Don't get me wrong, I like to read, be it a little on the slow side, but I like to read what I enjoy. I like to be entertained while being challenged to think. In the midst of my 40's I find me trying to better myself or maybe catch up on stuff I avoided so that... I don't know...perhaps I can be a "grown up".
Well let me tell you being a "grown up" is over-rated with a capital O. Here I am on March 15th and I am on my 8th book. I should be on number 10 or 11. What happened?
I'll tell you what happened. The Picture of Dorian Gray is what happened. OH. MY. LORD. If I could meet Oscar Wilde I would slap his face and stamp "Superfluous" on his book in red ink like my high school English teacher would have done to me. That story has so many useless words. I thought it would be interesting. Dorian Gray has popped up in other things I enjoyed; like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Penny Dreadful and I liked him just fine. But this book - ugh. It is not even that long, but I trudged through it for 3 weeks. He rambled on in my head for 3 weeks only to climax and end in about a page and half. Figures.
The one book that has truly been a joy was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I loved it. It was amazing. I have talked about it to anyone I thought might read it. Ready Player One is set about 30 years in the future, but is filled front to back with 80's pop culture references, especially ones about video games. The main character (Wade Watts) is a teenager who practically lives in a virtual reality world called OASIS, whose creator (James Halliday), a teen in the 80's, has left behind an "Easter Egg" in the wake of his death. I also was a teenager in the 80's and have been known to play a video game or two, so this was quite a nostalgic read for me. After a while I barely noticed the 80's stuff because I got very involved with the characters and the story itself. A lot of it is a mystery that you as the reader will not be able to solve without the characters. In turn they find themselves in the same predicament with each other as the whole thing is based on a competition to find the "Easter Egg" that will leave someone very very wealthy. Like filthy stickin' rich wealthy. It's a really good story. Did I mention I loved this book?
So far I have read: Holes in the Ground by JA Konrath
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Chosen by KF Breene
The Housewife Assassin's Handbook by Josie Brown
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Currently I am reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I have a few others I am reading on occasion: Renew Your Mind in 30 Days by Phil Drysdale, Angry Conversations with God by Susan E Isaacs, and The Walking Dead Compendium One by Robert Kirkman.
My book selection process has been interesting, almost like a research project. I really am trying to branch out. For a very long time I read primarily Christian fiction and then started reading more Young Adult stuff. (I love the Hunger Games trilogy and The Uglies series.) I have taken the prompts on the challenge and attempted to get outside my comfort zone while trying not to commit reading suicide. I am doing pretty good so far, no thanks to Dorian Gray and Oscar Wilde. Summertime will surely see me caught up since I love to sit in the sun and read a good book.
Here is the challenge if you are interested: PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge
Also Goodreads.com has a great group working on the challenge: Ultimate 2015 Reading Challenge
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