Last week, I finished a few shorter books, as well as my project book, which I’d worked on all month, and The Fellowship of the Ring, which was the February Lord of the Rings book. I enjoyed Woolf’s book, and Douglass’s narrative was a great perspective on what it meant to be a slave. DNA had it’s faults, but I’m glad I kept reading; the ending was better written and less technical than the first parts.

I also picked up a book I own about gender-based genetics (The X in Sex), and it is so easy to read compared to DNA. It’s short, too, so I may finish it. I started skimming Daily Life in Victorian England, and while it’s not spectacularly written and there are no footnotes (a huge pet peeve of mine in nonfiction), I’m still so fascinated by the era, I’d love to keep reading. I didn’t get to any of my Japan books this week but I did read about 150 pages of East of Eden as well.

At any rate, this week, I must finish my Heyer book, which I’ve barely begun. I’d forgotten my tour dates was so soon (it’s Monday)! And I need to work on another house project so I’ll finish my audiobook. East of Eden may become a priority, but I don’t mind if I only make a little progress. Although it’s hard to put it down after just a little, the writing is so beautiful, it’s like a little reward at the end of the day and I like stretching it out.

Of course, it was due yesterday, so maybe I need to work on that…

I started swapping books at PaperbackSwap instead of Bookmooch. PBS has a “condition” requirement that attracted me to it. I’m very tired of getting really old, falling apart books, and I’ve gotten many from Bookmooch. (I still have some books from my “writing-and-highlighting” college days listed at Bookmooch, but I list the condition, so you won’t be surprised.) At any rate, the fact that my copy of The Fellowship of the Ring fell apart as I read was testament to me that it’s about time I owned books that were not in rotten condition. I’m having fun swapping away some of those nice condition books I own that I know I’m never going to read again for nice condition books that I do want to own and read again!

Do you swap books?

Finished Books

• A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (110 pages, plus 30 pages front matter; nonfiction).
• Poetry for Young People: William Blake (50 pages; poetry).
• DNA by James Watson (405 pages; nonfiction).
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave (140 pages, plus 50 pages front/end matter; nonfiction/memoir).
• The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkein (490 pages; fiction). For the Lord of the Rings Readalong.

Returned or Abandoned Books

Although I wanted to read both of these, the due dates were approaching and I decided to give them a pass this time around.

• I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the World by Martin Luther King, Jr. (200 pages; nonfiction/speeches). I am not really in the mood for speeches this week and it was due.
• We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson (children’s nonfiction). I flipped through this and loved the illustrations.

Currently Reading

Each week, I list my progress so I can see how my reading compares week to week. I did make a little progress on some of these.

My Books

Here are the books I own or downloaded. I’ve been rather horrible at reading my project book this week!

• Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and Their Messages by Karen Lynn Davidson (140 read of 455 pages; nonfiction).
• A Raisin the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (drama). Not begun yet. Some day soon?
• Reading in Bed edited by Steven Gilbar (nonfiction/essays). A collection of essays about our favorite topic: reading. Occasionally, I’ll post some thoughts about an essay for the Reading Reflections feature.
• The X in Sex by David Banbridge (40 read of 200 pages; nonfiction). My project book last month gave me a good jumping ground to read some more about genetics.
• How to Read a Poem And Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch (nonfiction). My project book for March. Not yet begun.

Old Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (400 read of about 600 pages; fiction). For the Classics Reads Book Group.
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (on part 7 of 10, 11 ½ hours audio; fiction). So much fun!
• Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell (40 read of 280 pages; nonfiction). I was just going to skim it, but I’m fascinated!
• The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer (25 read of 300; fiction). For Monday’s tour stop.
• Japan: A Concise History by Milton Walter Meyer (nonfiction).
• Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. For IRL book club
• Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata. Haven’t begun.
• A History of Japan by R.H.P. Mason.
• A History of Japanese Literature: The First Thousand Years by Shuichi Kato.
• A History of Japanese Literature: From the Manyoshu to Modern Times by Shuichi Kato.
• Introduction to Classic Japanese Literature by Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai.

New Library Loot

• Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
• Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

Finds

• Yukio Mishima’s The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Recommended in a comment by Claire at Kiss a Cloud
• Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros. Eva posting at Color Online
• The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. Nymeth.