This month I read 3 more books, and checked off 7 more boxes on my list.
I started with A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. I had two memoirs loaded on my Kindle already, this and The Glass House. In the (paraphrased) words of the Grail Knight from Indiana Jones, I chose poorly. I looked at the page numbers and went with the shortest one, and boy oh boy, that was a bad decision. I was reading others’ reviews afterwards, and it seemed to me that most of the high ratings were literally pity ratings. Yes, her story is sad, but it was not worthy of publication in this format.
Next, on the recommendation of my friend Alyssa, I read The Birth House by Ami McKay. I had seen some reviews of it while searching for my hometown choice, and it seemed like a good option. As my review states, I sort of liked it. It was set in Scots Bay, which I had never heard of, but is apparently near Kentville.
I spent some time deliberating my next choices after I finished The Birth House. I watched the movie Divergent, so thought I might read those, since I’m on the look out for a trilogy. Then I remembered this YA series I read long time ago, and thought, perfect! I’ll use that as my book from childhood AND a trilogy. I happened to find all three audiobooks from my library.
Then I came up as next in line for the ebook of Divergent from the library also. So I may end up reading two trilogies, since books 2 and 3 in the Divergent trilogy are over 500 pages. Also, the author is under 30.
I finished the first book in the Kissed By An Angel Trilogy, aptly titled Kissed By an Angel, by Elizabeth Chandler. I also started Divergent.
I’m trying not to have too many books on the go at once, because I used to do that all the time and felt split too much and it took forever to finish a book since I was dividing my time. But the Angel series is on audio and the Divergent series is on my Kindle, so they have different times when I am more to read one or the other. I may fall behind a smidge on my podcasts while I listen to these.
I also almost began a book by Emily Giffin, whom I very much enjoy. It’s tucked into my purse right now, as it is a physical book, so I might begin that one soon too. It’s my “latest book by author I enjoy” book.
After these, I may need to start on the book that is over 100 years old, because those tend to be a slog. I’ve got all of Jane Austen’s books, and I’ve only read Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park before. I might enjoy Emma or Sense and Sensibility. I also considered The Red and The Black by Stendahl, as I was supposed to read that in school and didn’t. Same with Frankenstein. So many choices!
If anyone is still doing a challenge, I would love to see how many boxes you’ve checked off.
The challenge sounds so fun. I’m not sure if I’m on board to do it though. I could, just not the way I thought of at first. First, I thought I’d seek other peoples book recommendations to fulfill specific requirements. But then I realized that I’d prefer not to add to the hundreds books on my “want to read” goodreads shelf. At the same time though, there are some unpopular titles on there that aren’t readily available from the library and that I cath always conjure up the motivation to read. I’m a victim of my own typical over zealous planning, adding tons of books to read from “best of” lists and now I’m book-paralyzed. However, I’m still reading various books and I could still check those off of the challenge. It’s on my ridiculously static to do list.