Happy Saturday! It’s been almost a week since the time changed and I have to say that I am still not used to waking up when it is so dark outside. However, I’m a big fan of it staying light outside later. As for today, my morning walk is complete, my son’s baseball game is finished, laundry is going, and I’m settling in with an afternoon (decaf) coffee to catch up on bookish adventures!

Book Club Fun

I attended in-person book club this week where everyone had such mixed reviews on the book we read. Those are some of my favorite books to discuss. I want to hear why some people loved it and others hated it. There’s always so much to discuss about why a certain book speaks to one person but not another.

A Cozy Mystery Series

I finished Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto this week and I have to be honest, I’m not usually the target audience for cozy mysteries. But this one was the “right book at the right time” for me. After I finished, I saw that the sequel, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), was available via Libby on audio and e-book, so I downloaded them both right away! (I hear that Book 3 is a work-in-progress.)

Audiobook Speed

Recently I’ve caught myself listening to audiobooks at 2x speed. Usually I start a book at regular speed and as I progress and become more familiar with the storyline, characters, and narrator, I speed it up. I’ve also just gotten better at processing fiction via audiobooks over the last 10 years. It is a skill you can practice!

If you’re curious how much faster you can listen at each speed, here’s information for a 10-hour audiobook.

• 1.25x = 8 hours, 0 minutes
• 1.5x = 6 hours, 40 minutes
• 1.75x = 5 hours, 43 minutes
• 2x = 5 hours, 0 minutes

This is the calculator I use!

DNF Shelf

Did you see that Goodreads added a DNF (Did Not Finish) shelf? I need to explore further, but it looks like if you had a shelf with any of the following names, it was automatically updated for you: “did-not-finish”, “dnf”, “abandoned”, “unfinished,” “didn-t-finish” or “dropped.”

I’ve DNF’d plenty of books over the years, but I’m hesitant to classify them that way forever. Sometimes a book is just not right for me at that specific time in life, but then at another point in time, it’s perfect!

Starting Strong

Speaking of DNF, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what helps me push through the early parts of a book. It’s rare that I DNF past 50 pages, so how do I set myself up for success to make it that far?

• Don’t start a book past 8pm. I will fall asleep and remember nothing.

• Minimal distractions. I probably shouldn’t start a book in the line at the grocery store.

• Weekend starts. I’ve learned the best time for me to start a book is on Saturday, Sunday, or when I’m on vacation.

• Block of time. I need to dedicate about an hour to dive deep into a book when I start it.

• Interact with the book. Highlight, underline, write in the margins!

Spotted in the LFL

This past week I stopped at a Little Free Library and found an absolute gem inside. I’ve already read it, but I did message some other bookish friends that it was in there! Can you guess which book I was talking about?

If you guessed The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, you were right!

That’s it for this week. I don’t know about you, but around here we celebrate Pi Day. So…pizza night it is. I called my mom after we made this decision and found out that she and my dad postponed their normal pizza night this week to eat it for dinner tonight, too. Like mother, like daughter – we love a minor math holiday!

Questions for you:

• What is your favorite book club book?

• Do you have a preferred audiobook speed?

• Do you track your DNFs?

• Are you celebrating Pi Day?!