January rundown

I got 5 books read this month:

1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight

2.Strawberry shortcake murder

3. The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime

4. Of Mice and Men

5. The Romance Readers Book Club

I wanted to get more in, but we were traveling for 2 weeks this month, so only got 5 in. I will probably be low in reading the next two months as well, as I will have my mother here visiting for 5 weeks! I know, I still need to get some reviews written too!

What I'm reading...

Just a little update. I just finished my 2nd book of the year " the Romance Reader's Book Club" last night, which I will review soon. And I perused my shelf and pulled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" from my shelf and decided to get into it. I have been wanting to read this for awhile. Last night when I finally started it, it was late so I couldn't keep my eyes open long to get very far into it yet, but so far it seems like it's gonna be a fun read, so I'm pretty excited about it!

What are you reading?

Currently Reading: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, and The Help (Kindle)

Why? Because it is on Dr. Boxalls 1001 books you must read list, and because it has been on my shelf now for over two years, so it's time to get off my shelf already!

What I just finished reading: "The Romance Reader's Book Club

What I am looking forward to reading next: I think I will either read the 2nd in the Dragonlance series or The Appeal by John Grisham, not sure yet. It's hard for me to say this early in my current read what will be up next, cuz I am never sure what I'll be in the mood for when I'm done reading my current read. We will see!

2012 Book Review #1: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Title: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Author: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Pages: 444

Personal Rating: 4/5

From the Back Cover: Life-long friends, they went their separate ways. now they are togehter again, though each holds secrets fromt he others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.

Person thought and reflection: I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at how much I actually enjoyed this book! My husband has been hounding me for years to read this series, and they have been gracing my TBR shelf for about 2 years now. I finally decided to just take the plunge....I came up satisfied!

These were written in the 80's, so they have been around for awhile, so I'm a little behind...only about 20 years, no biggie! But I can say I am glad I did finally pick this up. I am not a fan of sci- fi, or fantasy. In 2010 I read the first book in the Sword of Truth series, and enjoyed it well enough. Then last year I tried the 2nd in the series, and my enthusiasm for the series waned. These feelings made me really hesitant when reaching for the Dragonlance series. However,I am glad I didn't let Terry Goodkinds works keep me from picking up the likes of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. These two are amazing writers! They made me laugh and drew me into the journey right alongside their characters. The signs of truly masterful writers.

While I will not be reaching straightaway for #2 in this series, as I have other books I would like to get through first, I can guarantee it won't be long before I visit the companions of this tale in their next adventure Dragons of Winter Night.

Whats next on my stack? The Romance Readers Book Club by: Julie L. Cannon

A new year! New goals!

Well, last year, my goal was to read 75 books, and I got 86 finished. But I must admit that towards the end of the year when it didn't look like I was going to finish the 75 I started reading shorter books just to make my challenge. So, I sorta feel like I cheated.

This year I have decided no more cheating, so I have decided that I am going to try to read 65 pre-picked TBR books! If I finish them then I can read others but that is my goal.

I could aim for 75 again this year, but I am going to be starting a rigorous work out program this year with my hubby (ever heard of P90X?) And whenever I start working out like that I have a tendency to not be able to sit for long periods, as exercise gives me a crazy amount of energy. I find myself sitting down to read only to pop up again after a few minutes to work around the house or do another work out! It is craziness, but I really want to get in shape this year, since last year I had a baby and it was really hard on me with my high blood pressure and borderline high cholesterol...I think it would have been so much easier had I been in good shape. So, I have other goals to work on this year besides just reading, as much as I am in love with books, and reading, I think dealing with some health issues is so much more important. I need to lose this weight and be healthy. I know everyone says that at the first of the year, but I have been battling with this for awhile, so it's really nothing new, I just finally had the extra money to order the system, so...this year it is!

So, right now I am reading the first book in the Dragonlance series: "Dragons of Autumn Twilight". My husband has been wanting me to read these for a long time and I am finally giving them a go! I am on page 150 or so and I must admit I am enjoying it a fair bit more than I thought I would!

This year I would also like to blog here alot more often. Include more reviews and just general "What I'm reading now" posts, as apposed to just posting a monthly list of what I got done!

Well I hope all my readers enjoy a wonderful bookish 2012!

What I'm currently reading: The Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Why: because my husband suggested it, and so I put it on my TBR list for this year

What I just finished reading? The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest

What I am looking forward to reading next: I haven't decided if I want to read the next in the Dragonlance series right away yet, or pick up Three Fates by Nora Roberts. This one is the first one of twelve on my TBR challenge list for the Book Addicts group on Goodreads. I will let you know!

Joyful Reading!

Books Read in December

I did pretty good to wrap up my year in reading, with 13 books read this month. Here's what I read in December:

1. The Phantom Freighter (library)

2. World Without End (TBR challenge)

3. The secret in the Old attic (Library)

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1001 books)

5. Ghost in the Mirror (Non- fiction/Kindle)

6. Hawk O'Toole's Hostage

7. The Daughters Break the Rules

8. The Daughters take the Stage

9. Just as Long as We're Together

10. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest

11. The Chocolate Chip Cookie murder (kindle)

12. A Boyfriend Before Christmas (Kindle)

13. All the Lovely Bad Ones

This was an excellent way to end my year in reading. All except two of these books received 5 stars from me!

My 2011 Year in Books

Books read in 2011
(Goal: 75, or 22,500 pages!)

JANUARY
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns
2. The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
3. Restless Hearts
4. Thirteen Moons
5. Blue Skies

February
6. The Virgin Suicides
7. Club Dead
8. Dead to the World

March
9. Love and Respect
10. By the Shores of Silver Lake
11. The Long Winter

April
12. Search for a New Dawn
13. Little Town on the Prairie
14. These Happy Golden Years
15. The First four years
16. The Purpose driven Life
17. The Pillars of the Earth

May
18. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
19. Safe Haven
20. The Christmas Train
21. Amazing Word search collection
22. Haunted Schools
23. The Boleyn Inheritance
24. Haunted Highways
25. Standing in the Rainbow

June
26. The Memory Keepers Daughter
27. The Interruption of Everything
28. The Red Queen
29. Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World
30. That Summer
31. Something Blue

July
32. One Tuesday Morning
33. beyond Tuesday Morning
34. The house of Mirth
35. Stone of Tears

August
36. Black Hills
37. This Lullaby
38. The Bestseller
39. Dead as a Doornail
40. The Girl Who Played with Fire
41. War and Peace
42. Definitely Dead
43. The Poisonwood Bible

September
44. Conquering depression
45. All Together dead
46. The Woman in Black

October
47. The Ghost Next door
48. The shelters of stone
49. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
50. One summer

November
51. Heart of the Matter
52. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #1
53. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2
54. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3
55. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #4
56. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5
57. Deep and Dark and Dangerous
58. Wait ‘til Helen Comes
59. 50 Things That Really Matter
60. Cam Jansen and the Snowy Day Mystery
61. Cam Jansen and the Triceratop pops Mystery
62. If I could Fly
63. Good-bye Pink Pig
64. The Sign of the Crooked Arrow
65. Not Even for Love

December
66. The Phantom Frieghter
67. World Without End
68. The Secret in the Old Attic
69. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
70. Ghost in the Mirror
71. Hawk O’Toole’s Hostage
72. The Daughter’s Break the Rules
73. The Daughter’s Take the Stage
74. Just as Long as We’re Together
75.The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest
76. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
77. A boyfriend Before Christmas
78. All The Lovely Bad Ones

Books Read to My Daughter
79. Peedie
80. Guess How Much I love you
81. Pooh Loves
82. Noah’s Ark
83. My Little Golden book about God
84. Baby’s First Book
85. Baby’s House
86.Look Out Suzie Goose!


So, this has been another amazing year of reading!!! Those last two months I really went to town trying to catch up! I did pretty good! I have to admit, I was scrambling around trying to get some shorter books to read (even went to the library for that purpose!) since I didn't have any good short or YA books on my TBR shelf, so next year I am going to only read off my TBR shelf, and since, like I said I don't have any really short ones, I think I am not going to be reaching a 75 book goal in 2012. i'm pretty much not even gonna try. I have a list of 65 already written up that I want to get finished by years end, but a few of them are pretty lengthy, like Don Quixote and #'s 3 and 4 in the Sword of Truth series. So, I am just going to try to get through that list and if I do and can read more towards the 75 book challenge then great but if not, eh oh well, as long as I try to knock quite a few off my pre-chosen list of 65. So, there are my goals for 2012! Do you have any reading goals?

Thank you! Merry Christmas and a TBR challenge list!

First off thank you to Kimberly at Turning The Pages for such an encouraging comment!! I am definitely going to try to keep this up! The reading part is the fun/easy part for me, it's the writing part that is sorta hard. The reviews and such! But I will keep trying to write as much as I can! Maybe If I hand write out my reviews first. For some reason my brain works better with pencil in hand then when I try to type out how I feel about a book. And part of it is pure laziness, or being too busy with other things! The other thing I think that deters me is the fact that I don't read new releases often, since my TBR shelf overfloweth, with books that I purchased a long time ago, so I think "Why review that?! Everyone has probably already read it!" But then I think Well the reason I started this blog was to keep track mainly for myself what I read, so why should I care what other people think? And who knows? Something I write just might help someone else want to read a great book I read, even if it's been on the shelves for years and years.

That being said I have once again joined the TBR challenge at The book addicts group on Goodreads, and the challenge is to read 12 books off your TBR shelf during the year. The books must have been on your shelf for at least a year. So, that means no publication dates from after Jan 1 2011. Lord knows I have plenty to choose from! So, here's my list!

1. Three Fates By: Nora Roberts

2.Of Mice and Men by: John Steinbeck

3. Girls Night In By: several authors (short stories!)

4. The Romance Readers' Book Club by: Julie L. Cannon

5. Nostalgic Noel A collection of 4 Christmas stories by various authors

6.The Appeal By: John Grisham

7. Ask Again Later by: Jill A. Davis

8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Nighttime By:Mark Haddon

9. Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore

10. Mansfield Park by: Jane Austen

11. Waiting to Exhale by: Terry MacMillan

12. Every Breath You Take by Ann Rule

You are allowed 2 alternates as well and for those I picked:

1.Summer breeze By: Catherine Anderson

2. The Summerhouse By: Jean Stone

I just realized that out of those 14 books 10 of them are from authors who are new to me! Wow! I may find me some new favorite authors this year!

Well, that's it for me here, but before I go I would like to say a big Merry Christmas to all you who took the time to read this! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and have a great New Year Holiday and next year? If you don't see reviews here, be sure and leave me a comment and say "Hey! I'd love to see a review for ::insert title here!::"