Well, I’ve been a reading machine this month despite being too quiet on the blog front. I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately, so the blog has taken a back seat. I guess you could call it series month as well. I finished the Twilight series and read 4 books in the ‘Chief Inspector Gamache’ series and read 2 books in the ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series — all for the R.I.P. IV Challenge. I got a bit further in the Canadian Challenge III as well by reading 5 Canadian books.
My favorites of the Twilight series were the two middle books. I felt that the first book was not written as well because it was Meyer’s first book, and I definitely had mixed feelings about the last book. I enjoyed and raced through the first half or so of it, but the second half was a little sketchy for me.
My favorite ‘Gamache’ so far is A Rule Against Murder, and my least favorite is The Cruelest Month. Some of the dialogue in the latter just irritated me, but the different setting of the former was a nice change (even though I like Three Pines).
My favorite books of the month by far were The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and A Thousand Splendid Suns. The latter is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time — truly outstanding and much better than The Kite Runner.
I spent a little time analyzing the first three quarters of the year in regards to my reading and came up with the following:
Q1: 27 books, 5503 pp.
Q2: 29 books, 6981 pp.
Q3: 34 books, 11560 pp.
total: 90 books, 24049 pp. for an average of 267 per book.
The first thing I noticed was that I read twice as many pages in Q3 than in Q1. Wow. Only a 7 book difference but quite a difference in terms of pages. I have a feeling my second half of the year will be way stronger than the first half. Now if only I could get to the reviews!
September (14 books, 5605 pp)
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962, 304 pp)
I had a great time in August reading classics, mainly because I wanted to save the 2001 and up titles for Countdown 2010. I still have to review so many, though! Many of these were audios, and I usually try to have some quotes in the review so I’ve been trying to find some of these books so I can do that. I’ll get caught up eventually!
I’ve been doing a lot of work at my house in Kentucky since early July, and I originally thought I wouldn’t get much reading done. However, eight of the books below (all but #1 and #6-8) were audios that I listened to while painting my house inside and out. So, all in all, a very productive month both bookwise and work-wise.
I read/listened to some fantastic books this month. Five were 4.5 star books! Surprisingly, some of my least favorites were the two Pulitzer winners. I am woefully behind on reviews, due mostly to lack of internet access and time. I also like to get quotes from the books, which is hard to do with audios. I’ll have to go to the library or bookstore to search for some. At least I’m knocking out some books. It was a really fun month for audios in particular.
When I think about it, I don’t know how I read 18! books in one month. I’ve never read that many before. Granted, several were audios (4 and part of another), and that definitely helps. I listen to audios in the van, when I walk, and at night when I’m too tired to read. Also, I’ve set a certain time to read when it’s quiet and no one is around. That probably has helped me more than anything. When the family is around, I try to catch up on my google feeds or write non-review posts. When they’re not, I read read read!! Also, the readathon pumped up my stats as well, though I didn’t participate for the full time and only got in 9 hours. Still, 9 hours is 9 hours!
I enjoyed all the books I read this month except for The Story of a Marriage and Breath. I actually liked Breath through 3/4 of it, then despised the final 1/4. The rest were great! I still have a lot of reviews to write…but I’m a better reader than a writer…and I’m in reading mode now. They’ll get done eventually!
82. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008, 300 pp.)
83. The Pigman by Paul Zindel (1968, 182 pp.)
84. The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
85. The Twits by Roald Dahl
86. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (2008, 465 pp.)
87. Breath by Tim Winton (2008, 218 pp.)
88. Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (2008, 240 pp.)
89. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008, 276 pp.)
90. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
91. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
92. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
93. A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
94. The Pets by Bragi Olafsson
95. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
96. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (2008, 324 pp.)
97. Goldengrove by Francine Prose
98. X-Kai by Asami Tohjoh
99. Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi (1983, 2005 for English translation, 268 pp.)
Pages read: 3839 / Pages read in 2008: 17170
Average number of pages per book: 320 pp.
New authors: 9
Female authors: 7
Male authors: 4
Challenges completed: Orbis Terrarum, Banned Book, Canadian, Man Booker, Chunkster, Themed, Once Upon a Time II, Here Be Dragons, Young Adult, Initials
Have you reviewed any of the above books at your blog? If you’d like, enter your link in Mr. Linky below.
May was a great reading month for me. It looks like a lot below and it is, but I read 3 novellas, 3 graphic novels (one was wordless), 2 that I was halfway finished with already, and 4 audiobooks. So even though 13 books is the most I’ve ever finished in a month, there were some caveats to it. How was your reading month?
37. The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber (2008, 318 pp.)
38. Silk by Alessandro Baricco (1996, 91 pp.)
39. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (2007, 203 pp.)
40. Snow by Maxence Fermine (1999, 100 pp)
41. The Castle by Franz Kafka (1926, 316 pp.)
42.The Gathering by Anne Enright (2007, 261 pp.)
43. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (1999, 435 pp.)
44. Blessings by Anna Quindlen (202, 226 pp.)
45. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (2000, 734 pp.)
46. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (2006, 240 pp.)
47. The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2006, 128 pp.)
48. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (2007, 533 pp.)
49. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (2003, 896 pp.)
Pages read: 4457 / Pages read in 2008: 13331
Average number of pages per book: 344 pp.
New authors: 8
Female authors: 3
Male authors: 8
Challenges completed: Novella Challenge
Have you reviewed any of the above books at your blog? If you’d like, enter your link in Mr. Linky below.
Pages read: 2718 Pages read in 2008: 8874
Average number of pages per book: 227 pp.
New authors: 9
Female authors: 4
Male authors: 6
Challenges completed: Pub, Jewish Literature, Expanding Horizons, and Eponymous
Have you reviewed any of the above books at your blog? If you’d like, enter them in Mr. Linky below.
19. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood (1988, 462 pp.)
20. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (1908, 369 pp.)
21. Embers by Sandor Marai (1942, 224 pp.)
22. Transformations by Anne Sexton (1971, 112 pp.)
23. The Only Road North by Erik Mirandette (2007, 298 pp.)
24. Winter Haven by Athol Dickson (2008, 336 pp.)
Pages read: 1803 Pages read in 2008: 6156
Average number of pages per book: 300 pp.
New authors: 5
Female authors: 3
Male authors: 3
Challenges completed: Winter Reading, Book Awards
Have you reviewed any of the above titles at your own blog? If you’d like, enter them into Mr. Linky below.
Pages read: 1319 Pages read in 2008: 4353
Average number of pages per book: 188 pp.
New authors: 7
Female authors: 4
Male authors: 3
Challenges completed: Sci-Fi Experience
Have you reviewed any of the above titles at your own blog? If you’d like, enter them into Mr. Linky below.
Pages read: 3034
Average number of pages per book: 276 pp.
New authors: 8
Female authors: 4
Male authors: 6
Challenges completed: From the Stacks; Japanese Literature
Have you reviewed any of the above titles at your own blog? If you’d like, enter them into Mr. Linky below.
“then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
by Ray Bradbury (1962, 304 pp)
by Colm Toibin (2009, 262 pp)
by Stephenie Meyer (2008, 754 pp)
by Alan Bradley (2009, 373 pp)
by Khaled Hosseini (2007, 367 pp)
by Marian Engel (1976, 141 pp.)
