CharCharChar

I'm Amazing! I completed my "finish line" goals. I completed the "side quest" of reaching 50% for the 2021 Books that Burn Challenge . I completed 2 of 3 long shot goals! I was on track to completing every single goal, even though completing every goal wasn't the goal :P, but then a nasty headache stole a few hours. But I feel confident I could have achieved this out-there set of goals if that hadn't happened, which is a nice empowering feeling. I do not know where all this focus came from, but I'm loving it.  Today I read: 40 pages of poetry 45 pages of graphic novel 1 short story 219 pages of fiction 4.8 audiobook hours

 Day 6 I completed all my Day 6 goals! (with one small adjustment). During the time I planned to read Tonguebreaker , I was magically inspired to work on an important project I'd been postponing. I did manage to do an hours worth of reading sprints for Tonguebreaker in the evening, so I call that a win-win. " Once and Future King " (short story) by Jeanette Ng 11:35 am - 12:35 pm reading  Tonguebreaker Chapter 4 of  How to be Ace Pass 50% of  Iceman: Thawing Out As much of  Carry the Ocean  as I want, AFTER the other goals I read more than I challenged myself to today. 🎊 Day 7 Goals The final day is upon us 😱 Cross the Finish Line Last 54 pages of Tonguebreaker Last 40% of  Iceman Thawing Out Side Quest (to hit 50% for the 2021 Books that Burn challenge) " Blood is Another Word for Hunger " by Rivers Solomon " Who is like God " by Akwaeke Emezi Long Shot Goals Read last 50% of  Suicide by Ghost Read last 366 pages of Carry the Ocean Listen t...

Day 5 I had very specific goals for Day 5: 36 pages of  Tonguebreaker 49 pages of  Honor Girl  and/or  How to be Ace 3.2 audiobook hours (less in real time) of  Freshwater  and/or  Girls of Paper and Fire 22 pages of  Carry the Ocean Daddy & Dada  (picture book) " A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel " (short story) I charged through many of them "first thing in the day" aka midnight to 2am. But didn't even scratch the more difficult goals of Tonguebreaker and Freshwater. I had fun with such specific goals and want to try again, but this time with an eye for what didn't work yesterday.   Day 6 Goals It's time for me to let go of Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. This book is not good for me. As much as I'd like to choose to be unaffected, that's not how mental health works. Akwaeke Emezi is one of the authors for the Books That Burn Queer Authors of Color 2021 reading challenge, but I can read the short story " Who is like God ...

Day 4 My goal for Day 4 was to focus on "fun" reads and progress on Freshwater. Goal technically accomplished! I wished I'd created a more specific goal so I could feel more sure of completing it, but in breaking out of burn out it can be helpful to keep goals loose. For fun reads, I read short story " Open House on Haunted Hill " which fills my "choose your own prompt" square to read a piece by an out LGBT+ author where to my knowledge the piece doesn't have clearly indicated LGBT+ characters. I was expecting She of the Mountains to focus more on the positive after a single positive scene. I was incorrect. There are a few more positive moments spread out, but much of the content focuses on hardship.  Woops. Not a "fun" read like the goal asked for, but I did finish. (To be clear, I found She of the Mountains to be meaningful and well-crafted, I just wouldn't label it "fun") I am uncertain if I will use She of the Mountains ...

Small Spoilers for Iceman: Thawing Out and How to be Ace On Day 2 I reached my goal (see Day 1 ), and on Day 3 I rested. I am feeling burned out by the hardship in How to be Ace, Freshwater, Carry the Ocean, Tonguebreaker,   and She of the Mountains. How to be Ace  was meant to fill my "brings you joy" square. It's not, at least not yet. The art style is cute and the words are large and legible. But the main character is just suffering quietly without much agency, in a very relatable ace way, which is just making me glum about my own experience growing up ace. However, it should be a quick read and perhaps there will be a positive framing later on. Oh, and there's a page that literally put aromanticism under the umbrella of asexuality. Face palm. --- Though on that note, I appreciate that the author made separate informational pages about once a chapter instead of trying to weave explanations into the story.  Day 4 (morning) I started Day 4 off with continuing  She o...

Day One Goal accomplished! I sampled each title from my TBR pool . I started with the picture books out on the grass on a beautiful sunny day. (Something bit me!) No, I didn't finish the picture books. A Day in June has a lengthy but interesting reading guide at the back. (It turns out leather has meaning :P ) And I was interrupted in the middle of My Two Uncles .  The rest I charged through from 11pm to 12am because I'd forgotten. For the short stories I squeezed in a few sentences from each. But there was victory nonetheless. Day Two Goals Reject (temporarily or permanently) titles for this readathon and titles I happen to have checked out. I have too many :P Complete a few short titles to feel like I'm making progress, but not all of them, so that I can have some easy reads for other days Focus on Freshwater  the group read. Oh! And I almost forgot. Queer Books I Happen to be Reading Right Now, that aren't Specifically for the Readathon Carry the Ocean by Heidi Culli...

Queer Lit Readathon round 7 (June 6 - 12) is here! CharCharChar's TBR Pool Instead of a typicaly TBR (to be read) list, I'm calling this a "pool" of titles that I could read. Challenges Tonguebreaker: poems and performance texts by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarsinha Burning Sugar: poems by Cicely Belle Blain A History of my Brief Body: essays by Billy-Ray Belcourt Audiobooks Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi She of the Mountains by Vivek Shraya Graphic Novels Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash How to be Ace: a Memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess Iceman: Thawing Out  by Marvel Short Stories " The Squid who Lived Forever " by Polenth Blake  " Association of Dead " by Naomi Kanakia " A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel " by Yoon Ha Lee " Blood is another word for hunger " by Rivers Solomon " Once and Future King " by Jeannette Ng Picture Books My Two Uncles by Judith Vigna This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman...