Monthly Wrap Up: November 2011

We are only one month away from 2012.  ONE MONTH.  That is crazy! I originally thought I would never make my reading goal of 100 books this year after my three month slump at the beginning of the year.  Considering how many books I was able to read in October and November, I am now thinking that I will, indeed, break the 100 mark!

Here are the books I read in November:

Wench, Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Election, Tom Perrotta

The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides

Delirium, Lauren Oliver

A Watershed Year, Susan Schoenberg

The Raising, Laura Kasischke

101 Things You Thought You Knew About the Titanic . . . But Didn’t!, Tim Maltin

The Painted Veil, W Somerset Maugham

Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, Marti Rulli and Dennis Davern

A Train in Winter, Caroline Moorehead

Not as good as the thirteen books that I read last year but still better than my norm, which is about 7-8 books per month.  I read some spectacular books, but if I HAD to choose a favorite, it would have to be Delirium, by Lauren Oliver,  I can’t wait to get my hands on Pandemonium!

My reading plans for December are pretty wide open, which is nice! I don’t even have a clue about which book I’ll pick up next! How was November for you, reading wise?

September Reading Wrap Up

 

It can’t be denied.  Fall has finally arrived.  That means my footie pajamas have come out of hiding and I am drinking copious amounts of coffee and chai lattes.  Candles are constantly burning and I am always wrapped in a cozy blanket.  So what does that mean for my reading? Well, it means that I am reading more.  I expected that to be reflected in my numbers this month, but it isn’t really.  Part of that is due to The Alienist, which took me ten days to read.

Here is what I read during September:

The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell

The Alienist, by Caleb Carr

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

The True Memoirs of Little K, by Adrienne Sharp

The Poison Tree, by Erin Kelly

Cold Kiss, by Amy Garvey

Napoleon’s Privates, by Tom Perrottet

Curtains, Tom Jokinen

Jumping off Swings, Jo Knowles

That’s a grand total of 9 books, plus one DNF (Waiting for Robert Capa).

I had a tie for my favorite book of the month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for my challenges, you may remember that I dropped pretty much every challenge earlier this year, but I am participating in two challenges at the moment.

Information for the Europa challenge can be found here. I chose to read 4 Europas by the end of 2011.  I don’t know if that will happen, because at this point I have only read one.  Plus, I am in such an RIP swing of things that I have been reading mostly books that fall under that category.  Maybe I should join the perpetual challenge . . .

RIP is my favorite challenge of the year.  Information for it can be found here. I have already surpassed the level I chose, which was 4 books.  So far, I have read 5 books for this challenge and I plan to keep going strong in October.  Plus, I plan to read The Lantern for Carl’s RIP readathon, so I am looking forward to that too.

How was September for you?

Monthly Wrap Up: August 2011

I think if there is one thing evidenced in my monthly wrap ups, it is the fact that I am consistent.  I can pretty much guess the number of books I have read in a given month because it is always the same!

In August, I read 8 books. 1 book was non fiction, 1 book was YA, 2 books were mysteries and the remaining 4 books were literary fiction.

Here is what I read:

Love Child, by Sheila Kohler

The Poisoner’s Handbook, by Deborah Blum

In Search of the Rose Notes, by Emily Arsenault

The Autobiography of Mrs Tom Thumb, by Melanie Benjamin

The Uncoupling, by Meg Wolitzer

The Most Dangerous Thing, by Laura Lippman

In Trouble, by Ellen Levine (review coming soon)

The Art of Losing, by Rebecca Connell (review coming soon)

My favorite book of the month was . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An honorable mention goes to The Autobiography of Mrs Tom Thumb!

Europa Challenge:

The only challenge I participated in during August was the Europa challenge.  The official blog for that challenge can be found here. I have made it very clear recently that I suck at challenges, and I therefore dropped every single challenge I was participating in.  I decided to participate in the Europa challenge anyway because Europa Editions is one of my favorite publishers, and I have slowly but surely been acquiring Europa books for my collection.

During August, I read one book for this challenge: The Art of Losing, by Rebecca Connell. It was phenomenal and has whetted my appetite for more Europas.  I also purchased one Europa in August: Cecilia, by Linda Ferri.

Plans for September:

I only have one plan for September, and that is the RIP challenge. It is my favorite challenge of the year and the only one where I go above and beyond the requirements.  I signed up for Peril in the First, which is to read at least four applicable books between now and October 31.  I generally read at least double that during RIP, so I am hoping to read at least four RIP books during September alone.

So there you have it–my monthly wrap up.  How do my numbers compare to yours?  What are your plans for September?

July Monthly Wrap Up

The end of another month . . . where does the time go? Although I am a bit sick of the unbearable heat, it will be winter soon enough, and that is scary! Ally goes back to school in two days, not to mention that she’ll be in SIXTH grade.  It’s a bit shocking, really.  But anyway, enough rambling.

July was an ok month for me.  I read a total of 7 books, which isn’t great but it could be worse.  Overall, I can’t complain.  The following books are what I finished over the course of the month.

Christine Falls, Benjamin Black

Wishing for Snow, Minrose Gwinn

The Kid, Sapphire

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Before I Go to Sleep, SJ Watson

The Book of Lies,  Mary Horlock

Rules of Civility, Amor Towles

Five of the seven books were for review, either via TLC Book Tours or Netgalley.  That is a pretty high number for me, but I am definitely not complaining because I enjoyed them all.

I don’t have any concrete plans for August. I would like to amp up my reading amount a bit, as my goal for the year is to read 100 books and I am just over half that.  It is time to play catch up!

Earlier in July, I decided to forgo all the reading challenges I had previously committed to, and that has made my reading a lot more relaxed.  The only challenge I plan on working on is the Europa challenge, but even so it is very low pressure and I’m not beating myself up over it if I don’t finish.

Does anyone have any super exciting plans for August?

Sunday Salon, 7/03/2011

Hi everyone! Just in case you were getting worried, I am popping in to let you know I am still here.  It has been a quiet week around here as far as my blog is concerned.  The reason is nothing exciting; things have just been busy at work.  Tuesday will be my first day off in almost two weeks, so I will hopefully be able to catch up on my reviews around mid week.

I can’t believe that June has already come to an end.  Ally will be going back to school in just a month, so the summer is flying by.  I felt like I got very little reading done this month, so I am happy that I read eight books.  Here are the titles I read.

Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris

Flow, Alissa Stein and Susan Kim

To Full Term, Darci Klein

The Long Journey Home, Margaret Robison

Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs

The Twisted Thread, Charlotte Bacon

In the Shadow of Gotham, Stefanie Pintoff

The Reservoir, John Milliken Thompson

I have been on a mystery kick, and I read some great literary mysteries in June.  I don’t really have any concrete plans for July, but I hope I will be able to get a little more reading time carved out.

What were your favorite books that you read for June?

May 2011 Recap

Whoa–June already?! I swear I say it every month, but May went by so quickly.  I had a great month reading wise, with a whopping total of 14 books read.  That is a lot more than usual for me, and part of that total is thanks to a week long vacation where I spent reading by the pool.

Here is what I read.

*The Beautiful Cigar Girl, Daniel Stashower

*What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal, Zoe Heller

*Lady Susan, Jane Austen

*When Will There be Good News?, Kate Atkinson

*Wigs on the Green, Nancy Mitford

*Housekeeping vs the Dirt, Nick Hornby

*Shakespeare Wrote for Money, Nick Hornby

*Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me, Chelsea Handler

*Bumped, Megan McCafferty

*Song for Katya, Kevin Stevens

*Crooked Crooked Letter, Tom Franklin

*Affinity, Sarah Waters

*Summer Sisters, Judy Blume

*Gourmet Rhapsody, Muriel Barbery

I would say that Affinity and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter were by far my favorites. Oh, and What was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal. Plus the Nick Hornby books! Hopefully I can keep up my luck and continue choosing really great books to read.

How was May for everyone else?