a few words on my September reads...

*When I Knew edited by Robert Trachtenberg.

A collection of personal stories from gays and lesbians. As the author's mini preface says, the stories fall roughly into the categories of "When I Knew, When My Parents Knew, When Everyone Else Knew, and the occasional (bonus!) coming-out story." None of these stories is long (I think the longest was four pages), and many consist of nothing more than a single sentence. There is much humor in the book, often playing with and subverting stereotypes. But there are also a smattering of stories that just go right to the heart. One, a story of young man coming out to his grandmother, touched me so deeply that I think I will remember it forever. (There was a mention of an incident in one story that left me with an distinctly uncomfortable feeling, but it did not seem to upset the man telling the story.) The book was also loaded with photos. And with illustrations by Tom Bachtell. All the art added a playful feel to the book.

*Locke and Key, Volumes 1-5 by Joe Hill and Grabriel Rodriguez. Talked about them here. Bottom line: Absolutely loved them!

*Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales edited by Deborah Noyes. Talked about it here. Bottom line: Enjoyed greatly.

*Shadow Prey by John Sandford.

There was a day when I read every book that came out in this series as soon as it was published. That was in my pre-blogging days...before book blogs opened my eyes to all that I was missing out on by reading in my psychological/crime thriller rut. Several months back, I decided to reread this series and eventually get myself caught back up. So here I am, having finished rereading the second in the series, wondering if I really want to go on with this or not. I can't quite abandon the idea, because I'm enjoying the experience...I find it hard to leave them alone once I start reading one. Compelling. But at the same time, I'm finding many more problems with them than I did all those years ago. I used to love the very flawed hero of these books, Lucas Davenport. I never thought he was perfect, but flawed characters are obviously more believable, and generally more likeable. But this time around...well, his flaws are ever-so-much more glaring to me. His charm simply isn't working its magic on me. There are moments when I nearly despise him. Perhaps I'll just have to reevaluate after book 3.

*****
I didn't knock many books of the TBR pile in September, nor did I knock many miles off walking journey. Yeah, I really let things slide. :( There were a total of five days when I didn't even clip on the old pedometer. I knew it would be a slow month, for various reasons, but I didn't expect it would be this bad--->39.41 miles. Yep, pretty sad. And while I'm not going to beat myself up over it (the fibro has been beating me up enough), I am going to try harder this month. As I still have 122.97 miles to get to Lu's, it's pretty unlikely I'll make by Halloween but hopefully I'll get there before Thanksgiving.

*****
Project progress (for the books without separate posts):

When I Knew: 50x50 (#42-Read 50 memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, etc.)

Shadow Prey: Unofficial-for-me reading challenges--Color-Coded Reading Challenge (Category: Implies a color)

I'm walking...a quick update...

I said as August began that I was aiming for 100 miles this month. And I'm happy to say I made it. Yay me! I'm now 103.88 miles closer to Lu! Just 162.38 miles to go so if I continue at this rate, I'll make it to her door before the trick-or-treaters. :)

Wasn't sure I was going to make my goal...I had a five-day stretch, as well as a couple of scattered days, where the fibro felt the need to make life utterly miserable. Those days I only managed between 1 1/2 and 2 miles--and I'll admit I was proud of myself for clipping on the pedometer those days, let alone actually walking. But those overwhelming pain days really meant I had to walk extra on the manageable days.

Anyway, September has a day less, and things are going to be crazy around here getting every one of us back into the swing of school with our disparate schedules, and I know ahead of time that this will *not* be a good month for the fibro since I'm entering heavy canning season and I learned last year how truly horrible that is on my body...so I'm just going to stick with a goal of 100 miles for September as well.

slow going...

Just thought I ought to update my walking project. I have to say, it's much slower going than I'd hoped it was going to be. I had some really poor days in there, one where I didn't even make a mile. If I keep up this rate, I'll be lucky to get to Lu's by Christmas. :(

But instead of beat myself up about it, I'm just going to try harder this month! *thinking positive*

July wasn't quite a full month, as I started on the afternoon of the fifth. But it was close enough to give me an idea how I'm progressing. July saw me clock 64.74 miles. (I'd really like to shoot for 100 miles a month, and down the line raise it a bit.) Anyway, I now have 266.26 miles left to go to get to Lu's. And I suppose I ought to get cracking, huh?