Kelly's Reads

Still feeling awkward doing videos.  I can't bring myself to do them at home in my apartment, because the walls are so thin, I don't want my neighbors to hear me.  Even a normal speaking voice is too loud, but I also don't want to do the thing where I sound like there's an intruder breaking in and I'm trying to talk to 911 without giving away my hiding spot.

Went to the laundromat this afternoon and as usual, brought a couple books to pass the time.  Unfortunately, one of the washers didn't spin the water out and I had to rewash that load (the laundromat paid for it, so that was nice.)   The books I brought were Love Wins  by Rob Bell and Felicia's Journey  by William Trevor.  I'm liking both a lot.  I saw parts of the movie version of the latter a few years ago, but don't remember much about it.  If this is typical of William Trevor's writing, I look forward to reading The Story of Lucy Gault , which is also among my "Get 2007 Read" books.  :)

Bad lighting, awkward pauses (awkward thumbnail too - I'm so not fancy lol), but I finally did it: uploaded my first Booktube video.  "Booktube" simply refers to channels on YouTube that focus on books and reading.  I have other videos on my channel as well (mostly of my cats).  I've only started uploading videos over the last year, but I've actually had my channel since 2011 and didn't want to create a brand new one.  So glad I did it and I look forward to making more...hopefully of better quality. ;)

I came home last Wednesday to visit my parents.  They live 75 miles from me, which isn't far, but I always stay for at least a couple days.  I haven't gotten much reading done, even though that was my plan.  Instead, I've been binge watching reruns of The Brady Bunch and Project Runway on Hulu.  :D I did finally finish Heaven by V.C. Andrews, will finish the Hobbit , and am currently reading (and plan to finish) one of my picks for Non-Fiction November, which is pictured below: Found in Translation by Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche... One of my two cats, Azalea, joined me.  The other one, Melodie, was nearby wandering around.

These are books I own from my 2007 'to-read' shelf on Good Reads.  They're ordered alphabetically by author's last name... Jane Eyre  - Charlotte Bronte Wuthering Heights  - Emily Bronte My Antonia  - Willa Cather (Kindle) The House of the Seven Gables  - Nathaniel Hawthorne Gods in Alabama  - Joshilyn Jackson The Poisonwood Bible  - Barbara Kingsolver Suite Francaise  - Irene Nemirovsky The Milagro Beanfield War  - John Nichols The Shipping News  - Annie Proulx The Kitchen God's Wife  - Amy Tan The Glass Castle  - Jeannette Walls The Devil Wears Prada  - Lauren Weisberger (Kindle) **One of my favorite movies, but will the book be better?  We'll see...

Tomorrow I'll be going to the library to return a couple books, which means I'll be checking out a few too.  As usual, I wasn't able to finish all the books I had out.  I'm a mood reader, so I have a hard time forcing myself to read if I just don't feel like it.   I'm trying to limit my checkout number to four and am also trying to read books from my 2007 'to-read' shelf on Goodreads.   As far as what I'm aiming for from my 2007 tbr, I'm gonna try to get... -Plain Truth  by Jodi Picoult   - Tess of the D'Urbervilles  by Thomas Hardy - Felicia's Journey  or The Story of Lucy Gault  by William Trevor *I've never read anything by him, so will choose one or the other to start. - Pay It Forward  by Catherine Ryan Hyde - We Were the Mulvaneys  by Joyce Carol Oates *Saw the movie version of this on Lifetime years ago. I have a feeling I'll walk away with a few more than four this trip. :)

This readathon isn't going so well.  I've spent all day watching YouTube.  Figures.   I've read a grand total of 30 pages so far: finished the last 13 pages of We Should All Be Feminists  by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; read nine pages/one chapter of  Oh My Stars  by Lorna Landvik; read eight pages of  The Final Hours  by Johannes Steinhoff (I intended on finishing this one last night before the readathon started, but got burned out on it after spending a lot of time reading it yesterday afternoon - it's a good one though and I only have 39 pages left, so I'll have at least that many more pages to add to be grand total since I will finish that one before the readathon is over.) Still have nine hours to cram in some more reading, but considering I plan on going to bed by 2 AM, that's really more like four hours, and the odds I'll spend all of those four hours reading is slim to none.

I got up at almost 9:00 AM, so already missed the first two hours.  I forgot my parents were stopping by on their way to Omaha to visit my sister.  They knocked on the door within seconds of me jumping off the couch where I'd been sleeping.  Hey, they brought me a McDonald's breakfast. :)   After they left, I finished We Should All Be Feminists , because I only had 13 pages left.  I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I complete a book, even if it is just a few pages.  I'm not one of those people who doesn't want a book to end.  I'll prolong it by rereading lines and passages as I go if I'm really liking it, but I love being done and moving on to the next one. As far as the book, it's very short (only 47 pages on Kindle) and is the modified print version of a TED Talk given by the author.  I have to admit, I have a negative image of feminists thanks to screaming SJWs.  Chimamanda, who is from Nigeria, gives reasonable argu...

I signed-up for the Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon .  This is my first time doing it, and it also happens to be the 10th anniversary of the event.  My start time is 7:00 AM.  I'd like to get in at least eight hours of reading, but that's my minimum goal.  Maximum would be 16 hours, because I do plan on sleeping at some point. ;) Most of the books I'll be reading are "books-in-progress".  These are... We Should All Be Feminists  by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Kindle) The Blind Assassin  by Margaret Atwood (library book) The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz  by Denis Avey (own) Oh My Stars  by Lorna Landvik (library book) Hearts of Fire  by Voice of the Martyrs (own) I also have four other library books out that I would like to get started on.  My goal is to get at least 30 pages into each one.  These are... Love Wins  by Rob Bell Physics of the Impossible  by Michio Kaku Deep Down Dark  by Hector Tobar ...