The book "My Life" by Bill Clinton ... Wow! It took me a lot longer than I thought it would be read that one. I started it on Nov. 3 and finished it on Dec. 27. It was very interesting, but I just couldn't stick with it. As I said before, I was only reading about 20-30 page each day. Then a book through Libby became available and I stopped to read that novel. Then after reading another 130 pages of "My Life" again another novel became available through Libby. Read that and went back to the Clinton autobiography. After reading about 150 pages, I realized I needed a break and selected a novel that I already had on my Kindle. And that's the way it went. I would only read Clinton for about 4-5 days which was about 120-150 pages and then I needed a break away from it. I would then read a novel. The novels varied in length - 528, 194, 394, 483, and 353 - and would take anywhere from 2 - 5 days to complete.

I ended up reading 63 books last year. The shortest was 193 pages and the longest (Clinton) was nearly 1000 pages. In case you're wondering, goodreads.com keeps track of all this information as long as i enter the books I've read.

Libby - I'm really liking this. Yes, sometimes it may take a long time to get a requested book, but that's okay. I'm now on my 7th book borrowed through Libby and I started using it on Oct. 22. I'm able to find books I've been wanting to read for years but refused to pay the high prices. Right now I have 7 books on hold which range from 8 weeks to several months before they're available. I also had 3 books on hold which had expired - meaning the library no longer has a copy to lend. However, I discovered earlier that the library got a copy of one those books and it became available. So I'm leaving the other 2 there.

That's it for me. Reading a lot and not playing games as much. LOL

So, it's been a minute...

I wasn't reading a lot last year, for me, and my goodreads challenge reflected that. I didn't hit 100 for the first time since starting them. I did make it past my goal though.

I also had the fun of bringing all my old books to my place after my remaining parent passed away. I already needed another bookcase, now I for sure do! It was mostly YA thrillers from the 90s plus some hard covers I didn't want to drag around with me.

Also, does anyone else do the Kindle Challenges? For the last 3, it has yet to count the "Perfect Month" achievement. It irks me! I've given feedback, too.

As for currently reading, well... I think I have 8 or so books checked out and 5 or so via kindle unlimited but hardly anything is holding my attention. Most of those books are books I'm trying to read but I keep letting the loan expire. Ha. I think I'm gonna stick with mysteries for a bit. I'm burnt out on the not-so-great selections of other genres lately. Too many in the variety of the blurb sounds good, then you start reading and realize that was the only well written thing.

Side note, I've been super bored with the game lately. I probably have lost some more friends on both games, PC and tablet. Oh well!

~J (amsavs) said:

Also, does anyone else do the Kindle Challenges?

I'm not aware of these. Where do I find them?

I've also been very bored with MC ... and really pretty much most all games. But I'm still going into MC and gifting friends each day and maybe playing just a bit.

I mentioned borrowing books from the library through Libby in my other post. A book became available on the 6th and I went ahead and borrowed it because I knew I was going to be finishing my current book in just a couple of days. Sure enough I was actually able to start it on the 7th. Then the very next day another book - which showed it would be 8 weeks before it was available - became available. I had to pass that one on to the next person since I had just started the other one which was over 500 pages. It turns out maybe I should have gone ahead and borrowed it because I finished that 500-page book last night. That was really fast for me. 

It's under Reading Insights. I usually have to access via the "more" option. It's usually for 3 months. Some achievements aren't revealed until later. Things like reading a pick from the editor's list (you can usually click on a link so you know what counts) or reading something in kindle Vella. There's also one for reading for a week, Sun- Sat I believe, not just 7 days in a row. 

I haven't used Libby. I've tried other services my library offers like hoopla. I was hoping to find a book my library didn't currently have but no luck there either. I haven't used it in quite some time. 

Do you feel like longer books seem to go faster when you're drawn in? It feels like I'm reading faster but I don't know that I actually am. It feels like most of the books I try lately, especially kindle unlimited ones, I end up only reading a chapter at a time. I had to stop the one I tried to read earlier this month because the characters were supposed to be older but the way the author wrote them made them seem like 15 year olds. ‍?? I think I'll try whatever's due to expire next from my loans. I think it's book 1 from a mystery series I've checked out like at least 3 times now. I saw a later book on the "just added" list which is how I became aware of it. 

~J (amsavs) said:

Do you feel like longer books seem to go faster when you're drawn in?

Definitely for me. The one that I just finished so fast was because it was the second in a series and I had really been wanting to get hold of it for about a year.

I don't have Kindle Unlimited because I don't want to have to choose a book from something like that. Although sometimes when I'm checking Amazon for a book on my "want to read" list, I'll see that it's part of Kindle Unlimited. But so far, I'm not convinced it's worth the cost. I'm afraid it would cause me to feel like I need to choose books from that "list" instead of books I know I want to read due to the author, or they're part of a series, etc.

I see where the Reading Insights is only available on the app on your phone and not actually on the Kindle itself. I'll have to check that out.

I read that book last night. I didn't realize it was just over 100 pages! The author spent a lot of time setting up the main character's background, so the mystery part was super quick. Undecided if I want to continue the series. 

Ah. I can justify the price based on how I usually read. I figure if I read at least 2 books a month it's worth it. When something like picking a book from a best of,  or editor's list pops up, I usually look for what looks good, and then if it's a part of kindle unlimited. If it's not then I try my library. Which is what I had to do this time, and the added bonus of a few people on the wait list. I haven't had a kindle so I'm not sure what differences there are between it and the app. 

I forget if I mentioned it, but my library does challenges through beanstack. Not sure if all libraries do that. The hard part for me is remembering to keep track of how long I read at a time so I can log the minutes. 

~J (amsavs) said:

I haven't had a kindle so I'm not sure what differences there are between it and the app. 

I've had a Kindle since 2011 when a friend gave it to me as a birthday present. I didn't get my smartphone with the app until much later. I prefer reading on the Kindle because it's much larger than the smartphone. However, if I'm out somewhere and having to wait I'll pull out the smartphone, open the Kindle app and start reading.

I hadn't heard of Beanstack but will check it out to see if my library uses/has it. One of the things I found that motivates me to read more is tracking how much I've read daily in goodreads.com. 

I've put the app on my phone a few times but I don't like using the small screen either. 

My library gives out prizes sometimes with the challenges. I have yet to collect one though. It's a nice thought but it's usually things I can't use. Like around Halloween it's candy, or part of the winter one was hot chocolate mix. I unfortunately have to make that from scratch, as the store that had a brand I could actually use, stopped carrying it. 

Goodreads is the reason my reading is out of control. I'm also tempted to add all the books I brought over. But it would also skew the recommended to YA. And it's close to 200 books I think. But it would be neat to see my total closer to what I've actually read. Decisions!

Next up for me is still chipping away at the books I've checked out. I've got 2 that have a little more than 24 hours left. 

As I said once before, I've really been in the mood to read more and play games less. So here it is the 27th of January and I've already read 8 books in this new year. All but one of those have been novels ranging in length 353-450 pages. The one non-fiction I read was Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur who was a reporter for NBC News at the time of the campaign and now is on MSNBC.

With 5 days left (that's counting today) in this month I know I could easily finish another novel before the end of the month. However, since the last 4 books have been fiction, it's time for some non-fiction. I decided to tackle Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith. I've had this on my Kindle for over 4 years but hadn't read it because I wanted to first read another book about Queen Elizabeth II - Young Elizabeth: The Making of the Queen by Kate Williams. However, I haven't been able to find that one at a discount and it's one of those that has expired in Libby. 

I hope this one is good. 

The book about Queen Elizabeth II was good and didn't take too long. Nine days for almost 700 pages. I just wish it had covered more about her younger life before becoming Queen. The book covered through 2012 - 60 years of her 70-year reign - and it was interesting to see how the monarchy had changed during the years.

The books from Libby have been coming regularly now and I'm trying to keep up with those. Sometimes one will suddenly be available that showed 4 weeks when I looked last. And I look every day to see what's moving up on the availability list. 

The last two have been through Libby. Daylight by David Baldacci which is the 3rd book in a series of 4 about FBI agent Atlee Pine and her search for her twin sister who has been missing since the age of 6 years old - that one was available Jan. 28 before I finished the Queen Elizabeth II book. I went ahead and borrowed it because I knew I would be able to finish it within the 2-week period.

Then on Feb. 6 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins became available. It's the prequel to the Hunger Games books. Of course, Even though I was still reading Daylight. I knew I only had a couple of days left in that one and went ahead and borrowed the Collins book. However, 2 days later on Feb. 8 another book became available in Libby - The Burger Chef Murders in Indiana by Julie Young. The reason I chose that book is because I remembered those murders in 1978 in Speedway, IN - near Indianapolis - and it sounded interesting. At that point, I was just finishing the Daylight book. Since the Burger Chef Murders book was less than 200 pages, I read that one before the Collins book which is over 500 pages.

Then yesterday - Feb. 13 - another book becomes available in Libby. This one is Indelible by Karin Slaughter and is the 4th book in her Grant County series. That one wasn't supposed to be available for another 4 weeks. I went ahead and borrowed it because I should be finishing the Collins book in another 2-3 days.

So as you can see, Libby is keeping me supplied with books. And it's good to be able to read some books that have been on my "Wanted" list for years. I just need a little break so that I can read a few of the books I already have on my Kindle. LOL