2017 has been kind of a bust for me, in terms of reading. I've been so busy that I didn't quite even make my modest (for me) goal of 50 books read for the year! I know resolutions are kind of out of style, but I think I'm going to make one for 2018 anyway - stop overextending myself.
In 2017 attempted to do a lot of things - be a mother to my newborn baby girl and teenaged son, read at least 50 books and review them all on this blog, dye yarn and grow my Etsy shop, and just generally keep my house and family running along smoothly. I think I succeeded at the parenting and household stuff, but if I'm being totally honest, I kind of half-assed everything else. I didn't even manage to succeed in my goal of knitting a pair of socks every month of the year.
In 2018 I resolve to be more present and stop trying to be a superwoman. I resolve to let myself have downtime without feeling guilt over what I could be doing instead and I resolve to stop biting off so much more than I can chew.
So. Goals for my Etsy shop - stock at least once per month, not once per week. If I can handle more, great. If not... that's ok, too. My goal for now is to just maintain my current market presence.
Goals for this blog - a minimum of one review per month. Again, if I can handle more, awesome. If not, oh well. Note to readers: you may notice some changes in my writing style over the next few months. I'm trying to let myself ignore conventional wisdom about book reviews and adopt a more natural, conversational tone. Old habits die hard though - I'm more trained as a technical writer than an interesting one, so bear with me.
Goals for reading - a book a week. Yeah, that's more than I did in 2017, but dammit - keeping my mind engaged needs to remain a priority.
Goals for parenting - keep being available and present for my kids. Keep helping them develop into confident, self-sufficient human beings with empathy and consideration for others. And get my teenager to do his own damned laundry.
Goals for the house - keep it clean enough on a daily basis that I don't turn into a stress monster when someone is going to visit. Accept that dust bunnies exist and that they don't mean I'm a bad person. And maybe get the family room painted.
Goal for myself - go back to school and finally start finishing that bachelor's degree I started working towards in 1999. I wanted to have my degree by the time I turned 30 and spent that birthday mourning that goal. The new goal is to have that degree the year I turn 40. I resolve to stay determined to meet it.
Finally, this is supposed to be a blog about books, so I'm going to close this out by telling you that I started reading Kathy Reichs' newest book, Two Nights, last night and it's AWESOME. Seriously. I like the Temperence Brennan books, but this one is so much better (at least, the first part is - it could still go south). I hope Reichs hasn't given up on the Bones series, but I also really like this new character she's got going on - Sunny Night. The story is good, the writing is above average for Reichs and I'm having a hard time putting the book down to get anything else done. Definitely check this one out if you are a crime/suspense/thriller fan!
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Friday, December 15, 2017
Into The Water
I was so excited for Into the Water you guys. I tore through Girl on the Train back in 2015 and spent the last few months impatiently waiting to get my hands on this book from my local library.
I finally got the notice that my copy was available 2 weeks ago and immediately started on it. And immediately stalled out. There are so many characters and Hawkins felt the need to write chapters from each one's point of view! Add to the constantly shifting narrative the fact that this is one of those stories where you are dropped into the middle, after the biggest events have occurred and it just made for such a confusing read.
There's a story here, a good one, but it's lost in so many layers of alternating POV's that it just gets to be too much. I love the whole unreliable-narrator-with-a-twist-ending thing that's so trendy right now, but this one just tries way too hard and, as a result, it all falls flat. The book drags and drags at the beginning and then at the end the conclusion feels so, so rushed.
I didn't consciously realize I was avoiding the book until 3 days ago when I got the "your items are about to expire" auto-email from my library. With a wait-list as long as they have for Into the Water, I didn't want to be that person and keep the book past its due date so I powered through the last 2/3 and finished up late last night.
I know it must be daunting to have such a great success as Paula Hawkins did with her first book and then to have to try to follow that up. So I'm going to give her some credit. As I said before, there's a damned good story here. And maybe if I'd had the time to sit down and just read it in one or 2 large chunks rather than a chapter here and a chapter there every day instead, I'd have enjoyed it more. It's a busy time of year right now and I've got a lot on my plate, so I'm totally willing to take some of the blame for lack of enthusiasm over this novel. That said, I really hope Hawkins' third book is better.
Anyway, enough of my bitching - here's a summary so you can see if you might be interested in reading this one too:
Jules and Nel had been estranged for years. When Nel drowns, Jules travels back to their childhood vacation home in Beckford where Nel has been living, to take care of her now-orphaned niece Lena. Once back in town, she realizes that something deeper is going on. Did Nel kill herself, as everyone seems to believe, or was she pushed? Does her death have anything to do with the suicide-by-drowning of Lena's best friend only a month earlier? Or does it have to do with the book she was writing about the very spot where she, and so many other women in the town's history, died?
I finally got the notice that my copy was available 2 weeks ago and immediately started on it. And immediately stalled out. There are so many characters and Hawkins felt the need to write chapters from each one's point of view! Add to the constantly shifting narrative the fact that this is one of those stories where you are dropped into the middle, after the biggest events have occurred and it just made for such a confusing read.
There's a story here, a good one, but it's lost in so many layers of alternating POV's that it just gets to be too much. I love the whole unreliable-narrator-with-a-twist-ending thing that's so trendy right now, but this one just tries way too hard and, as a result, it all falls flat. The book drags and drags at the beginning and then at the end the conclusion feels so, so rushed.
I didn't consciously realize I was avoiding the book until 3 days ago when I got the "your items are about to expire" auto-email from my library. With a wait-list as long as they have for Into the Water, I didn't want to be that person and keep the book past its due date so I powered through the last 2/3 and finished up late last night.
I know it must be daunting to have such a great success as Paula Hawkins did with her first book and then to have to try to follow that up. So I'm going to give her some credit. As I said before, there's a damned good story here. And maybe if I'd had the time to sit down and just read it in one or 2 large chunks rather than a chapter here and a chapter there every day instead, I'd have enjoyed it more. It's a busy time of year right now and I've got a lot on my plate, so I'm totally willing to take some of the blame for lack of enthusiasm over this novel. That said, I really hope Hawkins' third book is better.
Anyway, enough of my bitching - here's a summary so you can see if you might be interested in reading this one too:
Jules and Nel had been estranged for years. When Nel drowns, Jules travels back to their childhood vacation home in Beckford where Nel has been living, to take care of her now-orphaned niece Lena. Once back in town, she realizes that something deeper is going on. Did Nel kill herself, as everyone seems to believe, or was she pushed? Does her death have anything to do with the suicide-by-drowning of Lena's best friend only a month earlier? Or does it have to do with the book she was writing about the very spot where she, and so many other women in the town's history, died?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)