WHAT ARE YOU READING (ON MAILBOX) MONDAY?

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on tour and is being hosted this month by Bluestocking.




WON:
Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV by Karleen Koen...from the RHFL anniversary party. Thanks Emery!
Art and Madness: A Memoir of Lust Without Reason by Anne Roiphe...from the ladies at Book Sake
The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian...from Joanna at A Worn Path


PAPERBACK SWAP:
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (UK edition)...I finally got it! I've been wanting this one for SO long!

LIBRARY SALE:
The Singer Trilogy (The Singer, The Song, The Finale) by Calvin Miller (my edition is the three trade paperbacks in a nice slipcase.  The artwork is awesome!)
Castle Dor by Daphne Du Maurier
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
The Line by Teri Hall
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl
The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose
Helen of Troy by Margaret George
King Arthur by Norma Lorre Goodrich (non-fiction)

It's Monday! What are you reading?  is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey


My reading has been pretty sub-par lately, but that is going to change this week.  I haven't done "It's Monday" for a long time, but I'm hoping to join in more frequently.



Recently finished:
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (review coming soon)


Still ongoing:
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (I will finish this tonight)
John Adams by David McCullough (will I ever finish it?)
Dante's Journey by JC Marino
The Greek Lord and the English Maiden by Patty Apostolides


Starting this week:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (TuesBookTalk Read Alongs)
The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks (Read along for my Tennessee Book Bloggers group)
Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith (book tour--review on Friday and watch for the guest post by Anne Easter Smith on Wednesday)

What do you have planned for your reading week?

IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING ON MAILBOX MONDAY?

Mailbox Monday...this month's host is I'm Booking It.

(For book descriptions (from goodreads), click the titles below the image)

Won:


from Bitten by Books:
Etched in Bone by Adrian Phoenix
A Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix


The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia...from Zohar at Man of la Book

Purchased:


from Barnes and Noble online:
I've made it no secret to my blogging friends that I have A LOT of weight to lose and with my illness last year due to a leg infection, activity has become pretty limited.  I decided to try these new Jane Fonda DVDs.  They are geared toward older people or people who need to start out slow due to health and/or inactivity issues.  Wish me luck! (click the titles for more info and B&N)
Jane Fonda Prime Time:  Fit and Strong
Jane Fonda Prime Time:  Walk Out
and
The Girl Who Trod On A Loaf by Kathryn Davis


from my monthly library sale:
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
The Silver Hand: The Song of Albion 2 by Stephen R. Lawhead
Vermeer: A View of Delft by Anthony Bailey
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss
The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus
Green Darkness by Anya Seton
The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis
Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life by Lyndall Gordon
Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz


I also won this lovely handmade bookmark from Daphne at Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books.  Isn't it gorgeous?! This is the vision in my head of what Eleanor of Aquitaine might have looked like (as a young woman).

It's Monday...what are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

I do not participate in this meme very often.  Maybe this is why. *hangs head in shame*  As I visited other blogs yesterday and today, I noticed that there are a lot of prolific readers out there.  I just cannot seem to read so many books in a week.  As I was saying to one blogger, it's either because I'm a slow reader or because I waste too much time.  I'm going to go with the latter here.  LOL!

Finished reading last week:


The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner (watch for my review this week)
The Raven Queen by Jules Watson (my review)

Reading this week:


Dante's Journey by JC Marino (continuing)
What The Night Knows by Dean Koontz (first week of TuesBookTalk, Ch. 1-17)
The Greek Maiden and the English Lord by Patty Apostolides


Coming up:
these are all review titles still left over from last year...ugh...so behind!

Captivity by Deborah Noyes
Blood and Silk by Carol McKay
Once Wicked, Always Dead by T. Marie Benchley
The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw
The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman


So...my goal is to stop wasting so much time and become as prolific a reader as all you other wonderful bloggers out there.  Please keep your positive thoughts behind me!

IT'S MONDAY...WHAT ARE YOU READING? (and makeshift read-a-thon wrap-up)

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey and this week is the one year anniversary of her taking over hosting.  Congrats, Sheila!

So, I participated in two read-a-thons this weekend and my main goal was to finish Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff...and I did not finish it.  Still reading it! It has been awhile since I've read non-fiction and it's a little slow going.  Not that it's a bad book...it's not.  It's just that non-fiction isn't quite as exciting as fiction is (most of the time) and if a person hasn't read the genre in awhile, it takes some adjustment.

Anyway....

Currently reading:

I have to finish Cleopatra AND The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks (for TuesBookTalk) by tomorrow night...eek! Can I do it?  Well, I'm going to give it the old college try!

After I finish the above, I need to work on finishing The Monk by Matthew Lewis and Quicksilver by Joy Spraycar.

Next in line are...

Captivity by Deborah Noyes
Dante's Journey by JC Marino
Blood and Silk by Carol McKay
Once Bitten, Twice Dead by T. Marie Benchley
The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw
The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

these are all review books left over from 2010 that I MUST finish!

In the future:

I have review books spaced out a little more after I finish the above and I hope to get to my personal reading project of Reading Deliberately...My Way soon.

And what are you reading this week?

IT'S MONDAY...WHAT ARE YOU READING?

This weekly feature is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
I am so swamped with books to read, I don't know if I'm coming or going! And I'm still so behind...I have never completely caught up since my long illness over the summer.  Anyway, I am getting a lot of reading done because I'm reading so much right now so that's a plus anyway.  I'm about ten reviews behind and I need to get caught up before I start NaNoWriMo next week.  I'm going to take a cue from Martha at Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf  and only give my Goodreads rating and a short thought or two on books from my TBR list, at least until I catch up on review books.  Review books will have a full review, of course.

Finished over the past week:

Echoes from the Macabre by Daphne Du Maurier
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
The Wedding Gift by Kathleen McKenna

In Progress:

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex (I am ALMOST finished!)
Orlando by Virginia Woolf (reading for Literature by Women book club on Barnes & Noble...may not finish because I'm SO behind in the reading!)

To be read:

Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires by Molly Roe (have to read this one tomorrow as I'm up for a blog tour on Tuesday) on my Sony Reader
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (have to have read by Tuesday night at 10:30 ET for TuesBookTalk on Twitter)
The Sixth Surrender by Hana Samek Norton (this one is for a book tour for Crazy Book Tours...have to have finished and mailed by Wednesday)

Let's walk a moment in my shoes...LOL!

Upcoming:

Review Books:
Down the Drain by Daniel Pyle (on my Sony Reader)
By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan
Quicksilver by Joy Spraycar
Dante's Journey by JC Marano
Adam & Eve by Sena Jeter Naslund
Captivity by Deborah Noyes
The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw
Once Wicked, Always Dead by T. Marie Benchley
Blood and Silk by Carol McKay
The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman


Book Club Reads for November (so far):
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (for Reading with Tequila book club on Goodreads)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (for Literature by Women on Barnes & Noble)

November Must-Read:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (before movie comes out on November 19th!)

I'm not too overbooked (pardon the pun) am I?!

Wish me luck...I'm going to need it!

READ-A-THON WRAP-UP & IT'S MONDAY...WHAT ARE YOU READING?

While I really enjoyed the read-a-thon, as always, I did not get much reading in.  I finally finished Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show by Frank Delaney.  Great book! And I got started on The Queen's Pawn by Christy English.  Also, good...so far! Thanks so much again to Jenn at Book Crazy and Jami at YA Addict for hosting and I hope you will have another one in the (near) future!

In other read-a-thon news, just a reminder about my week long read-a-thon coming up the first week of fall, the Fall Catch-Up Read-A-Thon.  Details here.  I will have a sign up post at the end of the week.

Also, Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon is coming up October 9th.  You can sign up now here.

It's Monday...What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Finished Last Week:

The Wives of Henry Oades--Johanna Moran
Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show--Frank Delaney

Currently reading:

The Queen's Pawn--Christy English
The Lace Reader--Brunonia Barry
Arcadia Falls--Carol Goodman
Under the Dome--Stephen King

Other current reading plans:

I was planning on reading The Handmaid's Tale--Margaret Atwood for the Classics read-a-long (which started almost two weeks ago), but I can't find my copy of the book.  That's what happens when your library is so disorganized! And then the library didn't have it.  I might borrow my mom's copy, but I may be too behind now.  We'll see.

In September, participating in a few book group discussions:

Vampire Academy--Richelle Mead for the Reading with Tequila book group on Goodreads.
The Other Queen--Philippa Gregory the Tudor History Lovers group on Goodreads.

Up next:

Dracula in Love--Karen Essex
By Fire, By Water--Mitchell James Kaplan
Quicksilver--Joy Spraycar

and

a new selection coming next week for #TuesBookTalk on Twitter.

A warning:

I am really behind on reviews so be prepared for a bombardment of reviews this week.  At least four of them!

So that's what I'm reading! How about you?

Mailbox Monday/It's Monday...what are you reading? (another late edition)

Please note:  I apologize for the awful formatting of this post.  When I was inserting the art pics from the CD, it caused the whole thing to go wanky on me...ugh!

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page and is now on monthly blog tours.  This month is being hosted by Shanyn at Chick Loves Lit.

(Please click titles for book descriptions at Goodreads)

In the mail:

From monthly subscription to yourmusic.com

The new CD by Hole entitled Nobody's Daughter.  I realize that this is not a book, but I had to share it because of the artwork used on the cover and the CD insert.

Notice how the heads in both images are cropped off at the neck.  A symbolism of how both women were executed.  Clever!

Back Cover--Anne Boleyn

Cover--Marie Antoinette

Here is the image from the CD insert,

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey.

Bought:

As I was purchasing school supplies for the boys at Walmart, I came across this journal with my number one favorite band, Aerosmith! I had to buy it, of course. =O)

The following books were purchased at the Goodwill half-price sale.

The Lady Elizabeth--Alison Weir

The Great Stink--Clare Clark

Not the End of the World--Kate Atkinson

Infinity in the Palm of her Hand: A Novel of Adam & Eve--Gioconda Belli

In Ashes Lie--Marie Brennan

The Enchantress of Florence--Salman Rushdie

Q--Luther Blissett

Did you get anything good this week?

It's Monday...what are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Currently Reading:

Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show--Frank Delaney

The Red Door--Charles Todd

The Lace Reader--Brunonia Barry (for my weekly book chat, TuesBookTalk on Twitter)

Later this Week:

Time to put down the ARCs/review copies (temporarily) to participate in Monica's (Bibliophilic Book Blog) Read Your Own Books Read-A-Thon! It goes from 9:00am this Friday until 9:00 am Monday, 8/16.  Can't wait to get some of my own books read! I haven't come up with my list yet, but stay tuned.  I'll have it posted soon.

Up Next:

The Queen's Pawn--Christy English

By Fire, By Water--Mitchell James Kaplan

Quicksilver--Joy Spraycar

It's Monday...What are you reading? and the Huge TBR Readathon wrap-up

So...big surprise...the readathon did not go as planned.  Life got in the way as usual! I'm begining to think that Me + Readathon = FAIL! Here is what I read:

Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia (review coming up in a day or two)
The International Kittens of Mystery! by Chris Dolley (reviewed on Cat Thursday last week)

This weekly event is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

My plans for reading this week are:

Virgin and the Crab by Robert Parry...finish and review
The Red Door by Charles Todd...finish and review, probably next week
Venetia's Kelly's Traveling Show by Frank Delaney

Other plans for reviews:

Review of Eclipse...book and movie

Next up:

The Queen's Pawn by Christy English
Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

and, darn it, I WILL start Under the Dome by Stephen King in August...I will, I will!

Have you tanked any readathons lately?  =O)   What's on your reading agenda?

Mailbox Monday/It's Monday...what are you reading?

Mailbox Monday is a weekly event currently hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.  Starting next Monday, Mailbox Monday will be going on weekly blog tours.  Stop by Marcia's page to find out where the next tour stop is.

It has been over a MONTH since I have done a MM post! Everyone knows why (pretty much) so these MM goodies are all from over a month...hope you don't mind. =O)

(click on the titles for book descriptions at Goodreads)

In the Mail:

Won:

The Scarlet Contessa--Jeanne Kalogridis...thanks to Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon.

A Night As Clear As Day--R.J. Rosenblum...thanks to Susan at Crazy Cat Lady's Library ( I do not have a link...I think she's moved her blog).

The Lady and the Poet--Maeve Haran...thanks to the GLBT Challenge host Amanda from The Zen Leaf.









For review:

Dracula in Love--Karen Essex...from Random House

By Fire, By Water--Mitchell James Kaplan...from the author

Quicksilver--Joy Spraycar...from the author

Angel Star--Jennifer Murgia...for a blog tour with Other Shelf Tours









From BookMooch:

The Archivist--Martha Cooley

Living Abroad in Ireland--Steenie Harvey...I can dream, can't I?!










Bought:

joined History Book Club (Introductory Package):

Blindspot:  By a Lady in Disguise & a Gentleman in Exile--Jane Kamensky & Jill Lepore

The Lady in the Tower:  The Fall of Anne Boleyn--Alison Weir

The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century--Ian Mortimer

A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke--James Horn

Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History--Nick Bunker





 
 
 
 

It's Monday...what are you reading? is a weekly event hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

I haven't finished ANYTHING in the past week! I'm still working on Virgin and the Crab by Robert Parry.  Honestly, I'm really enjoying this book...can't really explain why I'm reading it so slow.  Maybe my leg problem affected my brain's regulation of reading speed...LOL!

On the agenda this week:

I'm just going to re-post my reading goals for Kristen's (Bookworming in the 21st Century) Huge TBR Readathon (Take 2).

Note:  I received Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia today so I will be reading it this week for the readathon.

This is my self-imposed goal...to read the following books (and start at least one):

1. Finish Virgin and the Crab by Robert Parry (yes, I'm STILL reading it. I'm enjoying it, believe me...so I'm not sure what the problem is!)
2. Read Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show by Frank Delaney
3. Finish The Red Door by Charles Todd (I'm only in about 40-50 pages)
4. Read The International Kittens of Mystery by Chris Dolley for this week's Cat Thursday
5. Read (hopefully) or start The Queen's Pawn by Christy English
6. Read (hopefully) or start Dracula in Love by Karen Essex
7. Start Under the Dome by Stephen King (I have been wanting to read this for months...I'd like to at least start it!)
8. Possible addition to list...I'm supposed to be receiving Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia from Other Shelf Tours.

I realize these are lofty goals so I know I will probably still be reading some of these...hopefully the latter ones on the list (excluding Angel Star)...until the end of the month.

Upcoming in August:

By Fire, By Water--Mitchell James Kaplan...for review from the author
Quicksilver--Joy Spraycar...for review from the author
The Handmaid's Tale--Margaret Atwood...going to join Hey Lady! Watcha Readin'?  in the Classic Reads Book Club read-a-long at the end of August and through September.

Not sure what else is on the agenda for August, but I have a ton of books slated for challenges that I MUST get to (Handmaid's Tale is one of them...woot)!

Whew...I forgot how long these posts take! So what are you reading from your mailbox this week? =O)