*meme created by Moonlight Reader

 

Doing this weekly blog post again so that I can keep track of my TBR of books I own. Library books will be featured on Tuesday's Library Love blog posts.

 

Incoming:

+1. The AI Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole - originally written for Audible, now available in ebook, Kindle, and print formats. I picked this up for #BlackoutBestSellerlist & #BlackPublishingPower challenge - the purpose is to populate the best seller lists with black authors. COYER will be doing a special RAT from June 20th - 28th focused on reading the two books purchased between Monday and Friday of this week. 

 

TBH, I didn't want to add any of the books mentioned on the lists going around - for one, I have read and absorbed a lot of those books already and for two, I wanted to read about black life that doesn't involve pain, humiliation, or death - I get enough of that from the news media. I wanted to read about the other parts of black life, like love, joy, and laughter. So my first choice was a romance, and one by one of my favorite authors. The other one....

 

+2. New Year, Same Trash: Resolutions I Absolutely Did Not Keep by Samantha Irby - I read We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by the author back in December and enjoyed it. Irby is a hilarious and honest essayist, so it will be a quick read in keeping with my overall theme for the summer reading.

 

Outbound:

-1. Dance All Night (Dance Off #2.5) by Alexa Dare. Unintentional winter holiday reading, but I loved it.

 

-2. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Aka the book that is going to convince me to read Hannah Arendt.

 

NOOK: 224 books

Kindle: 61 books

Print: 52 books

 

 

 

Kinky Resolutions and other New Year's D...



I enjoyed this one. It was really humorous and fairly light-hearted. The foursome scene had me LMAO. Both characters were likable in their own right. A manwhore Baseball player and a geeky straight-laced introvert. It was a cute combo. I HATED Bridget, she was an awful BFF in my opinion. *lol*



That said, the lack of communication between them drove me up the wall. I was yelling JUST F-ING TALK already to my tablet on more than one occasion. The book was also very time-jumpy in they would be together then not see each other for months. Rinse and repeat over the course of the year the book takes place in. The ending felt rushed as well and with no epilogue it left me feeling a little letdown. This really would have benefitted from an extra "in the future" chapter.

Overall, despite my issues, the humor carried this one and I ended up enjoying it. So one and a half thumbs up from yours truly.

5 Anytime Resolutions - Your New Year Doesn't have To Begin in January by Chanin Richel

32% through book. Significant quote: "Renewing your mind is not a one-day or one-time process. It is a continual effort to take control of your thinking patterns & perception of events around you. Like jewelry, it gets tarnished from continual interaction with a messy & negative world. Remember to take time regularly to renew your mind in order to keep moving in the direction of the life that you desire."

I've been doing some of the recommended exercises & based on them have come up with more extensive ones to meet my personal needs. Regarding downsizing things: I'm committed to one grocery bag a day removed from my office or closet. Things are going to Goodwill or garbage. If it doesn't work, I don't want it any more, or it doesn't bring me pleasure it's gone. I feel better already.

Last chapter was to define your purpose with exercises to help do so. After defining your purpose, take action to reach it. Basically feel the fear & do it anyway.

It's a good read for someone searching to enhance their life. Starting any day of the year is a recommended step to take & an admirable step too.

By the end of the year, I will have read

 

Beloved by Toni Morisson (I know, I know, don't yell at me. I haven't read it yet.)

 

Roots by Alex Haley. (I'll give myself until 2015 for this one. Delving.)

 

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (in honour of her passing and also because it's time I read it. My mind is sufficiently developed now, I think)

 

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Much has been made about her poetry versus her prose; more people tend to focus on her verse as her "canon" and The Bell Jar, while famous, kind of gets left out a little from discussion. As it is currently sitting above my head on a shelf, however, I want to read it. It reminds me a little of Girl, Interrupted, which is scary, but this is Sylvia Plath. I'm in good literary hands. Will just remember to pursue happy extracurriculars while reading.

 

La Deuxieme Sexe par Simone de Beauvoir- It's tiiiiiimmmmme. <3

 

Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre. Ditto. Existentialist time.

 

+ I know this doesn't count because it's a movie, but I want to see Kill Your Darlings (2013) with Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg and Dane DeHann as Lucien Carr (about whom I had never heard). Jack Kerouac also shows up in it, and William Burroughs. So I love the beats, but really Ginsberg only. I kind of don't like Kerouac, but we'll see, won't we?

 

Following that line...

 

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg. Again, it's about ruddy time. I think listening to Howl is as important as reading it, but I want to get a nice collection of the beats. Ah, Allen.

 

If and only if I feel like it:

 

The Temple of my Familiar by Alice Walker. Can wait until I'm 30.