Month: July 2016

#FitReaders Check-In

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FitReaders2016
  • This check-in is for July 15th – 21st.
  • My goal for this week was 5K steps per day, and I just barely met it.  My new goal is 6K steps per day.
  • I completely forgot to mention in last week’s check-in that I joined the Harry Potter Alliance’s Road to Hogwarts 2: Escape from Privet Drive virtual race.  Participants have until August 31st to complete 50 miles.  I’ll be updating my progress below with the rest of my goals.
  • I’m not 100% sure on this, but I think Plus3 lowered or did away with the amount of money donated for certain activities.  Last year, I was donating at least $1 or $2 a week, but this week I’ve only donated a little more than 25 cents.  I may have to lower my goal again.
  • If you’d like to add me as a friend on FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Steps: 35,635/35,000
  • Miles: 14.63/10.5
  • Flights of stairs: 124/70
  • Active Minutes: 122/105
  • Road to Hogwarts miles: 20.15/50
  • Monthly 5K Races Completed: 3/10
  • Monthly 1 Mile Fun “Runs” Completed: 2/10
  • Total Money Donated: $20.57/$50.00

Review: Welcome to the Future

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Welcome

  • Publisher: Christina Escamilla Publishing
  • ISBN: 9780991529360
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Pages: 260

What will the future hold? Sometimes bleak, sometimes inspiring, these twenty tales seek to answer the very question that civilization has pondered for centuries. From a world where specialized eyes shape the way reality is perceived to fabricated simulations that are designed to allow full control over an augmented reality. This book takes you to the far reaches of the universe to the remnants of a forgotten Earth. In short, these twenty tales boldly answer the question of “what if” with a simple: Welcome to the Future. – Goodreads synopsis

I won Welcome to the Future during a #COYER challenge, and I was so happy I did since I was also participating in a book buying ban and had added the book to my wishlist nearly as soon as it was published.  I was particularly interested in it because one of the authors also has a blog I love to read.  However, that also made me hesitant to review it.  What if I didn’t like the book or, even worse, her story?
To get around the worry, I promised myself that I didn’t have to review it if I didn’t want to or feel comfortable doing so.  I don’t review every single book I read, though I try.  However, I had nothing to be concerned about since I wound up devouring Welcome to the Future in one day.  I don’t usually do that with short story anthologies.  I tend to dip into them for a story or two and then read something else for a bit before returning.  That’s mostly because I’ve never read an anthology in which every single story was phenomenal.  While I didn’t love all the stories in this one either, almost all of my favorites were front loaded.
If anything, that’s what I disliked about this collection.  I didn’t enjoy the last few stories, and if I hadn’t plowed through the book so quickly, that might have tarnished my view of it as a whole.  I feel as if the runner-up selections were tacked on at the end only to make the book a little longer.  A better way of organizing it would have been to spread them out amongst the gems of the bunch.  Putting that aside, Welcome to the Future is well worth buying.
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Review: Doctor Who – Snowglobe 7

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Snowglobe

  • Author: Mike Tucker
  • ISBN: 9781846074219
  • Publisher: BBC Books
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Pages: 256

Earth, 2099. Global warming is devastating the climate. The polar ice caps are melting.
In a desperate attempt at preservation, the governments of the world have removed vast sections of the Arctic and Antarctic and set them inside huge domes across the world. The Doctor and Martha arrive in Snowglobe 7 in the Middle East, hoping for peace and relaxation. But they soon discover that it’s not only ice and snow that has been preserved beneath the Dome.
While Martha struggles to help with an infection sweeping through the Dome, the Doctor discovers an alien threat that has lain hidden since the last ice age. A threat that is starting to thaw. – Goodreads synopsis

Not long after I got hooked on Doctor Who, I bought every book involving my favorite tenth Doctor that I could find at the used bookstore.  When it came to choosing which one to start with, I looked at my TBR shelf on Goodreads and picked the first one on the list.
I wasn’t expecting anything fantastic, but now I wonder if the books are made from scripts that, while great, didn’t make the cut for one reason or another.  There are only so many episodes per series after all, and the majority of them link together in some way to form an overall story line.  So why not take the ones that didn’t fit and put them in another format for fans to enjoy during that excruciatingly long time between series?
Regardless of the reason, Snowglobe 7 felt like watching an episode, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for when I bought this and the other Doctor Who books I found.  This wasn’t my first Doctor Who story outside of watching the show, but my first was an audiobook narrated by David Tennant, so I couldn’t be 100% sure if it’s awesomeness was due to the format or the writer.  It was probably both, but it was also a different writer than Mike Tucker, so the only things I was truly certain of was that this book was about the 10th Doctor and Martha and the story involved some kind of dangerous alien species and a wintry environment.
If you’re specifically looking for a Doctor Who story but you want something new or don’t feel like re-watching the show, look no further than Snowglobe 7.  I have a feeling I’ll be repeating that as I make my way through my book collection.
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Monday's Minutes

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“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.
Current Reads:

  • Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – for the #FanspeakTheRing Read-Along
  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
  • (R)evolution by P.J. Manney
  • Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett
  • Feed by Mira Grant

Fellowship The Martian Grave

Revolution Bookmarked Feed

Finished:

  • Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairytales

Time Lord

Challenges:

Total pages read: 598

Total # of books for the year: 42.

What are you reading this week?

#24in48 Readathon!

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LizLemonYay
Rachel is doing another #24in48 Readathon next weekend!  This is the Readathon that started it all for me.  I created this blog, back when I was The Reading Wench, so I could better connect with such a great bookish community.  This will be my third 24 in 48!  I love it because I can read for 24 hours without the sleep deprivation 🙂
Goals:

  • My plan never goes just how I want it to, but I’m hoping to get at least 14 hours of reading in on Saturday and then finish up the remaining hours on Sunday.  Regardless, the ultimate goal is to read for 24 hours over the weekend.
  • Finish three books.  Since I’ve already started Grave Peril and (R)evolution, this shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish.

TBR:
This list might change a little by the time the readathon starts because I’ll probably finish The Martian before then, but I’m not sure what I’ll be reading after I finish it.  All of the book covers are linked to Goodreads.

  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
  • (R)evolution by P.J. Manney

The Martian Grave Revolution

Sign ups are still open.  Are you participating in the 24 in 48 Readathon?

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by RachelleLeave a comment
FitReaders2016
  • This check-in is for July 8th – 14th.
  • My goal for this week was 4K steps per day, and once again, it was easy.  My new goal is 5K steps per day.
  • If you’d like to add me as a friend on FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Steps: 32,940/28,000
  • Miles: 13.53/10.5
  • Flights of stairs: 124/70
  • Active Minutes: 112/70
  • Monthly 5K Races Completed: 3/10
  • Monthly 1 Mile Fun “Runs” Completed: 2/10
  • Total Money Donated: $20.31/$50.00

Review: Black Widow – Forever Red

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Black Widow

  • Author: Margaret Stohl
  • ISBN: 9781484726433
  • Publisher: Marvel Press
  • Genre: YA Science Fiction
  • Pages: 401

Natasha Romanoff is one of the world’s most lethal assassins. Trained from a young age in the arts of death and deception, Natasha was given the title of Black Widow by Ivan Somodorov, her brutal teacher at the Red Room, Moscow’s infamous academy for operatives.
Ava Orlova is just trying to fit in as an average Brooklyn teenager, but her life has been anything but average.The daughter of a missing Russian quantum physicist, Ava was once subjected to a series of ruthless military experiments—until she was rescued by Black Widow and placed under S.H.I.E.L.D. protection. Ava has always longed to reconnect with her mysterious savior, but Black Widow isn’t really the big sister type.
Until now.  – Goodreads synopsis

I requested Black Widow: Forever Read from Netgalley, but wasn’t lucky enough to get a copy, so I bought the Kindle edition with some of my gift card money instead.
Ok, this is one of those moments when my Fangirl starts showing and, trust me when I say this, I have no shame.  I don’t care what it is, if it’s got Black Widow’s name or logo on it, it’s mine, all MINE.  I don’t have to tell you how much Black Widow kicks butt unless you’ve somehow managed to miss every Avenger related movie, comic, or even movie trailer in which she appears, and this book is no different.  Yes, it’s YA.  Yes, I tend to steer away from YA, with very few exceptions.  This is one of those exceptions, and I wasn’t in any way disappointed.
I hadn’t even bothered to read the synopsis before I bought the book or even before I started reading it.  So, I was a bit surprised to discover that this wasn’t exactly what I thought it was.  I thought it was going to be a retelling of Black Widow’s story, but with her as a teen.  As you can tell from the synopsis above, that’s not it at all, and, honestly, I was a bit relieved.  I understand revamping Marvel’s greatest to appeal to a new generation, but understanding doesn’t mean I want Natasha’s story changed.  Please, Marvel, keep doing what you’ve done with this book and just leave my favorite assassin as she is, OK?  Oh, and how about giving her her own video game?  I’ll give you all my monies.
Full of action, attitude, and shocking red hair, if you want a non-comic comic book story, look no further than Black Widow: Forever Red.
Black Widow Rating

Monday's Minutes

Published on by RachelleLeave a comment

“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.
Current Reads:

  • Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – for the #FanspeakTheRing Read-Along
  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
  • Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairytales
  • (R)evolution by P.J. Manney

Fellowship The Martian Grave

Time Lord Revolution

Finished:

  • Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
  • Divergent by Veronica Roth

Furiously Divergent

Challenges:

Total pages read: 389

Total # of books for the year: 41.  The Boyfriend was a great help in doing all the things that have to be done for us to live while I was stuck on the couch with an injured back.  However, a lot of little things got left by the wayside.  Being the clean freak I am, it drove me nuts, and so I’ve been focusing on getting everything back into perfect order as soon as possible.  It’s getting there, but my reading has slowed a little.  I’m also trying to catch up on the book reviews that I thought I would get written while I couldn’t do much of anything else.  I started with The World’s Strongest Librarian on Saturday, and I hope to get two more posted this week.

Top Commenter: Shaina @ Shaina Reads

What are you reading this week?

Review: The World's Strongest Librarian

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Strongest

  • Author: Josh Hanagarne
  • ISBN: 9781592407873
  • Publisher: Avery
  • Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir
  • Pages: 291

 
An inspiring story of how a Mormon kid with Tourette’s found salvation in books and weight-lifting.
The World’s Strongest Librarian illuminates the mysteries of this little-understood disorder, as well as the very different worlds of strongman training and modern libraries. With humor and candor, this unlikely hero traces his journey to overcome his disability — and navigate his wavering Mormon faith — to find love and create a life worth living. – Goodreads synopsis

Awhile back, Audible was having a sale, and I got The World’s Strongest Librarian for less than $5.  Had I not been looking for inexpensive audiobooks to help me get through my daily commute, I might not have ever come across this gem of a memoir.
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have even picked this one up if it wasn’t about a librarian.  I’m not Mormon, or Christian for that matter, and though Tourette’s is an interesting disability, I didn’t think it was interesting enough to warrant reading a book about it.  Well, I was wrong.  First of all, his struggles with faith resonated with me because I was raised Catholic, and while I eventually found what I was looking for in Buddhism, the run of emotions, thoughts, and questions Hanagarne experiences throughout the book were similar to my own.  Secondly, I understood in a very clinical way what Tourette’s is, but I never thought about how it could affect every area of a person’s life.  While it’s a physical disability, it seems to have the same stigma attached to it as the majority of mental disabilities.  Just as many people ask those dealing with Depression why can’t they just be happy, I get the impression that the same people probably want to ask why can’t you just stop doing [insert physical/vocal tick here].
To me, this book proves that having a support network of family and/or friends is one of the most important elements in determining how well someone handles just about anything that life can throw your way.  It also proves that books and libraries are just as important because ultimately we each have to find our own way and what works for us.  What better place than the library to find the resources to do that?  If you need convincing, check out The World’s Strongest Librarian.
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#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by RachelleLeave a comment
FitReaders2016
  • This check-in is for July 1st – 7th.
  • My goal for this week was 3K steps per day, and since that was easy, my new goal is 4K steps per day.
  • If you’d like to add me as a friend on FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Steps: 24,684/21,000
  • Miles: 10.12/7
  • Flights of stairs: 84/70
  • Active Minutes: 64/70
  • Monthly 5K Races Completed: 3/10
  • Monthly 1 Mile Fun “Runs” Completed: 2/10
  • Total Money Donated: $20.08/$50.00