This is the sixth year I have gone to BookExpo. I enjoy it more each year as I get to know more people. I enjoy the programs I attend, I am excited to meet authors I admire and love two days of discussing books. But most of all I love the books. Each one looks more exciting than the next and I dream of coming home and reading all through the summer. But once I get home many of the books I am most excited about go unread. Not this year!
This year I made a promise to myself to really read and read a lot. My first goal is to read eight books in June, and so far I am keeping it. I am just about finished with The Dry, one of the best mystery novels I've read in a long time, and I've also started Love and Other Consolation Prizes, by Jamie Ford.
This year I made a promise to myself to really read and read a lot. My first goal is to read eight books in June, and so far I am keeping it. I am just about finished with The Dry, one of the best mystery novels I've read in a long time, and I've also started Love and Other Consolation Prizes, by Jamie Ford.
If you're a fan of Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and many of us are, I can highly recommend Love and Other Consolation Prizes. I'm about a third of the way through this highly readable book -- scheduled to be published in September -- and it is sweet, tender and thoughtful, and yes, I've cried already. I know the characters, especially the main character, Ernest Young, will stay with me for a long, long time.
The other book I've started reading is very different from Love and Other Consolation Prizes. The Salt Line takes place in an America of the future. The country has been ravaged and the only safe places to live are within the salt line, burnt earth that separates the livable from the dangerous. This novel, also due to be published in September is difficult reading. It's a dystopian novel for adults, beautifully written, but also painful in sections. I don't get past a chapter before I stop reading and take a rest from the brutality of the story. Why do I keep reading? It is compelling and I am drawn back to find out what happens to the characters as they go beyond the salt line.
My goal is to read eight books this month and a book a week -- yes, every week! -- for the next year. I'll be reporting in here to keep me accountable. At the end of this month I'll be doing a book giveaway. In order to enter you will need to have read one book in June. The more books read, the more entries. Let's read some books!
We've had an actual heat wave for the last few days, though thankfully the temperatures have returned to more seasonal weather and today was just about balmy. I'm planning a museum visit tomorrow and I hope to see Wonder Woman on Friday, so there's some fun ahead.
As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.
6 comments
that is an ambitious goal you set for yourself. it just took me a month to finish one book. i wish you well. good luck.
There was a time I read 5 books a week but now I'm down to reading two. With the lazy days of summer upon us I may be reading more as I relax in the shade. It'll be interesting to see how you do.
I need to make a goal and do it! I love to read but I allow time online to get in the way of that!
We share so many of the same interests...like reading! I keep up with my books on Goodreads now so it's easy to see what I've read...when I update it! heehee! Enjoy your afternoon! Hugs!
I would read The Salt Line, I like dystopian novels for adults, and always hope for some hope in them. I am with you in setting goals for reading a lot of books this year, it is such fun.
Dear Carol, if it's the same book, I've read "The Dry." It takes place in Australia and as you say, it's an excellent mystery. For your reading goal are you reading mostly novels? Or is there some nonfiction thrown in. I tend to read mainly fiction and do a book every three to four days. I've found myself in somewhat of a mild depression and so I'm doing a lot of reading. Peace.
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