Sunday Post: Reading Comfort Zones, Celebrating My Cats & My April TBR List Poll

The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and gives us all a chance to recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. 

March went out like a lion, thunderstorms and pouring rain. My husband was lucky enough to see a couple of rainbows two nights in a row on his drive home from work. Mouse and I settled for running between raindrops. The first of April brought sunshine and a pleasant breeze. It's carried through to the weekend.

 I received an e-mail from the Cat Hospital wishing our Gracie a happy birthday. I don't think anyone knows for sure if she was born in April, but it's a good a date as any, I suppose. She's about three years old, and was abandoned as a kitten along with her litter mates in July of 2013. We adopted her in October of 2013. We are also celebrating the anniversary of Parker coming to live with us later this month. It's been fourteen years. He's about 15 years old, we believe. I asked Parker if he wanted a big party this year, but his only response was to get up and leave the room. I guess that means no.

I hope you all will take time to vote in my April TBR List poll this week! I've had such fun with the monthly polls.

What have you been up to this week?

Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

Have you ever ventured out of your comfort zone in terms of reading a genre you have never read? If so, did you get hooked on that new genre? (submitted by Elizabeth) 

I consider myself an eclectic reader, willing to try just about any type of book. I enjoy reading fiction, whether it be literary, commercial, historical, women's fiction, or what have you. I love crime fiction, including mysteries and thrillers, from light to dark, funny to scary. I enjoy a variety of different types of fantasy. Put mystery and fantasy together and I'm all over it. Horror is not a go to genre for me, although I read it occasionally. I do not read science fiction very often, but I can thank my husband for introducing me to the likes of Douglas Adams and Robert Heinlein. Both of whom are authors whose books I enjoyed.

Even though I enjoy writing and reading poetry, I still think of it as being outside my comfort zone. I'm not sure why exactly.  Maybe because I do not read a lot of it. Maybe because the idea of poetry intimidates me somewhat? I imagine that's probably it in a nutshell.

Then there is romance. I once read romance novels by the dozens, back in my teen years and into my early twenties. At some point I stopped reading the genre, going so far as to avoid stepping in the romance aisle at the bookstore. A few years ago, after my daughter was born, I decided to give romance another try. I began experimenting with different types of romance, discovering which sub-genres worked best for me. Romance has since found its way back into my regular reading life.

I like nonfiction from time to time. It really depends on the type of nonfiction. I used to read memoirs, whereas now I read less of them. I am not a fan of autobiographies or even biographies for that matter, although I have read a few in the past. Same goes for self-help books. I guess you could say these types of nonfiction are outside my comfort zone. More so, however, because of lack of interest than because they make me feel uncomfortable. Although, I suppose animal memoirs in which the animal dies at the end and books involving incest are rather uncomfortable reads for me, and ones I avoid more often than not. I am also rather selective in the books I read that touch on child abuse in general and alcoholism for the same reason.

I think it is fair to say it is not so much genre that keeps me from reading a book, but rather the book itself: the subject matter, whether the blurb attracts my interest, or, on occasion, who the author is. What about you? Have you ever ventured out of your comfort zone and gotten hooked on a new genre?

New to My Shelves: The Easter Bunny knows me well: books and chocolate.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore 

Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories introduced and illustrated by Audrey Niffenegger

I Want My Epidural Back: Adventures in Mediocre Parenting by Karen Alpert 

(from publisher)

A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams

(from the publisher) 

What I Am Reading: March was a busy month for us. What with Mouse's birthday, family visiting from out of town, soccer, work, and everything else that life sent our way. I did not get much reading in, but, then, that is not surprising. March seems to be a month when my reading suffers a lot anyway. I only read three books all month (one of which was my March TBR List winner--review to come). I was hoping to finish Elizabeth Percer's All Stories Are Love Stories before the end of the month, but it was not meant to be. It is the first book I finished for April though, so the month is off to a good start, you could say.

I have big reading plans this month. My postal book group book being one of them.  I also need to get to Terrible Virtue by Ellen Feldman for an upcoming tour. And, of course, I want to finally read Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop, the fourth in the Others series.

What I Am Watching: One more episode of The Walking Dead to go this season. This past week's episode ended with a big cliffhanger (what else is new?). I am looking forward to seeing what is to come--while at the same time dreading it.  My husband and I were able to watch a couple episodes of Doctor Who. We are now into episodes neither of us has seen before. I also have seen a couple episodes of the second season of Daredevil on Netflix.

What's Going On Off the Blog: What a week it was! I had a feeling it would be too busy for me to spend much time both on my blog and just being out and about in the blogosphere. The staff appreciation event, which I helped put together and run, took a lot of my time and energy. It turned out well, I think. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I am glad it is behind me though. I finally feel like I can relax a little.

My husband picked up the kindergarten registration packet this past week, which I still need to fill out, and Mouse has a doctor's appointment this coming week to get her cleared to start school. So much is happening right now, and it seems like it is all happening so fast!

Thank you for all the supportive words last week. I checked out the on-site after school program with Mouse on Friday. I will have to make a decision soon about after school care. This is one of those times I envy stay-at-home or work-at-home parents who may not have to worry about such things.

Saturday was the last soccer class of the season. Mouse moves up to the next age group when class resumes in a couple weeks. She's both excited and nervous.

Challenge & Dare Update: 

• The TBR Triple Dog Dare came to an end on April 1st. Whew. I managed to keep to the Dare as planned right up to the very end. My goal was to read only review books I had already had on hand before the first of the year. And that's exactly what I did. The only exception being my postal mail book, which I read in February. I think the hardest part came towards the end as I began to think about books I wanted to read that I couldn't touch during the challenge. That's when temptation seemed to be at the highest. I had hoped I would stay away from accepting more review books during the Dare, I never outright stated I would. Good thing too, because I would have failed at that. Still, I think I held back more than I might have otherwise. I am glad I took on The Triple Dog Dare. It helped keep me on task, clear our some of my review books, and I had fun while at it. Many thanks to James of James Reads Books for hosting the Dare!

And now that the Dare is over, I can concentrate on making any more progress on my other three challenges!

• What's In a Name? Reading Challenge 
• Nonfiction Challenge 
• Once Upon a Time Challenge

Upcoming on the Blog:
Monday - Interview with Rita Martinez, author or The Jane and Bertha in Me (National Poetry Month)
Tuesday - Where Is Your Bookmark?
Wednesday - Bookish Thoughts: All Stories Are Love Stories by Elizabeth Percer

Help me decide what book from my TBR collection I should read next:

My TBR List is a meme hosted by the awesome Michelle at Because Reading. It’s a fun way to choose a book from your TBR pile to read. The 1st Sunday of every month, I will list 3 books I am considering reading and take a poll as to which you think I should read. I will read the winner that month, and my review will follow. While I will attempt to post my review that same month, I make no promises--it may go up the following month. 

I admit I threw this list together at the last minute. I thought though that it might be a good idea to choose books that might meet the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I even picked books that might fit into the different categories! What do you think? Which of these three titles would like to see me read for April? (Each cover is linked to the Goodreads page for the individual books if you would like more information before voting.)

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (Fantasy/Folklore) ~ An arranged marriage, an ancient mystery, reincarnation, and life-threatening danger--I'm intrigued!

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Fantasy) ~  Dragons, music, and murder--who could ask for more?

Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes (Fairytale/Fantasy) ~ A spin-off of the well-known Alice in Wonderland, this novel spins a sinister tale of treachery and danger for a princess and her future kingdom.

Thank you for taking the time to vote!  

I hope you all have a great week! Happy Reading!

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© 2016, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.