Happy February! Hard to believe we are already one month in to 2018.
Those of you that know me, already know this little tidbit about me, but for those of you that don't know me too well should know one thing about me- I love to read. Reading is my lifeline to sanity. And I am old fashioned. I like good old fashioned paperbacks, or an occasional hardback. While I am grateful for technology and how it has made our lives easier, I just can't get behind the E-reader. It is just not the same.
First of all, I don't need another device in my life. I spend all day sitting behind a desk, staring at a computer screen. And when I am not at work... I am either on my smartphone or watching TV or... you get the point. So when it comes to my reading time I like to get away from the screen.
Second of all, E-readers don't have the same feel or smell as books do. And that is part of the appeal. Have you ever walked into a small bookshop? Not a mass chain, but a small single owner shop? The smell of the paper and ink. And even though I have a texture issue, there is nothing like the feel of a good book. I pick up a book and I am immediately transferred to a happy place. Open a book and a lot of the stresses of life just seem to fade away.
Every year I set 2 goals related to reading. One is an overall reading goal (60 this year), the other is a personal development reading goal (25 this year). The nice thing about these being my goals is that I can set the standards. If I read a short 10 page book filled with new essential oil recipes, I can count it. And I can count it as personal development- because I am learning something. For me, no matter how small or large the book is, it counts as part of my reading goal, or what age group it is meant for. And for the personal development goal I count any book that I wouldn't normally pick up just to read to relax. It can be on any topic. My goals, my rules.
I think this months books will give you a good idea about just how broad my reading interests are; there is a little bit of everything.
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| I actually started this book in 2017. I read the first Dewey book in December of 2016. If you remember from my previous post, that was when we were going through some medical issues with our own cats. It was a very rough time for me. For some reason I picked up a few of these cat and dog story books. In some ways they helped me. And they also provided ample time for me to cry, because you know there is always a sad ending to these types of books. This one was no different. It was filled with stories of other pets and their owners. Dewey made an impact on their stories and in this book their stories got shared. I started it late 2017 but I found that, as opposed to the year before, this year I couldn't read it as it got close to the holidays and the one year mark of our cats illnesses. It was too hard. But, I finished it and I highly recommend this book as well as the original Dewey book for anyone who loves animals. |
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| This is a bridge book in the middle of the Lunar Chronicles. I love the series, great re-tellings of some of your favorite fairy tales. This book was about the "villain" of the Lunar Chronicles and how she became what she became. It wasn't as good as the rest of the books in the series, but I still enjoyed it. |
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I rarely give 5 stars to a book, but I am giving it to this one. The writing of the first few paragraphs was so wonderful I reread them, out loud, to my husband. Just the perfect hook to draw you in. Made you feel like you were about to read an epic classic, not a young adult book. Some of the parts were a little weak and skimmed over with regards to the writing, but still fantastic overall. Definitely made for a young adult audience but still enjoyable for any age. Made me fall in love with some of my favorite Disney characters all over again. Borrowed it from the library (fitting) but will have to get it to add to my own collection.
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| Mixed feelings regarding this book. the first half was filled with lots of history and very little story. I liked the history bits but felt like I was missing the story of the Zabinski family. It also felt like it jumped from topic to topic with only a very thin string weaving the bits together. Then the second half felt like suddenly the author was running out of time and had to cram all of the story in. I got to the end feeling like the story somehow zoomed past me. After finishing it I can see how everyone I spoke to about it had such differing opinions. Good overall but I definitely didn't finish feeling satisfied with the story it sought to pass along. |
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| This book first interested me when I saw the preview for the movie. It sounded like something I would really enjoy. And I did. I will say that the movie and book differ quite a bit, but they still have the same story overall. Sometimes it was hard to know which character's point of view you were reading in the chapter as it tended to jump around. I am looking forward to the second book. |
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| I originally marked this book as "Want to Read" in 2013. I should of read it then, it was good. Nicholas Flamel always interests me. There are so many stories and theories about him out there, I find it very intriguing. I really enjoyed this book. Great characters. I like seeing how different authors portray the different Gods and Goddess they book in their books, each author has their own twist and they rarely disappoint. Looking forward to book 2.
Well there are my reads for the month of January. I am at 7/60 for the year and 1/25 for personal development books. I am already reading some great books for February. I finally went and got a library card for the area we moved to recently, so lots of options. Also, finally got to sort through all of my personal books that I had restricted access to for 5 years. So many great ones I forgot I had.
What are you reading this month? What books or series should I add to my "Want to read" lists?
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