Saturday, July 25, 2009

Indulge Me

I did not realize how much I missed this book blogging community until I started reading your blogs again. I spent two hours this morning leisurely reading through your posts and I have enjoyed every single minute. I have missed you so much, but I am anxious to reconnect.

The problem with being absent for so long is that I want to run full-steam ahead, and I am afraid that I will set myself up for failure. I know that once I get back to Kansas the daily life will resume and in three weeks I will be back into the school routine. In these final days of summer school however, when I have completed all papers and have no household responsibilities, I find myself romanticizing about all the free time I will have. I will be able to read any book that strikes my fancy, to develop the daily writing discipline, and to blog for hours on in. So, while I know that this fantasy world will not become a reality, let me indulge myself today.

I have already discovered two new reading challenges that I want to join - and I am sure there are others out there that I have not yet read about. These two challenges I did not even allow myself to contemplate whether I should or shouldn't --- I just joined. I will write separate posts about each, but I simply couldn't resist sharing my excitement now.

Stephanie is hosting the Everything Austen challenge from July 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010. I had so hoped to take a Jane Austen class this summer where we would read each of her six published novels and then watch a corresponding film adaptation, but alas, that class was not offered this year. I am debating about "developing" my own class for this challenge. BUT...there is always the option of making this an Everything P&P challenge. I have had Pamela's Aidan's Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman trilogy on my bookshelf for months and this would be the perfect opportunity to read those in conjunction with Pride and Prejudice and then watch the Colin Firth film and compare it to the Keira Knightley film. Oh my, which direction shall I go? Personally, I think Stephanie needs to offer an Everything Austen Challenge #2 starting in January and I can do both options over a one year period.

Michelle at Galleysmith is hosting a Harry Potter challenge from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010. In that time period we are to read all seven books in the series. I never thought I would be interested in these books, as I do not have much interest in fantasy fiction. But, due to the powerful recommendations of the book blogging world, I decided to give the audiobooks a try. I listened to the Sorcerer's Stone in April and cannot decide if I am more in love with Harry Potter or Jim Dale. I found that I would invent errands to run just so I could listen to one more chapter of the book. I am thrilled to now have a "viable" excuse to listen to all seven books. And, I think I would also like to watch each of the six movies as well (I have not watched any of them yet).

I am VERY excited for both of these challenges and look forward to reading about other challenges as well.

One more event that I have just discovered in my morning reading is the BBAW - that is, the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week that will be held September 14-18. I am so very excited to see what all this is about. This will be the second annual event, hosted by My Friend Amy, but since I did not even know "book blogs" existed last September, this will be my first time to participate. It is my understanding that 400 different book blogs were represented last year, and this year they are hoping for 1,000 or more. Isn't that exciting?! There are over one thousand people out there that enjoy reading books and writing about books as much as I do! I anticipate finding many more blogs that I absolutely MUST follow, and I am sure to add hundreds of books to my TBR pile as a result.

I still have a lot of catching up to do in blog reading. I hope to that over the next couple of days as I gear down from Asheville and gear up for Kansas. I am looking forward to routine again.

12 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Glad you are happy to be back to blogging! Things have been slow. I think many people are on vacation!

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  3. I am toying with the idea of joining the Harry Potter challenge too. I've heard such good things about the audio version of them. That might be a good way to reread the first 3 or 4 books before I get into the ones I haven't read.

    Have a good day!

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  4. This is a slow time of year. So may other outdoor activities. We are happy to have you back Molly.

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  5. Good luck with your challenges! I'm glad you've signed up for BBAW - it was so much fun last year.

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  6. I'm in both those challenges! And, again, so glad to have you back.

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  7. Hello, Molly - I'm new to book blogging and I'm enjoying finding readers with similar reading interests. I hope you will come visit my new site which will have many reviews of Victorian mysteries, classics, historical fiction, and historical romance. Come by any time! Thanks!

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  8. Enjoy the last 3 weeks of your vacation Molly. I hope you get to enjoy a few good reads before you are back to the 'grind' :)

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  9. Bird Dog - Beth F - Diane - THANK YOU SO MUCH for the kind welcoming words. I can speak from experience that there is no other community that is SO accepting and welcoming as the book blogging community. I have missed all the nice warm fuzzies!

    Nan - you should TOTALLY do the challenge. I think it is very doable - it will be a ton of fun - and if you fall short what is the worse that can happen? You heard some great literature???

    Joanne - thank you so much for stopping by my site; I look forward to reading your blog in the upcoming week.

    Pearls - I plan to TOTALLY enjoy my final 3 weeks of vacation. I am going to try to live purposefully from now on. I am very envious of your upcoming trip to paradise --- oh --- I mean New Zealand!

    Kathy - I am very much looking forward to BBAW. I have no idea what to expect, but I know if Amy is behind it, it must be fantastic!

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  10. It amazes me how many book bloggers are out there. What amazes me more is that I blogged on my won for over a year not knowing anything about this world... thinking I was just journaling books I read for my own record keeping.

    This is a whole new world for me and one I embrace openly as I have net so many wonderful people who have a common interest with me - the love of books!

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  11. I've read the Pamela Aidan books a couple of times--first when she was posting them one agonizing partial chapter at a time. I spent years waiting for my favorite parts of the P&P story to be covered, but it was worth the wait. They are terrific, no question, and Pamela does right by Darcy, Elizabeth, and most of all Austen.

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  12. Good luck with the challenges!

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