#Irontomeathon Round up

It’s been real. It’s been fun. All of the TBRs I did not get to were due back at the library on today. I took all of them back yesterday except for Half A King, which isn’t due for a while yet and which I am really interested in due to interesting reviews.

I learned a few things.

The reasons I quit reading tons of adult fantasy are many. Most of them still stand. I did discover a new writer or two I may follow, new work by an author I already knew and sort of liked (you know, I like some of her stuff, I don’t like others of it…), and a few books by favorite authors I had not yet read – so there’s a few I’ll be reading or looking for to read in the future. I may dabble more than I have for the last several years, but very selectively.

The readathon itself was fun for me, and here I have to include the 24in48 Readathon as well. It was sort of gratifying to follow a little in social media and learn there are others like me who read as fast, or even faster, than I do. I wasn’t even halfway up the leaderboard by my estimate 😀 Although I was also reading books not part of the readathon.

Which is another thing I learned. I’ll go stir crazy if I read one after another of ANY genre, even one I dearly love. This explains why right now my TBR holds a three non-fictions (one about spies, another about UFO/aliens, and a scientific treatise about wild horses), three of the In Death books (I am working my way through the whole series in order finally. Knocking out about two a week on average), Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and Half A King.  I am unable to NOT have variety and still read.

Any future readathons, and yeah I think maybe there will be some, will be based entirely on some other type of challenge – preferably something like how many can you read in a month or how many hours in a week or something numerical that won’t force me to stay in one genre.

I didn’t get very involved in the social end of it, which isn’t too surprising. I’ve gotten very anti-social, which is my natural state. For a long time when I thought I would make money on the Internet or by writing I followed all that advice on being active on every social media there is. I met some great people and had some fun, but it’s a relief, really, to be out of it.  I find I don’t care for the format of trying to carry on a conversation on most of those sites.

So, there it is.

I am devoting August to playing games and tinkering with my new tablet as far as trying out apps for learning Japanese, drawing, games, anime, and all the other stuff I used to do with my Kindle Fire – only now I won’t be feeling handicapped by the limitations imposed by Amazon and the new android tablet has far greater capabilities in the gaming and graphics area that I’m very much enjoying already.

Hopefully by September the weather will break and I’ll be doing more active outdoorsy things.

And and…SHARK WEEK.

Photo by mali maeder on Pexels.com

 

Book #7 for #Irontomeathon

Just a quickie. After a break for an In Death book, and then a delightful non-fiction book titled The Truth About Animals, I read Ursula K. LeGuinn’s The Eye of the Heron. 186 pages. It may show up as more in some sources because the copy I have includes a chapter from The Word For World is Forest at the end. I’ve already read that one, so I didn’t read it and didn’t include it in the page count. So my total points now is 1,913.

I quite enjoyed a nice, quiet, serene sort of visit to one of my all time favorite authors.

Guess I should look at Twitter and see how the rest of the gang is doing.

For myself, I’ve concluded Twitter is not really a place to chat for me. So I am skipping the conversation about The Poppy War. At that, I might even drop it from my TBR and just return it. I did finally stumble upon the adult fantasy paperback shelf at Henderson Library! There I found Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I know, a classic of our times and… I HAVEN’T READ IT. Gasp.

Overall, I’m going to just finish out July mixing some non-fictions, In Death series, and the adult fantasies. The adult fantasy genre has made it back onto my radar with some interesting entries, so that’s kind of nice. Much of the reasons I quit reading the genre are still true, though. So it will be one that I simply sprinkle in among the scifi and mystery and non-fiction and everything else 😀

Yeah, I needed more stuff to read. LOL.

July Readathons Update

This past weekend was the #24in48 Readathon. No, I didn’t quite make it. Hubby participated with me and came quite a bit closer, but was still a bit short. All I can say is that is a whole lot of hours, and I had other non-negotiable responsibilities to take care of as well. It was fun though. One thing I really appreciated was the QUIET. Mind you, neither of us is prone to things like leaving the TV on just to make noise but with both of us reading it was especially quiet and peaceful.

I did make some major inroads on the TBR for the #Irontomeathon. It’s been real, it’s been fun, but I am getting kind of burnt out on formulaic adult fantasy. I finished Twelve Kings of Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu (583 pages) and Kitty’s House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn (292 pages) to bring my points total up to 1727. Haven’t seen a point total for anyone else so I have no clue how that might stack up.

For something different I returned to my personal In Death Readathon (chuckle) and finished Conspiracy in Death by J. D. Robb.

And after a long break during which I seriously considered quitting altogether (wow, who knew I could get tired of reading) I started a non-fiction, The Truth About Animals by Lucy Cooke. I also sprinkled in some magazine reading here and there for something different and reduced my ever growing magazine pile. That made me feel pretty good 😀

I think what I’ve learned here is that there is an actual limit to how many hours a day I can read – more because I do finish books, then need a break, then need something different to read. I could have easily slurped down four or more books this weekend. But I got restless, plus one book after another doesn’t give me time to digest and think about what I just finished. Still, it was nice. I just don’t think I’d do it again. But I might.

As far as the #Irontomeathon – which isn’t quite over with, of course – I’m starting to find one book after another in the same genre to be ho-hum boring. So perhaps the next time I feel the urge to do a readathon, I’ll find something based on pure page amounts or something rather than something that forces me to stay in the same genre. I’ve always skipped around. That’s just what suits me. Mind you, I’ve been reading the In Death books between the fantasies as it is, so I think there is also a certain amount of disenchantment with the adult fantasy genre.

Overall, I’m glad I did this. It was fun, and a learning experience.

 

Book 4 #Irontomeathon

Finished up Bartered Brides by Mercedes Lackey this weekend. 314 pages to bring the points total to 852.

I started Fall of Gondolin last night and went to sleep on it. One thing it brought to mind, though, was that J.R.R.Tolkein singlehandedly created adult fantasy with his Lord of the Rings. Think about it, I’m old enough to remember when there were no adult fairy tales or fantasies. Science fiction yes, which ranged from my personal favorites of speculative fiction (what if) to cowboys in space (which had it’s moments) but fairy tales of elves, dwarves and dragons were strictly for children when I was a young adult. What an amazing thing to see happen and grow in my own lifetime – this entire genre that includes books, games (D&D anyone!), and visual genres like film, tv series, and anime. Hell, I remember when bringing up Tolkein in conversation would get you laughed at for reading kids books! Yes, happened to me. Alot.

Christopher Tolkein, for all his courageous editing, organizing and sharing of his fathers unfinished works, isn’t (to me) quite the writer his father was and I can only read so much before I need a break.

So I also started Twelve Kings of Sharakhan by Bradley P. Beaulieu. I’m only about a chapter in, so I’ll withhold a real opinion yet, but so far I like it.

This is another thing that people find hard to believe. That I will read 2 or more books at the same time. I do this most frequently when I am also reading non-fiction, as it is generally quite easy to keep a non-fiction (usually science or biography) seperate in the mind from fiction of whatever kind. You might discount his testimony as prejudice, but the hubby will back me up on this. He finds it rather amazing to watch me read several books at once. Not all at once, of course, but if i have a stack of four books at bedside, he knows I am probably reading all four of them.

Why is it that we easily believe someone can multi-task (I have a friend who frequently chats online, plays a game, and watches TV all at the same time as carrying on a conversation with one of his roommates) but we refuse to believe that people can read more than one book at a time? Let alone have the reading speed that I – and many others I’m sure – have.

On that subject, I don’t know about anyone else, but I was reading before I entered school and because my real life was hell I read basically 24-7 unless I was asleep. And I don’t sleep much. In the fifth grade I was tested and found to be reading at college level. I’m just gifted, I think, and I’m glad because I love this gift. Other people are gifted in math, and no one finds that astounding or unbelieveable.

Well this turned into a bit of a ramble! Hope you’re enjoying the readathon!

#Irontomeathon Update

All of my #Irontomeathon books are from the library. Which is why I had to take one back today. Kill The Farm Boy had a hold and had to be returned. Some other day. But I brought home one more to add; The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R. Tolkein. It’s a new book, too, and no doubt needs to be read and returned tuit sweet. I know I sure snatched it up!

Also going back were Only The Devil is Here (finished) by Stephen Mitchell,  Another Kingdom (finished) by Andrew Klavan, and The Tiger Flu (DNF) by Larissa Lai.

I am partially through The Bartered Brides by Mercedes Lackey and expect I’ll finish it tonight. It’s from the middle of a series, and I just might have to actually see if I can start the whole thing start to finish after I finish In Death. And here you would think that yet another take on Sherlock would bore me to tears. Nope.

Thus far my points stand at 538. No clue how that stacks up with anyone else.

I also finished Holiday in Death from the J.D. Robb series, In Death, which I’m trying to finally get to read start to finish in order this summer.

So…I guess that’s it! Best of luck everybody and I hope you’re enjoying your books!

Book Three for #Irontomeathon is a DNF

I read about half of The Tiger Flu by Larrisa Lai before concluding it was not my cup of tea. It seems as if the more awards a book wins, the more it is acclaimed, the more I can’t WAIT to get hold of it – the worse it is. I did reserve the right to toss any of my TBR chosen for #Irontomeathon aside, and this will be the first to go Did Not Finish. After all, I all but stopped reading adult fantasy for good reasons.

To get the taste out of my mind I’m going back to my personal reading list of the In Death books. My next one is Holiday in Death which makes me snicker about Christmas in July. I hate those Christmas in July things, BTW. But this is one I think I will probably enjoy 😀 Reading it will probably take one, maybe two days, and then I’ll move on with the last of the “new” 14 day books with an eye towards having it finished by Thursday when I’ve scheduled a trip to the library to return those.

 

#Irontomeathon Book 2!

#Irontomeathon: Finished Another Kingdom by Andrew Klavan. Now THAT was an all in one night fevered read. Great action adventure. Will look forward to the next in this series! 335 pages/points for a total now of 543 I think.

I see Andrew Klavan has a number of books, many of which look to be thrillers and crime – my other favorite genres. I may have a new author to follow! Just put a bunch of his books on my “for later” shelf at the library.