Category: Currently Reading Page 60 of 71

November 2019 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

I literally finished reading the last book I’d committed to read in October on November 29—of course, I haven’t had a chance to write anything about it, much less send the author the Q’s for him to A. Still, I’m on the verge of catching up. Sort of. That aside, November saw me completing 8,087 pages over 31 books with an average rating of 3.45. That’s pretty positive—I’ve had better months rating-wise, but I’ll take a month of plenty of good books with a couple of highlights any day. I’m still behind on my writing, but not as much as I expected to be. I’m calling this a decent month all things considered.

Anyway, here’s what happened here in November.

 God, You & Sex The Night Fire Dragon Bones
3 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Hands Up Inkheart Undeath and Taxes
4 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain  You Can Date Boys When You're Forty Fallen
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
Redemptive Reversals Dragon Blood Spell or High Water
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Going Rogue Thieves Storm Cursed
3.5 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars
Rivers of London: Action At A Distance Entering God's Rest Hurricane Vacation
3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
An Accidental Death The Lights Go Out in Lychford Angel Eyes
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
Best State Ever Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 5:Ecclesiology, the Means of Grace, Eschatology Badlands
3 Stars 5 Stars 3 Stars
Dawn of Dreams Live Right and Find Happiness The ABCs of Metallica
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 3.5 Stars
Artemis Not-So-Common-People The Hero
4 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars
Wishful Drinking            
3.5 Stars            

Friends A Cultural History Thereby Hangs a Tail      

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 2 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 6 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 6 1 Star 0
3 Stars 16
Average = 3.45


Physical Books: 7 Added, 8 Read, 36 Remaining (one of those was purchased specifically to be read in 2020, so I actually made progress by 2. Sort of)
E-Books: 4 Added, 2 Read, 26 Remaining
Audiobooks: 3 Added, 3 Read, 1 Remaining

2019 Library Love Challenge

2019 Library Love Challenge

  1. Dragon Bones (Audiobook) by Patricia Briggs, Joe Manganiello (link forthcoming)
  2. Inkheart (Audiobook) by Cornelia Funke, Lynn Redgrave (link forthcoming)
  3. Undeath & Taxes (Audiobook) by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (link forthcoming)
  4. Please Don’t Tell my Parents I’m a Supervillain (Audiobook) by Richard Roberts, Emily Woo Zeller (link forthcoming)
  5. You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About (Audiobook) by Dave Barry (link forthcoming)
  6. Dragon Blood (Audiobook) by Patricia Briggs, Joe Manganiello (link forthcoming)
  7. Storm Cursed (Audiobook) by Patricia Briggs, Lorelei King
  8. Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland (Audiobook) by Dave Barry, Dick Hill (link forthcoming)
  9. The Badlands (Audiobook) by C.J. Box, January LaVoy (link forthcoming)
  10. Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster): Life Lessons and Other Ravings from Dave Barry (Audiobook) by Dave Barry (link forthcoming)
  11. Artemis (Audiobook) by Andy Weir, Rosario Dawson
  12. Wishful Drinking (Audiobook) by Carrie Fisher

While I Was Reading 2019 Challenge

✔ A book recommended by someone you trust: An Accidental Death (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson

LetsReadIndie Reading Challenge

#LetsReadIndie Reading Challenge

  1. Going Rogue by Neil Lancaster
  2. Hands Up by Stephen Clark
  3. Thieves by Steven Max Russo
  4. Hurricane Vacation by Heather L. Beal, Jasmine Mills
  5. An Accidental Death (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson
  6. Dawn of Dreams by Bronwyn Leroux
  7. Not So Common People by T Gamache (link forthcoming
2019 Cloak & Dagger Challenge

2019 Cloak & Dagger Challenge

  1. Going Rogue by Neil Lancaster
  2. Hands Up by Stephen Clark
  3. Thieves by Steven Max Russo
  4. An Accidental Death (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson
  5. The Badlands (Audiobook) by C.J. Box, January LaVoy (link forthcoming)
  6. The Night Fire by Michael Connelly
  7. Angel Eyes by Ace Atkins
Humor Reading Challenge 2019

Humor Reading Challenge 2019

  1. Wishful Drinking (Audiobook) by Carrie Fisher
  2. You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About (Audiobook) by Dave Barry (link forthcoming)
  3. Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland (Audiobook) by Dave Barry, Dick Hill (link forthcoming)
  4. Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster): Life Lessons and Other Ravings from Dave Barry (Audiobook) by Dave Barry (link forthcoming)
  5. Spell or High Water (Audiobook) by Scott Meyer, Luke Daniels
2019 Cloud of Witnesses Reading Challenge

2019 Cloud of Witnesses Reading Challenge

  1. Reformed Dogmatics: Volume 5: Ecclesiology, the Means of Grace, Eschatology by Geerhardus Vos, Richard B. Gaffin Jr. (Translator) (link forthcoming)

How was your month?

WWW Wednesday, 20-November-2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words — and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m working reading Paul Cornell’s The Lights Go Out in Lychford (it’s a blast), and An Accidental Death by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator).

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes by Ace Atkins and Artemis by Andy Weir, Rosario Dawson (Narrator) on audio.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book will either be Not So Common People by T Gamache or Dawn of Dreams by Bronwyn Leroux. I have no idea what audiobook is next for me…scrambling for ideas atm.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

The End of The Year Book Tag


This book tag has been floating around the last couple of years, having been started (as far as I can tell) by Ariel Bissett on her vlog. It seemed like a nice pairing with my post on Monday.

bullet Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
I’ve got two more weeks in my Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 5: Ecclesiology, the Means of Grace, Eschatology by Geerhardus Vos schedule (which will finish off the set), but that’s about it.

bullet Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
I honestly have never thought of a book in these terms. In the last month or so, it seems like 60% of the blogs I read and at least half of my Twitter feed is talking about Autumn/Fall books. I assume there’s something wrong with me.

bullet Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?
There are four this month alone…Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes by Ace Atkins; The Lights Go Out in Lychford by Paul Cornell; You Must Have a Death Wish by Matt Phillips; and The Hero by Lee Child (non-fiction!). There might be one or two in December, too. But I can’t think of them off the top of my head.

bullet What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?
Well, there are those four for starters. But if I don’t finish The Cartel by Don Winslow, Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer, and The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle by Dec. 31, I’ll be really annoyed with myself.

bullet The Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?
A few years ago, my best of the year was something I started on Dec. 28, so, yeah, there’s a strong possibility. The Cartel is the likeliest contender, but the Beagle book could be a dark horse contender.

Dark horse…unicorn…HA! I kill me…

bullet Have you already started making reading plans for 2020?
Still very sketchy at this point, but yeah…I’ve started. Just trying to decide what’s the middle ground between a cake walk and overly-ambitious.

WWW Wednesday, 6-November-2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words — and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m working through the audiobook of The Right Stuff by Cornelia Funke and Lynn Redgrave (Narrator) and I’m reading Stephen Clark’s Hands Up.

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished The Night Fire by Michael Connelly and Monday I finished Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs and Joe Manganiello (Narrator) on audio.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book will be Fallen by Benedict Jacka (5 weeks after its release…what is wrong with me?), my next audiobook will be Undeath and Taxes by Drew Hayes and Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

October 2019 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

30 books down! 9,183 pages! Wow! With an average of 3.7 Stars, too. Man…not much wrong with October, was there?

(At work I’ve been able to listen to a bunch of audiobooks this month, which was a lot of help)

I really don’t have a lot to say at the moment, so let’s just get on with what happened here in October.

System Failure A Bloody Arrogant Power Last Argument of Kings
4 Stars 3 Stars 5 Stars
The Rest of Us Just Live Here Don't Get Involved This is Where I Leave You
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
XYZ The Dead of Winter Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals
3 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars
The Dead Dont Sleep Flying Alone Anbatar
3.5 Stars Still Deciding 3.5 Stars
How Not to Die Alone Famous in Cedarville Back of Beyond
4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Because Internet The Abels The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant
3 Stars 3.5 Stars 3 Stars
Open Season Fleishman is in Trouble Side Jobs
4 Stars 2 1/2 Stars 4 1/2 Stars
The Highway Christianity and Liberalism Savage Run
3.5 Stars 5 Stars 3.5 Stars
Shattered Bonds Bearded Too When You Reach Me
4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
The Right Stuff  Maxine Unleashes Doomsday Look Both Ways
4 Stars Still Deciding 3.5 Stars

Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 5:Ecclesiology, the Means of Grace, Eschatology            

5 Stars 2 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 4 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 8 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 8 1 Star 0
3 Stars 7
Average = 3.7


Physical Books: 4 Added, 2 Read, 31 Remaining
E-Books: 0 Added, 0 Read, 24 Remaining
Audiobooks: 0 Added, 1 Read, 1 Remaining

2019 Library Love Challenge

2019 Library Love Challenge

  1. Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch (link forthcoming)
  2. The Abels by Jeremy Scott, Eric Michael Summerer (link forthcoming)
  3. The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (link forthcoming)
  4. Open Season by C. J. Box, David Chandler (link forthcoming)
  5. Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (link forthcoming)
  6. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher, James Marsters
  7. The Highway by C. J. Box, Holter Graham (link forthcoming)
  8. Savage Run by C. J. Box, David Chandler (link forthcoming)
  9. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, Cynthia Holloway (link forthcoming)
  10. Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds (link forthcoming)
  11. Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie, Steven Pacey
  12. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness, James Fouhey (link forthcoming)
  13. Back of Beyond by C. J. Box, Holter Graham (link forthcoming)

While I Was Reading 2019 Challenge

Nothing this month.

LetsReadIndie Reading Challenge

#LetsReadIndie Reading Challenge

  1. A Bloody Arrogant Power by Malcolm J. Wardlaw
  2. Don’t Get Involved by F J Curlew
  3. The Dead of Winter by A. B. Gibson
  4. XYZ by William Knight
  5. The Dead Don’t Sleep by Steven Max Russo
  6. Flying Alone: A Memoir by (link forthcoming)
  7. Anbatar: Legacy of the Blood Guard by Anne Dolleri
  8. Bearded Too by Jeremy Billups
  9. Maxine Unleashes Doomsday by Nick Kolakowski (link forthcoming)
2019 Cloak & Dagger Challenge

2019 Cloak & Dagger Challenge

  1. A Bloody Arrogant Power by Malcolm J. Wardlaw
  2. Don’t Get Involved by F J Curlew
  3. The Dead of Winter by A. B. Gibson
  4. The Dead Don’t Sleep by Steven Max Russo
  5. Open Season by C. J. Box, David Chandler (link forthcoming)
  6. The Highway by C. J. Box, Holter Graham (link forthcoming)
  7. Savage Run by (link forthcoming)
  8. Famous in Cedarville by Erica Wright
  9. Back of Beyond by C. J. Box, Holter Graham (link forthcoming)
Humor Reading Challenge 2019

Humor Reading Challenge 2019

  1. System Failure by Joe Zieja
  2. XYZ by William Knight
2019 Cloud of Witnesses Reading Challenge

2019 Cloud of Witnesses Reading Challenge

    Nothing this month.

How was your month?

WWW Wednesday, 30-October-2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words — and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m working through the audiobook of The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and Dennis Quaid (Narrator) and I’m reading Nick Kolakowski’s Maxine Unleashes Doomsday.

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Shattered Bonds by Faith Hunter and Monday I finished When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and Cynthia Holloway (Narrator) on audio.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book will be Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

WWW Wednesday, 23-October-2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words — and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

Today I started the audiobook of Side Jobs by Jim Butcher and James Marsters (Narrator) and I’m a little over half finished with Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.

What did you recently finish reading?

Yesterday I finished Open Season by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator) on audio and Monday I finished Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book will be the eARC of Shattered Bonds by Faith Hunter—I’ve been wanting to dive into this for weeks, but my Book Tour stop is next week, and I would’ve had a hard time putting off talking about it after I read it.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

In Medias Res: Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

As the title implies, I’m in the middle of this book, so this is not a review, just some thoughts mid-way through.

—–

Fleishman Is in TroubleFleishman Is in Trouble

by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

This is going to be a tough one to write about when I finish, unless the last half is significantly different than the first (a possibility I’m open to).

It’s not the writing. The prose is delightful, there are turns of phrase that I’ve stopped to re-read. Brodesser-Akner has a sharp wit and an equally sharp eye for observation/social commentary.

But man, I’m just not enjoying this book at all. I don’t like the protagonist (I admire the lessons he gives his residents at the hospital)—and he’s easily the most likable character in the book. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve almost DNF’d this.

Here’s why I’m sticking with it—I’m curious. Partially to see what the fuss is about (if I can). But more than that, I’m curious about the ending—I’ve heard it’s a killer. And there are two things I want to see where Brodesser-Akner is going with (we might get the answers to all 3 simultaneously). I may not enjoy the book but she’s doing everything right to get me to keep reading. Still, I’m afraid this is going to end up being in The Best of Adam Sharp or The Heart of Henry Quantum territory, however–well-written books that I only remember suffering through.

Has anyone out there read this thing? Any encouragement for me?

WWW Wednesday, 16-October-2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! Lotta time hanging out in a hospital room resulted in a little more reading time than I expected (everyone’s okay, don’t worry). So…

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words — and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

Currently, I’m listening to the audiobook of Back of Beyond by C. J. Box, Holter Graham (narrator) and I’m reading Erica Wright’s Famous in Cedarville.

What did you recently finish reading?

Today I finished Don’t Get Involved by Richard Roper, Simon Vance (Narrator) on audio and yesterday I finished both Flying Alone: A Memoir by Beth Ruggiero York and Anbatar: Legacy of the Blood Guard by Anne Dolleri.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book will probably be Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch, it’s due back at the library soon, so I’ve got to juggle the TBR.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

WWW Wednesday, 10-October-2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! I haven’t been able to get as much finished as I’ve wanted to since Thursday, so why not try something simple?

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words — and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

The current thing I’ve got going is listening to the audiobook of This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper, Ramon De Ocampo (narrator).

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Don’t Get Involved by F. J. Curlew and will be posting both my take on the book and a Q&A with the author next week.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book will probably be The Dead of Winter by A.B. Gibson, an Appalachian Trail Murder Mystery.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments!

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