Rabbit Hole #15: Read Harder Challenge 2015 Update-June

Continuing through the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2015...

Here's my list so far:  
(This month's reads are in blue.)

1. A book written by someone when they were under 25: 

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2. A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65: 

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

3. A collection of short stories:

4. A book published by an indie press: 

The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson (Open Roads Media Sci-Fi and Fantasy)
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine (Grey Wolf Press)

5. A book by or about someone who identifies as LGBTQ: 

We Are the Animals by Justin Torres

6. A book by someone of a different gender than you: 

Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy 

by Paul Thomas Murphy 
Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older

7. A book that takes place in Asia: 

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

8. A book by an author from Africa:

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

9. A book by or about someone from an indigenous culture: 

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

10. A microhistory: 

Desire and Disaster in New Orleans: 

Tourism, Race and Historical Memory by Lynnell L. Thomas

 Liar, Temptress, Soldier Spy: 

Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

 Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity 
and the Women Who Made America Modern by Joshua Zeitz

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women 
Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan

11. A YA novel: 

Paper Towns by John Green
The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Page

12. A sci-fi novel: 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

13. A romance novel:

14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer from last decade:

15. A book that is a retelling of a classic story: 

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (retelling of Snow White)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (The Jungle Book)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Cinderella)

16. An audiobook: 

Voices and Poetry of Ireland (a collection)

17. A collection of poetry: 

Once by Alice Walker

18. A book that someone else recommended to you: 

Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint by Nadia Bolz-Weber

19. A book originally published in another language:

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann (French)

20. A graphic novel, memoir or collection of comics: 

Captain Marvel, Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue Deconnick

Sandman, Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman

Batgirl, Vol. 1 by Gail Simone

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore

Sandman, Vol. 2 by Neil Gaiman
Nevermore: A Graphic Novel Anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1 by G. Willow Wilson
Thor: Goddess of Thunder, Vol. 1 by Jason Aaron
Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

21. A guilty pleasure: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (mainly because I didn't know where else to put this, and some people see Gilbert as fluff)

22. A book published before 1850:

23. A book published this year: 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Jan. 2015 release date)

 Find Me by Laura van den Berg (Feb. 2015 release date)

24. A self-improvement book: 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

I also read The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Twelve Little Cakes by Dominika Dery, and Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. There just really weren't any good categories to pop those in to. I think it's safe to safe I'm over the reading slump I had in May, which I attribute to the end of the school year and the absolute craziness of moving! I'll publish a post later this week on a few of mytop favorites from this month. 

On Leaving and New Beginnings

I've been musing over this post for a while now. Every time I sat down to write, it just didn't feel quite right.

I've gone through the gamut of emotions the past few weeks, from being nervous to incredibly excited, to a feeling of sadness at leaving so many amazing family members and friends, to sheer joy at FINALLY being able to call New Orleans home. Those have settled down for the most part now, to a feeling of contentment. This move was the right thing. It FEELS right.

To my family and friends back in Nebraska: I love you and miss you. That was the hardest part about leaving--saying goodbye to all of you. However, I think moving across the country today is much easier than it would have been even ten years ago. As much as we love to complain about social media, it allows us to stay connected in an instant. We no longer have to deal with collect calls and worrying about long distance charges (annnnndd... I just dated myself with that reference. Ugh.). Text messages and unlimited talk on cell phones makes connection easy. So while I miss you, we're never very far away!

And we are settling in here. As I write, it's been raining off and on all day, and the dogs and cat are snoozing. They're still getting used to all the new smells and neighbors, but they're adjusting. There are still boxes to unpack, which I'm sure there will be for a while, but we have the main areas settled and are starting to make it feel like home. Our neighbors are amazing and have been extremely welcoming. We've already been to two festivals, are going to another tomorrow; we're heading to a brewery tonight, and we are meeting fabulous people (some of which we were lucky to know before!), so boredom is definitely not an option! We're not naive about the city--we know it has its dark side, that not everything is a party. But it's more alive than any other place we've ever been. It's what has drawn us back here year after year, and why we finally decided to stay.

There will definitely be more postings on our new adventures here, so you've been warned!

Our new home

Rabbit Hole #14: Read Harder Challenge 2015 Update--May

Continuing through the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2015...

This month was not the greatest reading month for me as we've been packing for our New Orleans move (and moving--hence the lateness of this post!!). Nonetheless...

Here's my list so far:  

(I know the challenge is not about how many in each category one can read, but to read one from each category. For myself, though, I wanted to try to see if all of the books I was reading could fit into the various categories.)

1. A book written by someone when they were under 25: 

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2. A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65: 

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

3. A collection of short stories:

4. A book published by an indie press: 

The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson (Open Roads Media Sci-Fi and Fantasy)

5. A book by or about someone who identifies as LGBTQ: 

We Are the Animals by Justin Torres

6. A book by someone of a different gender than you: 

Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy 

by Paul Thomas Murphy 

7. A book that takes place in Asia: 

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

8. A book by an author from Africa:

9. A book by or about someone from an indigenous culture: 

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

10. A microhistory: 

Desire and Disaster in New Orleans: 

Tourism, Race and Historical Memory by Lynnell L. Thomas

 Liar, Temptress, Soldier Spy: 

Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

 Flapper: 

A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity and the Women Who Made America Modern 

by Joshua Zeitz

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II 

by Denise Kiernan

11. A YA novel: 

Paper Towns by John Green

12. A sci-fi novel: 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

13. A romance novel:

14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer from last decade:

15. A book that is a retelling of a classic story: 

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (retelling of Snow White)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (The Jungle Book)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Cinderella)

16. An audiobook: 

Voices and Poetry of Ireland (a collection)

17. A collection of poetry: 

Once by Alice Walker

18. A book that someone else recommended to you: 

Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint by Nadia Bolz-Weber

19. A book originally published in another language:

20. A graphic novel, memoir or collection of comics: 

Captain Marvel, Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue Deconnick

Sandman, Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman

Batgirl, Vol. 1 by Gail Simone

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore

Sandman, Vol. 2 by Neil Gaiman

21. A guilty pleasure: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (mainly because I didn't know where else to put this, and some people see Gilbert as fluff)

22. A book published before 1850:

23. A book published this year: 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Jan. 2015 release date)

 Find Me by Laura van den Berg (Feb. 2015 release date)

24. A self-improvement book: 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo