Let’s go! The 2023 When Are You Reading? Challenge Starts Today!

Today is the first day for the 2023 When Are You Reading? Challenge! I hope you’ll consider taking on the challenge and joining me. This is the tenth year! Yes, the tenth! There’s not a lot of things I’ll do for ten years straight, but this is one.

The premise of the challenge is to read one book from each of twelve time periods. It’s up to the reader where a book lies. You can do it based on publication date or setting, whatever you want. Feel free to switch it up, too. I did make a small update this year. For those who have been doing the challenges multiple years, if there are time periods you find very challenging (like I do for the 1300-1499 time period), let me know and we can make changes moving forward.

The challenge is located here. If you’d like to participate, leave me a comment somewhere on the blog letting me know and giving me a link to your challenge page or post. I’ll add a link to my challenge page so other readers can visit you and see what you’ve been reading. 

The time periods are:

• Pre 1200 [UPDATED]
• 1300-1499 [UPDATED]
• 1500-1699
• 1700-1799
• 1800-1899
• 1900-1919
• 1920-1939
• 1940-1959
• 1960-1979
• 1980-1999
• 2000-Present
• The Future

I do hope you’ll consider joining me. I’ve had a lot of fun with this challenge over the past several years and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

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Announcing the 2023 When Are You Reading? Challenge!

It’s back again! I’ll be running the When Are You Reading? Challenge yet again in 2023. 2022 was a challenging year for me to read so much and I’m hoping things get a little easier in 2023. I think this is a good challenge for me to still aim to complete since it’s a relatively low number of books.

The premise of the challenge is to read one book from each of twelve time periods. It’s up to the reader where a book lies. You can do it based on publication date or setting, whatever you want. Feel free to switch it up, too. I did make a small update this year. For those who have been doing the challenges multiple years, if there are time periods you find very challenging (like I do for the 1300-1499 time period), let me know and we can make changes moving forward.

The challenge is located here. If you’d like to participate, leave me a comment somewhere on the blog letting me know and giving me a link to your challenge page or post. I’ll add a link to my challenge page so other readers can visit you and see what you’ve been reading. 

The time periods are:

• Pre 1200 [UPDATED]
• 1300-1499 [UPDATED]
• 1500-1699
• 1700-1799
• 1800-1899
• 1900-1919
• 1920-1939
• 1940-1959
• 1960-1979
• 1980-1999
• 2000-Present
• The Future

I do hope you’ll consider joining me. I’ve had a lot of fun with this challenge over the past several years and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Announcing the 2022 When Are You Reading? Challenge!

It’s back again! I’ll be running the When Are You Reading? Challenge yet again in 2022. I wasn’t able to finish in 2021 (more to come on that in a full post), but I’m planning to be more purposeful this year and I’m hoping it will happen! One can only hope.

The premise of the challenge is to read one book from each of twelve time periods. It’s up to the reader where a book lies. You can do it based on publication date or setting, whatever you want. Feel free to switch it up, too.

The challenge is located here. If you’d like to participate, leave me a comment somewhere on the blog letting me know and giving me a link to your challenge page or post. I’ll add a link to my challenge page so other readers can visit you and see what you’ve been reading. 

The time periods are:

• Pre 1300
• 1300-1499
• 1500-1699
• 1700-1799
• 1800-1899
• 1900-1919
• 1920-1939
• 1940-1959
• 1960-1979
• 1980-1999
• 2000-Present
• The Future

I do hope you’ll consider joining me. I’ve had a lot of fun with this challenge over the past several years and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

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Announcing the 2021 When Are You Reading? Challenge

It’s back again! I’ll be running the When Are You Reading? Challenge yet again in 2021. Hopefully, I’m not scrambling to finish it on New Year’s Eve next year (less than two hours left in the final audiobook as I type this!). I think the set up worked well last year so I’m going to run with it again.

The premise of the challenge is to read one book from each of twelve time periods. It’s up to the reader where a book lies. You can do it based on publication date or setting, whatever you want. Feel free to switch it up, too.

The challenge page will be set up today. If you’d like to participate, leave me a comment somewhere on the blog letting me know and giving me a link to your challenge page or post. I’ll add a link to my challenge page so other readers can visit you and see what you’ve been reading. 

The time periods are:

• Pre 1300
• 1300-1499
• 1500-1699
• 1700-1799
• 1800-1899
• 1900-1919
• 1920-1939
• 1940-1959
• 1960-1979
• 1980-1999
• 2000-Present
• The Future

I do hope you’ll consider joining me. I’ve had a lot of fun with this challenge over the past several years and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Join my email list

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

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Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Literary Pregnancy

Maybe this is nothing. Or maybe I’m on to something. I’m not sure. Either way, I’d love if you could chime in and let me know if I’m going crazy.

I noticed this a while ago and brought it up to my husband who shrugged, brushed it off, and let me move on. But I brought it up to him again on Monday and he told me I might as well blog about it. So I decided to try listening to him for once.

Does anyone else feel like far too many fictional females get pregnant?

I’m usually not bothered by it, but I’m in the middle of reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn which includes three pregnancies. I’m also reading The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel which involves a pregnancy. I feel like I’m surrounded by literary fetuses and I think I’m overwhelmed.

I think there are a few reasons for this. Becoming a mother is a major life change and gives a lot of character development. Also, sex makes for good plotting and pregnancy can be a result of sex so books move in that direction. Pregnancy also builds tension because of unknown due dates or unknown fathers or pending abortions. This can lead to emotional turmoil, also good for tension. These are mostly dramatic results, there’s also happiness and joy but those don’t seem to be turning up in the books I’m reading.

I noticed this first when I was reading Armada by Ernest Cline. Two of the characters are intimate once and the woman gets pregnant. It seemed a bit too convenient for me. I get that it happens and it only takes one time, but I think it happens disproportionately in literature.

And that’s where my frustration lies. Pregnancy in books seems to defy the odds of nature. The amount of failed birth control and virginity-losing pregnancies in books seems to be a good bet in Vegas. It just doesn’t seem possible. I was so convinced Eilis in Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn was going to find herself pregnant that I was shocked when she didn’t.

Maybe I’m rambling. Maybe I’m off base. Maybe I’m spot on. What do you all think? Is the fertility of fictional woman off the charts? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

600 Books

One of the things I love about Goodreads is that it tracks how much you’ve read. I love the data about my average length, average rating, reading speeds, etc. I love data so it’s perfect for me to nerd out.

And it gives me great milestones. Recently, I added my 600th book to my Read shelf! Now, I know that about 70 of those were ones I marked as ‘Read’ when I signed up to the platform and wanted to add some of my old favorites. But that still means I’ve read over 500 books since signing up in 2012.

I know for some book bloggers, I read like a turtle. And since I love turtles, I’m OK with this. I’ve seen people with Read lists in the 1000s or more. This is a fun landmark for me and I’m excited to have made it here. I’m sure I’ll post again at 700 which will be in about 2 years or so. Imagine the celebration when I reach 1000.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

500 Books!

I’m at 501 now, but I wanted to have a post to recognize that I’d hit 500 books read on Goodreads! It feels like a major mark so I’m celebrating.

Now, this isn’t that I’ve read 500 books since I started this blog or that I’ve read 500 books total in my life. The number is likely much higher than that. When I got Goodreads, I went back and added some books I’d read long ago to my read shelf and rated them when my memory was sufficient. Other times I didn’t rate them but added them anyway. So this 500 is somewhat of an arbitrary number if you really think about it. But hey, it’s still a landmark!

I’ve been using Goodreads for almost six years and in that time I’ve read 334. It will be some time before I hit 500 books read while I’m a Goodreads user but I’ll look forward to that date.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Continuing a Series

I found myself reading more and more stand-alone books. Growing up, I read a lot of series but as I started college and my career, this has drastically tapered off. I’m guessing it’s a combination of books I’m interested in being stand alone but I think it’s more that I’m terrible at finishing series.

I noticed this last week on WWW Wednesday when a commenter mentioned finishing Elena Ferrante’s The Neopolitans series. Even though I’d read the first book and enjoyed it, I didn’t feel any desire to pick up the second book. I noticed that I’ve done this with several books. Nancy E. Turner’s Sarah Angus Pine series, Brad Meltzer’s Culper Ring series, and Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series are just a few examples since I started this blog. I’ve read the first book of all three of these series and enjoyed it, but I have no idea when, if ever, I’ll finish the series.

I think part of this is due to how I structure what I’ll read next. I’m faithful to my TBR to a fault. I always try to read what I’ve been waiting for the longest time to start. That means that if I read a book and enjoy it enough to want to read the second in the series, I’ll add the second but it goes to the bottom of my list so it will be a while before I get to it. This really spaces out my time between books and makes it easy to be less excited about the second book in a series. There are times I’ve forgone my strict TBR like when I binge-read Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, but this isn’t the norm.

I think the other reason is that I reason with myself that even though I liked the book and I’d probably enjoy the sequel, I’d probably like to read another book more, so I might as well forgo the series and start on something completely different. This happens to me more than you’d think. I won’t even put the book on the bottom of my TBR and I’ll continue as if there’s not more to know about the awesome story I already started and really liked. I’ve found myself thinking of the book months later and only then adding the next in the series to my TBR. I found myself doing that with George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and with Ruth Downie’s Medicus series earlier this year. I’m now in the middle of both series and do plan on reading more of them… eventually.

How about you, reader? Do you have an easy time finishing a series or do you struggle as much as I do? If you struggle, what makes you put it off?

Until next time, write on!

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

A Tough Nerd Decision

If you’re a WWW Wednesday-er, you might have heard me mention this before. I’ve recently made a really hard book-nerd decision and I still have mixed feelings about it but I will go on. Let me explain.

I love buying books as I’m sure many of you reading this do as well. I have an entire shelf devoted to these books that I have bought and not yet read. It’s almost full. As in this is a problem. The compounding factor is that for so long, I would buy books that were on my Goodreads TBR that also had audiobook copies available at my local library. For a long time, that was no problem as there were so many audiobooks at the library I didn’t own physical copies of. That’s ended. I’m out of easily available audiobooks that are on my TBR. I’m starting to listen to books I hadn’t planned on reading and some of the books on my TBR are sinking farther and farther away from me as they drift down the pile.

I got sick of this. I’ve listened to three books this summer I never intended to listen to (I won’t say which) and while two were good, one wasn’t and the whole time, I kept wishing I was going through my shelf books instead. So, I’ve decided to do that.

Unless there’s a very good reason I want to read a physical copy of the book (some are rather visually put together), I’m going to listen to the audiobook if I can get to it first. eaudio is the easiest by far, but some physical audiobooks can be good as well. I’m looking forward to getting through these books in one form or another so I can start with those I’ve been putting off because my TBR is just so big!

I’m still iffy on this decision. It feels wrong, like I’m betraying my books! What do you think? Is it wrong to listen to an audiobook when you own the physical copy as well? What about if it was ebook and book? Is that different? Leave a comment and let me know how you’d feel!

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Sam’s Favorite: Books I read before Goodreads

I’ve run into a problem the last few weeks where I don’t have enough content to post something on Thursdays. I’ve decided I’ll use this time to post some topics that are a little more personal. Last week, I talked about how I read more than one book at a time. This week, I want to feature some great books that got lost in my Goodreads shelves.

These include some of my favorite books of all time! These are the 5-star books I read before I started tracking my books on Goodreads. I’m listing them in alphabetical order to show impartiality. And you’ll notice Harry Potter missing from here. That could be its own post. Use the links to take you to the book’s page.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

• These books were some of the first ‘can’t put it down’ books I’d read in a few years. My husband lent me the first one and I devoured it! The second and third were Christmas presents to him and I refused to let him read on without me. He read 2/3 of ‘Catching Fire’ out loud to me as we drove to Cincinnati for a family vacation. The third is purposefully missing from this list because I was disappointed with the ending.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

• I can’t explain why, but I love circus books. Especially historical circus books. Is that specific enough? I thought this story was so well woven and the characters were really well done. The movie was okay but didn’t have the visual prowess the book did.

The Outsiders by SE Hinton

• When I’m asked for my favorite book of all time, this is the book I tell people. The story moved me when I first read it in middle school and to this day, it still makes me want to cry. It’s an amazing story.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

• John Irving is my favorite author and this is my favorite book by him. It’s the first I read and my favorite high school teacher recommended it to me. It’s a great story. I lent my copy to a co-worker and I’m afraid I’ll never get it back!

The Guinea Pig Diaries by AJ Jacobs

• Jacobs is my favorite non-fiction writer. His longer works are great, but these short little experiments were great! Each was well thought-out and executed and I loved them all. I used the ‘Outsourcing’ story for a class project and my professor loved it.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

• The first book I read for school and wanted to re-read later. It was the first time I ‘got’ symbolism and it reminds me of The Dead Poet’s Society in setting. Great book.

Sometimes life before Goodreads seems like it was a lifetime ago when really it was a few years. What are some of the best books you read before Goodreads? Leave a comment and let me know!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!