August + September Reads
Sep. 25th, 2023 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
royalblue31My, oh, my, I can't believe we're nearing the end of September. I feel like a broken record at this point, but I've had one crazy reading month and one good reading month, and we're ending on a good note, guys, so cheers to that!
I've managed a blackout on Bingo Card #1, for one, so let me celebrate this the next few sentences by saying that I never could have imagined reading this much in a little over half a year. Reading has been one of my more atrophied muscles, and I remember when I started really reading again some time during the pandemic that finishing a single book took me a month of trying. I vividly remember starting this journey with Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking, and I was fortunate to have fallen in love with reading again after such a long time. I also remember being actively disappointed whenever my attention would inevitably wane. And, of course, I remember this odd little lift in my heart when I actually finished the book (aside from the crushing heartache over the subject matter).
The next year, I grew ambitious. I was capable of reading a book a month, so obviously, why wouldn't I be able to read a book a week? And while I fell super short of that target (I only ended up reading 15 out of my targeted 52), I'd also begun to notice that, like muscles put to practice, I suddenly had better strength and endurance. I went from needing a month to finish A Year of Magical Thinking to needing a month to finish Frank Herbert's Dune. I went from reaching for my phone every five minutes to reading until dawn because I couldn't stand to put my book away. It was good. It was progress.
And here we are—the end of September 2023. Earlier this year, I decided to do a Book Bingo Card, setting myself up to with a target of 25 books for the year. It's been a bit of a wild ride. I am currently 29 books in and plan to keep going to see how far I can take this number by the end of the year.
Looking at Bingo Card #1 is kind of like looking at one of those quilts where each patch is made of memories. And it's funny because I remember being younger, somewhere along Freshman year of high school or so, and our school had this thing where each week you would be asked to take a book out of the library. You had to take a book out regardless if you were to read it; there was no grading system, no book report expected at the end of the week; and all the books were fiction books. In retrospect, I suppose to objective was to encourage willful reading. I remember that at the time there was an entire section dedicated to Agatha Christie novels. I also remember never taking an Agatha Christie book out because, and I kid you not, I thought I wasn't smart enough or I didn't have the attention span a book like that would need, or that I couldn't get in to it because it was a mystery novel. And what a sad, sad thing to think at an age like that. And what a hopeful thing to see that, more than a decade later, I no longer hold myself to such self-sabotaging negativity. I'm glad to see myself open to trying new books and new genres and new authors. And I'm glad to see that, rather than reading within my non-sensical made-up perceived grade level—rather than reading what I am sure I understand, I have opened myself up to the alternative.
I read because I do not understand. I read because I want to understand.
Crime or Mystery: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Female Author: Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
Person's Name in the Title: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Author You've Never Read Before: Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson
Romance Plot or Sub-plot: Beach Read by Emily Henry
Banned Book: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Book from your TBR: Then Again by Diane Keaton
Book with a Woman Protagonist: Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins
LGBT+: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
Action or Thriller: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Book made into a Movie or TV series: Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Three Word Title: The White Album by Joan Didion
FREE SPACE: Voices in the Night by Steven Millhauser
More than 300 pages: We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
POC Author: Intimations by Zadie Smith
Title is at Least Five Words Longs: Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion
Craft, Hobby, or Cookbook: Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
Animal on the Cover: Bunny by Mona Awad
Disability or Mental Health: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh
ebook or Audiobook: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
Number in the Title: The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Wild Card: Marlena by Julie Buntin
Sci-fi or Fantasy: Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer
Recommended: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Wild Card: Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins
Crime or Mystery:
Female Author:
Person's Name in the Title:
Author You've Never Read Before:
Romance Plot or Sub-plot:
Banned Book:
Book from your TBR:
Book with a Woman Protagonist:
LGBT+:
Action or Thriller:
Book made into a Movie or TV series:
Three Word Title:
FREE SPACE:
More than 300 pages:
Read a book from the year you were born:
Historical (fiction or non-fiction):
Wild Card: Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Wild Card:
Disability or Mental Health:
ebook or Audiobook:
Under 100 page book: Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Horror/Paranormal: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson:
Sci-fi or Fantasy:
Recommended: The Secret Histroy by Donna tartt
Mythology: Circe by Madeleine Miller
I've managed a blackout on Bingo Card #1, for one, so let me celebrate this the next few sentences by saying that I never could have imagined reading this much in a little over half a year. Reading has been one of my more atrophied muscles, and I remember when I started really reading again some time during the pandemic that finishing a single book took me a month of trying. I vividly remember starting this journey with Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking, and I was fortunate to have fallen in love with reading again after such a long time. I also remember being actively disappointed whenever my attention would inevitably wane. And, of course, I remember this odd little lift in my heart when I actually finished the book (aside from the crushing heartache over the subject matter).
The next year, I grew ambitious. I was capable of reading a book a month, so obviously, why wouldn't I be able to read a book a week? And while I fell super short of that target (I only ended up reading 15 out of my targeted 52), I'd also begun to notice that, like muscles put to practice, I suddenly had better strength and endurance. I went from needing a month to finish A Year of Magical Thinking to needing a month to finish Frank Herbert's Dune. I went from reaching for my phone every five minutes to reading until dawn because I couldn't stand to put my book away. It was good. It was progress.
And here we are—the end of September 2023. Earlier this year, I decided to do a Book Bingo Card, setting myself up to with a target of 25 books for the year. It's been a bit of a wild ride. I am currently 29 books in and plan to keep going to see how far I can take this number by the end of the year.
Looking at Bingo Card #1 is kind of like looking at one of those quilts where each patch is made of memories. And it's funny because I remember being younger, somewhere along Freshman year of high school or so, and our school had this thing where each week you would be asked to take a book out of the library. You had to take a book out regardless if you were to read it; there was no grading system, no book report expected at the end of the week; and all the books were fiction books. In retrospect, I suppose to objective was to encourage willful reading. I remember that at the time there was an entire section dedicated to Agatha Christie novels. I also remember never taking an Agatha Christie book out because, and I kid you not, I thought I wasn't smart enough or I didn't have the attention span a book like that would need, or that I couldn't get in to it because it was a mystery novel. And what a sad, sad thing to think at an age like that. And what a hopeful thing to see that, more than a decade later, I no longer hold myself to such self-sabotaging negativity. I'm glad to see myself open to trying new books and new genres and new authors. And I'm glad to see that, rather than reading within my non-sensical made-up perceived grade level—rather than reading what I am sure I understand, I have opened myself up to the alternative.
I read because I do not understand. I read because I want to understand.
Okay, that's it for my little speech here. Cheers to everyone, that's it for September, and may we all have a wonderful Spooky Season ahead!
Crime or Mystery: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Female Author: Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
Person's Name in the Title: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Author You've Never Read Before: Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson
Romance Plot or Sub-plot: Beach Read by Emily Henry
Banned Book: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Book from your TBR: Then Again by Diane Keaton
Book with a Woman Protagonist: Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins
LGBT+: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
Action or Thriller: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Book made into a Movie or TV series: Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Three Word Title: The White Album by Joan Didion
FREE SPACE: Voices in the Night by Steven Millhauser
More than 300 pages: We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
POC Author: Intimations by Zadie Smith
Title is at Least Five Words Longs: Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion
Craft, Hobby, or Cookbook: Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
Animal on the Cover: Bunny by Mona Awad
Disability or Mental Health: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh
ebook or Audiobook: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
Number in the Title: The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Wild Card: Marlena by Julie Buntin
Sci-fi or Fantasy: Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer
Recommended: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Wild Card: Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins
Crime or Mystery:
Female Author:
Person's Name in the Title:
Author You've Never Read Before:
Romance Plot or Sub-plot:
Banned Book:
Book from your TBR:
Book with a Woman Protagonist:
LGBT+:
Action or Thriller:
Book made into a Movie or TV series:
Three Word Title:
FREE SPACE:
More than 300 pages:
Read a book from the year you were born:
Historical (fiction or non-fiction):
Wild Card: Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Wild Card:
Disability or Mental Health:
ebook or Audiobook:
Under 100 page book: Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Horror/Paranormal: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson:
Sci-fi or Fantasy:
Recommended: The Secret Histroy by Donna tartt
Mythology: Circe by Madeleine Miller
