Tag Archives: monthly review

October 2017 Reading Review…

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october

October, one of my favorite months of the year, actually ended up being pretty busy with both teaching and writing this year. That’s not a criticism by any means, but just an observation of life on campus now.

The weather is getting to be more and more autumnal, although the temperatures are still a little zany: We had almost snow yesterday morning, but it’s forecast to be close to 90 this Friday, so dressing is all in layers to cope with the wide temperature spread. (I call it ski jackets and shorts weather, as you’ll probably need the cold protection in the morning and the shorts for the hot weather in the afternoon.)

The semester is more than halfway done now – about six weeks left, I think – and I think my students have been doing very well for the most part. They’re certainly enjoyable to teach (from my perspective), so it’s still fun.

To the October reading:

The best read by far was the very strange recounting of the North Korean kidnapping of a South Korean film director and his movie star wife. It’s an insane story, but riveting at the same time. Highly recommended for certain.

The others were mostly ok. I really enjoyed the Summerscale book about a Victorian wife who is caught having an affair. The librarian book and the Atwood read were ok. (More broccoli books really, although I had high hopes for the photo-heavy book.)

The Virago O’Brien was confusing and dry as anything (despite it being billed a romantic story), but that’s one of the gambles you run with the Virago imprint. Some are really really good, and some are not. 🙂

So, November is up next. Three weeks until Thanksgiving, six weeks until Finals, and then time for a break. Yahoo!

 

 

Monthly Reading Review: July 2017

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july

So another month has passed, and let’s check in with how my reading is doing… (just out of interest).

The reads for July included:

So to the numbers:

Total number of books read in July: 5

Total number of pages read:  1,563 pages (av. 313).

Fiction/Non-Fiction: 4 fiction / 1 non-fiction.

Diversity: 2 POC. 4.5 books by women.

Library books vs. books I owned (and thus removed from the home abode): 3 library books, 2 owned book and 0 e-books (although one is in progress…).

Here are the top three most popular posts from the last month:

Plans for August: There are some big changes coming up for me, so we’ll have to see how that goes. (They are good changes.)

 

June 2017 Monthly Reading Review

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june

 

So another month has passed, and let’s check in with how my reading is doing… (just out of interest).

The reads for June included:

  • Anna of the Five Towns – Arnold Bennett (1902) (F) (no blog post as yet)
  • The Woman Warrior – Maxine Hong Kinston (1975) (blog post to come)

So to the numbers:

  • Total number of books read in June: 5
  • Total number of pages read: 1,155 pages (av. 231).
  • Fiction/Non-Fiction: 2 fiction / 3 non-fiction.
  • Diversity: 2 POC. 2 books by women.
  • Library books vs. books I owned (and thus removed from the home abode): 2 library books, 3 owned book and 0 e-books. (Oooh. Look at that. More out than in, as my grandma would also say…)

Plans for July: It’s summer. What plans?….. 🙂

Reading Review: February 2017

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february_clipart

Well, that month passed quickly, didn’t it? (At least it did for me in my world.) It’s Spring here, although to us in West Texas, Spring tends to mean high winds along with a high chance of being very dusty, and so the weather is sticking to that atmospheric format for today. That’s ok. The very next day after these high winds and dust is usually crystal clear and looks fantastic, so I’ll take it.

Reading: After a rather dismal January where I couldn’t find my reading mojo, February marked the month where the mojo returned (much to my relief), and so now I’m happily picking and choosing titles again.

February is also Black History Month here in the U.S., and for the past few years, I’ve really concentrated on reading materials from people of African descent here in the States. This year, however, has meant that my poor eye (and some poor planning on my part) has led to a rather weak effort. However, at the same time, it has strengthened my resolve to continue to read more POC authors throughout the rest of the year, so it’s not all bad.

I’m a bit behind in my reviews though, so I expect we’ll have a round-up post soon.

To the stats:

I read the following titles (with links to blog posts about said book where there is one):

Total number of books read in January: 7

Total number of pages read: 1,683 pages (av. 210).

Fiction/Non-Fiction: 2 fiction / 4 non-fiction; 1 play.

Diversity: 3 POC (2 from African continent: Nigeria and Ghana; 1 from India). 3 books by women + 1 mixed anthology of speeches by both women and men.

Library books vs. books I owned (and thus removed from the home abode): 4 library books, 2 owned books and 2 e-books.