Booking Through Thursday - Sequel

Booking through Thursday asks this week:

If you could get a sequel for any book, what would it be?

Difficult answer, as I can't really recall a book that would be worthy of a sequel, but if I had to choose one, I would probably choose Jane Eyre, as I would like to find out what happened to the family.  Did they have more children and what happened to her cousins that she met while at the Rivers' household.

Musing Mondays

Miz B of Should Be Reading asks this week: 

What types of nonfiction do you read?

I generally read a combination of memoir, biography, sports and history.  I do read some religious books, but its only in conjunction with my bible study group.

Sunday Salon - I am trying to read

This past week has been particularly bad in regards to my reading.  I love to read and for some strange reason I am finding it hard to get any sort of meaningful reading done.  I can spend time on the bus reading, but it seems that once I get home I can't get myself to get any sort of reading done, at least this week.  Last week I seemed to get my book for my book club meeting done, but that was because I had a deadline and now it just seems that I can't get anything done this week.  I have read quite a bit of The Night Circus and have enjoyed it, but it just seems that when I get home I watch TV until I go to bed.  Maybe I am still trying to get over my dad's absence and it is harder than I thought it would be.  It seems as though I am trying to replace his absence with TV.  I can't even get myself to go through my Google reader when I am home and spend a little bit of time going through that.  It almost seems like I have to force myself to read anything.

Any suggestions as to how I can read get back in the groove of reading again?

ETA: My dad is still alive, but has just relocated elsewhere and hence I don't see him as frequently.  

Fall into Reading 2011 - Update #1

I can't say how much I love this readathon! Can't all readathons be like this?

Anyways, it was a fairly productive 2 weeks, as I completed 2 books and almost managed to finish a third one.  While I have reduced the amount of library books I have out at the present time by quite a few (a bunch came due and had 2 renewals on them), I still have quite a few out and hopefully with the upcoming long weekend here in Canada (its Thanksgiving on Monday), I can get a couple more done, especially with one of them only been a fairly short book and there being a three hour drive both later today and on Monday.

While I have family that I will be visiting with during the weekend, there will be times in which I will have time to do reading, especially since I am cutting down on the amount of time that I spend online.

Reviews:
1. Moneyball
2. Persuasion

My next update will be in two weeks.

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Title: Persuasion
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 250
Published: 2003 (originally 1818)
Genre: Classics
Rating: 3.8/5

At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. What happens when they encounter each other again is movingly told in Jane Austen’s last completed novel. Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, but, above all, it is a love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities. (via Goodreads)


Thoughts:  This was my first time reading this book and I thought it was ok, especially after reading 3 other Austen books that I enjoyed.  As I said to my book club last night during our discussion, this book felt that a little slower than Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Emma because there were no secondary plot that was discernible to that of Wentworth and Anne.  I am not saying that it was a bad book, it wasn't, but I just felt that it was a lot slower than that of the three of Austen's books that I had already read.  Recommended for those that have read Austen's previous books or that enjoy reading classic literature. 

12334 / 15000 pages. 82% done!

Moneyball - Michael Lewis

Title: Moneyball: the art of winning an unfair game
Author: Michael Lewis
Pages: 320
Published: 2011 (originally published in 2003)
Genre: Non-fiction, Sports
Rating: 3.5/5

The Oakland Athletics have a secret: a winning baseball team is made, not bought.In major league baseball the biggest wallet is supposed to win: rich teams spend four times as much on talent as poor teams. But over the past four years, the Oakland Athletics, a major league team with a minor league payroll, have had one of the best records. Last year their superstar, Jason Giambi, went to the superrich Yankees. It hasn't made any difference to Oakland: their fabulous season included an American League record for consecutive victories. Billy Beane, general manager of the Athletics, is putting into practice on the field revolutionary principles garnered from geek statisticians and college professors. Michael Lewis's brilliant, irreverent reporting takes us from the dugouts and locker rooms-where coaches and players struggle to unlearn most of what they know about pitching and hitting-to the boardrooms, where we meet owners who begin to look like fools at the poker table, spending enormous sums without a clue what they are doing. (via Goodreads)


Thoughts: I read this book because of the movie and also because I had heard about on a sports podcast that I listen to on a regular basis.  The first book of Lewis' that I read was The Big Short and by the end of that one I was ready to finish it, as I felt that the subject was a tad dull and would never read another one of his books.  Well, I caved.  Overall I thought that it was a good read and that it had an interesting subject to talk about.  But, there were times that I had to just slog through the book and read it at times.   A bunch of the book flew over my head in terms of the statistics, but what was interesting to me was the history behind what would become moneyball.   I would recommend the book for those that like to read about the statistical analysis of professional athletes, especially baseball fans.

12084 / 15000 pages. 81% done!

Frightful Fall Readathon

The True Book Addict is hosting a Frightful Readathon from October 3 - 9.  You can find the details for the readathon here.  I will be reading at the very least Frankenstein, as I have other things that I need to read, including the chunky Crime and Punishment.