Busy busy busy

I feel like I've used that title before.  Eh, oh well.  It's true again.  But it's a really good busy.  For one thing, I have been keeping up with all my various must-be-dones for Christmas.  I've still been writing the book, I'm totally caught up with jewelry (what an awesome feeling for this time of year), we've had Christmas cookies two weeks in a row, lights are up outside, the house isn't in total disarray, etc.  I've been listening to audiobooks and podcasts through a lot of these chores/tasks, which is definitely a big reason why I'm not resentful of how much I have to do.  I have actually enjoyed cleaning.

One of the audiobooks I'm listening to is Unbroken.  I finally started reading it after finishing Goldfinch so many weeks (months?) ago.  I've heard so many good things.  People have told me it's a quick read, I'd get through it so fast.  And after starting it in the hard cover...then dragging through to the point where I felt like I was forcing myself to keep going, I found it on my kindle.  I thought, having it more available, I'd get into it more and get to a part of the book where I'd feel like I couldn't put it down.  That didn't happen.  I finally broke down and found it on Audible.  I've been listening to it for over a week, reading it for over a month, and I have to say...I really hate it.  The writing is just awful.  I really don't get what the big deal surrounding this book is all about.  I mean...the story of this guy is definitely honorable, I'm not saying anything against the recounting of this man's hardships, and all of the hardships of the POWs in World War II, but the author's annoying attempt to sound clever sentence after sentence is making me want to rip my hair out.  So that's my rant for this book...I've been wanting to get that out for a while now.

So I need to start running more often.  I'm still going on at least one weekend run, but I need to fit a couple more weeknights in...and I've been slacking.  Holiday cookies, egg nog, candy canes, and cereal mix aren't really helping me fit into my jeans either.  I probably need to go have another cup of egg nog now.

Good night :)

Books

I have been reading the same book for at least the past two months...maybe three.  I'm a little embarrassed about it, actually.  It's The Goldfinch.  It's really great, but it's one of those books that has the kind of writing that makes you visualize minute details with just a few well chosen words, puts your mind so it's like you've experienced the moment personally or like you're seeing it happen in front of you.  And when I read books like this, I read slowly.  It's harder for me to skim quickly through a sentence when I'm trying to play the scene in my mind.  And even though I love the book, I kind of can't wait to be finished with it.

Sometimes a long book like this makes me want to read and read forever (like Harry Potter) and other times the story mixes depressive details in and this one happens to really lack anything uplifting.  Since I've been reading this I've also listened to several audiobooks on Audible.  It's easier for me to get through a book when I'm listening to it because I have so many more opportunities to make progress in it (on walks, driving, making jewelry).  I listened to that Cathy Yardley "Write Every Day" book...and the book from the TV Show Castle (Heat Wave...a ridiculously cheesy but entertaining read) and I am pretty sure I even made it through Stephen King's "Mr. Mercedes" in the amount of time since I started reading The Goldfinch.  Then I tried starting another literary one a week or two ago (Cutting for Stone, which I've heard great things about and will read...at some point) and decided I needed something else.  So I downloaded one of the more recent Nora Roberts books with this month's credit (The Collector).  I just needed something fun and lighthearted...something I would want to keep turning on while I'm driving or cleaning and make me enjoy those times rather than just helping pass the time.  I'm going to read "Unbroken" when I'm done with The Goldfinch...I have a borrowed copy that's due back by the holidays and I scoffed at the idea that I'd need that long but now I'm starting to wonder if I will have it done in time.  Ridiculous.

So I will go start my nightly routine of getting the baby ready for bed and reading The Goldfinch while I nurse her to sleep.  Wonder if there's any great twist at the end?  I'm at 90% (about) so I feel like I'd see it coming by now.  It better have a decent ending.

Good night..