Misc. Monday: Scheduled Reading vs. Impulsive Reading

Good news everyone! I've been reading lately. I've been reading extensively. I've been finishing books in two days or less which, at the snail-like pace I go means a lot. I haven't been doing as well with the actual reviewing of these book, but hopefully this week I'll change that around.

Reading heavily in public and semi-private (e.g, breakroom at work), is and has always been an interesting experience for me. Someone always always wants to know what I'm reading. I've never gotten good at answering those questions with a non-offensive, non-awkward non-lie. You never know how judgmental the person making the inquiry is, and it's not like you can ask. "Before I answer, are you super religious? Prudish? Homophobic? Elitist, snobby? Are you going to use my answer to label me and shove me into a category according to carefully constructed schema?" That does happen. "Oh, she reads romance novels! She must be one of those lonely cat ladies!" You can always try to confuse and redirect by describing the least touchy aspects of the plot. "Oh, it's a story set in a dystopian future, in which this girl is kicked out of her community and has to survive in the much rougher outside world." There, I just described Beyond Shame without referencing anything that anyone would find offensive. The problem with over-describing is that many people will eventually ask you for a title, and they will eventually figure out that what you were reading is nothing like The Hunger Games, not at all.

But I digress.

You all know that I was going through a reading slump last month, and I really struggled with what felt like my brain rebelling against every book I opened. I don't know how it happened, but I kind of came out of it thinking, "Fuck it, I'm just gonna read whatever the hell I feel like reading now." And thus began the impulsive bout of book gorging such as I have not indulged in since before I started this blog. I've long been an eclectic reader and always been kind of a mood reader, but since starting my blog I've tried to keep the moodiness under control in the name of maintaining a varied and coherent review schedule. The thing is though, I don't think schedules are good for me right now. I've been finishing books faster and with more enjoyment because I start them with the childish glee of just pulling the shiniest book off the shelf (or out of the Kindle wishlist, as the case may be).

So, yeah, I think we're going to stay off the map for a little while. It should be fun, though I do apologize to any of my readers who have OCD or are inordinately fond of schedules. I will try to post a review schedule sometime soon, once they are written and I'm sure that they will be up on time. See you soon, and as always, Happy Reading!

Misc. Monday: Sparse Posting Now, Many Posts Later...

Once upon a time I was thinking about what sorts of different things I'd like to do in 2013. I know, of course, that I need to get back to some of the tried and true stuff like Follow Friday and, you know, actually surfing the internet beyond my own site...but I also wanted to change things up a bit. One of the things that I'd really like to do is a theme month. Or two. But let's start with the first one.

So I was sorting through my own thoughts during a particularly slow night at work, and I thought: February will be Urban Fantasy month! Yes! And I thought about all of the authors and series and books and movies I could write about, all of the things I've never gotten around to mentioning before. I made a schedule. It's a brilliant, perfect schedule written on the back of a test sheet from the photo printer.

Yeah, I'm not going to do Urban Fantasy February.

Every time I tried to open one of the books I hoped to review for that theme, my mind just kind of wandered. Turns out I'm not in the mood for urban fantasy right now. One of the things that I've learned about reviewing is that a fair review can only start with a book that I did not force upon myself. I should start every book with the mindset that it might be my next 5 star read, and if I can't do that I should set it aside. So urban fantasy month will just have to wait.

What I actually have been in the mood to read is romance, particularly contemporary romance. So February is going to be romance month here at Reading to Penguins. And if I had a lot to talk about with UF, it's got nothing on my romance itinerary. Just you wait.

Here are my goals for Romance month:

1)28 days of posting: at least one short post every day, be it book review, movie review, show review, or other commentary.

2) With the exception of a few off posts already scheduled (for blog tours and whatnot), all posts will relate back to romance as a genre or concept. Some of the things I anticipate including are:

-The formulaic nature of romance writing.

-Who reads romance novels and why.

-My top 10 favorite romance authors

-Cover Art. Oh God, the romance cover art.

-Movie reviews of some of my favorite (and least favorite) romantic movies, including some of the Nicolas Sparks movies, Disney films, Jane Austen adaptations, and possibly (if I'm feeling snarky) the Twilight series. But I make no promises there.

-Lots and lots of book reviews. Everything romantic I can squeeze in from now until the end of February.

3) Hopefully the month will end with a contest or giveaway, the particulars of which I still have to work out.

In order to make all of this happen, I have to write some posts ahead of time. Like, right now. So, while we still have a few things coming up in January (Sandman review, 1 more misc. monday, and hopefully a follow friday), I may be somewhat absent, but it's only because I'm planning for the good things to come. I hope you'll join us here in February for romance month, and as always, Happy Reading!

Misc. Mondays: Goals for the Coming Year

In 2012 I just managed to meet my goal of 112 books read and reviewed by a narrow margin. Therefore I decided not to make my 2013 goal too much higher than that--just 113 books, one more than last year. It amounts to roughly one book every three days, which seems fair and realistic. I don't have college or a wedding to plan, so I actually think this year might be easier. Even with a mostly full time job and that pesky husband creature. And the cat, Sir Book-Chewer.

I thought I'd use this post to talk about the books I'm most looking forward to reading and discussing in 2013.  There is, to say the least, a great deal of them.

February

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Considering the fact that Cinder was my very favorite book in 2012, I'm beyond eager for my copy of it's sequel. Delicious science-fictionish fairy tale goodness. 

Elusive Dawn by Gabriele Willis: This was actually published in November, but I agreed to review in in February. It's the sequel to The Summer before the Storm, a unique and memorable historical novel set primarily in pre-World War I Canada.

Purgatory Reign by L.M. Preston: This YA urban fantasy will be published in May (I believe), but I will be participating in the blog tour in February. 

March

Requiem by Lauren Oliver: It's hard to describe my feelings for this trilogy so far. It's a bit of a love/hate relationship, especially with the ending of Pandemonium, but I think I'm eager to read this one all the more because of those mixed feelings.

Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs: It's been so long since I've read a Patricia Briggs book, I'm almost in danger of forgetting how much I love her. Mercy Thompson book 7 ought to cure that.

Lover At Last by J.R. Ward: Yeah, I'm still reading these things. I'm in it until the bitter end, God help me. Actually, Tohr's book wasn't too bad, and I'm kind of hopeful. I really like Blay and Quinn and, well, we'll see.

April

The Elite by Kiera Cass: The Selection was a flawed book, but so freaking memorable. I can remember talking about it with friends, "The premise is kind of stupid, but you should totally read it." It stands out from some of it's dystopian comrades, and I appreciate that.

 

 

 

May

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins: This will be her third contemporary romance, and after loving the first two (especially Anna) I'm beyond excited for round three.

June

Prior Engagement by Karina Bliss: This is actually expected to be released in May, but I'm all full on contemporary romance for that month, so I'll be reading it in June. I'm excited for this one because it's a continuation of Karina Bliss's excellent stories about soldiers and ex-soldiers finding their happy endings after their battles are over. 

Flame by Amy Kathleen Ryan: This will be the third book in her Sky Chasers series, which has been an at least passably interesting sci-fi story so far.

July

Dracomachia by Rachel Hartman: The sequel to Seraphina, a beautifully crafted high fantasy story, will certainly be one that I try to review the month it's released. I'm eager to see the series pick up pace.

Saga: Volume 2 by Brian K Vauhan: I gave Volume 1 4.5 stars...I was really impressed by the characters and the very unusual world(s) of the book. So, in July, Volume 2 will be my sci-fi book for the month.

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews: Oh my goodness, I feel like I've already been waiting for Kate Book #6 forever. But come July, God willing, it will be among my urban fantasy offerings.

Midnight Frost by Jennifer Estep: I'm growing more and more affectionate toward  Estep's writing style, and since I was introduced to it via this YA urban fantasy series, I'm naturally eager to continue with it.  I'm sure it won't be the only   Estep book  I read this year.

October 

Eyrie by Emma Michaels: Owlet was certainly not a perfect book, as YA paranormals go, but I find that I'm intrigued enough that I'll more than likely continue with the series. More than likely.








...I'm sure I'll be adding to this this as the year progresses and I try to, you know, organize my reading. What books are you most looking forward to in 2013?

Misc. Monday: Thanksgiving Week

Well, hello, people of the interwebs! Just dropping in to share a few updates for the week coming up.

See Any Good TV Lately?

This past week's Supernatural  had Cas in it again! Happy Dance! With Bobby gone, Cas is by far my favorite character, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of him this season!

Once Upon a Time killed off Billy/Gus the Mouse (apparently), and gave us some more backstory and development for Ruby, one of it's most interesting secondary characters. I like this version of Red Riding Hood because she's portrayed as a very typical, urban fantasy style werewolf with all of the conflicts there in--controlling the beast, finding a pack, maintaining humanity, and so forth. Very cool, indeed.

I'm glad Arrow seems to be doing well, since I really feel that TV needs a superhero or two, and why not one with a hood? My only critical comment about the overarching plot is HOW are all of these really corrupt people all in one city? I guess Sterling is to sleezy business men as Gotham is to psychopaths?

Grimm is a great show in many ways, but it annoys the piss out of my husband. He can't get over how slow the overarching plot is to progress--"I see one out of three shows, but I don't feel like I missed anything!" And he's not entirely wrong. It is first and foremost a procedural cop show with a fairytale twist, so right now it leans more toward episodic than saga style storytelling--fine for some viewers, apparently frustrating for others. What can I say? I still find the show engaging. Although I agree with hubby on his one other criticism, which is that Juliette has become horribly annoying in her obliviousness and lack of judgement. She can die any episode now, doesn't matter to me.

Beauty and the Beast is stupidly cheesie and not all that original, but still very watchable. If it were a book series, it would be paranormal romance Lora Leigh style, but without all the sex. It would be better with sex. As would so many things.

I also caught one episode of Revolution, and I liked what I saw. Problem is, I don't really have time for all of my TV and books as it is (I'm losing sleep here, people), so to fit this in something else would have to go. Anyone been keeping up with this? Want to tell me if it's worth squeezing in?

Reading Goals Are Holding Steady!

 

I surpassed the number of books read last year (97) and just hit 101! I'm so very proud of my extreme nerdiness! My goal for the year was 112 books, and with just over a month left I can't slow down now, but I'm confident I'll make it!

What will my goal for next year be? Perhaps 113, or something even more ambitious. Next year may be a bit easier without school or a wedding to deal with.

Some Thanksgiving Advice From Your Friendly Neighborhood Penguin

 

If I'm not around much this Thursday and Friday, it is of course because of the holiday. We here in the US will be celebrating our Thanksgiving diners, and then on Friday the shopping madness begins. On Friday . Friday. And that's the first point I want to make to you all, is that Black Friday should be strictly a Friday thing. Thanksgiving is for food and football and time with your family. Many retailers have gotten greedy and are starting their sales at 7 or 8 on Thursday. Nonsense.

I bring this up because right now, I have a day job (sometimes night job) at one such popular retailer. My schedule for the holiday actually worked out okay for me. But many of my coworkers were not so lucky. In the past, everyone had to work on Thanksgiving, but only 4 or 6 hour shifts. To cope with the early sales, almost everyone has to work 9+ hour shifts on Thanksgiving--sacrificing their time with their families. Do us a favor, please--vote with your pocket books, and stay home until Friday. Friday morning--go nuts, shop til you drop, we're ready for you. But please don't encourage companies to continue with these early sales--the hidden costs are paid by workers and their families.

Happy Holiday Season, Everyone!

Misc Monday: Year-long Goal Progress Report

http://thirdcousinsmedia.com/education/7-ways-to-reach-your-goals/

Setting goals for myself, as a reader and a blogger, helps me to keep track of how well I'm doing compared to how well I expected to do. The year is now more than half over, so I thought I'd take this time to let you guys know how Reading to Penguins is doing (statistically).

Reading Challenge

This is the first year that I've ever really tried to track how much I read. I vaguely thought that I usually get through two books a week, but I had no data to support that. So, at the end of 2011 I added up all of the books I had reviewed in 2011, and concluded that I read 97 books (give or take a handful). That gave me a jumping off point for setting a 2012 reading goal. First, of course I wanted to beat 97. I wanted to blow that record out of the water. I didn't just want to do 100 (to easy), but 120 seemed too hard. I settled, somewhat arbitrarily, on 112 books. How am I doing on that?

I have read 69 books this year so far! That puts me 9 books ahead of schedule, so I no longer need to maintain a break-neck pace in order to finish. I should mention that my natural reading pace is turtle-slow, so this really is an accomplishment for me.

Pageviews

Yes, I know this might be vain of me, but I do set pageview goals. This is the only way I have to gauge that people are finding and reading my blog, other than comments, and it's unrealistic to expect every reader to comment. My focus right now is simply to double the number of pageviews from that I got this same time last year. Since I was new to blogging, my count were low but steadily climbing. Outdoing them is easy, because I have a good number of (awesome) followers now. Doubling them is a little harder, but so far so good.

I am coming up on 30,000 total views SOON, and I'm pretty excited about that!

Posting

January: I'm totally going to post daily!

March: Okay, 6 days a week. I'm going to post at least 6 days a week.

June: Screw this, I can't even open my laptop six days a week. I'll post when I post.

All I can say is...good thing for Misc. Monday and for the few memes I participate in, because I feel like they keep the blog alive during extended gaps between reviews. I want to become more consistent with review schedules, but I just haven't worked out a good system yet. The post as I go system leaves too many weeks full of reviews while others have no reviews.

Commenting

Originally, my goal was to visit and comment on anytime someone left me a comment. Reality #1 I don't always have time. Reality #2 Sometimes I visit and there's nothing to read or comment on. Like, the person reviewed book 12 of a series I don't care about, or they haven't updated since my last visit, or their blog is ALL memes. But I'm still trying, I really am. Commenting is the last thing on my blogger priority list, but that doesn't mean it's okay to ignore it.

Did you set any reading or blogging goals this year? How is it working out for you?

Miscellaneous Monday: A Tale of an Internetless Penguin

Well, my winter break has come to an end. I divided my break time between Mom's place and my fiance's place, and left my apartment mostly abandoned. I finally returned home yesterday to find that my Internet is down--see how everything goes to hell when I'm not around for awhile? Anyway, the tech guys are coming tonight to figure out what the problem is. For now, I have to deal with being on a very slooow school computer. I hope you'll forgive the sparse nature of this week's Misc. Monday.

First of all, I saw Once Upon a Time last night. It was the first time I'd really watched ANY TV in about three weeks. It was a good episode. Not great, not my favorite, but certainly better than a lot of other crap I've sat through for other shows. I like that the show takes the time to give background stories--fairly sympathetic ones--to it's villains. I like the character driven nature of the show, and the fact that the story itself can move slowly without being boring.

I also saw the season premier of Downton Abbey. I got addicted to that show last year when I found it on Amazon. It's the story of a wealthy English family and their servants. Season one spans the time period between the sinking of the Titanic and the start of World War 1, and it seems like season two is very focused on the effect the war has on everyone. I love it! If you like historical dramas, you should check it out.

Finally, I'm making a sincere effort to amp up my reading--hence this past week's poll question. The most popular answer was 51-100 books in a year, which made me feel pretty good about myself. Last year, according to goodreads, I read 98 books. I'm sincerely impressed by anyone who makes time to read more than 100. I challenged myself to read 112 this year, and I have a feeling it's going to be a close call. Josh is always teasing me that I read slowly, and he's absolutely right. I argue that I read thoroughly, and thus retain more. But, given the monstrous size of my TBR pile and all of the books that I want to review, I think it's time that I stepped up my game a bit.

Speaking of reviews, this weeks poll question asks how you feel about DNF (did not finish) reviews. Do you want to see analyses of books that the reviewer failed to complete, or not? Does it depend on the situation? Don't forget to vote! Thanks, and Happy Reading!