Category: Updates

Updates

April 2013 Recap

Geoff W

What a month. I can’t believe how fast the month has gone and things were definitely not boring here in Boston with the marathon bombings and ensuing chaos. I’m glad to see the month go, but not ready for May or the summer that follows shortly after.

April felt like a short month for reading, but I actually read an above average six books: one for book group, three challenge books (two pre-listed one additional) and two ‘trashy romance’ novels/galleys. (I don’t really think they’re trashy, well some are and some I read are, but I just love to call them that.)

Recent Acquisitions

Well I was doing really good about not buying books and then in the last week of the month all of a sudden I bought three books and downloaded two galleys (one of which I completed); story of my life right? I  bought one kindle book for $1 (it sounded too good not to buy) called No Strings by Nick Nolan which I’m excited about. In addition I bought two physical books, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Peark and Sir Orfeo translated by J.R.R. Tolkien, above left, which I saw on someone else’s blog and I wanted a copy; and I purchased a copy of Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, above right, for my May Books into Movies book group.

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Updates

March 2013 Recap

Geoff W

And just like that March is over. If possible it went by even faster than February. Part of this comes from how ridiculously busy I was this month, but I think part of it came from the fact that spring looks like it might’ve finally arrived in Boston (but I’m not holding my breath just yet.) From realizing that I’ve been at my job for almost 6 months, to starting CrossFit (I’ll write more about this later) and having a social life for the first time in ages, I’ve been crazy busy.

2013 03-25 Messy Desk at WorkOutside of reading and books, things have been great if hectic, I realized a couple of days ago that on April 15th I will have been at my job for six months and that’s just crazy! I’m still loving it and can’t wait to see what happens over the next six months. My desk is to the right, because no post is complete without pictures. It pretty much will look like that for the next two weeks (if not longer) because I’m right in the middle of a busy period as I’m running phone-a-thon, but I love it because I work with students and they’re hilarious. And things are only going to get busier as we have a lot of events between now and mid-June and my sister graduates from her MA program in May so that just adds to my business.

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Updates

February 2013 Recap

Geoff W

2013 02-24 Snowy NightThis month flew by! I can’t believe how fast the month went and that it’s already March! The coolest thing this month was experiencing my very first BLIZZARD! If you want to see an awesome post with the dogs I live with click here. We’ve gotten a lot of snow off and on this month, but still not as much as the winter of 2010/11. To the right is a lovely picture I took Sunday night (Feb 24). Most of the snow is now gone after two solid days of rain.

On a random note I’ve made a couple of changes to my blog. I’ve added a few different ways of looking at the books I’ve read in the past. It’s no longer just by year, but you can now see by author and by series. I hope they are helpful to you, the readers, but mostly they’re there for me (assuming I remember to keep them updated).

In addition I realized when an author contacted me yesterday that I’ve had some pretty cool things happen since I started this blog so I created a sort of YAY ME! page which you can see here. I’ve called it ‘They Like Me, They Really Like Me!’ from that infamous Sally Field’s Oscar acceptance speech. I’m sure there are things missing, like my first ARC, and I hope there are more to come, but I thought it was kind of neat looking back. It’s amazing how social media has leveled the playing field between authors and readers.

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Updates

January 2013 Recap

Geoff W

Well I’m not sure how January was for the rest of you, but it flew by for me! I’m still trying to figure out where the month went! Not much to look forward to in February—it’s back to Single’s Awareness Day for me this year. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of books read and probably steer clear of romance novels for the month.

I hit my three-month anniversary at my new job and I’m glad to say I’m still loving it! Going into a busy period coming up, so fingers crossed all continues to go well. There were some major ups and downs in my personal life, but you know that’s how life is, so I’m just moving forward and making myself better as I can.

2013 01-22 Books from my SisterRecent Acquisitions
So I didn’t stick 100% to my no books rule, but I did REALLY well! I didn’t spend any of my money (all gift cards) and only purchased THREE books and they were all less than $3 because they were Kindle Daily Deals! (If you remember my two cop-outs were Kindle Daily Deals and Booker Prize winning novels for really cheap, and one of the three qualifies for both!) I purchased The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, 11/22/63 by Stephen King and The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell. In addition my sister bought me the three books in the picture above because she had money left over after selling text books 😀

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Updates

December (and 2012) Recap

Geoff W

What a year. Good things happened. Bad things happened. And I read a lot of books. That pretty much sums it up for me. Not going to delve into personal life and 2013 resolutions because, well, I don’t want to.

I don’t say it enough, but thank you to everyone who reads my little spot on the internet. I truly appreciate the amazing people I’ve met over the past 2.5 years and am looking forward to meeting more and interacting with new people in 2013!

2012 = Too Many BooksI finished all three of my challenges with 30 books and read a grand total of 81 books in 2012. According to Goodreads I read 32,866 pages. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but who cares, I read a lot! My original goal was 60 books, five books a month, and that will stand for 2013. I’m sure I will surpass it again this year, but I will not increase that goal because reading should be about fun and not about numbers. There are definitely other cool facts I could share, but go and explore and find out!

And the photo above, is why I am doing my best to go on a book buying ban for the first six months of 2013.My bookshelf is so far beyond overflowing I HAVE to start clearing it off. This will be difficult as I have over $100 in gift cards to various bookstores, but I can do it! There are only two exceptions to this rule: I can purchase a book (with a gift card) for book group and if the fifth book of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel is released in Paperback I can purchase it.  My to-be-read list (physical and Kindle) has surpassed 175 and I need to trim it down. If I read only 50 books a year I’m already looking at 4 years almost on my shelf alone! Not to mention the 275 other books on my dream list to read at some point.

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