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May reading wrap-up

01 Jun

May was a strange reading month.

I was reading a lot (and enjoying it!) in the first half of the month, then my reading came to a screeching halt about halfway through (although I did keep up somewhat with my audiobooks).  There were two reasons for this:  I stalled on my book club book– I didn’t want to be reading it,and I didn’t want to pick up something else until I finished; and then BEA sucked up all of my time, preparing and then attending.

So, for May I have

Books on paper

Books on my Nook

  • Rampant (Killer Unicorns #1) by Diana Peterfreund

Books on audio

  • From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse #8) by Charlaine Harris
  • Bone by Bone by Carol O’Connell
  • Rolling Thunder (a John Ceepak Mystery) by Chris Grabenstein
  • Unwind by Neal Shusterman
  • The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next #3) by Jasper Fforde
  • Virgin River (Virgin River #1) by Robyn Carr

This is a total of 13 books: 6 books on paper, 6 books on audio, and 1 book on Nook.  This gives me updated year to date totals of  67 books:  41 paper books, 25 audio books, and 1 Nook book. (I realized I’d missed a book from January in my tracking– I read My Life In France by Julia Child, but it isn’t reflected in my summary.)  My favorites for the month were Dismantled, The Singer’s Gun, Unwind, and Rolling Thunder. They are all sufficiently different that I figured I’d list them all.

Yes, there’s something new up there!  I received a Nook for Mother’s Day, almost exactly the time my reading came to an abrupt halt.  I still don’t have a strong opinion about it.  I suspect I will like it a lot, particularly when I go on vacation next month, but I’m not going to love it.  Considering that I think there are still about 60 books traveling from BEA for me, in addition to the 10 or so here now, and the large collection that still is waiting to be read here, I’ll be able to keep going back and forth for quite a while.

Another thing you’ll notice is the lack of reviews.  I did have some reviews of earlier books, and an attempt to catch up on book club updates.  Still, my goal for next month is to do much, much better.

Looking into June:

For my book club M, I’m currently reading The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey.  For my book club L, I’ll be reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I have several tours scheduled:  Heart of Lies by M.L. Malcolm and The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews for TLC Tours and To Surrender To a Rogue with Hachette’s Forever line.  In addition, I have a LOT of books coming from BEA, several already loaded on my Nook, and lots of other options to choose from.

Did you have a good reading month in May?  How is your June looking?

 
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Posted by on June 1, 2010 in books, summary

 

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April reading wrapup

05 May

April CalendarWow, I read a lot of books in April!  Part of this was the readathon, part of it was finally getting to a string of books that I really, really liked.

My paper books were:

  1. Blackout by Connie Willis
  2. Firefly Rain by Richard Dansky
  3. Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
  4. Motherhood is Murder by Diana Orgain
  5. How to Lose a Client by Becky A. Bartness
  6. The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King
  7. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
  8. The Sound of Sleigh Bells by Cindy Woodsmall
  9. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
  10. Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
  11. Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon
  12. In the Shadow of the Cypress by Thomas Steinbeck
  13. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
  14. Making It Up by Penelope Lively

My audio books were:

  1. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  2. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn
  3. Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer
  4. Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
  5. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
  6. Kindred by Octavia Butler

For a total of 20 books!  I also had two audio books I chose not to finish, at least at this time.  My total for the year so far is 53 books.  34 of those are on paper, 19 are audio.

I was excited by The God of the Hive and Thirteen Reasons Why.    Blackout would have also made that list, except it turns out it’s only the first half of the book.  I need the second part!  There were several other books that might have made the list in previous months– I had a run of books I enjoyed this month.

I did slightly better than last month getting reviews posted, with 7 for the month.  This isn’t quite my hoped for pace of 2 reviews a week, but I did manage it for the last 3 weeks of the month.  I just didn’t catch up for my slow start.  I’ll keep that as my goal for this month, but I’d better get to work!

Coming up this month, I have The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood for Book Club M and Unwind by Neal Shusterman. I’m currently reading (and enjoying!) The Singer’s Gun by Emily Mandel for a tour, and I have Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon scheduled for a tour on Memorial day.

Book Blogger ConventionI’m heading to BEA (Book Expo America) and the Book Blogger Convention at the end of the month.    I’m really looking forward to meeting bloggers, meeting publicists I’ve worked with on-line, and making all kinds of new contacts.  I expect to come back with many more books that I want to read!  Until then, I have my existing pile, and I’m also checking out some of the authors that will be at BEA and bumping some of them to the top of my list.

How was your April?  What are you looking forward to in May?

 
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Posted by on May 5, 2010 in books, summary

 

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March Reading Summary

05 Apr

My March can be wrapped up with “Quite a bit of  Reading, not much Writing”.

I did a lot of listening to books this month, with 6 audio and 6 paper books.

Paper

Audio

  • Going Bovine by Libba Bray
  • All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse, #7) by Charlaine Harris
  • Ender in Exile (Ender’s Saga, #6) by Orson Scott Card
  • Shadow of the Hegemon (Shadow Series, #2) by Orson Scott Card (reread)
  • Still Life (Armand Gamache, #1) by Louise Penny
  • The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz

(I also wrote two reviews for books I read in previous months)

This puts my total books read for the year at 33 (I missed listing the audio of Heat Wave by Richard Castle last month).   I’m at 20 books on paper, 13 audio.

My favorite book for the month was Belong to Me.  I enjoyed it and the book that preceded it, Love Walked In.  Nothing has really blown me away so far this year.

Coming Up

I’m really, really looking forward to Laurie R. King’s next Mary Russell novel, The God of the Hive.  It’s due to be released on April 27, but I won an ARC from Library Thing.  I’m checking my mailbox eagerly every day.  Whenever it comes, I’ll drop everything other than pressing commitments to read it.  That probably includes sleep!

Speaking of forgoing sleep, the read-a-thon is next weekend, and I still don’t know how much I’ll participate.  I’m not sure what my family life will bear.  I’ll definitely do some cheerleading, and hopefully some reading as well.  Maybe I’ll pull off full participation, I enjoyed it in October.

Since the beginning of the April, I’ve read this month’s book club books:  Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin; and Making It Up by Penelope Lively.  Since we’ll be discussing The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood on May 3, I’ll at least get started reading it this month.

For book tours this month I have In the Shadow of the Cypress by Thomas Steinbeck and Firefly Rain by Richard Dansky.  I’ll also be doing a buddy read of Made in the U.S.A by Billie Letts, with Kailana at The Written Word.

I really hope to get to a new book by one of my favorite authors, Connie Willis.  I’ve got my copy of  Blackout, and will fit it in whenever I can.

I really want to ramp up my reviewing, at least a little.  I’m setting a goal of 2 reviews a week for April, with a bonus goal of one non-review post (like this one!).  Wish me luck and (more importantly) focus!

 
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Posted by on April 5, 2010 in summary

 

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February summary: I blame the Olympics

03 Mar

February wasn’t a great reading month, but it was a terrible review writing month.  I blame the Olympics.  And real life.

I’ll try to do better in March!

Actually, I did read a reasonable number of books on paper, I just didn’t listen to many, and I barely wrote any reviews.

I read 9 books in February.  2 of them were audio books, 7 were paper.  This puts me at 20 books for the year, 14 on paper and 6 audio books.

Paper books read:

Audio books:

  • The Temptation of the Night Jasmine (Pink Carnation, #5) by Lauren Willig
  • The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares

There were several very good books this month, but Love Walked In was my favorite (I’ll review it after we discuss it at book club next week).  Knots and Crosses, Beautiful Creatures, and Little Giant were not too far behind, each in a very different way.

Right now, I’m reading Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos, which is the follow-up to Love Walked In, and I’m listening to The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz, thanks to a recommendation from Jen Forbus.  Both are very good, and I’ll pick up one or the other when I’m done writing this post :-) .

Coming up in March, I’m reading Making It Up by Penelope Lively for Book Club M and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak for Book Club L.    I’ve read The Book Thief several years ago, but I’ll be rereading it for this.  I have Waking Up in the Land of Glitter: A Crafty Chica Novel by Kathy Cano-Murillo and Life Sentences by Laura Lippman for blog tours, so you can count on seeing those reviews!

I hope everyone has a great March, in books and in the rest of your life!

 
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Posted by on March 3, 2010 in blogging, books, summary

 

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My January Reading

02 Feb

My reading for 2010 is off to a good (if not outstanding) start. My reviewing is running a little behind that pace!

So far
7 paper books
4 audio books
11 books total

On paper:

In audio:

  • Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
  • Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
  • Borderline (Anna Pigeon Mysteries, #15) by Nevada Barr
  • The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Now I need to decide– am I going to review everything I read?  If so, I need to get my rear in gear.  If not, I need to figure out what criteria I use.  Obviously, I’ll write up any review books I read.   I probably want to comment on (if not review) all book club books. Beyond that, maybe it will just be my whims… What should I take into account in deciding?

Coming up, I have Love Walked In by Marisa de Los Santos (which I’m really looking forward to) for my book club L, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (which I’m quite curious about) for my book club M, and Dream House by Valerie Laken (which really sounds intriguing) for a TLC book tour.

I hope you had a good reading month in January, and than February is even better!

 
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Posted by on February 2, 2010 in books, summary

 

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August Wrap-up

31 Aug

j043481017 books read this month! Woo-hoo!

7 of those were audiobooks, 10 were paper.   That puts me at 87 books for the year, 35 of those audiobooks.  I’m a little behind on reviews, but if I have a review posted, it is linked to the book’s name.

Audio:

Paper:

My favorites were The Gift of an Ordinary Day, Olive Kitteridge, and Looking for Alaska (probably in that order).

Challenges:

everythingausten3First is the Everything Austen challenge at Stephanie’s Written Word.  I’m caught up!  I checked off 2 out of 6 items for it:  My reviews of the audiobook of An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan and the 1972 BBC production of Emma. Unfortunately, neither was a rousing success for me, but I’m still enthusiastic about continuing with the challenge.  (End date 1/1/10)

Sookie StackhouseThe next challenge was the  Sookie Stackhouse challenge at Beth Fish Reads.  I’m now done with 3 of the 9 books that I need to read to complete it.  I added Club Dead this month.  I would have added one more, but I discovered that Netlibrary has books 1-3 and 5-9, but not #4.  I went ahead and bought a paper copy, and started reading Dead to the World today.  (Ends July 2010)

Giveaways:

I currently have a giveaway up for The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison, which ends on September 10.  I’ll be posting a giveaway for How to Tame a Modern Rogue by Diana Holquist on Tuesday, and it should run until September 22.  I’ve got a couple of others in the works, so keep your eyes on my sidebar!

Upcoming:

This month, I am committed to reading:

  • Babydoll by Allyson Roy (TLC Book tours,  September 10)
  • 31 Hours by Masha Hamilton (Unbridled Books, week of September 14)
  • A Note From an Old Acquaintance by Bill Walker (Pump Up Your Book blog Tour, September 22)
  • Second Honeymoon by Joanna Trollope (Book Club L, late September)
  • The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Book Club M, October 5)

I’ve got a backlog of review books that I’m trying to work my way through.  Counting the first 4 Betsy-Tacy books as one, my count stands at 18 books that I  have received for review and haven’t read yet.  4 of those have specific dates (tours), the rest I just want to get to in a timely manner (that may be too late for some of them).

I plan on working down my review book backlog (I want to emphasize that everything there is something I want to read), and maybe get to a few other books on my shelf.  I’ll make progress on both challenges. I’ll be downloading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and starting to listen as soon as it is available.

I strongly suspect my reading total will plummet as the fall TV season starts.  I usually like to check out all the shows I used to watch, even occasionally, as well as try any new show that seems to have promise.  We have multiple DVRs hard at work, so I can record a LOT of shows.

I hope you had a good August, and have a better September.

 
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Posted by on August 31, 2009 in books, summary

 

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July wrap-up

01 Aug

j0439526July was a very good reading month.  I decided to make reading a summer priority.

I read 15 books– 10 on paper, 5 audiobooks.  Wow!

This brings my total for the year to 71 books.  28 of these were audio, the rest were paper.

What did I read? I’ve listed them, and  (in keeping with the recent meme) I’ve also noted where my copy came from.  I always disclose if my copy came to me (free) for review.  I only request/accept books I want to read.  The source of the book does not affect what I write about it.

(Click to see my review)

Audio:

On paper

I’m currently reading Halting State by Charles Stross and listening to Slam by Nick Hornby.  They won’t quite make it into July, but will by my first books finished in August.

I posted my first 4 giveaways this month, thanks to Hachette Books (This is part of why I have so many books from the publisher on my list– they offered great books to give away!).  2 are complete, with the names sent to Hachette.  I picked the winners for one last night (see the previous post), and one remains open!  They were fun, and I will continue to do them as long as books I’m interested in are made available.

My favorite books for the month were probably Last Night in Montreal, The Castaways,  and Mind Scrambler. They were all good books, but I’m not sure I’ll find any of them memorable a year from now.  There weren’t any particularly bad books, either, but I try to avoid those to start with.

After spending my first months  blogging telling myself I wouldn’t get sucked into reading challenges,  I started two of them this month.

everythingausten2The first was the Everything Austen challenge at Stephanie’s Written Word.  I’m not off to a very good start on this one, with exactly 0 of 6 items complete.  I’d wanted to watch one of the movies (probably Emma) with my daughter, and the logistics just didn’t work out.  I’ll probably try to watch a movie and read a related book in August, to get myself back on schedule.

Sookie StackhouseThe second was the Sookie Stackhouse challenge at Beth Fish Reads.   I’d seen the discussion around this on Twitter, but since I hadn’t read any of the books or watched the TV show, I wasn’t very tempted.  Then I ran into the first book when looking on NetLibrary for something to listen to.  If I enjoy a series, I tend to want to read through it, so I figured I might as well join the challenge.  I’ve now read the first 2 out of 9 books.  I think I’ll listen to about 2 per month until I’m finished or I decide I don’t want to read the rest, whichever comes first (challenge or no challenge, there are too many books out there to spend time on ones I don’t enjoy)

Looking into August:

I have specific dates to read:

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz (A buddy read with @lithousewife)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (for Twitter Book Club)
Two Years, No Rain by Shawn Klomparens (The Summer Reading Series at Books on the Brain)
Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton (Book Tour with Pump Up Your Book)
Looking for Alaska by John Green (Book Club L)
Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas (Book Club M)

Beyond that, I want to clear out more of my backlogged review books, I’ll read books for my challenges, and I’ve requested several other books for giveaways.  As always, there are too many books to read.  The joy of the book blogging world is how many more of them I discover now.

http://thewrittenword.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/introducing-the-everything-austen-challenge-with-prizes/
 
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Posted by on August 1, 2009 in books, summary

 

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June reading wrap-up

01 Jul

book stackI’ve read a total of 11 books in June. My pace has pretty much held steady since May, well above my reading goal of 4 paper books, 4 audiobooks per month.

This brings my total for the year to 56 books, 23 of them audiobooks.

So what did I read? (click the titles to go to my reviews)

On paper:

And as audiobooks

My favorite book for the month was The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale.  There were no bad books, and only one that really didn’t work for me.

Looking into July, I have a bunch of books scheduled to read:

And others I’d like to get to.  I’ll have a choice as to audiobooks, but I probably don’t want to be this scheduled on physical books again soon– one scheduled book per week is all I want to have,  I think.  It won’t be any problem to read them all, and each of them (with the exception of Black Dahlia) is something I’m looking forward to reading.

I hope everyone else had a good reading month, and has an even better one coming up!

 
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Posted by on July 1, 2009 in Book Club, books, L, M, summary

 

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May wrap-up

01 Jun

bookstackI’ve read 12 books in May, which is well above my expectations– my goal is 4 paper and 4 audio books.  To get to twelve, I’ve almost stopped listening to podcasts, and have fallen behind on my TV viewing.  My daughter’s class was at science camp, giving me some extra reading time, which certainly helped.   I’m not sure this rate will be sustainable :-) .

This brings my total books read for the year up to 45 books, with 19 of them being audiobooks.

So:

Paper

Audio

The most enjoyable book this month was definitely The Hunger Games. The best was probably The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao , although (as I said in my review) I need another read to really appreciate it.   I probably got as much from Sag Harbor.

It was a good book club month.  I enjoyed all 3 books I have listed– Book club M has two books here, since it meets on the first Monday of the month.  I had to read it in  May to be ready for the June 1 meeting!

I’m looking forward to another month of reading.  I’ve got two posts planned, with the reading I already have planned to take me into June.

How was your May reading?

 
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Posted by on June 1, 2009 in blogging, books

 

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April wrap up

01 May

My big book accomplishment for the month was starting this blog. My first post was on April 14, and my first review was posted April 17.

Every year I say I’m going to keep track of the books I read. This is the first year I can remember where I’ve stuck to it past March, so hooray for me! :-) My book count for the month of April is nine. Four were audiobooks, five were on paper. I’ve read 33 books so far this year, and 13 of those were audiobooks.

This months reads:

(Early reviews are on Goodreads, later are on this blog).

This was a good month of reading, with a nice variety of books. My favorites were the last two, Little Brother and The Language of Bees.

I’m currently reading Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb, which I need to finish for book club M’s discussion on Monday evening. I’ve been dragging out Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell for some time now, but I think I’ll try to finish it this month. Maybe.

I’m currently listening to Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs, and while it isn’t bad,  I’m not overly excited by it.  NetLibrary and my computer are not getting along well, which is limiting my options for this months listening. (Note to self: must take time from reading, blogging, and reading blogs to troubleshoot).

Sometime during May, I will be reading Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi for book club L.  Since book club M will meet on June 1, I’ll be reading something for it during May, but I’m not sure which book yet.  Other than that, I have a tall to-be-read pile, and I’m sure plenty will be added to it this month.  I don’t have specific plans.

What did everyone else read?  Anything particularly good?

 
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Posted by on May 1, 2009 in books

 

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