This weekend was overall not a good reading weekend. But thanks to nine hours in the car to drive to my hometown and then another nine hours to get back, I blasted through two books. My daughter was insanely good on the drives and needed minimal support from me since she was so busy playing with toys and books. Would it be weird to say the drive felt like the vacation?
Just kidding. We had a blast going to the cider mill, exploring a farm and just being near the water. Also my daughter discovered a love of four wheelers, which I never saw coming. I’ll forever hold that image of her big grin as my dad drove her around on bigger and bigger vehicles in my heart. She’s a daredevil and it might kill me.
But enough about all that. Let’s get to the books and articles!
Reading Social Media News
To say video marketing is huge would be the understatement of the century. But the fact is that it’s only getting bigger, and with more and more videos competing for attention every day, it’s vital you know the ins and outs of video marketing so you can stand out. If you’re not sure if you know those ins and outs (or even if you do), take a look at the latest video marketing trends from Social Media Today.
I think there is something glorious about being able to read about others’ processes, so I will share it every time I see someone publishing this kind of article. It gives you the opportunity to find out what works for others and possibly try something that will make your own process more efficient. Take a look at how Buffer writes blog posts and find something that might work for you.
Reading Books, Books and More Books
Past
I’m sitting here trying to think of my thoughts about The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, and I’m having trouble. It was fine. I liked the characters. It was probably the right tone for a quick vacation read. I just don’t have a lot of feelings about it. The story was okay. I think it was maybe almost there. I didn’t guess a lot of what happened which was unusual for me, but still… the story seemed to be lacking something. It just was missing something to draw me into what was going on. But at the same time, I would totally recommend this to people. I just wouldn’t put it up against any of Kate Quinn’s other books. Score: B-
I read The Wedding People by Alison Espach entirely too fast. It was my book club book, so I just thrashed through it as fast as I could so I would be done in time for book club. Joke was on me. Something came up and I couldn’t go. So I read it super fast for no reason whatsoever. But it’s fine. Sort of. I really liked this world. Yes, it was absolutely too light for the subject matter (suicide) and was really problematic in the way it dealt with some of the issues around it. I didn’t care. The world was nice. I liked the messiness and predictability of it all. I was sad to let it go. If you can overlook some obvious problems, this is a great book to pick up. Score: B+
Present
I just picked Colored Television by Danzy Senna up yesterday, so there is not a whole that I can say about it. Except I’m going to be vain and say that the cover is kinda cool. If I was going through a bookstore looking for a book, I’d buy this one based on the cover. I miss those days of just picking up a random book in a bookstore and thinking, “Huh, I know nothing about you, but you should come home with me.” So it gives me warm feelings to see a book I would totally say that to. We’ll see if it lives up to that cover.
Future
So there’s a big question mark on the future book. The latest Matt Haig book is out, and because I placed a hold on it as soon as I was able to, I’m pretty high up on the hold list. I could potentially have it in my hands this week. If not, I have a couple Lisa Jewell books. To be honest, that sounds pretty good right about now. It sounds comfortable and something I can get lost in. But if that Haig book shows up, I’m gonna read the hell out of it, so the next person can get it as quickly as possible. The joys of borrowing books from the library.
What are you reading? What books are you looking forward to?