The Sunday Salon: Thoughts on the first quarter (and plans for the next)

Considering how busy January was, and how much of February I spent on finding a balance between work, reading and blogging, I didn't really have a good first quarter - I just managed to read a month's worth in three months. The silver lining is that I did have a much better March but I'm hoping that there will be more books in the next few months. Here are the highlights:

Best Books of the Quarter

Other Reads
The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto
American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar
The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn
Dance Lessons by Aine Greaney
Cross Currents by John Shors
I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
Divergent by Veronica Roth
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde

On Reading Goals
Rather than plan challenges or reading projects for a whole year, this year, I decided to do something different - I decided to plan for a quarter. This helped because my interests change so quickly that I hate to be tied to something I decided several months ago. This past quarter, my plan was to read one short story a week. I started this in the fourth week of January, and since then have managed to stick to the goal more or less. These are the short stories I read:

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Loved)
Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri
A Moment of Wrong Thinking by Lawrence Block
The Shawl by Louise Erdrich (Loved)
Bohemia by V.S. Naipaul
In the South by Salman Rushdie
A Village after Dark by Kazuo Ishiguro (Loved)
In the Bed Department by Anne Enright
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (Loved)

My Reading in Numbers
Male authors (short stories included): 9
Female authors (short stories included): 12
New-to-me authors (short stories included): 18 / 21 (really?)
Number of pages: 3648
eBooks: 5 / 12
Review copies: 8 / 12
Personal Collection: 2 /12
Library: 2 / 12

Plans for the next quarter
- I plan to keep reading more short stories in the next quarter (I'm really enjoying standalone stories), but I won't be reviewing them as frequently, unless the story moved me so much that I want to discuss it. Or I may just do a single post with mini-reviews.

- I've been craving some science fiction / speculative fiction / dystopia lately. I have several books from these categories wishlisted and rather than shelve them for eternity, I'd love to spend the next few months exploring them.

- I hope to read at least one book from my PIE list, which I've neglected so far this year.


View Traveling with my books (2012) in a larger map

The Sunday Salon: A November review

I had a great November in reading. Not so much in blogging. It appears as if whatever time I didn't or couldn't spend on blogging ended up being used as reading time. I hadn't read more than 8 books in a month since April - I'm not sure how I managed 9 books in November, since it was crazy busy, but the two long train trips probably helped there. Better still, I found it really hard to decide which the best books of the month were. I kept going back and forth between 5 of them! The bad news (for me) is that I am many reviews down in the pit!

Books of the months

Notable Mentions

(As if I'm giving away Oscar awards!)

Other Reads

Reviews posted

1. Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch
2. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (My September Blogger Recommend, which I loved)
3. Green River Killer by Jonathan Case and Jeff Jensen
4. Repeat it Today with Tears by Anne Peile
5. The Secret of Lies by Barbara Forte Abate

Other posts

1. Blogger Recommends - October Finds
2. 'Tis the Season of Challenges
3. About my vacation in 10 days
4. My Thanksgiving week
5. 2011 books I wish I had read

Traveling with my books this year

So far this year, 30 of the locations in the books I read have been in the US, while 33 have been non-US. Not exactly the ratio I was hoping for, but I'm not disappointed. Next year though, I'm hoping to include more literature from non-US countries, but that will also require that I accept even less ARCs, since most of the ARCs I receive are set in the US.

View Traveling with my books (2011) in a larger map

A twin month recap (September and October)

Has anyone realized yet that it is November already? Can't say that I'm excited about getting older so fast. In my last recap, I did innocently ask if anyone was excited about Fall. I don't know what happened this year, but the leaves are too eager to fall, so Fall hasn't been long enough. And if the weather outside is any indication, looks like we are going to have a long winter. Not that I'm complaining. I love the winter, and have been waiting since April for the winter. Summer though makes me meh! Anyways, I didn't recap last month, because I didn't really have that good a reading spree then, so here's a twin recap.

Books of the months

Other Reads

Reviews posted

1. Irma Voth by Miriam Toews
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry (WOW!)
3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
5. Goliath (Leviathan #3) by Scott Westerfeld
6. Naked and Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
7. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
8. A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres

Other posts

1. Some favorite fiction titles so far
2. Some other favorite titles so far
3. Why it's okay to have robots recommend books
4. When I feel like throwing a book
5. Blogger Recommends - September Finds
6. Shelving a read book (and fretting about it)

Traveling with my books this year

Japan and Guyana are the new additions. My around the world reading has taken a hit. I think I'll forget about it for now and start afresh next year. There are some books I want to clear off my shelves now.

View Traveling with my books (2011) in a larger map

The Sunday Salon: The August reading

Anyone excited about Fall? I keep peeping out my window every day hoping to see colors changing drastically. So far, it's just the odd leaf here and there, and a vast, vivid-green mass of trees standing haughtily about to greet me. I am however done with the heat. There is a reason I stay in Virginia, and that is because I hate the heat and can just handle a couple of months of it. Fall also hopefully means more time indoors and hence more reading. My August reading sucked, but I'm not surprised - I had too much going on, and I'm hoping to unplug this month.

Books of the month

Other Reads

On second thoughts, I did have a decent month. One of those lovely surprises.

Reviews posted

1. Gingerbread Girl by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover
2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
4. In the Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda
5. Yo! by Julia Alvarez

Other posts

1. Abandoning a Book
2. Where's that Elusive Reading Mojo?
3. Geeking out over a Sci-Fi list
4. New Reading Project - Blogger Recommends

Traveling with my books this year

Dominican Republic (Yo!) was a new hit last month. Plus, thanks to In the Sea There are Crocodiles, Afghanistan.

View Traveling with my books (2011) in a larger map

The Sunday Salon: What a crazy July!

Have you guys also noticed an odd leaf yellowing and falling down? Because, the other day, I was greeted with a bunch of them just fluttering about. It's certainly too early for Fall, but heck am I ready for it! The heat's insanely intense I'm surprised that I haven't vaporized yet. I spent a good amount of July on the road and on a flight I'd rather not talk about. So it's surprising I got any reading done. Quite a few of my reads are Newbery medal winners and graphic novels, so that kind of explains it. On the plus side, I can finally say that I've found my ideal summer read - a graphic novel.

Books of the month

Other Reads

Reviews posted

1. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
2. The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
3. Hello Goodbye by Emily Chenoweth
4. Lucille by Ludovic Debeurme
5. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin
6. Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens
7. Fleeting thoughts - Number the Stars / Bud, Not Buddy / The Lonely Hearts Club

Other posts

1. Thank you, J.K. Rowling for...
2. The Beauty of graphic books (or completing one challenge)
3. Two big book-blogging events - Indie Lit Awards and Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Traveling with my books this year

I'm thrilled to have hit Africa last month. That was a long time coming.

View Traveling with my books (2011) in a larger map

Smooth sailing in June

I'm finally getting some consistency in my reading. After months of mega highs and ultra lows, it's nice to have a string of delightful reads, and not want to run to guilt-pleasure titles to keep the reading mood on. It also felt good not to read or blog every day. Maybe it's the summer. Or the fact that everyone else is blaming on the summer.

Books of the month

Other Reads

Reviews posted

1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (Book n Movie review)
2. South of Superior by Ellen Airgood
3. The Sonderberg Case by Elie Wiesel (WOW)
4. The Fates will Find their Way by Hannah Pittard
5. Vietnamerica by GB Tran
6. The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair

Other posts

1. The Problem with Buying Books
2. A Reading Experiment
3. My Orange July Reading

Traveling with my books this year

One new place this month - Amazonas in Brazil, and that marks my first step into South America this year. Took a long while coming, but a totally worthy book to take me there!

View Traveling with my books (2011) in a larger map