Time to Catch Up!

I set myself a goal to read 40 books this year. I have read 8. Even with audio books I'm this far behind! In some ways I think it takes me longer to listen to audio books. I like to listen to them as I fall asleep. Then I have to "rewind" and try to find the last part I remembered listening to!

I'm actually considering reading the Twilight Series. Hubs watched one or more of the movies and said I might be surprised. I figure I might as well see what all the buzz is about. I read the Hunger Games, which is out of my reading comfort zone, and was glad I did, so here goes!

Check out the next 10 books on my To Read list:

 

I will be back soon to review "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played With Fire," by Stieg Larsson.

Amy Einhorn Books Perpetual Challenge

So a tweet caught my interest today. It lead me to a blog with a book review about Defending Jacob, by William Landay. That post lead me to another post, which reminded me to come back and give my own book blog (you are HERE!) some attention! So, here I am!

The review of Defending Jacob really drew me in. I am sure it is going straight to my "to read" list on GoodReads, which I desperately need to prioritize!

As if I needed any more inspiration to read, Dawn's blog lead me to the Amy Einhorn Books Perpertual Challenge. I saw that The Help is on there, which I am already reading and enjoying. I figure this challenge will lead me to books I might not otherwise pick up.

When I finish The Help, I will post a review about it. I am trying to finish reading it this week.  I will be watching the movie with some other ladies on Saturday night.

Breaking Out of My Mold!

Wow! This isn't like me! I am totally stepping out of my reading comfort zone. I normally like light, funny stuff, and some suspense/thriller stuff. My usual rule of thumb is it has to be plausible, contemporary, real life stuff. No fantasy/sci-fi for me, thank you very much!

Well, that was before Hunger Games showed up 1. on sale on Amazon Kindle Store, 2. had great reviews, and 3. I downloaded the sample and got HOOKED!

So far, all I know is that it is about some futuristic town in North America. The Government has gone WAY off it's rocker and has an annual "festival." This festival is quite morbid...a child's name is drawn from each district and they go in a cage or something to fight to the death. CRAZY! I can't even IMAGINE. I know it seems odd that something so dark would draw me in, but it really has me curious about this bizarre society.

Stay tuned for a complete review when I'm finished. I guess if I'm willing to read the other two books in the series after this one, it must be pretty good! We shall see...

Life's Too Short to Read Bad Books

Amazon offers new books for free all the time. There are lots of blogs about the latest freebies. Ever since I got my Kindle, possibly even sooner since I have the Kindle app on my phone, I gobble up all the freebies that sound remotely interesting to me, or have a cute looking "cover."

I have since come to the conclusion that life's too short to read bad books. I simply don't have time. Now I take a few moments to read the reviews on Amazon before clicking the button to transfer the book to my Kindle.

I also joined GoodReads, an online book club of sorts. It's a social community for bibliophiles. Readers can create lists of books you've read and want to read. You can review books and read others' review of books you are considering.  Check it out!

How It All Got Started

I have been able to read for as long as I can remember.  It started with Around the Corner, a Mark & Janet book. There were smaller Mark & Janet books too. I can remember my dad reading it to me and I took it from his hands and started reading it myself. That was the start of my love of reading.

I also have vivid memories of my Dad reading a Strawberry Shortcake book to me.

As I got older, I read everything I could get in front of me. It didn't matter if it was junk mail, a magazine, or a cereal box. I loved the physical feeling of my eyes converting the shapes of the letters into words, sentences and paragraphs.

For the last 10 years or so, I kind of fell out of love with reading. I read all day long at work. At first as a customer service representative, then as a corporate trainer, and now as an instructional designer. I read and write (type) all day long. At the end of the day, the last thing I wanted to do was read.

One day it hit me: I'd lost interest because all I ever read was non-fiction. My recreational reading was mostly personal development stuff. I had just gotten burned out on it. I read a couple of fiction books and just couldn't get enough! Then I got the Kindle app on my Android phone and download free eBooks and devoured them.

About a month ago, my Mom bought me an actual Kindle. I LOVE IT! It's much easier on my eyes than trying to read on my phone. Of course I will always read on my phone when all else fails!

I'm also into audio books. I recently discovered that I can download them online for FREE from my library!

My main genres now are romantic comedy/"chick lit" and suspense. With Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, I get both! More on that to come as I review the Plum books I'm reading.