A Reading Vocation

I have not fallen behind on my reading, but I have fallen WAY behind in writing about my reading. I have already decided: next year, I will not do so many reading challenges. Really!! I didn't get a chance to write an update in July, so this entry will cover both my June & July progress.

As a quick recap, my challenges this year are:

1) A personal challenge created to help me read down my own collection;

2) A challenge from Into the Forest, a fairy tale group I belong to on Goodreads

3) A challenge to read as many source materials for Disney movies as possible and

4) Just for the fun of it, a challenge to see how many of the books I read happen to fit with the Popsugar Challenge.

From my personal reading challenge, June's theme was "Take Me Away" (travel, fantasy, etc.); and July's theme was "Blast from the Past" (old obsessions). Here is what I read:

June - Take Me Away

1. The Rose Bride: A Retelling of the White Bride and the Black Bride by Nancy Holder took me to a medieval France-ish fantasy setting;
2. Dodger by Terry Pratchett took me to Victorian London;
3. All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill took me to a dystopic future;
4. The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife by Jenna Cawrse Esarey took me across the Pacific Ocean; and
5. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos took me to 1950s Pennsylvania

July - Blast from the Past

1. Second Thoughts: Understanding the False Memory Crisis and How It Could Affect You by Dr . Paul Simpson - I went through a period of being somewhat obsessed with the "veracity" of "repressed memories." I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole controversy, and this book was not the most elucidating choice.
2. My Cat Saved My Life by Phillip Schriebman - After my cat died in May of 2014, I went through a period of being kind of obsessed with cat memoirs. I acquired this book during that time, but didn't get around to reading it until now.
3. Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie by Rachel Corrie - I went through a period around 2004-2006 of being kind of obsessed with published journals. I still really like to read them.
4. A Whole New World by Liz Braswell - I was TOTALLY OBSESSED with Aladdin in my early teen years. And now Disney has released this Aladdin-based dystopia to re-awaken the sleeping obsession.
5. Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran by Azedah Moaveni - My Aladdin obsession led to an obsession with the Middle East in general, which led to me reading a fair amount of stories set there when I was young. It's still a region I like to visit through books.

From my Into the Forest Reading Challenge, I read

1. A novel or collection based on a theme you aren't familiar with or haven't read in the last 5 years. (Themes could be anything;enchanted forests, snow maidens, the Evil Queen, coming of age, and so on.): The Rose Bride by Nancy Holder (I was not familiar with the original story of "The White Bride & the Black Bride."
2. A retelling of one of your favourite originals: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell. (This is a bit of a stretch since Disney's "Aladdin" is not the "original" version -- it is itself a retelling. But I think a retelling of a retelling still counts as a retelling, right? ;))

For the Popsugar 2015 Reading Challenge I read ...

A Book By Someone Under 30 - Let Me Stand Alone by Rachel Corrie

A Book Based on a True story - X: A Novel by Ilyasha Shabazz (about Malcolm X, in progress.)

A Book That Scares You: These Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, review forthcoming

A Book With Bad Reviews: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell (sadly)

A Banned Book: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, review forthcoming

For Disney Source Materials, I read ...

1. Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus
2. Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince Beaumont

I didn't read as many Disney books these past couple months because I read most of the "source materials" for the Disney Renaissance years when the movies first premiered.

Phew! Hopefully I don't get so far behind again! My theme for August is "Local Flavor," so I am reading books set in or by authors from places I have lived. Currently I am reading The Long-Shining Waters by Danielle Sosin, who used to live down the hall from me. It doesn't get much more local than that!