BTT: How many?

How many? (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. How many books do you read in a week? Month? Year?

2. What's the best book or series you've read so far this year?

3. What's the worst book you read this year? Did you finish it?

How many books I read fluctuates based on the length of the book I'm reading, how much I like it, and how much free time I have.  So far, last year was a record-breaking year for me.  According to Goodreads, I read 242 books last year.  Granted, last year I was reading a lot of ebooks, which tend to be more novellas and short stories than full-length novels and non-fiction books.  This year, I'm not reading as many ebooks and am trying to read from my own library.  So far, the latter is not working out well, unless you count reading books I've newly bought.  Goodreads has a reading challenge where you set your own goal for the year.  This year my goal is 150...not as high as last year but reasonably attainable (I read 124 in 2011).  It's fun to see the little gauge on the challenge creep closer to the end.  Whether I'm successful or not, I know that I won't do it again.  I find it too stressful, especially because Goodreads tells you if you are ahead or behind schedule.  I'm currently behind schedule even though I was ahead of schedule for most of the year.  Now I'm getting anxious.  And now that I'm working more hours at work, I have less free time than last year for reading.

I have a tie for the best (fiction) book I've read so far this year.  "Dust and Shadow" by Lyndsay Faye versus "Up and Down" by Terry Fallis.  I just can't make up my mind yet.  Both have their strong qualities that make it hard for me to pick just one.  But the best (non-fiction) book I've read this year is "The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide To Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts" by Hanne Blank.  I highly recommend it to anyone who is overweight, no matter how fit you already are.  (Yes,  you can be both fat and fit!)

I would have to say that "The Boy in the Dress" by David Walliams is the worst book I've read this year.  I did finish it but I was intensely disappointed.  You can read the un-review I wrote about it.  Basically, it was nothing like what I expected.

Read on,
Paula

"The Boy in the Dress" by David Walliams

I was actually disappointed with "The Boy in the Dress" by David Walliams.  It wasn't as funny as I was expecting.  Even though it has an "accept others" philosophy, it only applies to religion and cross-dressing: Dennis' best friend is a Sikh and other male characters in the book wear dresses.  But Dennis is not gay; he has a crush on Lisa, the girl who gets him to wear the dresses.  There is also a hint of peer pressure because, although he loves looking at fashion magazines, Dennis is not actually interested in wearing dresses until Lisa convinces him to do it.  She also gets him to put on makeup and high heels.  She convinces him to go to school as a girl.

The thing I most disliked about this book was the anti-fat thread running through it.  Dennis' dad is fat and so is one of the boys at school.  In fact, every time the schoolboy, Mac, is mentioned, there is also a food reference.  Not all fat people eat constantly and I took offense to this depiction.  In this book, it's okay for boys to dress up in girl's clothing but god forbid they be fat.

This book is also very British.  When I first read that the main character loves football and wearing dresses, I thought they meant American football.  No, they mean British football, which is American soccer.  There are also other British cultural terms and -isms that North American children might not know.

It only took me a few hours to read it and I'm sorry I bought it.

Read on,
Paula