The last four weeks have been pretty productive reading time for me, between vacation and convalescing with my dislocated shoulder! I started and finished three books during the two weeks we were away, and in the two weeks since we came home, I’ve completed four more. I honestly can’t remember the last time I read seven books in a month – and I’d also forgotten how much I like tearing through one book after another!
It won’t last, though. I’m back to work on a partial telecommuting basis (for now), so my reading time will dwindle. Since I’m still wearing the immobilizer sling on my right arm 22 hours a day, I’ve been typing left-handed and slowly, which has kept my blogging activity down to not much more than reviews of the books I’ve finished and some vacation stories. I’m hoping to be weaned from the sling over the next few weeks – I’m seeing an orthopedist on Tuesday and hope to know more after that – and as I return to two-handedness, I suspect I’ll be trying to write more (and participate more actively in the blogging and Twitter communities – I’m missing that!). That usually means less time hitting the books.
Fortunately, one doesn’t really need both hands to read, but it does help, since not all reading materials are created equal. E-books are great. Hardcovers are better than I’d have expected, since they’re easier to prop up (and the dust jacket flaps are built-in bookmarks). Trade paperback is my favorite format, but larger and heavier ones are surprisingly clumsy to manage one-handed, especially when reading at breakfast.
Earlier this week, I posted my Reading (Half-)Year in Review – and after reading some other folks’ status reports, I thought I’d add a few more statistics:
Review copies read (ARCs, tours, other sources):
My books read: 12
Hardcover: 6
Paperback: 12
ARC/galley: 5 6
E-book (Kindle): 3
Fiction: 20 21
Nonfiction: 6
Re-reads (reviewed for first time): 1
Female authors: 20 (read 3 books by one author and 2 by another)
Male authors: 4
Recent additions to the LbraryThing “To Read” Collection
- Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart *
- I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti: A Memoir of Good Food and Bad Boyfriends by Giulia Melucci
- Paul Is Undead by Alan Goldsher
- The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet: A Novel by Myrlin A. Hermes
- Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr *
- The Embers: A Novel by Hyatt Bass *
- A Short History of Women: A Novel by Kate Walbert
- Await Your Reply: A Novel by Dan Chaon
- The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow
- The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel (thanks to Literary Feline)
- Dismantled: A Novel by Jennifer Mcmahon
- Blame: A Novel by Michelle Huneven (thanks to Bermudaonion) #
- The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose #
- Trouble: A Novel by Kate Christensen #
- Lucky Girl: A Memoir by Mei-Ling Hopgood #
- Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman # *
# moved from the Wishlist
After many years, I think I may finally be losing my irrational fear of running out of things to read…or else I’m making it even more irrational than ever!
