Happy Hallowe'en!!
Hope everyone is having a lovely end of the month. If you are not, just take a look at this turtle!
Bet you feel better already. :)
I've had a good weekend. Today was the annual Pumpkin Smash at Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary and there was a live Zoom event where we saw the pigs, goats, sheep, horse and donkey all get pumpkins! Watching those pigs run around excitedly from pumpkin to pumpkin always makes me smile.
Last month I found a new-to-me book community on Goodreads called The Challenge Factory, and they have a couple of neat ideas to clear off bookshelves. In both of them you get paired randomly with another person to pick books for you to read, among the books you tell them you *want* to read. One is called Finish What You Started. You post all the different book series that you've started but not finished, and then your partner picks two series for you to read one book from that month. The other is called Dusty Bookshelves and is the same deal, but this time it's books that are sitting in your TBR pile. Anyway, I signed up for both in November. MORE BOOKS!!
Speaking of books, I finished
79. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
The further along I got into this book, the more it pissed me off.
Nina loves to read, just discovered family that she didn't know existed, and gets a boyfriend. That's essentially the plot. I think we're supposed to find Nina quirky and endearing. She's always spouting random trivia, which is super annoying. We're told repeatedly that she's shy and introverted. Yet she has a customer-facing job, hosts and attends various book clubs, belongs to a pub trivia team/league, and comfortably goes home with a virtual stranger for a craft night. As someone who IS introverted, I can guarantee that I would not be able to do those last three things. We're told she has anxiety that leaves her constantly on edge, but then she bounces through the streets as if, she tells us, she's being filmed, turning her face up to the sun and looking over her shoulder to give the 'cameraman' the best shots. When the foreshadowed panic attack finally happens, it's in oh-so-dramatic fashion including a full-on fainting spell.
Everyone in the book banters. It's full on banter and word-play. All the time. The *six year old* names a camel Humpy Bogart. Please, tell me what 6-year-old knows Humphrey Bogart??
But the absolute worst part is that her boyfriend, who she's been dating for, I believe, 2 or 3 days at that point, gets into a total snit because she doesn't want him around after the panic attack. This despite the fact that she first hints, then explains to him what's happening, then asks him politely to leave, and then explains AGAIN why she needs this time and even gives him a timeline as to when she'll be ready to face the world again. And THEN the boyfriend ignores her texts and is a total ass and SHE ends up apologizing to HIM. What the actual fuck?
2/5 stars
Popsugar Challenge 09 - book with a family tree
352 pages
Books Read: 79/85
Popsugar Challenge: 47/50
Goodreads Challenge: 52/52
LJ Book Bingo Jan-March: 12/12
LJ Book Bingo April-June 20: 9/9
LJ Book Bingo June 20-August 31: 9/9
LJ Book Bingo Hallowe'en Challenge: 09/09
Goodreads Summer Challenge: 12/12
Total Page Count: 24628 pages
And lastly, 101 Things in 1001 Days!
Weeks 16 - October 24 to October 30, 2021
In Progress
06. Post one 5-star book per month on ATY's best book of month thread. (10/39)
* October' s book was We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
11. Finish TV series already started (5/6)
* watched 3 episodes of Preacher S2 (3/13)
12. Watch 5 new series (1/5)
* Watched V-Wars
90. Walk 2x/week for 2 years (non-consecutive)
(8/104)
* 10-27-21 - walked from home to bank, Sobey's, then back home (1 hour 20 minutes, including time in grocery store… 2.1 km)
* 10-30-21 - walked from home to library and return (1 hour 5 mins, 2 km)
92. Donate 500,000 grains of rice at freerice.com (80,000/500,000)
* Donated 3,000 grains of rice this week
Completed
49. Post Coming Home on AO3
.
Bet you feel better already. :)
I've had a good weekend. Today was the annual Pumpkin Smash at Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary and there was a live Zoom event where we saw the pigs, goats, sheep, horse and donkey all get pumpkins! Watching those pigs run around excitedly from pumpkin to pumpkin always makes me smile.
Last month I found a new-to-me book community on Goodreads called The Challenge Factory, and they have a couple of neat ideas to clear off bookshelves. In both of them you get paired randomly with another person to pick books for you to read, among the books you tell them you *want* to read. One is called Finish What You Started. You post all the different book series that you've started but not finished, and then your partner picks two series for you to read one book from that month. The other is called Dusty Bookshelves and is the same deal, but this time it's books that are sitting in your TBR pile. Anyway, I signed up for both in November. MORE BOOKS!!
Speaking of books, I finished
79. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
The further along I got into this book, the more it pissed me off.
Nina loves to read, just discovered family that she didn't know existed, and gets a boyfriend. That's essentially the plot. I think we're supposed to find Nina quirky and endearing. She's always spouting random trivia, which is super annoying. We're told repeatedly that she's shy and introverted. Yet she has a customer-facing job, hosts and attends various book clubs, belongs to a pub trivia team/league, and comfortably goes home with a virtual stranger for a craft night. As someone who IS introverted, I can guarantee that I would not be able to do those last three things. We're told she has anxiety that leaves her constantly on edge, but then she bounces through the streets as if, she tells us, she's being filmed, turning her face up to the sun and looking over her shoulder to give the 'cameraman' the best shots. When the foreshadowed panic attack finally happens, it's in oh-so-dramatic fashion including a full-on fainting spell.
Everyone in the book banters. It's full on banter and word-play. All the time. The *six year old* names a camel Humpy Bogart. Please, tell me what 6-year-old knows Humphrey Bogart??
But the absolute worst part is that her boyfriend, who she's been dating for, I believe, 2 or 3 days at that point, gets into a total snit because she doesn't want him around after the panic attack. This despite the fact that she first hints, then explains to him what's happening, then asks him politely to leave, and then explains AGAIN why she needs this time and even gives him a timeline as to when she'll be ready to face the world again. And THEN the boyfriend ignores her texts and is a total ass and SHE ends up apologizing to HIM. What the actual fuck?
2/5 stars
Popsugar Challenge 09 - book with a family tree
352 pages
Books Read: 79/85
Popsugar Challenge: 47/50
Goodreads Challenge: 52/52
LJ Book Bingo Jan-March: 12/12
LJ Book Bingo April-June 20: 9/9
LJ Book Bingo June 20-August 31: 9/9
LJ Book Bingo Hallowe'en Challenge: 09/09
Goodreads Summer Challenge: 12/12
Total Page Count: 24628 pages
And lastly, 101 Things in 1001 Days!
Weeks 16 - October 24 to October 30, 2021
In Progress
06. Post one 5-star book per month on ATY's best book of month thread. (10/39)
* October' s book was We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
11. Finish TV series already started (5/6)
* watched 3 episodes of Preacher S2 (3/13)
12. Watch 5 new series (1/5)
* Watched V-Wars
90. Walk 2x/week for 2 years (non-consecutive)
(8/104)
* 10-27-21 - walked from home to bank, Sobey's, then back home (1 hour 20 minutes, including time in grocery store… 2.1 km)
* 10-30-21 - walked from home to library and return (1 hour 5 mins, 2 km)
92. Donate 500,000 grains of rice at freerice.com (80,000/500,000)
* Donated 3,000 grains of rice this week
Completed
49. Post Coming Home on AO3
.