Category Archives: To-Read

April 1, 2013 · 4:52 pm

April Monthly TBR

montly tbr

Jenn created Monthly TBR to show up the books you hope to get to within the upcoming month, and I love it. Feel free to visit her blog and join in! You know you wanna.

Hooray, April! My April pile is kind of huge, but let’s take a look at how I managed in March, mmkay?

March Monthly TBR completed

 

Woot! Look at all those red lines! The only one I never got to was Boneshaker, which is disappointing. Also I got about halfway through The Map of Time before I DNF-ed it. It just wasn’t holding my interest. In addition to the 8.5 books I read above, I also read The Iron Jackal by Chris Wooding, The Unnatural Inquirer by Simon R. Green, and The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon. Take that, March!

Now, on to the April pile!

April Monthly TBR

 

Yes, that’s Gabby sniffing the books in that picture. Anything, from the top…

  • The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright – A general fiction pick that has been on my shelf for a long time now.
  • Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare – My classic pick for the month! Cause I really want to see that Joss Whedon movie that’s coming out, but I want to know the story already. This is one of those wussy editions that has the layman’s English on the opposite page, cause DUDE Shakespeare baffles me sometimes.
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling - We’re already halfway through this for the HP readalong.
  • Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde – Because I really want to catch up with this series!
  • Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines – Zombies and superheroes. I’m so excited to start this book.
  • The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides – I’m really trying to make a dent in the amount of unread fiction on my shelves…
  • The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy – This kid’s book looks so fun!
  • Nexus by Ramez Naam – This is a new sci-fi book that’s gotten a lot of really good reviews lately.
  • A Mercy by Toni Morrison – Again, fiction I need to read. Also, it’s really short.
  • Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman – A non-fiction pick. I’m reading this book right now. IT’S SO INTERESTING.
  • The Disaster Diaries by Sam Sheridan – This is a non-fiction about a guy trying to make himself as apocalypse-ready as possible.
  • State of Wonder by Ann Patchett – And yet MORE unread fiction from my shelves. You guys, I have a problem.

OKAY, so this may seem like a lot. But there are TWO readathons this month (the Weekday Readathon and the Dewey Readathon), so you know, that’s why I tried to pick a few shorter books. Plus I have a kid’s book in there. I’m optimistic!

I’m thinking about trying something for May – only reading from my own shelves, no library books. Which will be SO hard, but I really need to work on reading some of the hundreds of books I already own. What do you think?

What are you guys hoping to read in April? Tell me!

~Sarah

 

 

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January 1, 2013 · 10:44 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Promise to Read in 2013

TTT

Happy New Year everybody! It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and the topic today is perfectly fitting, since it’s the first day of the year: Top Ten Books I Resolve to Read in 2013.

Medical Apartheid

1. Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington: I have started this book twice, always make it about 100 pages in, and then SOMETHING stops be from finishing it. It’s really tough subject material (the history of medical experimentation and torture on black Americans), so it’s partly that I literally feel sick and depressed while I read it. Also, something always seems to come up that makes me too busy or something to read, and then by the time I got my mojo back I go on to other things. THIS YEAR I WILL FINISH THIS BOOK, DAMMIT.

Assassin's Apprentice

2. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb: I bought this book like a year and a half ago at Jenn’s recommendation, and it sounds so good! But I still have not gotten around to reading it. This be the year, it shall.

The Count of Monte Cristo

3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: I have friends that have been trying to get me to watch the movie version for over a year, but I keep insisting that I have to read the book first. So you know, I should probably do that. But having it as an excuse to not watch a movie when I don’t feel like is awfully convenient…

Gibbons Decline and Fall

4. Gibbon’s Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper: I’ve had this book on my shelf for ages, and I really enjoyed her book The Gate to Women’s Country. I honestly don’t know much about the book except that it’s good, feminist-y, science-fiction and that sounds good.

5. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett: Again, had it for YEARS and still haven’t read it. And I hear that it’s all sorts of good.

***Okay I’m having a hard time coming up with books, because basically I own like 500 books that I could put on this list, with nothing more interesting to say than “I’ve had it forever, I should read it soon.” SNORE. So, I’m going to list Five Bookish Resolutions instead.***

6. Read more currently popular books: See, I love that I kind of just read whatever I feel like. I like that it keeps my blog original. But I also feel like I kind of miss out sometimes by ignoring whatever books are all popular and at the top of the NY Times list and stuff at the moment. So, I’m going to try to pay more attention and read the ones that interest me. (I’m not going to just read any old stupid thing that for some reason is uber-popular *coughFiftyShadesofGreycough* at the time.) I may end up hating some of them, but that’s okay – I read a lot of books last year that I was indifferent towards. I want to read books this year that I either really love or really hate. I want to FEEL THE THINGS.

7. Read 100 books: Well this doesn’t really need explaining.

8. Read more stand-alone books: I got really sucked into some series and trilogies this year. I’m going to try to avoid that, because while I may end up loving them, it gets boring not being able to talk about the sequels because of spoilers. I’m going to try to finish the ones that I’ve already started, but I’m going to be hesitant to start new ones.

9. Read more classics and non-fiction: Actually, I didn’t do too bad on my non-fiction reads last year. I got really interested in popular physics books. I want to read at least 10 classics to keep me on pace with my list for The Classics Club, and I want to read at least 10 non-fiction books. (Also, I own SO MANY non-fiction books that need reading.)

10. Keep up with bloggy stuffs: Basically just try to keep up with Googlereader, bookish websites and articles, commenting, etc. This usually directly relates to how busy I am, or how tired from work during the later half of the week. I’m going to try to keep up more though. It bums me out when blogging gets pushed to the side.

So there we have it! What are your bookish resolutions this year, whether it be books you want to read or just bookish goals?

~Sarah

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June 19, 2012 · 6:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wanna Read This Summer

Good morning guys and gals! It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the fabulous The Broke and The Bookish! This topic should be easy… Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR List. Actually, this topic is so easy because there are A THOUSAND books I want to read and it’s sad because I’m sure I won’t manage to get to even the 10 that are on this list… *sigh* Let’s jump to it, yes?

1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - I know for a fact that I’ll be reading this book this summer, because Jenn is hosting a readalong of it next month! I’m looking forward to trying out one of Gaiman’s books for children. And you know, if you haven’t read this yet you should sign up cause it’s gonna be fun :-)

2. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith – I have to read this before I see the movie. I HAVE TO. So hopefully that means I’ll read it in the next few weeks, because it’d be nice to go see it at the movie theater.

3. The Quantum World by Kenneth W. Ford - I would love to take a couple weeks to tackle this. There’s even homework questions in the back! Unfortunately, you have to contact the author for the answer key booklet, which I may do sometime soon.

4. The Bungalow by Sarah Jio - I know I had listed this in last week’s TTT post too, so maybe I should read it really soon. It just looks so summery and fluffy! I may pick this up at Wegmans this week, because I saw that they had it and all paperbacks at Wegmans are 20% off. Best grocery store ever.

5. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde – The fourth Thursday Next book, I believe. It’s been a while and I want to go back to this world. It’s such a nice, bizarre escape.

6. The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin - It’s such a crime that I haven’t bought and read this book yet. I really like N.K. Jemisin, and I’m super psyched to read this.

7. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino – This books takes scientific facts (at least, they used to be facts back in the 1960′s) and creates a story around them. How cool is that?

8. Mr. g by Alan Lightman - Alan Lightman is the author of a super popular (and awesome) book called Einstein’s Dreams, and he’s also a physicist, so when I heard that he wrote a book essentially in the POV of “god” and how he goes about creating time, space, and matter I knew I wanted to read it. I can’t wait to try it. It’s probably books like this and Cosmicomics that will give me a little bit of a science fix when I’m too busy to read non-fiction science books.

9. King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard - Just because it’d be nice to finally cross a book off on that League of Extraordinary Gentleman Challenge.

 

10. A Witch Before Dying by Heather Blake - This is the second in Heather’s Blake Wishcraft mystery series, and I’m looking forward to it being released in August. It’ll be a nice short and sweet read.

 

SO there’s my ten! Hopefully I get to at least half of them. What’s on your to-read list this summer?

 

~Sarah

 

 

 

 

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March 20, 2012 · 7:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Read This Spring

Good morning peeps! So, on this nice spring day it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is Top Ten Books On My Spring To-Read List. Let’s hop right in, shall we?

1. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore – Comes out May 1st! I CANNOT WAIT to read this. I absolutely love Graceling and Fire and have been looking forward to this for ages.

2. Starters by Lissa Price – If for no other reason than the awesome cover. This seems like it be the next big thing in YA.

3. A Night Like This by Julia Quinn – The newest Julia Quinn comes out on May 29th! This is part of the Smythe-Smith Quartet of novels, and I loved the first one.

4. Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore - One of the most hilarious authors ever is coming out with this new novel on April 3rd!

5. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - Alice at Reading Rambo is hosting a readalong for this book in April! Looking forward to the discussions and stuff :-) Click the link if you want to sign up.

6. American Gods by Neil Gaiman - And Jenn at Booksessed is holding a readalong fort this in May! I’m really looking forward to the discussions on this one, because the subject matter should lead to lots of good stuff. Click the link to sign up!

7. Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey - This is the third (and possibly last?) Sandman Slim novel, and the honeyman and I really want to read it. We are however kind of cheap and don’t want to buy the hardcover, so hopefully I can get a copy from the library soon.

8. The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien - I really this it’s about time I finally read this massively popular series, don’t you agree?

9. October the First is Too Late by Fred Hoyle – This sci-fi book was written in 1966, and it’s written by a scientist. It’s about how time doesn’t really go from the past to the future – time exists all at once, WE move through it in one direction. It sounds really good and it’s only 175 pages, so I can’t wait to try it out.

10. Q is for Quantum by John Gribbin - This is just one of many books by scientist John Gribbin that I want to read, but I think I’m going to work on getting my hands on this one next.

So that’s my ten! A nice mix of new releases and older books, I think. What’s on your list?

~Sarah

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January 26, 2012 · 9:56 am

Thinking on Thursday… FINDING NEW BOOKS

Good morning ya’ll. So this week I’ve been thinking about the ways we all find new books to at to our TBR lists. I think that as book bloggers, we can agree that reading reviews on one another’s blogs definitely helps add to the list. However, I also know that I am a lazy book-blog reader – I am more likely to read non-review posts, like memes or personal posts, etc. I don’t know why… sometimes it’s that I’ve already seen a bunch of reviews of the same book, sometimes it’s that I realize a book blog I follow really doesn’t read stuff that I’m interested in and I’ve just been too lazy to take them off of my Google Reader, etc. Every now and then a particular cover or title will stop me and I’ll read the whole review, and if it sounds good enough I’ll put it on my “look for at the library” memo on my phone.

But as we know, there are so many other ways to find out about new books.

And for me, that’s kind of necessary. I’m a very eclectic reader - I’ll read general fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, classics, YA, historical, non-fiction, westerns, etc. However, I know a lot of book bloggers have one preferred genre – romance only, YA only, classics only, etc. And if I’m not in the mood for YA, I kind of tend to skim the blog posts of those bloggers. Same if I’m not in the mood for romance, etc. I’ve noticed that there are very few bloggers out there reviewing sci-fi or westerns on a regular basis – maybe because the majority of book bloggers are female, and sci-fi and westerns tends to be thought of as more “man genres”. So basically, I’m always looking for other ways to hear about good books.

When I used to work at Waldenbooks, it was THE BEST because I was so knowledgeable about what books were really popular, were really in demand, etc. And since readers of all genres come into bookstores, I was constantly exposed to different books in different genres just by helping customers, and by shelving books. (My god I miss shelving books.) It’s been like 6 years since Waldenbooks closed, and I MISS IT so much still. I can’t wait for the day when the honeyman is making enough that I don’t need to work anymore, because then I will quit my job and go get a part-time bookstore job. Just cause.

ANYHOOOO, what I’m getting to here is the way of learning about new books that’s hardest for me – bookstore browsing.

We all know that crazy excitement that comes over us when we enter a bookstore – there’s BOOKS! And they’re new! And there’s SO MANY! Imagine the possibilities! But the thing is, I’m not always willing to fork over some cash for a book that I just discovered while browsing. I know nothing about it – I don’t know if it got good reviews, if it’s popular, I’ve never heard of this author, etc. And hell, even knowing something about the book ahead of time may not be a good thing – the hype monster could have extremely exaggerated the wonderfulness of a book and it ends up sucking (coughThe Weird Sistersahem). Which basically means that while I love, love, love browsing around a bookstore, I hardly ever really discover a great new book while doing so.

However, I am happy to report that last week I browsed, I bought, and I LOVED. I was killing some time in the Barnes & Noble in my mall before heading to Second Job, and I was browsing around the sci-fi/fantasy section. I eventually noticed a group of books by this guy Robert J. Sawyer, and I picked up a couple of them up and they all sounded really different. One of those books was Flashforward, which apparently was the basis for that tv show a few years ago (which I never got around to watching, since it was cancelled). And I kind of wanted to try reading that, but the book was really beat up. So I looked again at a few of his other books, and Hominids sounded really, really interesting. Plus it had one of those “Hugo Award winner” logos on the front. So I said what the hell, I’ll try this author out – I purchased Hominids, and a trade paperback book by the author called Calculating God.

SUCCESS! Hominids turned out to be a fantastic book, and after I finished it I went and drove like 20 minutes away to pick up the sequel, which I plan on starting today. I haven’t started Calculating God yet, because I want  to finish the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy first, but I am now totally confident that it will be at least decent, if not awesome.

I’m always so jealous of people who say “Oh yeah I was browsing around the bookstore and this looked really interesting and it turns out it’s a hugely amazing book” because that NEVER happens to me. But now it did! I feel like I’ve cleared a major hurdle of some sort… like now browsing around bookstores, great books will just jump out at me. Or at the very least, I won’t be quite so scared to shell out $8 for a paperback I know nothing about.

Sooo…

How do you find out about new books?

Do you find great new-to-you books while browsing?

Or am I the only weirdo that has a problem finding good books whilst browsing?

Is it just too risky to spend money on a book you’ve never heard of before?

For those of you with e-readers, how do you browse? Is e-reader browsing boring, or ineffective?

 

Can’t wait to hear what you guys think! And I’ll be home and being lazy today, so I’m particularly looking forward to chatting with you guys!

~Sarah

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January 24, 2012 · 7:49 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’m Dying to Read Right Now

Hey there ya’ll! So it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is a FREEBIE – and because I’m finally out of my reading rut and excited about several books, I wanted to share with you the Top Ten Books I’m Dying to Read Right Now. Let’s get to it!

1. Humans (Neanderthal Parallax #2) by Robert J. Sawyer – So I just finished reading Hominids by this author, and it was SO GOOD. I flew through it, and it was so interesting. It’s about a parallel universe in which WE died out and Neanderthals survived to present times. A Neanderthal physicist named Ponter accidentally comes to our universe, and the book is about him learning about our universe, and us learning about him, and about his partner in his universe trying to find a way to bring him back. And now I am dyyyying to read the sequel, Humans. Sadly the bookstore closest to me doesn’t have it in stock, so today after I get out of work I’m going to drive like 25 minutes away to the store that DOES have it and pick it up. I can’t wait.

2. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWiit – OK so I don’t know exactly what this book is about, but I’ve seen great reviews for it, and I know it’s kind of a Western, and it’s about two brothers who are hired guns, and I love me some hitmen. I just picked it up from the library yesterday, and I’m excited to start it.

3. Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer – So remember that show that came out a while ago that was about how all the people on Earth blacked out at the same time for like 2 minutes? I always thought that show sounded interesting, but then it was cancelled so I never bothered. Well, I didn’t know it was a show based on a book! Sawyer (yes, the same guy that writes the Neanderthal Parallax series I mentioned above) wrote it, and now I am SUPER-CURIOUS to give it a try. If the bookstore has this in stock today, I’ll probably buy it too… cause you know, my book-buying knows no bounds.

4. Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer – OK, I swear this is the last book by this author I’ll mention. They just all sound so good. THIS one is about an alien named Hollus, who shows up on Earth to talk to a palentologist. He’s been traveling the universe and visiting planets to prove to the inhabitants of each one of God’s existence. Come on, an alien who believes in God? Major theological, religious debates? I’m so there.

5. Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey – The honeyman and I just read together and finished Sandman Slim, and we’re both kind of itching to read the sequel now. It’s the honeyman’s turn to pick the book we read together for February, and I’m hoping he picks this.

6. The Duke is Mine by Eloisa James – I saw a great review for this book a while back, but I fully admit that the main reason I decided I wanted to give this romance novel a try is because I love the cover. So colorful! And I’m guessing it’s a play on the fairytale about the princess who can feel the pea through a ton of mattresses? Also, does anyone know how to pernounce “Eloisa”? Is it “el-oh-wee-sa”, or “el-oy-sa”?

 

7. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin – I miss this series. I want to continue on with it. In fact, that was my exact plan until I got sucked into these Robert J. Sawyer books! So hopefully I’ll get to read this soonish.

 

8. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon - I also want too continue on with my Outlander re-reads. However I think that I need to go buy the trade paperback copy of this book, cause my little mass market copy is kind of falling apart from previous reads and I don’t think it’ll survive another one, lol. And I’ve started collecting the trade copies of the series anyways, so it gives me a good excuse to hunt one down.

 

9. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde – And I still want to get caught up in the Thursday Next series. Are you starting to notice a pattern, lol? I have so many series that I’m in the middle of right now…

 

And sadly I cannot even think of a tenth… or rather I could, but I’m too lazy to think that hard right now. SO what’s coming up next on your must-read list?

~Sarah

 

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January 3, 2012 · 6:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Can’t Wait to Read in 2012!

 

Hey there ya’ll, Happy New Year and welcome to 2012! This here is the first Top Ten Tuesday post of the year (hosted by The Broke and The Bookish) – this week’s topic is Top Ten Books You’re Excited to Read in 2012. I got lots!

 

1. Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes – So, I picked this book for the category of “Classic That’s Been Translated to English” for the Back to the Classics Challenge, because it’s a big classic and was originally written in Spanish. I wasn’t looking forward to it TOO much until I learned that my very wonderful, handsome honeyman has read it! And enjoyed it! Turns out he’s read several big classics that have always kind of intimidated me. (Seriously, LOVE that man!) Soooo, now I’m super excited to read it. I’m actually starting it today :-) And this is the translation I’m going with… I originally bought the B&N edition, but the translation looked… not great. And this one seems a lot easier. But if anyone has a recommendation to which is the BEST translation, let me know!

 

2. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore – I’ve been waiting for this book for AGES! And it will finally be released on May 1st, 2012. This will probably be the book I’m looking forward to the most this year.

 

3. It Takes a Witch by Heather Blake – OK, so Heather Blake is ACTUALLY Heather Webber, the author of the super-adorable Lucy Valentine books that I like so much. This is a new series she’s starting, and although I wish she was writing more Lucy Valentine books instead, I’m going to try this too. It actually comes out today, so I may go buy it :-)

 

4. Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore – New Christopher Moore book, comes out April 3rd. Need I say more?

 

5. The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett – This was recommended to me a few months ago by a friend of a friend. I bought it last week with my Christmas gift cards and I’m excited to try it out!

 

6. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb – Jenn recommended this to me months ago and I ordered it from Amazon months ago, but I’ve been waiting until this year because I didn’t want to start a new series in the rest of 2011. So excited to finally read it!

 

7. The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud – My friend Doni has been recommending this kids / YA trilogy to me ever since we worked at Waldenbooks together like 6 or 7 years ago. I have the first book waiting on my shelf, and this shall be the year!

 

8. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray – I love-love-LOVED Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, so I’m going to give these books a try. Once again, I already have the first book on my shelf. I’m so efficient. And a book hoarder.

 

9. The Pioneer Woman Cooks; Food From My Frontier by Ree Drummond – OK so this isn’t really a “reading” book, but the PW is coming out with a new cookbook on March 13th and I can’t wait! I looooove her first one – her recipe for chicken pot pie has totally captured the heart of my honeyman. Plus it’s really easy to follow the directions, and the pages are all gorgeous and colorful and she puts pretty pictures of her ranch and family and yeah, just awesome. It’s totally a cookbook that I’ll just flip through randomly and instantly want to try like every (non-beef or pork) recipe.

 

10. A Night Like This by Julia Quinn – This is supposed to come out in late spring (no solid date yet), but it’s the second book in the Smythe-Smith quartet by Julia Quinn. I really enjoyed the first book (Just Like Heaven), so I can’t wait!

 

So those are my ten! What books are you looking forward to in 2012?

~Sarah

 

 

 

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November 29, 2011 · 7:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books to Read This Winter!

 

Good morning everyone! So it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s topic is Top Ten Books On My TBR List For Winter. I have SO many books I want to read before the year is over, and sadly I do not think I’m going to beat my number of books read last year, which was 127. But these are the ones I’m definitely going to try to make time for.

 

1. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – This will be a re-read for me, because I read it last year and LOVED it! I’m just waiting for some snow to be on the ground before I start it to get that awesome Christmas mood going.

2. The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstein – As some of you may notice, this is listed for the December poll on the right-hand side and it is winning by a whole bunch so since there’s only two more days until December, I’m gonna assume that this is the winner. Bob actually had some of his fans come to my blog to vote – for those of you that voted and don’t think that’s fair – whatever. Maybe it will encourage you to spread the word around to all your friends and stuff to vote for the book you want! All’s fair in love and war… and vote-getting. LOL. Either way, this book looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it!

3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore – Another re-read! I LOOOOOVE Graceling, and I’m happy that the honeyman has picked it as our book to read together in December (he hasn’t read it before).

4. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum - I had no idea that the master of Oz himself had written about Santa! I’m sure it’s bound to be whimsical and out-there, but I’m going to try to get a copy of this from the library today.

5. Crossed by Ally Condie – Actually, I’m hoping to start this today. But unless there’s a miracle, I probably won’t finish it until at least Thursday, which is December, which counts as winter! So there. It’s actually due at the library tomorrow, but I’m not going to return it until I finish it, since I’ve been wanting to get to it for ages now.

 

6. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde - Book numero tres in the Thursday Next series. Yay for continuing on with a series! I was hoping to actually catch up completely with these books by the end of the year, but that didn’t happen. Just gives me more to look forward to next year, right?

7. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin – I’m pretty sure this was on my fall list as well… Sadly I was sidetracked by other books, and in all honesty I may not get to this in December. It’s a big chunky book and with the craziness of the holidays upon us, I’m probably going to stick to shorter, fluffier books. But I’m definitely getting to it in January darn it!

8. The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon - You know how I love my Outlander reads! I’m really bummed I didn’t get to re-read the entire series this year. I love these books dearly, but I start to get blogger-guilt when I go to re-read them because they’re massive and take about a week for me to read (since I’m usually busy) and then I feel bad for not reviewing other books in that time and yeah… Screw blogger guilt, I’m going to read book 5 through 7 hopefully in the first quarter of 2012.

9. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen – The only Austen novel I haven’t read yet! There would be a nice symmetry to finishing it before the end of the year, since I read three Austen books in 2010 and two so far in 2011. (P.S., It’s not the cover I own but I kinda love this pink one!)

10. random Christmas romance novels – This one is vague, but I’m a sappy girl and totally into the Christmas stuff this year – as if you couldn’t tell. So I’m definitely going to look for the Christmas romance section at the library today and pick a few up!

Soooo that’s my super-ambitious list! I definitely focused on books I’m trying to read in December rather than the whole winter because once 2012 comes, I won’t care as much what I read because it’ll be a new year! And I’m weird like that.

What’s on you winter TBR?

~Sarah

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November 15, 2011 · 8:21 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Had Forever But Haven’t Read

Hey ya’ll. So unfortunately I have to go to work, but luckily this week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and The Bookish) should be super easy. The topic is Top Ten Books You’ve Had the Longest But Haven’t Read Yet. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

1. The Bible – The first religious text I’ve ever owned, given to me several times as a child (I went to a Catholic middle school) and I still haven’t read the sucker. And probably never will, but I still have them on my shelf. (I actually have several religious texts – The Quran, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, etc. I have no clue why I like to collect them.)

2. any Toni Morrison book – Seriously, I own at least 5 of her books and have owned them for well over 5 years now. Why do I keep putting them off?

3. The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George – Seriously, I’ve read a couple books by Margaret George and she is a REALLY good historical fiction author. But for some unknown reason I keep putting off this one – probably because it’s massive.

4. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley – One of those fantasy novels that I just HAVE to read, but haven’t yet - despite the fact that I own TWO copies of it.

5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – I have ZERO excuse for not reading this yet. Especially since it’s practically a classic and almost always on summer reading lists for schools.

6. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich – One of those non-fiction books that I’ve owned FOREVER but haven’t read yet. I have about three full shelves that would fall in that category. I have a horrible habit on buying non-fiction books because I’m interested in them, but then picking up a fiction book to read instead. Shame on Sarah.

7. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey – So I remember buying this memoir book when Oprah selected it for her book club (shut up) and I kinda let it lay around for a long while. THEN the controversy hit that he fabricated a whole crapload of it, and I still didn’t read it. And now I have to admit that I’ll probably never read it because making up a memoir is a crap thing to do, but I’ll probably keep it just because it’s such a controversial and popular book now. I feel like I need to have books in my library that are notorious, even if I don’t like them. I’m weird, I know.

8. Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman – This was kind of an advance / free copy of the book that the publisher sent to Waldenbooks to give us employees a chance to read before it came out. Which none of us ever did, but when we found out our store was closing we went through the cupboard of ARC’s and I grabbed this one. I have little interest in it (even though I’m kind of socially awkward) but I’m mainly keeping it because it reminds me of Waldenbooks and I miss it :-(

9. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells – Seriously, this book (and it’s movie) look so cute. And I will read it. Someday.

10. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson – I have wanted to read this book for YEARS. I think it’s because I think the cover is pretty. Maybe I should put this on my “must-read” list for 2012… even though I sucked at my 2011 list.

So those are my ten! And there are about 500 more that could be added to it! Sadly, I’m going to HAVE to do a big purge of my books soonish, to make room for a desk for the honeyman in the spare room. Sad face.

~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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