I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week! Time just seems to fly. A great reminder of that is how many books I have left that I want to read before year's end. And it won't happen. I can guarantee that now. My reading has slowed every month and I suspect it will be very slow next year. Between readalongs, themed weeks, the Faith and Fiction Round Table and a personal challenge I think I have almost all of my 2011 reading planned. I don't know what books will fit into all of those categories, but it seems I'm very booked. ha ha. I know I will fit in some new releases--there are SEVERAL I'm looking forward to, but as you know scaling back is a huge goal of mine.
There are some books that I read in like, May, that I still haven't reviewed. In some ways I'd like to do some posts on them, but I'm having a hard time fitting everything in. I may do some sort of wrap up post before year's end so I have a record with some thoughts.
I've been doing quite a bit of driving this week and so I decided to listen to an audiobook. I chose Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri and Dina Nayeri because I've been wanting to read it. Unfortunately, the reading by Katherine Kellgren was too much for me, lots of put-on accents and so much dramatic interpretation of every line. I found myself reinterpreting the way things would be said. Additionally, she completely mispronounced a very common Japanese word (to the point I almost didn't know what she meant). I ran a search on the book blog search engine and most people seem to like this narrator. I suspect I prefer more understated performances. Also, the story wasn't fantastic so I abandoned the book when people told me on Twitter they didn't like it. I'll be trying something different next!
I discovered Rebecca Rasmussen (I think from eavesdropping on some Twitter conversations) and not only does she seem fabulously nice, I fell in love with what she wrote on her website! She has a book coming out next Spring, The Bird Sisters...it will probably be one I make time for amidst the busy schedule. Icing on the cake? She lives in St. Louis! That's where I spent the bulk of my formative years and it's been on my mind lately. If I could move anywhere it would be in my top five choices right now. Anyway do yourself a favor and check out her site!
Speaking of St. Louis remember how I was all grumbly about people telling me I should read Jonathan Franzen when I had no idea who he was and wasn't all that interested? Well somehow I stumbled onto the fact that he wrote a book about St. Louis with the Arch on the cover and everything! It's a thriller of some sort and looks kind of good. Ha. It's called The Twenty-Seventh City. Has anyone read it?
Divergent by Veronica Roth has been receiving all kinds of praise this week and I really want to read this book. Part of the appeal of this book is that it's a YA Dystopian, Roth is a Christian, and it takes place near Chicago. I loved this blog post. I will be visiting some ideas from that in the future hopefully, time permitting, but I'd like to say the fact she's only 22 makes me feel like I've accomplished absolutely NOTHING with my life. :)
The Book Smugglers posted the covers for Melissa Marr's Graveminder another book I'm REALLY looking forward to. So I've had these little fits of bookish lust this week. :)
I know I never recapped Katerina (The Vampire Diaries), but I think I'll have to let it go at this point. I found the episode very interesting and I'm excited to see where things go.
I just watched the third episode for The Walking Dead and I'm loving this show. It IS gory but the characterization and events are fascinating to watch even if watching them chop up a zombie and spreading its guts all over themselves was disgusting. It was smart after all! Is anyone else watching?
I think that's it for this week...I hope to catch Harry Potter today and I'm looking forward to a holiday week of reading and relaxing and getting caught up on little errands.
Do you have special plans for the holiday or if you're not from the States for the week ahead?
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