Why am I posting this so late, you may ask? It’s 10:45 pm on my side of the pond. Well, on Saturday my fiance decided to surprise me by buying me the Sims 3. He left just a few hours ago and after making up notes for Thursday’s presentation, I have been playing it constantly. I don’t normally do video game reviews, but it might be worth writing up what I think of this one, and perhaps how much better this version is than the previous two. It will all become normal once I’ve played for long enough but for now, I am already completely obsessed!
I haven’t been neglecting my reading too much, though. On Friday night I managed to get more than halfway through The Lieutenant’s Lover by Harry Bingham. I’ve started a new program to shrink my TBR pile. Whenever I can’t decide what book to read, which is often, I’m going to read the book that I’ve had for the longest. As most of you know, many of my books are at my parents’ house, so I have some very old ones hanging around, but I’ve had this one for about two years and two months. I got it for £1 the first time I studied abroad in England, the spring semester of my junior year of college. It’s about a couple, Misha and Tonya, who fall in love just after the start of the Russian Revolution. He is an aristocrat and she is a peasant, so after he gets conscripted in the Red Army, he flees Russia, while she stays behind. She plans to follow him, but as so often happens, her life gets in the way. The rest of the book appears to be about their separate lives afterwards and their struggle to get back together 25 years later. As I often find with books that were from this store, which has now closed, it’s a surprisingly good, fast read. I hope to finish it tomorrow morning while volunteering at York Minster Library.
Ideally, I’d like to start a system that rotates. Review book, TBR book, library book, repeat. I know that once I start imposing restrictions on myself, however, that I will internally “rebel”. Does anyone else have this problem? I like to make lists, think about plans for reading, but when it comes down to it I’m a moody reader and I don’t like to follow my own lists. This is why I always, always fail challenges, unless they are solely determined by the number of books I can complete.
How was your weekend? Anything exciting planned for the week ahead? I’m off to go continue satisfying my newest addiction!
Oooh, be careful
That’s how it all started for me and SecondLife. Too much SL, not enough reading… eventually ALL SL, and NO reading.
Good plan for reading
I’ve been thinking of putting all my TBRs on a nummbered list, then letting the Randomizer thing I use for selecting giveaway winners to choose my next read. I’d probably cheat, though, and keep on clicking until it picked one I wanted. So, kinda back to the same sitch.
Sadly, I’ve sad and watched movies all weekend long. On the upside, I’m sick to death of the TV now.
The Kool-Aid Mom’s last blog post..The Sunday Salon ~ Peanut Butter on Strawberry Pop Tarts
Yep, I definitely have the same problem. I love making lists and reading plans, but when it comes to sticking to them, well, that’s another story.
Enjoy The Sims
Nymeth’s last blog post..The Sunday Salon – Forgotten Favourites
I think my success at following my lists varies with a) how far in advance I have to guess what I’ll be in the mood to read, and b) inversely with how restrictive the list is and how strict I am about keeping to it.
Hopefully your review/library/TBR cycle sounds like it should work okay, as long as you have ample numbers in each pile so you can find something within the right category to fit your reading mood. And if you get off cycle, no worries! Read what you want, and then use the list to help narrow your choices when you’re being indecisive.
Fyrefly’s last blog post..Sunday Salon: The Bad Thing About Good Books…
Oh, yeah. Count my hand raised. As soon as I make a plan, I struggle like someone just locked me in a straight jacket. They’re our own plans! You’d think we’d like them!
Lezlie
Lezlie’s last blog post..BEDLAM
How often have I set up reading plans (or diet plans for that matter) only to scrap them when they feel like a burden? The longest plan I’ve ever stuck to was last year. I did read a lot and I did get a lot accomplished, but after a couple of months it started to kill me. I actually enjoy planning out such things. In that way, I’m a huge geek. I just don’t have follow through.
Good luck on your plans, though. Since you’ll be rotating throughout your piles, maybe you won’t rebel. You won’t ever work on one pile long enough.
Enjoy your Sims 3. I call the female character with the bright red Chrysler 300. LOL!
Literate Housewife’s last blog post..The Sunday Salon ~ 06.07.09
Have fun with your new addiction! I think you should review it.
Kathy’s last blog post..Family Fun
OK — well I wanted you to know that because of all your tweets I had to ask my 15 year old daughter what this Sims craze is all about. She then spent 2 hours showing me Sims 2 — and complaining how badly she wants Sims 3.
While it is not book related, I would LOVE for you to do a Sims 3 review for those of us who are too ancient to relate to this “game” (not sure what to call it – obsession?) in the hopes that perhaps we can appreciate this 21st century phenomenon.
Molly’s last blog post..TSS – Comments about Comments
My husband bought a copy of Sims 3 this past week. If we didn’t have company in town all week, I’m sure he’d be spending all his spare time playing.
I’ve played both Sims 1 and 2. I don’t play too often though because each time I do, I become obsessed and it’s hard for me to pull myself away. It’s best if I don’t play at all, I think. LOL
Your game plan for getting through your TBR stacks sounds like a good one. I am not sure which books have been on my shelves the longest. I didn’t start keeping track of “in” dates until a couple of years ago.
Have a great week and enjoy Sims!
Literary Feline’s last blog post..Sunday Salon: Random Bookish Thoughts
I have the same problem. I love making lists, and I like working out rotation systems so I get through all sorts of different books, but I have a terrible time sticking to them. I somehow managed to alternate between TBR books and library books for most of last year, but I’m still not too sure how that happened.
Memory’s last blog post..The Sunday Salon: Blog Names
How did I miss this post? And now how am I going to stop myself from getting Sims 3 maybe a little bit earlier than our holidays??
I am exactly like you – my mood dictates my reading. If I set up rules or restrictions for myself, I would definitely rebel, maybe even for the sake of rebelling. So for now I just go with the flow and read whatever my mood dictates.
Belle’s last blog post..My Daughter Directs: A Short Film Inspired by Swimming in the Monsoon Sea
I haven’t bought Sims 3 yet for just that reason – I just KNOW I won’t get anything done for weeks! I’m glad you are enjoying it – I’d love to read a review.