I had a great time participating in Thankfully Reading weekend.
I finished The Sixth Wife this morning and started reading The Winner by David Baldacci. I didn't have much time to read today because I had a photo shoot.
I definitely read more than I thought I would this weekend. I finished three e books, two print books and an audiobook. I read a lot more on three books but didn't get a chance to finish them.
I am looking forward to starting The Game of Thrones series this week and rereading The Hobbit. I also picked up a Ryhs Bowen mystery this weekend. Going to give it a try.
I love traditions and I am hopefully going to keep the Thankfully Reading challenge every year because it is one I really enjoy!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Thankfully Reading Weekend: Saturday
9:30 am
I am looking forward to getting in some good reading today before my photo shoot this afternoon. My husband is helping a friend move in to his new house today which means that I get tons of uninterrupted reading time! My first read this morning will be The Sinatra Club. I am really interested to find out what led Sal Polisi to write this tell all book. I assume he gets busted for his mob activities.
11:30 pm
Today was so busy! I finally finished The Sinatra Club. It was so good! Was very interesting to find out all the inside scoop. I also spent some time listening to more of The Three Musketeers audiobook.
What is your favorite bookish memory?
I would have to say one of my favorite bookish memories is that we were allowed to read at the dinner table. Most families would have frowned on that but we were able to have our books while we were eating. I appreciate the fact that my patents did everything they could to encourage us to read.
I am looking forward to getting in some good reading today before my photo shoot this afternoon. My husband is helping a friend move in to his new house today which means that I get tons of uninterrupted reading time! My first read this morning will be The Sinatra Club. I am really interested to find out what led Sal Polisi to write this tell all book. I assume he gets busted for his mob activities.
11:30 pm
Today was so busy! I finally finished The Sinatra Club. It was so good! Was very interesting to find out all the inside scoop. I also spent some time listening to more of The Three Musketeers audiobook.
What is your favorite bookish memory?
I would have to say one of my favorite bookish memories is that we were allowed to read at the dinner table. Most families would have frowned on that but we were able to have our books while we were eating. I appreciate the fact that my patents did everything they could to encourage us to read.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Thankfully Reading Weekend: Friday
12:00 pm
Today will be a sporadic reading day since I have some photos to edit and get back to clients so they can order their Christmas cards. I am also excited to hang out with my lifelong childhood friends tonight. One of them lives in South America now so I rarely get to see her. I decided to listen to an audiobook while editing. I am listening to The Four Million by O. Henry. I also plan on finishing up books I have been working on for the past few weeks, The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside the New York Mafia by Sal Polisi,The Sixth Wife by Jean Plaidy and a work book Your Marketing Sucks by Mark Stevens. We shall see how far I can get in any of these books. I will check in later!
11:30 pm
What a fun day! I love the holidays. I was so excited to meet my friend's 5 month old. He was the happiest baby ever! I am sad that I probably won't see him for another year.
I finished The Four Million by O. Henry on my trip and started The Three Musketeers audiobook. The Three Musketeers was one of my favorite books as a child. I love rereading books I haven't read since I was young because I just see so much more now. I am going to read a little of The Sinatra Club before bed but don't know how long I will make it because I am tired!
Which book have you been most thankful for this year?
This was a hard question as an answer didn't immediately pop into my head like it usually does. But after thinking I realized the book I have been most thankful for this year are the Nancy Drew books. I have been rereading them this year and I love how they bring back floods of wonderful memories. When I read them I flash back to when my mom pulled out all her old Nancy Drew books and let us read them. It is one of my most vivid memories. I remember exactly how I felt running out the door of our old house to our swing set and reading them. I also remember when my mom threw those books away later which breaks my heart to this day. But rereading them has been great. And I just let my mom borrow them and she is rereading them. They are just simple books with not much plot but its the memories that make them special and make me thankful for them!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thankfully Reading: Wednesday & Thursday
I have decided to begin Thankfully Reading a day early since I won't have much time to read tomorrow and over the weekend. I am just cooking today so able to get a little reading in between dishes. I seem to do better with a running blog post so I will be checking in at various times of the day.
1:00 pm
I am starting with The Passage by Justin Cronin. I only have about 100 pages left in this book and I am determined to finally finish it. This book is finally starting to get so intense and really, really good. I was debating on whether I was going to get the next book in this series and now I know for sure I want to read it!
3:30 pm
Well just finished The Passage. The second half of this book really saved it for me. The ending was great and now I can't wait to read The Twelve!
8:00 pm
I started Divergent by Veronica Roth this afternoon. 200 pages in and I am loving it. I don't want to put it down. That is all I can write because I am so eager to get back to it!
Thursday
Happy Thanksgiving! My cat woke me up at 7 am this morning so I decided it was a good time to start reading before heading to my parents. I finished Divergent. I loved the whole book. The story was great and held my attention. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch with my family. It was a great day full of laughter and food. We came home in the evening and it was great to curl up in my pjs with a book. I decided my next read would be Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich. I love the Stephanie Plum books, although they are all pretty much the same plot. They are light reads and I enjoy the silliness of them. I zipped through that before bed. Very thankful to have had a perfect day!
Recipe for reading
Jen at the Literate Housewife posted a Thankfully Reading mini challenge that asks What is your perfect reading recipe? I would have to say that more than anything I love reading in a quiet house with a warm blanket in the winter and rain. There really is nothing better. If I am reading on my Nook I love a dark room. I really like reading without any distractions but if it is a really good book I can get caught up in the action and not notice what is going on around me.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Getting Ready for the Holidays!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love getting together with family, eating lots and just having a wonderful day full of laughter. Thanksgiving has changed over the years but I am actually finding I am enjoying it more when I am cooking. It is a sense of pride and accomplishment when my grandmother and aunt proclaims one of my dishes delicious. High praise indeed from those culinary experts! The last few years has also been fun participating in Thankfully Reading and I am looking forward to that as well. Although, I have realized that all the leisure time I was planning was not to be as I overbooked myself. But still there should be some time to squeak in some reading. I plan on starting Thankfully Reading on Wednesday since that is my cooking day. I actually picked some books out to read which I usually don't do. But I am also allowing myself to change my mind if I want to. I would love to read 4 books this weekend. That might be stretching it a bit but we shall see!
I finished the last Matched trilogy book last night. I bought it the day it came out and started reading it. But I soon realized I couldn't remember what happened in the first two books. So I went back and read Matched on my Nook and then listened to Crossed on Audible. I felt the same way about Reached as I did about Crossed. It was ok but nothing special. I loved Matched and thought it was terrific and fascinating. But the last two books were entertaining but just didn't grab me.
I am reading The Passage now. I have been reading this book for three or four months. I am struggling getting through. I feel like the first half of the book was just setting up the second half and dragged on way too long. The book is finally picking up and starting to hold my attention. I will probably try to finish it this week. I have 300 or so pages left.
Today I have a photo shoot and have to go to the grocery store so time to start my day!
I finished the last Matched trilogy book last night. I bought it the day it came out and started reading it. But I soon realized I couldn't remember what happened in the first two books. So I went back and read Matched on my Nook and then listened to Crossed on Audible. I felt the same way about Reached as I did about Crossed. It was ok but nothing special. I loved Matched and thought it was terrific and fascinating. But the last two books were entertaining but just didn't grab me.
I am reading The Passage now. I have been reading this book for three or four months. I am struggling getting through. I feel like the first half of the book was just setting up the second half and dragged on way too long. The book is finally picking up and starting to hold my attention. I will probably try to finish it this week. I have 300 or so pages left.
Today I have a photo shoot and have to go to the grocery store so time to start my day!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Bad Blogger
I am a terrible blogger! I can't believe I didn't post one blog during 2012. It has been a very busy year with finally graduating from college and going full time with my photography business. My love of reading has definitely suffered. I have still been reading of course but I have probably read less this year than ever before. I have been making an effort to go to the library more and spend less on buying books. We moved into a new house this year and I gave away over half of my book collection. And by give away I mean it is in a giant box in the garage to give away:-)
This year I have been rereading the Nancy Drew books which I am really enjoying. They are simple reads but have so many memories. I have also been reading Jean Plaidy's books about the Tudor's (always a fascinating subject). I have been into Ernest Hemingway books too after reading The Paris Wife a fictionalization of his relationship with his first wife. I have been really into reading a lot of young adult fiction this year too. I reread The Hunger Games books in anticipation of the first movie. I loved them just as much on my third read as I did my first. I also read a lot of Maureen Johnson's YA novels. I enjoyed her tweets so much I got a bunch of her books and read them in two weeks. They are just fun reads. I also read the new Jodi Picoult (super cute fairy tale she wrote with her daughter and also her adult novel), Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner. I also love Jennifer's tweets and have been keeping up with her constant struggle to make people see that women writers are neglected. I found this cool app Viggle where you could watch tv and earn points and get rewards. That was very exciting as I used my points for Nook books. I received about $40 of free books! Sadly the app got less exciting and too much maintenance when points shrank so I don't use it anymore. But the Nook books I have read this year include The Book Thief which was a terrific book and one I have been meaning to read for years! I read a great book The Sisters about the Mitford Family. I have been wanting to read their story for years and it didn't disappoint. Absolutely fascinating family! I really enjoyed the new Shannon Hale book Palace of Stone. Great follow up to Princess Academy! I also finally read The Giver by Lois Lowry. I can't believe it took me that long to discover it. Number the Stars is one of my favorite childhood books. I also started reading the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. Love, love those books. They are so entertaining and fun. I devoured those and the Heist Society books (guy in there is named Hale so if course I had to read!). I read the new Sookie Stackhouse book. Afraid that series doesn't hold much pleasure for me anymore. I enjoyed Below Stairs which was a true story of a maid/cook that Upstairs/Downstairs and Downton Abbey took some material from. The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy was another great read. I love how she flashed back and forth from the modern time to Nazi Germany. I love all the delicious food they are always making. Makes my mouth water! I enjoyed the new White House Chef book Affairs of Steak. I really love those books. I also read Dirk Hayhurst's books The Bullpen Gospels and Out of My League. Both great books with glimpses into major and minor league baseball life. I hugely enjoyed both books. I know I have read other books this year but I will have to check out my Goodreads page to refresh my memory!
I am looking forward to the November release of Reached by Ally Condie and the new Stephanie Plum book (yes I still love those! Guilty pleasure). I think I will do Thankfully Reading over Thanksgiving weekend this year. The weather is turning cold which means one thing. Time for my annual (sometimes semi annual) of the Betsy-Tacy books. So back to Heaven to Betsy! I will try to blog more often.
This year I have been rereading the Nancy Drew books which I am really enjoying. They are simple reads but have so many memories. I have also been reading Jean Plaidy's books about the Tudor's (always a fascinating subject). I have been into Ernest Hemingway books too after reading The Paris Wife a fictionalization of his relationship with his first wife. I have been really into reading a lot of young adult fiction this year too. I reread The Hunger Games books in anticipation of the first movie. I loved them just as much on my third read as I did my first. I also read a lot of Maureen Johnson's YA novels. I enjoyed her tweets so much I got a bunch of her books and read them in two weeks. They are just fun reads. I also read the new Jodi Picoult (super cute fairy tale she wrote with her daughter and also her adult novel), Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner. I also love Jennifer's tweets and have been keeping up with her constant struggle to make people see that women writers are neglected. I found this cool app Viggle where you could watch tv and earn points and get rewards. That was very exciting as I used my points for Nook books. I received about $40 of free books! Sadly the app got less exciting and too much maintenance when points shrank so I don't use it anymore. But the Nook books I have read this year include The Book Thief which was a terrific book and one I have been meaning to read for years! I read a great book The Sisters about the Mitford Family. I have been wanting to read their story for years and it didn't disappoint. Absolutely fascinating family! I really enjoyed the new Shannon Hale book Palace of Stone. Great follow up to Princess Academy! I also finally read The Giver by Lois Lowry. I can't believe it took me that long to discover it. Number the Stars is one of my favorite childhood books. I also started reading the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. Love, love those books. They are so entertaining and fun. I devoured those and the Heist Society books (guy in there is named Hale so if course I had to read!). I read the new Sookie Stackhouse book. Afraid that series doesn't hold much pleasure for me anymore. I enjoyed Below Stairs which was a true story of a maid/cook that Upstairs/Downstairs and Downton Abbey took some material from. The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy was another great read. I love how she flashed back and forth from the modern time to Nazi Germany. I love all the delicious food they are always making. Makes my mouth water! I enjoyed the new White House Chef book Affairs of Steak. I really love those books. I also read Dirk Hayhurst's books The Bullpen Gospels and Out of My League. Both great books with glimpses into major and minor league baseball life. I hugely enjoyed both books. I know I have read other books this year but I will have to check out my Goodreads page to refresh my memory!
I am looking forward to the November release of Reached by Ally Condie and the new Stephanie Plum book (yes I still love those! Guilty pleasure). I think I will do Thankfully Reading over Thanksgiving weekend this year. The weather is turning cold which means one thing. Time for my annual (sometimes semi annual) of the Betsy-Tacy books. So back to Heaven to Betsy! I will try to blog more often.
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