Saturday, October 31, 2009
Have books, but no time to read them!
For now, I must finish getting ready for the trick or treaters! Make sure my lights are lit up and that nothing is going to blow away on me tonight!! Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Now what?
Shelley hasn't brought over the next Demon book yet so I think I will move along to an Anita Shreve book, A Change in Altitude. For weeks, while I was waiting for this book to arrive from the library, I thought the title was a Change in Attitude! Anyway, I have until November 4th to read it and return in so I'd better get at it. I believe this author has written about 15 books in total and I think I've read about 11 or 12 of them. I recall about a year ago, I'd picked one of her books up at the library and I couldn't get into to so I returned it unread!! I hate when that happens, but I tried!!
I discovered Anita Shreve while camping at Kenosee about three summers ago. We drove over to the red barn for the flea market and I picked up her book Fortune's Rocks. I finished it about 12 hours later :) Many of her books are set along the east coast where she is from, many of the books while not repeating the characters like some authors do, the setting repeats itself. Fortune's Rocks, The Pilot's Wife and Body Surfing all took place at the same location and the history of the house is talked about which made me think, how cool is that, I've read all those stories! Anita Shreve is right up there on my list of favorites. If I had to pick a favorite book of hers, it would be hard. I think Body Surfing was one of her best. She can write a great page turner whether it's set in the present day and time or 100 years ago. Perhaps when I've finished her two books I have on my list, I'll have to head to the library and try to find the book I never did finish. I think it was called Resistance and it was set during and after the 2nd world war I believe. Maybe that's why I found it so hard to get into. My husband is more the military history type of guy!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Five books Finished!
1. Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult
2. Take One by Karen Kingsbury
3. The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens
4. Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
5. California Demon by Julie Kenner
So after about 45 pages into the Deja Demon book, I decided that I had missed too much and I abandoned that book in favor of finding the second book in the series in my cluttered library room. I finished this book this afternoon after literally spending the entire Sunday in bed reading. I'm trying not to feel guilty about that, using the excuse that I'm still not feeling that great from this cold/flu but here I am sitting here Sunday evening knowing that no housework got done, no laundry to put away.
But that's all in the past. Tomorrow is another day and tonight I have started another Karen Kingsbury book, Every Now and Then. I've tired of the demon slaying suburbian housewife for now. Besides, Shelley has borrowed book three in the series, I'm sure I'll be able to start that book tomorrow!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Out of order!!
So to make a long story shorter, last night I rolled over, grabbed the book off my nightstand and decided to throw caution to the wind and read these books out of order, surely each book is good enough to stand alone on its own. But right from page one, I realized, maybe I shouldn't have been so lazy and grabbed the second installment off the shelf in our book room. I've obviously missed an important part of the story line by doing such a silly thing. But I think I'll get over it!
For now lets just say I'm now on the fifth book of my journey which means when it's finished, hopefully later tonight I will be ten percent of the way into this journey, but for now, I'm off to the library, they called while I was blogging. I think I have two more books waiting for me :)
Friday, October 23, 2009
From one extreme to another
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Kind of a let down
Maybe I had hoped for some sort of reconciliation at the end of the book, maybe the practical side of me demanded that Mary head back home to the country she lives in and take care of the things she left behind in Leaford, Ontario. I mean, she and her husband were both gone for weeks, who was paying their utility bills and being accountable for their home, workplace, friends they left behind? What was the woman going to do when her bank account ran out? I don't know, maybe because I read this book while suffering from one of the worst head colds I've had in years, I happened to miss out on some of the key elements of the book. Maybe because I feel like I'm on a deadline of sorts I needed to rush through the book. Either way, I would have to say, if you are going to read one of Lansen's books, check out The Girls. It was a page turning, thought provoking book that didn't disappoint. The Wife's Tale....wait until your drugged up on Tylenol Cold and Flu to read this one!!
Now on to the next one. I think I will dive into a book that is sure to be a fun read. I have three books in Julie Kenner's 'Demon Hunting Soccer Mom' series. I have a feeling it's not going to be as deep as the Twilight series and I should be able to polish off the first book in a couple of days, just in time for me to return it to the library!! Carpe Demon here I come!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Too sick to read????
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
On a roll!!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Ready to start book three tonight!
I think I'm in the mood for some Lori Lansens tonight. I will hope to start her book A Wife's Tale. I think I'm still on schedule, if it hadn't been for the fact that I've caught another cold/cough from my 12 yr old, I wouldn't have spent the day in bed yesterday after church. Oh well, off to take some cough syrup!! Have a good day!
Friday, October 16, 2009
One down, 49 to go!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
So many books, so little time.....
This morning as I sit here, my living room is filled with little people who of all things, are fighting over a book that one of the girls brought in with her this morning. It is called Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses. We just finished reading this book aloud, complete with fancy sounds. Now that's one way to grab a kid's attention. Even the boys thought this was indeed a fantastic book, for it was two of them who were arguing over the book and not the girls. Luckily this book is made of sturdy cardboard and therefore it should outlast the bickering that goes on in this house between friends. I'm glad my husband and I don't fight over our books. Of course, he, unlike myself actually reads his books right away after purchasing them. He obviously can control his impulse to buy every single book off a bargain table that looks even a bit interesting. He is a good influence in my life and hopefully after almost six months without purchasing a single book to add to my collection, I will have broken free from the compulsive purchases and will have learned to enjoy the books I actually HAVE lying around my home! Now hopefully I don't fall asleep early tonight, there's reading to be done!!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
167 days....50 books
Anyhow, I am thinking I need to devise a plan in order to accomplish the challenging task of ready 50 books in 167 days. Lets do the math.... if don't get started soon, it's not going to happen!! I mean what if some of the books don't hold my interest? And Christmas happens during those short five and a half months! It's a good thing I plan on staying home for Christmas, more time to read! Based on my calculations, if I start tonight I have to read a book every 3.34 days! That's a lot of reading. Perhaps I need to log my hours spent reading as well. This blog is becoming more complicated by the minute! Anyone ever wonder how many hours it takes the average reader to get through an average book? And just how many pages does an average book contain? My mind is spinning with all these questions that I must find the answers to. On top of it all, the library just called and I have two more books ready for pick up that I must run down and grab sometime this week before they ship them back. The books that are waiting for me are Anita Shreve's latest book, A Change of Altitude and.....and.....I'm trying to think what the other title could possibly be, I have quite a few on order at this time, most of which I've tried to include on this list even if they are not books that I own myself.
Oh, I've remembered!!! It's a Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens. This one, I am really looking forward to! Funny how when I think of books by Jodi Picoult, (like the one I am currently reading) and Lori Lansens, I think of Pharmasave in Estevan, which is really the only place to buy books in our city of Estevan, other than Walmart. I discovered both these authors while browsing the books, waiting for a prescription to be filled. I impulsively purchased Lori Lansen's book The Girls one day and it was one of the best books I have ever read! To learn more about Lori and her books, check out her website! http://www.randomhouse.ca/newface/lorilansens.php
Now Jodi Picoult I didn't just rush into. This was simply because Pharmasave had about 8 titles of her novels on display and every single cover jumped out at me, and all the back covers of the book sounded really really good! So what I did was rush home, hit the computer and order half a dozen of her books from Amazon.com. And like what normally happens in my house, these books arrived one day and I tore them open, so excited to have them in my possession, and then off to the shelf they went!! I don't think I picked up my first Jodi Picoult book to read for another six months at least!! But when I finally did, I was hooked. Like many of her fans that I've encountered since discovering this author, the first book of Jodi's that I read was My Sister's Keeper. And like I mentioned earlier in my ramblings, I only have two books of hers to finish before I'm all caught up!
So I suppose I have already come up with somewhat of an order that my books will be read, for at least the first four anyway! I will finish up Songs of the Humpback Whale, then moved on to Karen Kingsbury's Take One. I have this one already on hard from the library and I'm having a rough time getting into it since I've already read it's sequel, Take Two! Next the two books I'm picking up from the library this week by Lori and Anita will be read. Okay I feel good about this, it's a pretty good mix of authors in my opinion! For sure, four of my favorites, already tried and true novelists that never fail to disappoint! One book, every 3.34 days. That will then bring me to the end of March by which time, Rachel Vincent's new book should be in stores! Rachel is another one of my favorites, but that's a story for another day! For now I have to stop typing and pick up my book!!!
I'd rather be reading!
An a more happy note, my question mark key on the laptop seems to be working this mornings. As two more children sitting next to me on the couch ponder about which of the smaller kids is poopy, I can sit here and smile knowing I am warm in my home this cold, almost winter morning and that unlike many of the working parents, those who bring their precious cargo to me each and every day, I don't have to start my van and scrape the windows. There, I've answered my question with one of the many reasons why I look after kids for a living!
So last night, instead of curling up with a book I had some television to watch. Tuesday night line up for me includes The Biggest Loser, 90210 and Melrose Place. There was no time to read, hopefully tonight I can get back into the book I am currently reading, which also made the number one spot on my list. (Maybe I should read these books in order after all). Jodi Picoult is probably my favorite author which for me after I've completed my list, is unfortunate in the fact that after Songs of the Humpback Whale and Handle With Care, I have read her entire collection of books thus far. Who knows, maybe by the time I get through all fifty books, she will have published yet another of her thought provoking novels. I have yet to read a book of hers that I didn't like! And so tonight, I will set out to finish her book and cross off the first title on my list of 50 books!!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Why wait for the list....
50 Books
Jodi Picoult Songs of the Humpback whale
Jodi Picoult Handle With Care
Julie Kenner California Demon
Julie Kenner Carpe Demon
Julie Kenner Deja Demon
Karen Kingsbury Take One
Lori Lansens A wife's Tale
Anita Shreve Light on Snow
Anita Shreve A Change in Altitude
Luanne Rice Crazy in Love
Luanne Rice The Secret Hour
Beverly Lewis The Postcard
Beverly Lewis The Redemption of Sarah Cain
Beverly Lewis The Beckoning
Beverly Lewis The Englisher
Danielle Steel Sisters
Danielle Steel Honor Thyself
Danielle Steel Toxic Bachelors
Lavyrle Spencer Spring Fancy
Lavyrle Spencer Bygones
Lavyrle Spencer Home Song
Carol Higgins Clark Fleeced
Carol Higgins Clark Iced
Carol Higgins Clark Decked
Carol Higgins Clark Snagged
Carol Higgins Clark Jinxed
Carol Higgins Clark Hitched
Candace Bushnell Lipstick Jungle
Susan Wiggs Table For Five
Susan Wiggs Snowfall at Willow Lake
Janet Evanovich Manhunt
Janet Evanovich Full House
Janet Evanovich The Rocky Road to Romance
Lori Wick City Girl
Lori Wick Bamboo and Lace
Lori Wick A Texas Sky
Ian Rankin The Flood
Lisa Jewell One Hit Wonder
Lisa Jewell Thirty Nothing
Ted Dekker Showdown
Frank Peretti Piercing the Darkness
Jude Devereaux Summerhouse
Jude Devereaux Return to Summerhouse
Bram Stoker Dracula
Joy Fielding Missing Pieces
Karen Marie Moning Bloodfever
Rachel Klein The Moth Diaries
Mary Higgins Clark I'll Be Seeing You
Mary Higgins Clark A Stranger is Watching
Bryan Gruley Starvation Lake
Day one
The idea for 50 books came about yesterday on the way home from Thanksgiving Dinner (Canadian) yesterday. During that 4 hour drive home I had time to reflect upon the ridiculous amount of books I own and have not read. In fact, during our little road trip this past weekend, my family and I hit two bookstores in Saskatoon, the wonderful McNally Robinson with the tree in the middle of it, as well as a used book store called Tramps. In total our family spent about $200 on books between the two stores and I would say 75% of the books purchased were for me! Now all of us love to read, my husband and two sons, however I am what I would call a book hoarder. Books are becoming an issue in our home, the room we have devoted to our books (our kids call it our library) is not a large room by any stretch, it is a small bedroom on the main level of our home which I normally would like to be able to use as a guest room, but there really is no room for much more than a playpen in this room due to all the books on shelves, falling off the shelves, in boxes on the floor, in the closet, everywhere!
So enough is enough. I told my husband after the novelty of purchasing new crisp books at McNally Robinson and some very gently used copies at Tramps had worn off, (kind of like coming off a high) how silly I had been to buy every single one of those books! And of course this is not the first time we have had this kind of conversation because I am a compulsive shopper in addition to book hoarder. So I told my husband halfway to Regina from Saskatoon that I am NOT going to purchase a single book until March of 2010, this being of course when a new book from one of my favorite authors comes out. So here we are, mid October I challenge myself with the help from my husband, to sit down between now and then and read at least 50 of my books that have been patiently waiting in my library.
So to prepare myself for this challenge, I grabbed the only paper I could find in the truck (other than the books themselves sitting at my feet recently purchased, and I began to write down the titles and authors of 50 books that I knew for a fact were sitting at home in my cluttered reading room. It did not take as long as my husband thought it would. Well knowing how many books I have purchased recently at used book sales, book stores, and online it really was not that hard to remember the titles of fifty of them.
When we arrived home, I filled in the blanks on my list, names of authors I had forgotten and titles that had slipped my mind but my list is complete, there are fifty books on my list waiting for me to read them. I am not planning on reading them in the order in which I wrote the list, I just plan to plug away at fifty book in hopes that I have them read by March of 2010 when Rachel Vincents next book in her werecat series is on bookstore shelves! Do you think I can actually do this.....I write without using a question mark since at this moment I can not figure out how to change my laptops settings to get rid of the french รจ when I want to use a question mark!! At least I can still use my exclamation point!!!!!
So tomorrow, I will offer any readers of this blog my list of fifty books. I feel overwhelmed at the idea of having to read fifty of them in less than six months. I am an avid reader, but life happens, I have two busy boys and a busy house at the best of times, some weeks I go without picking up a book, others I can read two or three in the same amount of time. For now, I am going to relax in a nice hot bubble bath, anticipating many winter nights ahead of me, reading the collection of books that is only the tip of the iceberg in my library of unread books. I just can not help myself, if i see a title that looks good sitting on the used book table at the library I will pick it up for 50 cents. I want you all to know I also judge books a lot by their cover and rarely am disappointed by my choosings, of course this includes reading the back cover as well :) But over the years, books have taken over my house and although I love them dearly, I must learn ways to overcome my compulsion to buy them and leave them sitting on a shelf in hopes that one day I really will read them.
I am also a library user, dont get me wrong, I am at my library picking up books I have special ordered in at least once per week. The librarians all know me by name and I am probably one of their most frequent users. I have often thought of asking one of the ladies at the libary just how many books I have taken out in a year, perhaps I will do this at the end of December.
For now, I welcome any questions my readers may have and I would also love suggestions for future books for me to eventually read once I wade through my fifty books!