a short month, reading progress
Aah. I feel I’m back in the habit of reading more, social media-ing less. While I participated in the #yarnlovechallenge in February, I still managed to read twenty books!
That, however, isn’t what has me giddy with excitement. It’s a well established fact that I love rereading. For years now, I’ve relied on Goodreads as my reading organization tool, even though it didn’t track rereading in the way I wanted it to. I wasn’t the only reader frustrated, everyone had their preferred method for getting around the system’s limitation. Like many, I would read a different edition of a title to trick the system. That’s easy to do with very popular titles, harder to accomplish on some others.
On February 7th, Goodreads finally answered our pleas and it is now possible to mark titles as rereads (and have them count to the reading challenge total)!
Rereading
I broke in this long desired feature by rereading The All Souls Trilogy.
I’m also in the middle of a Harry Potter reread with Teabird. I’m behind (in large part because I thought we were reading one book a month), and I’ve been trying to reread en français. After four chapters, I gave up on Harry Potter à l’école des sorciers and finished the first book in English, but was determined to try to make progress with the second book. I persevered! I am very pleased to report that I completed Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets! For some reason I found this book easier with my rusty French. I did a simultaneous reread of this book, following each French chapter with the English. That helped me with the vocabulary I was unclear on, I found the second half easier to read. From here on out, however, I’m finishing this current reread of the series in English.
Reviews
I reviewed a few crafty titles at little acorn creations earlier this week. Book by book, I’m catching up!
I received review copies of the following titles from NetGalley: The Nature Fix, The Falconer, and The Fallen Kingdom. The FTC wants you to know.
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
by Florence Williams
When I need to recharge, I head into the woods. For a long time I thought it was because I grew up in the middle of the Pine Barrens, but it turns out this feeling of renewal and reduction of stress is a quantifiable result for many. Williams carefully takes the reader through the current research as she attempted to answer two questions: why she struggled with stress after moving from Colorado to DC, and why she found relief when she was most within nature. Her direct approach — by traveling to and taking part in many of the research projects — is informative, enjoyable, and helpful. She provides relevant reference notes, I have a much longer reading list now. I hope that this sort of popular science book on this important topic will reach policy makers and school recess will return, greenways improved, and access to more green (and tree-filled) spaces will result.
The Falconer, The Vanishing Throne, and The Fallen Kingdom.
by Elizabeth May
This is a fun trilogy despite several flaws that may influence your enjoyment, overall they didn’t stop me. First, make sure you have immediate access to all three books available when you start the first one. The Falconer ends on the worst cliffhanger I’ve read in years. Additionally at times the series felt as if it was the result of a YA romantic series program, there wasn’t much surprise (other than the cliff hanger in the first book).
However, sometimes you really just want to slip on a braid of seilgflùr flowers and travel to a fantasy world of Steampunk 1844 Edinburgh and kick some fae arse while the world collapses around you. This trilogy definitely succeeds there! I mostly enjoyed the time I spent with the heroine Aileana, and while I couldn’t relate to her reminiscing of girly-girl moments of her previous life as a debutante, I definitely understood her desire to remember life before her world turned upside down. I wish I could spend more time with her at her workbench and with her inventions, I respected her geeky determination to succeed. The ending of The Fallen Kingdom disappointed me, though I hope she is able to continue to enjoy her engineering pursuits. I’d most like to spend an evening at the pub with Derrick, he seems to be one of those you love him or you hate him pixies, I became quite fond of him. He seems like he’d be fun to get drunk with over a pint of honey ale.
The Women Who Made New York
by Julie Scelfo
Hallie Heald (Illustrator)
This is a delightful mature followup to Wonder Women. Scelfo worked to identify women without whom New York would not exist. This is a remarkable book. I will be rereading it soon and spending time to get to know these women. There were a few names I already knew, there were many others new to me. While I’m still processing all that I read, please enjoy this review from the New York Times (I guess it’s no surprise I loved this book as I’m a Barnard alumna) and this slideshow of Hallie Heald’s illustrations from NY Magazine.