Starting Out 2017 With a Bang! (And I Don't Mean Fireworks)

I finished ten books on January 1, 2017. Huh? I can hear you say. Are you pulling my leg? Exaggerating? Lying? Nope. I honestly and truly finished ten books on January 1st. I do it every year.  So what is my secret?  I finish off my list for 2016 just before the Christmas break from school. Then I read like crazy for the week or so before the first of the new year. I read like crazy, but I don't quite finish the books I'm reading; I leave the last chapter or the last few pages for the first day of the year.  Result: I start each year confident. Excited to work on my yearly reading challenge. With a bang. (And I don't mean fireworks.) I guess it's a bit of a cheat of a sort but it works for me. It's fun to tell people when I am asked that I've already read ten books by day one of the new year. Lots of Oooos and Aaaaahs and the "You are an amazing reader!" sort of comments. Well, yes, I am. Here's what I have finished last week: cover title author review But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past Klosterman, Chuck This is a wonderfully refreshing idea for a book: how will the present look from the future? What will we think about the way we looked at sports and ...more  From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books Horning, Kathleen T. Evaluating and reviewing children's books is something I do a lot. I could benefit from reading this book, I thought. I was disappointed to find that ...more  The Monks and Me: How 40 Days in Thich Nhat Hanh's French Monastery Guided Me Home Paterson, Mary * Mary Paterson spends forty days at Thich Nhat Hanh's monastery in France and returns home to Canada calm and peaceful. This book is a collection of re ...more  I'll Give You the Sun Nelson, Jandy* Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance Wow. Wow. Wow. (That doesn't tell you much, does it? Let's see if I can tell you a little bit of what this story is about....) T ...more  The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia Booth, Michael The question of everyone's mind these days seems to be: What's so great about Scandinavia? Michael Booth, an Englishman living in Denmark, decides to ...more  Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders Foer, Joshua * Carhenge, a replica of Stonehenge, using junk cars. The Museum of Bad Art, where nine of every ten submissions are rejected for being too good. Ozyman ...more  Hating Alison Ashley Klein, Robin I didn't know a thing about this book except (1) it is a 1001 Children's Book and (2) one of the main character has the same name as I originally had ...more  The Battle for Room 314: My Year of Hope and Despair in a New York City High School Boland, Ed Let me start by telling you the ending.... *****SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!***** ...he quits. Yes, he gives it a year, one year, and he ...more  More Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience Usher, Shaun* It's a book of letters and, if that sounds boring, you obviously haven't read this book. These are brilliant missives, some funny, some sad, some zany ...more  The Diary of a Country Priest Bernanos, Georges If I was more clever, I'd rate this a five and if I went by what a struggle it was to get through it, I'd rate it a three, so I suppose this is a spot ...more  I'll be at my dad's 90th birthday party most of today. My dad is just like a five year old before Christmas! What are you reading today? What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon. The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week. Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week.   It is now being hosted here. Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired. It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.