The Sunday Salon: A Month of Two Readalongs

You know a pregnant woman is nesting when she signs up for too many reading projects/reviews, especially when she is very close to her due date. Yep, that's just what I did.

Back when I was just newly pregnant and delivery/baby was a distant idea, I decided that I wouldn't make any commitments in reading or blogging, starting from May to some unknown month. The way I saw it then, I was likely going to have a ton of things to do and it didn't make sense to add more to my plate. Now that May is here, and I was right - there is a ton of things to do - I am more desperate than ever for life and work to be more normal than it is. I don't want to pause the things that have been a constant in my life. Instead, signing up for readathons, readalongs, and book reviews seem to be just what I want to distract myself from the ongoing chaos that is preparing for a baby. If I didn't have reading as a hobby, I'd probably be fretting about trying to get things done, even though, let's be honest, what is the point of all this prep work? It's not like we are moving house.

Anyways, the point of all that rambling is to say this - I'm doing two readalongs this month (and super excited about them). I also have four books to review this month (gulp!). Oh, and Armchair BEA is also towards the end of this month, and although right now I'm undecided about whether to participate, I know very well that I WILL end up participating, so might as well get that planned out.

I haven't done a readalong in forever, so I am excited about the two I'm doing this month.


Flowers for Algernon readalong

Care of Care's Online Book Club and I somehow got talking about reading Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes when I mentioned purchasing this book last month. I'll admit not really knowing much about this book except that it comes much-recommended. It is later that I learned that this book is on several school lists (of course, it is) and banned at several too (of course, it is) and that it is some kind of science fiction book. So this month, we are doing a completely casual no-rules readalong and may post about the book when we are halfway through it. I think Care is probably already past that point so I need to catch up. Trish of Love, Laughter, and Insanity has also joined in - she has also started reading the book couple of days ago, so at this point, I'm the only one yet to turn a page. I promise - that's happening today. We will be tweeting about this book using #MayFFA.


A Visit from the Goon Squad readalong

The other book I'm reading along is A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan with Alex of The Sleepless Reader. She had just bought the book last month and I had always been eyeing this title for a while. I had given this book a try when it first came out but for some reason, I never got past two chapters - I don't remember why. I started this book yesterday and it is turning out to be wonderful so far and hard to put down. I've only finished one chapter so I'm not too far in, plus I probably won't be rushing it anyway - I'm enjoying the writing a lot. I had suggested tweeting about this book using #goonsquad but I don't think that hashtag was well thought out because umm.. well you can search for that hashtag and find out why. So we'll have to find another one.

So, if you are interested in any or both of these books, jump right in and let one of us know. Both are going to be low-pressure - we aren't doing any discussion posts, which always makes the actual reading suffer for me, because then I am trying to just meet that deadline. You can post often about the book if you wish, or none at all.

In other matters, the husband and I are heading for the early morning show of Avengers: Age of Ultron. I loved the first movie and have been waiting for this second one for a while, so I'm quite excited. Have you seen this movie yet? Or planning to?