A Reading Life « A Progressive on the Prairie

April missteps and milestones

Nonfiction works constituted both the good and the abandoned this month.

Abandoned:

I Got a Name: The Jim Croce Story, Ingrid Croce and Jimmy Rock — Perhaps I’m too much off a stickler when it comes to nonfiction. Recreating conversations between people is somewhat acceptable in my view but when the only participants are dead, [...]

2012′s most challenged books

Each year during National Library Week, the American Library Association releases a State of America’s Libraries report. One of the highlights (or lowlights) is that it contains the Top Ten List of Most Frequently Challenged Books, compiled annually by the organization’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. So here’s this year’s “winners”, in order, and the reasons [...]

March missteps — and milestones

I am a bit disappointed in myself with this month’s misstep. Enough so that I feel some need to make amends. Therefore, rather than simply identify the books that fail me in a month, I will add those that surprise me or are better than anticipated.

Why am I disappointed about the one book I [...]

My e-readers are getting heavy

Here’s an interesting question. If you had 300 books sitting in your “to read” stack would you be out buying more? As something I read last week observed, most sane people would say no — but that seems to go out the window with e-readers. I’m a case in point.

I have nearly 350 books [...]

February’s missteps

Perhaps it’s a timing thing. Two of the three books I abandoned this month were within a day of each other. Meanwhile, the third raises some interesting questions for me about re-reading.

The month’s first casualty was The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins. The premise of this debut novel was interesting. An American woman [...]

Finding and dividing the time

How many books I’m reading at a time is a moving target. Over the past few years I’m guessing it’s usually been one, but occasionally two or three. I’ve recently embarked on a somewhat different approach based on where I do my reading.

I read virtually every weeknight in our family room and/or in bed, [...]

January’s missteps

For as many books as I read each year, I’ve become a bit more persnickety than even four or five years ago. Put another way, I’m finding it increasingly common that while I will generally give a book a good chance, there often comes a point where it’s clear it and I weren’t intended for [...]

What I’m not reading

Readers often seem to ghettoize certain genres. Some people won’t read thrillers. Others wouldn’t be caught dead with a science fiction book in their hands. I’m no different. I read a wide range of books but there are certain categories and genres I won’t touch or, if I do, it’s only rarely. Here’s a few, [...]

What I’m Reading: Russia

Yes, Russia is a broad topic but it’s true. Entirely by coincidence both books I’m reading right now deal solely with Russian history.

A couple months ago I saw Martin Sixsmith’s Russia: A 1000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East on the shelves at the local B&N. Although I remain doubtful anyone can really tell a [...]

My 2013 projects

I don’t do resolutions and I’ve pretty much given up on reading challenges. But I did come up with a couple projects for the year over the holidays.

One has to do with the perpetual “to read” stacks in various parts of the house. As part of some changes in our bedroom, I moved in [...]

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April missteps and milestones

2012′s most challenged books

March missteps — and milestones

My e-readers are getting heavy

February’s missteps

Finding and dividing the time

January’s missteps

What I’m not reading

What I’m Reading: Russia

My 2013 projects

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