Life with a side of books.

Grad School: Well, I put my first semester of grad school behind me last week and couldn’t be happier. I start a short summer term in ten days so my celebration will be brief as I need to start reading straightaway. Taking two condensed grad school classes while working full-time is a daunting prospect but I only need to hold on for six weeks. Both classes offer something awesome so I had to go big or go home. Many bottles of wine await me at the end of this tunnel I am entering.

Books: Something I never thought possible has happened. I have finally reached a point where I need to start exercising some semblance of self-control with my book purchasing. I am buying way more than I can possibly keep up with reading wise thanks to grad school requirements. I am not sure if I will limit it to one book a week or a month, but some kind of limitation is in the works. (I’d also like to start buying groceries and cooking at home more. Go figure, ha!)

Book tracking: I wanted to track the books I read this year more closely but have been slacking big time. I’m not sure I will try picking it back up mid-year or letting it go until next year. It is a coin toss at this point which way I will go. I like the idea of a book journal more than a simple tracking system but either way I am not going to force anything right now.

The Blog-diggity: I have been incredibly inconsistent with posting and writing but plan on working harder to post more. Mainly because I really enjoy putting my thoughts out into the ether and the interacting with fellow bloggers and bibliophiles that follows. Chatting about books is one of my favorite things in life, that will never change.

Hobbies: Whew, so many. I have not been able to pick up my camera for some time but with the abundance of hiking trails around the Chattanooga area that will change this summer. (If you are curious you can find some of my photography here on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanadubois) I am going to learn how to crochet this year, umm, at some point. Blankets for everyone come next Christmas! I also want to start cooking more so I can bring my lunch and have leftovers when I get home. Mmm, leftovers.

Life in general: I have let myself become too complacent and sedentary in the last two years or so and want to make a lot of changes. I am finally taking the time to make my priorities a priority. Grad school was one of the biggest ones. Now to tackle getting healthy. I am taking steps to shift to a more vegetarian diet. Mostly because I love veggies more than anything and have never been a huge fan of meat in general, but my overall goal is a healthy and balanced diet. I also need to make walking every day part of my routine and add a focus for fitness into the mix.

So, overall I have a lot going on but the focus is on enjoying life to the fullest and being the best me I can be. Happy reading and I look forward to chatting with you!

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Did you miss me? Well, I missed you!

Greetings readers!

It has been way too long since I last made a post and despite my ambitious plans for maintaining a rigorous posting schedule life had other plans. Apparently moving into a new place, starting grad school, working full time, and pursuing additional opportunities (to be announced shortly) makes for a very crammed/jammed/packed/squisheded schedule.

So, I have tweaked my mentality, shifted priorities, bought a new planner (the third one for 2015 already so this one better flippin’ mesh with my brain dammit), put in a standing desk, rearranged all sorts of things, and just generally tried to get myself back on track.

And that brings me to here! The place I might have missed most of all. I have wanted a blog for so long so I could take my book shouting to a bigger stage so making sure I find time to post here will be a priority without a doubt.

I will be sharing my book reviews in the form of more “Book Chats” because I am sharing something I enjoyed and not analyzing it from a critical perspective (I do that enough in class). If I didn’t enjoy it, I won’t share it. Simple.

Highlighting short fiction and works in translation will also be a key focus for me in my posts. Having been stationed in Japan for nearly four years I feel in love with the literature and want to continue to explore East Asian literature in translation but also branch out to experience other cultures and places. I subscribe to “World Literature Today” to help me find authors and titles. I also subscribe to nearly a dozen, if not more, magazines and journals to satisfy my short fiction addition.

Instead of trying to stick to a rigid schedule of certain topics on certain days I am going to just have fun, post based on what is striking my fancy, and just generally post more frequently. So, here we go and let’s get to reading!

*Ninja smoke bomb*

UNTIL NEXT TIME!