Reading but not writing

It's been more than a month since I've posted on my reading... there're all kinds of excuses, but in the end, I am really behind. I'm not sure I will actually be able to review all the books I've read this year before the year is over either, but I'll give it a try. It's just that as I look ahead to the next 6 weeks (yes, just 6 weeks left of 2014), I don't see a lot of spare time! 

Testing

I am going to try something a little different for a while on my book postings, I'm going to drop the star ratings. I have had several of my followers mention they would only read a book that is rated 5-star because they don't read a lot and only want to read the good stuff. While I can appreciate that, I also have to say that I tend to be tough when rating. When I was participating in book club one of the things we each did was rate the book on a 1-10 scale and mine was invariably the lowest rating (except for Wicked, which I liked but none of the others did). 

The thing about books is that people are drawn to and enjoy so many different things in a story that the rating system really isn't an effective method of recommendation. I know plenty of books that weren't my favorites, but as I was reading knew people who would really enjoy it. What I will try to do is a better job of mentioning who might like the book based on others that may be similar. 

I'm not sure how this will work, but want to give it a try. If you have an opinion, please let me know though, because this isn't set in stone.

Update

Bible reading:

In the Old Testament, I have read through I Samuel

In the New Testament I have read through Romans 

And I am part-way through both Psalms and Proverbs. 

My plan provides daily readings from the OT, NT and either Ps or Prov.  At the moment I am a bit ahead of schedule. So far so good!

Reading through the Bible

I had dinner with a friend last week who told me about a Muslim celebration she had recently attended. The party was honoring a 10-12 year old girl upon her completion of reading the Quran, which she read in Arabic despite the fact she didn't understand the language. This was a big event for the family and their entire community joined in celebrating. It reminded me of Jewish children's bar/bat mitzvah. Afterward my friend was talking to the parents of the child who, knowing she was Christian, asked at what age Christian children are required to read through the Bible. Hmmmmm....

Last year my daughter read through the entire Bible. She committed to it and even fell behind schedule several times, but worked hard to catch up and complete it! When I was in college, the Stillwater church started a program to read through the Bible in a year using the Chronological Bible and I joined along. It was hard for me to stick with not only because I was a student, but because Jesus was pretty new to me and my life at that time. Although I wanted to read the whole Bible, I found the chronological style tough; I kept wanting to "get to the good stuff." I did complete it, but have not tried since then to read the Bible in a year, until this year... inspired by my daughter.

I am using a reading plan on the You Version app on my iPhone, which gives scheduled daily readings of selections from the Old Testament, New Testament and Psalms or Proverbs each day. So far I haven't had a problem keeping up, although it's still early in the year, but the app also allows you to set reminders, which helps!

You Version is free and available for phones, tablets and computers. It offers numerous versions/translations of the Bible as well as reading plans on many topics and varying lengths. It's a simple way to get into the habit of spending time in God's word.

I decided to update my progress throughout the year as another incentive for me. So far I have completed Genesis and Matthew.

I'm still pondering the aforementioned question posed by my friend's Muslim friend..... at what age? in the original languages? Very intriguing.

Yes, I am reading!

I have been reading, but have not been posting. This semester has been a little hectic, as my classes changed from T/R to MWF, which required that I reconfigure my lesson plans and assignments. In addition, I've been wedding planning. So... even though I have continued to read,  I have found it difficult to take time to post. I'm tired all the time!

I recently found a speed reading app (Quickreader) and after taking the timed test discovered I read at the exact average adult WPM (250). So I decided to try some of the exercises to increase my reading speed because I'd really love to read faster.  Here is my problem: it makes me dizzy! I am hoping this phenomenon is merely a result of my being new to the task and will eventually go away, but so far I can't even seem to practice for the recommended 15 minutes at a time.

Another thing about the speed reading is that I don't want to minimize comprehension or lose the fun of the story. I read several comments from readers whose speed had increased to nearly 1000 WPM, but they lost the personal connection to what they read. For me there'd be no point to read! We'll see how it goes. 

Must Read Literature

Ever on the lookout for book lists, I found a new one that I thought was really cool:

Here's the link so you can have a better look: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/14/information-beautiful-books-read-100

Distractions

It was a slow July for reading and I'd like to make several excuses, none of which is very good: heat, headaches, school prep, and several word games that keep distracting me. However, the main reason is because this month I have made poor book selections. The books I have chosen haven't been holding my attention, but I have begrudgingly stuck with them as I have no other pressing alternatives. If you've read a great book lately I'd love to hear your suggestions. 

And another diversion from my usual posts. I recently read a blog post by a "professional reader" asking how much of a book a person needed to read before they could say they read the book. I have always thought in order to say you've read a book you must have read the entire thing, but apparently I am way off base. This blogger, who reads and reviews books for a living, along with most of those who responded to his post, said that after halfway, you could consider it read! HMMMM, that explains a LOT! I have frequently wondered how certain books could get such glowing reports... now I know. 

Criminal Plots Challenge

Complete!
That ends the reading challenges for the year.

Here is what I read:
1. Book with weapon in the title: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
2. Book published more than 10 years ago: Crooked House by Agatha Christie
3. Book written by an author from home state: Twisted Perception by Bob Avey
4. Book with protagonist of different sex than author: Woman in White by Wilke Collins
5. Book written by author using a pen name: Blaze by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King)
6. Stand alone novel by an author writing a series: Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees

Looking for a good book?

I am always looking for books to read and have gone about that in a number of ways: friend recommendations, Bookmarks magazine and Amazon suggestions. I also have googled "books everyone should read" or "best books" for lists.
For some time I have been aware of the goodreads site, but did not use it as intended. I just used it for their lists of reading suggestions, but I never created an account until yesterday, and wish I had done so long ago! Once registered (it's free), you are led to select your favorite reading genres. After this you begin rating books you've read within each genre, selecting ones that you'd like to read, etc. If you rate a book 3-star or above, the site immediately adds a short list of similar books you also might enjoy reading. At the end of this process you end up with a bookshelf of books you'd like to read and goodreads recommendations based on your favorites. This is very cool!

Another site my DH introduced to me is Pixel of Ink, which is a site offering free and bargain Kindle books. You can register to receive daily emails offering each days free or greatly discounted ebooks.

Happy reading!

Listening is an Act of Love

by David Isay

This book came highly recommended by one of my "pew pals" at church so I was anxious to read it, but because I had such great exercise success with my previous audiobook, and because the title is Listening is an Act of Love, I thought this might be my next exercise motivator. Unfortunately, this is NOT the audiobook to buy for a number of reasons:
1. It is a tearjerker! Crying and exercising do not mix.
2. It is VERY abridged: so much so that it isn't fun. Each person's story in this audio version is so shortened that you barely get a sense of what they are discussing before the next clip begins. Granted, this is my fault for not carefully reading the fine print on the description, which gives listening time as 55 minutes, but I did not see the word "abridged"anywhere.
3. I realize here again this problem is solely mine, but I could not find a way to slow down the listening speed, so instead of 55 minutes of dialogue, I heard 37. These were some fast talkers :)

However, what I did learn from the snippets of this audiobook is that I want to read the real thing. A few of the excerpts were really memorable:
1. A Black American lady was trying to register to vote in the 40's and was stopped from doing so by a registration board (a panel of white men) who asked her frivolous questions. This woman did not give up her efforts to register, but went daily to the board until she got her voter ID. Typically, these racial stories turn me off a bit because sometimes I think harboring those feelings and continuing to revisit them only causes more division among a society trying to overcome, but her telling of it was moving. This emotion is one thing that you wouldn't get by reading the book.
2. A man who lost his fiance in the 9/11 disaster. This man clearly still loved the woman and talked about how she made his life better. The thing that pained me the most about his story was his ending when he said, "Don't worry Karen, I will see you again. I will do enough good to make it up there." I just wanted to grab that man and say Don't worry mister, Jesus already did enough good for you to make it up there!

This was a neat idea, but I am not going to rate it because I didn't get enough to do so. I'm sure you'll see an addendum in the near future. The one thing I can rate is the audiobook, which clearly I DO NOT recommend; go for the text.

Criminal Plots Challenge

My book club of the past 10 years is sort of dissolving. Although I sometimes contemplated dropping out and occasionally disliked the selected book, now that it is "on hold" I have missed it. I miss meeting with the ladies who I became friends with but now rarely see, I miss reading books I probably wouldn't have picked up on my own, and I miss discussing those books. I was often surprised to hear positive comments about books I didn't like and I found it interesting to hear opposite opinions. Sometimes the discussions made me look at the book from a different perspective (always a good thing for me). I also think the book club provided more focus to my reading. Since I knew a book would be discussed I looked for things I liked and didn't and I looked for interesting quotes or sections of the story that were challenging or thought-provoking. Now though, I just read.
The challenge I did at the first of the year helped fill the void a little so I started searching the internet for another. Here is one I found that I thought feasible:  http://criminalplots.blogspot.com/search/label/2012    Even though mystery/ crime/ thriller isn't my go-to genre, it's something I like to read.

I looked into an historical fiction challenge, but it only classified by the number of HF books you read in the year.... I kind of like the title challenges because it makes you search for something specific, meaning it may not be one you'd choose otherwise.

Here are the title requirements for this challenge:
1. Weapon in the title
2. Published more than 10 years ago
3. Written by author from home state
4. Protagonist opposite sex of author
5. Written by author using a pen name
6. Stand-alone book by author who writes a series

So, until we meet again......

Book Challenge Completed!

I finished the What's in a Name Challenge 5. Here are the books I read:

1. Topographical feature- Garnethill by Denise Mina
2. Sky feature- Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr
3. Creepy crawly- Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
4. Type of house- The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
5. Something in a purse- The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith
6. On a calendar- 11/22/63 by Stephen King

That was fun.

Another Year Another Challenge

I did complete one of the book challenges I set out to last year, the What's in a Name Challenge 4. I liked this one because it wasn't overwhelming and it provided plenty of flexibility for reading preferences but still made me read a few books I might not have otherwise just to meet the category requirement. I did have a lot of trouble finding a book with a size in the title that I hadn't already read so ended up outside of my norm, but it was okay.

Last week I was notified of the 2012 What's in a Name 5 challenge so I quickly signed up. Here are the title categories:
1. A topographical feature
2. Something you'd see in the sky
3. A creepy crawly
4. A type of house
5. Something you'd carry in your pocket, purse or backpack
6. Something you'd find on a calendar

Here's the link if you want to sign up:

http://www.bethfishreads.com/2011/11/whats-in-name-5-sign-up.html

As for the reading challenge that I failed to complete, I think I did not give myself enough time based on other obligations. I may look it up and see if they are starting anew in 2012.

Another Challenge

I'm considering joining another reading challenge that I happened across the other day: http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://www.lifewithbooks.com/2010/12/its-back-take-a-chance-challenge-3/

It's called Take a Chance Challenge and entails reading 10 books each selected in a particular random way. I know I have yet to read one more book to complete my previous challenge, but I'm having some trouble locating a book to read with a size in the title (any suggestions?).

Another reason I hesitate is because my reading becomes more limited once school begins so I hate to be bogged down to the challenge when I find other books I really want to read. One advantage is that I have already read a few books this year that would meet the requirements of a few of the selections so I'm starting ahead of the game.

Nonstarters

My long delay in posting isn't because I have not been reading, it is because the last two books I selected I set aside and had a few days debate about finishing or moving on. I have trouble in not finishing a book once begun, but a good friend reminded me there are so many books I want to read why waste time on ones I'm not enjoying. In the end, I abandoned both books, hoping that the third choice would be a charm.

Both of the books I dumped happened to be collections of short stories. The first of these was St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell. I loved the title and wanted to love the book. However, I found it merely a collection of chapter one's for books the author might have begun and couldn't come to completing. I did not find any of the three stories I read to actually be a story, they were each an introduction of characters and a lead in to a story and then they just stopped. I believe I am confirmed in my idea because Russell has just published a book titled Swamplandia! which is based on the first short story in this collection. I may never know whether her new release actually does begin with the first "story" in this collection because I won't read it.

The second book was Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, which I had thought to use as one of the challenge reads. This book seemed to be arranged much as Olive Kitteridge in that each story is connected to a common concept, in this case a 1974 tightrope walk between the World Trade Towers. The problems for me (in the four chapters I read) were that I didn't really like the characters in any of the stories, which made me indifferent to their plights and that I would have liked the tightrope act to have a bit more prominence (although I can't totally make that case because I failed to finish the book). I keep thinking there may be some redemption in this book and may give it another shot.

 The third book was a charm and will have a post of its own.

Book Challenge

I have finally succumbed to the "challenge" although I am starting very simply. I've been looking at reading challenges for a few years now and never actually joined any, until now. The What's in a Name Challenge 4 is really an easy one to select because only six books are required before the end of the year to complete the task. Here is all I have to read:
1. A book with a number in the title
2. A book with a gem or jewelry in the title
3. A book with a size in the title
4. A book with travel or movement in the title
5. A book with evil in the title
6. A book with a life stage in the title

You also are not required to select the titles in advance, which provides a little more flexibility in finding something to fit your current mood. As I review my books I will identify those that meet one of the above criteria.

Hiatus

I do have a reason for my long hiatus, but not a good excuse, because I was reading all along, just failing to post. Looking back, I regret this because it has been my only method of keeping track of my reading. I do not have a great memory of books I read and frequently when people ask me what I am reading I have to struggle even to recall the title. So I've realized I need a method of tracking my reading for two reasons: it helps with my memory (makes me sound old), it provides book club ideas when I select reading material for my group.

So I am back!

Online Book Club

I am in a monthly book club with a group of ladies where we read one book per month and then meet together to discuss and rate said book. The books are selected on a rotating basis by each member of the group. We each then give the book a number rating between 1-10. Because we are all friends, the meetings tend to be short on book discussion, quickly veering off to other life happenings. At one point, in an attempt to try and extend our discussion of these books, I began to challenge the group with questions (mainly negative, or opposite the general group reaction to the story).  In my mind I was doing this for fun and for us to spend more time discussing the books we all read. After all, we were a BOOK club. However, the reactions from my opposing opinions of the books were not well received. Many of them were upset that I was challenging their ideas, and more were upset that I was rating the books so low. I realized rather quickly that these ladies really weren't gathering for a book discussion at all, but that the book reading was an underlying excuse for a get together..... I have since stopped pushing the envelope..... however once you set yourself as that person, I guess that is how everyone views you. Even though I only did that for about 6 months (and I have been now going to this book club for about 2 years) I still have people apologizing to me about their book selection BEFORE they even reveal their choice to the group! 

So, here I am posting my own online book club, with no members (except me). I can say what I think about the book, and perhaps ask a few questions, post a few great quotes from the book, maybe who I know that might like to read it..... or not..... give it a rating (using the 5 star method) and hopefully, I won't offend myself :)