E-Book Reading Challenge

This challenge is being hosted over at The Ladybug Reads. With the iPad I got for Christmas I am expecting to do a bit of e-reading this year. I read my first book on the iPad right after Christmas. I LOVE being able to read in bed without turning a light on. When I get tired, I just close the iPad and go to sleep. It is wonderful. So that's my plan, E-Books at night! (My brother noted that the iPad is not good for outdoor reading because the glare makes the pages unreadable but I envision my day time reading to still be print - I can't give up the feel of a book in my hands.) I am joining at the Fascinated level – Read 6 e-books. But in the back of my mind, I am really hoping for the Addicted level - 12 books!

Here's where I will chart my progress....
1. Anne of Green Gables
2.Bulls Island
3.Anne of Avonlea
4. Thanks for the Memories
5. Jane Eyre
6. Stuck in the Middle
7. The Year She Fell
8. Miranda's Big Mistake
9. The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook
10. My Horizontal Life

Audiobook Challenges

I should have a bumper sticker, CAUTION: I (heart) Audiobooks, therefore, may cause crashes. I discovered audiobooks within the last few years and now almost always have one going in both my cars. (I still get plenty of radio time because most of the books I choose are not suitable for my children!) I've successfully completed the Audiobook Challenge for two years 2009 and 2010 so that's a shoo-in to do again this year and in addition, I saw a new challenge - Whisper Stories in My Ear so I'm trying for that one too.

Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner is taking over this challenge thsi year from last year's hostess, Alaine. She's keeping the same levels and I am signing up again for "Obsessed: 20 Audio Books" Click on the logo for all the details.






This challenge, hosted by Bewitched Bookworms, is new to me and instead of tallying the number of books read, it asks for the hours. So, I am going to be a little more conservative in my goal because I haven't paid any attention to these numbers before so I am not sure how I will do. I'm signing up for 200 hours: Can't Keep Quiet. Just have to add that the button (which takes you to all the details) may be the cutest one I have seen this year!



I'll keep track of my completed reads here:
1. Katie Up and Down the Hall, 7.5 hours
2. War, 7.5 hours, current total 15 hours
3. I Dare You, 6 hours, current total 21 hours
4. Don't Blink, 6.5 hours, current total 27.5 hours
5. Marley and Me, 6 hours, current total 33.5 hours
6. Safe Haven, 11 hours, current total 44.5 hours
7. False Impression, 12 hours, current total 56.5 hours
8. Rescue, 7.5 hours, current total 64 hours
9. Hitched, 4.5 hours, current total 68.5 hours
10. Hell's Corner, 14.5 hours, current total 83 hours
11. Death Dance, 6 hours, current total 89 hours
12. In the Name of Honor
13. Eclipse Bay
14. Can You Keep A Secret? , 6 hours,
15. What Good is God?
16. America's Women

The Jane Austen Reading Challenge

This challenge is being hosted by Amy at A Faithful Journey. In 2009 I particpated in the Everything Austen challenge and read Pride and Prejudice for the first time and watched the wonderful mini series with Colin Firth. I firmly intended to go at it again the next time that challenge came around but somehow I missed it. So this new challenge comes at just the right time. I am ready to read and watch Pride and Prejudice again and I found a Bollywood movie version of the story called Bride and Prejudice that I bought and have had waiting. Like every other e-book reader I downloaded all sorts of Jane Austen during the recent giveaway day but I don't really know what else I might read. I think I'll stick with what I have planned for now and add later if I am inspired.

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Carrie over at Reading to Know. It is short, just the month of January, so it is imperative that I dive right in or I will miss out! I am eager to do just a little bit and be successful. I've downloaded Anne of Green Gables to my iPad and am already a fourth of the way through. I can't believe I have gone my whole life without reading such a classic but apparently it is true because I have no idea what is going to happen. The beginning had a vague sense of familiarity so I am wondering if I read a junior classic version when I was younger or if maybe the plot is a little similar to Pollyanna. After I finish the book, I am going to find the movie. In fact, I ought to start looking for it now so that I am ready! I am going to go with the movie version I saw Carrie recommended, she seemed to think this particular version was the quintessential Anne so that's what I want.

Now Kathy can say, "I told you so."

A few days ago I posted that I would NOT enter any 2011 challenges until I finished posting my books read from 2010. And, Kathy, who apparently has read enough of my posts to peg me straight on said something like, "Oh I bet you'll join a few" and she would be right. I thought I might be able to hold out and I got busy posting some of the books from the back log but then I started wondering exactly how far behind I was (hmmm?), so I made a list....
Baby Proof
Big Mouth & Ugly Girl
Bless Your Heart, Tramp
Body Surfing
Broom of the System
Chelsea, Chelsea, Bang, Bang
Cocktails for Three
Deliver Us From Evil
End of Summer
Final Warning: Maximum Ride
Firefly Lane
Friendship Cake
I, Alex Cross
Just Let Me Lie down
Knitting
Light on Snow
Lowcountry Summer
Memory of Water
Millie's Fling
Nantucket Nights
On Folly Beach
Something Blue
Swimsuit
Testimony
The Christmas Cookie Club
The Christmas Sweater
The Island
The Last Summer (of You and Me)
The Life You've Imagined
The Namesake
The Outsiders
The Russian Concubine
The Santa Cruise
The Unnamed
The Year of Magical Thinking
The Zookeeper's Wife
Time Is A River
What We Keep
When the Sun Goes Down


WAAAAAAAY behind. So far behind there is really little hope of ever getting caught up! Ever.

So here's to fresh starts. I'm leaving 2010 behind and getting started with 2011. I may still go back and post about some of these books - a few are wins or ARC's so I feel a moral obligation to get them posted, and some I just enjoyed so much that I want to shout it out and see who else liked them (that is the point of all this, right?). Right now I am itching to join a few challenges and have decided to give myself permission to do it

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday started by Marcia at The Printed Page is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). This month Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Rose City Reader. Stop by there to check out everyone else's mailboxes. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

I really should go buy a lottery ticket, I have been very lucky lately. All of these audiobooks are recent wins!

From Goodreads: New York's Lombardo's Steak House is famous for three reasons - the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Seated at a nearby table, reporter Nick Daniels accidentally captures a key piece of evidence that lands him in the middle of an all-out war between Italian and Russian mafia forces.I have loved almost every James Patterson I've ever read. He may require a team of helpers to do it but he writes a great story! I'm really looking forward to listening to this one. This was a win from Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress, thank you, Mason!




From Goodreads: It all begins with a random meeting between a younger man and his octogenarian neighbor, Pearl, their attachment cemented by a blond-haired puppy. It isn't long before writer Glenn Plaskin, Pearl, and her husband, Arthur, form a profound bond that blesses all in its sphere. This includes a three-year-old boy named Ryan and his single dad, John, who also happen to be living down the same hallway in a downtown Manhattan high-rise, just opposite the World Trade Center. The group gravitates around Katie, the magnetic cocker spaniel whose domain is a 120-foot red-carpeted hallway the site of dog races, obedience training sessions, Halloween parades, and a passageway to parties and late-night exchanges of confidences. With an uncanny instinct for responding to the needs of her pack, Katie merrily trots up and down her territory, navigating from apartment to apartment, pushing open the doors purposefully left ajar and bringing the entire group together. This just has the "awww" factor, doesn't it? I have started this but am only on the first CD so Katie hasn't even arrived yet. I remember someone saying her picture on the cover just makes you want to break into baby talk. This was a win from Teddy Rose at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time, thank you, Teddy!




From Goodreads: When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.
But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven. True confession would have me admit that I have dissed Nicholas Sparks in the past and then hypocritically I go and enter for his latest- and I win. BUT...I have never listened to a Nicholas Sparks so let's see how it goes. I'm a cryer so all his books leave me weeping even as I am saying, "That was so predictable, why am I crying?" Crying while driving may be a problem. This was a win from Luanne at A Bookworm's World, thank you, Luanne!

Books Read 2011

I've seen this done on other blogs - a post where you keep track of everything you read throughout the year - and I guess it would keep track of what books I've read, also whether or not I posted about them. Then at the end of the year, it would all be done. I'm going to combine this with two challenges I want to join, the Outdo Yourself Challenge hosted by The Book Vixen, and the 100+ Books Challenge hosted by Amy at My Overstuffed Bookshelf. They fit together perfectly for me because for the last two years, I have read 99 books. So if I were to outdo myself by just one, I would read 100 books.

The goal is to outdo yourself by reading more books in 2011 than you did in 2010. Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio). Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are fine. I'm joining this one at the lowest level - Getting my heart rate up – Read 1–5 more books with the hope of reading just one more book than I did in 2010.



The goal is to read 100 or more books. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Manga, Graphic Novels, Library books, Novellas, Young Reader, Nonfiction – as long as the book has an ISBN or equivalent or can be purchased as such, the book counts. I'm in - there's no levels, just the finish line to cross at 100 books, or not.

1. Anne of Green Gables
2. The Hour I First Believed
3. Katie Up and Down the Hall
4. By Fire, By Water
5. War
6. Bulls Island
7. Anne of Avonlea
8. I Dare You
9. The Faith Club
10. Don't Blink
11. My Reading Life
12. Remarkable Creatures
13. Thanks for the Memories
14. Marley and Me
15. The Devotion of Suspect X
16. False Impression
17. Change of Heart
18. Veil of Roses
19. Dreaming in English
20. Rescue
21. Safe Haven
22. Hitched
23. Milkweed
24. The Red Tent
25. The Year She Fell
26. Jane Eyre
27. Girls' Night In
28. Miss Hildreth Wore Brown
29. Hell's Corner
30. Death Dance
31. All The Time In The World
32. Stuck in the Middle
33. Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled34. In the Name of Honor
35. Eclipse Bay
36. Miranda's Big Mistake
37. Forever Friends
38. I'm Black and I'm Proud Wished the White Girl
39. The Lace Reader
40. The Return Journey
41. Can You Keep A Secret?
42. Picture Perfect
43. Butterfly's Daughter
44. What Good is God?
45. Mrs. Pollifax on Safari46. America's Women
47. Southern Comfort
48. Hector and the Secrets of Love
49. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
50. Shopaholic Ties the Knot
51. Listen for the Whisperer
52. The Art of Racing in the Rain
53. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
54. Phantom Prey
55. Never Change
56. 1984
57. Room
58. Spoken From the Heart
59. 40 Love
60. Gone
61. My Horizontal Life
62. Strangers in Death
63. Last Man Standing
64. Queen of Broken Hearts
65. Your Heart Belongs to Me
66. Divergent
67. Between, Georgia
68. The Puppy Diaries
69. Knit the Season
70. Two Little Girls in Blue
71. Wishin' and Hopin'
72. The Last Juror
73. One True Thing
74. The Glass case
75. Chasing Amanda
76. The Mill River Recluse
77. Of Mice and Murders (Z series)
78. Perfect Timing
79. The Woods
80. Hardly Knew Her
81. The Last Odd Day
82. The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook
83. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
84. The Women
85. BossyPants
86. America's Women
87. Down Came the Rain
88. Diary of A Wimpy Kid
89. Notes From the Underwire
90. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
91. Walking in Circles Before Lying Down