2014 Challenges, Random, Updates

2014 Challenge Announcement! (Or Not…)

2014 Books

(Don’t you love the image?!?! I found the book image via Google and then I made the overlap—I am art!)

If you haven’t noticed I have been missing again for a while. I’m slowly working my way through Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace as my final 2013 Challenge Read and am (surprisingly) thoroughly enjoying it.

I’ve known for a while I wouldn’t do any challenges next year, but I hadn’t officially decided until recently. I feel bad abandoning the three challenges I’ve done for two years now, but I think I need the distance and freedom to read what I want when I want without restrictions other than those I put on myself. So far the only thing I’ve decided to read next year are more library books, re-read a few books that I haven’t made time for in years and just to have fun. In addition to the no challenges I am currently debating on the format my blog will take in 2014 but won’t make any major decisions until I do my 2013 recap.

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Books

Culture Corner – October 2013

2013 10-14 Tickets PleaseThis was a very cultural month or perhaps I made an effort more than I have the past few months. I’ve noticed a lot more public artwork around the city and haven’t taken a single photo of it, maybe I’ll try to get some for next month’s Culture Corner. Instead you get to relieve two amazing events and my virtual rock-starness.

 

Above you can see my tickets for the Harvard Bookstore Margaret Atwood reading and the Boston Lyric Opera’s performance of The Magic Flute.

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Updates

September 2013 Recap

I honestly thought doing monthly recaps might make the year go buy significantly slower, but boy was I wrong. Every time I go to write one of these my first thought is holy hell where did _______ go? And this month’s post is no different. I’m trying to figure out where summer and September went and what I’m going to do knowing October, November and December are going to be even busier!

2013 09-19 Finally Reading RowlingOn the reading front, I had a fun month. I didn’t read a single challenge book and don’t feel any guilt at all. I read what I wanted when I wanted and thoroughly enjoyed it, including FINALLY getting around to reading Rowling’s The Cuckoo’s Calling. (Which was great and I can’t wait until another is released!) I read a total of ten books and two short stories. Of those SEVEN were from the library and three were galleys. I think my favorite read of the month was Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake triology: Oryx and CrakeThe Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam. I went and saw Ms. Atwood speak and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I’ll recap that in this month’s Culture Corner. The trilogy and hearing her speak once again reminded me how much I love her and I think I’m going to make an effort to finish reading her other novels I haven’t read yet.

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Culture Corner

Culture Corner – September 2013

Things have been a little crazy for me. Work has picked back up exponentially so I’ve been really busy and not able to dedicate as much time to my blog as I want. Thankfully I’ve had time on the weekends to pre-populate book posts, but my other fun asides have been severely limited. So much so that this post is a cop-out. I quick snapped a photo of a cool public artwork where I catch the bus home most days.

It randomly appeared a few weeks ago and it just made me laugh. It’s not the first public sculpture in the Somerville area, I’ll try to get more photos on one of my next walks.

On a different note, I’ve had to put my podcast on hold until at least after winter. I enjoyed the first two and actually have  plans for the next 3-4 podcasts, but I just don’t have the extra time to put into it with how busy things are. I’m hoping to pick it back up again after the holidays, but this might be a permanent hiatus or just until the summer when things get really slow at work.

Updates

August 2013 Recap

What a busy month! It’s amazing how even though I didn’t work a full week at work the entire month, it feels like I’ve done nothing but work! I guess that’s part of gearing up for the students to return. I did get the amazing postcard, below left, from my friend Courtney who clearly knows me better than she should!

However, reading was seriously delayed this month as I spent TWO WEEKS trekking through Les Misérables and then as soon as I finished I immediately jumped into Austen in August! And the most memorable aspect again was re-discovering the HORRIBLE typo (above right) that occurs in the last 10 pages of my edition of Pride and Prejudice. I mean of ALL the words to get wrong in THAT book, that is not the one you want to misspell. In addition to the original I read three Austen fan-fiction novels (The Missing Manuscript of Jane AustenThe Darcys and the BingleysThe Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen) and a Brontë fan-fiction novel, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë. And surprisingly three of these books were library books! 

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