October 15th. I love it.

Halfway through the month to my favorite holiday of the year!

First thing up this week, reading parties. I love it. On Friday, I hosted the best kind of party there is – a Reading Party! That’s literally what it is. People come over and you read. There’s not a lot of conversation unless it has to do with the book you’re reading and you can go 45 minutes without even acknowledging each other. Isn’t that great? We weren’t even reading the same books so you can’t even call it a book club. We did make alcoholic peach smoothies and play with my cats. I’ll be hosting one again soon, I’m sure!

I love it.

Next up, passing my first grad school class. I love it. I got my final grade back for my first class, Curriculum Design, and I aced it. 100%. Even with a final paper that could have been way better. I just hope that the rest of my classes are this easy.

I love it.

Finally, Halloween movie marathons. I love it. I’ve ben on a cleaning spree all day and I think it’s been fueled by Halloween movies. After I caught up on all of my shows for the week, I took to Netflix. I’ve watched “Coraline” and “Sleepy Hollow.” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is next, probably followed by another movie or reading. Halloween is my favorite time of year! I’ve been waiting 11 months for this!

I love it. It’s great. Everything’s great.

I love it.

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The Secret Keepers: A Book Review

One of my favorite authors since high school has been Trenton Lee Stewart. I fell in love with his writing when I just happened to pick “The Mysterious Benedict Society” off of the shelf one day and his latest adventure is no exception.

The Secret Keepers is about a young boy who finds solace in finding intriguing hiding places. After one attempt to find a new space for himself, he happens upon a watch. But is isn’t an ordinary watch; it see that it doesn’t tell time.

After a ton of attempts to figure out what it’s supposed to do, he Connor finds out that it can make him invisible. But like all magic, it comes with a price and he is temporarily blind when he uses it.

Connor and  his mom are in a tight spot financially so he sets out to find out the worth of the watch. After visiting several shops, he learns that it’s very valuable and the most important (yet unseen) man in the city wants it too. They call him The Smoke.

The boy does a lot of research and actually finds out who the watch belongs to so he sets out to find their family. This leads to a lot of danger and chaos (and booby traps) in an attempt to keep the power of the watch out of the wrong hands.

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Nerd Lists: Pros and Cons of Audiobooks

In the past year, I have become seriously obsessed with audiobooks. I don’t use Audible or anything mainstream because I found out that I can “borrow” them from the library. I mean, it’s free, it’s easy, and there are millions of books to pick from.

Arthur Read was right. “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.”

While I absolutely love what audiobooks can do for me, I have found some drawbacks. As I often do, I started a Pro/Con list so I’d thought I’d share it with you for some insight (whether you want it or not).

Pro: I can still be productive while I’m reading.

Before I started using audiobooks, I was always stressing out about finishing a book before it was do or I would put off chores and other necessary adult things because my mind wouldn’t be satisfied until I finished the book. Now, I can multitask. For instance, just last night, I put on my wireless headphones and started listening to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” While doing that, I cleaned my bathroom, did the dishes, and played with my cats. It’s like a win-win situation.

Con: I sometimes stop paying attention.

Just as easy as it is to multitask, it’s just as easy to forget to pay attention. There have been times where I find that I’m completely lost in the story and have no idea how we got there.

Pro: I can read more books.

Now, not only do I read a book, but I listen to one, too. I have a book (in physical form) with me at all times in the event that audiobooks aren’t appropriate and the other way around. I have 2 books I’m working on at all times. Double the pleasure reading, double the fun. It’s only September but I’ve already finished my goal of reading 25 books this year. So many more books can be read before December!

Con: It’s harder to update my Goodreads page.

One of my favorite, nerdy things to do is update my Goodreads page. I participate in the reading challenge every year and I take pride in updating what page I’m on in a book. It also lets me know what kind of pace I’m reading at so I can guess when I’ll finish it. With audiobooks, sure, you know what chapter you’re on, but there are no page numbers. It kills me to not be able to update how far along I am in a book. Sometimes, I’ll just take the total number of chapters and divide them to find the percentage of the book I have done, but it’s not the same feeling.

Pro: There’s the possibility for a non-stop reading fest.

Sometimes, if I own a book and I’m really into it, I’ll look for the audiobook. That way, when my eyes can no longer focus on the book, I can pick up right where I left off in audiobook format. This is something I use a lot. Last weekend, in fact, while reading “Cinder”, the first book of the Lunar Chronicles Series, I spent 14 hours reading, listening, and taking the occasional break. I would read until I thought of something I had to do and put the book on audio. Then, when I found myself having a hard time paying attention to the audio, I’d start reading the book again.

 

Looking at this list, it is clear to me that the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to audiobooks. Anyone interested in free audiobooks should talk to their local library about what they have to offer or support paid for audiobook sites like Audible.

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