My Review-a-thon was successful! Here’s my list:
Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin (scheduled for Saturday)
Sundown Towns by James W. Loewen (scheduled for June 1)
Two “Elemental Blessings” novels by Sharon Shinn (scheduled for Thursday)
Doodle Revolution by Sunni Brown (scheduled for June 4)
Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
Syllabus by Lynda Barry (check out my first attempt at a comic strip!)
Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs
I’m sorry that I didn’t get a Frost Burned review written since people were interested — but here’s the short answer: I liked it! I liked it so much that I bought the next book in the Mercy Thompson series, Night Broken. I’ll write a review for both of them together when I finish that one.
Since I’m nearly caught up with my reviews, I thought I would also share what I’m reading today, using some of the prompt questions for a blog hop at Wordsmith Studio.
1) What are you reading?
- Night Broken by Patricia Briggs
- Blah Blah Blah by Dan Roam
- Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein
- The Diet Trap Solution by Dr. Judith S. Beck and Deborah Beck Busis
- Witnessing Whiteness by Shelly Tochluk
Yeah, that’s a lot, even for me. I’m doing some structured reading of the last two so they are going quite slowly and I’m okay with that. Witnessing Whiteness is the study book for a YWCA program of the same name that I’m participating in — we meet every two weeks to discuss just one chapter, so that one’s going to take a while.
2) What was your favorite read in the last year (or month, or…)?
How about the last week? Syllabus by Lynda Barry, which inspired a whole new way of thinking and being for me. We’ll see if it sticks, but it’s sure fun right now!
3) Do you have a favorite genre? and 4) Do you also have an alternate genre?
I used to answer romance to that question and I still like a good romance, now and then. But my reading has become much wider since I started this blog — more mystery, more YA, more mainstream fiction, and lots more nonfiction. In part, I think it’s because I enjoy writing about nonfiction, applying it to what’s going on in my life.
Oddly enough, I don’t read much memoir even though that’s my main writing project. Reading it, somehow, makes it harder for me to write it. Other nonfiction is often much more inspiring to me — I write memoir-style blog posts as reviews for the nonfiction that I read.
5) Bend one step further: are there alternative forms of writing or art that you have found inspiring or even dabbled in?
I’m exploring visual art, especially drawing lately. That was a big part of the attraction of Syllabus, The Doodle Revolution, and Blah Blah Blah for me. If I don’t have a book with drawings in it right now, my life feels out of whack, not to mention my writing.
What are you reading (or reviewing)?