My Current Works in Progress

I am in the process of reading four books at the moment. The first two are for my history of the English language class. They are The English Language by Charles Barber and The Stories of English by David Crystal. Obviously, these books are about the history and development of English as a language. They are both fairly dense but very informative. The next book is my ultimate goal for the year. If I can finish Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho by the end of the year, I will be very happy. Finally, the book I am turning to when I feel as if my brain is overloaded is Secret Fire by Johanna Lindsey. It might be frivolous, but it's a fun read, nonetheless. My next save-my-sanity book will likely be Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I try to read the entire series once a year. I would especially like to do so on account of the last movie coming out in July.

My Completed Reading Nook

First off, I made the disappointing discovery that my two bird prints are missing. I highly suspect that they were thrown away by mistake. In any case, I am lamenting their loss. I loved those prints. Instead, I hung a single leaf print that I found on clearance at Kirkland's in their place.

Now, I will give you the grand "tour."

First, here is a shot of the entirety of my space:



Next is the chair:



Then, the ottoman and a good close-up of the rug:



The throw pillows:



The table and lamp:



And finally, the wall art grouping:



Looking at that last picture, it looks as if the leaf print needs to be adjusted. There's always something.

Current Reading Habits and My Reading Nook

Lately I've been reading a lot of novels that can pretty well be considered fluff. I'm talking your so-called trashy romance novels here. I've been so stressed out about my classes that I pretty much need something less serious than what I read for class to calm me down. I've been slowly working my way through The Mysteries of Udolpho, as well. However, I'm finding that my progress with that book has slowed considerably. I think it is due to all of the tears-glistening-in-eyes that goes on in that book. I feel down enough as it is without reading about someone being depressed. No, thanks. I'll come back to it at a later time. I do at least have a wide variety of novels on my NOOK, so hopefully I can pick something besides a romance novel for my next book.

I've been working on my reading space all week. I now have a wingback chair thanks to some friends of mine. It has worn fabric and was in need of a new seat cushion, but I have taken care of all that. It now wears a solid brown slipcover that I got for a steal on Amazon and also holds two pretty brown satin-like throw pillows with blue tree branches embroidered on them (a $6 find from Kirkland's; I do love a clearance sale).

I already had a brown suede ottoman that my mom had given me. It is of the variety that has storage, so it has an upholstered lid. The lid was starting to become worn, so I decided to spiff it up a bit, as well. Hobby Lobby has a sale on several items this week. Luckily for me, fabric was one of the sale items. I was able to get a yard of blue fabric with brown polka dots for under $8. I covered the lid with some cotton batting to help improve the padding. Then, I cut the appropriate amount of fabric (I should have enough left to make a small bolster pillow) and stapled it around the inner edges of the lid. Voila! My ottoman looks as good as new. The chair and ottoman sit on a pretty brown, tan, and blue rug I found on clearance at Walmart.

Next to my chair, I have placed one of the teak tables John inherited from his grandfather and a silver stick lamp with a black and white damask shade (I'd like to switch out the shade, though; Irene has drawn all over it). I wish I could move my book case out here to sit on the other side of the chair, but Irene does so enjoy taking every book she can reach off of it whenever she gets the chance. For the indeterminate future, it looks as if I will have to make do with keeping the bookcase in the bedroom where it is out of her reach.

I have a few things to put up on the walls around my nook, as well, but I am out of energy for tonight. There will eventually be a brown, white, and blue memo board (the quilted type with brown criss-crossed ribbons); a pair of framed bird prints that I found on clearance for $10 at Kirkland's when we first moved here; and two blue and white stone plaques depicting birds and the saying of "A wish is a dream waiting to come true," a Hobby Lobby clearance find (under $3 each).

I'm very pleased with how my space is turning out. It is so nice to be able to sit in my special chair and read, use my laptop, or do my homework. It is everything I had hoped it would be and look forward to many hours of novel-reading in it.

A New Endeavor

I often set out to begin new projects and leave them unfinished. A few such projects that come to mind are: scrapbooking; jewelry-making; knitting; etc. However, one of the few things that is not so fleeting in my life is reading. I love a good book very much. There is nothing so wonderful as curling up with a mug of something warm and delicious to drink, a soft blanket, and a great book to get lost in. I even have gone so far as to create a reading nook in my living room where I can sit in comfort and simply read. As you may have already noted, I am a member of Goodreads. I really love the website and was inspired by a poll I took there tonight. The question was: "Do you write a book blog?" It made me stop and think. Why have I never thought of doing that before? I've seen book blogs from time to time. Yet, I had never considered starting one of my own. Therefor, I decided to go for it. I look forward to blogging about what I am reading and hope you will stop by from time to time.