WWW Wednesdays – October 31, 2018

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Time for another WWW Wednesdays, which is brought to you by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. If you too want to participate, answer the above questions and post that link on Sam’s page.

I did very little reading this week and weekend between work and travel. This past weekend, I took a trip to Austin, Texas for the 2018 Texas Book Festival. (See my post about that event here.) The festival kept me so busy with all the things to do and authors to meet, that I did not get much time to read. It was worth it though.

Currently Reading

Recently Finished

The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman – audiobook

Sarah Weinman explores the theory that Nabokov’s Lolita was based off of the true story of the kidnapping of Sally Horner. This book provides an in depth analysis of Lolita and the story of Sally Horner, which I admit that I had not heard of before. I, overall, enjoyed hearing the comparisons between the two. However, I found two things rather annoying. First, trying to not spoil anything by giving away too many details, the author glosses over the fate of Sally Horner early on in the book and makes you wait until almost the end to find out exactly what happened to her. She should not have mentioned her fate at all until it was time to actually explain that. The second thing that I did not really enjoy was the end section that goes into details of what happened to characters in the book, many of whom were not very relevant to the story, so I cared little about what happened to them. It is a captivating read for readers like me who love true crime and also classic fiction.

Reading Next

I’m hoping to get a lot more reading done this week and weekend. What have y’all been reading this week? If you have a WWW post, please share the link if I haven’t commented already.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

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2018 Texas Book Festival

I decided that this would be the year that I attend my first book festival, and the Texas Book Festival in Austin did not disappoint. There were so many different authors from so many different genres and activities for all ages. When you want to attend all the sessions, it is hard to narrow down your must see/do list. I was fortunate enough to attend the book festival with a friend, who help me have the best experience. Here is what we experienced:

DAY ONE – SATURDAY 10/27

Meet the Indie Next Authors! Featuring: R.O. Kwon, Tommy Orange, Nicole Chung

Book signing

Earth and Beyond: A Conversation with Scott Kelly in the Texas State Capitol

Litsy Meetup on the lawn of the Texas State Capitol

Book signing with Sarah McCoy

Souvenirs – thanks to Texas Book Festival and Book People Bookstore

Lit Crawl Austin – American Short Fiction authors play Ex Libris at Stay Gold, featuring Jamel Brinkley, Rita Bullwinkel, Rebecca Makkai, Jennifer duBois, Owen Egerton and Tommy Orange

Lit Crawl Austin – Noir at the Bar where crime fiction authors read from their recent their novels at Stay Gold, featuring Lou Berney, Max Booth, Meg Gardiner, Mike McCrarry and Scott Von Doviak

Won a crime fiction novel raffle with signed copies!

DAY TWO – SUNDAY 10/28

Alternate Realities: Sci Fi in 2018 with V.E. Schwab and John Scalzi

John Scalzi taking a selfie wearing V.E. Schwab’s cat ears

The last presentation was amazing, and we were too tuckered out to continue with any more sessions, so we wandered around Austin a bit longer and then hit the road back to Houston. All the author/presenters we listened to were amazing, personable and friendly. We just wanted to be friends with all of them. Now I have to find a place in my house for all my lovely new books!

 

 

WWW Wednesdays – October 24, 2018

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Time for another WWW Wednesdays, which is brought to you by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. If you too want to participate, answer the above questions and post that link on Sam’s page.

Last weekend, I participated in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon. It was so much fun! I got some good quality reading in. You can find my readathon wrap up here. Did you participate? Let me know and share any fun things you did during the readathon or helpful tips.

This weekend, I will be going to the Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas. This will be my first book festival. Any recommendations from those who have attended book festivals before? Will any of you be there?

We are officially one month into Fall reading, and I have read 11 books on my Fall TBR. I am feeling pretty good about that progress.

Currently Reading

 

Recently Finished

The Personality Brokers by Merve Emre – audiobook

If you enjoy Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies and Anne Bogel’s Reading People, this will be the perfect book for you. The Personality Brokers gives the history behind the creation of the Myers-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI – Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). I remember taking this test in high school and then again in college. I recently retook the MBTI and am an ISFJ. Have you taken the quiz? How accurate has it been for you? I found it interesting that the MBTI was created through the experiments and research by a mother and daughter. I was fascinated by famous people (especially authors like Truman Capote) who used personality testing. However, this book can be a bit dry, so I liked it but didn’t love it.

The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory – NetGalley ARC ebook

Theodora is a princess in a land called Drieden. She is known for her antics of slipping away from the palace and doing her own thing. However, on her wedding day, she is not the one that runs away from the palace. It is her fiance that does not show up. Months after that horrible day, Theodora returns to her duties at the palace and again finds herself escaping the palace in the middle of the night. While out at a local pub, she meets a handsome and mysterious stranger, Nick. Turns out, Nick is not who he said he was but in reality is Theordora’s ex-fiance’s brother. Nick believes that his brother didn’t just runaway, but that there is a much bigger and also dangerous situation going on. As Nick and Theodora search for the truth, Theodora struggles with her loyalties to her royal position, her country and Nick.

If you like The Princess Diaries or the classic film Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, then you should definitely read The Royal Runaway. It is a fun romance with a thrilling mystery plot.

Kiss Me, Kill Me and Other True Cases by Ann Rule – audiobook

This is a collection of true crime stories of “love” gone wrong like the Lonely Hearts Killer. These are crimes that occurred long before cases like the Laci Peterson murder by her husband, Scott Peterson. I love true crime and especially Ann Rule’s books, but I find this one more haunting than others, because these are crimes that could happen to any woman, who just wants to date. I myself went on a few blind dates back in the day. I would never have done that now after reading this book. Lots of trigger warnings for the descriptions of assaults. I still love Ann Rule. No true crime writer composes a story with such informative and useful information as she does. I always feel like I learn a bit more about detective work and forensic science when reading her books, but this one was a bit harder to stomach. SSDGM!

The Raven and Other Favorite Poems by Edgar Allen Poe – book

I have had this book on my book shelves for, since I was very young. I loved poetry when I was in middle school and was introduced to Edgar Allen Poe in an advanced English class in high school. I will say his poetry really holds up for me. I still love The Raven as much now as I did then and I really remembered and loved A Dream within a Dream. I’m really glad I used the readathon to revisit Poe.

Reading Next

 

I hope you all had a fantastic week of reading! Any thoughts on the books I’ve listed? What are y’all reading? If I haven’t already commented on your WWW post, please include it in the comments below.

HAPPY READING!!!

Fall Reading – 2018

Fall is officially here. There are so many fun events in the world of books during the fall, with book festivals (I’m really hoping to go to the Texas Book Festival in Austin, TX this year), readathons (like Dewey’s 24 hour readathon), and PBS announcing the Great American Read. With all these fun things happening this fall, I am hoping that this will inspire me to get through the following (or at least a majority of the following) reads:

NetGalley Reads

• The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory √
• I Hate You, I Love You by Elizabeth Hayley √
• One Day in December by Josie Silver
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean √
• Girls on the Line by Jennie Liu
• Broken Ground by Val McDermid
• Killer Classics by Kim Roberts √
• Tiffany Blues by M.J. Rose
• A Christmas Date by Camilla Isley √

BookishFirst Reads

• Murder Mile by Lynda La Plante √
• Laurentian Divide by Sarah Stonich

Goodreads Giveaway

• Postcards from a Stranger by Imogen Clark

Book Club Reads

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz √ 
• Strange Things Done by Elle Wild √
• Out by Natsuo Kirino √ 
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway √
• The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson √

Other

• Different Seasons by Stephen King – ebook
• The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn – book
• Bonfire by Krysten Ritter – book
• Rooms by Lauren Oliver – book
• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware – book
• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan – book
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han – book
• Raven and Other Favorite Poems by Edgar Allen Poe – book √
• Sadie by Courtney Summers – book √
• Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward – audiobook √
• I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai – audiobook √
• Kiss Me, Kill Me by Ann Rule – audiobook √
• My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan – audiobook √ 
• Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann – audiobook √
• Endurance by Scott Kelly – audiobook √
• The Personality Brokers by Merve Emre – audiobook √
• The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman – audiobook √
• Decluttering at the Speed of Life by Dana K. White – audiobook √ 
• Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright – audiobook √ 
• The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffington – audiobook √
• The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard – audiobook √
• Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson – audiobook √

What are you looking forward to reading this Fall?

Hope you all have a productive Fall Reading season!!! Happy Reading!!!