A Reading Life (38)

Conversation with myself lately...

Me: "Why do you never finish a book during the set read-a-long time?" 
Myself: "I don't know."
Me: "Well, it's pretty lame."
Myself: "You're not my real mom!!!"

Yes, that's right. I have been rebelling against reading within a constrained schedule which doesn't work out too well with my monthly read-a-long, bi-yearly retreat group and this read-a-long event I'm hosting for the next five months (more on that at the end of this post). Hence the overcoming procrastination book below. I'm really trying to do better. Honest. I'm just a work in progress. Like that novel a writer took their entire life to complete. Yup, that's me. 

Keep calm and soldier on...

Currently reading

Solomon's Bride, Rebecca Hazell

The Once and Future King, T.H. White

A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray
In the Woods, Tana French

Audio

A Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin (Still moseying along)

Family Reading Project (20 minutes daily, alternating titles)

We are getting ready to start our reading after the boys get back from their dad's this week. I think we are going to start with The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson.

TuesBookTalk - We are currently reading The Once and Future King, T.H. White for June.

Lit Collective - We are reading Tana French books for our August retreat. The first three in her Dublin Murder Squad series:

In The Woods
The Likeness
Faithful Place

Book Hauls

Better World Books - Have I mentioned how much I love them?

Geist, Philippa Ballantine
The Prisoner of Heaven, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Hollow, Jessica Verday
Let Me In, John Ajvide Lindqvist (I've already read this...a favorite. Will read again)
The Lottery, Shirley Jackson
The Witchcraft of Salem Village, Shirley Jackson
Home Before Dark, Charles Maclean
All the Women of the Bible, M.L. del Mastro
The Pen Commandments, Steven Frank
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Overcoming Procrastination (will it help? Probably not. lol)
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ancient Egypt
The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Roman Empire

My last library sale

Inkdeath, Cornelia Funke
Kate's Choice, Louisa May Alcott
The Kingmakers (Vampire Empire #3), Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith
The Hallowed Ones, Laura Bickle
Ancestral Hungers, Scott Baker
The Witches' Kitchen, Cecelia Holland
We Are Water, Wally Lamb
Madame du Barry: The Wages of Beauty, Joan Haslip
Winter of the World, Ken Follett

In case you missed it, I'm hosting a five month long read-a-long event which coincides with four of the perpetual/long-term reading challenges I host - The MEGA Perpetual Challenge Read-a-Long.

Each month, we will be reading a book that works with each challenge:

June - The Fantasy Project: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray
July/August - The Michener Challenge: The Covenant, James A. Michener
September - The Never-Ending Anne Rice Challenge: The Wolf Gift, Anne Rice
October - The Stephen King Challenge: Salem's Lot, Stephen King

You can read more details at this post and there is also a page in the menu above which is the hub for the event. I hope you will join me!

What's going on in your Reading Life?

A Reading Life (37) and Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon

I can't believe I haven't done one of these posts since November! Just a testament to how busy I've been with life and dealing with illness and ongoing dental issues. I'm planning on doing this posts again weekly, but I'm not going to post on a set day. It might be Monday, or Tuesday, or even on a Sunday. I'm going to live dangerously!

Currently reading:

Solomon's Bride, Rebecca Hazell

A Tale of Two Cites, Charles Dickens

Inspector of the Dead, David Morrell

Audio:

A Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin (I'm trying to listen. I haven't been very dedicated to listening to audio lately)

Family Reading Project (20 minutes daily, alternating titles):

Sadly, I'm having a hard time pinning the boys down to continue this with me. Teen and preteen boys are hard to pin down for reading. All they care about is video games. Hoping to get this started back up going into summer.

TuesBookTalk - We are currently reading A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. In May, we're reading Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen.

Lit Collective - we have just finished voting on our featured author for our August retreat and it looks like it will be Tana French! I'm so excited! I will be posting the poll to decide the books we will read by the end of this week (hopefully).

Recent Book Acquisitions:

From two library sales over the past weekend -

We Are Not Ourselves, Matthew Thomas

The Martian, Andy Weir

The Source, James A. Michener

The Wife, The Maid and the Mistress, Ariel Lawhon

Sycamore Row, John Grisham

Bliss House, Laura Benedict

The Orchardist, Amanda Coplin

The Winter People, Jennifer McMahon

Bones of the Lost, Kathy Reichs

My Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon plans:

Inspector of the Dead, David Morrell

Home Before Dark, Charles Maclean (if it arrives from Better World Books in time!)

I'm planning on participating in Dewey's Read-a-Thon on Saturday and will probably be reading Home Before Dark and if I finish it, either Dickens or The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M.J. Rose.

What's been going on in your Reading Life?

A Reading Life (26)

More than halfway through the first month of the year. Hard to believe! So glad to be feeling better. Ready to get this year started!

Listening To: Still A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. I find myself anxiously waiting for my next excursion in the car so I can listen to this. SO good!

Books finished:
The Gods of Heavenly Punishment, Jennifer Cody Epstein (review)

Reading: 
Possession, A.S. Byatt
Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
The Ghost Orchid, Carol Goodman

Coming Up:  
Becoming Josephine, Heather Webb

Watching: True Detective with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Really liked it. Also, enjoying the new seasons of Lost Girl, Being Human and the new show,  Bitten. I was really impressed with Bitten. Some people are complaining that Downton Abbey is too boring so far this season, but I have to say that I'm enjoying it. Recording Klondike tonight on the Discovery channel. It also looks amazing. Of course, the best was Sherlock last night. I adore Benedict Cumberbatch! As for at the movie theater...I saw Devil's Due yesterday. It was pretty good, apart from the shaky camera because the husband in the film insisted on filming everything. I was quite nauseated...literally. I didn't really like the ending much either.

Making: Okay, everything I cooked last week was a winner! New recipes I tried that are definitely keepers were Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy, Slow Cooker Crazy Nachos, and Cheesy Hamburger Pie (I added links so you can check out the recipes). My boys were so glad to have me back in the kitchen again. HaHa!

Grateful for: again...finally feeling better!

Looking forward to: mini-bloggiesta this weekend!

Books I received or purchased:

Won...

from the author

Book tour...

Dollar Tree...

library sale...

What's going on in your reading life?

A Reading Life (25)

Yup, I'm behind on these posts again. I was really sick from the weekend before New Year's up until the end of last week so I haven't felt much like putting big posts together. I'm finally feeling better and I sincerely hope I don't get sick again this Winter. I've been sick off and on since November!

Listening To: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin...decided to listen to it on audio since mom is reading my print copy and I want to finish this one and the next book before the new season of the HBO series starts in April.

Books finished:
Winter Solstice, Rosamunde Pilcher (not reviewed, but wonderful, comforting holiday read)
The Snowman Maker, Barbara Briggs Ward (review)

Reading: 
The Gods of Heavenly Punishment, Jennifer Cody Epstein
Possession, A.S. Byatt
Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
The Ghost Orchid, Carol Goodman

Coming Up:  
Jubilee's Journey, Bette Lee Crosby
Becoming Josephine, Heather Webb

Watching: Still loving Almost Human, Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist. Getting ready to watch the premieres of Being Human, Lost Girl and Bitten on SyFy...can't wait. The jury is still out on True Detective last night on HBO, but I really enjoyed Helix on SyFy last Friday. One of my absolute favorites though is American Horror Story: Coven. It is seriously off the hook this season!

Making: I haven't been doing much cooking, as you can imagine. But back in the saddle again this week. I will be making Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy, Slow Cooker Crazy Nachos, Oven Baked Tacos, and Cheesy Hamburger Pie.

Grateful for: the fact that I had the strength on Sunday to get all the Christmas decorations back in storage. Yes!

Looking forward to: this new year and new possibilities.

Books I received or purchased: library sale!

 What's been going on in your Reading Life?

A Reading Life

Last week of summer. Can I get an amen from all the Fall-ites out there?!

Listening To: Anna Dressed in Blood.  Got my new FM transmitter and it's the coolest thing! You can download your MP3 audio files onto a flash drive or SD card and plug those into the transmitter and they play through your car speakers. You can also hook a CD player or MP3 player directly into it. The only downside is that you cannot fast forward when you plug in a flash drive or memory card--only advance track by track--so I have to remember to only stop listening at the end of each track. Minor glitch so I think I can handle it. Incidentally, I tried to get Stoker's Manuscript from my library, but they didn't have it on audio or Overdrive. Maybe they'll get it soon. J. Kaye has me fired up about that one!

Books finished last week:  
The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen, Julia Ibbotson (Review)

Reading: 
City of Bones, Cassandra Clare
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (TuesBookTalk)
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova (read-a-long)
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (Classics spin)
The Arrow Chest, Robert Parry (read-a-long at Castle Macabre)
The Shogun's Daughter, Laura Joh Rowland (review coming Wednesday)

Coming Up:  
Something from the list below is a slim possibility...
The Man in the Picture, Susan Hill
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
Lives of the Monster Dogs, Kirsten Bakis
Contact, Carl Sagan

Watching: Enjoyed the first episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day on BBC America on Saturday. Love that show so much! I'm also really enjoying Last Tango in Halifax on PBS. Sweet and funny. The Dexter finale next week...what will happen? I'm full of predictions! Ray Donovan was also quite unnerving. Tonight was the premiere of Bones, one of my fave shows, and the new show, Sleepy Hollow. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has always been one of my favorite stories. Loved the cartoon version when I was a kid and the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp film from several years back. I enjoyed the first episode. Heads really rolled. LOL! Over the weekend, I saw the long awaited Insidious, Chapter Two. Great movie! I was so scared. My mom was like, "Why do you come to these?" I love it though! I was happy to hear that it topped the box office on its opening weekend and broke the record for top grossing live action film released in September.

Making:  I've been making some delicious slow cooker recipes. I'm really liking the Crock Pot Lasagna recipe I found on Six Sisters' Stuff, of course! It's so easy and absolutely delicious. I'm making it this week with pork sausage instead of ground beef. Yum! I'm also making Meatloaf Muffins again. These are baked in muffin pans and are so much more convenient than a whole meatloaf. However, clean up last time was kind of crappy, even with non-stick pans, so I bought cupcake liners. We'll see if that makes it any easier.

Grateful for: This book right here. Write-a-Thon, Rochelle Melander...can't wait to get started!

Also, that my dad bought this book years and years ago (1983 to be exact) and I still have it...The Unabridged Edgar Allan Poe, 1178 pages of Poe greatness! 

Looking forward to:  listening to these great CDs they were giving away FREE at my sons' music school! Three Christmas titles, including The Boston Camerata: A Medieval Christmas, the Fred Claus movie soundtrack, and The McGarrigle Christmas Hour (new-to-me group). Also, The Corrs: Home and Death Cab for Cutie: Keys and Codes (remix EP). Pretty cool!

Picture: Library sale haul!

Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

The White Pearl, Kate Furnivall

Stargazer, Claudia Gray

Hourglass, Claudia Gray

A Terrible Beauty, Graham Masterton

The Bad Queen, Carolyn Meyer

Children of the Alley, Naguib Mahfouz

A Dangerous Climate, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

What's going on in your reading life?