2013 Reading List

Ok so I didn't reach my goal in 2012.

Whatever.

I'm trying again in 2013.  This time I'm going for a whole 20 books! 

And I'm gonna do it this time!  So come back to this post (the link will be in the sidebar) or friend me on Goodreads to see my progress. 

1. Playing For Pizza, John Grisham (12/21/12-1/25/13)

2.  A Walk to Remember, Nicholas Sparks (1/25/13-1/31/13)

3. Cosmopolis, Don DeLillo (2/1/13-did not finish) I just couldn't get into it

4. Northern Lights, Nora Roberts (2/7/13-3/11/13)

5. Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl (3/11/13-3/25/13)

6. Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare (3/26/13-4/24/13)

7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky (4/24/13-4/28/13)

8. Beautiful Darkness, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl (4/29/13-5/15/13)

Currently Reading:

Beautiful Chaos, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl (5/24/13-

2012 Reading list

After reaching my goal of reading at least 12 books in 2011, (I read a whole 13 thankyouverymuch!) I've decided to do another list for 2012.   Let's see if I can make it past the 13 mark, I set my goal at 15 books.

I'm still on Goodreads if you want to hook up over there.  You can join in on the 2012 Reading Challenge and keep track of how many books you read throughout the year.  I just would like to also keep a list going over here too. 

So far I'm over half way done with my first book.  Quite the head start on last year where I didn't finish my first until mid February. 

So I'll continue to update this post and put a link to it over on my side bar and see how I do!

January:
The Lucky One , Nicholas Sparks (started 1/1/12, finished 1/6/12)  This is my first Nicholas Sparks book.  Shame on me I have not read the Notebook or seen the movie.  It's on my list though. I started this one because I saw that it's being released as a movie this year and the trailer looks good!
I loved this book!  For some reason I never thought I'd like Nicholas Sparks and had therefore never picked up one of is books.  I'm glad the movie trailer finally prompted me to as I will be reading more. 

Seriously...I'm Kidding, Ellen Degeneres (started 1/18/12, finished 1/24/12) I love Ellen!  Funny book.  Just a bunch of random stories and thoughts but it works!

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11), Charlaine Harris (started 1/25/12, finished 2/25/12)  It's now December 2012 as I update this.  I seriously don't remember much except that as the series goes on the books are losing steam for me.  They just aren't as good as the early ones. 

The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks (started 2/23/12, finished 2/27/12)  Another one I really liked!  Then I of course, had to watch the movie.

Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices #1), Cassandra Clare (started 2/28/12, finished 3/27/12) Another great series about the shadow hunters from Cassandra Clare.  Again, I'm updating this list in December as I have been away from my blog for quite some time and as I sit here (tired) I'm starting to confuse the two series!  LOL So I will refrain from commenting about the book specifically.

Clockwork Prince (Infernal Devices #2), Cassandra Clare (started 3/28/12, finished 4/19/12)  See previous book....I will say they both get a thumbs up from me though!

Stories I Only Tell My Friends, Rob Lowe (started 5/10/12, finished 8/2/12)  Yes, it took me a long time to read this one.  But not because I didn't like it!  I was going through some personal crap at the time and I just did not feel like reading, much less anything else.  But once I finally started reading I enjoyed it.  I've got quite a few more biographies on my to read list now.  This also prompted me to read The Outsiders after reading all about the filming of the movie. 

City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5), Cassandra Clare (started 8/4/12, finished 9/2/12) Still loving the series!  Even got my mom started on it. 

The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton (started 9/7/12, finished 9/16/12)  Can't believe I never read this since the movie was big when I was a teen.  Can't believe I never saw the movie either.  I had all the stars pics on my wall!  Time to get that watched.  Anyway, I did enjoy the book. 

Unbearable Lightness, Portia de Rossi (9/18/12, finished 10/24/12)  I'm a big fan of Ellen so of course was curious about Portia's story.  It was amazing to read what she went through and how much effort she put into losing weight but the writing was kind of slow and repetitive so I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. 

Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12), Charlaine Harris (10/26/12, finished 11/7/12)  This one was a bit better than the past few. 

Message in a Bottle, Nicholas Sparks (started 11/7/12, finished 12/19/12)  I was sad and disappointed in the ending of course (you know what I'm talking about if you read it), but enjoyed it nonetheless.  I currently have the DVD at home waiting to be watched. 


Currently Reading:

Playing for Pizza, John Grisham (started 12/21/12, )  Continuing on my quest to read all of Grisham's books. 

12/31/12  Well, I did not make my goal of 15 books this year.  It just was not year for me emotionally/mentally so most of the time had no desire to be reading.  But that's not going to stop me from trying again in 2013.  I will create a blog post shortly for my 2013 list. 

2011 Reading List

I like reading but I don't do nearly as much as I'd like to so I've decided it's time to change that.  I was updating my Goodreads account recently and my stats for 2010 show I read 8 books.  Eight. Sad.  
How can I keep encouraging my kids to read if I'm not?!


Before I had looked at my stats I had decided I was going to shoot for at least 1 book per month.  I know it doesn't seem like much, but if I do it I'm already beating my score for last year!  Hopefully I can do better than that.  I'm already behind so I have a bit of catching up to do.  


We're almost half way through February and I've only read one book.  A book that took me way too long to read!  I plan to continue to update Goodreads so if you'd like, come by and request me as a friend so we can read together.  I also hope to continue to update this post so I have a record of the books I've read here too.


Got any recommendations?  Be sure to let me know.  Right now the only ones on my "to read" list on Goodreads are books that I actually have.  I have another written list I've made that I need to add to that.

Below is a running list of books I've read for the year.  Beware that the list may contain spoilers! 


January:
Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read, William Rabkin(finished 2/10/11): My whole family loves this show so when I found out there were a couple books based on the series I decided I had to read them.  It's a fun easy read.  Though like I said it took me way longer to read it than it should!  I'm sure I'll eventually read the rest of them.


February:
The Broker, John Grisham(started 2/11/11,finished 2/20/11): This one was OK.  I've enjoyed most of the other John Grisham books I've read but I didn't think this one was a good as others.  This is the 18th, I've actually been trying to read them in order.  I'm weird that way.




 Water for Elephants: A Novel, Sara Gruen(started 2/21/11, finished 2/24/11) I really enjoyed this book and I wasn't sure I would.  My mom first got it awhile ago and I remember thinking "Whatever, a book about elephants, a circus, not for me". But then when I saw there was a movie being made and it starred Robert Pattinson my interest was piqued.  I read it wanting to know the story before seeing the movie.  I'm glad I did!

March: 
Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me, Howie Mandel.  I remember Howie from the 80s and St. Elsewhere.  It was quite interesting to find out just how far back his issues with OCD and his phobia with germs went back!


April/May:
City of Bones (Mortal Instruments), Cassandra Clare (started 4/19/11, finished 5/6/11)  The first book of another young adult series.  I guess I'm still a teen at heart!  LOL  But I'm kind of liking these fantasy type series lately.  I was so not expecting what happened toward the end!!  I won't say in case anyone reading hasn't read it.


City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments), Cassandra Clare (started 5/9/11, finished 5/29/11)  I don't think I liked this one as much as the first, but still basically enjoying the series.  I must say though I am a little creeped out by the Clary/Jace relationship.

June:
City of Glass (Mortal Instruments), Cassandra Clare (started 6/7/11, finished 6/25/11)  This is my favorite of the series so far.  Questions answered and things explained so that everything that concerned me in the second book no longer does!  This book seemed to wrap up everything nicely which in a way makes sense considering when I first heard about the series I had read it was to be a trilogy.  Well, now there is a fourth book and plans for two more.  It will be interesting to see where it goes.  I have a theory based on the one thing that seemed to be left hanging in this book.  I hope it continues to be as good and doesn't loose momentum.


August:
Psych: Mind Over Magic, William Rabkin (started 8/1/11, finished 9/5/11) Another Psych book that took way to long to read.  I guess because I didn't really care for it.  I LOVE the TV show but this book was kinda boring.  


September/October:
Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 10), (started 9/6/11, finished 9/27/11) I've really enjoyed most of the Sookie Stackhouse books, but I think so far this has been my least favorite.  It just didn't have the excitement the others seemed to have.  I wasn't as drawn to get back to reading it as I had with all the others.  

City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, Book 4) (See all Teen Science Fiction Books) (started 9/27/11, finished 10/13/11) Ugh!  This is why I hate starting a series knowing that all the books have not been published yet.......major cliffhangers!  I want to keep going but can't until next year. 


The Hunger Games ,Suzanne Collins (started 10/20/11, finished 10/27/11) Yes, I know.  I'm way behind reading this book.  No, I was not living under a rock.  It just took me awhile to get to it.  Kinda glad I did, because like I said after the previous book I read I like to just keep going with a series and not have to wait for the next book!  Great book though and I cannot wait to read the other two books!

Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) , Suzanne Collins (started 10/28/11, finished 11/1/11) I'm really liking this series.  So glad I have the next one to just keep reading.  Ugh! But would Katniss just make up her mind on whether she wants Peeta or not!?!  Is he even alive??

November:

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) , Suzanne Collins (started 11/1/11, finished 11/6/11)  I like the series but many things frustrated the hell out of me.  The whole thing started to save her sister and she ends up gone in the end anyway. :(  I supposed at least some good came out of it all since they are all free now.  And I'm so happy that she and Peeta were able to find their way back to each other! 

The Innocent Man , John Grisham (started 11/23/11, did not finish) As much as I've liked most all the other John Grisham books I've read I just cannot seem to get into this.  Maybe it's because of the non-fiction thing.  It's basically just a retelling of events that occured and it's kinda boring.  It jumps back and forth between different murders and is just not keeping my interest.  Maybe I'll try again at a later time.  I really hate to start a book and not finish but I've spent too long trying to get into this one.  Time to move on. 

as of 12/31/11:
That makes a total of 14 attempted and 13 read for 2011!!  I reached my goal and even went over by one book.  I think I'm going to keep going in 2012 and start another post logging those books also.  I have quite a few on my to read list so I'm going to try to beat my number from this year.

So random

New fall TV shows are starting to pop up! I love me some TV :) The new season of Ellen started yesterday and I made a list of all the other shows I watch and looked up the start dates for the new season. I need help. There is at least one new show that I was thinking of starting up this season but I already watch too many to keep up with sometimes that I'm thinking I should hold off. Except what usually happens is it turns out to be a big hit and I missed out and have to catch up later through Netflix which is what I'm doing with two shows already!

I went to Walgreens yesterday and found me some New Moon Candy! Way better than the Twilight candy cuz it's CHOCOLATE! In fact I think I'll grab me a piece right now.

Mmmm. Yumm. I'm back.....

I'm getting tickets to see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood do their "Whose Line Is It Anyway" show in Milwaukee again in January! This will be our 3rd year in a row. Go ahead call me psycho but hubby and I love them! They are so hilarious! And the great part is since it's improv it's always different.

So today I was trying to catch up on reading some of the many blogs I follow. (Didn't get very far) I was reading some of the recent past posts on Angie's blog when I came across some where she mentioned Wreck This Journal by Keri-Smith. She's doing a weekly post showing what she did in her journal. I had to find a copy of this book. It looks like fun! So today while I was out I stopped at Barnes and Noble and got a copy......and talked my mom into it too! I hope to get started soon and join in on Wednesday's when she does her weekly post. I'm looking forward to it but on the other hand I'm so not a destroyer of books it may just crush me!

Writer's Workshop: Current Read

I'm playing along again with Mama Kat's workshop. I can't think today so I'm picking the easy one!

1.) Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page and share two “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

I had my daughter randomly open my book and pick a page. Since I just started this book and am only one chapter in this will be a little teaser for me too.

"I like to shower," he said, pointing to the clear shower stall in the corner. It was big enough for two grownups and maybe a dwarf or two.

Hmm. That sounds like it could be....um...interesting! lol
It's from the book Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris which is now the HBO series True Blood. Yup, another vampire story. A friend was talking about the series on facebook a few months ago and I had to go find me a copy.

Book signing: Barbara Delinsky

On Thursday night I went to see Barbara Delinsky with a couple friends:

I must admit though that I have not read any of her books. I went because I wanted to spend time with Amy & Kelley and also because it sounded interesting. It was. Interesting to hear an author talk about their work and why they do what they do. I found out she is from my home state: Massachusetts!

I also went to play paparazzi for Amy. LOL You can see the pic I took of her and Barbara on her blog.

But now after going I've decided to give one of her books a try. Not sure where to start. Any suggestions Amy? Maybe I should just start at the beginning. I'm the kind of person that likes to read books in the order that the author has written them. Even when the books have nothing to do with each other and do not need to be read chronologically. I'm just weird that way.

My mom said she thought she may have one of her books so I went to check out her stash. Well, it's like trying to find a needle in a freakin' haystack. I don't know how may books she has but they have overtaken her closet and there is no rhyme or reason to the way she has them. Check it out. Excuse the poor quality of the photos. They are in a dark closet and it was early!

You should be able to click on the photos and bigify (yes it's a word, I saw it on another blog so that makes it so) them if you aren't able to read the text I put in.

We've talked about her sorting and making a catalogue of all her books but just have never gotten to it. I'm sure it will be an all day project (if not longer). But it would make it a heck of a lot easier for me to find something I want.

And it would keep her from buying duplicate books as she has been known to do in the past!

I'm finished!

Four books. Fifty-seven days. Less than two months. That's some kind of world record for me considering one of the books is over 700 pages.

I'm talking about the Twilight series. I know there are people who read them all in less than a week. I don't know how they did it. I'm amazed at how fast I read them myself. Technically it was a little faster, there was a period of about two weeks where I didn't start the second book, while on my cruise and also waiting for my daughter to finish up the first so we could go to the movie.

It's my new obsession. I loved them and am a bit sad that I'm done.
While searching for info online I found out we had actually been to one of the locations they used for filming in the movie. The waterfall in the baseball scenes in Multnomah Falls in Oregon. We visited the falls in July of 2007 while there to see family. How cool to find out you've been to a place you've seen in a movie, especially one you really like. The kids were excited and Skowt's friends were pretty impressed! Here's my favorite shot I took the day we visited..

I know I posted this back then but here it is again for anyone who didn't see it. I'd love to to back there again someday. Not just because the movie was filmed there (and to try to find some of the other locations) but because I really liked the falls. I even had mentioned while there that it would be cool to live nearby to come back and photograph it during different seasons.

Maybe someday.

Twilight madness

So I decided to jump on the Twilight band wagon and started reading the other night. I've seen it mentioned on so many blogs lately I wanted to see what it was all about.

I've been planning to read if for a while now but had to finish Harry Potter first. I'm just not that good to have two going at once! I was rereading books 1-6 and then read number 7 for the first time. I still can't believe I waited over a year and a half to read the last book! I think I was Ok with it since I knew it was the last one and was sad to see it end. As I was reading, the more I wanted to read but on the other hand the closer I got to the end the more bummed I got knowing it was the end of the road for the HP story. Maybe someday she could continue on with the story of his kids or something! Wishful thinking? lol

Anyway, my mom bought all four of the Twilight books about a month ago. She started reading the first one and couldn't make it through. I'm still going to try myself and not make a judgement based on her reaction. She can be a pretty tough judge when it comes to books.

I want to get the first one read by the time the movie comes out so I can go see it. So lets see, I'm two chapters in. Twenty two to go and what twenty four days until the movie. It's doable. I'm a slow reader by the way. Not slow as in speed of actually reading the words. Slow as in I only read 20-30 minutes a day. Depending on the day and my mood. So it takes me quite a while to get through a book sometimes. I'm not one to get all wrapped up in a book and read all night. I'll usually end up falling asleep in my book!