Monday’s Minutes #9

Currently Reading: Nightfall Gardens by Allen Houston, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for The Classics Club, The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, The Essential Feminist Reader, and Shadowmagic by John Lenahan, which I listen to during my commute to and from school.

 Nightfall Sparrow Little Women Fiery Feminist Shadow

Finished: The Burning Land by Victoria Strauss, which I’ll be reviewing sometime this week.

Burning

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve hit my goal of 10 books, and participated in 2 read-a-thons towards my goal of 3.  I’ve been keeping up with the Facebook group, and I did a mini-challenge.

Take Control of Your TBR Pile Progress: This challenge just started yesterday.

Show Your Shelves Some Love Progress: 8 

Outdo Yourself Progress: 9

Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 7

SF/F Bingo: Since I’ve already finished this challenge, I’m working on filling in the whole card.  I haven’t decided which square The Burning Land will be placed on, but I’m thinking “new to me author”.

S&SBingoUpdate4

Total pages read for the week: 659

Total number of books for the year: 11.  I’m back on schedule, for now.  I’ve got another 3 papers to write and an exam on Friday, and then I’ll be getting into Midterms week before going to a weekend meditation retreat as Spring Break starts.  I’m exhausted, and trying not to have a meltdown.  Everything feels like work and all I want to do is sit on the couch in my PJs with a bottle of wine and some chocolate and binge watch everything on Netflix.  Even gaming feels like too much productivity to me right now.  I’m really enjoying Shadowmagic though, and it has greatly improved my commute.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenter was Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

Monday’s Minutes #8

Currently Reading: The Burning Land by Victoria Strauss, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for The Classics Club, The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, and The Essential Feminist Reader.

Burning  Sparrow Little Women Fiery Feminist

Finished: Those Rosy Hours at Mazandaran by Marion Grace Woolley, which I’ll be reviewing on Wednesday.

Rosy

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 9 books towards my goal of 10, and participated in 2 read-a-thons towards my goal of 3.  I’ve been keeping up with the Facebook group, and I did a mini-challenge.

Show Your Shelves Some Love Progress: 7 

Outdo Yourself Progress: 8

Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 6

SF/F Bingo: Since I’ve already finished this challenge, I’m working on filling in the whole card.

S&SBingoUpdate4

Total pages read for the week: 376

Total number of books for the year: 10.  I’m still a little bit behind schedule.  I had 3 papers to write this week, and I’m busy writing 2 more that are due by Friday, so I’m not likely to finish my one remaining review book for the month before the 28th.  I’m hoping I’ll finish it by March 6th, though, since it’s the last book I need to meet my goal for COYER.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenter was Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

Monday’s Minutes #7

Currently ReadingThose Rosy Hours at Mazandaran, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for The Classics Club, The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, The Essential Feminist Reader, and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, because I’m insane.  Also, there’s a read-along for it.

 Rosy Sparrow Little Women Fiery Feminist   War and Peace

Finished: 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII by Suzannah Lipscomb, and The Very Best of Kate Elliott, which I reviewed on Saturday.  I might post an edited version of the paper I had to write on 1536 as a sort of review once I get it back from the professor.

1536 Kate Elliott

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 8 books towards my goal of 10, and participated in 2 read-a-thons towards my goal of 3.  I’ve been keeping up with the Facebook group, and I finally did a mini-challenge!

Show Your Shelves Some Love Progress: 6 

Outdo Yourself Progress: 7

Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 5

SF/F Bingo: BINGO!  The Very Best of Kate Elliott was published this year, I’ve read a book containing dragons (The Sunken by S.C. Green), a book by a female author (The Eterna Files), a book published prior to 2000 (Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein) and an Urban Fantasy (The Kingdom Lights by Steven V.S.).  My “Free” book is Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr).  Now that I’ve met this challenge, I’m going to attempt to fill in the whole card.

S&SBingoUpdate4

Total pages read for the week: 384

Total number of books for the year: 9.  I’m still behind schedule and had to move back the review dates for this month’s books again.  Also, I made the mistake of forgetting to download a review book before it was archived *face palm*.  I had an exam and 2 papers to write this week, and I’m busy writing more papers over the next 2 weeks, so I’m not likely to get caught up with all my review books this month.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenter was Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

Monday’s Minutes #6

Currently Reading: The Very Best of Kate Elliott, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for The Classics Club, 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII by Suzannah Lipscomb, for one of my college classes, The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, because I’m insane.  Also, there’s a read-along for it.

 Kate Elliott Sparrow Little Women 1536    Fiery War and Peace

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 7 books towards my goal of 10, and participated in 2 read-a-thons towards my goal of 3.  I’ve been keeping up with the Facebook group, but I still need to do a mini-challenge.

Show Your Shelves Some Love, and Outdo Yourself Progress: 5

Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 4

SF/F Bingo: So far I only need to read a book published this year.  The Very Best of Kate Elliott will qualify for that. I’ve read a book containing dragons (The Sunken by S.C. Green), a book by a female author (The Eterna Files), a book published prior to 2000 (Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein) and an Urban Fantasy (The Kingdom Lights by Steven V.S.).  My “Free” book is Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr).

S&S BingoUpdate3

Total pages read for the week: 477.  I was apparently in the middle of another reading slump without knowing it, but I accidently discovered a cure: reading a book from a series I love.  I thought my reading was just being interfered with by all my school work, but on Wednesday evening I got home after a craptastic day with a huge case of the “F-its”, went immediately to my TBR shelf, picked up The Fiery Cross, and started reading without any regard for all the things I should’ve been doing instead.  It turns out all the books I’ve been reading lately have been kind of heavy, and instead of reading I was filling my time with busy work and random chores whenever I wasn’t working on school work.  I enjoy heavy books, but I got bogged down, and I needed another world to escape to and just enjoy the story and characters without dealing with serious modern day real life issues.  The crazy part is now that I’m out of the slump, I’ve been able to return to those heavier books with a renewed interest.  I think from now on, I’m going to keep a light read going along with all the other heavier reads so that this hopefully doesn’t happen again.

Total number of books for the year: 7.  I’m now behind schedule and I moved back the review dates for this month’s books.  However, now that I’m out of my reading slump, I think there’s a chance I’ll be able to complete most of the challenges I’m participating in.  These next couple of weeks are going to be particularly busy, though, so I’m not likely to get caught up with all my review books this month. Wednesday’s Words will now be monthly, along with all my other features except this one.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenter was Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

Monday’s Minutes #5

Currently Reading: The Very Best of Kate Elliott, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for The Classics Club, 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII by Suzannah Lipscomb, for one of my college classes, and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, because I’m insane.  Also, there’s a read-along for it.

 Kate Elliott Sparrow Little Women 1536 War and Peace

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 7 books towards my goal of 10, and participated in 2 read-a-thons towards my goal of 3.  I’ve been keeping up with the Facebook group, but I still need to do a mini-challenge.

Show Your Shelves Some Love, and Outdo Yourself Progress: 5

Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 4

SF/F Bingo: I may end up moving these around a bit, but so far I only need to read a book published this year.  The Very Best of Kate Elliott will qualify for that. I’ve read a book containing dragons (The Sunken by S.C. Green), a book by a female author (The Eterna Files), a book published prior to 2000 (Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein) and an Urban Fantasy (The Kingdom Lights by Steven V.S.).  My “Free” book is Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr).

S&S BingoUpdate3

Total pages read for the week: 151

Total number of books for the year: 7.  I’m still technically ahead of schedule, but unless I finish The Very Best of Kate Elliott by Friday, I’ll be behind by the end of the week.  I decided to cut Friday’s Fairy Tales down, again, to monthly, which is why there wasn’t a post on Friday, and I’m probably going to cut back Wednesday’s Words to every other week.  I’m already seeing a slight reduction in traffic, but earning my degree has to come first.  At this rate, I don’t think I’m going to complete most of the challenges I’m participating in, but we’ll see.  It’s only the 2nd month of the year, and last year started strong and then slowed around the same time.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenter was Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

Monday’s Minutes #4

Currently Reading: The Very Best of Kate Elliott, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, which I’m reading for the Sword and Laser bookclub, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for The Classics Club.

 Kate Elliott Sparrow Little Women

FinishedThe Eterna Files by Leanna Renee Hieber, which I’ll be reviewing on Feb. 3rd.

Eterna

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 7 books towards my goal of 10, and participated in 2 read-a-thons towards my goal of 3.  I participated in the Twitter chat on Saturday, but I still need to do a mini-challenge.

Show Your Shelves Some Love, and Outdo Yourself Progress: 5

Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 4

SF/F Bingo: I may end up moving these around a bit, but so far I only need to read a book published this year.  The Very Best of Kate Elliott will qualify for that. I’ve read a book containing dragons (The Sunken by S.C. Green), a book by a female author (The Eterna Files), a book published prior to 2000 (Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein) and an Urban Fantasy (The Kingdom Lights by Steven V.S.).  My “Free” book is Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr).

S&S BingoUpdate3

Total pages read for the week: 327

Total number of books for the year: 7.  I’m still ahead of schedule, but I don’t know how long that will last.  2 of my 4 classes this semester are requiring me to write 20 page research papers on top of all the normal coursework that comes along with the typical college class.  Due to this, I’ve already made the decision to cut Friday’s Fairy Tales down to every other week, which is why there wasn’t a post on Friday.  I may end up doing the same with Wednesday’s Words.  I know this will likely hurt the blog, but earning my degree has to come first.  The amount of reading I get done every week will suffer too, since most days I’m only reading for about 30 minutes before I go to bed.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenter was Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

Monday’s Minutes #3

Currently Reading: The Eterna Files by Leanna Renee Hieber, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, which I’m reading for the Sword and Laser bookclub, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for The Classics Club.

 Eterna Sparrow Little Women

FinishedWalking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein, which I’ll be reviewing this week.

Walking

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 6 books towards my goal of 10, and participated in 2 read-a-thons towards my goal of 3.  I’ve also participated in some socializing on Facebook, but I still need to do a mini-challenge.

Show Your Shelves Some Love, and Outdo Yourself Progress: 4

Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 3.  I’m already starting to get into the part of my TBR that doesn’t apply to all of my challenges.

SF/F Bingo: I may end up moving these around a bit, but so far I’ve read a book containing dragons (The Sunken by S.C. Green), a book written by a new-to-me author (Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr), a book by a female author (Walking the Labyrinth) and an Urban Fantasy (The Kingdom Lights by Steven V.S.).

S&S Bingo2update2

Total pages read for the week: 541

Total number of books for the year: 6

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenters were Shaina from Shaina ReadsTerri M., The Director from Second Run Reviews, and Rose from Chapter Break.

What are you reading this week?

Monday’s Minutes #1

Currently Reading: Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr, a review book, and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, which I’m reading for the Sword and Laser bookclub.

 Tommy Sparrow

FinishedThe Sunken by S.C. Green, which I’ll be reviewing sometime this week, and Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, which I’ll be reviewing later today.

Sunken Ivanhoe

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 2 book towards my goal of 10, and participated in 1 read-a-thon towards my goal of 3.  I’ve also participated in some socializing on Facebook, but I need to check out some reviews and do a mini-challenge.

Show Your Shelves Some Love, Outdo Yourself, and Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: Since the books I’ve finished this week were started before Jan. 1st, I haven’t made any progress towards these challenges yet.

Total pages read for the week: 722

Total number of books for the year: 2.  Since I celebrated my Birthday this week, I got a lot more reading done than I thought I would.  However, the COYER New Year’s Read-a-Thon was a bit of a flail for me.  I didn’t finish a single book for it.  I’m going to try to make up for that by getting in as much reading time as possible for Bout of Books 12.

Top Commenter: Every week I’ll be posting the top commenter.  For this week, my Top Commenter was Shaina from Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

What I’m Reading Monday #18

Currently Reading:  The Sunken by S.C. Green, a review book, and Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, for the read-along.

Sunken Ivanhoe

FinishedWe Are the Birds of the Coming Storm by Lola Lafon, which I reviewed on Friday, The End of Violet and Abby by Scott Silver, which I reviewed on Saturday, and The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson, which I’ll be reviewing on Tuesday.

Layout 1 Violet Broken

Winter 2014-2015 COYER Progress:  I’ve read 1 book towards my goal of 10, but in trying to get as much reading time in as possible and also celebrating Christmas, I haven’t kept up with my “social” goals.

Total pages read for the week: 873

Total number of books for the year: 64.  I got a lot more reading done than I thought I would.  I’ve made a lot of progress with getting caught up on my review books. I pushed one back to January, but with some luck and lots of reading time over the next couple of days, I shouldn’t have to push anymore back.  I’m also determined to finish 65 books this year, so I’m going to try to finish either The Sunken or Ivanhoe before the 1st.

What are you reading this week?

What I’m Reading Monday #17

Currently Reading: The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson and We Are the Birds of the Coming Storm by Lola Lafon, both review books, and Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, for the read-along.

Broken Layout 1 Ivanhoe

FinishedVillette by Charlotte Brontë which I reviewed on Saturday, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, and Soldier of Blood and Fortune by Emma J.R. Hawk, the 2nd book in what was supposed to be a serial.  I was told by the publisher back when I agreed to review Justice in a Dead Land that each new part would be published every Monday (this is also stated on the book description on Amazon).  It’s been two months since Soldier of Blood and Fortune was published, so I’m a bit irritated at having wasted my money.

Total pages read for the week: 962

Total number of books for the year: 61 (I don’t count Soldier of Blood and Fortune as a book).  It feels so good to finish the books that I’ve struggled to finish for months!  I’m not quite caught up on my review books yet, so I may end up having to push one or two of them back to January, but I’m hoping to catch up after this week so that it only affects those books.

What are you reading this week?