This Month in Reading
6 Jan
Every month we have been reflecting on the best things we read. In December, we spent a week in Vientiane, got our Thai tourist visas, and then moved to Chiang Mai!
Rachel’s Reads
Blogs
- An easy way to see if you’re getting a good exchange rate, from Go See Write
- Gary Arndt of Everything Everywhere answers a young reader’s question about the North Pole.
- Jodi of Legal Nomads talks about the Overview Effect.
- How to have good ideas, by Fevered Mutterings.
- Expat Edna shares how she met her fiance.
- Everywhere Once made me really want to visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.
- Matador Network shares some gorgeous wildlife photos from South Georgia Island.
- Where to survive the apocalypse, by The Runaway Guide.
- Go follow these people on Instagram! List brought to you by Over Yonderlust.
- A guide to eating bugs from Migrationology.
- Finally, go look at this hedgehog on Cute Overload.
Books - I read 3 books this month. The internet wildly distracted me from reading.
- City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels, books 3 and 4 of the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare – The thing about this series is it would have been just fine as a trilogy. I didn’t enjoy book 4 and opted to read a summary of 5 and not even bother with it.
- The Shipping News by Annie Proulx – Book written in “newspaper style.” Difficult to read. Interesting characters, but overall not my favorite.
Jeff’s Reads
Links
- Wikipedia article: timeline of the far future.
- Uncovering the secrets to making good dal.
- Spider that builds models of spiders.
- Vending machine that pays you for used phones and chargers by running an instant auction.
- Art exhibit where you climb around on enormous inflatable bubbles.
- Half animal half chair.
- Detailed guide to table bussing strategy.
- Could wine grapes survive in the weird climate in Game of Thrones?
- And, a defense of all the strange words used to describe wine.
- The mold in blue cheese might actually reproduce sexually, not asexually.
- New York had it’s first day in memory without and reported violent crime.
Books - Well I had another month of not reading much, only two books. I started several and couldn’t really get into them. I’m really in the mood for some good nonfiction.
What were your best reads this month?
Hey Jeff,
Not sure if you were really looking for a book recommendation but I thought I”d share one of the non-fiction books I liked this year in case you were. I read “War Games” by Linda Polnan over summer. It’s about the world of international Aid, a subject prior to reading this book I didn’t know that much about. It was very interesting reading, although a bit sad and disillusioning. I ended up reading some bits aloud to Gavin because I found them so surprising. It’s also fairly short and written in clear, concise easy to read language. Sebastien Junger is another non-fiction author I’d recommend. He’s written several good books including “The Perfect Storm”, which was turned into a movie, and most recently “War” about his time embedded with a marine unit in the Korengal valley in Afghanistan a place that possibly saw some of the most ongoing violence during the war.
By the way guys, I enjoy reading your monthly posts about what tou’ve been reading and all the links you provide
Thanks Liisa. I really was looking for a recommendation. I’ll check if I have a decent way to gain access to your suggestions and if I do, you’ll probably be seeing me review it soon!
Hey Jeff, thanks for putting me on your list! I really appreciate it!
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