It's Monday, What are You Reading? [8]

This meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life

 

I studied a lot, like always, but we got out, too.  The dinner with a bunch of The Artist's friends was a lot of fun - I forgot that having Saturday classes means I can stay out late on a weeknight!  So much better than fighting the weekend craziness.

Midterms are two weeks away - scary!  They don't count towards passing or failing the class, amazingly enough, but falling behind now would kill my chances.  If you hear mumbling about free trade agreements and pulmonology you'll know why.

On the reading front 2013 challenges are starting to come out and I'm enjoying picking through them.  So far I have a non-fiction genre challenge and a fiction genre challenge lined up but I'm sure there will be at least one more.

Read Last Week

 

on Goodreads

The Siren by Tiffany Reisz

Review later this week.

on goodreads

Better than Beauty: A Guide to Charm by Helen Valentine and Alice Thompson ★★

I was under the impression that this would be an updated version of the 1938 book and boy was I wrong. Some sections are quite dated (a K cup of apple sauce?) but some timeless advice does remain. On posture: "Rigidity is not necessary... you don't want people to notice your posture, good or bad. You want them to see you." Makes sense.

Everything took a nosedive when the fashion section rolled around - afternoon dresses, dinner gowns, what colors you should wear based solely on hair color (ha!), and more. Around here I started skimming, but not so much to notice that the illustrations didn't fit with the topic. Many were from two chapters out and made me wonder what I missed.

More a history lesson than a guide to style, I was less than charmed.

on goodreads

 Laid Bare by Lauren Dane ★★

(see my full review on goodreads for more info, including some spoilers)

This book is perfect in the worst way. Erin is leading a perfect life as a rock star - money, fame, creative freedom, love. A horrific turn of events threatens to take it all away but then she re-meets the perfect guy, Todd. Their sexual preferences match up perfectly. Todd's just aggressive enough, and if he ever steps over a line she says the word and he rearranges his whole life for her.

Dane tried to add conflict in the form of courtroom snits (battle is too strong) but with Erin's strong do-gooder spirit the result is never in question.  Many of the characters said just the right thing at just the right time, leaving things too hunky-dory for my liking.  While there were some nice sex scenes the lack of drive in the plot left me bored and wishing something, anything, would happen.

Currently Reading

 

on goodreads

Small Space Organizing by Kathryn Bechen

I feel like she's trying to hit up all kinds of small spaces in the beginning of this book but we'll see how much of her advice works for my 650 ft. two bedroom.

on goodreads

The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City by Alan Ehrenhalt

I just started but he's going to have to get interesting quick if I'm going to stick around. Maybe it's because I was an urban planning major in college but it feels old hat.

Still Waiting

(books on hold at the library)

Stupid Perfect World - 1 out of 1 (next!)

Dreaming of Mr. Darcy - 2 out of 4 (one month)

At Grave's End (Night Huntress #3) - 9 out of 10 (two months)

Desire Unchained (Demonica #2) - 3 out of 4 (three weeks)

How Will You Measure Your Life? - 14 out of 25 (two months)

Halfway to the Grave - 6 out of 12 (one month)

The Victory Lab - 21 out of 24 (three months)

Love Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood #2) - (two weeks) 

Never Seduce a Scot - 3 out of 50 (<one week!)

The Angel - 2 out of 8 (one week)

Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood #1) - 3 out of 18 (one week)

Passion Unleashed (Demonica #3) - 8 out of 8 (two months)

How to Be a Woman - 65 out of 83 (one month)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? [7]

This meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life

 

Last week I was slammed with interpreting homework.  Honestly overloaded.  Cramming vocab and a little luck did the trick though - I got nine out of ten on the newspaper quiz and a perfect 30 on the quick response vocab test, huzzah!  Sadly with all the vocab going on I didn't have much time to work on my actual interpreting.

This week's class brought sensei #3 and... meh.  First knock against him - he's as much as a translator as an interpreter.  We were interpreting on the spot and after he'd be like, "when I mused over this script at my house I came up with this translation...".  We don't have than luxury!  Comparing our on the spot interpretation to your crafted translation isn't fair!

Second knock - his English is the worst out of the three teachers.  Don't get me wrong, he's still gosh darn good, but it sounds like he's never lived for any length of time abroad.  A bunch of his phrasing sounded odd and he punched letters in weird ways.

Third knock - I felt like a bug under a glass when we were interpreting.  At his teacher station he can listen to any of the student mics, and I get the impression that the other teachers click around, getting a taste of everyone's delivery.  But this teacher listened to me, from start to finish, for two of the long exercises.  Afterwards he was like, "I was listening to Karla-san and found xyz interesting...".  Kinda creepy.

He seems to be a nice guy, though, and the class atmosphere was definitely more jovial than usual.  He also had the decency to only call on me when I had a decent interpretation, hehe.

Tonight The Artist and I are meeting up with some of his old Art School Friends for dinner.  There will be an American there who doesn't speak a lick of Japanese so I may get some real life interpreting practice!

Read Last Week

 

Divergent by Veronica Roth  ★★★★★

Holy cow. An instant recommend to anyone who likes dystopia. I'm sure other reviewers on Goodreads will do a better job explaining the plot so I'll leave them to it.

The good:

- it didn't feel like a YA novel, at least not in the annoying ways I've come to expect
- the heroine's journey of self discovery is realistic and gripping
- the world is beautifully imagined

Think of this book as a well rounded action movie.  Don't go poking in the corners, don't go digging deep for symbolism, just enjoy the amazing ride.

Being YA any steamy scenes to come in later books will surely be tamer than I care for... but when the story is this good, who cares?

on Goodreads

 What Every BODY is Saying by Joe Navarro  ★★★★

I found this book to be a very through, un-sensationalistic look at body language. There are no outrageous claims ("Determine if your husband is cheating by studying his eyebrows!!") and Navarro goes out of his way to reinforce that body language can't stand in for a lie detector. After reading the section on hands, especially, I became more aware of my own movements and what they might be communicating to the people around me.

The writing style is clear and easy to understand without being overly casual. I loved that mentions of research were always cited.  Pictures and interesting stories from Navarro's time as an FBI agent pepper each chapter.

If you want to become very good at reading nonverbal tells you can do so by diligently studying this book but even the casual reader has much to gain from its pages.

Currently Reading

 

The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg

I only have one more day on this library book and there are 300 screens left, oh no!  I'm going to turn around and take it right out again as I'm loving every page.

 

 

 

 

 

Next Up

 

Not much change here:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City by Alan Ehrenhalt
Better than Beauty by H. Valentine
A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James

Still Waiting

(books on hold at the library)

Small Space Organizing - 2 out of 2 (one month wait)

Dreaming of Mr. Darcy - 3 out of 3 (six weeks)

Desire Unchained (Demonica #2) - 5 out of 6 (six weeks)

How Will You Measure Your Life? - 17 out of 23 (two months)

Halfway to the Grave - 9 out of 16 (six weeks)

Never Seduce a Scot - 4 out of 43 (one week)

The Angel - 4 out of 10 (three weeks)

Dark Lover - 7 out of 18 (two weeks)

Laid Bare - 2 out of 13 (one week)

The Siren - 1 out of 3 (next!)

How to Be a Woman - 90 out of 95 (six weeks)

New Visa!

Two weeks after The Artist and I went to the Immigration Office I have a shiny new visa!  They changed the Foreign Resident Registration System in July so I got a new "gaijin card" to boot.  It looks like this:

I love that there's less personal info on this card - the old one had my passport number and The Artist's name as my "householder", ick.  The new system makes it easier for them to keep track of people than the convoluted old way, which is fine by me.

I also love that I'm now the "spouse of a Japanese national"!  (We registered our marriage legally but are having the ceremonies next year.)  The line next to that is priceless - "no work restrictions".  I'm no longer stuck working as an English teacher, the only thing I could do under my last visa.  The world of work is open to me, and my employer will have no immigration paperwork to do, huzzah!

My walk back to the train station was a little giggly, I have to admit.

There are only two flavors of spouse visa - three year, the one I got, and one year.  Japan doesn't recognize duel citizenship (the bastards) so this is it unless I spring for Permanent Residence when I become eligible in lessee... three to six years.

It's not all roses though.  I'm required to carry my residence card at all times.  A policeman can stop me at any time and ask to see it, and hold me in detention if I don't have it.  It's kinda like Arizona asking to see people's immigration papers.

As bad as that is at the moment that pales to what happened when I went through the train turnstile - my smart fare card wouldn't register.  It turns out my new residence card has an IC chip in it, messing things up.  I guess it's time to play with some tin foil!

It's Monday, What are You Reading? [6]

This meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life

"Monday" is becoming a loose concept around here, eep.  Back to interpreting school after a weekend off and I loved the teacher (we rotate among three).  Our first sensei is a little cold and seems to say, "you're just going to have to get used to it" whenever we say how hard something is.  But this teacher said, "yes, it's hard - it was hard for me, too.  Nobody gets it on the first try.  Practice a little above your level and keep upping that.  Don't worry, everyone goes through what you're going through."  That was the exact message I needed at the exact moment I needed to hear it.

She also had some great study suggestions and even told the class how lucky they were to have a native speaker in the class.  A lot more questions were thrown around than usual and I learned a ton.  I'm sad we only have this sensei once a month but I can't wait to show her how much improve in the next thirty days.

Read Last Week

 

at goodreads

His Royal Pleasure by Leanne Banks  ★★★

My first Harlequin and... eh. I'm trying to give category romance a fair shot but I don't think it'll be my thing. The hero is just this side of being an asshole, and while I like alphas he put me off a little bit. I like the heroine well enough, but wonder why on the ebook cover she's a brunette instead of a redhead with a bad perm. It comes up often enough in the story!  The trip she made at the end seemed rushed, and I don't feel like she faced her choice fully.

I'll keep categories in mind when I want to break out of a slump as they do fly by.  I also want to check out some other lines and imprints while I'm at it.

at goodreads

Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione (Demonica #1) ★★★★★


I loved this book.  It has all the mainstays of paranormal romance - sexy alpha hero, strong heroine, demons, two sides at war along species lines.  What makes the story shine, though, are the characters.  They are layered, interesting, and flawed in believable ways.  Tayla's ignorance is due to her birth and upbringing, not stupidity.  We meet a blood junkie, a brother that acts as a whipping boy, and good guys that may not be so great after all.  I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

Currently Reading

 

I'm still chipping away at What Every BODY is Saying and The Victory Lab from last week.  Divergent, hinted at in the Next Up, is insanely good.  Lose sleep to finish one more chapter good.

Next Up

 

The library has been very very good to me, coming through with a bunch of holds all at once, so here's a list:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City by Alan Ehrenhalt
Better than Beauty by H. Valentine
Bayou Heat by Donna Kauffman
A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James

Still Waiting

(books on hold at the library)

Small Space Organizing - 3 out of 3 (six week wait)

Dreaming of Mr. Darcy - 4 out of 4 (two months)

Desire Unchained (Demonica #2) - 6 out of 6 (six weeks)

How Will You Measure Your Life? - 17 out of 19 (two months)

Halfway to the Grave - 12 out of 18 (two months)

Never Seduce a Scot - 9 out of 43 (two weeks)

The Angel - 5 out of 11 (three weeks)

Dark Lover - 10 out of 21 (one month)

Laid Bare - 2 out of 12 (one week)

The Siren - 4 out of 6 (two weeks)

How to Be a Woman - 114 out of 116 (six weeks)

Review: Archangel's Kiss

at goodreads

Title:  Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh
Genre:  Paranormal
Format:  Ebook
Source:  Library

Summary from Goodreads:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find that she has become an angel-and that her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, likes having her under his control. But almost immediately, Raphael must ready Elena for a flight to Beijing, to attend a ball thrown by the archangel Lijuan. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan's power lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena...

 

 

Review: 

Angels' Blood, the first book in this series, blew me away but Archangel's Kiss was merely okay.

The good: Raphael didn't lose any of his Alpha-ness as soon as he became attached, and I loved seeing him as a scary, powerful archangel. Getting to know "The Seven" better was great and each character was fleshed out and interesting. Elena's past comes back to her in drips and drabs and she faces it (for all of ten seconds) in the final scene.

The not so good: The world building slipped a bit - I never felt like I could picture the Refuge which is a shame because it should have been awesome. The plot felt meandering and had a bunch of waiting built in. I missed Sara, even if she was gone for good reasons. Elena spends so much time reliving what happened to her as a kid that she doesn't face her new situation as much as I would like. Did she even have a denial stage? Will there be one in the next book to make up for it?

I still want to see where the series will go from here but I'm going to take a break.

Verdict:

★★★

Today in the Paper - Coal Mine Edition

Welcome to my newest blog feature - Today in the Paper!  The title is admittedly lame but I'm open to suggestions.  Rejected: Picture in the Paper, Picture the Crazy.  See?  I need help.

Anyway....

Japanese news outlets have their own graphic design sensibility, doing things I would never expect to find in a national paper in the states.  Things like, say, pasting heads of public figures on cartoon bodies.   Today's illustration is a case in point, as they milked the term "fiscal cliff" for all it's worth:

 

The title is "If Japan and America fall off the fiscal cliff..." and outlines of a possible outcome are below.  The US side below President Obama reads "Democrats and Republicans are unable to come to a compromise ->  Tax cuts expire, the budget is cut -> American economy fails, striking a blow to the world economy".  The Japanese side by Prime Minister Noda ends with confusion in the bond market affecting local economies.

Cliff in a coal mine, that's where it's at!

It's Monday, What are You Reading? [5]

This meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Because it's still Monday somewhere!

Life

 

I didn't have interpreting school last week so with my extra free time (har) we started planning for our Japanese wedding ceremony.  The average budget made me want to run for the hills.  In Japan the bride spends hundreds of dollars on things like makeup and a western style ball gown for the reception.  What's wrong with having a friend do you up and wearing your wedding dress?  Grah.  It's like culture shock all over again.

Read Last Week

 

at goodreads

Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter #1) ★★★★★ 

Wow! This book sucked me in from the beginning and never let go. There's great action, a kick butt heroine, a deliciously dangerous hero, and an interesting mythology holding everything together. I immediately got the next book in the series....




 

at goodreads

Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter #2) ★★★ 

Review later this week.

at goodreads

 Bound to Please by Lilli Feisty ★★★★

 This was my first foray into true BDSM literature and I liked it! I would say more but I don't have anything to compare it to... a problem I look to be fixing shortly.  I mean, look at my hold titles below, some are pretty obvious.  ~grin~

 

Currently Reading

 

at goodreads

What Every BODY is Saying by Joe Navarro

Non-fiction is good for the soul!  So far it's an interesting, breezy read on what could be a tedious topic - non-verbal communication.  Navarro's background as an FBI agent lends itself to juicy examples and there's lots of pictures to illustrate the gestures.  So far, so good.

at goodreads

The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg

This hold came through on the eve of the Presidental election - fate.  My afternoon reading is set!

Next Up

 

at goodreads

Divergent by Veronica Roth

A bunch of holds came through this week, but I'm going to try and power through the non-fiction before digging into another dystopia.

Still Waiting

(books on hold at the library)

Kiss at Midnight - 1 out of 1 (next!) 

Small Space Organizing - 3 out of 3 (six weeks)

Gone Girl - 5 out of 39 (two weeks)

Better than Beauty - 3 out of 9 (one week wait)

Halfway to the Grave - 13 out of 18 (six weeks)

Never Seduce a Scot - (one month)

The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City - 1 out of 1 (next... still!)

The Angel - 8 out of 12 (six weeks)

His Royal Pleasure - 1 out of 8 (next!)

Dark Lover - 16 out of 26 (six weeks)

Pleasure Unbound - 2 out of 13 (two weeks)

Laid Bare - 5 out of 14 (two weeks)

The Siren - 6 out of 9 (three weeks)

How to Be a Woman - 140 out of 140 (two months)

Review: Knitter's Book of Socks

Title:  The Knitter's Book of Socks by Clara Parkes
Genre:  non-fiction
Format: e-book
Source: library

Summary from Goodreads:

A sock is a work of wonder. No other knitted garment has as many structural demands or endures as much wear and tear. The humble sock must defy gravity, suffer the confines of our shoes, and endure being trampled on all day long.

All too often, the root cause of a sock's triumph or failure is the yarn itself. In The Knitter’s Book of Socks, Clara Parkes shows you how to knit socks from yarn up, following the sock yarn life cycle from its foundations to its final moments on a proud foot. By understanding a sock's basic needs—elasticity, strength, and moisture management—you’ll learn how to play with these tools like building blocks, confidently combining fiber, twist, ply, pattern, and clever stitch tricks to construct your perfect pair of socks.

Review

I learned a lot about the fundamental make up of yarn, namely how ply, twist, and crimp can work for you or against you in a sock yarn. I was impressed how even handed the discussion of technique was, acknowledging differing opinions in the knitting world. Most people think 1x1 is the stretchiest rib, but Elizabeth Zimmerman thought it was 2x2. Twisted stitches can be good for tightening up a pattern, but so-and-so points out the yarn may wear out faster... and so on.

The patterns are from designers you know and love, including Cat Bordhi, Anne Hanson, Cookie A, Jared Flood, and Nancy Bush, with a few newer faces as well. I read an ebook from the library so I can't vouch for the charts or technical editing but I appreciated the closeup shots that were included with every pattern. Many of these socks would do better with a solid or semi-solid yarn but there's something for everyone, from two pairs of "indestructible" socks to lace to cables to colorwork.

The writing style is refreshingly human, the information is interesting and informative, and I could see myself knitting several of the patterns. However, I won't be buying a copy for my own shelf... maybe if the information was a little more in depth, or if more of the patterns called to me.

Verdict

★★★★

It's Monday, What are you Reading? (4)

This meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life

 

This week was all about interpreting school - studying for it, bracing for it, and surviving another class.  I'm utterly drained by the time I make it home but it's worth it.

Suzu is oh so slowly becoming a lap cat and we are thrilled.  This is what we wanted all along but didn't dare hope for.  She also figured out how to open my bedroom door this week (it's a sliding door), which I didn't want at all.  :P

Read Last Week

 

The Paid Companion by Amanda Quick ★★★

I really liked the first half of this book but things seemed to drop off after that. While I worried about the heroine's fate during the novel's set up her rescue at the end was never in doubt. Ooh, the hero's only wrong turn ended up yielding a lot of information, and the bad guy's plans went awry in a predictable way. Not so exciting.

Overall a quick, fun read but not something I'll be returning to.

 All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee ~abandoned against my will~

Against my will?  What could I possibly mean?  Well, when one is met with pages like this you're pretty much stuck:

 

Some pages were like this, others were missing one half or the other, and yet others were blank.  I don't know if it was my reader or what, but it stopped me in my tracks.

 The Knitter's Book of Socks by Clara Parkes ★★★★

 Review forthcoming later this week.

The Lover Hunt by Jess Michaels ★

I was surprised to see this was only 29 screens long. It's basically one modern sex scene dressed up in Regency garb, confusingly written.

 The Perfect Mistress by Victoria Alexander ★★

This book started off strong but it felt like it used the same plot device over and over: he says something stupid, she gets mad, they make up. The plot inches forward. He says something stupid, she gets mad... ad infinitum. Grah.

Currently Reading

 

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

Dangerous alpha heroes for the win!  I never thought I would be into an "angel" story but this one is shaping up very nicely.

 

Still Waiting

(books on hold at the library)

Gone Girl - 8 out of 37 (two week wait)

Divergent - 1 out of 2 (...still next!)

Small Space Organizing - 4 out of 4 (two months)

I would tell you the rest but my other library is closed due to Hurricane Sandy, boo.

It's Monday, What are You Reading? (3)

This meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life

I started interpreting school, huzzah!  I'm glad to have the first class over because now I know what to expect.  With all the homework my knitting time is going to shrink, but oh well.  At least the studying is fun!  I never thought I would look at a stack of 240 flashcards and be happy but there you are.

We just set up the kotatsu and Suzu is having a lot of fun playing underneath.  I have a feeling she'll be living in it once the real cold sets in - heck, I will be too!

Read Last Week

 Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrian ★★

I was hoping I'd be able to watch the main couple from book one continue their journey in book two but no such luck - it was another find-a-Breedmate tale that felt like a retread of the first. The meta Rogue vampire story managed to move forward by an entire half step, ooo. I might pick up the next book if I'm desperate but there's too much good stuff to read in the meantime. Series shelved.

 Immortal by Gillian Shields ★★★★

This book fell right into my sweet spot - a story that unfolds rather than being set, a mysterious man with a troubled past, a normal world that ends up being full of magic. The story is very good and the plot kept me from putting it down for even a moment.

So why only four stars? Connections were spelled out and characters fit into neat stereotypes (the mean girl, the mean girl's groupie, the one nice girl, the mysterious guy, the mean headmaster...). The only person that defied her initial pigeonholing was Helen, and being the "odd bird" it wasn't too hard. I keep telling myself I'll stay away from YA for these reasons but I keep getting sucked back, grah.

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb ~abandoned~

This book is beautifully written and I loved reading the first third. Once the plot thickened near the middle I couldn't continue though.

The insta-attraction and sex itself didn't bother me. I totally understood the need for physical contact after what the main characters went through, but seeing problems coming from so far away put me off. Also, I grew up in a small town where one of my best friends was in a similar situation to Jenny... I saw what happened to her family; I don't want to read about it again, thank you.

I'm sure that many people will love this book but it wasn't for me.

Currently Reading

Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg

I absolutely love Berg's writing style and voice; several of her novels made it onto my to read list.  This book is geared towards people writing fiction and I'm more into non-fiction but there's still a lot of amazing stuff here.

The Paid Companion by Amanda Quick

A regency romance with a whodunit thrown in.  I may have found my new subgenre!  I'm not giving up paranormal by any means but I need to branch out.

All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

You can never go wrong with the Yarn Harlot.  These short essays wonderful as a break from studying or more serious reading so I'll be nibbling at this one.

Still Waiting

(books on hold at the library)

This week I learned that queues can jump several people - I'm guessing some people never "pick up" their ebooks.  Divergent went from a two month wait to next, woo-hoo!  It gives me hope that I'll read these titles by Christmas... or even better yet, be able to take them with me on the long plane ride home.

Gone Girl - 13 out of 37 (one month wait)

Divergent - 1 out of 1 (next!)

Small Space Organizing - 4 out of 4 (two months)

Better than Beauty - 21 out of 23 (one month)

Halfway to the Grave - 22 out of 24 (two months-ish)

The Victory Lab - 2 out of 3 (one week)

Never Seduce a Scot - 25 out of 40 (one month-ish)

The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City - 1 out of 1 (next!)

Bound to Please - 2 out of 3 (two weeks)

His Royal Pleasure - 3 out of 3 (three weeks)

Dark Lover - 21 out of 26 (two months)

Pleasure Unbound - 6 out of 10 (six weeks)

Laid Bare - 14 out of 17 (two months-ish)

The Siren - 11 out of 12 (six weeks)

Interpreting School (1): First Day

I'm not going to write lots of details so I don't get googled, but I started interpreting school yesterday, yea!  The school is a little over an hour from my house and meets every Saturday for four hours.  There was so much to do the time flew by!

Our first day went like this:

- housekeeping (paperwork, how to use the Language Lab, etc.)
- teacher self introduction - we translated this in pairs consecutively
- basic interpretation theory
- student self introductions in our second language, with questions from the class

- lunch!

- shadowing both in Japanese and in English
- reading the shadowing text aloud in Japanese and English
- a retention exercise

One day, half a binder of study material.  Oi.

How was it, you ask?  It was... okay!  I knew this wasn't an ideal situation going in - what's easy for a Japanese speaker will be hard for me and vice versa.  So when the teacher decides to start off "easy" and work her way up I get thrown in the deep end and slowly make it to the shallows.  We get material to prepare for the next class ahead of time so I'm hoping today was the worst.  It helps that my classmates (every last one female, by the way) are very nice and welcoming.

There's a lot of homework of both the "thou must" and "thou ought" variety.  Next week there's an oral vocab test where we'll get tested on 30 words from a list of 60.  On top of that we got copies from a "dictionary of current terms" as learning more words now will make upper level classes that much easier.  Other weeks we'll have a newspaper reading test on English articles about a particular subject but I'm not so worried about that because hey, English!  There's also 30 words to study in preparation for next week's lesson.

That's the required stuff.  In addition I'll be shadowing and reading aloud using the material from today's classes, doing retention exercises using an English speech, and straightening out numbers in my head (not easy!).  It's a lot of work but it'll be worth it.

The plan for today is to get my flashcards set up and start pounding away at them.  I'm a student again - I'm going to enjoy this!

It's Monday, What are You Reading? (2)

This meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life

My last week of complete freedom - interpreting school starts this coming Saturday!  Eeeep!  I'll probably write more about that later in the week.  It's a time of transition all around - the days are still warm but the nights are getting cooler, the wool yarn finally reappeared in the craft stores, and soup sounds much more enticing than it did a couple of weeks ago.

This week's roundup is longer than usual thanks to the Read-a-Thon.  I read 1,000 pages in a day - I had no idea I could do that!

Read Last Week

 Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead ★★★

Yup, vampires.  Having three main classes of supernaturals instead of vampires vs. other was neat but the story was only so-so.  I hoped it was just world building blues and moved on to the second book.

 Frostbite by Richelle Mead ★★★

But the next installment was little better.  Mead started heading into "tell, don't show" territory which is a big ol' red flag in my book.  But the plot held together more or less and I just had to see what happened with the sexy Dimitri.  So, near the end of the Read-a-Thon, I tackled:

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead  ~abandoned~

And... no.  All of my pet peeves from the first two books popped up in the first fifty pages and I threw in the towel.  No need to continue here.

Dead Inside: Do Not Enter by Lost Zombies ★★★★

This post-apocalyptic tale unfolds via notes and other ephemera a la Found magazine.  A super fast read, it was an engaging way to spend the wee hours of the Read-a-Thon.

Crossed by Ally Condie ★★★

Picking up where Matched left off, Cassie is off to the Outer Provinces to find Ky, her true love.  I like that they picked up a few side characters along the way but nothing really happens here.  The move from point A to B, are joined and separated, and book three is set up.  I'm not giving up on the series but I'm disappointed with where this went.

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant ★★★★

This was my first full blown regency romance and I really liked it.  Martha's husband died suddenly and she's cut out of the will unless there's an heir in the picture.  She enlists the help of a rake to make sure that happens and over the course of the next month what started as a business transaction becomes much, much more.  Solid writing and a good plot made the pages fly by.

How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen  ★★

Ranting about this book during Hour Twenty Four of the Read-a-Thon kept me awake.  Graaah.

Currently Reading

Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrian

I liked the first book of the Midnight Breed series well enough to pick this up.  I don't have high hopes for it, though.

Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg

Just started and I'm excited to see what she covers.

Still Waiting

(books on hold at the library)

I just got access to the State Library so this section is going to explode!

Gone Girl - 17 out of 41 (six week wait)

The Paid Companion - 2 out of 2 (one month wait)

Divergent - 4 out of 4 (two month wait)

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress #1) - 24 out of 25 (three month wait)

The Victory Lab - 5 out of 5 (three week wait)

Never Seduce a Scot - 32 out of 34 (two month wait)

The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City - 2 out of 2 (one month wait)

Dark Lover - 26 out of 27 (three month wait)

Pleasure Unbound - 6 out of 6 (six week wait)