This week my reading started out really slowly. Despite working on it all week, it took me until Friday to finish The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. So starting on Saturday I finally got to jump into the pile of books I’m trying to get read in June.
The Books on My TBR Pile
Thanks to everyone who voted in my poll for what book to read in June. Even after I added in the votes left in the comments, American Gods by Neil Gaiman was the clear winner with 24 votes. That’s a book I feel like I should have read already, so I’m glad it won (even if all the other choices were awesome too).
I also added a totally new book to my TBR pile — Rabbit, Run by John Updike, for a book club I was invited to join at The Cap Times. The meeting date hasn’t been set yet, but it should be in the next couple weeks. I think I can get this book done by then, it’s a much quicker read than I expected. I’m so excited to be part of a book club; I can’t wait.
I also remembered that the Spring Reading Thing 2009 challenge is ending June 20. I perused my original list and I’m doing ok — I’ve read 3 of the 5 books on my list. But I still have the two challenging ones left: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Yikes!
And finally, I just received The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabth Leiknes as a review copy from Bancroft Press. The e-mail they sent soliciting the book was very nice, and the story sounded fun, so I decided to get it even though I don’t normally get review copies. I want to read and review it in a timely manner, so hopefully by the end of the month?
Reading at the Coffee Shop
Luckily, I did start to make a dent in all the books I want to get read. Sister came to visit me in Madison this weekend, which has obviously been a great time. We rented movies, played disc golf, went out to dinner, listened to jazz music by the lake, and, of course, read a lot. Our plan was to spend Saturday out by the lake reading in the sun, but the weather mucked that plan up because it rained.
After unsuccessfully trying to see Up (it was sold out), we ended up at Cool Beans Coffee House and spent a couple hours reading. They had some very comfortable arm chairs and nice big mugs to drink tea from — I was a big fan of the entire place. I read about 100 pages of Rabbit, Run and 38 pages American Gods. Not bad for one afternoon!
And Now, I Read…
Sister (who is 20, I don’t think I ever mentioned that) is still asleep on the couch, so I think I’m going to hop back in bed and try to get a few more pages finished. Good luck to everyone doing the 48-Hour Read-a-Thon and have a great Sunday!
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Why can everyone read Rabbit, Run faster than I can?
A great Sunday to you as well – mine is soon over 😉 I am going to have some dinner in about half an hour and then hopfully finishing my first book in the Southern Reading Challenge and then I also hope to be able to write a review.
I am looking forward to hear what you think about Foer’s Extremely Loud….
Louise
Sounds like you’re having fun with your sister. We hope to go see Up next weekend.
The Didion book shouldn’t take you too long, but I rec a good place and time block for the Foer. But that’s just my opinion and could be totally wrong! I look forward to your thoughts on both of these.
Sounds like you had a fun weekend! I’ve got a few favorite coffeeshops to sit and read at – the one I like the most is called Just Us! they are a fair trade co-op and serve the most delicious carrot cake – for me it’s all about the sweets 🙂
Really glad to see that American Gods won the poll, but I still can’t wait to hear what you think of Year of Magical Thinking.