Sunday Salon 19 - READ-A-THON!!!!!

I'm utterly ashamed to admit this, but I'm plagiarizing my own posts--if you remember my Sunday Salon on Why I Love the Read-a-thon, some of this will look familiarish. If you're new--yippee for hopefully unfamiliar material from me. :) Life has just been too hectic this week to stress about coming up with an entirely new post. And yes, everything is fine. Life is great. Just busy. You know how that goes.

So, without further ado.

What is the read-a-thon? The 24-hour Read-a-thon is just that--an excuse to read for 24 hours guilt free. A few years ago, Dewey from The Hidden Side of the Leaf hosted the first blogging read-a-thon. If memory serves correctly, this is the fifth read-a-thon. Dewey passed away nearly a year ago, but the read-a-thon now lives on in her memory.

Who participates? Anyone! Although I'm guessing the participant list is mostly made up of bloggers, I've seen a lot of bloggers talking about their family members who are joining them. Really, it's a great event for everyone. A great excuse to read!

How do you participate? Well, by reading silly goose! For 24 hours. Ok, you don't have to read for the full 24 hours, and you don't even need to stay up for the full 24 hours--your level of participation is up to you! There are lots of mini-challenges to participate in and of course lots of readers to cheer for when you need a break from the book. The first step is going to the read-a-thon website and signing up.

Where do you participate? At home, at the coffee shop, in the park, in the car (audio?), at the library. Really any place you can read a book. Although, access to a computer is really helpful. The start times for the 'thon are listed on the read-a-thon website.

Why should you participate? Because it's good old fashioned fun. No seriously! When my friend Laura asked me to do the read-a-thon with her two summers ago I told her "that doesn't sound like fun at all." Oh my gosh how wrong I was! I signed up for the 'thon that day and had the time of my life. I'm addicted. Hooked. Can't get enough. It is more fun that you can possibly imagine. Haha! Plain silly no sleep drink too much Mountain Dew and eat too much sugar kind of fun.

Need more convincing? (yes, this might be the longest post ever).

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Trish's Top 10 Reasons to Join (Shamelessly taken from previously mentioned post)

1. Being able to reenact those teenaged years when you could stay up for 24 hours with no worries

2. Reading and blogging for 24 hours without the guilt that you should be doing something else

3. Meeting and connecting with other bloggers all over the world who are doing the same crazy thing you are

4. Mini-challenges: a great way to give your brain a rest after a long stretch of reading

5. Snacks. Junk food. Caffeine. Whatever your poison, I know I'm not the only one who stores up on yummy foods to eat throughout the day and night

6. Remembering Dewey, the fabulous blogger who started this incredible community builder two years ago

7. Reading for a cause--I'm not sure how I'll work it out this time, but I'll be donating to The Salvation Army

8. It's the silliest fun one could possibly imagine that involves reading and blogging (yes, you know I'll be posting that Harry Potter Puppets video--it has been requested again)

9. Accomplishing what you thought was impossible--reading more than you expected and staying up later than imaginable

10. Hours of cuddle time with your favorite cuddle-buddy (for me, Maggie)

Yippeeeeeeeee!!

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Read-a-thon Tips (yes, again shameless taken...forgive me but the original post was just so...well, I can't say it any better now than I did then!)

The Books:

**Keep a stack of books handy. If something doesn't catch your attention immediately you can quickly move on to something else

**Pick books that are short and don't require a ton of attention. Put that War and Peace back on the shelf...right now! Eva has created a big long list of books that are sure to keep you reading through the wee hours.

**Include some Young Adult titles in your stack--they provide a perfect break from heavier reads and they are sure to keep your full attention. (Tip from Laura)

Before the Read-a-thon:

**Either pre-prepare some meals or have quick and easy things on hand. Don't want to spend time cooking! (Hence all the yummy snacks--Jodie suggests a combination of sweet and salty snacks for variety)

**If you will be doing blog updates (which I recommend!!), make a template beforehand so you can just plug in numbers and quickly post

**Get all of your weekend obligations like cleaning out of the way early. You'll be too tired on Sunday unless you are a superhero (which I don't doubt some of you are).

**Let people (friends/family) know ahead of time that you'll be participating in a 24-hour read-a-thon so that they don't think you fell off the face of the earth when they try to get ahold of you (tip from Joanne

**Laura and I created a spreadsheet to help us keep track of minutes and pages--very handy! We also have a column for the hour, our time zone, and the read-a-thon time zone, time spent blogging, mini-challenges entered, bloggers visited, etc.

During the Read-a-thon:

**Don't overload on the caffeine. While in small doses it can be OK, it might make you jittery and then crash. Especially if you aren't used to it.

**Take some time out of your reading to join a mini-challenge or do some cheerleading. If you spend the whole 24 hours reading you'll certainly get a lot accomplished, but you'll miss out on the community building aspect.

**Don't torture yourself. If you can't make it anymore, go to bed!

**Keep your camera charged and handy so you can include fun pictures of you, your books, your cat, your food, your reading spot, etc. (Tip from Laura)

(please fill me in with your tips, too!! I'd love to add them to the list)

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The Stack:

Yes, it's teetering. And as I was trying to snap the picture I noticed I had the camera on video setting. It's a short video, but you can tell Maggie approves:

What is YOUR favorite part of the read-a-thon? Any special memories? What are your fears? What tips do you have to share? Have I twisted your arm and convinced you to join or did you already sign up weeks ago? Read-a-thon!Read-a-thon!Read-a-thon! :D

Yayyyy Read-a-thon! Sign up here. And please, also sign up to cheerlead. Cheerleading is SO vital. Readers need cheerleaders. And you can totally do both--I will be!

Other Trish tidbits:

Today is the last day to sign up for the signed copy of The Lace Reader

I started up cake decorating class again. We spent so much time prepping the cake that I didn't actually get a lot of decorating done, but the orange blobs are lions (done at the end when I was beat tired), the gray are elephants (my favorites) and the green are crocodiles. I took it to work and it got devoured. Not the best work I could have done but it sure was yummy (I think you can click to enlarge).

My apologies for being a lousy blogger lately. I did get three posts up this week but none of them were book reviews. Part of me is kind of embarrassed by this but I have been having a tough time keeping up. I've been subscribing to a lot of blogs lately but the drawback of this is that I can't comment as much on everyone's blogs. I'm struggling with trying to figure out if it's better to comment a lot at a few places or a little at a lot of places. And I've been terrible with emails and responding to comments on this blog. I really really want to get back to commenting back, but I'm having troubles lately. Please know I love getting your comments and I read all of them even if I don't respond quickly (or lately at all). I fear that people will think that I've snubbed them for not responding or for not visiting and that's the last thing I want. How do you keep up? Or do you even worry about it?

Sorry for the world's longest post. I had a lot to say, I guess. Well, and I'm just so damn excited for the 'thon. I really need this. I haven't been making time for reading the past few months, so it will be great to have a whole 24 hours devoted to it.

Hoping you had a great weekend,

Sunday Salon 18 - Non-Fiction Reading

Feels like a long time since I've done a Sunday Salon. In reality it hasn't, but I guess time is just moving so quickly! I've been tossing around ideas for SS lately, and since the Non-Fiction Five Challenge just ended earlier this week, I thought I'd focus on non-fiction.

It's always a little funny to me when people say that they don't like non-fiction. Seems so long ago when I first signed up for Joy's NFF Challenge and was scared out of my wits. I told my husband, "well, I just committed to reading *five* non-fiction books. Ugh!" That was two years ago. This year 25% of my reads have been comprised of non-fiction titles. When I think of non-fiction I still sometimes think of the dry and arduous reads of my grad school days, but there is so much more out there! So many fascinating stories and histories to learn about. These are my non-fiction reads of 2009 (so far):

Walking Through Walls by Philips Smith is the author's memoir of growing up with a father who became involved with mystic healing and psychic experiences during the 1960s in Miami. A fascinating and absorbing coming of age story that will have even the non-believers sitting on the edge of his seat.



The Hot House by Pete Earley is about Leavenworth Federal Penitentary in Kansas. Following the lives of six inmates, Earley provides details about what life is like inside the prison. Definitely not something I would have picked up on my own, but a coworker assured me that I would quickly be engrossed in the intimate details of these six prisoners' lives.


A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle is a travel memoir about the author's buying and renovating a home in Provencial France. For travel and food junkies, this is a great pick, although I'll admit that I felt the author was too removed from the story. Even though it wasn't one of my favorites, it was an interesting read and my book club members all really enjoyed it.


The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is one of my favorite books of the year. Walls' memoir about growing up poor with more or less absent parents was an incredible read. You'll want to cry for Jeannette and laugh with her and ultimately cheer her on through all of her struggles. The writing is also fantastic--not a dry spell in the entire book. Definitely one to pick up if timid about non-fiction!


Catch Me if You Can by Frank W. Abagnale was such a fun read! I'm sure most of you have seen the movie and are familiar with the premise, but if not Abagnale's story is about how he became a con man which made him a millionaire by the time he was in his early twenties. I couldn't believe the cons Frank pulled off, and this one had me quickly turning the pages to see what he'd get into next.


Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is another favorite of the year (still haven't reviewed it, though). Bechdel shares her story of growing up in a home with a father who was incredibly particular and difficult to please. As she enters adulthood, she also comes to terms with her own sexuality as well as finding out that her father is gay. Both a sad and moving story of father/daughter relationships.


The Lost City of Z by David Grann is riveting book about Percy Fawcett, an early twentieth century British explorer, and his obsession with finding the city of Z in the Amazon. Fawcett went missing during his last exploration and Grann makes some interesting posits about what might have gone wrong. Also fascinating tidbits about the Amazon--the world's largest jungle.


The Complete Maus by Art Speigelman. Are you tired of hearing me talk about this one? Another favorite of the year and all time, Maus is in part a biography of Art's father and his survival of Auschwitz during WWII and in part a memoir of Art's struggles to write his father's story. Can't recommend this one enough--mom just read my copy and loved it, too.


Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt is a travel expose with a murder twist. I liked this one so much that I've read it twice! The characters in Midnight are unparalleled and with a setting of Savannah, Georgia, there is so much to be entranced by in this book. The courtroom details can get a little wearing, but with twists and turns you won't believe this is non-fiction.


The Impostor's Daughter by Laurie Sandell (no review yet) is another graphic memoir about father/daughter relationships. Sandell idolized her father growing up and for good reason--he was everything and more. But as she starts to piece together her father's shady past, she realizes he might not be the man she thought he was. Not my favorite of the year but others have really enjoyed it.


Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes is in many ways similar to the above A Year in Provence. Mayes' travel memoir about buying and restoring a house in Tuscany, Italy also delves into the finer things in life--history, culture, food, and life. Where AYP was lacking personality, Mayes makes up tenfold. A sumptuous read for those looking to slowly enjoy the simpler things in life.


So there you have it. I've come to realize that I prefer the sub-genre of memoir, but even memoirs aside I've discovered some fascinating non-fiction books this year.

Sunday's Questions:
Do you like to read non-fiction books or does it make you want to crawl in a hole and hide? Have you tried some that you absolutely loved or didn't like at all? Do you think that non-fiction sometimes gets a bad wrap as being dry and boring (and yes, some of it is!!)? If you had to recommend a non-fiction book to someone who was timid of the genre, what would you recommend?

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

On the Homefront:
I start the second session of cake decorating course tomorrow, so it should be interesting/yummy. I didn't get pictures of Europe finished like I planned, but I hope to have those up soon as well. If only blogger didn't take so dang long to upload! And a surprise--hubby, who had planned to travel Europe for a few more weeks, came home yesterday. I guess travelling without me just isn't as fun. :P

Also, on a crazy whim I started a 100 Mile Fitness Challenge. I'm so excited to have about 15 others doing the challenge with me (yes, even my mom!!). I'd love if you joined us!

Sunday Salon 17 - Silent Visitors Unveil Yourself!

I'm trying to get back into the blogging swing of things--right in time for BBAW--even though I'll be leaving on Friday for Europe. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know about the trip, but on Friday we fly into Frankfurt and will travel around Switzerland, Austria, and Czech Republic before heading back to Germany. Crazy, I know. My husband is actually staying in Europe for another month after I leave, so things at home should be pretty quiet--lots of time to read and blog.

This week's Sunday Salon topic: Silent Visitors (aka Lurkers)!!

It's been a long time since I've been much of a lurker in the book blogosphere, but I've started browsing around quilting and cooking blogs and those lurker feelings have come back a little bit. When I first started blogging, I don't think there was a time when I didn't feel comfortable leaving comments at all, but there were certain blogs that intimidated me for some reason or another and I always felt a little timid about leaving a comment. Maybe a feeling that what I had to say wasn't relevant or that my comment was dumb or that I was infringing on a private conversation. Now I mostly don't give two thoughts to commenting on book blogs.

Sunday's Questions:
Have you ever gone through a period of lurking? Do you still find yourself lurking around certain blogs? What makes you feel comfortable interacting on one blog and maybe not another? Are there some blogs that you love reading but just don't have anything to comment on?

I'd like to think that everyone is comfortable leaving a comment here, but as my subscription numbers go up I realize that the number of regular visitors is greatly unproportionate to the actual number of subscribers.

With BBAW rapidly approaching, I'd like to reach out to some of those readers who silently come by. Say hello today--and I'll even give you a question to answer:

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? Don't like ice cream--fine, we'll go back to the book question. What's the most memorable book you've read? Of course if you're a regular Chatty Cathy here, let me know your answers too. :P

Hope everyone's having a great weekend! We're raining here in Dallas. Boo!



Oh, and my favorite flavor of ice cream is usually Chocolate Cookie Dough. Right now I'm on a Banana Split kick, though (chunks of banana, chocolate, caramel, nuts, cherry, and other yummy goodness). And my most memorable book. Duh--Wuthering Heights!

Sunday Salon 16 - Book Clubs

I’ve come to realize that book clubs come in all shapes and sizes. The book club that I belong to is a work-affiliated group and in our current form we’ve been together for a year. There are six regular members and we all have different reading tastes and styles. We each have a month (in rotation) and for our month we are responsible for picking the book and the meeting location.

Since we are all so different, we have read a wide range of books over the past year: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ~ The God of Small Things ~ Eat, Pray, Love ~ Ride the Wind ~ The Art of Racing in the Rain ~ The Zookeeper’s Wife ~ The Last Lecture ~ The Woman in White ~ Miles from Nowhere ~ A Year in Provence ~ The Glass Castle ~ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ~ Boy’s Life ~ City of Thieves ~ A Golden Age. Next month we'll read Shadow of the Wind.

Over the past year we’ve had some good discussions, but we’ve also had some books that didn’t lend themselves as well to discussion. As it’s about to be my turn to pick a book (for October), I thought I’d ask you lot what you think makes a good book club book.

So, Sunday’s questions:
Do you belong to a book club? What makes your book club work? How do you choose the books you read? Do you have a moderator or use a list of questions? How do you work around the inevitable lull in conversations? Is there something you would suggest to improve your book club? I'd love to hear anything you have to share, and hopefully we can all learn a little something!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I can't believe it is going to be September in just two days--where did August go?

Happy reading,

Sunday Salon 15 - Challenge Gluttony

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that I joined three new challenges? It's funny because at the beginning of the year I didn't want to join any challenges. I was even late joining the classics challenge, which I'm hosting!

In years past I've been great about finishing my challenges and sticking to the commitment. I'll admit that I got a little burned out after last year. My reading was too dictated by those lists and I kept getting antsy for "fun" reads. Well, aren't all reads supposed to be fun? Maybe not but you know what I mean. Over the past few months I've thrown everything out the window, though, and am doing whatever I want in terms of challenges. I'm completely and utterly overbooked, can't possibly finish them all, want to tear my hair out if I think about it too much, so I'm not thinking. Just playing. And having fun.

So--I present the three new challenges I joined this week:


The darling Dolce Bellezza is hosting the third installment of the Japanese Literature Challenge. I LOVE this challenge and have been waiting patiently for months for it to start again.

Bellezza is only requiring ONE book, but I've got three on my list:
1. Woman in the Dunes - Abe
2. Wind-up Bird Chronicles - Murakami
3. Goodbye Tsugumi - Yoshimoto



Jeane from Dog Ear Diary is hosting her first challenge! The appropriately named DogEar Reading Challenge. Her challenge is a fun mixture of many different things. You probably have many of these topics on your list already!

My list (subject to change)
1. A book featuring an animal - Um, seeking good suggestions!
2. An adult fantasy book - Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell
3. A YA or juvenile fiction book - Speak
4. A non-fiction book on an obscure topic: My Year of Living Biblically
5. A book about plants, gardening, or food - seeking good suggestions!



Wendy from Caribousmom is hosting the Random Reading Challenge, which I was a little timid to join at first, but I figured--what the heck? If she'll let me choose randomly from my challenge list, that would be great. If not, then I have plenty of other books to choose from. Basically you assign your books a number and then go to Random.org to generate your next read.

There is no list--since this challenge is random. Should be a lot of fun!


How do you feel about challenges? Have you participated in many or are you just starting out? Is your reading dictated by those lists or do you allow yourself to cheat a bit? Do you have any favorite challenges? Any challenges you'd like to see in the future? Are you staying away from challenges completely? Let's hear your view!

And as always, Happy Sunday!

Sunday Salon 14 - Book Cataloging

Happy Sunday! Well, I'm back to talking books this week. As I was entering some of my new purchases into my Excel spreadsheet, I thought I'd share with you how I catalog by books.

I started cataloging my books about 5 or 6 years ago after I started hitting numerous book sales and my personal library started growing exponentially. I felt I needed to keep track of what I had on the shelf and which I've read (and when). I started off using Microsoft Access, but this past year when I got a new computer and an upgrade to the new Windows, I imported everything in Excel. I LOVE Excel and what it an do in terms of tables.

Below is a screenshot of my Excel document. Click to picture to enlarge, otherwise it's hard to see the categories. I have all my books numbered and have a column for Title, Author, Binding, Date Published, Date of my edition, Category, and Date Read. I love how I can sort and search using the pull-down menus. I also have a separate spreadsheet for the books I've read each year (starting with last year) that includes my rating and the url to the review. It's boring, so I didn't include it. :) The only pitfall to this catalog is it only shows what is IN my library. So if I've read a book and given it away or borrowed a book to read, it doesn't go in the spreadsheet.



Do you catalog your books? What different categories do you use? Do you use online websites to help you catalog? I used to use GoodReads but it was too difficult to go through and input 650 books, so I stopped using it. What benefit do you find in cataloging your books?

In other Trish News:

I had another cake decorating class this week. Actually the cake making process was kind of a disaster--I had to toss one cake after it spilled over in the oven causing my house to smell like burnt cake all week. Then the frosting did not want to cooperate with me and my cake kept tearing. I finally piled on the frosting and took some paper towel to pat it down and to make it smooth. You can see in the second picture below where my frosting has cracked a little. My frosting turned a little spotty on top, and when I asked the instructor about this she shrugged and said "Dunno!" Thanks lady. All in all the class has been a lot of fun, but let's face it, I don't think I'll be quitting my day job anytime soon. :P



I think this week will unfortunately be my last decorating class because next week Scott and I are taking a roadtrip!! In all fashions of spontaneity, we'll be heading out on the road to the 2009 Sturgis Rally in South Dakota. While there we're going to go down to Mount Rushmore and hopefully The Badlands. After that we'll head west to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. See the picture below for our roadmap. Yup, that's a lot of driving for one week, but Scott and I are King and Queen of the roadtrip. In case you're wondering, we're doing this all with one week's worth of planning. Pretty crazy, but it'll definitely be fun.


How's everyone's Sunday going? Lots of reading and relaxing?

A Sunday Outside of Books

Happy Sunday! Since this post isn't bookish, I didn't feel right using Sunday Salon in the title.

Yesterday I headed down to the lake for a quiet weekend of R&R. I haven't been reading a ton lately, but I have been reading more than I did in June. Unfortunately, I still haven't been bloghopping a whole lot in the past two weeks. Although my days have gone back to normal at work, and I have my reading time back (in the mornings and at lunch), my evenings have been full of non-bookish things.

Remember that quilt I talked about a few months ago? The top is now finished--just need to add one more strip for length and then it's on to the scary task of quilting, which I've never done by machine before. This is only my third quilt and the past two I've hand-tied. Other than being petrified of machine quilting, I am in love with the colors and design. Is it bad to say I'm pretty darn proud of myself? :P

Even Maggie likes the quilt

The [mostly] finished top:

In addition to quilting, I've been taking a cake decorating class at the local community college. It's kind of a pain because I have to bake and ice the cake ahead of time, which is part of the reason why my evenings have been full--very time consuming until I get the hang of it.

My first decorated cake:

Isn't he cute?

And just because, a Maggie picture--she loves lying in the sun. Usually she crawls behind the blinds and sits on the sill.


What do your summer days look like outside of books? I hope everyone is having a wonderful and relaxing Sunday!

One simple bookish question: Would you consider Catch-22 a classic? I'm torn about it since it was published in 1961, but I want to count it for the Classics Challenge since it doesn't fit on any of my other lists. What do you think? Is there a cut-off year for classics?

Shmonday Salon - Bloghopping

I don't really have a thorn--just thought the picture was cute.

I started to draft a Sunday Salon post on Friday but decided I was too exhausted to post. Too exhausted to bloghop this weekend. So I nixed it. And last I posted, Google Reader was taking hours to show my posts, so Shmonday might turn into Shmuesday. Ah well.

As I find my Google Reader with over 200 unread posts, yet again, I thought I'd pose a few questions to you about your bloghopping habits. I used to be a pretty good commenter, but as there are more and more blogs and more and more posts (do we really need another weekly meme?), I'm finding myself more and more absent from the blogosphere. Mostly because I get so overwhelmed that I don't even know where to start.

Do you bloghop? How many blogs do you read/subscribe to? How much time do you spend each day reading blogs? What do you get out of bloghopping? Do you do it for social connection, because you're interested in what the other person says, because you feel it will drive more traffic to your own blog?

And of course, how can one talk about bloghopping without talking about commenting?

Do you comment on the blogs you read? How often? Do you read the entire post before commenting or just scan to find something you can comment on? How much time do you spend on comments? Is it better to leave a lot of short comments or a few longer comments? Do you get offended or stop reading a person's blog because they don't comment on your blog?

Holy cow that's a lot of questions. I think for each blogger we could all have incredibly different answers.

My answers?
I do bloghop--not as much as I used to due to time. I could literally spend hours a day trying to keep up with each post in my reader (I subscribe to about 80 blogs), but lately spending hours in front of a computer hasn't been a priority for me. I blog for a social connection. I've met some wonderful people who I consider friends, and reading what they've been up to and leaving comments helps me stay connected.

Unfortunately I do think that bloghopping and commenting are directly related to how much traffic you get to your own blog. Comment a lot and you'll get lots of comments. This makes me wonder if people are commenting just to comment or because they're actually interested in what the person is posting. I'll admit to occasionally commenting just to comment, but this is a little exhausting to me. How many different ways can you say, "wow that cover is really pretty" for a Cover Attractions Meme? (I have nothing against memes even though I don't often participate--it's just hard to come up with original comments).

I've always tried to go for quality rather than quantity, but who's to say whether a comment is a good comment or not? For me, anything more than "great review, here's my link" is probably a good comment, but sometimes I wonder if I talk about myself and my own experiences too much in the comments I leave on other people's blogs. My comments can get lengthy, and I often wonder--does the person even care--or should I have just said "wow, this sounds great"? I get in my own head way too much--probably need to stop over analyzing everything so much!

Do I get bothered when I comment on someone's site and they don't bother to return the favor? I'm mostly bothered or concerned if it is someone I have "known" for a while. But I try not to take offense to it. Especially since lately I've been very bad about returning the favor to commenters who might not be as "regular" as others. I do my best, but lately making the rounds seems to be more and more difficult.

How much time do I spend blogging? I'll go days without being able to get on my GReader and then spend a few hours one night "catching up." It's hard to give a rough number since it is fairly inconsistent. I used to spend Saturday and Sunday mornings catching up, but over the past few months I've frequently been out of town on the weekends. I certainly spend more time on other people's blogs than my own. Despite my current apathy towards blogging, I do really enjoy leaving comments and have no plans to stop.

Man, I wish I could be more concise!!

One more thing--How many people subscribe to follow-up comments? I always do when I know the blogger responds, but sometimes I wonder if anyone else does?

So how about you? Why do you bloghop?

Sunday Salon 13 - 2009 Mid-Year Thoughts

SUNDAY SALON MID YEAR THOUGHTS

BEST OF 2009 (in no order)

*Kafka on the Shore - Huruki Murakami

*Watchmen - Alan Moore

*A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

*The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls
*Fun Home (no review yet)

*The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz

*Boy's Life - Robert McCammon

*The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

A Huge Accomplishment: Middlemarch - George Eliot

My Favorite Review (Self Interview): Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

Did Not Finish: Miles from Nowhere - Nami Mun

TOTALS

10,729 Pages

31 books

My goals this year were a little different--read 24,00 pages and 40 books from the TBR stack. 16 of the 31 are from the TBR stack (acquired before 12/31/08) and 10,729 pages. Not great on either count. But, I'm not stressing and I'm having fun. So, I'm OK with the goals not quite being met.

My Current Challenges (this will make you feel good):

Orbis Terranum hosted by Bethany (2/9)

Non-fiction Five (hosted here) (1/5)
Classics Challenge hosted by Me (2/7)

Arthurian Challenge hosted by Becky (0/5)

Finished challenge:

Once Upon a Time 3 hosted by Carl

And what the heck, Some New Ones:







The Southern Reading Challenge hosted by Maggie

The GLBT Challenge hosted by Amanda

The Canadian Book Challenge hosted by Book Mine Set (John Mutford)

As you can see, I've gone kind of lax this year with the challenges. I'm absolutely, 110% OK with that--having fun, right? And reading!! I'd love some suggestions for the GLBT and Canadian Book Challenge if you've got them. Of course I'll be reading Atwood for the Canadian and Fingersmith for the GLBT.

WHEW! What is on your top 10 (or 8) list for the midway point? If you had to say: "Trish! Read this book now" what would that book be?

**I'm headed out of town and will be trying to schedule this post. I'm sure the formatting is going to hate me--if it's all muddled, forgive me and I'll fix it on Sunday/Monday. boo!