Sunday Post #29: R. I. P. Challenge X

R. I. P. XI can hardly believe it, but this year marks the 10th anniversary of the annual R. I. P. Challenge, hosted by Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings typically, but this year by Andi and Heather of the Estella Society. I look forward to this challenge more than any other every year, and it think it’s mainly because it’s the perfect marriage of time of year (fall) and subject matter—anything creepy, scary, or as Carl says, “Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Dark Fantasy. Gothic. Horror. Supernatural.” I plan to go for broke and read four books. Might be ambitious considering I have a book club and school is starting, but I am going to go all in this time and see what happens.

I need to figure out what I am going to read, but my longlist includes the following books, some of which I already have and should read:

                  

It looks like a good list! Some of these books were on my list last year, and were probably there the year before. I really need to read the ones I’ve bought already, but I have to admit, I’m giving several of these books that I don’t own some rather longing looks.

Aside from starting the challenge, there isn’t much news. I have continued working my way through a re-read of both King Lear and A Thousand Acres in preparation for teaching them. I am also listening to the second book in the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, The Shadow of Night. I can’t count it for the R. I. P. Challenge because I started it before the official start date of September 1. I have some other books I pick up from time to time. I’ve also been re-reading the Harry Potter series and am nearly finished with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I really loathe Dolores Umbridge. She’s too realistic a villain. I’ve known crappy teachers like her, and yes, sometimes they go on to be crappy administrators. That book is a really interesting study of what happens when the government interferes with education. I understand the purpose of oversight, but when you have a bunch of people who know nothing about teaching running the show, you’re going to have a disaster. And frankly, this book is too accurate a portrayal of what that looks like in the real world, never mind Hogwarts.

So, are you joining me in the challenge?

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week on your blog, and showcase books and things we have received. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Sunday Post #19: Memorial Day Weekend

Sunday PostFinal exams have been taken, and I am finishing up grading for the year. I’m sipping my morning coffee. In a little while, I have to go to school to perform my last weekend duty assignment of the year. I always seem to have duty on Memorial Day weekend. I’m not sure what’s up with that.

Anyone out there use the Audible app and have a major issue with the last iOS version app update? Apparently lots of people were unhappy. I opened my app yesterday to listen to my book while I was making soap, and I had an error message. Nothing I did seemed to work, so I emailed tech support and was told to delete the app and reinstall it (logging out first, of course). I was so nervous about doing that because I was afraid I’d lose all my record-keeping and badges, not to mention my place in the current book. I’m not a big one for taking notes or using bookmarks in Audible, so I wasn’t as concerned. I followed the process, and I did have to mark all the books I had read as “finished” again, but other than that, it seems okay. I will give it whirl later and make sure. If you ever run into the problem, here is the error message I received:

Encountered Error while trying to Upgrade Application. Do you wish to re-try? Warning!Canceling the upgrade will result in loss of data.

All the spaces are just as I saw them in the error message, copied word for word exactly as I saw it.

The steps to resolve it are as follows:

  1. Turn on Airplane mode (not sure this is strictly necessary, but I did it).
  2. Open the Audible app.
  3. Go to settings.
  4. Press and hold on my email address at the top.
  5. At prompt “Reset Sign In,” tap “Sign Out” option.
  6. Delete the app.
  7. Turn Airplane mode back off (not one of the steps sent me, but necessary to proceed).
  8. Re-download it from the App Store.
  9. Open the app and sign in again.
  10. Re-download any current books (my book seems to be where I left off).
  11. Mark any previously read books “finished” again.

This process seemed to work for me. All my badges and records are still intact.

I added some more books to my ever-growing TBR pile this week.

I seriously may have to pick some of these up for the summer. They look pretty good. Gorgeous covers. I’m particularly excited for Language Arts by Stephanie Kallos—one of the main characters is an English teacher who has a son with autism. I think I can relate to that one!

I obviously didn’t finish anything else this week (no reviews), and once again, I’ve only really made any progress on The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. At this point, I’m probably behind in the number of books I should have read to reach my goal of reading 52 by the end of the year, but I’m not too worried because I have been around a book ahead for most of this year, and the summer beckons with more time to read.

In the coming week, I need to focus on finishing my grading and finishing up the year. I’m not sure I’ll get a ton of reading done, but who knows? What are your plans for the week?

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week on your blog, and showcase books and things we have received. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.