Fall Into Reading 2010 Wrap-Up

Every year, Callapidder Days hosts a reading challenge during the fall season (Fall Into Reading) and during the spring season (Spring Into Reading). You basically just set yourself some goals and try to achieve them! It’s laid back and informal, but kind of fun.

I’ve done it before very casually, but this year I though I’d try a “bigger” challenge and read more books. I basically just read as much as I could – whenever I would finish a book, I’d pick a new one up from my To Read list in my bookshelf, or read my next hold that became available at the library.

For the spring challenge, I think I’ll focus it a bit more, and either limit it solely to reducing my {huge} To Read pile in my bedroom, or focus on reading some of the Classics I haven’t read yet from the BBC list. We’ll see which I choose on March 21st! 😀

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FINAL FEEDBACKS
Some great finds this fall: The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton, which I picked up on a whim at Costco because it just looks nice, but it turned out to be one of the best books I’ve read; The Mission of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson, was an uplifting read and provided great discussion among my Bible Study group (granted, it was only FINISHED during the challenge, on Sept. 23rd, so it half counts :P); The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, which was a selection for my parents’ book club (which never met…) and I wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise (in fact, I didn’t even vote for it, I thought it would not interest me at all, but I like to give each selection a try because I would like others to try my selections too 😉 ), but it was actually very good, and my first “nursing” read! 🙂

I also discovered Sarah Bouchard, which I picked up at the Salon du Livre 2010 – the story was compelling and interesting, I’m looking forward to the sequel – but the book itself had a LOT of typos and mistakes which bugged me a bit (especially considering it was $30…)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which didn’t quite make the finish line, was also quite excellent – I’m planning on reading the follow-up book. It’s not quite a “sequel”, rather, the same building, the same characters, but a different main character/point-of-view. It tells the story of one of the characters that dies in the middle of Elegance. 😉

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LINKS TO WEEKLY QUESTIONS
#1 – Reading Obstacles
#2 – E-books and Digital Books
#3 – Reading & Snacking
#4 – Marking Your Place: Dog-Ears or Bookmarks?
#5 – Do You Read Everything in a Book?
#6 – Favourite Reading Places
#7 – When Did You Become a “Reader”?
#8 – Where Do You Get Your Books?
#9 – Finishing Books / FIR ’10 Update

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TOTAL BOOKS READ: 20

• The Mission of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson ~ Completed September 23rd
• The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill ~ Completed October 1st
• Take the Fight Out of Food, by Donna Fish ~ Completed October 7th
• My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult ~ Completed October 9th
• Chat : -), by Nan McCarthy ~ Completed October 9th
• Connect }:-), by Nan McCarthy ~ Completed October 10th
• Crash ; -), by Nan McCarthy ~ Completed October 10th
• The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton ~ Completed October 21st
• A Wild Affair, by Gemma Townley ~ Completed October 24th
• An Ideal Wife, by Gemma Townley ~ Completed October 26th
• The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, by Stephanie Meyer ~ Completed October 27th
• The Vampire Diaries, Vol. 1: The Awakening & The Struggle, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed October 31st
• Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood, by Julie Gregory ~ Completed November 12th
• Out of the Abyss and Into the Light: A Spiritual Journey Through Postpartum Depression, by Katie Wilson ~ Completed November 15th
• The Vampire Diaries, Vol. 2: The Fury & Dark Reunion, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed November 19th
• How Good is Good Enough, by Andy Stanley ~ Completed November 20th
• The Vampire Diaries, The Return, Vol. 1: Nightfall, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed November 26th
• The Vampire Diaries, The Return, Vol. 2: Shadow Souls, by L. J. Smith ~ Completed December 5th
• Attraction, by Sarah Bouchard ~ Completed December 11th
• The Grand Design: New Answers to the Ultimate Questions of Life, by Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow ~ Completed December 18th

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BOOKS STARTED BUT DIDN’T QUITE MAKE THE FINISH LINE:

• The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery – just short of halfway through (finished on December 27th)
• Preparing My Heart for Advent, by Ann Marie Stewart – but only because it’s daily devotions until January 6th, or I would actually be done the book by now!

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MAGAZINES I READ:

• Today’s Parents: April 2010, May 2010, June 2010
• Mothering: May-June 2010, July-August 2010, September-October 2010

FIR ’10 – Reading Question #10

As part of the Fall Into Reading Challenge 2010, Callapider Days has reading questions for us to answer, if we so wish, every week. This week’s question is:
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Do you have multiple books going at once? Or do you prefer to stick to one book at a time?

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My answer:
I pretty much always have more than 1 book going on at once. Most of the time, it will be 1 fiction book with quite a few non-fiction going on on the side; but sometimes I might have more than 1 fiction too. That can happen when I start a book while waiting on a book from the library that I want to read more, or if a book club selection is made and I want to read that book first; or sometimes I just loose interest for a while and read another book before coming back to my first one. I can vary depending on my mood of the day too… Basically, I’m the type of person that, when travelling (even just a short bus ride into town), I need to bring 2-3 books, you know, in case I feel like reading this one and not that one… 🙂

For reasons like that, I think a digital reader might be useful, sometimes!

FIR ’10 – Reading Question #9

As part of the Fall Into Reading Challenge 2010, Callapider Days has reading questions for us to answer, if we so wish, every week. This week’s question is:
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Once you begin a book, do you feel compelled to finish it? Or have you been known to give up in the middle of a book, to walk away from a book that is just too annoying, boring, etc.?

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My answer:
I have already answered a similar question through Booking Through Friday, so here was my answer!

Read the whole thing. I can’t do half things 😉 Movies, books… I always have to finish it if I’ve started – plus I always wonder: but what if it got better later on??

There’s been 1 book that I haven’t finished – it was a chick lit for a playgroup book club (don’t get me wrong – I do like some chick lit every now and then), and I couldn’t really get into it even in the first chapter – something about the style and tone turned me off. And I was on holiday in Ireland, and had also brought with me “The Rebels of Ireland” by Edward Rutherfurd, my favourite author ever, and kind of REALLY wanted to read that book, while, quite conveniently, IN situs. 🙂 I have to say, I don’t regret – there was something special about reading about some places while being there, I felt more connected to the book – and could identify where the characters were.

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Bonus question:
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We have less than one month left in Fall Into Reading 2010! Can you believe it? If you’d like to share…how are you doing? Are you on track with your goals? Will the upcoming holidays derail your reading plans?

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My answer:
I’m doing pretty good… considering I have a new baby around and all! I’m up to 16 books read; in October alone, I’ve read 11 books, which is more than I ever read in a month so far this year. I think all the nursing sessions and long nights rocking a baby to sleep are helping… 😉 This being said, nursing sessions are getting shorter and nights longer, incidentally, it’s taking me more time to finish  book! ha! 🙂

I’m definitely on track with my goals considering my goals were something around 5 books. 😛 2 of these I haven’t read yet – I’m still waiting on them from the library. No worries – I have PLENTY in my To Read list at home to go through in the meanwhile! Problem is though, I keep finding new books to read, and renting those instead from the library… I think that, for Spring Into Reading 2010, I will make my focus my at-home To Read list, to bring that already-bought-books-yet-read pile down a bit! I paid for them, gotta read them, right?

Once you begin a book, do you feel compelled to finish it? Or have you been known to give up in the middle of a book, to walk away from a book that is just too annoying, boring, etc.?

FIR ’10 – Reading Question #8

As part of the Fall Into Reading Challenge 2010, Callapider Days has reading questions for us to answer, if we so wish, every week. The 8th question is:
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Where do you get the books you read? Are you a faithful library patron? Or maybe a bookstore junkie? Do you exchange books with friends or family members?

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My answer:
All of the above!

There’s something about owning your own books that’s very enticing. It looks nice, a bookshelf full of books, and that way you are not reporting to anyone, by having to give back the book after a certain time and what not. You can pile up your To Read list (a dangerous thing, sometimes…) and work your way through it as you go. Find a good book at the store? Don’t risk forgetting about it – get it, and put it in your pile for later. There’s also the fact that a new book, all shiny and unbroken, is very, very trilling. 🙂

However, I don’t have an unlimited budget, and I’m also conscious of resources used to print all these news books. Then, there are also the books that I think look good, but I’m not sure if they are THAT good, or if I would want to actually keep them afterwards. For example, book club selections are sometimes not my cup of tea, but I always try to give them a shot, in respect for those who chose them (I would like people to give MY selection a shot), and because you never know, I might discover a gem (and I have discovered many!). But those I usually borrow. It would, also, get expensive to buy each and every one of them 😉

Sometimes I just browse the virtual shelves on my library’s website and select books that look good. I do enjoy borrowing books from the library. There’s something about a well-worn and loved book that many have read before you that’s just nice.

Finally, I often hose “book exchange playdates” with my various playgroups. I have a bin full of books, and the premise is that people bring a few books they don’t feel like keeping anymore, and then can leave with some “new” books to enjoy! It’s basically a regular free-play playdate, except for the fact the bin is out, and we all take turn browsing it 😉 I host these with various playgroups I’m involved in, so books get suffled around by different groups of people; whenever they come for one of the playdates, they will find new books – not always the same ones in rotation. It’s been a huge success since I started those! And again – it’s green 😉

FIR ’10 – Reading Question #7

As part of the Fall Into Reading Challenge 2010, Callapider Days has reading questions for us to answer, if we so wish, every week. The 7th question is:
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How did you get into reading? When and how/why did you really become “a reader”?

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My answer:
I can’t really remember… I simply always read. When I first learned how to read in 1st grade, I was reading everything and anything from milk cartons and cereal boxes to our reading books from school. I always LOVED the library, it would be my ideal plan for a weekend afternoon. I remember going to browse books for hours (probably not hours, but it felt like hours to me!), and I was probably one of their best patrons. There were always library books at home.

The first series I remember reading was Anne of Green Gable, about mid-elementary. Perhaps 3rd grade. The “Easter Bunny” brought me the whole series, and I just devoured them. 🙂  It’s on my To Read list to revisit these books, as I don’t think I’ve ever re-read them since!

Until then, I had mostly only read in French. Although I was raised speaking both language, my mother tongue is French, and I was going to French school. In 4th grade, my mom thought it might be a good idea for me to read in English as well, so she brought me to the book store (another of my favourite activities – still is!!), and I chose a book from The Baby-Sitter Club series. I ended up reading the WHOLE series up until the end of 6th grade or so – I think I stopped reading them when I started high school (our “high school” is from grade 7 to 11). The series continued after that, but I wasn’t reading them anymore. I most have a hundred or so books from it… I think my mom still has them in a box!

My mom is an avid reader herself, and always had a book on the go. So I think that my influence to get into reading came from her. Very early on, we had our classic bedtime stories, and as children, we had lots of children books to read. My mom always encouraged us to read, and brought us to buy books at the store. Growing up, my birthday gifts were very often books too! So I suppose we could say my sister and I grew up with books – and we are both very avid readers today! In fact, we just went to the annual Book Show yesterday, and I couldn’t think of anyone else I would have enjoyed going there with as much 😉  (I have a few friends who enjoy reading very much as well, and it would have been nice to go with them too (they were otherwise engaged that day and couldn’t come), but with them AND my sister. My sister had to be there 🙂 )

I hope to pass on this love to my girls too!