July Reads

1. Game of Throne– I have totally jumped on the band wagon and am SO hooked on this series. It was introduced to us while we were visiting friends in New Orleans. We watched an episode while we were there, and as soon as we came home, we bought the first season. Through gasps and heartbreak, we finished it within days. We were waiting anxiously at Target the next day, and as soon as they opened, we purchased season two and all the books.

I have since finished watching all three seasons and am excited to relive the story line through the books. This first book is amazing. The characters are rich and complicated. The relationships and plot lines are intriguing and leave you wanting more. I was so glad to discover that the TV show stays very closely in line with the books. I am eager to completely nerd out over the remaining books in the series.

2. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls– I am a long time David Sedaris fan, and this book falls in line with his typical sarcastic, witty and brutally honest set of short stories. I was literally laughing out loud many times throughout the book. It was a quick and enjoyable read.

3. Children of the Jacaranda Tree– I was fortunate enough to catch a Sahar Delijani reading on one of my various visits to Powell’s Books, on my trip to Portland. She was such an eloquent speaker and I was eager to dive in to my signed copy.

This book was beautifully painful. It is the story told by multiple perspectives from children who grew up during the revolutionary period in Iran. Some of the conditions and treatment of people are appalling, yet Delijani tells the story in such a poetic manner that it highlights the beauty of struggling for what you believe in.

4. Under the Tuscan Sun– I had heard such high reviews of this book. If it had not been for the beautiful setting and descriptions of food, I would have given up on it. The writing style was pretty disorganized and filled with fragmented sentences, not to mention grammatical errors. It read as though the author published her own personal, unedited journal about her time in Tuscany, renovating a house. I would have to talk myself into picking up the book once again, and it would take me some time to ignore the writing style, and enjoy the setting. Once I did, the book was somewhat enjoyable, but there was definitely moments I was ready to give up.

I have heard such great things about the movie as well, and I would like to see it. Without having to contend with the writing style, and with getting to actually see this beautiful scenery, it may be the first movie that I felt was actually better than the book.

5. Occupy– This short read is part of a pamphlet series, this particular one was written by Noam Chomsky and gives a great overview of the Occupy movement. It highlights the necessity of such a movement and discusses strategies for future action.

Book I gave up on: World War Z. This book was loaned to me and highly recommended. I love when someone recommends a book to me, so I definitely wanted to give it a shot, but I could not get into it. I told myself I would give it till page 50, but it still could not hold my interest.

I am a little bummed, because I thought I read more this month. I am 100 pages in to A Clash of Kings and have been doing tons of reading/homework for my yoga teacher training as well, so that must be why I thought I read more books than I actually did.

I am starting to think I may not hit my goal of reading 60 books in this calendar year. I am currently at 30. I am trying not to be too hard on myself for this, I do not feel like I am slacking and am still thoroughly enjoying reading, I don’t want to put too high of an expectation on myself and therefore take the fun out of reading.

Do you ever quit books? Did you set a reading goal for the year, and how are you doing on it?