Book Club

Adding a baby to our lives has been wonderful...crazy, exhausting, terrifying, but absolutely wonderful.  Book club has been one of the things that has fallen by the wayside many times over the past 8 months unfortunately.  I'm hoping now that he's a bit older that I'll be up for getting away once a month (assuming we can stay healthy - last month's book club was a miss due to me coming down with shingles).

This month we are reading Mennonite in A Little Black Dress, which I think could be a great read.   next month is one of my recommendations - The Language of Flowers.  That one is already sitting on the shelf and I'm determined to get it done!  I've made it through at least part of two others over the past few months - Wild, by Cheryl Strayed (my first audible.com book - I'm still evaluating (and trying to finish!)) and Defending Jacob by William Landay.  Defending Jacob is very different from what I expected...disturbing on a number of levels, and I'm not sure I can even fully articulate all the reasons why.  This was one of the few times I can ever remember though reading the end of the book out of order.  The book is divided in to four "parts" and I read part 4 before I was quite through part 2.  Not AT ALL what I expected.  While I haven't quite finished part 3, I'm still determined to finish the book to see how it all got to the finale. My rating of the book overall is a bit mixed, but I have to say it's well written and that the author gets an A+ when it comes to keeping the reader guessing when it comes to the ending.

Quarterly Update

We are already a quarter of the way through 2011...wow the year is flying by (of course I'm pretty sure I say that every year).

I'm doing very well on the reading challenge front.  As of today (so going slightly into this next quarter) I've read 55 books as part of the 2011 reading challenge.  My original goal was to read 100 books in 2011...since I seem to be on pace to surpass that in about 2 months, I upped the goal to 200 books...that may be more of a challenge :)

Of those 55 books, only 4 are from my stash (I need to work on that!), 18 are audio books and 33 are library books (support your local library!).  I've managed to post 27 reviews, of varying length, with a few more to be posted once we're closer to release date or I get caught up.

I haven't been as successful on my craft projects...although I have gotten a few done!  I've been slacking since early February though, and I need to work on getting caught up on the ones I've got started/in pieces.  I'm just about done with my first two crocheted baby blankets though, which have been fun (but take way longer than scarves!), and I've got several quilt blocks cut, just not finished.  Those are toward the top of my uber-long unfinished project list.  I'll probably never get caught up, since I keep adding to the list (the new niece needs a few more blankets according to her big sister), but just getting a few finished and having that sense of accomplishmentt might spur some more activity on this front.  I just haven't had a ton of motivation here, but since that seems to come and go, I'm sure it will be back before too long.

It's going to be a crazy busy month or so here, so I won't set any real goals for myself, but I do hope that when I do another look back next quarter I've managed to read a few more books from my stash and finish a few projects!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2

I just saw this today and I. AM. EXCITED!  I cannot wait until July 15, I may have to break down and do a midnight showing of this one.  Until then, I'll console myself with the knowledge that in less than 2 weeks I get to visit the Harry Potter Adventure at Universal Studios!  YEA!!!

Audio Books

Over the course of the next 10 days or so, I'll be spending a lot of time in the car...we're talking 20+ hours of driving, by myself, across parts of the Midwest.  I'm not normally much of an audio book person, but when it comes to long car trips by myself, that's a different story.  So I'm looking for suggestions of good books to look for on CD!  I need something with enough action to keep me interested, but I've done all the basic genres before, from mystery to YA to romance and general fiction.  So if you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Reading Challenges to start off 2011 - 100+ Reading Challenge

The other challenge I'm joining to start 2011 is the 100+ Reading Challenge, hosted by My Overstuffed Bookshelf.

DETAILS:

1. The goal is to read 100 or more books. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate. Posting on GoodReads or wherever you post your reviews is good enough.

2. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Manga, Graphic Novels, Library books, Novellas, Young Reader, Nonfiction – as long as the book has an ISBN or equivalent or can be purchased as such, the book counts.

What doesn't count: Individual short stories or individual books in the Bible.

3. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

4. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

5. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2011. Books started before the 1st do not count. You can join at anytime.

I've started a separate page to track my 2011 reads, so this will work out perfectly!  I don't know about reviewing all I read, but I'll definitely have to work to up that number as well.  Happy Reading!

Reading Challenges to start off 2011 - E-Book Challenge

All About {n} posted today on several reading challenges, two of which were no-brainers for me to join! 

First, the E-book challenge.  Hosted by The Ladybug Reads, anyone can participate, blogger or not!  I'll be tracking my e-books on my general 2011 reading list, just by noting that the format.  Here are the guidelines:

Challenge Guidelines:
1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

2. There are four levels:

-- Curious – Read 3 e-books.

-- Fascinated – Read 6 e-books.

-- Addicted – Read 12 e-books.

-- Obsessed – Read 20 e-books.

3. Any genre counts.

4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.

5. Challenge begins January 1, 2011 and lasts until December 31, 2011.

 Me, I'm  definitely going for "Obsessed"...I'm wondering if there is a super-obsessed category? 

This Week in Books (December 30)

A Big Fat ZERO to end the year!  I didn't read a single book over the holiday (unless you count lots and lots of children's books, read to my adorable niece).  I started a few though, including our massive January book club read - The Hemingses of Monticello...which is not going nearly as quickly as I'd hoped.  Ah well.  Here's to 2011 though, and all the books it brings :)

This Week in Books (December 23)

Books Completed the Week Ending December 23

• Death's Excellent Vacation - edited by Charlaine Harris 
• Trial By Desire - Courtney Milan
• Holiday Affair - Lisa Plumley
• A Highlander Christmas - Janet Chapman
• Storming the Castle - Eloisa James
  

This Week in Books (December 16)

Books completed the week ending December 16

• Scandalous - Candace Camp (ebook)
• Kiss At Midnight - Eloisa James
• The Christmas Brides - Linda Lael Miller (ebook)

This Week in Books (December 9)

Books completed the week ending December 9

• When Harry Met Molly - Kieran Kramer
• A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
• Once Bitten - Clare Willis
• Enchanting the Lady - Kathryne Kennedy
• Love Me If You Dare - Carly Phillips
• Impulse - Candace Camp
• To Have and To Kill - Mary Jane Clark

This Week in Books (December 2)

Books completed the two weeks ending December 2 (a double list since I didn't post with the Thanksgiving Holiday!)

• Unveiled - Courtney Milan (ebook)
• Scandal of the Season - Christie Kelley (ebook)
• A Chesapeake Shores Christmas - Sherryl Woods (ebook)
• Mistress by Midnight - Nicola Cornick (ebook)
• How to Wed A Baron - Kasey Michaels (ebook)
• The  Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie - Jennifer Ashley
• A Season of Seduction - Jennifer Haymore

100 Books

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomlas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


After going through this list, I want to go back and finish all those ones that are in italics (ok, most of them) and start in on some of the others!

This Week In Books (November 18)

Books completed the week ending November 18

• Happy Ever After - Nora Roberts
• Scandal of the Year - Laura Lee Guhrke (ebook)

Somehow it doesn't seem possible I read only two books this whole week!  It's making me wonder if I forgot one...

This Week In Books (November 11)

Books completed the week ending November 11

• One Touch of Scandal - Liz Carlyle
• Kiss Me If You Can - Carly Phillips
• Whisper of Scandal - Nicola Cornick
• Wedding of the Season - Laura Lee Guhrke (ebook)

Not too many this week, I'm getting started on a number of holiday sewing and crochet projects!

 

 

This Week in Books (November 4)

Books completed the week ending November 4 (seriously, who comes up with some of these titles...)

• Mischief of the Mistletoe - Lauren Willig (Pink Carnation Series)
• Wicked Delights of A Bridal Bed - Tracy Anne Warren
• A Hellion In Her Bed - Sabrina Jeffries
• An Indecent Proposition - Emma Wildes

This Week In Books (October 28)

Books completed the week ending October 28

• How to Beguile A Beauty - Kasey Michaels
• How to Woo A Spinster - Kasey Michaels
• Midnight Crystal - Jayne Castle
• Hot Finish - Erin McCarthy
• Sinful in Satin - Madeline Hunter
• Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing A Lord - Sarah MacLean

This Week in Books (October 21)

Books Completed the Week Ending October 21 (a double week due to a pause in reading/blogging during a fabulous (but busy) visit from my parents!)

• One Perfect Rose - Mary Jo Putney
• Precious Jewel - Mary Balogh
• The Paid Companion - Amanda Quick
• Lord Lightning - Jenny Brown
• Glitter Baby - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• What I Did For Love - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• How to Tempt A Duke - Kasey Michaels

A Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

The holidays are always challenging fir me when it comes to food...generally involving failed attempts not to overeat each meal.  However, since I've had to start watching/avoiding my gluten intake, holidays pose an additional challenge.  With that in mind, I owe a big thanks to my friend Amanda over at Stitch to Stitch, who directed me over to The Thrifty Mama who had a link to a helpful guide for the upcoming holidays.  There I found a coupon code for a free download of the ebook: Jules' Gluten Free Thanksgiving. 

It's a book, it's free, and it'll help with a gluten free holiday...what more can you ask for!?  Even if you yourself aren't gluten-free, your friends or family may have this on their do-not-eat list.  The book provides lots of recipes and ideas for the holiday meal (and surrounding meals) that provide options for all.  Check it out here and use the coupon code "thanks10" through October 14 to download your free copy.

This Week in Books (October 7)

Books Completed the Week Ending October 7

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (re-read) - J.K. Rowling
• How to Tame A Lady - Kasey Michaels
• Chains of Fire - Christina Dodd
• Lessons From A Scarlet Lady - Emma Wildes
• Wait Until Midnight - Amanda Quick

This Week in Books (September 30)

Books completed the week ending September 30

• On the Steamy Side - Louisa Edwards
• The Devil Wears Plaid - Teresa Medieros
• All I Ever Wanted - Kristan Higgins
• The Confessions of A Duchess - Nicola Cornick
• The Scandals of An Innocent - Nicole Cornick
• The Undoing of A Lady - Nicole Cornick