read 6 books in 6 months

by George Orwell

Somehow I’ve gotten to the ripe old age of Mid-to-Late Twenties without having read this book. I’ll admit it: I picked it up because I’m on a deadline and it’s only got 94 pages. It was totally worthwhile though, if a smidge depressing. I can see why it’s a classic and I think everyone should take a few hours (seriously: it’s so short) and read this. 3 years ago

by Gregory Maguire

I like backstory, so seeing a whole other side of an iconic villain was very interesting. It was also a completely heartbreaking story. Even so, it was a great read. 3 years ago

by Taras Grescoe

A couple of chapters were a little boring, but overall this was a really interesting and informative read. You can tell a lot about a culture from what it forbids. The best bits were about Singapore (poppy crackers, chewing gum, joy in general) and everywhere but Bolivia & Argentina (coca leaves). If you like food and anthropology, this is a good book for you. 3 years ago

The end of this book kind of felt like a precursor to The Secret, but it was much more sane-sounding, so I won’t hold that against it. The first few chapters were actually kind of helpful, so if you’re someone who struggles with a fear of failure or a fear of success (or, paralyzingly, both in my case) I’d recommend getting this out of the library and checking it out. 3 years ago

Firstly, this novel was not really what I had expected. I just assumed that it was similar to the movie Soylent Green (which I also haven’t seen, but I do know the spoiler). The book was basically just a really depressing look at what happens when you have too many people crowding the planet. It was particularly interesting to see where Harry Harrison thought the human race would be at the turn of the millennium.

I’m glad I read it, but it mostly just made me sad. Some of the plot isn’t as far fetched as I would like it to be. 3 years ago

I spent Thanksgiving weekend away with my in-laws and even though I like them a lot, I’m a person who needs an awful lot of alone time. My sister-in-law is a reader, so she had a stack of books she said I could take if I wanted to. I flipped through a few of them, read a short story out of one, and then came across A Clean Slate by Laura Caldwell.

I read the first chapter early Saturday afternoon and finished it off before dessert on Sunday evening. Part chick-lit (vivid descriptions of the requisite shopping spree at Saks and makeover at Trevé in Chicago) and part mystery (central character wakes up one day to discover that she can’t remember the last 5 months of her life), it had enough going for it to pull me in and keep me interested enough to finish it.

Not the most amazing piece of work I’ve ever read, but obviously a good place to start for my 6 in 6 challenge. 3 years ago

For book 4 I read the second book in the Harry Potter series. I’m currently on book 5 which is, you guessed it, the third book in the Harry Potter series. The books are getting bigger as I go along so it may slow me down a bit but it’s nice to have good reading lined up. 3 years ago

For book 3 I started the Harry Potter series. It was sitting on my bookself without ever being touched. I finished that one and now I’m onto book 4 which is the second one in the series. 3 years ago

I’ve been trying to do this for 2.5 years and still haven’t managed it. Why am I so incapable of reading? I used to love it. 3 years ago

I just finished reading Long Way Down this weekend. Still deciding on book 3. 3 years ago