Reading Slumps - Send Help

Guys.

I have a problem.

I am finding myself in a slump.

A reading slump.

I've read so many great books this year, but this where I am now: I have a TON of unread books on my kindle, at least 10 books checked out from the library, several unread Book of the Month books/other recent book purchases on my nightstand, and 4 or 5 unplayed audiobooks in my audible app.

But nothing is grabbing my attention.

It's stressing me out.

I've been listening to Anna Karenina on audio, and I kind of hate it. It's sooo long (35 hours - I've listened to about 8) and not my taste and I feel like I need to finish it because I've committed. But at the same time, I hate it. All of the characters are horrible. I'm not wild about Maggie Gyllenhaal's narration. And the aristocracy makes me sick.

I started Before We Visit the Goddess, and I liked it, but didn't love it. I think I made a mistake by pausing that one to read Big Little Lies before the show started, because now I kind of don't want to go back to it.

I've also been reading Deep Work because I've heard so many great things about it and I set a goal to read more non-fiction this year. But I think I was just kidding myself. This is not my type of book. I like narrative non-fiction. Not self help.

Here's what it comes down to - I mistakenly added all these books to my currently reading shelf on goodreads and now I feel like I have to finish them. Also, nothing will ever measure up to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Or Harry Potter, which I just finished listening to on audio.

This is so discouraging, guys! What do you do when you're in a reading slump? What book should I read to get out of my slump?

Friday Edit no. 5

Who's pumped for the Superbowl this Sunday? Not me! I'm not a sports person, so even though I live in the Atlanta area, I'm just not into it. What I am into is the food... So I may make some Superbowl snacks this weekend just because.

Here are some of my favorite Superbowl snacks I'm debating making:

• I've never seen sloppy joes like these Turkey and Swiss Sloppy Joes before. 
• Tacos are appropriate for all occasions, right? These Classed-Up Double Decker Tacos and these Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef tacos both look amazing. 
• How about vegetarian Black Bean Taquitos? Budget friendly and delish.
• For my GF friends (Hi Mom!), here are 15 Gluten-Free Superbowl Recipes.
• I really want to try these Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites with Cheese Dip. We get something like this on the rare occasion we end up at Red Robin and that coarse kosher salt on top is everything. Also, I think I've seen a Tasty video making these with biscuits from a can, if you're looking for something even easier. 
• More tacos! These Jalapeno Popper Chicken Tacos look soooo good!

Favorite non-food finds this week:

• It's not an organization problem, it's a stuff problem. For me, it's probably both. 
• It's Black History Month. Check out this post Celebrating Black Authors Past and Present. I've never heard of most of these books, but I'll definitely be checking these out.
• I also loved this post from Chronicle Books - 7 Heroic Trailblazers Black History. Maxing out my library holds as I speak.
• The Ultimate List of Beauty and the Beast Retellings and Adaptations. I'm pretty darn excited for this movie!
• I believe I need this in my entry way. #harrypotterforever
• Have you ever tried to take a photo of an ebook and failed miserably? Yeah, me neither. BUT in case you have, check out this post from Paper Fury for a super easy way around that. 

Some things I want to remember from this week:

Sophie kisses. That sweet face. Those eyes.

This mess (I cannot figure out how to store art supplies.) Her making art while I read aloud.

This enormous stack of library books. And so many good ones too. 

I hope you have had a wonderful week. What are you reading this weekend?

What's Saving My Life Right Now

Last week, I saw a fantastic post from Modern Mrs. Darcy (apparently my favorite blog ever), about how this time of the year is tough and also how it's so easy to focus on the things in life that are killing you. But, what's saving your life? That may be harder to pinpoint, but once you shift your focus, you notice more and more things to be grateful for.

So, what is saving my life right now?

• The Harry Potter series on audio. I'm on Half Blood Prince now, and I'm so so glad that I signed up for an Audible membership just to get these books. It has definitely been worth it.
• Tasty videos. Man, these make me hungry, but they make cooking anything look so effortless.
• My lamb slippers. So soft. So warm. So cozy. So ridiculous in the best way.
• And bunny robe. Ditto for all of the above.
• My heating pad - I put it at my feet in bed every night and it's so cozy and warm. (I'm sensing a theme here...)
• The de-stress yoga session on Daily Burn. It really does de-stress.
• The library! I always have a hard time going to the book store without spending some ridiculous amount of money. The library gives me those same "bringing home lots of books" endorphins without murdering my budget.
• New coffee cups. My husband says I "have a problem" and we "don't have anywhere to put all these cups," but I don't care because cute cups are so awesome! And usually under $10! Maybe even under $5 if you see any cute ones at the Target Dollar Spot. Target, FTW.
• Super long, super hot showers. Is there anything better? Maybe a super long, super hot shower right before bed when you've just put fresh, clean sheets on. AMIRIGHT?
• De-cluttering. I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up some time ago, and it all sounded wonderful, but I just don't have it in me to tackle my entire house at once. So, I'm working my way through one room at a time. (And I'm counting each closet as it's own room...) January's room was the playroom/office. In February, I'll be tacking the closet in that room (and hopefully installing shelving) and possibly Isla's room. We're upgrading her to a big girl bed, so I'll need to do something in there.

Well, there's ten things that are saving my life right now. What's saving your life right now? 

And if you linked up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for this, drop your link in the comments. I'd love to check it out. 

Library Haul

 "Home is a house in the country. Or home is an apartment." So begins this delightful book about all the different places (real and fictional) people might call home. I could stare at the illustrations in this book for hours. And it introduces kids to the fact that people live differently that they do, which is an important lesson to learn.

I have seen Du Iz Tak? everywhere! So when it was finally available at my library, I snatched it up. Du Iz Tak? means What is that? in made up bug language. The entire book is written in made up bug language, leaving the reader to deduce what's happening in the story from visual clues and inflection. I have to admit, it was very fun trying to read the made up language aloud with the same casual ease I read English aloud. This book was wonderful and it definitely deserves all of the praise (Caldecott Honor) it's been receiving.

Who knew penguins had such a hard life? Penguin Problems tells the tale of a snarky little penguin who is having trouble just being a penguin. It's cold, everyone looks the same, he's hunted by leopard seals, it gets dark super early, and so on. A walrus overhears his complaining and decides to chime in. He points out all the wonderful things about where they live and and all the great things about the penguin's life, if he would only appreciate what he has. It takes the penguin a while to notice all the beautiful things around him, but he eventually does. This book is funny, beautifully illustrated, and teaches the important lesson that perspective is everything.

Was there ever a fluffier kitty than Papillon? I don't think so. Papillon is so fluffy that he is lighter than air and one day, just floats right out the window and away from home. He gets very lost, but eventually meets a friend who shows him the way home. The illustrations in this book are so stinking cute and I've never seen a kitty cuter than Papillon in my life.  

Egg is the latest book from Kevin Henkes (Waiting, Chrysanthemum, etc.) It's the story of four little eggs, one of which is a big surprise. The text is sparse and repetitive, but it tells a big story - the importance of friendship and acceptance. Told in a graphic novel format, this one would be perfect for Easter, if you gift books at holidays.











What did you check out from the library this week? Anything I should add to my hold list?

Big Reads - January Recap

 

Well, the first month of 2017 is over. The news and social media have been crazy, so I've been hunkering down and introverting hard with some really good books. I read eight books this month - let's get into them.

 

My husband loves the Lightbringer Series and has wanted me to read it for a while, so I checked out the audio from my library. And it was awful. But it was recorded later by Simon Vance, so I got that version from audible. It was so much better! The Black Prism is the story of Gavin Guile, The Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He has been ruling for 16 years after the False Prism's War and things are starting to fall apart. When he discovers he has a son in a kingdom left with no men after the way, he sets out to find him in order to protect all of his own secrets. There were several OMG moments, a few strong female characters (metaphorically and literally), and many just plain interesting characters. The battle scenes were too long for my taste, but I am interested to see where the story goes from here. If you plan to listen to this on audio, definitely get the Simon Vance version.

The Trees was my first read of 2017. And what a way to kick off the year! I love Ali Shaw. I read The Girl with Glass Feet a couple of years ago, and it had such a wonderful, dark, haunting, fairy tale feel to it. The Trees has a very similar atmosphere. In it, a dark, spooky forest erupts from the earth one night destroying every man made thing in its path (a many people as well.) The main character, Adrien, is kind of fat and pathetic and in an unhappy marriage in an unhappy life, but when the trees come, all he wants is to see his wife, who is away on a business trip. His hippy neighbor convinces him to go find her across the sea in Ireland. So off he sets with the neighbor and her teenage son. He's not happy about it, but he can't think of anything else to do. The Trees is dark and creepy and the imagery of the trees so densely covering the world that you can't see the sky is terrifying. There's wonderful character growth and happy endings for all but one of the characters, but the ending couldn't be more right. Or more fairy tale like.

I got this from Book of the Month Club a few months ago, and it won best book of the year from them, but I have strong mixed feeling about it. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is the story of Wavy and Kellen and all the people in their lives. They meet when Wavy is eight and Kellen is in his twenties and they develop a friendship. Wavy is extremely neglected and abused by her parents, so Kellen looks out for her and takes care of her. Their relationship develops into a romance when Wavy is much too young, but they're both so damaged and abused by people who are supposed to love them, that I found myself rooting for them. Much of this book made me extremely uncomfortable. Then I found myself hoping for them to end up together through all their trials, and that made me even more uncomfortable. I read somewhere that the point of this book is that love is love and it doesn't always look like we think it should. But it was still super squicky. It was a super fast read, though. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. But I would do careful research before deciding to read this one.

Hillbilly Elegy has been everywhere leading up to and following the election. I don't know who decided that this book explains why Trump was elected, but I don't think that's accurate. Hillbilly Elegy is a memoir. It's the story of J.D. Vance's life, and the life of his family, living in the Rust Belt. I loved J.D.'s crazy Mamaw. I loved reading about how he escaped an impoverished life with her help and encouragement. I even loved all of the crazy family drama. It reminded me a lot of All Over but the Shoutin, and it felt very familiar to me, being from the South.

Holding Up the Universe was fantastic! For the first 75% of the book, I thought, "This is ok." But the end totally changed that. I loved it. It's the story of Libby, the fattest teen in America, and Jack, a boy who cannot remember faces, even the faces of those he loves. I think when you get older (not that I'm old - I'm not even 30 yet.) A least, as I have gotten older, I've forgotten that the problems that young people deal with are so real and huge to them, even if they may seem trivial to me. And sometimes they have very real battles they are fighting. Libby is my hero. So is Jack, for being such a man with his dad. I just loved this one. That's two for two from Jennifer Niven, because All the Bright Places slayed me. PS - I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

You guys, I love Newt Scamander so much. (Who doesn't, right?) I so enjoyed this movie that I saw it twice. And this cover is so beautiful, how could I not pick it up? This a screenplay, so it only took a couple of hours to read, but it was like watching the movie again. Also, on March 14th, new editions of The Hogwarts Library are being released. Along with this, Fantastic Beasts is being released for the first time on audio, recorded by none other than Eddie Redmayne. #EddieRedmayneIsBAE. I know where my book budget is going in March!

The Cozy Life was a kindle daily deal recently. Have you signed up for those from Modern Mrs. Darcy? They're dangerous. Those nearly daily $1.99 purchases add up! But they're totally worth it. Anyway, I picked this one up because of all the hoopla about hygge. It was ok. Not fantastic. I now know how to pronounce hygge (hooga, btw.) But the basic principle is make your home cozy, slow down, and enjoy your life. Don't try so hard. Put the phone down and turn off the TV every now and then. It did make me want to go buy more throw pillows, blankets, and candles, though.

My Life in France was the January pick for my Mother Daughter Book Club. And it made me hungry while I read it. A lot. I thought this book was very funny at certain points (when she and her friends went to a speakeasy during prohibition, drank one of everything, and got violently ill on the way home) and disjointed at others. I also thought that Julia Child was quite the brave and adventurous woman to travel the world like she did and undertake so many new things at not-such-a-young-age. Also, that Valentine's Day card that she and Paul sent out of them in the bathtub was quite scandalous! Overall, I enjoyed this one, but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.

If you made it to the end of this super wordy post, thank you! Virtual high five!

What did you read in January that I need to add to my TBR?