Update Thursday #32

Update Thursday #32

Welcome to Update Thursday, my own personal meme of sorts where I post an update of the goings on at my blog, with reading, with writing, and beyond. Feel free to borrow the idea from me for your own bookish musings.

~*~

Reminders...

NaNoWriMo starts on November 1st! All of November has been scheduled. The rest of my obligations for the year have been postponed until December, unless I find myself able to squeeze it in between NaNo writing. I am working out one last obligation for the month. If you need me, I will still be here, just in tiny increments. ^_^

Reading, Writing...

Books I finished this week:
*nothing*

Books I'm reading now (and some still):
~Portal by Imogen Rose
~Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Off The Shelf challenge)
~Double Clutch by Liz Reinhardt

Off The Shelf Reading Challenge Progress Link (3 of 5 finished) ~ends 12/31/11

Reading: I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT NOTHING FINISHED THIS WEEK. That's okay. I have an excuse. But it is still frustrating. My NetGalley book expired, so can't finish that one. I kinda wish I hadn't been trying to read it now that I won't be able to read it until it's published. I could've finished something else instead. Oh well...

NaNoWriMo: My count is at 15,514 which is 511 words ahead. So WOOT for staying close! Today I'm going to do all I can and get ahead so that I don't have to push hard every day that I work at my store. Those days can be harder. Especially the late shift. I don't do well writing during the day. I mean, I can do it, I just can't stay focused as much as at night. Which doesn't help my sleep pattern.

And Otherwise...

The November Giveaway Hop is making everything NUTS. I have more than 100 comments (probably will have more than 150 soon) on that post. I broke 150 likes on my Facebook page. And when I broke the 500 follower  mark, I nearly passed out. I mean DUDE TIMES INFINITY. It's so awesome. All of you guys are awesome! Thank you so much for following me. :) (I'm using the picture from when I got 500 feedback from eBay, in case you were wondering, lol)

In other news, I read on Ellen Hopkins' Facebook page that there's a huge banning issue going on. A school in the Blue Springs School District had parents come forward with their outrage over their daughter reading the book Hold Still by Nina LaCour. Read and watch a video about it in this link here. Read Nina LaCour's thoughts in this link here. After the complaints about Hold Still, they took a look at all 15 books they have on their reading list and now 9 (that's right NINE) are all being challenged.

Here are my thoughts on the matter: The way they described the content in the book was all wrong. I don't remember it being THAT inappropriate. It was intense, and probably should be read by more mature teenagers who can handle the content, but it was not at all as bad as they are portraying it. Maybe it wasn't appropriate for their 14 year old daughter; it's not up to me to decide that. What I think is pretty stupid is these parents who are "so concerned" about this book weren't AWARE in the first place that their daughter was reading it. If you don't want your children to read books that you feel aren't "appropriate", maybe you should be paying attention to what they're reading before they read it instead of jumping down everyone's throats after the fact.

*Ahem* Kinda went off there, didn't I? Book banning is a never ending battle. I have an extra copy of the book. I should donate it to my library. Make sure people can read it.


Until next time...

~Jessica