Hello, everyone!
Welcome to those who are new to my blog as well as
those of you who followed me over from Wordpress and through the site’s
rebranding.
Those of you who follow my exploits on Twitter or
Instagram will know that I moved house at the end of January and have been
attending to some family health struggles of late (don’t worry, everyone is
fine) and haven’t had a lot of time to post.
As of late, life has started to settle down and I am getting back into a
groove with my reading and writing so I am optimistic that my posts will be
more frequent from here on in.
Since today is the last day of March I thought I might
update my progress towards my 2014 Good Reads 50 Book Challenge and share my
April TBR (to be read) list and. Prepare
to be underwhelmed!
Though we are a quarter of the way through 2014, I have
only managed to read a piteous four books.
Four books is more than the average American reads in a year, granted,
but four is approximately the number of books I should be reading per month in
order to stay on track with my goal and I’d have to pick up an extra two books
somewhere along the way. So, I’m about
ten books off my yearly target and will need to “up my game” to five books a
month with and additional text thrown somewhere into the mix in order to
complete this year’s challenge.
In case you’re keeping score (goodness knows I am!),
the books I completed this year are:
The Fall by Albert Camus (2/5)
This wasn’t my favorite Camus novel (my favorite is The Plague, by the by) and I perhaps
unfairly judged the novel against the author’s other work. That being said, if you are interested in
this book, borrow it from from a library, don’t pay for a copy.
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis (2/5)
I originally checked this book out from the library
because I thought about putting the musical adaptation in my Netflix
queue. While the novel was lighthearted
and made for a good commuter reading, it was a bit too slapstick and forcibly
funny for my liking. Not surprisingly, Auntie Mame is no longer in my queue.
Nickled and Dimed:
On (Not) Getting By in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich (3/5)
I was given a copy of this book years ago at an
Advanced Placement Summer Institute and only got around to reading it in
February. Recently I have trying to
decide on what to assign to my incoming juniors for their summer assignment and
I had been thinking this would be a good option. Much of the information Ehrenreich provides is
applicable to the working poor of 2014 even though the book was published in
2001. However, since the book is
thirteen years old I couldn’t bring myself around to the idea of assigning it
to a cadre of sixteen year olds.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (5/5)
Fangirl received a lot of hype after its
publication last year and rightly so. Even
if you are not a fan of young adult (YA) literature, Fangirl captures the experience of being the nerdy sibling and the
isolated college freshman perfectly. I’ll
do a more in-depth review on the book later, but suffice it to say I recommend
the novel wholeheartedly.
Since I am so egregiously behind on my Good Reads
challenge, I will need to complete five books this month in order to get myself
out of the proverbial hole. Here are
this month’s contenders:
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Since I loved Fangirl,
I thought I might as well read the other YA book Rowell released last
year. The book is already waiting for me
to pick it up tomorrow afternoon from the public library. Hopefully I will
devour this one and get ever closer to my elusive reading goal.
A Kestrel for a
Knave by Barry
Hines
This one was on my Book Depository wish list and my
mom gave it to me for my birthday. For
those of you who aren’t familiar, this is the novel that the film Kes was based
on . . . and yes, I know it doesn’t end happily but I am more than halfway
through the book and I’m going to see this mofo through.
The Fault in Our
Stars by John Green
Every adult, teenager, pensioner, and amoeba in the
universe has read this book but me. I’ve
had the novel out from the library on more than one occasion, but I purchased a
copy today in order to force myself into finally reading it. YA books are often easier for me to read than
literary fiction (what I usually read), so I thought dipping my toe into the
teen-centric waters might be a good reading strategy.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
I have read the novella before, but I am going to be
teaching the text to one of my senior sections later in the month, so I need to
revisit Conrad in preparation.
The Talented Mr.
Ripley by
Patricia Highsmith
I’ve wanted to read this one for a long time but
haven’t been able to secure a copy or a wedge of time to read it. Again, I buckled down and bought a copy to
force myself into reading the book.
So, April is looking like an ambitious reading
month. I’ll revisit my TBR at the end of
this coming month and keep you posted on my progress. As I complete books I’ll update my Good Reads
and post the odd review here on The Lexicon Devil.
Happy reading!
j.
**If you would like to read one of the books mentioned above, please feel free to purchase one (or all!) of the books using my Book Depository affiliated link here.**
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