Outbox: Mid- January - Slowing Down and Abandoning Books

I’m still trying to move away from the book- sprint mentality, this urgency to read books quickly that sometimes gets in the way of fully engaging in a book. This is especially a problem with longer books, because I start to feel that the book is taking up too much time. But really. There is no prize for reading the most books… I mean, not any prizes that I am actually competing for.

But still. It feels weird to say that I have only completed three books for January so far. WTF!? What a slacker! Also, though, Sister Act rehearsals have started, which cuts into my reading time. I have also put two books back on my To-Read shelf. Not finishing books that I’m not feeling is something I am trying to let myself do more often. The two books I abandoned this month seem like really good books. Really. It's me, not them. 

So here’s a book update for January so far: The Read, The Abandoned, and the Currently Reading.

THE READ

The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin: The third in the trilogy about the end of the world after an infection... and it's course for about 130 years after the virus. The audiobook expired in the middle of the Epilogue so now I have to wait A MILLION YEARS to finish the last 60 pages. #Pissed I intend to do a series review post this month. 

Belle Cora by Phillip Magulies: Historical fiction loosely based on the life of a merchant's daughter who becomes a prostitute and a madam in the 1800s. It was very interesting but was a little boring at times.

A Girl at War by Sara Novic: Historical Fiction of a 10 year old Croatian girl at the start of the Yugoslavian war between the Croats and the Serbs. The story is a mix of her experiences that year and her reflections after 10 years of trying to pretend the memories don't matter. The ending is fully unsatisfying for someone who enjoys closure. 

  

THE ABANDONED 

Both of these books are good so far and I'm about 25% through each of them. However, I have decided to postpone reading them:

Small Great Things is a book about a Black women who is accused of killing a baby by an admitted white supremacist and his racist family. The summary tells you all this. I just cannot handle the content right now, emotionally. I need something a bit lighter. I suspect that there will be a feel good ending because three people have recommended this book to me. I will get back to it. Ms. Picoult is one of my favorite writers and I trust her with my feels. I’m just holding them a little closer to myself right now. Maybe I've had enough hate after A Girl at War. And life. 

A World without You is a book about a boy who either has special powers or is delusional in an insane asylum and thinks he has special powers. Reading the book makes it seem like the former, the back of the book describes it as the latter. I am really interested in finding out which it is but also annoyed at the discrepancy. Here's the problem: If it's the latter, it would be good as a HOLY SHIT HE WAS DELUSIONAL THE WHOLE TIME kind of books, but that has now been ruined. I need to start over with the knowledge that he's probably delusional to start with. I think I just need to wait for a different time.

BOOKS IN PROGRESS

Childish Things by Thelonious Legend: This is the sequel to Sins of the Father, a book about three sisters who find out that they've been altered to have powers. This is kind of like Moon Girl times 3! I really enjoyed the first book and I'm excited to see the where the girls are now. The author gave me a copy to review... tee hee!! I would have bought it! #Rebel

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera: This is my first read by this author and I THINK it is going to satify one of my Read Harder 2017 challenge categories, but I have to see. I'm planning to read the whole thing today in anticipation of the first Read Harder Roc meeting tomorrow morning. Whoot!!

 

OTHER AWESOME POSTS: