ended. And yet. I still couldn't get it posted in time. Because I'm just that organized. Well, an attempt was made at least.

Another month down and February was quite an eventful month. Or I guess there was really one main thing, that is starting a new job, but that's a big thing and since I hadn't started a new job in over a decade, CHANGES. I mean, there were changes at the old job, but it was the same company and even when I changed departments it wasn't like changing jobs.

I expect my audiobook consumption to increase even more than it has over the last few months. Previously, my old commute afforded me lots of time to read while on the train. Now that I am driving to work, it really wouldn't be in anyone's best interest if I were reading a book, so I'll be listening instead.

In goblin news, he's 7 months and that is crazy to me. I mean, I get how time works and such but still.

Number of books read
7
Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address by Stephen Birmingham
Noir by Christopher Moore
Texts from Jane Eyre by Daniel Mallory Ortberg
Earpedia: Animals by Sue Perkins
Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science by Bill Bryson
Relish by Lucy Knisley
Killer by Nature by Jan Smith

Number of pages read
1,253

Fiction
43%

POC authors
0%

Female authors
43%

US authors
71%

Rereads
29%

Book format
audiobook: 57%
ebook: 29%
paperback: 14%

Where'd I get the book
Indie: 14%
Kindle/Audible: 86%

Decade published
1970s: 14%
2010s: 86%

Resolution books
43%
Life at the Dakota was published in 1979. Had some whiplash while reading it when he referred to John Lennon in the present tense
Earpedia: Animals and Killer by Nature are both by UK authors (Sue Perkins and Jan Smith).