Monday, March 13, 2023

Weekly Round Up: The One About Books

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  For whatever reason this week I felt really chatty about books, so buckle in for a long post!

Eats

First up, the story of a spontaneous "eggs" benedict.  On Sunday morning I woke up a bit groggy from the time change.  We don't have anywhere to be on Sunday mornings so I usually don't feel the time change until Monday when it disrupts our routine, but for some reason the effects of the change kicked in right away this year.  I wasn't sure what I wanted for breakfast so I took my time over coffee to figure it out.  I kinda wanted eggs benedict but also I didn't want to cook, so I put the idea out of my head.  Then I thought a bit more about it: I had English muffins, a ripe avocado, some chickpea "egg" salad, pickled onion, and some mushrooms that I'd cooked up a while ago and had in the freezer...that was most of the ingredients...hmmm was there any way that I could get motivated to get off the couch and make the sauce?  I dug deep and found that the answer was yes.  The only shortcut that I took was that I didn't bother with the lemon juice and I couldn't tell so that's a shortcut that I'll keep going forward.  The end result was well worth the trouble of five minutes of cooking and one minute of washing a pan afterwards.

Other than that, the only other exciting thing that I had this week was a reboot of an "I have no idea what I want so I'll just throw a bunch of random stuff in a bowl" success, largely from the freezer.  What you're looking at is a base of fried rice (kinda based off this recipe, what I've been doing is anytime we have leftover rice I'll make fried rice and then portion it off in single servings in the freezer), some of Trader Joe's Beefless bulgolgi, julienned carrot, green onions, and an egg topped with sesame seeds and a drizzle of sriracha.

Anyhoo, the moral of the story is that pickled onions in the fridge and mushrooms and fried rice in the freezer are three staples that I've added to my life in the past few months.

Workouts

Another week, another big bite out of Caroline Girvan's Advent series.  I've only got 4 workouts left so I'll finish it this week.  Overall I love these workouts and it works well to double up on the shorter workouts. 

Let me repeat that OVERALL I LOVE THESE WORKOUTS and now I'll tell you about the two exceptions to the rule.  It feels rude to link to something for the sole purpose of telling you that I didn't like it, and there's only one "glute workout with ankle weights" and one HIIT workout on the Advent list, so you can get there if you want the experience first hand.  The "glute workout with ankle weights" was 20 minutes of 1980's style leg lifts with no rest breaks.  I felt like I was back in middle school and that the workout achieved nothing except for putting a lot of strain on my neck and shoulders from holding an extended plank.  HIIT isn't something that I do well (because I'm so slow at the moves that it doesn't get my heart rate up very much).  I wouldn't have minded nearly so much except that it was the workout right after the leg lifts.  That one particular day felt like a colossal waste of fitness time.  I'm comfortable saying that for sure I will never ever do another "leg lift" workout - the 1980's called and said to keep the past in the past.  As far as HIIT, if I do another series that has a weekly HIIT day I'll probably sub out one of her cardio with weights workouts - those are a good change up from just lifting and they feel productive rather than humiliating.  But hey it was only one day out of a great streak of workouts so it's all good.

Watching

Nothing except for random YouTube videos anytime that I'm in front of the TV and have time to kill...for whatever reason my TV watching mojo is low right now.  That's the kind of a problem that will fix itself in due course.

Reading

Oooh....I've got a dishy one.  The Social Climber by Amanda Pellegrino is about Eliza Bennett, a New Yorker who enjoys having a name in common with a Jane Austin character and is days away from her wedding that will cement her into the top 1% of society.  She's someone who has made her own luck, but as the big day draws nearer, certain Things That She Doesn't Want Anyone to Know start coming out.  Actually that's my paraphrase of the blurb, from where I am 80% of the way in Nothing That She Doesn't Want Anyone to Know has been told except to the reader, but things are looking rocky.

Is this the best book ever written, is it Great Literature, and should you drop everything and go read it?  The answer to the first two questions is no, I can't answer #3 for you, but I can tell you that this book is scratching every reading itch that I have.  I'm so hot for it because it fulfills my #1 reading need of a central character that I absolutely believe in and that I'm rooting for (no she's not the World's Greatest Human but I like her), and every page that I read just makes me what to know what's going to happen next even more.

How did I find this book?  Lemme take a minute to go into my reading backstory, philosophy, and recommendation sources.

My reading backstory is that my parents are readers, and I grew up in a house full of books where the library card was the most prized possession.  I read obsessively as a young 'un through early adulthood.

I don't remember exactly where my reading journey got derailed, but I think it was having to travel for work in the pre-Kindle era.  I can't quite fill in the gap from ages 24 to 37, but those were the Reading Dark Years.  I never stopped reading, but it was less of a thing and there was a long phase where I only read memoirs and self help.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but I am saying it wasn't a wildly exciting time.

The Reading Dark Years ended in late 2012 when Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers started raving about a book called What Alice Forgot.  I hadn't read a fiction book in years, but she made me curious so I picked it up at the library.  Look, I've come across many people who hate this book with a passion, but to me it was a breath of fresh air and a thoroughly enjoyable experience.  I left the journey determined to Read All the Books...but whomp whomp I was in grad school at the time so I couldn't.  The other problem was that just because this one particular book was so great did not mean that every book on the planet was as wonderful.  I read what I could in very limited time for the remainder of grad school.

Meanwhile I'd met the hubs and the stepsons.  In our early dating days, the boys were in grade school, and hanging out with them meant a lot of downtime while they went to activities and did homework.  I suddenly had a lot of free time thanks to finishing grad school, so anytime that I went over to see them I always had my Kindle with me.  It was a very happy time for getting to know my now-family and for reading.

Funny dating story==>I knew from our first conversation that my husband was a reader, and the first time that he came over to my house he took a look at my bookshelves and was able to speak to pretty much every book in sight==>a man who knows his John Gardner and his Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) is a keeper.  But the first time that I went to his (now our) house, there was not one book in sight.  I was a bit concerned about this, but the explanation was simple: he lost the downstairs bookshelves in the divorce and he'd done a deep clean of the house before my visit so that's why there was neither a book nor a lego in sight.  Later on I told this story to stepson #1 and his first question on my reaction to entering a house with no books was "did you think we were stupid?"

That takes us to today.  Reading is a constant, but the only slot that I have for it is the 10-30 minute window before bed.  The exception is when we go on beach vacations, which inevitably end up as book binges for the entire family.

Given that reading is the last priority in my life right now, I don't have any "goals" - I don't care how many books I read, how long they are, whether they're Great Literature or Potboilers, and I'm not trying for a diversity of genres or authors.  My only goal is to read books that I enjoy, so if something doesn't reel me in right away, I'll DNF that sucker without a second thought.  I do have my lifetime favorites that I'll reread every few years, but for the most part I'll only read a book once.  I think that reading will move up on the priority list once the kids leave home and we stop working, but that's a long ways off.

I took a look back at 2022 and I counted 24 finished books - 22 new and 2 rereads - and 5 DNFs, so if we add in that there are other DNFs that didn't make the blog, that's an average of 2+ books a month.   Sometimes I gobble up a book in less than a week, but more likely it takes me a few weeks plus a break between each book.  Because I'm looking for things that hold my attention, I tend toward mystery/thrillers and that probably won't be changing anytime soon.  However, I can't help but notice that I read two "Real" books last year - Golden State and Station Eleven - that I enjoyed very much, so I am trying to work in more Classy Reads here and there.

I'm Team e-book all the way.   Physical books take up space and you have to be organized enough to have them with you when it's time to start reading.  A Kindle gives me a whole library in one small package.  As someone who respects a dollar, obviously I prefer to get books from the library, but I don't sweat it if I want to read something RIGHT NOW and the only way to do that is to buy it.  The reason I'm willing to wildly throw my money away on books is that before the hubs and I got married we checked in with a financial planner to get a second opinion on our finances.  As part of that process we both detailed every last penny of our spending for the past year.  I was expecting to see hundreds going to books but it was only $30 so...yeah that's why if I'm cool with just buying books.  Also, if it's fiction I'm READING it, but if it's non-fiction I prefer to LISTEN to it.

(Pro tip: if you're in to the latest releases and money is tight...it's most likely a shorter wait to get the physical book from the library than on Libby.  So yes I *could* spend $0 on reading if I wanted to...I just don't want to).

Back in the old days I used to keep lists of what I'd read and what I wanted to read, but I haven't found a way to do that in my current life.  Once upon a time I used Goodreads, but it got to be too much to keep it updated and I had a long TBR with no memory of why I wanted to read the books that were on it.  For a while I tried to just put in a hold for anything that I wanted to read on Libby, but it was the same problem and I ended up with a massive stack of DNFs.  Today this blog is really the only record of what I read and my TBR list is in my head.

As far as book recommendation sources, I don't have a "reading soul mate".  IMO there is no one size fits all "if that person liked the book then it's guaranteed that I'll like it".  It's just a matter of keeping my ear to the ground and listening to the chatter out there.  My biggies are:

  • Modern Mrs. Darcy's Daily Book Deals. There's no magic algorithm, it's just a daily list of books that I might not hear of otherwise.  All I do is scan the list to see if anything sounds interesting.  Since it's a list of books that are on sale (1) they're not the latest best sellers so the odds are good that I can get them on Libby right away or (2) if it's not on Libby the prices are in the $1 to $5 range.
  • Sarah's Bookshelves Podcast.  The secret sauce with this one is that it's a lot of people talking about a lot of books which gives me A LOT of ideas of things to read.
  • The Bloggy Blogs!!!  If you write about books the odds are high that I'm picking your brain for reading ideas.  I've said many times that I don't just read blogs for fun==>I take notes!  Special shout out to Grace for giving me the hookup to The Social Climber.

It's taken me a while to figure this out, but I recently found a way to dip my toe in the water before starting a book.  Duh, Libby has an option to sample  books so now I have a way to judge whether a book is getting my attention from the get-go.  That's how I got from hearing about The Social Climber to forking out $10 to buy it two minutes later.  I'm hoping that by sampling I'll be able to reduce my DNF rate.

Just for fun, here's what I read last year from my quick flip through the archives and what I remember about them now:

The Disaster Artist (non fiction, a fun read.  The hubs got it for me for Christmas so that's why it came in physical book form.  I hear that the audio book is epic and we just might break it out for our spring break trip)
The Four Winds (I hated the ending so much that I ended up hating the book)
The Maid (v good.  At the time it bothered me that the main character was similar to Eleanor Oliphant but I don't care about that now.)
The Christie Affair (it started strong, but just like The Four Winds I hated the ending so it was a meh for me)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (a rare reread - I wanted to see if I was correct that The Maid was a similar character.  Verdict yes but I ain't mad because I enjoyed the reread just as much as the first time around)
The Nothing Man (loved it.  At first I DNF'd because it was too violent/scary for me.  But I kept thinking about it so I went back and skimmed the gory parts and ended up loving it)
56 Days (loved, loved, loved, loved)
Hideout (loved it - all of this author's book have been winners for me and oooh in the process of writing this post I learned that she has at least 3 books that aren't on Libby that I've never heard of before)
You Should Have Known (loved it)
Good Night Beautiful (yes it was on the beachy side but I enjoyed it and it's stayed with me)
Dear Child (loved it)
A Flicker in the Dark  (just OK)
Unmissing (on the above average side for the thriller genre, I liked it )
The Boys Club (oof I'd been on a thriller bender and this was a welcome break.  Note to self I want to check out her second book)
Lessons in Chemistry (eh I liked it but I didn't LOOOOOOVE it)
Working Stiff (my only audio listen of 2022.  Non-fiction, a little slow but there were some good stories in there)
The Golden State (hey non thriller Legit Literature book that I almost DNFd over a slow spot but ended up loving)
The Lies I Tell (loved it at the time, oops I barely remember it now)
The Big Sleep (reread, looooooooove.  Seriously if you're in a reading rut pick up something by Team Noir - Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and Dashiel Hammett are the guys who will do you a solid anytime you need something to read)
Stay Awake (loved it)
The Love of My Life (v good, dopey title that doesn't do the book justice IMO)
Before and Laughter (nonfiction, I liked it well enough)
The Accomplice (LOOOOOOOOOOOVE and also loved that a lot of folks in my blogging circle read this after I did.  Pro tip, pick up her book The Passenger for another great read.)
Station Eleven (hey Great Literature Real Book!)

DNF's
The Liar's Girl (DNF due to this being the third book in a row by the same author, no reflection on the book itself.  I'll probably pick this up again sometime)
Bluff (lost interest and I was getting vibes that it was going to get violent/disturbing)
The It Girl (an early DNF, just a blerg book that I couldn't get into)
Cruel Acts (halfway through, too violent/disturbing)
Before I Go to Sleep (too similar to Stay Awake)

Your turn: tell me anything that you want to tell me about your reading journey.  If you've already got a post on it leave me a link!  If you don't have a post on it, c'mon write one and hook me up with the link;-)




29 comments:

  1. I am adding some of the books from your list to my hold shelf right now! My reading journey is something that I think now that I have read yours, I will need to write a post about; I love the idea! Here is my page with links to my best of book lists that I post each year: https://travelspot06.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

    I use tags when tracking book recommendations and do not just willynilly add things to my TBR on Gooodreads anymore. I also tag audiobooks, books from my own shelf etc. so I can keep track of my lists at the end of the year (I also have a DNF category, as I still mark that book as "read" even though it was not finished.) So if I got a recommendation from you, I would tag it as "birch" or whatnot so that I could remember if I loved it to come back to you and say so! Also if I read a few from one person's recommendations and DON'T love them (or like them) I could remember not to follow that person's recommendations after that. Otherwise I can't remember anything! In fact, I have even started reading a book and it felt familiar and after checking my Goodreads, I realize that I have read it before!! Have you ever done that?

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    1. Yes, I've totally picked up a book for the 2nd time without remembering that I've read it before. A few weeks ago I checked out Commonwealth by Ann Pachett and within a few pages I knew it would be a DNF...and then I realized that I'd checked it out before and abandoned it in exactly the same place. The first thing that popped into my head was that episode of Sex and the City where Samantha goes home with a guy a realizes that um, they'd had sex before and she completely forgot him.

      I took a scroll through your recaps! I'm Glad My Mother Died is on my mental TBR and I'd also like to read 100 Years of Lenni and Margot...now if I can just remember that the next time I'm looking for a read.

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  2. BOOKS!!! Like you, I grew up reading all the time. The only time I ever got in trouble at school was when I would get caught reading a book on my lap under the desk instead of paying attention to the teacher. As a young adult I read incessantly, but then when I had kids my reading dropped off alarmingly. Years went by where I hardly read at all. I can't exactly remember what got me back into it- maybe just the realization that there was a gaping hole in my life. Now I always have a book going, just like the good old days (although of course I don't have as much time to read as I'd like.)
    Just for the fun of it, I always set a goal to read 50 books a year and always fall short. But I'm undaunted, and always think THIS will be the year! We'll see.
    I get most of my book recommendations from blogs and Modern Mrs. Darcy- I love her book lists. I'll be reading a blog, a book sounds interesting and I open a new tab right away and put a library hold on it (which leads to some fun surprises when the holds come in, because by then I've often forgotten all about it.)
    Oh, and I know I'm really outdated here, but I read all my books in actual, physical book form. Maybe someday I'll graduate to e-books, but for right now I still love holding the book and turning pages the old fashioned way.
    Great post!!! Oh and I've made that sauce from Minimalist Baker- it's really good.

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    1. YES I GOT IN TROUBLE ALL THE TIME FOR READING AS A KID!!!! My parents had a "no reading in the car" rule for some reason and it's a given that I was always trying to sneak a read in school. My husband put his foot down on no books at the dinner table, but back when the boys were little and they "had" to come on dog walks with us, they used to bring books to read while walking.

      Hey there's nothing wrong with physical books and it means that you probably get the new releases from the library before I do.

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  3. Oh, I love to talk about reading! I use a plain old Excel spreadsheet to track my reading, with a new tab for each year and then a "combined" tab where I add each year's and sort by author, so I can quickly check if I've read something without going thru each year. I started this way 10 years ago, so it's a lot of books! I track if I'm reading it for the first time or re-reading, if it's from the library, if it's an ebook, various things like that. I haven't tracked audios there, as almost all my listening is familiar books that I fall asleep listening to, but I really should add new ones that I listen to straight through--when I'm awake for all of it!
    I love the convenience of ebooks (as well as the weight for some big ones), but I still love print books and have plenty, adding a few each year. I purged a lot before I moved five years ago, and I'll glance at the shelves now and again and decide that this or that one can go.
    A few years ago, a friend came over for something and her husband immediately started looking over my bookshelves and suggesting authors I might like. He's a good one!

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    1. I love looking at other people's bookshelves and of course way back at my husband's first time at my house it impressed me that he knew every book on my shelves. That's the one disadvantage of ebooks - outside of blogs and social media it limits random book conversations IRL.

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  4. Yay books! I looooooooove to read and to talk about books and to learn other people's reading habits. So funny that your husband had NO BOOKS on display when you first visited his house! That would be a red flag for sure, so I'm glad it had a reasonable explanation.

    I also love your attitude about reading. I can totally see how specific book goals might get in the way of simply enjoying the reading.

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    1. Back in my single days I dated two men who both said about reading "nah, I can just watch the movie". That was definitional an early indicator that we were not compatible for both relationships and something that I kept an eye out for.

      Yes right now my only "goal" is to read but I love living vicariously through your reading. And I'll say again that when your books get published I won't get them from the library - I'll be a paying customer.

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  5. What a lovely retrospective of your reading life. My blog is basically my only record of my reading, but I've been maintaining it for most of my adult life, so I feel like it's a pretty good record. I will definitely be writing a post about my reading history, but basically I was late to reading, but once I figured it out, I never stopped. I will read anything, from the back of a shampoo bottle to the owner's manual for our television.

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    1. I need to hear your backstory!!! I would never have guessed that you were a late reader. I remember in first grade we had a series of books in the classroom that were ranked from easy to hard. I loved one of the easy books so I always wanted to reread it, and I got made fun of for being "slow". All that I remember is that it was about a cat.

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  6. You have a husband that reads!! And boys that read!! How cool is that?!
    I feel that I need to bookmark this post because there are so many reading tips here.
    For your short reading daily reading window, you get a lot of books done! Great job!
    On re-reading books: I was so hesitant of re-reading "A tree grows in Brooklyn" because I was afraid that I wouldn't like it as much as an adult. But I loved it exactly the same. I was amazed how little my book taste had changed over the interim 40 years!

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    1. Yes! I've had the experience of picking up a book that I loved and having it fall flat on the second read. But I feel like that's never ever happened to anyone who's read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

      If I had to guess, stepson #2 and I probably read the same volume of books. The hubs reads less than I do because of time, and stepson #1 is the house reading champ. You never see him without a book.

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    2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a book that just grows with you. I read it in my teens, 20s, 30s, and I'm sure a reread in my 40s will show me something new. It is the BEST book!!

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    3. I have read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn several times and it never gets worse, only better! In fact, I may go and read it again soon!

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  7. Oooooh. I loved reading this, Birchy. I too love Liane Moriarty and I have enjoyed (almost) all of her books. There was a fairly recent one - Nine Perfect Strangers, I think it was called - that I didn't much care for, but mostly she's a big hit for me. I am going to put the Social Climber on my list, which is, as they say in Top Gun, long but distinguished. I just got an e-reader for Christmas and I like it fine, particularly for travel, but usually I get the physical book from the library. That said I do like to buy/ receive as gifts books as well, but I'm probably in the $30/ year range as well. I definitely read a lot more than I did a few years ago, for a couple of reasons: my kids are older, I am not teaching as much, and I quit twitter. All things that took up a lot of time! I have always been a reader though, so this is a relative thing. There have been years when I've read less, just because of life circumstances.

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    1. Long and distinguished! I gobbled up the rest of The Social Climber after I finished this post last night and it was oh so satisfying...

      Liane has been hit or miss for me. Big Little Lies is my 2nd favorite of hers, but it didn't have nearly the impact of What Alice Forgot.

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  8. Those "eggs Benedict" look SO good. I have a can of chickpeas hanging out in my pantry and I was thinking of making a soup with them this week, but I think I might need to try the vegan egg salad recipe instead.
    These comments remind me I need to re-read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I read it once and loved it and really want to read it again.
    I recently re-read Jane Eyre after declaring it to be my favourite book ever in my late teens, and basically hated it the second time around. Sigh.
    My husband is NOT a reader. This is still a bit bizarre to me because my father is a VORACIOUS reader and I read non-stop as a kid/teen. It makes me a bit sad because I would love to discuss books with him, but it's just...part of who we are. I read and he mostly doesn't (I mean, he reads a ton of online publications like The Economist and all sorts of news/tech/economics magazines - just not "book books")...and life goes on. We are so, so similar and like so many of the same things, but with books I am on my own.

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    1. Yes please try the chickpea salad! I think this is the 3rd straight week in a row that I've made it and I'm still not tired of it.

      I adored Jane Eyre back in the day, but I'm nervous to read it again now. I have so many books that spoke to me when I read them that just don't have their magic now.

      If it's any consolation, the hubs and I don't have the same reading tastes. He gravitates much more toward proper literature, sci fi, fantasy, and Jack Reacher. Every once in a while the stars align and we'll get into the same book, but it's rare.

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  9. Wow, lots of books! I seriously love books, and love to read, I just don't seem to have any free time to pick up a real book and get to it. I do read a lot of blogs, though ;-) That said, when the kids were younger, Harry Potter really took me back to the an era I'd really missed. I was the dorky mom standing in line at midnight when the "new" Harry Potter books were released, then stayed up half the night reading halfway through the newest book.

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    1. Harry Potter! The boys were not born/too young when the books came out, otherwise we would have been in line at midnight to get them. They started reading the series in middle school and it was just the greatest thing ever. They have complete sets of the books at both their mom's house and ours.

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  10. Oh I'm so interested to see you had reading dark years too! As a kid I used to read ALL THE TIME - at school they called me "Reading Rachel" sung to the tune of "Reading Rainbow" (remember that gem of a TV show?). I got in trouble because I spent recess in the library every day and I was supposed to be playing outside. But after university I just stopped reading for about 10 years! Sometime in 2020 I decided to start reading a book again, and then in 2021 I kept going, and since then I've read about 50 books a year.

    I see reading as a habit I've developed and I feel a bit sad thinking about all those years not reading - what was I doing instead? I don't think I was having more fun....

    I keep a reading list on my blog here, I just finished my 3rd book in March. I am definitely picking some books off your list for my "to read" section!

    http://www.rachelinwales.com/p/2023-books.html

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    1. I'd forgotten about getting in trouble for reading as a kid until Jenny mentioned it. I mean...no harm no foul on the low reading years, but it is so nice to just take some time out for reading at the end of the day.

      I like your year by year book page...hmm...thinking about starting a tab for that.

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  11. I loved reading your reading history! I had dark years too (LOL) and am so happy to be back to it (just a few minutes a night too, and on the train), and very much do not want to own (m)any physical books. I'd like them all in my Kindle, please! I used to track it a bit too intensely so now I am just letting Goodreads do it, and am getting back to recaps on my blog. The Social Climber sounds like something I would like!

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    1. The Social Climber was oh so satisfying! Exactly, just a few minutes a night is all that reading has to be.

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  12. Ooooh I always need book recommendations so I'm saving this post for later. Love all the new ideas! I loved a few of those books but haven't read most of them (Station 11 was one of my fave books a few yeras ago -- I read it pre-pandemic so it will be interesting to re-read it now). I also love e-books and audiobooks. I like them all! Here's my look of books I read last year: https://icrashedtheweb.com/2023/01/02/what-i-read-in-2022-43-books/

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    1. You've got some great reads on your list! I will get to the Court of Thorn and Roses series someday.

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  13. Books! So much love for books. I, too, had the dreaded reading lull. For me, it was college. I don't know why I stopped reading so voraciously, but... it was probably in an effort to fit in. Sigh. If I had to do it all over, I would make SO MANY different choices. Not least of which would have been to continue reading. But oh, I know this feeling exactly: "The exception is when we go on beach vacations, which inevitably end up as book binges for the entire family." YES - we are the same way! My parents and I all read at least 3 books each last year at the beach. Beach = books. Full stop. :)

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