January: A Banner Reading Month

I finished 11 books during the month of January. 9 of those were completely read during the month. This has to be some kind of a personal record for me. I didn’t feel as though I was spending an inordinate amount of time reading. I think that the time I spent reading I was more likely to actually spend reading and not on Twitter. Twitter is essential to my reading and blogging life, but it does have the ability to divide my attention like nothing else. Here’s the list of the books I read during the month of January:

The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant (began in December)
Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer (began in December)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Year and Six Seconds by Isabel Gillies
First You Try Everything by Jane McCafferty
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Restoration by Olaf Olafsson (released on 2/7/12)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Here are my favorite print and audiobook reads during January 2012:

Of note was my reaction to Less Than Zero. It’s still early days, but I believe that book has a good shot at being my least favorite book of all time. Yes, I would read Moby Dick and The Heart of Darkness again with great pleasure rather if it could only erase the few hours I spent reading my first and only Bret Easton Ellis book.

January: NORC Drop Out

God. I was in such a good place toward the end of last year. I dug myself out of a 15-review hole and vowed to never find myself in the red again. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. As always, life and my job got in the way of my reading and reviewing. Despite my best attempts, I began January in a 10-review hole. I first set a goal to get finished with older reviews by my 5th Blogoversary (thanks to everyone for their well wishes!). I still had 10 reviews left to write when that date came and went. Then, I was sure, I would be out of the hole by the end of January. During the last week of January, I was making progress and was excited to contemplate earning my way back into the NORC fold. I had gotten my total review count down to 8. Then I noticed something. There were books that I finished that were not listed in Library Thing to review. Ugh.

As of today, I’m now 11 reviews in arrears.  In addition to the titles listed above without links to reviews, I need to review the following from December:

Dr. No by Ian Fleming (a November book, actually)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Holy Ghost Girl by Donna Johnson
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston

Ugh, indeed. February, you’ve got some reviews to write. STAT!

February: Looking Ahead

I’ve got a full docket of books to read this month. Here’s what I’m looking forward to the most:

A Good American by Alex George (2/7/2012)

The Mirage by Matt Ruff  (2/7/2012)

History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason  (2/7/2012)

The Book of Lost Frangrances by M. J. Rose (for a book tour date of 2/21/2012)

A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein (for Algonquin Books’ Book Club on March 4th)

So, I think that’s a wrap on January. What has been your reading highlight for 2012?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful husband Danny. I love him for putting up with me geeking out and then stressing out over interviews, my time on the computer, my reading adventures away from home, and the time I have my nose buried in a book. This wouldn’t be possible without your love and support.

Here’s to at least another 5 years. Who knows what the future might bring.

Let me tell you how much of a relief this is going to be! We won’t be done, but I believe the crisis will be over. And, my Thanksgiving vacation, which has been in jeopardy, is now a reality.

For those of you participating in Shaken, Not Stirred, I’m really looking forward to our Twitter chat tomorrow night (11/19) beginning at 9:30. Be sure to use the hashtag #shakennotstirred to participate or to even follow along. I really enjoyed Dr. No. The pacing was fast and the storyline was engaging. The conversation should be engaging and I’m hoping the movie, which was the very first James Bond film, lives up to the book.

I hope to post more while I’m in Michigan, but I’ll be surrounded by friends and family I don’t get much of an opportunity to see. So, the more than I think about it, you might not see much of me next week either. Rest assured that the last week discussion of The Marriage Plot will be posted next Tuesday. There’s still plenty of time to join in the conversation from this week as well!

I’m off to get my lunch – and it’s even a decent time of the day to eat it. What a revelation!

The dream…

As the dream begins, I find myself in my Aunt and Uncle’s house. They live in Pittsburgh, but in the dream Pittsburgh is geographically located in Arizona. I arrived there from out of country somewhere, but I have my red Chrysler 300 with me. As my visit with them is drawing to an end (i.e. the moment I arrive), I start making plans to head back home to The Noke. I’m walking and my Uncle is showing me how to get there on the map. Pittsburgh is in Southern Arizona. Once I leave Arizona, I am in Southeastern Tennessee. From there, I head into Virginia at Bristol. I am trying to figure out how long it’s going to take me to walk and am figuring it will take me about 8 hours. I wonder how in the world I’m going to walk that far carrying my carload of stuff. It never occurs to me to drive home. Instead, I start to research buying Amtrak tickets. I’m worried that my mother will be mad at me for spending my money on train tickets instead of walking. I go on my netbook to Amtrak’s website and type in my desired trip. It is also an 8 hour journey, but there is no stops. I’m thrilled until I notice that Miami is the destination, not The Noke. I update my destination to The Noke. The trip then becomes a 9 day ordeal because the route takes me all the way up the West Coast, across the Canadian border and then south down to Virginia.

And that’s that. I woke up without my alarm. It wasn’t one of those dreams where I thought it was real. I knew from the moment I woke up that it was a dream. I have no idea what brought that on or what, if anything, it means. Feel free to speculate and amuse me today. I will probably need it.

Happy 11.11.11 everyone!

Around the same time, I’d been tweeting about my love of Stewart O’Nan with @mattviews and @lakesidemusing. It’s been ages since I’ve read O’Nan and I started jonesing for a read pretty badly. He has plenty of work I haven’t read yet, so I could easily come up with enough books from his list to complete the month of November. From past experience though, I know that four books from the same author in a month’s time isn’t a good idea for me. Since I was reading two Dubus novels, I decided to read two O’Nan novels in November.

Still, four books does not make a month, though it’s getting close. I can easily read six books in a month, especially if there is a mixture of audiobook and print. So, who else should I select? O’Nan is an existing favorite. Dubus is an author for whom I’ve only just scratched the surface. For a third author, I decided to pick someone I’ve never read before. But who? As I purused my library looking for a previously unread author, I remembered another author sitting on my shelves that I’ve been wanting to read for a long time – Flannery O’Connor. Not only do I have an audiobook copy of Everything that Rises Must Converge, I also have a very nice collection of her body of work.

I’ve mentioned each of the three authors I’ll be reading. Here are the actual selections I made:

House of Sand and Fog ~ Andre Dubus III’s first novel. I have a copy of the audiobook, which was narrated by the author and his wife.

The Garden of Last Days ~ Dubus’ second novel. I picked this up after Stephen King wrote about it in Entertainment Weekly. It’s been sitting on my shelf ever since.

A Prayer for the Dying ~ I’ve requested this title from my local library. It’s O’Nan’s fifth novel about an undertaker forced to choose between his duties to a plague-stricken town and his family.

Wish You Were Here ~ This novel leads up to Emily Alone, which I’ve preordered in paperback. I’ve got a copy of this novel on my Kindle.

Everything That Rises Must Converge ~ I won the audiobook from Karen White during Audiobook month. It’s a collection of short stories, which will set it apart from the rest of my reading.

The Violent Bear It Away ~ This is O’Connor’s second and last novel. It is about a 14 year old boy wanting to escape his destiny to be a prophet.

40 never looked so good…

I plan on spending a lot of time exploring all there is to offer. My sister Donielle gave me $4 to gamble with (a dollar for each decade), so I’m bound to hit the casino. I think my favorite place is bound to be the Serenty 21 and older lounge. Think books, waiters at my beck and call for drinks and the floppy hat I’ll be buying in Miami thanks to Beth Hoffman’s suggestion.

Which books you ask? Here are a few of those I’ve packed for just such a spot:

Sisters Brothers, The Lantern, The Lady of the Rivers, The Time it Snowed in Puerto Rico, Come In and Cover Me, A Good American, Falling Together, and Motor City Shakedown.

Day 1 ~ Destination Miami

Home of Miami Vice and Miami Ink, if I’m going to get into any trouble, it will probably be here. We’ll arrive in time for lunch and then who knows what.  I certainly want to experience South Beach. If I just had something pastel to wear…

See, I thought that being out of the country when the Big 4-0 hit would protect me from things like this. Apparently I’ve been a little too vocal about being gone because people knew the last day I’d be here beforehand. LOL! So, if you’re looking for a mint today, you now know where to come. At least there were no packages of Depends, hemorrhoid cream or canes.

Work may be stressful right now, but I work with some of the best people in the whole world. It’s nice to be able to celebrate with a family of sorts. To whoever was the culprit – and I have a few ideas – thank you so very much. It’s going to make this last day of work much happier.

On a side note, this will officially by my 1,000th post. I want to thank each and every one of you for your support. I wouldn’t have last this long without you. You’ve made my day, too.

Over time, especially when having to type in the name of my blog, I found the name The Literate Housewife Review long and cumbersome. After an impromptu Twitter pole, I discovered everyone felt the same way I did. No one thought of my blog by the full name. It was Literate Housewife. I have to say that change alone feels like shedding a huge weight. I’m not exactly sure why, but it does. I feel more like me.

The last noticeable change outside of those elements brought into the site by the new template (love Vintage!) takes care of another little issue that has been nagging at me. When you look at my brand, you can easily tell that I love books. You’re probably visiting a book blog. What it didn’t say to me was “this blogger is an audiobook geek.”  I wanted my growing love of audiobooks to be incorporated. Although I’m going to find all of the updated functionality useful and I love my new name, I especially love how that came together.

Over the next few days and weeks I may be making other changes. Do I like the two sidebars? What about the grid display of older posts? Please feel free to add your two cents. I can’t promise I’ll take your suggestions, but please know how much they are appreciated.

Thank you so much to all of my readers. That you read what I have to say continues to amaze me. I love you for allowing this blog to expand and change over time. I have the best readers in all the world! 

To all of you on Twitter who indulged my questions regarding these changes, you are fantastic! I have the best tweeps are my tweeps.

Finally, I want to thank Karen Lewis from Simply Amusing Designs. She has once again done a fabulous job taking my scattered requirements and making them shine.