Reading for Me

Greetings from eastern Arkansas! I hope you have all had a relaxing Thanksgiving holiday, surrounded by those you hold most dear. I traveled to my parents’ home on Tuesday evening and decided to take a complete vacation, focusing only on things that needed my attention here. As a result, I have read nothing since leaving the airport. That doesn’t bode well for meeting my reading goals for the remainder of the year, but it certainly has led to a healthier mind and spirit for this reader. That is worth far more to me than the arbitrary reading goal I set for myself.

When I begin heading back to Texas tomorrow afternoon, I will resume the adventures of the Kincaid brides and see what more I can discover about Disraeli through his biography. Tomorrow, I will begin the process of returning to my responsibilities and my normal pursuit of an academic life. For now, I am going to continue enjoying rest and respite. I’ll update you next weekend about my continuing progress through the world of books.

My reading chair is surrounded by a multitude of books. Everything is in progress and nothing is getting marked off of my list. I’m not necessarily a fan of this method of reading, but it is the only way I am getting things accomplished at the moment.

What is causing such disarray in my reading life? Academia and pleasure reading are merging and I am just trying to keep my head above water. I’m nearing the end of my current novel, The Accidental Tourist, and should have that completed before I need to return it to the library on Monday. I thought I would finish it earlier this week, but my music appreciation lectures demanded that I do some reading on Puccini, Verdi, and Wagner to get through the week’s lectures. Additionally, I’m continuing to make my way through Schonberg’s The Great Pianists, but haven’t been able to devote any time to its pages this week.

On Thursday, I learned that I have been admitted to the Master’s program in Humanities at Wayland. I’ve been considering pursuing another graduate degree for a while and this one seems like a good fit. Then I registered for Spring classes! The first 8-week course is British History; the syllabus includes four book reviews (one every other week of the term). The books on the list are MASSIVE, so I made my way to the library on Friday morning and picked up the first tome that I’m going to read. It’s long and requires a lot of brain energy to read. It’s been a little while since I had to read academically, so I’m hoping that my brain cells are still up to the task. So, I’m slowly making my way through A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People? England 1783-1846 by Boyd Hilton at the moment. So for a little while, it seems that the purpose of starting this blog — reading solely for personal enjoyment — is going to be encroached by a bit of academic work as well. We’ll see how things progress!

Earlier this week, I continued my recent dive into romance novels and read the first in the series by Kristen Proby. Why the recent fascination with romance? I guess it has something to do with the fantasy and escapism they bring from the realities of life. Plus, they tend to be easy reads….and that has been about all my brain could handle during the crazy life of October!

Listen to Me featured Addison, a co-owner of a hot new restaurant in Seattle. Addison has had bad luck in relationships and has been jilted by musicians as well as her parents. Enter Jake, the swaggering rock star dealing with his own demons from his past. The attraction is instantaneous, but there is no certainty that either will be able to look beyond their hurts and baggage to see the possibilities that are right in front of them.

Proby’s writing is witty and fast-paced. STEAMY as well. If you are not comfortable with graphic depictions of intimacy, you should just move on to the next book because this one is not for you. However, if you are looking for a fast-paced read that grapples with the realities of flawed people in the dating pool, this is the perfect book for you.

Thankfully, romance is not the only thing in my reading world at the moment. What else am I working through? I’m really enjoying The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. I just started the book this week and am reading the hard copy at a rather leisurely pace, but I was pulled into the plot from the very beginning of the story. I’m continuing my research through Harold Schonberg’s The Great Pianists. I’ve made my way up to the chapter on Franz Liszt just in time to lecture on the same topic in my music appreciation class. I also decided to add an audio book to the mix this week, so I began listening to Anderson Cooper reading his book Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. All of my books are very diverse, so I can always find something that will strike a chord in my reading life.

Greetings from Salt Lake City on a rather chilly Sunday morning. This weekend was Fall Break, so I decided to head out of town and enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation. Although things didn’t go quite as I had planned — blasted back ache! — I am still very thankful that I got some rest, but it’s time to head back to my normal routine.

Since I was taking some time off, I also took a bit of a reading holiday while in SLC. I had “plans” of getting some quality reading done, but the mountain air just made me sleepy and there were so many things to see! Before starting my break, I did manage to get some productive reading done. I continued to slowly make my way through The Great Pianists and have really enjoyed looking at Listen to Me by Kristen Proby. I made good progress on this romance novel on my flight into SLC on Thursday. With any luck, I’ll maybe have a finish before hitting the ground in Amarillo tonight!

That brings us to the topic of The Moonstone. I’m really at a crossroad with this book. On one hand, I have invested so much time in reading this book that I just want to see it through to the end and mark it off of my list. On the flip side, there are so many good books in the world! Why am I slogging through a painful read? As hard as it is for me to accept, I think this book is about to move into my DNF pile. I’ve gotten a taste for the style of the writing. It’s definitely not something I’m going to recommend to anyone else. Hmmm….I guess I just came to a decision while writing this post! Why was that so hard?

I had a finish yesterday afternoon. Beyond that, I don’t really know what to call it. It was not a book or a novel. It was marketed as a “novella”, but at only 48 pages, I think that’s even a bit of stretch. Still, I finished and I’m adding it to my collection of completed reads for the year. (At this point, I need all of the help I can get to meet my goal of 40 books in 2021.)

Another post in the “One Love” series, this story featured a young woman who had been hurt in love one too many times. When she finally seeks out the services of a matchmaker, the first date is off the charts with the handsome vet that she is paired with. Will this relationship work out or will she manage to allow fear to self-sabotage her chance at happiness yet again? Definitely a light-hearted read to just get your reading motor started again.

Other than that short novella, I did continue making my way through some of my other slow burns. I’m still trying to plow through The Moonstone, but I’m beginning to have doubts that I will actually complete it. I understand the plot, I’m just not engaged in reading it. I also made a little headway through The Great Pianists this week, closing out the chapter on Beethoven. I’m hoping that now that I am getting a little closer to contemporary pianists and piano technique that this book will grab my attention during the week once again.

I also took the plunge and started an account on StoryGraph. I like the option to include ratings that fall between 2 and 3 stars because sometimes a book just doesn’t deserve 3 stars….but 2 stars seems too harsh. I like the site’s functionality so far and am hoping that I get better reviews from it than I did on Goodreads.