Category Archives: 2012 Challenges

July 31, 2012 · 8:00 am

The Graveyard Book Readalong Ch. 7 & 8

Awwwww! It’s over! *tears up* I’m sad that this is the last post, this was a really fun book to readalong with and discuss every week!

So how does Bod’s story end?

Well, first he’s a bit mopey because Silas and Miss Lupescu have been gone for what seems like ages and he’s a bit lonely. And THEN we find out that Scarlett is back in town! Hooray! Her and her mom have moved back and she’s kind of forgotten about Bod and the graveyard until she winds up there one day and meets a nice little old man named Mr. Frost and then that night her and Bod have a reunion in her dream. So of course her and Bod kind of meet again and catch up and he shares with her his sad family story and Scarlett asks Mr. Frost to help her learn more about that family 13 years ago that was murdered, you know, for a friend. (Meanwhile, Silas and Miss Lupescu are off doing mysterious but dangerous things.) Then Mr. Frost says he learned a lot and for Scarlett to bring her friend over so he can share what he learned and it turns out Mr. Frost is Mr. Stabby Jack Frost and HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT COMING???  And then some other Jacks show up and chases and stuff ensue… and of course Bod comes out alright and then it’s time for him to leave the graveyard and finally experience life.

So, questions!

1. We see the return of Scarlett, were you happy to see her again? Do you think her mother paid her enough attention?

Yes! Yay Scarlett! And her mother seemed more attentive this time around, although she was a little over-protective now. Oddly, she let her 5-year old daughter do whatever she wanted but now that she’s a teenager she has all these rules. I’m a little sad at how Bod’s friendship with her ended, but in my head I like to imagine they meet again someday.

2. Getting a ride from a “friendly” stranger when it’s raining…yay or nay?

Oh hell no. NO. And this is exactly the kind of situation that makes me think ALL GIRLS SHOULD CARRY WEAPONS. What if he had tried to force her?

3. Did you figure out “Stabby Jack’s” (best nickname ever, Sarah!!) new tactic before it was revealed? Evil genius or just creepy evil?

Thanks Jenn :-) And no, I did not see if coming. This creepy random old guy introduces himself as Jay Frost and lives in Bod’s old house, and I STILL never saw it coming. I’m ridiculous. It was creepy evil genius.

4. Final thoughts on Ms. Lupescu?

:-(

5. Do you think it’s a good idea to send Bod into the world at age 15?

I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea… He’s definitely more mature than a normal 15 year old boy. And at least Silas hooked him up with money and a passport. I am a bit confused as to why he had to leave the graveyard at 15 though… was he no longer welcome there because he was no longer in danger? If so, why did he slowly lose his abilities over the course of a month or two?

6. Were you touched by any goodbye more than the others?

Silas and Bod’s goodbye was sad. I was hoping they would head off into the world together, at least for a while so Silas could teach him a bit more about the ways of the world.

7. Where do you think Bod will go and what will happen to him?

I like to think that he goes off into the world to read all the books and see all the places, before coming back to his hometown as a fit and healthy old man who meets up with Scarlett, gets married, dies, and gets to live in his graveyard again.

8. Final thoughts on Silas? Is he a vampire or some supernatural other?

Vampire! Vampire! Vampire!

9. Are you glad you read The Graveyard Book and would you take a chance on reading Gaiman’s other YA works?

I really, really enjoyed The Graveyard Book and I am looking forward to reading his other YA / childrens books. I liked this a whole lot more than I did American Gods. I wonder if I should try Stardust next? Or maybe there will be a Stardust readalong in the future? (She says hopefully.)

Thanks so much for hosting Jenn! This was a blast!

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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February 20, 2012 · 8:18 am

Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

I couldn’t decide on a cover, lol.

  • Title: Good Omens; The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
  • Authors: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
  • Publisher: Ace, 1990
  • Pages: 354
  • ISBN: 0441008615

Dude… I am not having good luck with Neil Gaiman.
 
So, I’m taking part in Jenn’s Gaiman Challenge this year, because he’s one of those authors that I feel like I should really like. He’s really popular, especially among other fantasy authors, so of course he’s got to be awesome, right? I tried American Gods a few years ago and DNF-ed it, but I’m giving Gaiman another chance via this challenge.
 
So, I wanted to DNF Good Omens too. I was so excited to read it because (just like American Gods), the premise sounded SO GOOD. The end of the world is coming up, but the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley have been on Earth pretty much since it began, and they’ve grown rather fond of it. They decide to keep a close eye on the Anti-Christ, to see that he doesn’t grow up too evil and bring about the end of everything. They seem to have lost him, however. Also, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are coming together, and there’s witchhunters running around, and a weird witch with an extremely accurate Book of Prophecies, and… yeah.
 
I have a feeling that I would have liked this book much, much better if it had focused solely on Aziraphale and Crowley. They were definitely the most interesting characters of the book, and I actually kind of liked them. However they barely account for half of the book – the rest is split among the Horsemen, the Anti-Christ child and his friends, Anathema the witch, the witch-hunters, etc… Gaiman and Pratchett put so many characters and storylines into this book that it was kind of boring, and I developed no real attachment to any of the characters. And while there was a little humor and I enjoyed the footnotes at the bottom of the pages, it really wasn’t enough to keep me engaged.
 
In all honesty, if I hadn’t been reading this for a challenge, and because I know how much Jenn loves it, I would have quit about 100 pages in.
 
The only thing that makes me feel a little better is that I went online upon finishing and read some more about the book, and apparently Pratchett wrote the majority of the book. I mean, they wrote it together and whatnot but he spent more time on it than Gaiman. Which makes me still optimistic about trying a different Gaiman book… Perhaps Stardust or The Graveyard Book next. I WILL find one I like, dammit!
 
Sarah Says: 2 stars

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January 20, 2012 · 9:27 am

Review: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (the first 1/4)

  • Title: Don Quixote
  • Author: Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Edith Grossman
  • Publisher: Harper Collins, 2005 (orginally written 1605-1615)
  • Pages: 940 (right now, read up to page 226)
  • ISBN: 9780060934347

Good morning people! So, about 18 days ago I decided to start reading Don Quixote, and I’m happy to tell you that I am now halfway through the first half of the book. Sure, 940 total pages doesn’t seem like much considering the giant Outlander novels I read, but it’s a BIG BOOK, and you know, a translated work. And a classic. Anyhoo, I’ve decided that it might be a good idea to break reviewing this sucker into quarters, so here we are – the first quarter.

*There will be some spoilers, if you aren’t familiar with the story. Sorry, but it’s such a giant book and I don’t know how to review it without sharing what’s going down!*

So, the book starts off with some 50-year old guy living pretty much by himself. He’s kind of broke, and he spends all day and all night reading books of chivalry – tales of knights and adventures and such.

“In short, our gentleman became so caught up in reading that he spent his nights reading from dusk till dawn and his days reading from sunrise to sunset, and so with too little sleep and too much reading his brains dried up, causing him to lose his mind.” (from chapter 1)

So this guy decides that you know what? HE is going to be a knight too! He’s going to travel the world on his horse, looking for adventures, righting wrongs, saving damsels, and all the knightly things that knights do. His name will be Don Quixote of La Mancha! So he suits up in an old armor suit, makes himself a helmet with visor to wear, and gets on his scrawny horse to go off and be a knight. He even decides that since all the knights he’s read about had big epic lady loves, he is now in love with a peasant girl from a nearby village, and he decides to call her Princess Dulcinea of Toboso.

So, off DQ goes and he comes to an inn, which he thinks is a castle. Everyone can tell he’s kind of insane, and he asks the innkeeper to knight him the next day. He ends up beating the crap out of people who come anywhere near his armor, so the innkeeper “knights” him to get him the hell out of there. Back on the road, DQ promptly gets beat up and a local helps him back home. He escapes again to continue on his journey of knighthood, but this time with the help of a fellow farmer who agrees to be his squire, Sancho Panza. They set off together in search of knightly deeds and adventure, which results in them constantly getting their asses kicked.

That’s the first quarter of the book in a nutshell. So, what do I think so far?

Poor DQ, man. He has lost his damn MIND! He’s already shown that he’s getting progressively worse too – whenever confronted with some information that contradicts the reality he has in his head that he’s a knight, he says that some evil enchanter is just playing tricks on people’s minds. When Sancho tries to tell DQ that this “famous gold helmet” he’s wearing is actually a basin, DQ says that a good enchanter must have put a spell on it to keep it safe, so that everyone else thinks it’s a basin, but he knows it’s really the famous helmet. He is 100% in his own crazy little world. I like him though, cause you know… poor guy. You got to sympathize with a guy who goes mad from reading too much.

Sancho sucks. Worse sidekick ever, seriously. He knows damn well that DQ is nuts, but sticks to him in the hopes that he’ll profit from it. He seems to completely buy into DQ’s insane ramblings that once he is granted a kingdom, he’ll give Sancho his own little island to rule. Sancho is the fat and lazy type that complains during most of their travels, and while he occassionally tries to talk DQ out of whatever crazy notion he has, it rarely does any good and like I said – they get their asses beat a lot.

Overall, I’m enjoying the story. Especially in the beginning, there were some hysterical moments. There’s of course, the famous windmill scene. Seriously, go to Google Images and just type in “Don Quixote” and 90% of what comes up are various pictures and art of the windmill scene.*

 

One of DQ & Sancho’s first adventures is when they come to see a bunch of windmills in the distance, and DQ swears that they are giants and it is his duty to defeat them. Sancho tries to warn his crazy ass, but DQ ignores him and charges full tilt at one of the windmills, gets his lance caught in one of the sails, and he’s thrown over and onto the ground, all sorts of injured. Definitely one of the funniest scenes in the book so far. My favorite funny scene so far? When DQ & Sancho hilariously vomit in each other’s faces. Sounds like something from a Beavis & Butthead episode, which shows that the sense of humor men have really hasn’t changed in the last 400 years.

Right now, the funnier scenes have slowed down and honestly, things are getting a little repetitive. Sancho whining a lot. DQ insisting on doing crazy things that get them all hurt – seriously, in real life they’d be dead by now. I think things are about to get more interesting – Sancho runs into two people who knew and tried to care for DQ before he ran off, and they devise a sneaky plan to trick him into heading home that involves cross-dressing. That’s bound to be funny.

So, I’m sure that there’s a bunch of people smarter than me who have analyzed this book to death, but here are some of my thoughts…

~ Cervantes was trying to both express his fondness for tales of chivalry while also mocking them.

~ He also really liked repeating things – plot devices, and just saying the same thing over and over, but in different ways.

~ There seems to be some confusion has to whether or not Sancho really gets his mule stolen, and when. Which makes me think that while this book is pretty kick-ass, Cervantes probably wasn’t the best proofreader.

~ DQ is always taking a situation the wrong way, he’s a bad judge of character. He helps a bunch of prisoners to escape and is surprised when they turn on him, but he tends to attack completely innocent people like priests or sheep. Not sure what Cervantes is trying to say with that…

~ Cervantes includes a character named Cardenio, who goes mad with grief and lives in some mountains. Apparently this may or may not have been the basis for a play that may or may not have been written by Shakespeare. I know nada about Shakespeare, so if anyone can shed some more light on this it’d be cool.

For right now, I agree that this probably is one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written. DQ’s situation is messed up – while it’s all good for laughs now, I can’t imagine it’s going to end happily for him. The man has gone batshit crazy. And there’s a lot of seriousness sprinkled in – the story of a beautiful woman blamed for some man’s death because she didn’t love him, Cardenio’s sad story, Sancho’s desire to go home to see his wife and kids, etc.

Anyways, first quarter is a success! I’m hoping it doesn’t take me quite has long to finish the second quarter, but we’ll see.

~Sarah

 

 

*I made that statistic up, by the way. But seriously, it’s a lot.

 

 

 

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January 2, 2012 · 9:03 am

Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

  • Title: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
  • Author: Mindy Kaling
  • Publisher: Crown Archetype, 2011
  • Pages: 219
  • ISBN: 9780307886262

Woo-hoo! Starting off the New Year right – I read this in basically one sitting yesterday.  AND it counts as the “biography” pick for the Mixing It Up Challenge! Yay!

Also if you can’t tell, I added some book info underneath the book cover there… I’m going to try to do that for each book. Partly to make myself a little more aware of things like publishers, but also just to give the appearance of neatness and organization here :-)

OK, so if you can’t tell who Mindy Kaling is just from the book cover, then you may not watch The Office and we may not be friends. (Just kidding! Kind of…) Mindy is best known for playing Kelly Kapoor on The Office – that funny, bubbly, totally nuts girl with a high-pitched voice. Well this is her book, all about how she got into tv and some very funny but awesome thoughts, questions, and concerns she has.

Mindy apparently started out as a WRITER for The Office! I had no idea. She actually writes, directs, produces, AND acts on the show. I had no clue that she had started off as one of the shows writers, and that’s she’s like a quadruple-threat, which just makes her too cool. So Mindy talks about her childhood, always being on the chubby side, her first jobs when she came to New York City, how she became a comedy writer, her time on The Office, and a little tiny bit about her romantic life. My favorite chapter is near the end, In Defense of Chest Hair, in which she proclaims her love for a bit of chest hair on a man and says that all of those waxed movie stars look like chihuahuas.

So, I’m not going to go over every funny or interesting thing in this book, cause then you’d have no reason to read it yourself! I do think that if you’re a girl, you should just pick this up and read it – it’ll only take you one afternoon, and it’s a cute memoir. Mindy seems like such a sweet, fun person and her book is funny, light-hearted, and enjoyable. Plus she invents a new word – “pliest”, which is a written piece with a list-y quality. I’m so going to use that word.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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January 1, 2012 · 8:00 am

Sarah Sunday – A Year in Review…

Hello, 2012!

Well good morning my lovely readers, and welcome to 2012! So, I wanted to do a bit of a reflection over the past year, both personal and bookish.

Sarah’s 2011…

This was the year of constancy. With the exception of the birth of my nephew L, there were no huge major changes in life. We stayed in the same apartment, no one has died, me and the honeyman both have the same cars as the year before. I’m still at my ACO job (the one where I’m basically a security guard), and the honeyman left a crappy job and now has a much, much better one. I picked up a second part-time job, that I may or may not stay at now that the holidays are over. The honeyman and I celebrated 4 years together over the summer, and we’re still crazy happy. Life has been pretty good.

So, let’s take a look at some of the more interesting stuff then, shall we?

In December of 2010 we learned that my little sister Amanda was pregnant! Woo hoo! We had her baby shower in June, which was kind of fun and my first real time helping in planning a baby shower.

Mom, preggo Amanda, big sis Heather, and me.

And in July, I finally got to meet my little baby nephew! Now for almost her entire pregnancy, Amanda said she was naming in Luis, which I thought was awful and decided I would just call him L for short. And then on the day that she had to take him home from the hospital, she changed her mind and named him Jariel. Which is so, so, so much worse, and since “el” is at the end of it, I decided to just keep on calling him L.

L looked like this when he was born :)

and now…

 

... and now 5 months later he looks like this. FATSO BABY :-)

 

In August, I unwisely decided to give red hair a try. It did not last.

Faded in about a week or two, went right back to blonde.

In October, I got my second tattoo!

LOVE IT.

And then the holidays hit, and life has been crazy busy.

Sooooo, looking back on 2011, here are some of the Sarah-things I want to work on in 2012:

~ Be less busy. Not off to a great start, since I just signed up to do a 72-hour work week at the end of January… But basically I need to find a way to be healthier. Since my job require me to basically sit in a chair for 36 -48 hours a week, I am soooo out of shape. And lately I’ve had the urge to go out and take walks, go to the gym, dance around, etc… except it always hits me at inopportune times, like when I’m at work or it’s late at night. It’s frustrating. So I need to find ways to be even a little bit more active. And for me, that directly correlates to how much more free time I have. Also, I need to SLEEP more before work!

~ TAKE MORE PICTURES! I have sadly realized that only a couple pictures of me and the honeyman together have been taken, and they’re not even great ones. Hopefully having an awesome camera on my new phone will help this.

~ Maintain weekly date nights. The honeyman and I have just recently started doing this again, since starting his new job we don’t have a lot of spare time together and want to make it a point to leave some time for romance. It can be hard though – considering that my job gets in the way of half of the week, and we already have a game night once a week, sometimes date night gets pushed aside and that sucks. So we’re going to try for at least 52 date nights this year! And if we can fit in more, even better!

~ Even though I’m already annoyingly busy… try to work on a social life. I hardly ever get to hang out with my sister Heather anymore, when we used to hang out several times a month. And I’m trying to forge more girl friendships… I feel like I’ve gotten out of my shell a little bit this year, and hopefully I can find those spare days or nights for more socializing. I’m a homebody by nature, and kind of a lazy friend, so this in particular will be hardest.

Sarah’s Bookish 2011…

So, I feel disappointed in my reading this year. Obviously I’m a little bummed that I wasn’t able to read more than I had in 2010, but I don’t think it’s just that. I decided not to partake in any challenges in 2011, because I wanted to focus more on re-reads. So I re-read the Harry Potter series, half of the Outlander series, some of the Fearless series, and a couple random novels throughout… But I didn’t get all of the re-reading that I wanted to do, because I started to feel a little guilty re-reading. Especially with the Outlander novels - those are my FAVORITE books, but they’re like 1000- 1500 pages each – they take about a week or more to read, especially if I’m busy. So instead I’d read other, shorter books in the interests of having some reviews to post more often.

Also, in February I started doing the monthly polls, in which I would post a list of like 4 to 6 books, and you guys would vote on which one you wanted to see me read and review. And while that was fun and led to me reading some great books… sometimes it wasn’t. Sometimes I slogged through a book I totally would have DNF’d because I wanted to give you guys the review you asked for. So even though the polls were of my own design, I think I started to feel trapped by them. Sometimes I pick a book to put on a poll because I think I should finally get around to reading it, and then I end up disappointed that it won, or I don’t feel in the mood for it anymore…. anyways, WHINE.

On the flip side, I did discover quite a few new authors that I enjoy and will be keeping an eye on for future releases. And I’ve realized that I really enjoy challenges, because they urge me to try new books and expand my reading, but kind of at my own pace, ya know?

So, there are really two changes I’ll be making to the blog this year:

1.  The February poll will be the last monthly poll for a while. The honeyman and I started reading 1 book together a month, and I think that’s really all of the “required” reading I can handle. Reading a year of poll winners was fun and different, but I’m putting it on the back burner for now.

2. I’m going to try to make my review format look a little neater… Maybe include IN the post the title, author’s name, year it came out, publisher, pages, etc… I’m not quite sure yet. I may also occasionally borrow the book descriptions from Amazon or Goodreads, because I often suck at trying to descibe a book in my own words, without giving too many spoilers.

 

And here are my BOOKISH goals for 2012…

~ Read what I want, when I want. I’m going to try not to fret over reading a really long book because it’ll mean less wonderful reviews here. I’ll just have to post random babbling posts instead ;-)

~ Try to read every single day. Even if it’s only 10 pages, or for 10 minutes. I hate that sometimes two or three days can go by and I’ve just been too busy to pick up the book I’m reading.

~ Start a quotes journal. It’ll be quotes from books and authors, as well as from tv, movies, people, etc… I just want someplace to physically write them down so I can look at them later.

~ Take more baths. Doesn’t sound reading-related, but I love to read in the tub. Hence more baths = more reading. Plus more relaxing. And maybe more wine…

~ Comment on blogs more. I’m a lazy blog reader. I MUST be less lazy about commenting, because I love getting comments, and you know. Karma.

~ Post more reviews to Amazon. Especially if it’s a newer, relatively unheard of author and I like their book.

So, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Bring it, 2012.

~Sarah

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December 31, 2011 · 1:00 am

2011 Bookish Questionnaire!

Hey ya’ll! So I know there’s been a ton of these posts lately, but I’m a little crazy and couldn’t bring myself to do a post like this until the year was ACTUALLY ending. And so since today is New Year’s Eve, let the nostalgic look back at my 2011 reading year begin! Feel free to steal the questions and/or little graphic thingy up top, and leave me links in the comments so that I can come check out your answers!

Some preliminary questions…

How many books did you read in 2011?

116, and about 44,168 pages.

Did you accomplish your reading goals?

Nope – my goal was 130, and I didn’t quite focus on re-reading as much as I’d hoped.

Did you successfully complete any reading challenges?

I didn’t really do any challenges this year, except to read 130 books and over 44,225 pages (which would have at least beat last year’s stats). I did not succeed :-(

OK let’s get to the good stuff now!

1. Ten favorite reads of 2011?

  • The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
  • Wicked by Gregory Maguire
  • The Postmortal by Drew Magary
  • Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
  • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  • Practical Jean by Trevor Cole
  • Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman
  • A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
  • Inheritance trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (AKA The 100K trilogy)
  • Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

with notable mentions to the The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon, Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson, Emma by Jane Austen, and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

2. Ten worst reads of 2011?

  • A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
  • The Magicians by Lev Grossman
  • The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons
  • The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
  • The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
  • A Reliable Wife by Richard Goolrick
  • The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn
  • The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
  • Shopgirl by Steve Martin
  • The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

3. Favorite authors that you read for the first time this past year?

Jasper Fforde is definitely an exciting new author for me. I really like the Thursday Next series, and I’m looking forward to his other series as well. I’m also quite excited to read more of Libba Bray, Rainbow Rowell, Gregory Maguire, etc… basically every author I mentioned under my favorite reads for last year. A good chunk of them were debut or recently really publicized authors and I’m looking forward to more from them.

4. Worst authors that you read for the first time this past year?

Lev Grossman. The Magicians was a huge disappointment. Also Jennifer Egan. I’ll probably be avoiding both of them like the plague.

5. Favorite releases of 2011?

The Scottish Prisoner! I love the Outlander series, as well as the Lord John series, and the fact that Diana Gabaldon really meshed them together in this one was awesome. Flip This Zombie and Eat Slay Love by Jesse Petersen were quite exciting. Also The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin. As well as some of the newer authors I mentioned above.

6. Favorite re-reads of 2011?

Hmmm… I loved re-reading the Harry Potter books in the beginning of the year. They’re just awesome. I might even re-read them late next year, if the honeyman wants to read them with me :-) And Outlander! I love Outlander and I looooove re-reading them. Sadly I only re-read the first half of the series this year because I was trying to focus on other stuff too, so I’m going to re-read the rest of them in 2012.

7. Funniest book you read this year?

Domestic Violets had me cracking up, in a BIG way. Also the Cyanide and Happiness books, but since those are books of comic strips that’s kind of a given. ALSO Beauty Queens!!! It was hysterical and sarcastic and witty and awesome.

8. Saddest book you read this year?

I cried the most I think during my Outlander re-reads. I ALWAYS cry during at least the first three books. I also cried a lot during The Bronze Horseman and Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simons.

9. Book that made you want to throw it across the room?

The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons. She RUINED the end of Tatiana and Alexander’s epic love story.

10. Favorite non-fiction read this year?

I don’t think I have one… The only non-fiction books I read were memoirs. It would be a tie between Bossypants by Tina Fey and A Little Bit Wicked by Krisitin Chenoweth.

11. Favorite quotes of passages from books you read this year?

I can’t really remember at the moment… I really need to start writing them all down in one place!

12. Any new favorite bookish apps / websites / trends?

Yes! I am really enjoying the new bookish website Book Riot, although I can never see comments, nor do I see anywhere to comment on the articles. (Is this just me?)

Also, since I am now the proud owner of a Droid 3 I can actually talk about apps! LOL. I like the Goodreads app, although I can’t figure out how to see just the newest comments in a discussion thread, so that’s disappointing. I love the Book Catalogue app, and totally plan on spending a few days in January physically scanning ALL of the books I own into it. I’m also finding the Inkpad app really useful, for notating which books I want to look for next time I’m at the library, want to buy, and making other random lists as well..

(I also play a lot of Words With Friends… my username is SarahMay227 if you wanna play!)

13. Any regrets over “read” or “to-read” lists?

Yeah, I definitely didn’t get to read as many of the books on my to-read list as I wanted to. I let the blogging-pressure get to me, and I started to feel guilty for re-reading so much – especially when some of those re-reads are quite long and would take me like a week to read.

14. Favorite challenges or goals in 2011?

I didn’t do any challenges, or reach my own little goals. Maybe I need the challenges to keep me motivated! LOL.

15. How do you feel about your 2011 reading year?

For some reason, kind of disappointed. It may have been the focus on re-reads. It meant that I had less time to read other books, plus I always felt guilty for re-reading because it would mean less new reviews to post. AND I didn’t even get to finish all of the re-reads I wanted to do. I also didn’t read many classics this year, which bums me out but I’m totally excited to rectify that this coming year. And I didn’t read more than I did last year, which is surprising. I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on reading when I have free time, especially at work. It’s either too busy, or so slow that I start to feel sleepy.

Okay, now some bloggy-questions…

16. Favorite blogs you discovered this year?

I discovered so many great blogs this year, and made some great blogger friends :-) I’m sure I’m accidentally leaving some awesome people out on here, mainly because I know I have a horrible memory and can’t remember exactly how long I’ve been following people’s blogs, lol. But to list a couple…

Booksessed 

What Red Read

Reading Rambo

 

17. Did you attend any real-life bookish events? (signings, BEA, National Book Fest, etc.)

Sadly, I did not. The only real bookish event I get to attend is the annual huge-ass book sale my local library has in the mall once a year. Hopefully I’ll be going to some more bookish / bloggish events this year!

18. Did you participate in any online bookish events? (readathons, readalongs, etc.)

Of course! I love love love readathons – the 24-hour ones, my own mini 12-hour ones (go sign up!), the week-long ones, etc.

19. Blogging highlights of this year?

Definitely my author interview with Bob Eckstein, whose book The History of the Snowman was one of the most enjoyable winter-time reads I read this year. I also had several exciting Twitter moments, when authors such as Diana Gabaldon, Trevor Cole, and Jesse Petersen interacted with me. YAY!

I’m also glad that I made the switch to WordPress. Sure, some stuff is a little harder to figure out than on Blogger, but overall the experience is much more enjoyable.

20. What didn’t work for your blog this year?

Not sure. Sometimes I feel all ambitious and want to do Big Things to get my traffic up, but I’ve also kind of accepted that my blog is just never going to be one where I get like over 100 views every day. Partly because I don’t really do ARC reviews, and partly because I’m a laid back blogger – the reason I never go through one of those “OMGbloggingistoohardI’mgoingtogiveitupforever” moments is because I read and blog what and when I want. If I made it stressful it would be less fun.

Besides, I’d rather have a handful of readers who comment and interact with me than hundreds of readers who just skim by me but never participate in discussions, polls, readathons, etc.

 

Looking ahead to 2012…

21. Do you have any reading goals in mind for 2012?

I do… I’m going to aim for 130 books read OR 45,000 pages read next year. Obviously if I read a bunch of chunky books that are like 1000 pages long, the number of books I read would be slightly less.

22. Are you participating in any 2012 reading challenges?

Yes! I am super excited to start them too. I’m doing the Back to the Classics Challenge, the Mixing It Up Challenge, the Neil Gaiman Challenge, and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman Challenge. You can see all my progress and the book reviews here.

23. What 2012 new releases are you looking forward to?

Ooooo a bunch already! Christopher Moore is coming out with a new book in April called Sacre Bleu. The Pioneer Woman is coming out with a new cookbook in March. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore will FINALLY be out in May! And there’s several others as well.

24. What are some of your 2012 blogging goals or things you want to focus on?

Well I’m going to talk about this more in tomorrow’s Sarah Sunday post, but there are a few things I’m going to change or tweak as far as blogging goes. I think it will all be good changes though, and I’m really looking forward to starting off 2012 with a clean slate and excited energy.

25. Are you ready to get 2012 started?

Yes!!!

OK, so that’s pretty much my bookish wrap-up survey of the year! Here’s to another happy year filled with love, laughter, and reading!

~Sarah

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December 15, 2011 · 9:39 am

January Poll is up! Come VOTE!

Hey everybody. Sadly, I am not posting a review today because I have either been too lazy or too busy to read. Never a right balance. I’m trying not to dwell on it since it’s the holidays and there are only TEN MORE DAYS to Christmas and you know… busy busy busy.

I am however having nice shiny daydreams about how I kick 2012′s ass with my awesome amounts of reading and completion of challenges. You’ll notice that the poll for January only have 4 options instead of the usual 5 – that’s because I picked one book for each of my 2012 Reading Challenges. I’m trying to start the new year off strong, goshdarnit!

So, here are your choices. Descriptions are from Goodreads, poll is on the right side there. So you know, revel in the amazingness of my choices and then vote! And then drag your friends and family here to cast their vote too, cause you know – I likes to see the voting. It’s fun!

 

For the Neil Gaiman Challenge, hosted by Jenn at Booksessed

Stardust by Neil Gaiman: One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years. But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can–he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You’ll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. 

 

For the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Challenge, hosted by Hanna at Booking in Heels

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: An American frigate, tracking down a ship-sinking monster, faces not a living creature but an incredible invention – a fantastic submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Suddenly a devastating explosion leaves just three survivors, who find themselves prisoners inside Nemo’s death ship on an underwater odyssey around the world from the pearl-laden waters of Ceylon to the icy dangers of the South Pole . . .as Captain Nemo, one of the greatest villains ever created, takes his revenge on all society.

More than a marvelously thrilling drama, this classic novel, written in 1870, foretells with uncanny accuracy the inventions and advanced technology of the twentieth century and has become a literary stepping-stone for generations of science fiction writers.

 

For the Mixing It Up Challenge, hosted by Ellie at Musings of a Bookshop Girl

Genome by Matt Ridley: This national bestseller is one of the most accessible and lively books available on the topic of the human genome. Taking each of the 23 chromosomes in turn, Matt Ridley, author of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, tells stories of the genes and their meaning for us — blending history, science, medicine, philosophy, and ethics.

 

For the Back to the Classics Challenge, hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins: “There, in the middle of the broad, bright high-road—there, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from the heaven—stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments.”

Thus young Walter Hartright first meets the mysterious woman in white in what soon became one of the most popular novels of the nineteenth century. Secrets, mistaken identities, surprise revelations, amnesia, locked rooms and locked asylums, and an unorthodox villain made this mystery thriller an instant success when it first appeared in 1860, and it has continued to enthrall readers ever since. From the hero’s foreboding before his arrival at Limmeridge House to the nefarious plot concerning the beautiful Laura, the breathtaking tension of Collins’s narrative created a new literary genre of suspense fiction, which profoundly shaped the course of English popular writing.

 

So that’s it, folks! Voting ends the night of December 31st, of course. And the poll is on the right hand side.

 

~Sarah

 

 

 

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November 22, 2011 · 9:18 am

Neil Gaiman Challenge 2012

So, Jenn at Booksessed ( who is awesome, by the way), is hosting a Neil Gaiman Reading Challenge in 2012. I always feel like Gaiman is one of those uber-popular fantasy authors that I would love, but the one book I tried by him was a DNF for me. However, I’m gonna try again, hence the challenge! (You know, “challenge” doesn’t even look like a word when you type it a lot…)

So here’s the details from Jenn’s blog:

Rules:
1. You can sign up any time (using Mr. Linky) but the challenge goes from Jan 1, 2012 – Dec 31, 2012. Anything started prior to Jan 1, doesn’t count. In the post on your blog, include what level you chose.

2. Ebooks and Audiobooks count and novels, short stories and/or comics also count.
3. Review what you read and you MUST link up to the REVIEW POST (I’m lazy and don’t want to hunt down the post on your blog) I’ll do a post once a month linking reviews.
3a. Starting Jan. 1, there will be a link in the sidebar for this challenge for you to link up your reviews.
4. The levels apply to whatever you pick. Mix and match if you want.
5. Have fun!!
 
Levels
Watching the Mouse Circus – Read 1-3 works
Peeking Under the Troll Bridge Read 4-7 works
More Focused Than The Bedlam Read 8-12 works
Taking on the Devil Read 12+ works
I will be attempting level Peeking Under the Troll Bridge, which is 4-7 books. Because I am big like that.

So here are the ones I’m thinking of reading, but of course this may change… BTW, I’m linking the books to Amazon if you want to read the desciptions. I need to leave for work soon, so I’m being lazy.

Stardust

Good Omens

The Graveyard Book

American Gods - this was the one I didn’t finish, but I may give it another shot

Anansi Boys

The Sandman Volume 1

Neverwhere

 

So there we have it! You know the best part is that this gives me an excuse to do a big batch of Gaiman book shopping next year :-)

Go sign up!

~Sarah

 

 

 

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November 7, 2011 · 5:56 pm

Mixing It Up Challenge 2012

 

OK… the third and probably final challenge I’m signing up for next year! I like this one because it just covers a huge bunch of categories, so you get a little bit of everything in there! The Mixing It Up Challenge 2012 is hosted by Ellie at Musings of a Bookshop Girl, so visit there to sign up! Here’s the details…

~ HOW TO PARTICIPATE ~

  1. Read one book from each of the challenge categories, using the guidelines above.  Don’t use the same book for more than one category!
  2. The challenge will run until December 31st 2012, so you can sign up any time during the year.
  3. Create a blog post for the challenge, to keep track of what you’ve read.  Add review links for each completed book so we can see how you’re getting on. 
  4. The URL you leave in the Mr Linky MUST be a direct link to your challenge post, not to your blog homepage - I don’t have time to comb through several months’ worth of posts searching for it as the year wears on!
  5. Leave a comment on this post with your blog name (so I can match you to your Linky entry) and your chosen level of participation.
  6. Bookmark this post so you can come back later!  I’ll be adding links to update posts over the year, plus you’ll have the category guidelines handy if you need them!
  7. At the end of the year, everyone who has read along and hit their chosen target will be entered into a bookish giveaway.  Prizes to be determined!

So here are the challenge categories, and my VERY TENTATIVE picks for each one. There are 16 categories, and I’m going for All the Trimmings and a Cherry On Top, AKA all 16 categories. Bold, I know.

1. Classics: The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

2. Biography: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (Kelly from The Office!)

3. Cookery, Food, and Wine: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

4. History: A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

5. Modern Fiction: The Beach House by Jane Green

6. Graphic Novels and Manga: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 1 by Alan Moore

7. Crime and Mystery: Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett

8. Horror: Dracula by Bram Stoker

9. Romance: Some Enchanted Evening by Christina Dodd

10. Sci-Fi and Fantasy: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

11. Travel: Seven Seasons in Siena by Robert Rodi

12. Poetry: a collection of The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

13. Journalism and Humor: This is a Book by Demetri Martin

14. Science and Natural History: Genome by Matt Ridley

15. Childrens and Young Adult: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

16. Social Sciences and Philosophy: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Like I said, it’s VERY TENTATIVE. I own a TON of books that could work for any of these categories, so I’m bound to change my mind about a couple.

So go sign up and join the fun! Do it, do it, do it!

~Sarah

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· 5:32 pm

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book Challenge 2012

So once upon a time… like 5 or more years ago… my dad called me up. And he was all “Sarah I just watched this movie on TV and it was freaking fantastic. It was so good. It was all about gentlemen… like these guys, and they’re extraordinary. And it was so good. You GOTTA look it up and you gotta watch it, it was so freaking good… blah blah blah.” Yeah, I never did that. Mainly cause my dad’s idea of good TV is Bonanza, which is so not my cup of tea. But I have heard that this is a good movie since, and I just haven’t gotten around to seeing it even though I am more interested that I was when my father first told me about it. Basically, the movie is about a bunch of characters from classic books teaming up together to stop some baddies from doing bad shit. When ISN’T that a good premise?

And then today at Booking In Heels, I see that Hanna is hosting The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book Challenge for 2012. Which is perfect, because one of my reasons for not seeing the movie yet is that I haven’t read all of the books that the characters come from and didn’t want to not-understand anything.

SO – I plan to read all of these books. Then I plan to watch the movie. THEN I plan to read the graphic novel/s by Alan Moore that the movie was based on. Good plan, no?

So here are the books….

  1. King Solomon’s Mines by H. Ryder Haggard
  2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
  3. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
  4. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (re-read)
  6. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (re-read)
  7. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
  8. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
  9. The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I highly recommend visiting Hanna’s sign-up post, because she gives info about which characters are from which book and it’s amusing. And because you should sign up! It also coincides nicely with the Back to the Classics Challenge, and I’m definitely going to use some from this list for that list.

~Sarah

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