Quarter 1 Goal Check in

Total Books Read: 9
Beat the Backlist: 6
Virtual Mount To Be Read: 6
Classics Club: 1
Austen Challenge: 1
Newford Challenge: 1
Reading Classic Books: 1
Library Love Challenge: 8
Back to the Classics: 1


Top Three for the Quarter:

1. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Thoughts:

I averaged out three books a month. Of course, I would have loved to be able to read more, but with how this year has gone so far, I feel like three a month is about right. And for the most part, I've enjoyed what I've read. In fact, it was really difficult choosing my top three for the quarter. I finally decided to go with books I'd never read before, but Austen was definitely hanging out as a top contender as well.

As for next quarter, I'm not entirely sure how things are going to go. Because of the Covid19 Pandemic, I'm working from home which means reading for work is happening from home as well. So I need to balance that out with my regular reading. I'm also going to have a baby within the next four weeks which will affect my reading a ton. Not sure how, just know that it will. And we had to put our cat down which I was not exactly expecting. I have a bunch of books I've been looking forward to, but I'm considering ignoring them all and rereading Harry Potter. I don't know. I'm just done with this whole year.

Currently I have Anna Karenina and Room With a View going at the same time. I'm also working my way through the campaign guide to Storm King's Thunder for D&D, and I have a number of ARCs on Netgalley to read for work which I'm looking forward to.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Title: The Starless Sea

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Pages: 491

Finished: March 29, 2020

First Sentence: There is a pirate in the basement.

Summary: Zachary Ezra Rawlins finds a lost book in his University Library. It's an interesting enough read, so he takes it home, only to find himself in existential crisis when one of the stories ends up being about him. How can that be? He begins to research the book and finds himself on a journey to the Starless Sea weaving in and out of stories, myths, and Time.

Thoughts: I recall reading The Night Circus while pumping in the supply closet at work 4 years ago. It had been a surreal time. The birth had been traumatic due to some serious complications. Maternity Leave was three months of unpaid time at home in the middle of summer. And then I was back at work hoping to pump out enough milk to feed my baby when I was at work. The Night Circus really fit in with the surreal feelings through all of this.

It seems fitting that I read The Starless Sea a month before my second child is born while sheltered at home during a worldwide pandemic. It's another incredibly surreal experience that I don't know how to explain. And the book was just the type of book to fit with it.

This is a book where you really have to just let it take you and trust you'll get where you're going. You think you know what's happening... but you're wrong.

This is a book about stories. About books, and libraries. About fantastical worlds and beginnings and endings. Of myths and tropes. Of language.

This book stole my breath away. It's rare for me to get in a post-book hangover, but this was one of those times. I spent my entire afternoon in a bit of a funk after finishing it.

I wish I could write more coherently about it. Perhaps I'll be able to later. But mostly, this is a book that I know will have to be read again (as will the Night Circus) and digested.

Counts for challenges Beat the Backlist, Virtual Mount to be Read, and Library Love

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Title: Northanger Abbey

Author: Jane Austen

Pages: 241

Finished: March 9, 2020

First Sentence: No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine.

Summary: Young Catherine Morland gets a chance to travel to Bath with her neighbors the Allens. There she meets all sorts of people including the greedy, false Thorpes as well as the good, gentile Tilneys. Due to a misunderstanding, General Tilney invites Catherine to visit them in Northanger Abbey where Catherine mistakes everything for one of her beloved Gothic Novels.

Thoughts: I really enjoy this novel. I know it's considered one of Austen's weakest, likely due to it being her first full written novel, but that doesn't make me like it any less. The tone of the story is incredibly light and sarcastic which is really fun.

Of course, her characters are all a little heavy handed, yet somehow they still feel quite real. I feel like every woman knows a man like John Thorpe who refuses to listen to what a lady says as he practices his designs on her, inflates her worth, and generally makes her life miserable. Still too, many women know the Isabella Thorpes who say one thing as they mean another.

I also appreciate that Catherine is one of the few heroines who really acts her age. She's 17/18 in the novel and absolutely reads as an impetuous 18 year old. She's very naive and completely taken in by those who show her early friendliness. She finds things in novels that she conflates in real life - things I KNOW I did as a child and teen. And her immediate crush on Mr. Tilney is super believable.

Mr. Tilney himself is an interesting hero. I'll admit, I feel the reason I like him so much is due to J. J. Field's portrayal of him in the 2007 film adaptation. Still, he's kid and attentive. I like the aspect of him being more flattered of her attentions which then turn into a real regard.

Definitely a fan and this still ranks high in my esteem.

Northanger Abbey Counts for the following challenges: Beat the Backlist, Virtual Mount To Be Read, Austen Challenge, and Back to the Classics (Classic with a Place in the Title.)