I'm back, baby!
If you've been keeping track, the last few months has been very frustrating for me, reading-wise. I haven't read very many books (I only finished one during the entire month of August), and most of the ones I have read have been really not good. But this week, I feel like I've turned a corner--I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for a book club, as well as The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, and I really got into both books (and both have super-long titles; coincidence?). And right now I'm into The Lost Symbol and already have some ideas for posts based off that. So I believe the book drought is over and I'm back to my typical reading ways. *crosses fingers*
Oooh, and during this coming week is the Friends of the Library sale, so I'm super-excited about that!
Challenges
In other news, I've decided to join YET ANOTHER CHALLENGE. I know, I know. This one is the Words Behind the Pictures Challenge at A Few Minutes with Michael, which I discovered on Jemima's blog. You basically read a screenplay (online and for free, even), and then watch the movie and compare the two. Sounds fun, doesn't it? I don't know if screenplays will turn out to be my thing, but I'm willing to give it a try.
As for the challenge I'm hosting, Heidenkind's Art History Challenge, there's still time to sign up! There is a pretty good group of people participating so far (which I'm thrilled about, because I was envisioning one or two), and there have even been some reviews posted already. Check them out:
- Jemima at The Reading Journey reviews Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
- Lillithcat from Reading My Life Away reviews The Memory Palace of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Both sound like great books! Click on the challenge button to see the details of the challenge and who else is participating.
As for me, I've decided to give myself a personal reading project in addition to the Art History Challenge: I want to build up my knowledge of art across all time periods and locations, starting with Prehistoric Art and eventually working my way to the 20th century. I've already ordered Prehistoric Art: The Symbolic Journey of Humankind
and The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East
at the library, and will be ordering more books in the coming week.I've also been thinking about doing a paper on Guillermo del Toro's films and how women are portrayed in them (I know, this doesn't have anything to do with books). Del Toro is one of my favorite directors; I even presented a paper once about how Pan's Labyrinth was influenced by the art of Remedios Varo. But this project might just remain in the embryonic stages; it depends on how much time I have.
I've noticed that several people have been quitting reading challenges lately because they have no chance of completing them--and here I am joing more challenges and giving myself challenges, even though I haven't made any noticeable progress on any challenges for quite some time. I suppose I need something to keep me focused on my reading so that my "fun" reading is more enjoyable. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment.
Finally, I was interviewed this Saturday by another blogger--Booklogged from A Reader's Journal! Check out her site to read my thoughts on my home state of Colorado.
How did your reading go this week? Have you found any cool new challenges?
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