I really need to hurry up and decide

When it was first announced that there was going to be an Australian Romance Readers Convention I was very excited! Having read through numerous posts of conference attendees at the major American conferences it was finally going to be my chance to experience the fun and excitement, and to meet up with a few Aussie bloggers that I have met online!

Even more exciting was when it was announced that the Convention was being held here in Melbourne! And yet here it is, two days before early bird registrations close, and I still haven't registered.

Now the question is what to do, what to do?

Whilst the organisers have done a great job at keeping the prices down ($190 for a full registration which covers the whole weekend is great) I don't think I can justify it in terms of my financial situation. I mean, $190 for full registration, or the new tyres I really need on my car. $190 or paying the electricity bill?

Then I thought about a day registration. That's only $110, but again, I am not sure I can justify that kind of expense. And then there is the question of which day? When I look at the program, I would like to go to the Historicals session on Saturday afternoon, and the book launch for Anna Campbell, but then I would like to hear Sherrilyn Kenyon on Sunday. Decisions, decisions.

As for the book signing session, I am cutting way down on book buying at the moment, and a lot of the times I read books I am getting them from the library so I can't exactly take them to get signed now can I!

I really want to be part of the experience, but I don't know that I would be being particularly responsible if I were to spend that much money going, when I know that there are things that I need to be doing with that money.

Either way, I need to hurry up and decide because early bird registrations close soon! What to do???

These Books were made for Walking meme

Strumpet from Strumpets life has had a cool idea for a meme! The These Books Were Made for Walking meme is designed to "blog about a book and travel in some way". This will be a monthly meme, held on the third Wednesday of every month. This month's theme is Beach reads.

I must start with a confession. I don't do beach reads. The idea of tyring to get comfortable under the hot sun with a book doesn't really appeal to me that much. Neither does showing the body that I have NOT worked so hard to get on the beach actually. Part of the reason is that over the years Aussies have been inundated with so many messages about skin cancer, that for me, sun bathing is very much a thing that I stopped doing when I was a teenager. I don't know of any of my friends who do so regularly either. It was kind of amusing when I lived in the UK because if there was a nice sunny weekend, everyone else would come into work either brown or red from sunbaking, and I would be the whitest person there. It's not exactly the sun bronzed Aussie image that is portrayed so often in the media, but never mind!

That answer isn't really in the spirit of the meme though, so I thought I would talk about the kinds of books that make me think of the beach. If I did read at the beach or the pool it would most likely whichever book I was currently reading. I wouldn't make specific choices just because I was going to the beach or pool or whatever. The other thing is that if I wasn't going to go swimming, then I would most likely take my MP3 player and listen to a book as opposed to reading it, so that I could still supervise my son as he was swimming around.

Interestingly enough, it appears that there are some people who enjoy more high brow literature for on the beach. For me, if I was going to sit by the pool or on the beach, then I would want something that I didn't have to concentrate all the time on, so that rules out a lot of the classics, and more literature type reads. What I can see myself reading are some of the sprawling sagas that follow families through the years. Something nice and meaty, that will take a while to get through. For example, some of James Micheners books would do the trick, and there are a couple of his books that would give pretty good beach descriptions as well. I am thinking specifically of Hawaii and South Pacific for example. Actually, any chunksters that you can really get lost in would probably be suitable!

I hope that some of you feel inspired to join Strumpet's meme! I think it has a fun theme, and look forward to posting again next month! If you do respond to the meme let me know and I will come check it out!

Library Loot

There hasn't been much come into the library for me in the last week, but that's okay because it is helping to keep the number of books I have out to around the 30 mark,

The two that I did get were Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong and Children of Destiny by Elizabeth Chadwick.

Funny thing about Living with the Dead is that I actually had it out last week. I thought that someone else had requested it so I couldn't renew it, but when I went to check on the website there was no one waiting, and so I could renew it. The only problem was that about 4 hours after I renewed it, I returned it because I had forgotten that I had renewed it! Whoops!

Giveaway at Historical Tapestry

Over at Historical Tapestry (a group blog that I am part of that focuses on Historical Fiction) we are giving away a copy of the new book from Robin Maxwell, Signora da Vinci.

You can check out all the details here.

A sign from God

I have had a sign from God that tells me that it is pointless to continue with the list!

I took my child to see Bolt today at the local cinemas. I thought the movie was quite good although I am glad that I am not taking a 3 year old to see it. I guess it is no different from The Incredibles in that there is quite a lot of blowing up of helicopters and cars etc, but it does seem that the cartoon genre has moved away from just cute with a message like the ones we got with The Lion King etc.

There were a number of trailers that looked good. The boy wants to see Return to Witch Mountain, mainly because it stars Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) because he is obsessed with wrestling at the moment. I want to see Inkheart, even though I haven't read the book, and then there is Ice Age 3 as well.

**aside**

I was looking for a picture to put with this post and I ended up on IMDB, where I was reading through the goofs, and something that someone has added is this 'error':

The CSX diesel locomotive pulling the train that Bolt swings onto from the bridge is an EMD SD70M, #432. CSX did not number any of their SD70Ms in the 400s. CSX numbered their SD70Ms from 4675 to 4699. CSX locomotive #432 is, in reality, a CW44AC (CSX's designation for an AC4400CW).

Seriously? Do you see my eyes glazing over? It's a cartoon for goodness sake!

**end aside**

One cute thing was that there was a little girl there who obviously has been listening to the Mamma Mia soundtrack, but she only knows, or likes, one line. I first saw her on the steps, and then again inside, and then heard her in the toilets singing "Honey honey, now you kill me" over and over again.

Anyway, onto the message about the list! I went outside to where my nice clean car should have been, to see a car exactly the same as mine, except there were multiple deposits of bird poop on it! Don't they understand that I have only just had it cleaned! Surely that is a sign from some higher power about the futility of the list?

See how easily I can be deterred from the list? That's why I needed to introduce some accountability!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should be Reading:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

This week's teaser comes from page 249 of The Last Queen by C W Gortner:

After dispatching my letter, Philip had had no choice but to reach accord with my father, after which he ordered a flurry of preparations to rival the intensity of the winter storms. Now he strode about like a king anointed shouting orders left and right with Don Miguel scampering at his heels, and leaving me to mull over this unexpected turn of events.

Natural enemies of the list

So far I have identified three major enemies of the list, or rather of achieving the items on the list.

Number 1 is the heat. We are finally having some summer, although we have gone from pretty cool to very hot in a very short period of time.

Number 2 is the Australian Open tennis. I don't usually watch a lot of tennis, but I do like watching our major tournament. I think it is because it is accessible and not something that we have to stay up all night to watch.

Number 3 is computer games. I knew I shouldn't do it, but I downloaded a couple of games yesterday. Nothing very interesting, just one of those games that you find yourself playing for hours and suddenly being shocked at how long it has been, and that it is 1 am. Whoops!


The other thing that interests me is how quickly my body settles back into it's preferred pattern of staying up late and getting up late. with a nap in the afternoon!

Holiday Checklist

I know from previous experience that it is all too easy for me to while away vacation time parked here in front of the computer, with the occasion trip to somewhere to entertain the boy. Time to introduce a little accountability I think.

While I don't want to spend my whole holidays cleaning and working, there are a certain number of things that I do want to get done, so in no particular order here are some of the things that I need to do:

Kitchen

Clean out fridge and freezer, including behind and on top.
Clean out all the kitchen cupboards
Clean out food cupboard

Spare room

Empty at least one of those boxes that has been there since I moved house. It will be a pleasant surprise to see what I find I am sure.
Fold all clothes
Reorganise craft table with an eye to getting reinspired into making some things.


My room

Empty at least one of those boxes that has been there since I moved house. It will be a pleasant surprise to see what I find I am sure.

Laundry

Reorganise linen cupboard

Son's Room

Tidy up. This took four days last year. Hopefully won't take as long this year.
Check for too small clothes

Garden

Mow the lawns/weeds
Weed the front gardens
Take the dead heads off of the roses

Garage

Sweep it out

Car

Get it cleaned.




Phew! Just looking at that list makes me tired. I think I am going to go and have a nap!

What do you think?

So the story goes that this person was having breakfast in a cafe, saw a hot guy and had a brief chat, but didn't get his name. When he left, he forgot his jacket so the girl has put up a video on Youtube to try and find him.



There is some talk as to whether or not this is for real or a clever marketing campaign, and the girl has been on the news here this morning. One of the reasons why people are thinking it is fake is because the jacket hasn't been released into shops here yet apparently.

What do you think? Fake or real? Romantic or marketing?

Not always on the ball

You know, there are some days when I swear that I am a kangaroo short of a top paddock (it's not the expression I would usually use, but I thought I would throw in an Australianism for you).

Today I forgot to turn my alarm off even though it was the first day of my vacation, so I was awake at 6am, so I already knew that I was starting the day off a little tireder than I would like.

I had a few things to do, fortunately around the local area, one of which was to pick my son's bike up from the bike repair shop so we went there. The bike wasn't ready (it'd been there for a week but lets not concentrate on that too much) so they said come back in ten minutes. In order to fill in the time we walked to the local video shop and borrowed a couple of DVDS, and then went back to the bike shop. The bike was ready so that was all good - next stop was the butchers.

When we got to the butcher's I realised that I couldn't find my mobile phone that I had had in my hand so the options were that I had either left it in the bike shop or the video shop. So I sent the boy back to the video shop but he returned without success. While I did what I needed to do at the butchers, I sent him back to the bike shop.

I was just getting back to the car with the meat when I hear my ring tone very clearly and loudly. My phone was in my pocket. The man at the bike shop had rung my number, and I answered. Everyone in the bike shop was very entertained.

Most of the time my brain is pretty good, but apparently it has decided to go on vacation too!

Desperate times and all that

When I posted my list of the library books that I have out for last week's Library Loot meme I know that I joked around a bit about how many books I had out, but the reality is that most of the time my reading is very much dictated by what book is due back to the library next, and I am often sitting here thinking well I have 6 (10, 12, insert relevant number here) books to read in the next x days, which adds a degree of pressure to my reading.

What this also mesns is that I have an awful lot of books that I have bought or otherwise acquired that I struggle to fit into the reading schedule. Authors whose work I know I love and therefore I buy as soon as I see them sit languishing on my TBR list for years before I finally get to read them.

Well, enough is enough. Tonight I was almost harsh with myself and went through and took a whole heap of books off of my library shelf, and will return them tomorrow. Can I tell you though, it was really, really hard, because there are books that I have will be taking back that I do want to read.

Part of the reason for doing this is that I really haven't been reading very much at all so far this year. I have only finished three books, and I am not really all that close to finishing the next book either. With it being school holidays, I have to be at childcare half an hour earlier at night which means that catching the train is problematic and so I have been driving to work (it also doesn't hurt that the price of petrol has come down so far), and so I have lost three hours of reading time every day. At the end of this week I go on vacation for two weeks, and I know from the past that I read even less when I am not working so I have removed a lot of books where the library due date was before the end of the month.

My criteria for keeping books was that they are the next book in a series that I am reading, they are a challenge book, group read, or they are books that I really, Really, REALLY want to read.

That doesn't mean to say that the books I am taking back are not ones that I want to read because they are, and there is always a fair chance that I will reborrow at least some of them in the short term future, but for the time being I need to give myself a little breathing space.

Given that this was originally supposed to be my Library Loot post for this week, I will say that I did pick up four books this week:

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts (next book in a series)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (really want to read it before seeing the movie)
The Mysteries of Glass by Sue Gee (challenge book)
Out Stealing Horse by Per Petterson (group read)

By the time actually put all the books in the library slot that I am returning, I will have gone from having 53 books out down to 36 books out. It's still a lot, and I guess in due course I will try to get it down a bit further, but for now, it's a start.

What a cool prize!

By spreading the love you can win an e-book reader thanks to author Kresley Cole.

I must admit that an e-book reader is on my list of things to get to eventually. It would make carrying books around on public transport so much easier, but here in Australia, if you can find them they are horrendously expensive!






Check out the detail at Kresley Cole's site

It's summer, it's cricket!

Both on Sunday and Tuesday night we have been watching the Twenty20 cricket between Australia and South Africa. This format is considered to be the rock n roll version of the game, and on Sunday night a new star emerged. David Warner smashed the ball all around the ground. He didn't deliver on Tuesday, but considering that he hasn't even played state cricket, it's pretty amazing for him to be in the Australian side playing in front of 60000 people at the MCG.



The other side of the equation is finding yourself facing balls that are being bowled at you at speeds of greater than 150kms an hour, which can be painful if you get hit in the wrong place. This happened on Sunday night, and the player didn't end up playing on Tuesday because his hip bone still hurt.

I love winning books!

It's been a while since I won a book, but I was lucky enough today to find out that I have won an ARC from debut author, Cindy Pon. Cindy's book, Silver Phoenix is a YA book that is due to be released in April. The cover is just totally gorgeous!



There is a blurb and an excerpt available on Cindy's website.

Teaser Tuesday

Do you ever have days when you have so many bits and pieces that you want to post about, but you are torn between individual posts and one long post! At the same time I am sitting in the hottest room of the house because we FINALLY are having some hot weather, and because I am a bit silly I am sitting out here instead of in the room where the air conditioner is. (Note to self: do something about getting air con in this back room!). Instead of all the bits and pieces you get Teaser Tuesday instead!

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should be Reading:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

This week's teaser comes from page 223 of Fishing for Stars by Bryce Courtenay:

To be strong without being foolish is the hardest lesson of all to learn. You have kept your pride but made yourself unfit for battle.

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

Weekly Geeks #1 - Favourites

I am so glad that Weekly Geeks is back. I can't think of a better tribute to Dewey than to keep the events that she started and was passionate about going. This week's Weekly Geeks theme:

In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis. Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh. Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.

Now, you may have noticed that I don't do things in small numbers. You only have to look at the number of books I have out from the library to realise that, and blog reading is similar. I have 750 subscriptions in my Bloglines account and it is constantly growing. In order to try and help cope with that, I have my feeds divided into several categories including Authors, Historical Fiction, Craft and the ever helpful Others category (which includes things like LOLcats and Cake Wrecks). Two of the categories are Must Reads, and then Book Reviewers and Romance blogs i.e everyone else. The Must Reads are the blogs that I, well, must read. So if I only have 10 minutes, I will work my way through those blogs, and then come back later and read all the rest. Even if your blog isn't in the must reads category, I will always make an effort to get down to 0 unread at least twice a week, so it's not that I don't read your blog. I do...eventually. I kind of don't like singling out blogs because there are loads that I like to read, and I am always adding more.

In my must read book reviewers category a lot of them are for people who I have either been friends with through boards etc, or who I feel have become friends through blogging, and then those that I read because I really enjoy their content, even though I am probably on the periphery of their blog world! There are more than 50 of those alone, so it would take forever to link to them all so instead I am just copying the lists from Bloglines to here:

* A Reader's Respite (0) (0)
* A Striped Armchair (0) (0)
* A Work in Progress (0) (0)
* an adventure in reading (0) (0)
* B O O K L U S T (0) (0)
* B&b ex libris
* book-a-rama (0) (0)
* Bookfoolery and Babble (0) (0)
* Books 'N Border Collies (0) (0)
* Confessions of a Book Addict (0) (0)
* Cosy World (0) (0)
* dovegreyreader scribbles (0) (0)
* Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
* J. Kaye's Book Blog
* Le Canapé (0) (0)
* The Literate Housewife Review (0) (0)
* Matilda
* Musings of a Bookish Kitty (0) (0)
* MYSTERIES in PARADISE
* Oklahoma Booklady (0) (0)
* Random Jottings of an Opera and Book Lover (0) (0)
* Rhinoa's Ramblings (0) (0)
* Sassymonkey Reads (0) (0)
* Saving my Sanity ... (0) (0)
* So Many Precious Books, So Little Time (0) (0)
* Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic
* things mean a lot (0) (0)
* The Written World

When it comes to romance blogs, these are my must reads:

* Aneca's World
* BABBLING ABOUT BOOKS, AND MORE!
* Book Binge (0) (0)
* The Book Bitches (0) (0)
* bookgirl's nightstand (0) (0)
* Dear Author.Com (1) (0)
* The Good, The Bad and The Unread (0) (0)
* Jennie's B(ook)log (0) (0)
* Julia's Books Corner !
* Karen Knows Best (0) (0)
* the life of a dumpling - books, books and books (0) (0)
* The Misadventures of Super_Librarian (0) (0)
* nichtszusagen (0) (0)
* Nobody asked me... (0) (0)
* Nocturnal Wonderings (0) (0)
* Nose In A Book (0) (0)
* Ramblings on Romance Etcetera, Etcetera (0) (0)
* Rosario's Reading Journal (0) (0)
* Sandys Reading Journal (0) (0)
* Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
* thebooksmugglers.com (0) (0)
* Thrifty Reader (0) (0)
* The THRILLIONTH page (0) (0)
* Zeek's Page (0) (0)
* ~ Stacy's Place on Earth ~

You know, it probably isn't so great to list them all like that because it makes it clear how much of an issue I have when it comes to doing things in moderation! LOL!

100+ Reading Challenge

January


1. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
2. Naughty Neighbor by Janet Evanovich
3. The Leopard Unleashed by Elizabeth Chadwick
4. The Last Queen by C W Gortner
5. To Seduce a Bride by Nicole Jordan
6. Secrets of Surrender by Madeline Hunter

February

7. His Wicked Kiss by Gaelen Foley
8. The Water Horse by Julia Gregson
9. Signora da Vinci by Robin Maxwell
10. The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
11. Foul Play by Janet Evanovich
12. Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
13. Snowy Night with a Stranger anthology
14. Portrait in Death by J D Robb
15. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
16. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
17. Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
18. Life as we knew it by Susan Pfeffer
19. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

March

20. The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
21. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
22. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
23. The Chocolate Run by Dorothy Koomson
24. Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
25. Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
26. Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
27. Death Before Wicket by Kerry Greenwood
28. Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
29. Angelique and the Sultan by Sergeanne Golon
30. Wife for Hire by Janet Evanovich
31. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
32. Night of Flames by Douglas W Jacobson
33. Superior Saturday by Garth Nix
34. Venus in Copper by Lindsey Davis
35. An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell
36. The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts
37. Forbidden Fantasies anthology

April

38. Tiger Claws by John Speed
39. Gilded Web by Mary Balogh
40. Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry
41. Marked by P C Cast and Kristin Cast
42. Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
43. Don't Bargain with the Devil by Sabrina Jeffries
44. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
45. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
46. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
47. The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson
48. Miranda's Big Mistake by Jill Mansell

May

49. The Terror by Dan Simmons
50. Children of Destiny by Elizabeth Chadwick
51. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon
52. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
53. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
54. The Boat by Nam Le
55. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding anthology
56. The Sharing Knife: Beguilement
57. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
58. The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint
59. Her Only Desire by Gaelen Foley
60. Calamity Jayne by Kathleen Bacus
61. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

June

62. Why Shoot a Butler by Georgette Heyer
63. In the Woods by Tana French
64. To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt
65. Imitation in Death by J D Robb
66. Full Moon by Keri Arthur
67. Betrayed by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
68. The Bridegroom by Linda Lael Miller
69. A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander
70. Made to be Broken by Kelley Armstrong
71. A Hollow Crown by Helen Hollick
72. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
73. Sin and Scandal in England by Melody Thomas
74. The French Mistress by Susan Holloway Scott

July

75. Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham
76. Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas
77. The Dream Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon
78. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y K Lee
79. Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn
80. Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts
81. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
82. The Dark Rose by Cynthia Harrod Eagles
83. Chosen by P C Cast and Kristin Cast
84. An Affair Before Christmas by Eloisa James
85. Lord of the Silent by Elizabeth Peters
86. The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella

August

87. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
88. Web of Love by Mary Balogh
89. Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters
90. The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan
91. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
92. The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
93. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
94. Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden
95. The Sins of Lord Easterbrook by Madeline Hunter
96. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
97. Royal Harlot by Susan Holloway Scott
98. Untamed by P C Cast and Kristin Cast
99. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
100. Shields of Pride by Elizabeth Chadwick
101. Wed Him Before You Bed Him by Sabrina Jeffries
102. Vision in White by Nora Roberts
103. Grand Finale by Janet Evanovich

Library Challenge List

This is my post to list my books that I have read for the Library Challenge. I am aiming to read at least 50 books from the library as part of this challenge.


January

1. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
2. Naughty Neighbor by Janet Evanovich
3. The Leopard Unleashed by Elizabeth Chadwick
4. The Last Queen by C W Gortner
5. To Seduce a Bride by Nicole Jordan


February

6.His Wicked Kiss by Gaelen Foley
7. The Water Horse by Julia Gregson
8. The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
9. Foul Play by Janet Evanovich
10. Snowy Night with a Stranger anthology
11. Portrait in Death by J D Robb
12. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
13. Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
14. Life as we Knew it by Susan Pfeffer

March

15.The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
16. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
17. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
18. The Chocolate Run by Dorothy Koomson
19. Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
20. Death Before Wicket by Kerry Greenwood
21. Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
22. Angelique and the Sultan by Sergeanne Golon
23. Wife for Hire by Janet Evanovich
24.The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
25. Night of Flames by Douglas W Jacobson
26. Superior Saturday by Garth Nix
27. Venus in Copper by Lindsey Davis
28. The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts
29. Forbidden Fantasies anthology

April

30. Tiger Claws by John Speed
31. Gilded Web by Mary Balogh
32. Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry
33. Marked by P C Cast and Kristin Cast
34. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
35. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
36. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

May

37. The Terror by Dan Simmons
38. Children of Destiny by Elizabeth Chadwick
39. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon
40. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
41. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
42. The Boat by Nam Le
43. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding anthology
44. The Sharing Knife: Beguilement
45. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
46. The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint
47. Her Only Desire by Gaelen Foley
48. Calamity Jayne by Kathleen Bacus
49. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

June

50. In the Woods by Tana French
51. Imitation in Death by J D Robb
52. Full Moon by Keri Arthur
53. Betrayed by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
54. A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander
55. Made to be Broken by Kelley Armstrong
56. A Hollow Crown by Helen Hollick
57. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
58. Sin and Scandal in England by Melody Thomas

Look it up!

A couple of weeks ago I was watching CMC, the country music channel, when I heard this song, and it amused me immensely. Last night I had the channel on again and it came on again, and I thought I really must post it! Enjoy.



It's called Look It UP by Jasmine Rae.

Play nicely this time Richard!

You may remember that this time last year I was in the beginning and most intense phase of my appreciation of anything Richard Armitage.

I can not tell you how many times I watched the DVDs of North and South, and the Vicar of Dibley, as well as the first season of Robin Hood in January and February of last year.

Apparently my DVD player shared my appreciation of all things Richard because when I tried to watch a DVD that didn't have RA in it, the player no longer worked, even though it was only 6 months old. It never worked again. Even placing one of the aforementioned discs in it did not encourage it to work.

Luckily we had another DVD player in the house so when I needed to get my fix I had to go into the other room and watch them in there.

Last night I decided enough was enough, so I went and bought a new DVD player for the room where I have my computer so that once again, I can watch DVDs in the back room. It's only a tiny little gizmo, and it was el cheapo, but it does what it needs to do. Tonight I am watching my first DVD in it - the first disc of North and South.

Please Richard, don't break this DVD player! You know that even when I stray and watch something else, I will always come back to you!

Library Loot

Alessandra and Eva both came up with a great idea - a weekly meme about your visits to the library. Now, they are planning on jointly hosting, and give that I am such a regular library visitor I thought that this is one weekly meme that I can definitely join in on.

Having said that, I haven't been to the library this week at all! I did think that I would post the list of books that I have currently got out for this week and then from now on I will just post the week's details. I used to do a library crazy post on an irregular basis where I posted these lists, but I haven't done one for a while.

I always have a LOT of books out from the library so please don't be shocked! Here are the ones I have out:

The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason (I have read this one, but haven't returned it yet)

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
Freedom's Land by Anna Jacobs
The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Naughty Neighbour by Janet Evanovich
Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
Fishing for Stars by Bryce Courtney
Tiger Claws by John Speed
Portrait in Death by J D Robb
Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry
The Vizard Mask by Diana Norman
The Cavalier Case by Antonia Fraser
Knitting by Anne Bartlett
It by Stephen King
His Wicked Kiss by Gaelen Foley
My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding anthology
Sweet Mandarin by Helen Tse
Counting the Stars by Helen Dunmore
Aztec by Gary Jennings
Snowy Night with a Stranger anthology
Mistress of the sun by Sandra Gulland
Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett
Angelique and the Sultan by Sergeanne Golon
Death Before Wicket by Kerry Greenwood
The Chocolate Run by Dorothy Koomson
Blood Price by Tanya Huff
The Staircase by Ann Rinaldi
The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters
The Leopard Unleashed by Elizabeth Chadwick
Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts
The Fool's Tale by Nicole Galland
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
Lord of the Silent by Elizabeth Peters
Life as we Knew it by Susan Pfeffer
Vivaldis Virgins by Barbara Quick
To Seduce a Bride by Nicole Jordan
Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden
The Last Queen by CW Gortner
Superior Saturday by Garth Nix
Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Night of Flames by Douglas Jacobson
44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
Venus in Copper by Lindsey Davis
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Faking It by Jennifer Crusie
The Water Horse by Julia Gregson
Death Comes as Epiphany by Sharan Newman
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach

I have 3 books that are being held waiting for me to pick up:

Against the Tide of Years by S M Stirling
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Mysteries of Glass by Sue Gee

and several books that are on request. Some of these have been on request for over a year so they may never actually come in, but some of them will.

Fish out of Water by Mary Janice Davidson
Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The King's Shilling by John Boyne
The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts
Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
Sunrise West by Jacob Rosenberg
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

Great Buddy Award

The lovely Amy from Passages from the Past has bestowed the Great Buddy Award on me! Thanks so much my friend!


I'd like to pass this award onto the following people for being good blogging buddies, a mixture of old and new blogging friends:

Katherine from A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise
Dar from Peeking Through the Pages
Teddy from So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Kathy from Oklahama Booklady

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should be Reading:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

This week I have two teasers. I have only just started both of them, so they will be good teasers for me too, to help with the reading motivation.

The first comes from page 241 of Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann:

Deep in thought, she began trotting up and down the confined space of the hay barn. Some of the sheep bleated indignantly when she pushed them aside or bumped into them, but Miss Maple didn't seem to hear them.

The second teaser comes from page 210 of The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry:

The statue is of Salem's founding father, she says, but tells them not to feel bad if they didn't guess right, because a national magazine got it wrong too. When their article on Salem came out, she says, it pictured the statue of Roger Conant with a caption that labeled our founding father as "a determined sorceress"

Chunkster Challenge 2009

I swear that I am trying not to join very many more challenges, but I have been waiting very impatiently to be announced!




For the full rules, check out the Feelin Chunky blog. Here is an abbreviated version:

*A chunkster is 450 pages or more of ADULT literature (fiction or nonfiction) Don't complain folks, I read all thousands of pages of the Twilight series and they were good, but not a challenge. A chunkster should be a challenge.
*If you read large type books your book will need to be 525 pages or more I asked around and the average LT book is 10-15% longer or more so I think that was a fair estimate.
*No Audio books in the chunkster. It just doesn't seem right. Words on paper for this one folks.
* You may start any time after signing up. You must complete your reads before or on Nov 15th.
*Short Stories and Essay collections will not be counted.

There are a couple of different levels to sign up for. I will be signing up for the Mor-book-ly Obese challenge.

This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more. You know you want to.....go on and give in to your cravings.

Under a Blood Red Sky by Kate Furnivall

Davinsky Labour Camp, Siberia, 1933: Sofia Morozova knows she has to escape. All that sustains her through the bitter cold, and hard labour are the stories told by her friend Anna, beguiling tales of a charmed upbringing in Petrograd - and of Anna's fervent love for a passionate revolutionary, Vasily. So when Anna falls gravely ill, Sofia makes a promise to escape the camp and find Vasily. But Russia, gripped by the iron fist of Communism, is no longer the country of her friend's childhood. Sofia's perilous search takes her from industrial factories to remote villages, where she discovers a web of secrecy and lies - and an overwhelming love that threatens her promise to Anna. But time is running out. And time, Sofia knows, is something neither she nor Anna has.

Just over a year ago I read Kate Furnivall's first book, The Russian Concubine, and totally enjoyed it. When I heard that the author had a new book out I was hoping for a sequel to that book. I didn't get it, although it is coming this year, but having now read this book, I am not all that disappointed.

Where The Russian Concubine featured Russian characters who lived in China during the turbulent 1920's, this book is set in Russia itself. Now I love reading anything set in Russia, but this is the first time I remember reading anything set during the Soviet era of the 1930s, where the populace is ruled by fear of being arrested for the slightest misdemeanours or connections, and sent to the prison camps often never to return.

Our main character Sofia has been thrown into the prison camps of Siberia. It is there that she meets Anna, a young woman who has also been imprisoned due to her connections with the aristocracy. Each day the women have to perform back breaking manual labour, getting by any way they can. Sofia realises that her friend cannot take much more of this, so is determined to escape and find Anna's childhood friend Vasily. Whilst Anna is terrified for Sofia's safety, she also believes that Vasily will help her if he can.

Sofia finds her way to the village where they believe Vasily is now living, only to be drawn into the collective farming environment where the state determines that absurdly high quotas must be reached, and that no one, no matter how starving they are, gets to keep anything for themselves. She finds herself drawn both into the town and to the people of the town, but she knows that ultimately her aim must be to get back and save Anna, if she is still alive.

There Sofia meets Mikael, a prominent man, who is raising his son alone. As Sofia must take on a new identity and avoid the attention of the authorities, others within the village wrestle with the distinction between duty to each other and duty to the Motherland, with potentially disastrous consequences for all of them.

There are lots of events in this book that are highly improbable, but such is Furnivall's story telling skill, that it doesn't matter all that much. If you want a book filled with high drama with romantic and some minor paranormal elements , and that will keep you reading until the wee hours of the morning, then this may well be a book that you will enjoy.

If I had to choose between this book and The Russian Concubine for a first time Furnivall reader then the latter would win, but this is still a very enjoyable read, about a time and place that I haven't read much about.


**** Please note that in some countries around the world, this book is published under the title The Red Scarf.****

Rating: 4 out of 5

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

Weird...

I can't find my car keys or house keys.

I got home from work last night and opened the door, so I had them then. I didn't go anywhere last night, but they aren't in my bag or any of the other usual places I leave them, and I have no idea where else to look for them.

I don't have my spares either because my son has them with him.

I can't even think where else to look, and I am now officially going to be late for work.

How to make me laugh until I cry

I am at home by myself tonight as my son is off staying at my sisters for the night, because it is school holidays. On the rare occasions when I am temporarily childless, I must confess I feel a little bit lost in terms of what to do with myself, unless I have specifically arranged to go out.

Tonight when I got home from work, I had a very average dinner and was just contemplating catching up on my feeds, when I noticed that Top Gear was on. Now, I think I have mentioned before that I really enjoy watching this British show, so much so that I have been overdosing on it a bit lately. I have recently purchased two DVDs of the show, and then tonight's episode was on the TV.

I don't know why, but the three hosts make me laugh until I am crying with their antics, and tonight was no exception.

One good thing is that I didn't feel quite so lost afterwards, having had a such a good belly laugh.

All of the parts of the episode are available on Youtube, but I thought I would embed the part that made me laugh the most! Warning: This episode was a bit controversial because of the jokes that Jeremy made.

If you have a spare half an hour, then enjoy!


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


If you only have 10 minutes or so, then this one is one of my absolute favourites - a particular highlight is the car wash scene at the end!

Make your own people mover convertible


The only problem with all this laughing is that I am still not feeling 100% and so now I am also coughing!

He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters

Egypt and her hoary secrets are no match for New York Times-bestselling Grandmaster Elizabeth Peters and her indomitable archaeologist sleuth Amelia Peabody. The sand-and-windblown ambience of this strange and colorful world, the ancient enchantments and delicious menace are more vibrantly realized than ever in this thrilling new adventure that places the intrepid Amelia and her equally remarkable family in the dangerous path of an onrushing World War.

The pursuit of knowledge must never be deterred by Man's folly. So the close of 1914 finds Amelia Peabody and her husband Radcliffe Emerson back in Egypt for another season of archaeological excavation - despite the increasing danger of an attack on the Suez Canal and on Egypt itself. Trouble is brewing in Cairo and the defiantly pacifist stance of Amelia and Emerson's headstrong son Ramses is earning the young man the derision, and much worse, of the British expatriate community. Meanwhile, the charismatic nationalist el Wardani is said to be fomenting insurrection in the ancient city. And since there is no way to stand outside the political hurricane that is suddenly threatening their lives, Amelia plunges directly into it.

When el Wardani escapes a police dragnet, thanks to the direct intervention of Amelia and Emerson, the family's stake in a perilous game is raised considerably. But it's Ramses' strange secret role in it that could truly bring ruin down upon all their heads. However, there is more than intrigue and espionage, plots and counter plots, at work here. For an artifact uncovered at a Giza dig - an exquisite sculpture found where it ought not to be - confirms Amelia's most unsettling suspicion: that the chaos confirming Cairo has masked the nefarious reemergence of Amelia's villainous arch nemesis, Sethos, the Master Criminal.

It's been too long since I read an Amelia Peabody mystery, especially given the events of the last couple of books. Now that I have rectified that oversight I have a small problem - well, two actually. The first is that I can't write this review without spoilers, so reader beware. The second problem is that this book really felt like an ending of a series, and yet I know that there are at least 6 books that have been published since this book. I may be speculating completely inaccurately here, but I wonder if the reason for this was in effect just in case, because when this book was published in 2000, the author Elizabeth Peters, was already 73 years old, and maybe each of the books will feel complete. Given that the author is still writing, I may be completely off base. Anyway..

Elizabeth Peters has said that the four books that started with Seeing a Large Cat and then continued with The Ape Who Guards the Balance, The Falcon at the Portal and culminates in the events of this book formed an internal quartet within the overall series, and they are four of the best books in the series that I have read so far. Throughout these four books there has been unrequited love, impulsive actions, nationalistic fervour, heroism, spying, danger, subterfuge.

Without doubt, the stand out character of this book is Ramses. I often say that Amelia is a very lucky woman to have Emerson as her husband, but if it is possible, Ramses is even more of a catch. Tall, dark, handsome, principled, heroic, loyal and dashing! What's not to like.

The plot of this book is actually quite complex, and is definitely not a place for a new reader to start this series. WWI is raging, but that doesn't stop the Emerson's from setting up camp to dig in Egypt. Amelia and Emerson should be overjoyed! They finally have managed to get permission to dig at the more glamourous fields than they usually get, mainly because so many of their archaeologist friends are either on the wrong side of the war, or otherwise occupied.

When they comes across an extraordinary find that doesn't fit where it is in terms of its location and age, Amelia begins to suspect that her old nemesis, Sethos, has taken advantage of the chaos in Egypt to return to Cairo. The question is what he is up to? He is not the only one who is up to something, because there is a movement growing to try and gain independence from Britain for Egypt, through any means they can. As the Emerson's find themselves drawn into a complex web of events, it becomes a matter of life and death for more than one member of the family.

There is finally resolution in terms of the issues between Nefret and Ramses, and the scenes where Amelia finally is confided in and told what has happened between the two of them are some of the best in the series. In this book we see a lot more of the mother in Amelia. For so long in the series, this particular aspect has seemed to be missing, or at least very well hidden, but with her family very much in danger, we do see an Amelia who is prepared to show how much she loves her family.

Given that this does feel like an ending it will be interesting to see where the series goes next, especially given that it would appear that the author will have to create a whole new set of opponents instead of relying on the already well established arch nemesis Sethos, and also the nasty cousin Percy.

Whereever Peters chooses to take us next in this series, I am totally along for the ride!

Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Rosario's Reading Journal


Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

The "I Suck at Challenges" Challenge

My name is Marg and I am a challenge-a-holic!

I join multiple challenges because I can't help myself. The reasons for joining are varied, from the fact that I have a special interest in the subject, to the button looks great, to the "I know I can achieve that challenges". The thing is, I don't always finish the challenges!

Chris from Book-a-rama understands that there are many bloggers out there with a similar problem, and so she has come up with the I Suck at Challenges Challenge.







There are two levels - the slackers who sign up for only one or two challenges but still don't complete them. The second level are those serial offenders, like me, who join multiple challenges, don't finish them but still join more!

The idea is to get some assistance with keeping track and there will be some book related prizes as well!

You can get all the details and sign up over at Book-a-Rama

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!

Master of Verona by David Blixt

In 1314, seventeen year old Pietro Alighieri travels to Verona with his father, the infamous poet Dante, at the invitation of its leader, the legendary Francesco “Cangrande” della Scala. A sneak attack from Padua leads Pietro into his first battle, fighting alongside the charismatic Cangrande, and into a tight friendship with Mariotto Montecchio and Antonio Capulletto. Behind the scenes, repeated attempts are made against the life of a child believed to be Cangrande’s illegitimate son and possible heir.

Pietro is drawn into the web of intrigue around the child and the tension building between Mariotto and Antonio over a woman betrothed to one and in love with the other – a situation that will sever a friendship, divide a city, and ultimately lead to the events of the best known tragic romance in the world.

Inspired by the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of Dante, and the events of history, The Master of Verona is a compelling novel of politics, loyalty, conspiracy and star-crossed romance.

Sometimes it happens that I really love a book, but I still don't get around to writing a review for it straight away (or at all, but we won't think about all those unwritten reviews just now!). This is one of those books.

My interest was initially drawn to the idea of setting a book at the time of Romeo and Juliet, but this is much more than a retelling of that famous tale. It isn't even the main action within the novel, but it is an important component.

The story is more about Pietro Alighieri, son and reluctant heir to his father, the famous and controversial poet Dante Alighieri. I say reluctant because for many years Pietro was the second son of a famous man, not really expected to do much in terms of continuing his father's legacy, but with the death of his older brother, Pietro finds himself fulfilling a role that he is ill suited for.

He is given the chance to shine when he unexpectedly gets to fight with Francesco "Cangrande" della Scala, charismatic leader of Verona. This engagement also brings him into contact with his new best friends, Mario and Antonio. The boys are friends, but they are also competitors both in the contests of the Palio and for two of them, in love. This very first fight begins with a flying leap off of a balcony onto horseback - a very telling sign of the type of swashbuckling to come throughout the book!

Blixt skilfully deals with the historical figures of Dante and Cangrande, Shakespeare's famous love story, an intriguing suspense subplot plus provides the reader with an engaging, exciting and engrossing story with a large cast of well written characters.

There is lots of action in the pages between the battles and the pageantry associated with medieval Italy. For me, the highlight of the book is definitely the day of the Palio. The colour, the spectacle and the pageantry are incredibly detailed but also very readable with the naming of the new knights, the speech of the oracle where it is declared that "Verona will always be remembered for love" and the crazy midnight foot race where the participants all run naked through the streets coming to life vividly through the words on the page!

This is an excellent historical fiction debut, and I for one, am very much looking forward to reading the next book from David Blixt, which will pick up where the action of this book left off!

When it comes to grading books I think that I am an easy grader when it comes to 4/5 books, but very, very hard when it comes to 5/5 books. This book is one of only three 5/5 books so far this year! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read historical fiction.

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Just who do I think I am kidding when I say I am not going to sign up for any more challenges!

I can't resist a Historical Fiction Reading Challenge can I?

Details can be found here.


I am planning to read The Last Queen by C W Gortner, Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland and Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

2008 Reading in review: The Stats

This year I managed to read 182 books. This is down by 25 on 2007 and 50 from 2006. There's no particular reason why I am reading less, although I do seem to gradually be spending more and more time on the computer. Maybe that's got something to do with it.

I bought or received 67 new books this year and read 19 of those, which means that I have 48 more books in the house unread! Whoops.

I read 16 books by Aussie authors.


By Type

A breakdown by type shows that I read:

9 kids/YA books
33 Crime novels
17 Fantasy novels
36 Historical Fiction
23 Literature (or books that don't easily fall into any of the other categories)
3 Non Fiction
50 Romance novels
10 Women's Fiction/Chick lit

Of the books that I read that were not labelled as Historical Fiction, I had classified 50 of them of being historical in terms of sub-genre, so books with a historical setting were by far my biggest group of reads.

Only one of the books that I read was a reread (Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie)

Grades

I gave the following grades:

5 out of 5 - 3 books
4.5 out of 5 - 40 books
4 out of 5 - 103 books.
3.5 out of 5 - 31 books
3 out of 5 - 3 books
2.5 out of 5 - 1 book

The three books that achieved top grade were The Host by Stephenie Meyer, Master of Verona by David Blixt (review will be posted tomorrow) and The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Maryann Shaffer

I posted my favourite Crime Fiction novels for the year here, and over at Historical Tapestry have posted about my favourite HF reads for the year.

Publishers

Here's a breakdown by Publisher where I have read 5 books or more from a single publisher:

Harlequin - 5
Harper Collins - 25
Macmillan - 17
Penguin-Putnam - 25
Random House - 39
Simon & Schuster - 6
Warner - 13
Sourcebooks - 5
Allen & Unwin - 5


New to me authors: 83

2008 Reading in review: The Resolutions

These were my reading resolutions for 2008:

Read 150 books - this is a significant drop in the number of books I read this year, but I really want to get a new job much closer to home and so I will have much less reading time!

Blogging - catch up and keep up!

Australian Authors - I would like to read at least 20 books by Australian authors this year.

Library - I really need to get the number of books that I have out from the library down to say 35, and keep it there. Ill be going a post of all my library books shortly, and I am pretty sure that you will agree that it is over the top at the moment!

Challenges - I am going to be joining in on challenges this year, but I want them to be ones that will help me reduce my huge TBR list down a bit!

Books I Own - I want to read at least 15 books that I owned as at 31 December 2007!

So with my total reads being 182 for the year I exceeded the first goal quite easily. Having said that, I still have not found another job yet, but I am. I really need to! Really.

I haven't managed to get caught up, but I have stopped worrying about this too much...mostly.

I didn't quite manage to read 20 books by Australian authors. I did read 16. I am going to try for 20 again this year.

I didn't manage to get my library reads down either. I currently have 54 books out of the library.

I did join in on the challenges, and for the most part the books that I did read were all off of my TBR list!

I only read 10 books that I owned as at 1 January 2008. This is one area that I really need to do better in because I keep on buying books that I want to read and then not reading any of them!

I'll put my 2009 goals up in the next couple of days. They will be pretty similar I imagine.

Victorian Reading Challenge

I think this is going to be the last challenge that I sign up for the short term future at least!



The Victorian Challenge is being hosted by Alex from Le Canape

The idea is to choose a level that you wish to achieve from the options below

* A drink at Whitechapel: 3 books
* A walk in Hyde Park: 4 books
* A tour of the British Museum: 5 books
* A visit to Buckingham Palace: 6 books

And then read that many books between 1 January and 30 June 2009. Your books must have either been written during the time of Queen Victoria's reign, or be set during this time! All the details can be found in the official welcome post here.

I have wimped out a little and chosen A Drink at Whitechapel. The books that I am planning to read are:

The Mysteries of Glass by Sue Gee
Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

Reading Challenges Update Part II

Part I can be found here



Book Awards Reading Challenge

So far I have read 4 books for this challenge, with a review having been written for Girl With a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Which reminds me, I must go and post that review on the challenge blog!. Review added.



Bang Bang Reading Challenge

Read 3 of the books I originally listed for the challenge, reviewed one! Challenge finishes on 28 February 2009.

Medieval Challenge

Read 6 of the 7 books nominated and reviewed 2 of them! Just need to write some more reviews! (Have you picked the theme up here yet?) Challenge finishes on 8 February 2009.