Weekend Reads #90: I’m Just Procrastinating

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend, but I don’t have a topic this weekend. Just my random thoughts:

Staying committed to a thing from beginning to end is not something I’m good at. I always get distracted somewhere in between and go off on a tangent, never able to find my way back to what I was working on before. That’s why I’m surprised I’ve stuck with this blogging thing for so long. I thought I’d have gotten distracted by something else by now and given it up. But no. I’m still here posting away about whatever catches my fancy.

Why am I writing about this? I don’t know. I just wanted to do a Weekend Reads post. I wanted to share my thoughts on a thing and write something insightful, but nothing was coming so I just wrote whatever popped up in my mind. This is what came out — my lack of commitment to my projects.

Weekend Reads #88: Mourning My Favorite Character…for no good reason

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend.

This weekend’s topic:

I want Fitz back!

**Quick note: Spoilers below for Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy, Liveship Traders trilogy, and Tawney Man trilogy. DO NOT spoil me for anything that comes after those books. Thanks!

Do you mourn your books? Do you lament stories you’ve completed? Do you grieve for plots that have petered to an end, never to flow forth in a story again? Do you pine for the moments you spent with characters you love and for the wondrous events you read, emotions you felt, epic friendships that seemed as if they’d last forever, love so true that nothing would come between them, and quests so grand and heroic that you had to pause a moment and take a breath when reading about them?

Weekend Reads #86: High-School Experiences

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I’m currently reading.

This week’s topic:

High-school experiences

That just popped into my head. I didn’t have a topic for this weekend but when I started writing about not having a topic, I thought back to a podcast I listened to a while back where two authors of YA novels said “everyone’s high-school experience was horrible” and if your experience wasn’t horrible, then you were doing something wrong. (Not the exact words, but that’s the gist of it.)

Weekend Reads #84: Recent Books I DNF

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I’m currently reading.

(Yeah, I know the weekend has passed, but I was busy.)

This week’s topic:

Books I DNF

(FYI: DNF means did not finish.)

This post isn’t about my struggle to DNF books or whether or not it’s right to do so or whether or not we should rate books we DNF. I think all such choices are entirely up to the reader and though we are book bloggers, we should remember that we are readers first; so if you don’t like a book, it’s okay to stop reading it. And if you have a strong opinion on it, though you haven’t yet completed the book, it’s a free world (for the most part) so share your opinion and rate the book on Goodreads and/or your blog, if you feel like doing so.

Weekend Reads #83: I try audiobooks for the first time…sort of

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend.

This week’s topic:

Audiobooks

Much has changed since the last time I reviewed audiobooks on here. For example, I’ve listened to more audiobooks since then and now realize that whether or not I enjoy an audiobook depends on who narrates it.

Such was the case in my last audiobook review, where I discussed listening to the audio version of Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief, a YA novel by Rick Riordan, and You, a thriller novel by Caroline Kepnes. I had vastly different experiences with both audiobooks because I hated the former but loved the later.

My experience with the audiobooks I’ll mention in this post is similar — I love one but hate the other, — but there is a difference. Up until this post, I’ve only used audiobooks to reread books. I did so because I feared that my mind would wander as I listen and I would miss important parts of the story. Also, since I’m a visual learner, I thought that I would miss certain details that I love to pay attention to when I read the physical/e- book, such as the author’s writing. I thought that listening to an audio version of a new-to-me book would lessen my reading experience of it. And after listening to The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, narr. by Finty Williams, and The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, narr. by a cast of actors, it seems I was right.

…sort of.

Weekend Reads #82: Can’t Focus

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend.

This week’s topic:

Lacking focus

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve taken time to sit and write. I no longer seek a moment of peace to engage in this activity. I sometimes feel as if I no longer think because it’s becoming harder to hear my thoughts in this modern world filled with noise and distraction.

That’s what happens when I take a moment to think and write — I get distracted. My phone vibrates and I have to pick it up to see why. I overhear a conversation and I have to get up and find out what’s being said. I recall a TV show or movie and I have to look it up and watch it for a while to remember what it’s about. An odd bit of fact pops in my head and I have to research it immediately on Google, though I have no need for the fact at that time.

It’s either that or my house is so noisy that I can’t think straight or hear my thoughts. I live with my family and my parents recently learned how to play the silly videos their friends send them on their phone. I hate whomever it was who taught them to do that. The speaker on their phones isn’t great so when heard from afar (because they play the videos loud), the sound is squeaky and annoying. It grinds my nerves. There’s no way for me to concentrate through that. The only thoughts that come through is “SMASH. PHONE.”

Reflecting on 2017: Life

Every new year morning, before I roll out my bed, brush my teeth, or talk to anyone, I grab my computer and make a long journal entry where I reflect on all I did in the past year. I reflect on what I accomplished, what I failed, and what I hoped for. As I mentioned in this Weekend Reads post, I usually do this while my family is at church. I see this as a spiritual process though it does not involve church, and it helps me to see how much I’ve developed over the year and assess what areas need further improvement.

I’ve only been doing this for a few years now, probably since 2012 when I started making one-word goals for the year, and it has benefited me well. By reflecting on the past, these journal entries give me perspective on the future. At the end, when I’m mentally and physically spent from all the writing and reflecting, I’m left with is a single word that becomes my goal for the upcoming year.

Weekend Reads #78: Journaling

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend.

This weekend’s topic:

Do you keep a journal?

Since moving back in with my parents, every year on New Year’s Day I wake early in the morning, grab a writing utensil (pen and paper or my laptop) and write everything I can remember about the previous year: events, thoughts, emotions, people I met. I spend the first half of the day doing this. Writing from the wee hours in the morning into the late afternoon, nonstop. Meanwhile, my parents, and sometimes my brother, attend church because, we’re often told, that’s the best way to bring in the new year — in communion with God. I’m often called variations of “heathen” for not attending and it’s been insinuated that I’ve turned away from my religion. But I wonder if my journaling is a sort of communion with this higher power.

Weekend Reads #77: I Try Not to Think About It

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend.

This weekend’s topic:

(from Sara LeTourneau’s blog)

How would you answer Henry Ford’s question? What happens when you believe you can do something? How about when you have the opposite mentality? Is one more helpful than the other when it comes to achieving goals? What other thoughts did you have when you read this quote?

Weekend Reads #74: Hooked on Comics

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend. This weekend’s topic:

Comic books

I love comic books and graphic novels. Though I used to read the Archie comics as a kid and read Art Spiegelman’s Maus in middle school, it wasn’t until 2015 that I developed a love for this form of storytelling and started to add them to my book collection.

How it all began

My thanks goes to the online book community because it’s reviews by bloggers and vloggers that sparked my interest in comics. I didn’t know much about comics and didn’t understand some of the industry jargon, like distinguishing between what’s considered a comic book or a graphic novel and figuring out what “trades” refer to, but over time, after watching bookish videos and reading blog posts and articles (like “Graphic Novels 101” in issue #23 of the Diamond Bookshelf magazine), I learned and picked up some tips. Visiting my favorite comic bookshop also helped. The employees were always helpful in explaining things to me and recommending comics and MAKING ME BUY THEM!! (I can only visit when I have money because they always tell me about something I’ll like.)