Yes, I've been very absent from posting. Real life and reading have seriously overtaken my reviewing time. I'd considered shutting down the blog for awhile because I don't see having enough time to do serious reviewing, but I decided instead to change my focus.
For 2015, I am not going to solicit or accept from publishers (or authors) any new books for review. I'm still going to read, and I'm still going to blog about my reading but I need to remove the obligation I feel to write a review. I found I was not reading books the way I want to at this stage of my life. Instead of reading for fun, relaxation, or information, I've been reading with "what am I going to say in a review?" in my mind as I read. No more of that for the foreseeable future.
I hope to give you at least a monthly update on what I've been reading and doing to keep busy with books, travel and life. To start off the New Year, here's a list of the best books I read in 2014. If I reviewed them, I've linked to the review. The list is not in any particular order.
Benediction by Kent Haruf
Transatlantic by Colum McCann
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler
The Free by Wily Vlautin
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
Remedy for Love by Bill Roorbach
Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Several of these are books that I've read as a panel member for the Maine Reader's Choice Award. The entire long list for the award for is listed here. Do check out the list. There are some fabulous reads there. I for one am going to have a very difficult time choosing 10 out of that 25. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, in addition to reading those books, I'm going to finish up some that I have promise reviews for and then concentrate on some non-fiction, some mysteries, and a few cozies.
I'm way behind where I'd wanted to be on reading presidential bios, I'm horribly behind on several series I want to continue, and January 16th is looming to close. I'm supposed to be leading a discussion of Ben Ames Williams' epic novel of Maine "COME SPRING" and I've only finished 185 of the 866 pages. It's incredibly interesting, set right here where I live, and I want to dive in and not come up. With projects like this looming, it's no wonder I'm suffering from blog neglect.
Once again, I wish you all a fabulous New Year, and promise to pop up in your feeders periodically.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
2 comments:
Welcome, thanks for stopping by. Now that you've heard our two cents, perhaps you have a few pennies to throw into the discussion. Due to a bunch more anonymous spam getting through, I've had to disallow anonymous comments. I try to respond to all comments posing a question, but may not always get to you right away.
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Happy New Year Tina. I feel the same way about. Reading at my age should be for pleasure and not because I feel compelled to read a certain book. Here's to 2015 pleasure reading!
ReplyDeleteA very happy new year to you - I think also that you should take reading as it comes and enjoy the book. Reviews will get done eventually!
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