The Sunday Salon- Brrrr....

Morning Afternoon everyone! It is a beautiful, sunshine filled day that is absolutely freezing! Perfect day to stay inside and work on my enormous pile of laundry that seems to grow by the minute. Don't worry as I'm also planning on fitting in reading time with all of the other projects that I should be working on. I spent a lot of yesterday reading through your posts in my Google reader but it still looks like I didn't even make a dent. I still have 1000+ posts...oh my goodness! So part of my day might be working on getting that number down especially when my daughter goes down for her nap :)

I'm currently reading The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. This is my 1st read of 2010 and I'm still working on it. It's close to 500 pages (not quite) and I'm over 300 pages in. Good so far, it has been keeping my interest and I find myself caught up within the story. That being said I've been reading it more slowly than usual which is probably for multiple reasons. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Up next, I'm hoping to read Dead Girls Don't Dance by Rachel Caine before it is due back at the library. It is the 2nd book in the YA Morganville Vampire series and it has been awhile since I read the 1st book. You aren't going to believe this but I haven't been to the library in like two weeks. I REALLY need to go and soon as I believe I'm going through withdrawals...LOL!

Some books that I added to the TBR list for this week are:

1.Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep

2.The Semantics of Murder by Aifric Campbell

3.Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Plus, a bunch more...of course! But I thought that I would share a few that I'm really excited about. Let me know if you've read of any of these...I'll be requesting them from the library asap. And how in the world does everyone else make the spacing of their pictures look so nice and mine look...well...like this? (Edited to add: Hmm...it looks better when I publish it then it did on the screen...maybe I just need to play with it more) I'm off to start another load of laundry but I'll be visiting you all soon. Have a great week of reading!!

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

From Barnes and Noble website:

"Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place is to be alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something that she is trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth."

My thoughts:

Wow! This book really struck a chord with me and even though I read it a couple of months ago, I'm not having any problems remembering the reasons why. The main reason that I enjoyed this book was because of Melinda. Melinda was such a realistic character and one that I, as the reader, couldn't help but connect with. She had her reasons for not speaking and sadly there was no one around her that really picked up on the fact that she was talking less and less or really not at all. Her parents were absorbed in themselves and their own problems and with her friends not speaking to her...well, there wasn't anyone that she could really turn to. I loved that she began to find an outlet to express herself in art. I just plain loved Melinda. She reminded me of the teenager I once was and while I didn't have the issues that she did, I still was easily able to relate to what she was going through. Which is what makes Laurie Halse Anderson such an amazing author as she has created such a realistic character that the reader understands. I couldn't help but understand why Melinda was acting and reacting the way she was especially as I read further into the story. Such an amazing book!

All in all, this was an amazing read and one that I will be reading again in the future. Even though I didn't make a top ten for 2009 (too lazy), this is definitely one book that would have been on it. I'll be recommending this one to any teenager that I come across as well as to all of you book readers out there :) And I will definitely be checking out this author's backlist and reading more by Anderson.

Speak was an honor book for the Printz Award in 2000.

P.S.- I read this one last year but am working on catching up with some of the many reviews that I have left over from 2009. I'm still currently reading The House of Riverton by Kate Morton for my 1st book of 2010.

The Beginning of 2010- My Reading Goals

Happy New Year's to everyone! What a busy and crazy end to 2009...I couldn't keep up at times. And I'm pretty sure that my lack of blogging reflected that but what can you do? So I'm really excited about 2010 and have high hopes that my reading will go off in some great directions. I've joined a BUNCH of challenges...probably way too many but that isn't stopping me from joining a few more. LOL!

So my reading plans for this year are mainly to just read. And blog of course. But as my 3rd child is soon to make it into this world...well, finding the time to read will be a big thing for me. I've joined some challenges this year that will hopefully help to expand my reading and take it into different directions. At some point in the near future I will be posting a list of my 2009 reads so that I can put a link in my sidebar. I will also be working on getting a list of books that need to be reviewed from 2009...and my goal is to eventually review all of them. That is going to be a project unto itself but I'll take my time. I stopped taking review copies last year but still have a pile that needs to be read and reviewed which is a project that I will be working on as well. My apologies to the publishers on that one.

Hmm...what else? I would love to make it to 100 books in 2010. I'm going to continue reading the authors and series I love as well as work on finding new authors. I would also like to work on my perpetual reading projects and knock some books off of those lists. Lots of plans, huh? :) A huge thanks to all of my fellow readers who inspire me everyday in my reading and in blogging. I hope you all have a great 2010!

P.S.- Some of the other challenges I am joining that I haven't posted about yet are the Suspense/Thriller challenge, the Speculative Fiction challenge, and the Orange Prize Project (which is a perpetual challenge). And I'm going to work on the Notable Books project as well which I have been neglecting. So many challenges, so little time...

Edited to add: OMG! Another challenge just popped up in the blogsphere and this one is a must join for me even though I fail miserably at it each time that I join. I'm signing up for the Book Awards IV challenge. Yay! And may this be the time that I actually finish :)

Challenges 2010

Okay, this post can totally be skipped over and it won't hurt my feelings whatsoever. I'm joining a bunch (and I mean a BUNCH) of challenges and rather than doing a bunch of individual of posts for each one...I just don't have the time or inclination...so I'm going to do one really long post. Really long... and I'm going to admit right now that I'm joining way too many challenges. But there are so many good ones out there this year that I just cannot resist. Oh boy!

First of all, I'm joining the 100+ Reading challenge as it looks like I am just going to fall short this year. So maybe next year I'll make it to 100 :) I'm also going to join the Christy Awards challenge which has already begun and is totally outside of anything that I ever usually read. I'm going in as a Total Fiction Newbie but would like to read more if possible. 2010 will be a year of pushing my reading boundaries a bit and this challenge will help with that.

I'm also joining in on the Graphic Novels Challenge. I'm going with the intermediate level (3-10) as I read 2 graphic novels this past year. So I think that I'm going to up the bar for next year.

I'm also joining the Series Challenge Season 4. I participated in (and actually finished) this challenge last year and since I'm a series kind of girl...perfect challenge for me.

Another challenge that is already ongoing but that I am now joining is the Women Unbound challenge. How can I resist this one? I'm going with the Bluestocking level which requires 5 books with 2 of them being nonfiction.

Two other challenges that I am participating in again that I joined last year are the 1st in a series challenge and 2nds challenge. I'm going with Addicted on both challenges which requires 12 books for each. Figured if I could do it this year (which I did :P) then I could do it next year.

I'm also joining in on the Chunkster challenge which I didn't quite finish this year. I'll be participating at the chubby chunkster level (love the names btw) which is only 3 books. Definitely doable!

I reread...I know there are those out there who don't but I definitely like to go back to books that I really enjoyed. So the Flashback Challenge was a challenge that I had join in on. I'm going with the Bookworm level that only requires 3 books but who knows if I'll reread more. Especially if I continue rereading the Harry Potter series. And I'll admit that I am craving some Harry Potter right now.

Last year, I searched and searched for a good historical reading challenge. Now this year there are a bunch. So of course I'm joining in with the Historical Fiction reading challenge at the fascinated level which is 6 books.

And the lovely Jackie is again hosting the New Author challenge. I'm so close to reading 50 new authors this year and would love to do it again next year. But I'm going to start off with saying 25...playing it safe since I'm joining so many challenges.

Next, I'm joining in on the Social Justice Challenge. The amount I participate in this one is on a month to month basis which leaves it really open for me. A good thing for sure!

Another challenge that I completed this year and am joining again for next year is the Support Your Library challenge. This is such an easy challenge for me and I just can't resist. I'm going with the Just My Size level which is 50 books.

And I'm joining the Young Adult challenge which I also completed this year...or I'm going to after I finish the book I'm reading :) I'm going with the Mini YA reading level as I don't read a ton of books that are YA. I would like to read more though...

Okay, we're almost there. I'm also joining in on the Twenty Minute Book Club Challenge at the Aluminum level. This only requires 4 books but I may read more if I can.

The Fantasy Reading challenge is another easy challenge for me that I'm joining in on. Going with the Addicted level which is another 12 books...I better hit 100 books at the rate of challenges that I'm joining. LOL!

So that's it for me...I'll probably end up joining a few more but this is it for now. Call me crazy but I am SO excited about 2010. It should be a great year of reading! And I apologize to all of the challenge hosts for not taking the time to make seperate challenge posts. But I did try to link up to you :) Now if I could just clean up my sidebar... and if the spacing would go the way I want to...

The Sunday Salon- Back to Blogging

Whew! Where did November go and how are we only two weeks away from Christmas?? Sorry that I've been gone lately but I was sick (which is absolutely no fun when you are huge and pregnant too) and then I took a bit of a blogging break. I'm back and feeling better than ever minus the whole huge thing but I can't really change that right now. And I have about a zillion posts running around in my head that I need to get to but for now I thought I would catch you up with my reading and just say hello :)

I'm currently reading Stolen by Kelley Armstrong. This is the 2nd book in this series and I'm hoping to enjoy it as much as I did the first. As I have yet to review the first book, Bitten, I'll probably end up doing a double review post at some point. In fact, I may be doing a lot of those in the near future. I'm so far behind... I'm also still reading The Woman in White which is going well but let's face it: there is NO way that I am going to finish it before the new year. I'm still reading it in small sections which really does work for me.

Last night, I finished reading The House on Tradd Street by Karen White. While I don't think that I liked it as much as so many others did, I did like it enough to want to read the next book. Hmm...that sounds weird to me so suffice it to say that I liked it but didn't love it. I also recently finished reading Heat Stroke by Rachel Caine which was a great follow-up to the first book in the series. I'm currently about 10 books away from hitting 100 books read this year and have accepted the fact that I probably won't make it. I'm okay with that though as it has been a really good year for me reading wise.

I'm sure that I'll post about my reading goals for 2010 in the near future but they have been rolling around in my head for the past couple of weeks. Plus, all of the challenges that I want to join...I don't think that I can resist some of them. I've put a hold on my library check outs and am just trying to read from the stack that I have because they will all go back at the end of this year. I've decided to start all over with new library loot in 2010 :) Fun, fun... Anyways, my apologies for not being around more these past few weeks and hopefully I will catch up at some point. My google reader is at 1000+ which means I've got some reading and commenting ahead of me. Talk to you soon and happy holidays!!

Randomness

Seriously...I'll be back soon but for now I'm just reading "easy" reads that don't take much out of me and working on getting better.

The Sunday Salon - Library Loot Edition

Hmm...is it a no-no to combine The Sunday Salon and Library Loot into one post? Probably but I can't wait any longer to share all of the goodies that I have brought home from the library lately. And I haven't shared my reading progress lately...plus, it IS Sunday :) Let's start with the obvious which is that once again I have way too many books checked out. I honestly don't care though as I am so excited about some of these. I can't possibly read all of these but I'm sure going to try.

In reading news, I'm currently reading Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block. Heard about this author on a couple of other blogs and I couldn't not give her a try. I've only finished the 1st Weetzie book but I liked it. Different but good is my opinion so far. I'm also still working on The Woman in White but my reading on that one has definitely slowed down. Not for any real reason other than I don't pick it up at times. I do like it though so I'm not sure exactly what my problem is. But on to my library finds:

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood- From Publishers Weekly: "Intrigued by contemporary reports of a sensational murder trial in 1843 Canada, Atwood has draw a compelling portrait of what might have been." I loved The Handmaid's Tale so I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.


A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray- From Goodreads: "A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy..." This is reloot for me but how can I resist this cover? And that description? I will HAVE to get to it this time!

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson- I've been wanting to read something by this author for awhile now. It is about 3 different mysteries that are all tied together somehow...not sure how but I'm looking forward to finding out.

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson- From Goodreads: "In this universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harbored and driven underground, Lawson ratchets up the tension with heartbreaking humor and consummate control, continually overturning one's expectations right to the very end." Sounds intense but good!


Graceling by Kristin Cashore- I've yet to read a bad review of this book so of course I took this one home with me.

Heat Stroke by Rachel Caine- Book 2 in the Weather Warden series and one that I've been meaning to pick up for awhile now. I really liked the 1st one so I'm looking forward to this! And I believe that this may be reloot as well.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent- From Goodreads: "Kent paints a haunting portrait, not just of Puritan New England, but also of one family's deep and abiding love in the face of fear and persecution." I picked this one up based on Dar's review and am really, really excited about it.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton- From Goodreads: "Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House At Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story." Sold! Sounds so good :)

Spindle's End by Robin McKinley- I was in the mood for a retelling of a fairy tale and this one jumped out at me. This is the retelling of Sleeping Beauty and hopefully it will be just what I am looking for.

The House on Tradd Street by Karen White- Another recommendation that I found over at Dar's blog. If you guys haven't checked her out you should. And this one is billed as a mystery with ghosts so of course I couldn't resist.

Wow! I really need to work on my self control :P And if you can't guess, the rest of my Sunday will probably be spent reading so I can make progress in my towering stack of books. Plus, I'll be stopping by to see what you all are up to. Happy Sunday!

Kissing Sin by Keri Arthur

Give a brief summary of the book:

Kissing Sin finds Riley lying naked in an alley, unable to remember how she got there or the previous days that have obviously passed by. She figures out all too soon that she needs to escape, and escape fast, as someone is after her and won't be happy that she is free. Once again, Riley is up against an unknown force that is trying to create the perfect breed of species and they want her as one of their test subjects.

Likes?

I liked everything about this novel and this series so far. This was a fast-paced novel that I couldn't put down as I was constantly trying to figure out what was going to happen next. And who was behind everything that is going on...I flew through this book. Riley is a great main character. She is strong and sure of herself and doesn't make apologies for the way she is. As the reader, I can't help but like her. Especially as we see her struggle with the possibilites of becoming a guardian and the killing of others that will be involved. I also like the mix that makes her both werewolf and vampire. Keri Arthur made it even more interesting in this book as she gives Riley new talents that she is just beginning to discover. Definitely a series that I will continue following!

Dislikes?

Hmm...I can't say that I have any real dislikes. I will say that I have a hard time relating to Riley when it comes to having multiple sexual partners all of the time. Which is going to sound odd unless you've read this series. Suffice it to say that it is an integral part of being a werewolf and while I understand that...well, I just have times where it is a bit too much. But it doesn't make me like the story any less if that makes any sense. Probably not :)

Additional Thoughts?

I'm finding after reading this 2nd book that I really, really like this series and am eager to pick the 3rd book up. I'm curious as to where the author will take the next book and am also curious as to how Riley will grow. I'd recommend this series (start out with the 1st one though) to paranormal romance lovers and those who enjoy urban fantasy. But be prepared to not want to set this book down once you start it!

*Reading Order*

1. Full Moon Rising

2. Kissing Sin

LoL! Sorry but I'm going to stop there. And that is 3 for 3 for me in November so far...I am on a roll. Now if I could get some other back reviews posted...another day. Be on the lookout for a new library loot post soon. I have a BUNCH of books that I'm so excited to share about but I'm waiting until the last 2 requests come in from the library.

A Veiled Deception by Annette Blair

A Veiled Deception is the first in the cozy mystery series featuring Madeira Cutler who is a fashion designer with a love and flair for vintage clothing. But when she comes home for her youngest sister's wedding, trouble begins to brew as her sister's nemesis is found strangled with a bridal veil. Now Madeira is out to clear her sister and her family's name as well as find out who the killer really is. And while doing that she begins to discover and explore the new paranormal gifts that she inherited from her mother.

Hmm...what to say about this one other than I liked it. It wasn't great or anything but it was a fun enough read. Madeira, or Maddie as she is most often called, is an interesting main character with a lot of quirks. The way she talked at times was a bit over the top but other than that I liked her. The mystery itself was interesting and I especially liked the visions that Maddie was having of previous women wearing the same wedding dress. It was definitely a cozy mystery with nothing too over the top but a fun read nonetheless.

All in all, I would recommend this book to cozy mystery lovers who enjoy reading about fashion as well. As for myself, I'll be reading the 2nd book at some point but I won't be rushing out or anything to grab it. Good but not great :)

P.S. - 2 for 2 so far this month on reviews...woohoo!

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

"Each Reader must choose a piece of lace. It is hers for life. It might be a pattern handed down through generations or a piece cosen by the reader for its beauty or familiarity. Many Readers prefer the handmade laces, particularly the laces of old Ispwich or the new circular pieces made by the women of Yellow Dog Island. - The Lace Reader's Guide" p. 6 of The Lace Reader

I'm not even sure where to begin with this review other than to say that I found this book to be an amazing read. The Lace Reader begins with the reader meeting Towner, the main character, who admits freely that she lies and that her name is really Sophya. Towner is going back to her hometown as her Great Aunt Eva is missing. While there she will be forced to confront her demons from the past and work through the issues that are still haunting her today. The women in Towner's family are all lace readers and can read the future in the lace. But something has caused Towner to vow never to read lace again...


Oh my goodness...how I enjoyed this book! From the very beginning, I was swept up in the story that the author had written and the atmosphere that she had created. I didn't quite know what to make of Towner, I mean she admits right from the beginning that she is crazy and that she lies. So I wasn't sure at any point in the book if she was telling the truth which made for an interesting read. I ended up just letting the author take me for a ride and what a ride it was! The story was told from different viewpoints at time but it didn't detract from the story whatsoever. In fact, it made me feel even closer to the main characters. I ended up caring about Towner even though I couldn't entirely trust the story that she was telling me. And the ending of this book...blew me away. Seriously, I might have seen pieces of it coming but really in the end when I closed the book I was stunned. I think that this would be a great book to read with a book group and have a discussion over. I myself would love to hear what other readers thought of the ending of this book.


All in all, I found this to be an amazing read and will probably go on to my top reads of 2009. I'm pretty sure I've gushed enough over this book...so go pick it up and give it a try. I doubt that you'll be disappointed. Highly recommended.


P.S.- This is me meeting my November goal of reviewing books directly after I read them. I can't possibly get more behind on reviews if I do this and I'll try and catch up on a few reviews that I am behind on at some point in this month as well.