You can never have too much of a good thing right?

I am so glad that Michelle from 1MoreChapter.com is running this challenge again this year! Here are the rules from the challenge site.

1. Read a minimum of 10 books first published in 2010. You don’t have to buy these. Library books, unabridged audios, or ARCs are all acceptable. To qualify as being first published in 2010, it must be the first time that the book is published in your own country. For example, if a book was published in Australia, England, or Canada in 2009, and then published in the USA in 2010, it counts (if you live in the USA). Newly published trade paperbacks and mass market paperbacks do not count if there has been a hardcover/trade published before 2010.
2. No children’s/YA titles allowed, since we’re at the ‘pub.’
3. At least 5 titles must be fiction.
4. Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
5. You can add your titles as you go, and they may be changed at any time.
6. Sign up at the Pub Challenge site using Mr. Linky.
7. Have fun reading your 2010 books!

Please use the link to your specific post about this challenge!

I also realised the other day that I have signed up for another challenge, but hadn't mentioned it on the blog anywhere. It is the In Death Challenge that is being hosted at Happily Ever After. This challenge is specifically designed to help us all get through the fabulous In Death series by J D Robb.

The other January challenge that I had forgotten about was National Just Read More Novels Month which is hosted by Foma.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Must Be A Novel. Works of fiction only, please. Memoirs, non-fiction, how-to books, and Garfield collections don't count.
2. Memoirs Aren't Novels. No matter how made up the story, anything ostensibly true isn't a novel. Also known as The James Frey Rule.
3. Start and Finish in January. I guess if you got some cool books for Christmas, Hanukkah or some other gift-giving event and jumped the gun, you can't be blamed. But I only count books I start and finish within the 31 day window.
4. Re-reading Doesn't Count. Try something new. Read something by your favorite author or try an entirely new author or tackle that novel you have always wanted to read.
5. Have Fun. Nobody is grading you or paying you or judging you. Read what you like and like what you read.

Where did January go?

Last week I picked up a few books from the library. I am still doing okay at keeping the number of books that I have out down to around 30, but given how little I am actually reading it won't take long to creep up again. The books I borrowed were:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Fish Out of Water by Mary Janice Davidson
Foul Play by Janet Evanovich
Portrait in Death by J D Robb
Snowy Night with a Stranger anthology


I am pretty sure that I have had the last two out previously but I had to return them unread. I want to read them both so I can continue on with the series that I am reading, so I am hoping that I will get to them this time!

Pride and Prejudice is on audiobook, and will be my next classic read. I am trying to use audiobooks to improve on my pretty poor record of reading many of the classics during this year.

Changing the topic a bit, can you believe that January has gone by already?? It's hard to work out where the month has gone. Way back at the beginning of the month I posted about NaJuReMoNoMo - National Just Read More Novels Month.

For the second consecutive month I have read less than ten books, which is almost unheard of for me, so I think it is fair to say that I didn't exactly read More as such, but I did end up starting and finishing five books. All up I finished eight books during January but three of those were books that I had started prior to 1 January and they therefore do not count for the purposes of this challenge.


**Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Alessandra and Eva. Details here**

Naughty Neighbor by Janet Evanovich

Louisa Brannigan's neighbor is a handsome hell-raiser—and he's driving Louisa crazy. He makes terrible coffee, steals her newspaper, and listens through her walls. But when she's fired from her government job, Louisa is persuaded to join his undercover investigation. Sneaking around in the shadows is more fun than she ever imagined, especially when the getaway car is a Porsche.

Pete Streeter never figured on finding such an attractive partner in crime. Louisa is all he ever wanted in a woman, and more. But once he's taught her to enjoy living on the edge, will she finally feel safe in his love?

I have read quite a few of these rereleased romances from Janet Evanovich over the last couple of years. Some have worked for me but others have not. Luckily for me, this was the perfect read for a Saturday night spent at home by myself - quick, amusing, entertaining, and oh, did I mention quick?

The plot makes very little sense at all, for example the pig on the cover is relevant to the story but it doesn't really matter. Unlike a couple of her other books you really felt the connection, the chemistry, between Pete and Louisa. The suspense sub plot, if you can call it that, was wrapped up far too easily and kind of off stage from the pages of the book, the main characters fell in love too quickly, but I think that is inevitable given that the author only has just over 200 pages to have the characters meet, bond and live happily ever after.

I will definitely be borrowing the last couple of rereleases that I haven't read yet.

Rating 4/5

Did you know?

January is National Just Read More Novels Month or NaJuReMoNoMo? Yes, it is another challenge, but it is a flexible challenge. The full details can be found here, but basically the idea is to read as many novels as you can. Books that you have already started as at 1 January don't count, but other than that the main restriction is that the books read must be novels. There are a variety of buttons depending on how many you do read, and you can can mix and match them to come up with your number of books!

NaJuReMoNoMo wrap up

You may recall that a while ago I posted about NaJuReMoNoMo 2008 (National Just Read More Novels Month) that was created by Foma to try and encourage people to read more!


Now that January is over, I can award myself the relevant badges for how many novels I managed to read in January:






Yay! I got the gold!

Whilst I read 11 novels, I actually listened to one more, read a couple of short stories, a kids book and a non fiction book as well, but this particular challenge is about reading more novels so I didn't count them for this purpose!

Hopefully I will remember to keep an eye out for this next year!

NaJuReMoNoMo 2008

I saw this over at Raidergirl's blog and thought that it was a bit of fun. The original idea is actually quite serious. It was created by Foma, and these were his reasons for creating it:

Two years ago I invented a semi-parody of National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo that I called National Just Read More Novels Month or, for not-so-short, the unpronounceable NaJuReMoNoMo. It’s only a semi-parody because I am completely serious about wanting people to read more novels. January is the perfect month for this sort of internet meme. It’s the middle of winter and doesn’t conflict with any major holidays. January is 31 days long, giving people plenty of time to read a book. Folks are flush with cash and gift cards from holiday giving, And they are burnt out from the endless November challenges that require too much work.

Best of all, NaJuReMoNoMo is astoundingly easy. All you have to do is read any novel from start to finish within the month of January. You can read memoirs or non-fiction in January, they just don’t count towards your NaJuReMoNoMo total.

Given how many novels a lot of us already read we can already be winners, which has to be a good thing right! So there are badges for our blogs, to say that we are winners, and then there are badges to signify how many novels we have read! So at this point in time, these are the badges that I can claim, having started and finished 8 novels so far this month:




I am aspiring to get a gold badge for having read 10!

It's a shame that I didn't know about it earlier in the month, but it's still a great idea and I am going to try and keep an eye out for it next year!