Richer Reading Life Activity #1

I pulled double-duty because not only have I listened to a podcast about books, I also discovered BookTubers! What rock have I been living under that I missed all of the cool women vlogging about books? I'm going to give you guys the break down.

Dear Book Nerd podcast

Brought to you by the ever fantastic Book Riot, this podcast deals with quandries that face many a book lover. I've dabbled in this podcast before but not since 2014. I decided to restart it from the beginning. It turns out the dilemmas facing book nerds haven't changed much in the last 2 years.

Despite over 50 podcasts, Rita Meade keeps finding something to talk about. I'm less than 10 episodes in but it doesn't look like there's a lot of repeated content. The guests routinely rotate and offer a different perspective on whatever issue they're facing like reading the classics, lending books, defending your taste, ebooks versus physical books, and if audio books is really reading.

It's a calm podcast so it keeps me mellow rather than winding me up like The Black Tapes podcast. I'm excited to keep listening.

BookTubers

I just discovered the tip of this iceberg. I think I clicked a link from Book Riot and saw several different videos in the related column. I started clicking and fell down that rabbit hole that YouTube can be.

I really enjoyed BooksandLala because she has a perspective closer to mine. She's a bit older, married with a kid, and deals with grown up stuff like bills and taxes. A lot of BookTubers are rather young. Ariel Bissett is definitely young but she has a surprising amount of insight and wisdom for someone her age. Her videos about timing and her book purge were excellent.

Some others I've discovered that I'm curious to explore more are PadfootandProngs, PeruseProject, BooksandPieces, EpicReads, and TheStillPoint. Does anyone know any other BookTubers I should be watching?

Podcasts and videos about things I love. I'm enthused. Ariel Bissett said she only read 25 books in 2015 because she was so busy traveling and experiencing the book community. (Side note: Can I have that problem?) It really shows that loving books is about more than just reading. 

Where There's Smoke...

I made meatballs in the oven a couple of days ago. Some grease spilled on to the oven and when I heated it up for garlic bread, smoke everywhere. I couldn't even stand to be in the kitchen because my eyes were watering.

I didn't notice how bad it got until the smoke alarm went off. I reacted by turning everything off, opening every window, opening the door to create a vacuum and fanning the stupid detector until it shut up. I made sure there were no flames. Everything was under control inside of 10 minutes.

Did you know venting into your hallway means all your neighbors can smell it? I do! I can finally breathe in the kitchen when I see flashing lights outside. Fire trucks and emergency vehicles were outside and lining the block. I'm standing there thinking, "No. No way. Please tell me I'm just being self-centered."

I'm watching people go in and out with axes feeling pretty damn paranoid. I finally get the courage to poke my head out and a lovely women asks me if I've been cooking. Yup. This display of tax dollars at work is my fault. One of the neighbors smelled it and called it in.

They see how embarrassed I am (yes, it is possible) and realize there is no danger and everyone rolls out. I had a sandwich for dinner.

Saving Race

I just received some disheartening news. The company I'm temping/on a contract for just laid off 50 people. I was told when I was offered this position that it could lead to something permanent but if 50 people, including 3 from this office, just lost their jobs, it doesn't look good for me. 

My contract is good through April. At that point a number of things could happen. They budget could come through and they could bring on one of the temporary people. However, if they can only bring on one of us, I don't think it will be me. There's another contractor who started the week before me that would be the first choice if they could only bring on one of us. They could simply extend our contract again (which I wouldn't love but certainly wouldn't mind). 

My future is very up in the air after a couple more months. If I can't stay where I am for whatever reason, I am well liked by many staffing agencies and their clients in the area. I should be able to land on my feet but there's on guarantee of finding anything stable. What I do know is I have more credit card debt than I'd like and rent to pay. 

To help deal with that issue, no makeup, books, jewelry, or clothes will be purchased in February. My things are selling reasonably well on Poshmark for the moment and I'll be returning something to Amazon soon. I'll crank up the use of Ibotta and Viggle and try to save that way. I won't make myself crazy but I need to be prepared for what could happen and lugging around more debt than I need because of things I don't is not the ideal way to handle it. Time to adult and fix it.

The Bachelor Workout

It's that time again! The Bachelor started this week and I'm brought it in with a bang.

I run a tally of everything that happens and then do the exercises during the commercials. After the first week, Fake Job Title will be changed to "connection." Rejected categories were 

-When the claws come out

-"Proposal"

-Welcome back (we see someone we've seen before)

-"...felt like this before"

It will get my fat butt off the couch and help me mindfully consume my media. Everyone goes on here talking about finding a spouse. One person choosing from 28 people on romantic dates only a billionaire could pull off. That's very typical.

Let's not forget, the contestants don't get books, radio, TV, internet, phones, cameras, crossword puzzles, board games, podcasts, movies, music, or any form of entertainment other than exercise and each other. Stockholm Syndrome anyone?

It's always good to mindfully consume your media. Now I'm doing that and exercising.

New 16 Books #1

January isn't even into double digits and I've bought the first of my new 16 books. Before you judge me, I was OK with this being one of my 16 from day 1.

It started when I was making an Amazon list for my birthday in a few months. A friend requested it. When I went to add the illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, it wasn't available. I got a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas and I knew I'd seen it in stores so I added that to the day's errands. First store didn't have it. Second store had it and held it for me. I also got to take advantage of the fact that I'm a member and saved an additional 10% for what remains of my gift card. 

While it's pretty early for me to have already made a dent in my 16, the day of errands also included trips to 2 library branches. I've got a pretty respectable library haul to burn through before the 24th. I'll keep you posted.


New 16 for 2016

1) Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Richer Reading Life in 2016

Part of my desire to give up on a challenge was so I could relax and enjoy reading without the stress and pressure of a challenge. But I want to have a richer reading life which both about what you read and how you read.

This challenge was also inspired by two articles from BOOKRIOT: Read Harder Challenge 2015 and 2016 and tips for a richer reading life. Since this is for 2016, I have 16 in each category. 16 books to read, 16 activities to do. Each of these should be fun, so help me gods.

Things to Read
-By a woman
-By a POC
-By a LGBT person
-Deals with mental illness
-Woman in politics
-Author over 65
-Author from Africa
-Takes place in Asia
-Indie Press
-Translation
-Poetry
-Published before 1850
-Genre I typically avoid
-Award winner
-Audiobook
-Recommendation

Things to Do
-Ask a librarian at my local library for a recommendation
-Ask someone I respect for a recommendation and read it right away
-Read outside
-Read a book that looks like it will make you uncomfortable
-Read out loud to someone I love
-Dog ear a page
-Write in margins
-Give away a book that's been in my TBR pile for a long time
-Cull 10 books from my collection and don't bring any new ones home for a month
-Attend a reading event near me
-Read the book, watch the movie, debate which is better
-Listen to an audiobook of a physical book I DNF
-Listen to a podcast about books
-Memorize a poem
-Read one page of a holy book of faith I was not raised with
-Have a conversation about books with someone you've never talked books with before

It's unrealistic to say I won't buy any more books but I'm running out of space and I need to save more money. I can only bring 16 new books for 2016 outside of conventions. I can only purchase at conventions if I can get them signed. Gifts purchased to be given to others or given to me as gifts don't count.

This is it for 2016. It should be an interesting year.

PopSugar Reading Challenge Final Review

I knew from the outset I might not finish it. Toward the end of the summer, I knew it would be dicey but not impossible. By the end of the fall, I knew it wasn't happening and decided to just read what I wanted and hoped it fit a category on the list.

There were only so many hours in the day and many of them involved bar trivia, various gatherings, different cons and events, hockey games (mostly televised), laundry, family time, and a variety of other tasks. I was still reading but not as often and not as much as I'd hoped. 

Make I'll fix that next year, maybe not. I do know I'll keep reading but not berate myself for falling short of goals only I'm measuring. Reading is not a contest. It's a way of life.

Of the categories I didn't finish, I had books in mind for many of them. Here's what I had hoped to read but didn't pull off this year. I was 16 short in total.

A Classic Romance
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

A Book that Came Out the Year You Were Born
Aces High (Wild Card #2) edited by George R. R. Martin

A Book Set in the Future
Metatropolis by John Scalzi et al

A Book that Made You Cry
The Book Thief
* - I've never read it but the movie broke my heart so I figured the book would do the same.

A Popular Author's First Book
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

A Book from an Author You Love that You Haven't Read Yet
Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

A Pulitzer Prize Winning Book
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

A Book Written by an Author With Your Initials
The Executor by Jon Evans

A Book You Were Supposed to Read in School but Didn't
Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger Jr.

Here's the final list. I did good. Not great but OK.