It's Friday! What are you reading? (1/5)

[Nonny]

What are you reading this first week of 2018?  Are you kicking off any reading challenges?

QOTW:  Now that the holidays are over, are you feeling relieved, or let down?

[bex]

I'm reading "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel. I read Wolf Hall last January, and kept meaning to pick up this one but never did. So, now's the time I guess. the only reading challenge I'm doing is a numbers goal - to read 50 books this year. So I better get going lol.

[Nonny]

I'm about halfway through Born a Crime, which I'm enjoying - it's fascinating and I'm learning a lot. I didn't make it in time for book club, but I figure I can bump the thread when I'm done. This will actually kick off my library's 10 to Try challenge with the category of a biography or memoir.

QOTW: I'm personally relieved the holidays are over and things are back to normal. I do miss my Christmas lights, but I'm slowly ridding my house of glitter herpes (thanks to my sister... grrr!!! fucking glitter!!!) and I want that shit gone!

[rainbowchip]

I'm reading Tower if Dawn and Prom and Prejudice.

I need something light to go along with TOD because I always struggle reading the series but I can't quit them!

I'm just doing a 52 book challenge again this year so I'm off to the races.

QOTW: I am happy the holidays are over. I am a bit sad about not having a bunch of time off of work though. I really enjoy paid holiday time. Lol

[monkeyfeet]

I will finish Hillbilly Elegy today or tomorrow. About 75% through The Fiery Cross....No challenges. I like to pursue all of my hobbies (not that I have many others) and the # of book challenges) sometimes make it feel unenjoyable. I'm currently in 3 (if you count this board) book clubs, so when I get a chance, I prefer to pick something I feel like rather than fits a category.

QOTW: I'm happy. We took down our Christmas decorations Dec 26 since our tree was dead and we were traveling over New Years. I enjoy the lights, but like my clean (who am I kidding?) house more!

[kelliebeans104]

I'm listening to Blue Lily, Lily Blue. The third book in the Raven Cycle. It's a reread. I love this series.

I'm reading Little Fires Everywhere on my kindle and I am loving it. I want to just spend all my time reading it.

I have a goal of 50 books this year. I lowered it from 55 last year b/c I want to try to read more books instead of listen.

QOTW: I'm sad about the holidays being over. I love our house decorated for Christmas and it just feels so empty and depressing when everything's put away. We still haven't taken our tree down yet. Maybe this weekend though since there's needles everywhere.

[hurricanedrunk]

Reading Origin by Dan Brown and liking it so far. Listening to Brave New World am finding it interesting when I know what's going on. My only reading challenge this year is to read 100 books - my to read list is currently 60 books deep with a mixture of classics and new books so I should be able to make a decent dent.

QOTW- Our decorations are coming down this weekend and we have one last holiday party next weekend so things aren't quite over for us. It is kind of sad when all the stuff comes down but I'm usually happy when it's all over and things are back to normal.

[travella]

I'm flying through The Story of Arthur Truluv. I'll probably finish it tonight. It feels a lot like A Man Called Ove, which is a little irritating, but also why I like it (I loved A Man Called Ove).

QOTW: I am so happy that the holidays are over and the holiday mess is gone! Ever since having kids (Christmas kids none the less) the holidays have become even more stressful, cluttered, and unhealthy. I'm so glad to have the house back in order and eating healthier again!

[charlatti]

I am close to finishing Gabrielle Walker’s Antarctica (nonfiction — it’s fascinating and you should all read it. Plus it will make you feel a tiny bit less miserably cold when she talks about -80 degrees at the South Pole). I’m also re-reading The Bartender’s Tale by Ivan Doig, which will become my carry-to-work book next week, and just started The Forever Ship by Francesca Haig, which is the last in a trilogy I haven’t enjoyed all that much but still want to finish.

Qotw: I’m in a weird limbo — school/work starts back on Monday, decorations are only half down, and it’s been too cold to do much more than hibernate. Once the house and our schedules are back to normal I’ll probably feel sad it’s over.

[litskispeciality]

I'm still plugging away at the 19th wife. Half I haven't had time to read/half it's super long. I might pick up another book just to feel like I've accomplished something. No reading challenges yet. Not sure if I want to aim for 24 as I have a few long books on my TBR. I am trying to challenge myself to read every single day which helped kick off 2017 the right way.

QOTW: I'm relieved their over, but I miss the tree lights. I didn't get a formal holiday break, but having the excuse to take a day here or there was nice. I'm dreading a full 5 day week next week.

[mpc]

I'm reading After You by Jojo Moyes simply because my library hold came in and it popped up on my kindle. Last weekend I started A Man Called Ove so I'll get back to that once I finish this other one.

[minzy]

This week, I started Beartown by Fredrik Backman, but haven't gotten too far.  I'm also reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben on the recommendation of my librarian friend, and it's great!  Trees are really pretty awesome.

I will aim for 50 again this year, it's hopefully doable.  I will probably continue to focus on nonfiction science and more current novels, with an effort to also read works by POC/minority authors.  Last year I read 52 books - roughly half split between fiction and non-fiction, and about a dozen were by POC.  

QOTW:  It was a mostly fun holiday season (aside from us all being sick around Christmas) but it's over, so I'm ready to move on.

[jentervention]

Longtime lurker trying to read 52 books in 2018 ...

Finished (#1) Jeneration X by Jen Lancaster last night. I liked it, but I felt like I may have already read it.

Listening to (#2) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. Loving it so far.

Just started (#3) The Racketeer by John Grisham. Too early to say if I like it.

I'm just getting over the flu. NYE/NYD were a blur, and I missed 3 days of work. I'm relieved to be getting back to normal.

[ufcasey]

Read:
Amour Amour by Krista Ritchie - contemporary romance; 3 stars; cirque du solei wanna-be plot, interesting but could have been better
Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn - historical romance; 3.5 stars; cute, but I'll forget I read this next month
Behind This Mask by Meghan March - contemporary romance; 3 stars; so much potential but the 'i love you' came too soon and the end was lack luster
The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain - historical fiction; 4 stars; lots of interesting things in it like polio, racism in the 40s, strained relationships, and deaths. Not anything too surprising in it, but it was a good read

Currently Reading:
From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon - historical fiction/romance; soooo good so far, it's about Nazi-ism in Italy and a priest and a jewish girl struggling to survive

QOTW:
I'm happy it's all over. Time to take down the Christmas tree...

[ssmjlm]

Finished Lucy Kincaid 12- it was ok. I think the author has written so many she’s bringing in too many characters and it’s too muddy for me.

Reading - Stranger in the House

My reading goal is 50 books. I did 75 last year, but I would like to add more non-fiction this year and those take me longer.

QOTW- Happy it’s over, too much drama every year.

[mrspez07]

I’m listening to My Grandmother Ask Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. The britishnarration is awesome and I’ve laughed out loud more than once.
I’m reading The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
And our family started the third Illustrated Harry Potter that we got for Christmas. The boys love it too!

No challenges, but I love reading this time of year.

We just took down our tree tonight and put most of the other decorations away. The City ends their recycling this weekend. I miss it because we move furniture around to accommodate it and procrastinate on moving it back so there’s a big empty spot. I also love the lights. Putting stuff away wasn’t as bad as I expected this year, we all helped, do it went quickly.

[sassypants]

I'm 3/4 of the way through The Grave Keepers. It's a strange concept, but I like it. Everything seems like a typical coming-of-age story (it's YA) except that in this version of the world, people spend lots of time in their graves before death. Like, they decorate them (I'm imagining them being vault-like, otherwise they'd be damp and unpleasant) and have special "grave opening" ceremonies during their 13th summer that are almost bar/bat mitzvah like. I feel like the author is running out of time to do a good resolution to the unexplained things, but we'll see how it pans out.

I'm ready to be done with the holidays, but I enjoyed them this year more than I have in the past several years. The holidays frequently feel anticlimactic and give me the blues but I didn't have that feeling this year even though I'm ready to move on from them now.

[MrsAxilla]

I’m working on the third book in the time travel series, Time’s Divide. It looks like there are a bunch of related novellas, but I hope the main story is done after this book. It’s good, but not good enough to follow for long. All the time travel makes the details hard to remember.

I’m also reading Fire and Fury, because how am I not myself? 😁

[sarahsays]

I'm rereading the Red Rising series in preparation for the Iron Gold release later this week. I'm currently most of the way through Golden Son.

QOTW: I'm mostly relieved the holidays are over. It's so expensive, I hate that it's so busy, and that it gets dark at 4:30.

[jmliongrrrl]

My goal is to read 75 books this year with a third of them being non fiction. I'm listening to Hillary Clinton's What Happened. She does a better job narrating it than I would have expected. I'm glad I'm reading it as an audiobook, you can really hear the passion in her voice.
I started The Zookeeper's Wife this week. I like it so far. I'm looking forward to watching the movie when I'm done.

QOTW: I'm relieved the holidays are over. I took a new job this fall so I'm working night shift again which just makes all family events so much more difficult. I worked 7pm Christmas Eve til 7am Christmas day, then hubs drove as we traveled to see our families. I ended up being up for 32 hours and it did not feel very merry.

[ally]

I set my Good Reads goal for 2018 at 40 books.  No other reading challenges - I always consider them, and them remember that I want to read what I want and not make it fit some arbitrary goal.

I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora this week.  I gave it 4 stars.  It was convoluted and every time I thought we would get the end of a story it got more involved and yet, everything was tied up pretty nicely in the end.  Oddly, I was put off a bit by the swearing (and I do swear) and it was fairly violent.  I may read another in the series, but I need a break in between.  I also finished Ella Minnow Pea, a fun, quirky story and a quick read. (I am generous with stars, probably 4, but such different books.)

QOTW: The holidays are chaotic, but I miss it some.  Tomorrow we will take down our tree and decorations and the house will feel "flat" for a few days (due to the crazy amount of snow, the outside decorations will be up until spring!).  I have felt better getting back to both healthy eating and spending!

[oliviapope]

I finished More Than This by Patrick Ness. I enjoyed it far more than I expected to.

I'm currently about half way through Little Fires. I'm trying to hit 55 books this year. We'll see though. It helps that there is absolutely nothing on TV that I'm interested in watching right now.

Normally I get a little sad when the holidays are over. This year, I'm good with it. Had a good run, but I'm glad it's over for another year lol.

[abs]

I finished The Identicals Friday night and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It was a really good book.

Now I am reading both The Orphan's Tale and Summer Sisters.

QOTW: The holidays never really felt like the holidays this year because everyone was sick. We took the tree down earlier this week and now the house looks so empty and blah. I am however ready for my kid to go back to school and get back into a routine.

[Deleted]

I read "A Thousand Pardons" this week, other than an ending that feels like a rush job, I enjoyed it. I started "February" by Lisa Moore & "The Confession" by John Grisham. I debated re-reading "The Winter's Tale" but not sure if I'm in the mood for Shakespeare, even though I love the story.
I signed up to read 50 books for the Goodreads challenge. Pretty sure preteen me read that many books during summer break... oh to be young! 😂

QOTW: The holidays officially end today for me with Orthodox Christmas/Epiphany. I'll take down the decorations this week.

[brewco]

I finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (4*) and started Ready Player One (approx 25% in and enjoying it so far). I set my goodreads goal to 52, which is 2 more than 2017.

QOTW: I am SO happy the holidays are over! Busiest time of the year for work plus all of the holiday stuff is just too much!

[tacokick]

Read Night Film by Marisha Pessl. The concept was good but the actual book was very racist, sexist and transphobic in a very odd way. It in no way had anything to do with advancing the plot or the characters. It was just bizarre.

I’m glad the holidays are over. They were fine this year but I hate winter and everything to do with it.

[tcu2003]

I finished The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan. It was a cute read - 3 stars for me.

I just started Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

No reading challenge except my GoodReads goal to read 30 books. Last year I read 44 books, but much of that was due to extra reading time while pumping for the baby, which I don’t have this year. Maybe I’ll surprise myself and carve out more time to read and match last year’s total, but we’ll see.

QOTW: I’m okay that the holidays are done. I love them, but they’re also so busy and so.much.stuff enters our lives thanks to gifts for the kids, that I’m ready to try to declutter and get more organized come January each year. We took all of the decorations down yesterday, so things are looking back to normal.

[So_Fetch]

I finished The Breakdown by B. A. Paris. I loved it. Im happy the holidays are over because I like the fresh start feeling of January.

[bookchick]

Rules of Prey by John Sandford

I can’t read much for pleasure since I’m in nursing school, so over the holiday break I’ve devoured a bunch of books! 😊