September Book Recap

How September flew!  I ended my job at the hospital on September 9th, and started my job at the credit union on September 12th.  So my whole routine has been turned upside down, but I think it's going to be a good thing once the dust settles.  Unfortunately, all that upheaval caused a lack of reading on my part for September.

Read
The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell was unique.  It had three narrators and revolves around two sisters growing up in the slums of Scotland.  Their loser parents wind up dead, and the girls decide not to tell anyone because they'd rather continue fending for themselves than be put in foster care.  Their elderly neighbor knows something is up, but can't quite put his finger on it.  He's determined to help the girls out anyways.  There's a wide assortment of wrenches in their plan, including a drug dealer their dad owed money to, an over zealous grandfather who shows up, and a truancy officer.  Goodreads describe it as "coming of age" and I suppose it is.  And it was good, but there was just something missing for me.  I can't quite put my finger on it.

Silas Marner by George Eliot was my only other read for the month.  This book took me way longer than it should have, but by the time I finished it, I wasn't really sure what all the hoopla was about.  It's a classic, but it doesn't really have anything exciting, or suspenseful happen.  Silas Marner goes from being a miser to a nice fatherly type figure who cares for Eppie's happiness above his own, but I felt like this could have been knocked down to a short story no problem.  Blasphemous I suppose, but I think it's by far the most disappointing classic I have read to date.

Acquired
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, 
and A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki were all part of my Books n Bloggers Swap with Jenni King.  You can read more about it here.

Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood was found on a trip to Goodwill.  It's a collection of her short stories, so I'm looking forward to giving it a read.

and at the library used book sale I found:
One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, the author of A Walk in the Woods
and
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell, which is the sequel to The Sparrow- my favorite read of 2016!

So that brings my year to date totals up to 30 books read, 46 books acquired.  I'm really going to have to have a good fourth quarter to get my goal of 48 books read accomplished, but I do think it's still possible!  How bout you?  Are you on track with your yearly reading goals?

September Goals and August Recap

We're already 13 days in to September!  It's crazy!  And I'm finally getting around to posting them.  Ugh!  But, I did have them made at the beginning of the month and met with my goals group already, things were just busy at the beginning of the month here on the blog.  So, let's jump right into how August went...

August Goals

• Reestablish morning routine.  Doing better but still not there.  This is going to be really important with starting the new job and being back to working a day shift.
• Start back with morning pages.  Ah no.  Like not at all.
• Walk at least three times a week.  Another big fat no.
•  Clean eating.  I maybe did a little better, but still have a long ways to go to get that back under control.
• Sew twenty things for the upcoming craft fair.  Yes!  And have more ready to go!
• Read six books.  Nope.  Only read three.
• Four creative excursions.  Yes!  Went kayaking by myself, and spent three different days with three different friends.  Plus, took a little hike on a new trail with my baby brother, so I think this one went pretty well.
• More blog posts.  I was aiming for twenty, but ended with fifteen, which was still my best month in 2016.

 
Here's what I'm to do this month:

• Set weekly goals.  I think I'll do better with my monthly goals if I have a weekly attack plan.
• Quiet time and exercise before turning the computer on.  I have a habit of turning on the computer and then getting sucked in for hours, neglecting things like my morning routine.  I think this will help turn that around.
• Exercise three times a week. 
• Read four books.
• Twenty blog posts.  I came so close last month that I really want to see if I can do it this month.
• Sew twenty things.  If I can make twenty things each month before the craft fair, my table will be well stocked.
• Start Christmas shopping.  At the very least, make a list.  I want to be done with my shopping by December 1 so I can actually enjoy Christmas and all the festivities and not be stressed with shopping.
• Gratitude journal or morning pages.  Aim to do one or the other each day.

So that's my September goals.  And don't forget to check out the link up over at My So Called Chaos to see what everyone else is working on this month!

September Reading List

Guess what!  I finally finished Silas Marner.  And I don't feel like I was missing out on anything by waiting until I was in my thirties to read it.  It's a nice little story, but I don't know if I'm missing a bunch of subtext and hidden meaning, or what, it just really didn't do much for me.  But, the good news is that I can finally get to some of the other books on my to be read list.  Here's what I'm hoping to read this month.

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith.  If this looks familiar, it's because it was on my to be read list last September.  I really want to watch the movie on Netflix, but not until I read the book, so fingers crossed, it's going to happen this month.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.  This is my classic pick for the month.  To be frank, after all the fun I had with Silas Marner, I'm not really looking forward to this one, so if you've read it and enjoyed it, please give me some encouragement,

An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina is also a repeat.  It was on my list in October of 2015.  But now that I've finally finished We Wish to Inform You... I really want to read Paul's story.  He's the gentleman that Hotel Rwanda was based on.  He did amazing things that he viewed as just doing the right thing.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown was scrounged up at Goodwill.  I've listened to some TED Talks Brown has done and an interview here and there, so I'm excited to read this one.

So what's on your reading list this month?  Or did you read something good last month?  Let me know!

September Book Recap

Well, I didn't get as much reading done as I had hoped in September, but here's the recap:

Read:

• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was really interesting, and provided lots of case studies, but it just felt was missing something.  I don't know.  It's not the type of book I normally read, so maybe it was just that.  I'm not sure.  Don't let my review dissuade you from reading it, I guess just don't expect it to keep you up late waiting to find out more.
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan was really highly recommended to me by the lady at the bookstore I bought it from, but I gotta say, I kept waiting for their to be some suspense, some frightening moments or something.  It was basically about attempts to use technology to crack a hundreds of year old code.  It was a let down.
• Life Sentences by Laura Lippman was the worst of the three books I read this month though.  It was just hard to slog through.  I didn't really care about any of the characters.  They were all pretty selfish.  You couldn't understand why any of them were friends or what had made them friends to start with, and I really didn't care what happened to them.  You keep thinking there's going to be a deeper mystery, or some twist at the end, or some sort of big reconciliation, but it's all pretty shallow- just like the characters.

Acquired:

• The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman was only 50 cents at the thrift shop, so I picked it up.  It's a World War II story that takes place in Poland supposedly based on actual events.
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel was given to me by my mom.  She thought it looked like something I'd like.  I think I saw the movie Chocolat, which I believe this is based on, years ago, but it should be an interesting read.
• Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs was acquired via Bookmooch.  I've never read any of Burroughs books before, and am not entirely sure what to expect, but it should be interesting.
• And finally, Faithful Place by Tana French, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, and Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which were all given to my by the lovely A Book Olive for the last Chaotic Goddess' Books and Bloggers swap.  You can read my recap about them here.

I expected big things from what I read in September but was kind of let down.  So, here's hoping for better things in October readings. 

2015 Totals:
Read- 33
Acquired- 48

September Goals

We've made it through the first week in September and I still haven't shared my goals for the month!  Or how I did on August.  (Spoiler alert- it wasn't that well.)  So let's just dive right in.

August Recap

• Sew three large things, or seven smaller.  I did sew a few small things, but only five.  And none used up much fabric, so hopefully I can remedy that soon.
• Write and/or walk for at least an hour a day.  I started.  But it wasn't an every day thing.  And I really fizzled the second half of the month.  But, I feel like at least I did something.
• Get back on track with my eating.  It's been better, but still not where I want it to be.  I think I too often reach for something quick and easy instead of making a real meal.  I blame part of this on the fact that I eat most of my meals alone because my husband works days and I work second shift.  But, I got some new cookbooks to check out, and I'm going to do better.
• Focus on being encouraging, not complaining. I think I did pretty good on this one.  Morale at work has been pretty poor lately, and even though I haven't wanted to be there, I try to have a good attitude when I do.  I try to focus on what I can do to make my coworkers lives easier.  Keep everyone's spirits up.  And, get all my work done.  We've been busier, so that helps because a big part of my problem is boredom when the census is low.
• Do a little soul searching. I did a little bit.  I've been trying to decide if I want to go on for my bachelor's degree and if so in what.  My husband has a very good job, and we're in a remote area here, so there's all these factors to consider- cost of two more years of school, viability of finding a job in my field when I'm done that is in the area, will the job pay enough that it would make going to school worth it.  I don't know.  I've been checking out options online.  But, I'm no closer to any answers.
  

• Plan Christmas shopping and tackle half of it.  November is National Novel Writing Month and I'd love to try it.  Then we're into December and want to actually enjoy the season and  I don't want to spend it rushing around trying to get my holiday shopping done.  So, that gives me September and October to get it done.  I've already made my list.  :)
• Plan for a craft fair.  My friend Annie makes earrings and we have this big brainstorm that we should start doing some of the local craft fairs.  Her with her earrings and me with my sewing stuff.  There's an indoor fair in December and we thought we could try it out and see how it goes, but we need to get some stock made.  I've got a list made for that one and have started some projects too.
• Stay ahead of schedule for school.  My last class for my associate's started September 2.  Everything is laid out and I have all future due dates wrote in my planner, so I think this one will be very doable.
• Advertise on other blogs.  The reason for this is two fold.  I want to help support other bloggers and I think it will help hold me accountable and keep me posting if I know it's possible someone may be stumbling across my blog.
• Devotions.  My days feel so much fuller when I start them by reading some devotionals and a passage or two in the Bible, really think about what I want my day to be like, and wrap it all up in a prayer.  I'm trying to get back into that habit.

So what are your goals for September?  If you're a blogger, you can link up with hosts My So Called Chaos and A Peek at Karen's World monthly link up.