2010 TBR Challenge

I've decided to tackle the 2010 TBR Challenge from MizB's Reading Challenges.



Here are the rules:

** Pick 12 books – one for each month of the year - that you’ve been wanting to read (that have been on your “To Be Read” list) for 6 months or longer, but haven’t gotten around to.

** OPTIONAL: Create a list of 12 “Alternates” (books you could substitute for your challenge books, given that a particular one doesn’t grab you at the time)

** Then, starting January 1, read one of these books from your list each month, ending December 31. )

By the end of the year you should’ve knocked 12 books off of your TBR list! (of course, if you’re anything like me, you’ll have added *at LEAST* 12 more to the ever-growing pile by then! LOL).

The good news is, though, that you’ll be making some progress! ;o)

Additional rules/guidelines for this challenge:

* the challenge is to read 12 TBR books in 12 months — you can read those all in one month if you want, or one a month, or however you wanna do it.
* you should have a list posted somewhere for others to see
* you CANNOT change your list after January 1st, of the current year!!!
* you can create an Alternates list of MAXIMUM 12 books, if you want, in order to have options to choose from (you can read these in place of books on your original list).
* audiobooks and e-books ARE allowed
* re-reads are NOT allowed, as they aren’t TRUE “TBRs”
* you CAN overlap with other challenges
* OPTIONAL: you can join the Yahoo! Group created for participants of the TBR Challenge, if you want to have a place to keep your list, or just to share with others about how you’re doing!

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Okay, I didn't strictly adhere to the rules because I only found out about this challenge 2 days ago and only decided to join last night! But I have created my list and promise not to change it after I post it today.

TBR List

1 - The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

2 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

3 - Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

4 - The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

5 - The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larrson - will read

6 - The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

7 - Her Fearful Symmetry by Audry Niffenegger

8 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

9 - Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

10 - Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

11 - The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

12 - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Alternate List

1 - The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

2 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein

3 - The 8th Confession by James Patterson

4 - Katherine by Anya Seton

5 - Life of Pi by Yann Martel

6 - She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

7 - The Stand by Stephen King

8 - A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

9 - Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian

10 - The Broken Window by Jeffrey Deaver

11 - Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

12 - Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

ETA - Titles in Boldface have been read.

2010 Reading Challenge

I have my new reading challenge for 2010. My friend, and fellow booklover, came up with this one. I will concede and even applaud her because now I do not have to think of one myself!

Our challenge is a 52 book challenge. It will be a hodge podge of challenges:
A) 24 books -- the genre challenge (2 books from each of the categories from last year)
B) 7 books -- from the banned books lists (from here and here)
C) 7 books -from award-winning books (like the Booker Prize or the Pulitzer)
D) 7 books that start with "J" or have the name Jennifer in them (our name)
E) 7 books with numbers in their title

I was surfing the web last night and came across a few other challenges that caught my eye as well:
2010 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge from Reading with Tequila
2010 Pub Challenge from 1morechapter.com
Countdown Challenge 2010 also from 1morechapter.com
2010 Reading Resolutions Challenge from Jenny Loves To Read
2010 DIK Book Reading Challenge from DIK (Desert Island Keepers)
2010 TBR Challenge from MizB's Reading Challenges

I know it's already the 4th of January but I am still thinking about which challenges to commit to. I like the Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge and the TBR Challenge and will most likely do those. I really like the Countdown Challenge but I believe that will prove to be too overwhelming for me. It would mean another 55 books on top of what other challenges I may decide to do. I think I will keep it in mind for next year....

2009 Reading Challenges

Okay, I didn't succeed in blogging about all my books. I really, really tried. I really did. But I realized that I'd rather read than write about what I read.

So on with my reading challenges. I started out the year with the intention to do a 50 book challenge. A friend, a fellow booklover who did a reading challenge with me in 2008 as well, and I decided to do the ABC Author challenge and the Genre challenge - reading 2 books from 12 different genres. I decided to up the ante by only recognizing new authors (authors I have never read before) for my ABC Author challenge.

As the year started, on one of the sites I frequent, I found out about the New York Bestseller's challenge and decided to go for that as well. I aimed for a 10 book goal.

Then as the year progressed, I had difficulty sticking to my challenges. I kept reading books that grabbed my interest - read books from authors I like; therefore not new to me. I soon realized that I read enough extra books to actually create a list for an ABC Title challenge. In that manner, I ended up with maintaining 4 challenges. I almost made it. I was shy one book for my ABC Title challenge. I was reading up to the last day of the year, but I fell asleep before I could finish the book and the year! I guess that's what happens when one reads well into the night for days in order to finish up a reading challenge! I'm not as young as I used to be and cannot keep up with all these late nights!

I am proud of what I was able to achieve. The book count, I believe, is at 101 books. I am not counting my childrens' books and books on CD.

This was a great year of reading for me.
- My New Author challenge forced me to read books from authors I am not familiar with. I confess that I am guilty to sticking with particular authors. Once I like an author I have tendency to read everything I can grab from them. I have read from at least 26 new authors last year. I know that is a first for me.
- I read a few classic which is something I have been wanting to do for some time but have been hesitant to commit to.
- I have begun reading an amazing series, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
- I have been reading from genres that are out of my comfort zone - nonfiction, memoirs, classics and comedy.
- I have been introduced to new authors that I will definitely read from again - Katherine Howe, Cassandra Clare and Michelle Moran.
- I read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series in record time.
- I am part of two in real life book clubs that I actually keep up with.

Here's to hoping 2010 is just as good!

2009 New Author Challenge - DONE!!

• Albert, Susan Wittig - Thyme of Death
• Baer, Judy - The Baby Chronicles
• Clark, Mary Jane - Lights Out Tonight
• DuMaurier, Daphne - Rebecca
• Everson, Eva Marie & Shepherd, Linda Evans - The Secret's in the Sauce
• Fergus, Jim - One Thousand White Women
• Gabaldon, Diana - Dragonfly in Amber
• Harris, Charlaine - Dead Until Dark
• Irving, John - The World According to Garp
• Johansen, Iris & Roy - Silent Thunder
• Kalogridis, Jeanne - I, Mona Lisa
• Lutz, Lisa - The Spellman Files
• Meyer, Stephenie -Twilight
• Neill, Fiona - Slummy Mummy
• Osborne, Denise - Positioned To Die
• Pelecanos, George - The Turnaround
• Quinn, Sherrill - Seducing the Moon
• Roughan, Howard & Patterson, James - Sail
• Scotch, Allison Winn - Time of My Life
• Tyler, Anne - The Accidental Tourist
• Updike, John - The Witches of Eastwick
• Vanderbilt, Gloria - Obsession
• Wilshire, Taylor - The Book of Mom
• Xu, Xiaobin - Feathered Serpent
• Yates, Richard - Revolutionary Road
• Zutell, Irene - Pieces of Happily Ever After

2009 50 Book Challenge - Genre DONE!

• Biography/Memoir - STori Telling by Tori Spelling
• Biography/Memoir - What Time Is It? You Mean Now? by Yogi Berra
• Chick Lit - Queen of Babble Getting Hitched by Meg Cabot
• Chick Lit - Shopaholic and a Sister by Sophie Kinsella
• Classic - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Classic - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• General Fiction - A Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
• General Fiction - Firestorm by Iris Johansen
• Historical Fiction - The Nature of Monsters by Clare Clark
• Historical Fiction - The Other Queen by Phillipa Gregory
• Horror - Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
• Horror - Rose Madder by Stephen King
• Humor/Comedy - Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
• Humor/Comedy - The Yogi Book by Yogi Berra
• Mystery/Thriller - Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
• Mystery/Thriller - Death Walked In by Carolyn Hart
• Nonfiction - Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli
• Nonfiction - Marley & Me by John Grogan
• Romance - Foul Play by Janet Evanovich
• Romance - The Treasure by Iris Johansen
• Sci-Fi/Fantasy - City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
• Sci-Fi/Fantasy - The Dastard by Piers Anthony
• Young Adult - New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
• Young Adult - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

NY Bestseller's Challenge DONE!

• 2/6 Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
• 2/6 The Host by Stephenie Meyer
• 3/1 The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
• 3/25 Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
• 3/25 Hold Tight by Harlen Coben
• 3/25 Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
• 4/20 Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
• 4/3 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
• 6/15 Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
• 7/17 The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

2009 Title Challenge :(

• Alchemist, The by Paul Coelho
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
• Catered Christmas, A by Isis Crawford
• Catered Murder, A by Isis Crawford
• Catered Wedding, A by Isis Crawford
• Cell by Stephen King
• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
• Diva Runs Out of Thyme, The by Krista Davis
• Dragonwell Dead by Laura Childs
• Espresso Shot by Cleo Coyle
• Everyone worth knowing by Lauren Weisberger
• Fire Kimono, The by Laura Joh Rowland
• French Pressed by Cleo Coyle
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The by Stieg Larsson
• Heretic Queen, The by Michelle Moran
• Immaculate Reception by Jerrilyn Farmer
• Jed Hunter's Reluctant Bride by Susanne James
• Killing Me Softly by Nicci French
• Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline
  
• Laced by Carol Higgins Clark
• Murder with Reservations - by Elaine Viets
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• Perils of Paella, The by Nancy Fairbanks
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
  
• Queen of Babble In the Big City by Meg Cabot
• Red Chrysanthemum by Laura Joh Rowland
• Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee
• Shopaholic and a Baby by Sophie Kinsella
• Silver Needle Murder, The by Laura Child
• Simmer Down by Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant
• Steamed by Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
• Truffled Feathers by Nancy Fairbanks
• Up in a Heaval by Piers Anthony
• Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
• Way of the Traitor, The by Laura Joh Rowland
• Wise Woman, The by Philippa Gregory
• X, The Dangerous Days of Daniel by James Patterson
• You Belong to Me by Johanna Lindsey
• Zenith by Julie Bertagna - finally finished 1/5 :(
  

2009 Children's Books

• The Case of the House of Horrors by Megan Stine
• The Mystery of Monster Mountain by Robert Arthur
• The Mystery of the Cranky Collector by M.V. Carey
• The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale by Robert Arthur
• The Mystery of the Silver Spider by Robert Arthur
• The Mystery of the Two Toed Pigeon by Marc Arthur
• The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure by Robert Arthur
• The Secret of Skeleton Island by Robert Arthur

Books on CD

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
  

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

This book is the third installment in this series. I saw it on the new books shelf and I had to grab it, despite having a ton of other books that I "need" to read. I had to know what happens next. That's just how I am. The previous book was left off at such a big cliffhanger...

I know that Lizzie is referred to as the Queen of Babble but I just do not see as so. I understand she does say things sometimes when she's not supposed to. I mean, who doesn't? I just feel that she is not as bad as her title makes her sound. Her heart is in the right place even though her mouth isn't.

We left off in Queen of Babble in the Big City with Luke just having proposed to Lizzie. And Lizzie accepting even though she has a sleeping Chaz upstairs in her apartment?!??! Okay, her New Year's Eve wedding date with Chaz was purely platonic. Mostly, anyway. But Lizzie has discovered that there is potential in their relationship. But not if she is going to marry Luke, Chaz's best friend.

Chaos ensues. Lizzie is the talk of the town, since her restored gown has been publicly deemed a hit. Everyone wants her to do their gown. Her shop, or rather her boss' shop is busier than ever. However, Henri suffers from a heart attack, leaving his beloved shop in Lizzie's....er...um....capable hands while he recovers.

Tiffany, the receptionist, from Chad's dad's firm comes to the aid as Lizzie gets bombarded with calls. And a high profile celebrity, Ava, becomes a client. Lizzie takes her on, not only to create a gown but to also turn her into a class act.

With all that's going on, Lizzie has little time to prepare for her own wedding. Everything time she thinks about her own wedding preparations, Lizzie breaks into hives. Not a good sign. And to make matters worse, Luke has taken on a "temporary" position with his uncle's firm in France. Luke wants Lizzie to go with him but she can't. She has her own business to contend with. And his job is supposed to be temporary, isn't it?

So Lizzie is supposed to plan her wedding on her own with Luke across the Atlantic Ocean, run Chez Henri and play Professor Higgins to Ava. Not to mention avoiding her feelings for Chad.

Luke's temporary position with his uncle's firm turns into a more permanent one. He never really did want to fulfill the fantasy of medical school. Lizzie realized that she was in love of what Luke was supposed to represent as opposed to the actual man and ended the engagement.

Ava and her fiance mutually decided not to go ahead with the wedding on the day of.

Lizzie happily continues with bridal gown business and begins a relationship with Chad, with the blessings of Shari. She no longer feels that marriage is where all roads lead to.

All's well that ends well. Ava gets dates, gets pregnant and marries the DJ she was enamored with. While at the marriage license bureau, Lizzie and Chad decide "why not?" No pomp and circumstance, no big to-do. Just the two of them, as it well should be.

Firestorm by Iris Johansen

Firestorm is another spinoff of the Eve Duncan series. Various characters have been introduced to have special psychic powers in other Iris Johansen books.

In Firestorm, Kerry Murphy is able to detect fires. She hides her ability by being an arson investigator with an "amazing" arson dog. Kerry "discovered" her ability after she woke up from a two year coma that was a result of being hit by an unknown man at the scene of a house fire that killed her mother. She continues to have nightmares about that night but is never able to "see" the man's face.

Brad Silver is a controller who knows her secret and needs her help. He, under the orders of the President, is after a pyromaniac. However, Brad also has a personal agenda. This pyromaniac, James Trask, is also responsible for the death of his brother, a US Senator, and his sister in law. Brad witnessed them being burned alive.

The US government needs to locate the unstable Trask. Trask had been in charge of a secret scientific project funded by the government. When the funding was pulled and the project terminated, Trask began targeting his enemies, those behind the end of his pet project.

Brad draws Kerry in to help to find Trask before he kills more people. As a controller, Brad is able to help Kerry with her nightmares and along the way, also teaches Kerry how to manipulate minds.

However in the meanwhile, Trask gets personal and targets Kerry's brother and his pregnant wife. Kerry's brother is burned and her sister in law loses her baby.

Not only does this not scare off Kerry, it motivates her even more to go after Trask. When Trask kidnaps Kerry's brother and father as an attempt to bring her to him, Kerry is ready for him. Kerry is able to use mind control to manipulate Trask into position so that Brad could take him out.

Kerry also learns the extent of her father's love for her brother when her father was willing to give up his life and hers for her brother. She had always known that her brother was the favored child and that there was a lack of a father daughter relationship. She did not begrudge her brother because she loved her brother as well.

Kerry finally gets a breakthrough and realizes that the unknown man and cause of the fire that killed her mother was her brother. Her father knew the fact and covered the fact. Knowing something was wrong her brother, her father spent his life trying to make it up by being a better father to him. Unfortunately, he did not have enough love to go around.

I have a little bit of trouble with the direction that Iris Johansen has taken this series. I think the main reason is that the Eve Duncan series starts out without any of these paranormal abilities. So I think I have difficulty transitioning from a normal forensic storyline to a paranormal one. Once I get past it, I begin to enjoy the story. I really enjoy the Iris Johansen books. I have to admit at first it did take a little bit getting used to the idea that Iris Johansen the romance writer was also a wonderful suspense writer.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

I vaguely remember seeing the movie, Practical Magic, with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, ages ago. So while reading the book, I kept trying to reconcile my memories with what I was reading right before me. It wasn't working too well. I didn't remember a whole lot. I think I just kept confusing myself. However, that didn't stop me from continuing to picture Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as Gillian and Sally Owens.

Two young girls are orphaned and come to be raised by their elderly witch aunts. Gillian, the wild and vivacious one, embraces her differences. Whereas Sally just wants to be normal. Gillian who falls in love at the blink of an eye, runs away to elope and escape. Sally who has always shied away from love, believing that her family is cursed when it comes to love, stays behind, falls in love, marries and has two little girls.

Then tragedy strikes and Sally's husband dies. Devastated, Sally leaves with her two girls to start a new, normal life, to be as far away as possible from her aunts. She continues to correspond with Gillian who has a wanderlust life with numerous husbands.

One day, Gillian shows up at her doorstep with a dead body, her current beau. She really did nothing do with his death but they did not want to be linked with the dead body. The two sisters bury the man in Sally's backyard. Mysterious things begin to happen. And a detective, Gary, shows up, investigating the disappearance of a man he was tracking.

The aunts come to help Sally and Gillian with the spirit that is now haunting. Sally and Gillian convince Gary that they had nothing to do with the disappearance of the missing man. Sally and Gillian are in the clear for the missing man.

This is what I get for not keeping up with posting. I cannot remember the ending. Funny thing though, just the other night, Practical Magic just happened to be on cable....

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

This is another heartstring tugging book from Jodi Picoult. And I expect no less from her. I love her books because they make you think. I like to describe her as an author who writes about social issues. That's not totally accurate but it gives you a gist of what her stories are about. Without a doubt, after reading one of her books there will always be discussion and controversy. Change of Heart is no different.

June is the sole survivor of a fatal car accident that takes her husband and leaves her to care for their baby girl, Elizabeth, on her own. She eventually falls in love with and marries the police officer, Kurt, that rescues her. While heavily pregnant with her second daughter, June hires an itinerant, Shay Bourne, to help with some badly needed repairs. June returns one day from an ob-gyn appointment to find her husband, Kurt, and her daughter, Elizabeth, killed. Presumably by Shay. Shay is sent to death row, the first in over half a century. The jury deliberations were tough. There was one holdout by a young man, Michael. Michael's guilt in his part in this case leads him to a life in priesthood.

June, again, becomes a single parent to a baby girl, Claire. Under the circumstances, one can understand why June is very protective of her daughter. June is much more so with Claire due to a serious heart defect that requires a heart transplant for survival.

Years later, as Shay is facing execution, he sees a television segment showing a girl in need of a heart transplant and wants to donate his heart. June is ecstatic that someone wants to donate their heart. Moral dilemma, it belongs to the man that murdered her daughter and husband. June wants very much to deny the heart, hoping against all hope that there will be another donor. When she meets Shay face to face during a well supervised meeting, he tells her that Elizabeth was "better off dead." (My jaw dropped during this heart wrenching scene.)

Michael comes to the prison to befriend Shay and be his confessor. Michael and the other prisoners witness things that cannot be understood. Wine flows through the pipes of Shay's quadrant instead of water. A bird miraculously revives after Shay holds it. Shay pinpoints the cause of a guard's baby's severe illness to the peanut filling in her stuffed animal in her crib. Shay is able to share his one piece of gum with everyone in his ward. His HIV positive neighbor is seemingly cured the next day. A guard is fatally attacked by a prisoner and pronounced dead. While being removed by EMT, the guard revives, as Shay is seen huddled in a corner in prayer.

June refuses the heart but circumstances and time is not on Claire's side. June changes her mind when Claire ends up in the hospital. She accepts Shay's heart out of spite.

A trial is underway to determine whether Shay can donate his heart. A chamber has already been built to give him the lethal injection. Shay's lawyer helps him fight for the right to hang instead so that he can donate his heart.

Father Michael searches for ways to soothe Shay's soul, so that he may die in peace. Father Michael seeks out Shay's sister, Grace. He tries to convince her to forgive Shay for setting the fire that disfigures her face.

Shay admits to Father Michael that on the night of the murders, he discovered Kurt molesting his stepdaughter Elizabeth and in the struggle for the gun, Elizabeth was accidentally killed. Shay in turn killed Kurt for what he did. Although he finally admitted the truth, Shay refused to allow his lawyer to use the information to delay the trial. Shay wants to donate his heart. And time is running out.

When Claire finds out about the upcoming transplant, she convinces her mother to let her die.

Grace comes to visit June and shares the story of abuse from her foster father. She also tells June how she set the fire that killed her stepfather and how Shay took the blame. Grace plants the seed that Kurt might have been abusing Elizabeth. June decides that she will accept Shay's heart for Claire. The transplant is a success.

A few weeks later, while at home, Claire sees that her dog, Dudley has died. As she holds him in her arms, his heart starts beating again.