Tag Archives: thankfully reading weekend

November 26, 2012

Monday Rambles

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m about turkey-ed out. I think I can go another year without even smelling the bird. Ugh.

Cranberry Shortbread Cake on the other hand…I could eat that every day. Or, well, maybe once a month. Don’t want to push it. Still want to try it with raspberries….

Thankfully Reading Weekend was a welcome R&R time for me. I just wish I’d had a little more time to read! We wound up going Christmas shopping Saturday. It’s good to be that much closer to being through with present shopping, but we were gone all. day. long. Here is what I did manage to read:

Finished Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Be happy Chris, I LOVED IT. Oh. my. goodness. LOVE.

Read Owly, Volume 5: Tiny Tales by Andy Runton. Waaaaay cute.

Read Around the World by Matt Phelan, which was awesome. Completely what I expect from Mr. Phelan, and more.

Read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, adapted by Nancy Butler. This is the graphic novel edition Marvel put together. I’m not surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The art was lovely and the text was faithful to Ms. Austen. Win!

Also started Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor, made more headway with Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman, and of course, with the Count. All in all, I read about 770 pages. Not bad, I think!

That’s all for now. I have to go get ready to go to work, where I haven’t been in over a week. And try not to cry about it. *sigh* Have a great week!

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November 22, 2012

Thankfully Reading Weekend!

The turkey has been eaten. The dessert long gone. It’s time to curl up and head off that post-holiday nappy time with reading. I have 4 days of freedom (except for the very brief trek I’m going to make this evening to Walmart and I hope to soak up as much of the written word as I can. I have a LOT of reading to do with The Count, as well as Speaker for the Dead, Philip Pullman’s take on Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and so. much. more.

See? I moved one of my shelves to the area beside my head (and I LOVE IT SO MUCH) and I have one shelf dedicated to all the things I want to read right now. It’s kinda scary. And beautiful. I have a couple of shelves with all my most favorite reads, and it made me want to reread all of them too! Eek!

Anyhoosie. I think I’ll go snag one last piece of cake (you know I was kidding about the dessert, right?) and cozy up with my Dantes. Catch ya later, gator!

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November 25, 2011

Thankfully Reading Weekend Post

11.24.11 / 11:04 PM

I’m going to keep all my updates for Thankfully Reading Weekend 2011 in this one post. And woot! I’ve already finished a book! I was trying to fight my way through The Son of Neptune all week, and I finally forced myself to sit down and focus on it. And I plowed through the last 150 pages or so of it in a couple of hours.

That. Felt. GOOD.

Let’s keep going! I’m going to start Chime by Franny Billingsley now. Keep your fingers crossed!

Books read: 1
Pages: I’m going to estimate 150.

11.25.11 / 11:37 AM

Not doing so good. I’ve been trying to read Chime all morning and, well, I don’t know. It’s not clicking. I’ve read 53 pages of it so far and, well, it’s not that I don’t LIKE it… I don’t know. I’m going to set it aside for Daughter of Smoke and Bone I think. I may come back to Chime later.

Of course, having the 8YO and the 4YO and the 34YO at home isn’t helping either.

I’m going to go hole up in my bedroom.

PLUS I almost finished my Christmas shopping online this morning. Man, are there a lot of deals out there! We’re down to the hard-to-buy for people now. *sigh*

Books read: 1.25
Pages: 203

11.25.11 / 12:31

A strange thing happened on the way to Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I started reading page one and realized, I wanted to know what was happening in Chime. Bugger me, but isn’t that weird? So yes, I’m back to Chime!

11.25.11 / 10:06 PM

The book I’m most thankful for:

I’m going to cheat and say a whole series. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I believe I’ve blogged about their affect on me before, but it’s been awhile. They pulled me through a very rough spot in life and I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them. I lost myself in those books countless times as a child. I hid from the bad things, the sad things, the impossible to ignore things. They were my lifeline and I am eternally thankfully for them.

Where things stand. I am 67% through Chime (by Franny Billingsley) and, while I can’t say I love it YET, I am very invested in the story. I definitely want to see where this is going. It’s really starting to get good. I wish I didn’t have such a hard time remembering that some books take a little WORK. *sigh*

Books: 1.67
Pages: 393

11.26.11 / 9:52 AM

I finished Chime! Yes! That’s two books in one week! It’s a miracle! It was totally worth the work too. I can’t say that I love it more than Shine (by Lauren Myracle) as that holds a special place in my heart, but it was really quite good. I know the more I think on it, the more I’ll love it.

I read a few stories in Stores for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory to ease the transition to another book. What a delightfully odd collection of stories that is. Now I’m rereading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick because I am dying to see the movie. My goodness, I adore this book.

Books: 2.3
Pages: 663

11.26.11 / 2:11 PM

Another book down! The Invention of Hugo Cabret was everything I remembered and more. What a beautiful book. I can’t wait to see the movie; it is sure to be beautiful as well. I think I’ll follow it up with Wonderstruck, also by Hugo Cabret. I do think I’ll read a few more stories in  Stores for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory first. You know, to cleanse the palate. ;)   This brings me to 3 books finished.

Books: 3.3
Pages: 1,051

 11.27.11 / 7:07 AM

Just finished Wonderstruck. What a magnificent book! Brian Selznick can officially do no wrong in my eyes. I’ve read a couple more stories in Stores for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory. Now, I’m not sure what I’m going to read next… probably some more stories from Stores for Nighttime, etc. Then, who knows! Another from my list most likely, or maybe another graphic novel.

Books: 4.3
Pages:  1718

11.27.11 / 6:02 PM – C’est fini!

That’s right; I’m done! I just finished my fifth book and I’m pooped! I decided to finish Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory, since I was so close anyway and I’ve been reading it FOREVER. It is… an… odd… collection of short stories. Very odd.

This has been a fantastic reading weekend for me and something this reader desperately needed. I don’t know if I’m “back” yet, but it feels promising. Will have to take it one day at a time. For now, I’m off to take a long, hot, steamy bath and will either take Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lanin Taylor or No Name by Wilkie Collins with me. Heck, I may take both! Happy Reading!

Ending stats:

Books finished: 5
Pages: 1830

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November 24, 2011

Thankfully Reading Weekend 2011

I’ve been off work all week and have been crazy busy making Christmas presents, making pumpkin pies and roasting one mammoth of a turkey. I have barely read a word all week!

Oh, who am I kidding? I’ve barely read a word in several months that wasn’t like pulling teeth.

So, this weekend, my mission is to take back my reading. I’m going to pick through books until something sticks and them I. Am. Going. To. Finish. It. This is war, my friends. I need easy to read, engaging, fast… I need something to looooooove.

My list of possibilities:

  • The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan. If Rick can’t do it, I’m seriously concerned no one can.
  • Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. I was planning to read that during last months readathon. It… didn’t happen.
  • Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham. We all know my blind adoration for Mr. Willingham.
  • Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor. Something…horrible…happened this past weekend and I needed some retail therapy. The cover just called out to me!
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. One of my favorite books. Maybe I need a favorite comfort reread?
  • The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King. Ditto above.
  • Chime by Franny Billingsley. I want to see why this was better than Shine by Lauren Myracle.
  • The Novel in the Viola by Natasha Solomons. Well, I seriously adored her first book. Maybe this one will click with me as well.
  • The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynn M. Valente. I’ve been meaning to read this one for way too long.
  • Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce. Hello? Fairytales? Sounded good to me! And the stinking library didn’t have her new book yet. Which sounds even better. *grumble*
  • The Vanishing of Katharina Linden. Don’t take it off my list Debi! :D
That should be a promising start. If you’ve ever seen the view from my computer, you know I have plenty of books to pick from. I will conquer this reading slump! I will! What do you think I should read? What’s grabbed you by the nose-hairs lately? Help me!
And Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

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November 29, 2009

Thankfully Reading Weekend – Day 2

Thank1-300x300Yeah, so I totally forgot to post anything yesterday. But I was so busy! Reading! And yeah, going to see Santa. Well, my niece and nephews saw Santa, my kids want no part of sitting on some creepy old man’s lap and telling them what they want. No way, no how. Emphatically, no. So, we wandered around window shopping while they did that and then had Mall Chinese! Yum!

Other than doing that, I was reading.  I’ve read almost half of Elizabeth Kostova’s new book (coming January 2010) The Swan Thieves.  It. Is. So. Good.  I was afraid I would have a similar experience to what I had with Audrey Niffenegger’s book Her Fearful Symmetry, where I think I anticipated it TOO much and ruined the experience for myself, but so far, it’s no where near it.  It’s all love. Love, love, love.  Love the characters, love the writing, it’s wonderful.  It is exactly what I expected and more.

So, I’m off to read more on this last day of Thanksgiving weekend.  Happy Reading to you all!

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