Good morning! It's a sunny winter wonderland in Central New York. We received just under a foot of snow from Nemo but, since wind was not a factor here, it was business as usual by Saturday morning. I hope all my east coast friends came through the storm unscathed.
February is off to a great start, especially when it comes to reading. I finished Mudbound by Hillary Jordan earlier this week and absolutely loved it. It's my first 5 star read of the year and will likely end up a 2013 favorite. My book club will discuss it later this month, so I'll post my thoughts and meeting notes together.
Now I'm enjoying Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford. Warning - a literary biography binge could be starting!
Have you heard about the Vanity Fair Read-along hosted by Trish and Melissa? Not only is the book is on my Classics Club list, it's also part of a personal bonus challenge. The month-long project officially begins on the 15th and I'm planning on a read/listen combination. If you're even vaguely interested, check out Melissa's Ten Reasons Why You Should Do It. The twitter hashtag #YoureSoVain convinced me!
Now, about the TBR Double Dog Dare... I slipped up while on vacation last month. A copy of Fall of Giants was on the condo bookshelf and, because it was on my wish list, I started reading. (At that point, I could still rationalize that it was on somebody's tbr shelf.) The story drew me in immediately, but the 1000 page hardcover was just too heavy and bulky to read comfortably. So, what was a new kindle owner to do? I downloaded the ebook and finished reading. It was so easy!
Having a kindle makes it pretty hard to concentrate on my 'to be read' shelves, especially when amazon keeps emailing me their daily deals, but I'm determined to put this transgression behind me and continue to read from my shelves until April. Wish me luck.
I doubt there will be time for reading today. We're going to see Syracuse Opera's production of Sweeney Todd this afternoon (hope I can catch the end of the SU basketball game), and I understand there is a two-hour episode of Downton Abbey tonight. I plan to catch up with my blog reading before it begins.
What are you up to today?
Congrats on having such a good February so far :) Isn't Ken Follett something? Whew, I love his books!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read book 2 of the trilogy - not sure I'll be able to wait for another vacation!
DeleteOh, I love the sound of a literary biography binge. I'm on a biography binge, at least ... I just finished an unusual one, and I'm about to start a new biography of Nancy Astor (it will be interesting to get another view of her after reading the below-stairs one).
ReplyDeleteAbout to head out into our winter wonderland..
Audrey - I just read your latest post and you are definitely enabling a biography binge;-) Hope you enjoyed the snow today!
DeleteFor once we outdid you with snowfall levels...LOL (2 feet) Just got cleared out this morning.
ReplyDeleteDiane - I just saw your photos... very impressive, even by Syracuse standards ;-)
DeleteI own Mudbound, so I'm pleased to see that you loved it!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're having a great start of February :)
Sam - I have a feeling you will love Mudbound, too!
DeleteI haven't heard of Mudbound, I'll have to check it out. Nor had I heard about the Vanity Fair read-along. I'm not quite ready to re-read it yet, but I'd love to follow the discussions & posts.
ReplyDeleteLisa May - Mudbound was everywhere a few years ago, but I never got around to reading it... big mistake! I started Vanity Fair several years ago with an online group, but fell behind and set it aside. Hopefully things will work out better this time.
DeleteI'm pretty sure James would understand about getting that book on your Kindle. You could throw your back out lugging that thing around, and we wouldn't want that. So let's just say that the Kindle purchase was for medical reasons. I have actually found myself SITTING DOWN this afternoon...the boys are out target shooting, my daughter is doing homework, and dinner has been prepped. Blog reading then book reading! Woo hoo!
ReplyDeleteSandy - Medical reasons? Haha - I love it!! We'll see what James has to say ;-)
DeleteYou know someone's had a lot of snow when just under a foot is "business as usual!"
ReplyDeleteLisa - Such is life in central New York ;-)
DeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteI have Vanity Fair on my Classic Club list but don't dare take on any more at present. It is so hot here at present even reading progress is sluggish. At least reading about all the snow elsewhere has a cooling effect. :-)
Cat - Glad all our snow can help cool you off... I'm sure we'll be complaining about heat before too long ;-)
DeleteGlad you weren't totally snowed under -- and those eReaders sure do make it easy to read the clunkers.
ReplyDeleteBethF - Thanks to all the chunksters and free classics, my kindle is the best!
DeleteI wish I could join in the Vanity Fair read-along. I really love that book but I feel buried and one more reading commitment might snow me under, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteI love Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnets and would really like to read some non-fiction by Nancy Mitford, so this will have to go on the list. Literary bios are among my favorite sub-genres!
Enjoy Sweeney Todd--my son was in a teen production a few summers ago, which was my first exposure to it. Great songs, weird story! :)
JaneGS - Sweeney Todd was definitely the weirdest musical I have ever seen but, you're right, the songs were great! I read an excellent bio of Richard Yates last year - hope this is just as good.
DeleteI really want to read Vanity Fair at some point. I am currently doing a read-along for Crime and Punishment!
ReplyDeleteMeg - Oooh, wish I'd heard about the C&P read-along. It's near the top of my list!
DeleteGotta love the Kindle! That's one thing I really love about eReaders - a heavy book becomes so much easier to read. I'm the glad the snow wasn't too bad out your way this time.
ReplyDeleteDarlene - Yes, I'm loving this kindle! Have also just discovered 'kindle singles' and think I'll download a novella by Richard Russo next :-)
DeleteSounds like you had a good day.
ReplyDeleteI love my Kindle, except when the battery's dead like it was last night.
Carol - That's definitely the downside of electronics... remembering to charge the battery ;-)
DeleteI have always loved the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay, and I have that book too. I started reading it years ago, but never read past page twenty. The book was good, but something was going on and I never went back to it. I will someday. I want to know what you think of it.
ReplyDeleteBrenda - I sometimes have a hard time sticking with biographies, but 40 pages in, this seems to be both well-written and interesting. I'll probably read it slowly over the next couple of months.
DeleteI love my Kindle and the ease as to getting books is very addicting!! I have Mudbound on my iPhone to listen to at some point. So cool that it was a 5 star read for you! Score for me!! I also have a copy of Vanity Fair that's been languishing for some time on my shelves...but I'm too intimidated to read it. Maybe I should give it a shot? Hmmmmm....what to do!! ?? I will be sitting down and watching Season 3 in one day. It's been so hard to deprive myself but I'm glad that I did it this way and if you can believe it I've not heard or read one spoiler!!!
ReplyDeleteStaci - I think the combination read/listen for Vanity Fair will really help me this time. Listened to the first two chapters this morning and am looking forward to reading a little more tonight... We'll see.
DeleteYou're in for a treat with Downton Abbey. Can't believe you've managed to avoid spoilers!! I was disappointed to stumble upon a big one before the season started, but it still surprised me when I watched. Enjoy!!