Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me!!
As I was nodding off to sleep last night I said, "Tomorrow you will be _9, just try to remember back, Anne, to your birthday when you were 9." As I drifted off I was trying to remember the little girl who was me. I awoke with a determination to remember something of birthdays past. Why not the books I was reading on my birthdays past?
I am reading/listening to two books: Audio--- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain and the print book--- Sanditon/The Watsons, Jane Austen's two unfinished manuscripts. Quiet is nonfiction and a book club selection. I've been piddling along on Sanditon for months. I hope to finish this weekend.
I finished the book Defending Jacob by William Landy a few days after my birthday. I remember listening to the audiobook with my husband as we drove to Leavenworth, a Bavarian-style village in the Cascade mountains a few hours from our home. The book, a mystery, asks the question: What if you think your child is guilty, would you still defend him? This was a book club selection. I don't recall having a great discussion on the book with the club but Don and I had fun talking about it as we listened together. We had so much fun in Leavenworth, too. Happy memories. My summary of the book includes other books full of unlikable characters.
The was just finishing up the wonderful, WONDERFUL book The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman on my birthday. Neil Gaiman is a favorite author but this book had all the makings of a book I wouldn't like because it is very dark and quite scary. But I did/do love it. In fact, just the other day I decided to add it to my new Nifty-fifty cart, a cart in the library filled with great go-to books for readers who need help making a selection.
Here is a link to my original review.
A nonfiction selection was my birthday-reading fare, The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure by Martin Sandler. Though not a favorite book, I did marvel at how much heartier people were in those days of exploration and sea journeys and I really got into the story of this tremendous rescue. I have no idea why I decided to read this book, but I did. Ha!
I was deep into one of my favorite YA books of all time, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I even wrote Ms. Stiefvater a thank you/ love letter when I finished this one. She linked my note to her on her Twitter account. (Here is a copy of what I wrote to her.) Loved the book. Still do.
Five years ago today I was reading about a horrible group of boys and their exploits in The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Can you believe I hadn't read this classic tale of boys-gone-bad until five years ago? I have probably thought of this book every day since then for some reason or another. No wonder it is considered a classic and read by just about every high school student in America. Here is what I said about the book in 2011.
I started recording my books on Goodreads in 2010 but I was pretty spotty in the beginning and I didn't record any books the whole month of February 2010. I just know I was reading something. Do you have a Goodreads account? What were you reading five years ago this month? It was fun to look back and remember what I was doing these past year birthdays.
Happy birthday, Anne!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI am terrible with my Goodreads, as well as Pinterest and LinkedIn. :) I can only keep up with so many things at a time. I don't remember liking Defending Jacob very much, but it seemed like it should have been a decent discussion book.
ReplyDeleteI like using Goodreads because it is so easy. I have gotten to the point of only saving recipes on Pinterest. I think Linkedin is more for business types.
DeleteI'm with you Margaret,
DeleteAs I am out for much of the day and only get time to bolg etc. in the evenings, I am finding that social media is now taking up so much of my time, that there isn't much capacity left to actually read!
I do find Goodreads most beneficial though, there is just so much information available and of course, the daily giveaways are not to be missed :)
Yvonne
Yes it was fun. Now I will have to peruse my journals to find out what I was reading ten years ago. Before Goodreads I did keep a paper pencil record of books.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your birthday post Anne,
ReplyDelete'Defending Jacob' actually sounds really good, however I have so many excellent titles on my 'Want To Read' list, that I am going to resist the temptation to add it just yet.
I'm impressed that you still keep all your journals. I make copious notes and mark quotations when I am reading, however the books are usually thrown away once the review goes live.
Have a good weekend with your reading and here's to the next nine :)
Yvonne