Sunday Summary: 27 December 2015

Good morning all. I hope your Winter holidays have been fabulous. We celebrated Christmas at my son's house. I cooked a morning brunch of sausages, biscuits, scrambled eggs, ham, and sweet rolls. After breakfast, we sat around to exchange presents. Weeks ago, my daughter asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I told her I didn't have any particular wishes—just lots of boxes to open. So that's what I got. And every box I opened contained a wrapped gift for someone else. It quickly became a contest to guess whose present might be in my box. But I wasn't left out; my kids know my weakness for books, so I received gift cards to buy books with.

Where I've been reading

Since I had taken the entire week as vacation time, I was at home here in Texas. Well, here in Texas, but not necessarily “at home”. The two five-year-old grandchildren were out of school, so I drove down to my sons' house a couple of days to spend the day with them. It was so warm here in Texas that we went to the park with just t-shirts and jeans. Driving back and forth from my house to where my sons live gave me lots of time to listen to my current audio book, The Guilty by David Baldacci.

 

Stacking the Shelves (60)

This week's new books are all from the library. I picked up a couple of short books in the hopes that they'd help me complete my objective of reading 200 books in 2015. In fact, I've already read two of the four books which I borrowed.

From the library:

I was attracted to the description of Illuminae, written in an unusual style. Instead of the usual narrative, the book is composed of transcripts of interviews, medical reports, e-mails, etc. The setting is a planet which has been attacked by the powers of a large corporation. Two teens—who have just broken up—are among those who have escaped and are fighting for their lives. Ezra is recruited as a fighter pilot and Kady becomes a hacker as the survivors struggle to expose the treachery of the attacking forces and win back their freedom.

I don't remember where I heard about Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Perhaps it was even at the library's website. At any rate, I saw that it was listed as a “coming soon” copy and I put my name on the Holds list. Now I have downloaded it into my Kindle and will be starting it soon—probably tomorrow.

Sunday Summary: 20 December 2015

This week I'm combining my Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelves. I've been ignoring my online presence—forums, blog, Facebook, even e-mail—for a couple of weeks as I focus on taking care of things at work. Now that I have a couple of weeks of vacation at the end of the year, I hope to be a bit more visible.

With Christmas coming up, I'm lucky to have two grandchildren nearby to share the holiday with. Yesterday, I flew to Las Vegas to pick up grand-daughter Victoria for a two-week visit with her Daddy. Since he had to work yesterday, I had the honor of escorting her to Texas. He'll take her back just in time for school to start up again.

Where I've been reading

A week ago I was returning from New York City. Everything was brightly decorated and I was fortunate that the weather was quite mild. In fact, I kept wishing I had left my coat at home and just taken a light-weight jacket to keep the wind at bay. I read on the plane both directions and then read in my hotel room each evening instead of turning on the television.

This week just past, I was blessed to be at home. I tried to make plenty of time for reading as I really would like to make my goal of 200 books for 2015. I knew it was a stretch goal when I set it, and I'm running out of time!

 

Review: Cards of Grief

Cards of Grief by Jane Yolen
Originally published 1984; republished 2012 by Open Road Media
Source: borrowed from the library

Jane Yolen's award-winning story about an alien civilization forever changed by the incursion of human social scientists and a mysterious ancient prophecy

The year is 2132 when members of the Anthropologist's Guild set down on the planet Henderson's IV, or L'Lal'lor as it is known to the native population. Charged with the nonintrusive study of alien cultures, the crew discovers a society containing no love or laughter. It is, instead, centered around death—a world of aristocratic and common folk in which grieving is an art and the cornerstone of life. But the alien civilization stands on the brink of astonishing change, heralded by the discovery of Linni, the Gray Wanderer, a young woman from the countryside whose arrival has been foretold for centuries. And for Anthropologist First Class Aaron Spenser, L'Lal'lor is a place of destructive temptations, seducing him with its mysterious, sad beauty, and leading him into an unthinkable criminal act.

Told from the shifting viewpoints of characters both alien and human, and through records of local lore and transcripts of court martial proceedings, Cards of Grief is a thoughtful, lyrical, and spellbinding tale of first contact. It is a true masterwork of world building from Jane Yolen, a premier crafter of speculative fiction and fantasy.

Stacking the Shelves (58)

After the long list of new books I posted this week, I don't have quite as many to talk about. I did receive a new review book courtesy of the Library Early Reviewers program. And I took a couple of more Mid-grade and Young Adult books from the library hoping that I could read them fairly fast and hit my goal of 200 books for 2015.

Month in Review: November 2015

I had hoped to catch up a bit during November, what with the holiday weekend and all. But I wound up reading only 15 books for the 3^rd month in a row. All of which means that I'm really going to have to push like crazy in December if I have any hopes of completed my goal of 200 books for the year.

I've made a bit more progress so far in December by selecting books that “read fast”. That's generally a factor of the vocabulary and writing style of the author as well as my reading mood. I feel like a teacher trying to locate “high interest” books for a reluctant reader.

I've blown out my secondary goal of 50,000 pages. At the end of November I had read 52,086 pages. I expect to finish up the year at roughly 56,000 pages, even if I don't quite make the entire 200 book objective.

Sunday Summary: 6 December 2015

As I wrote yesterday, I was offline for a couple of weeks. Life suddenly got very complicated and blogging was the thing that had to go. I'm back, but just barely. I need to write and post three reviews for ARCs that I've read, and I want to keep up the two weekly posts of new books received and what's been going on in my reading life. Maybe during the holidays I'll blog ahead a little bit.

Where I've been reading

This past week I was working in Montreal. Such a lovely city and even more so with the Holiday decorations everywhere you look. It was cold—especially to this Texan—so I didn't spend any time out of doors. And, because I'm so conscious of how far behind I am in reading toward my goal of 200 books in 2015, I never turned on the television. Instead, I read from suppertime until bedtime. Wish I could make myself do this while I'm at home, but the hubby is a TV fan and I give in to the attraction.

 

Stacking the Shelves (57)

Yeah, I was offline for a couple of weeks. Sorry about that—life simply got in the way. Between a challenging travel schedule for work, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and the failure of our heating system on the first really cold day of the season, I had a lot of other things on my mind. I also didn't read as many books in November as I had hoped, but that's the subject of a completely different post.

However, now that everything is under control (including a brand new heat pump and furnace) I think I'm pretty much back on track. On December 2, I gave myself the gift of Kindle Unlimited for 2016, starting with the 30-day free trial right now. I've already downloaded four high-interest books. I've also gone through several library books since the last time I shared a Stacking the Shelves post. The list of “new-to-me” books is pretty long. That's what I get for not posting for a couple of weeks.

Sci-Fi Online: Daily Science Fiction

As the name says, Daily Science Fiction publishes a new science fiction/fantasy story every weekday.

You can subscribe to the site and receive a new story via e-mail each day. Or, visit the website and read from the archives. And, if that isn't flexible enough, you can purchase the annual anthologies from the first two years.

The site describes their content this way:

“Science Fiction” means—to us—everything found in the science fiction section of a bookstore, or at a science fiction convention, or amongst the winners of the Hugo awards given by the World Science Fiction Society. This includes the genres of science fiction (or sci-fi), fantasy, slipstream, alternative history, and even stories with lighter speculative elements. We hope you enjoy the broad range that SF has to offer.

Sci-Fi Online: Galaxy's Edge Magazine

If you're looking for a source of short stories or articles for Sci-Fi Month, check out Galaxy's Edge Magazine. Published six times a year, the magazine is available in paper/printed and electronic editions.

The November 2015 issue contains short fiction by David Drake, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Cline and others. You can read an interview with Terry Brooks and columns by Barry Malzbert and Gregory Benford. And if that weren't enough, there are book reviews by Bill Fawcett and Jody Lynn Nye.

The current issue can be read online for free and past issues are also available for purchase.

Stacking the Shelves (56)

While there are a couple of new books at my place this week, all of them are from the library. I do like “shopping” at the library, especially for books that I want to read but that I'm not particularly interested in keeping. I do, however, need to speed up my reading or exercise a little bit more discipline so that I read these borrowed books before they are due to be returned. I'm lucky that one of the libraries I frequent has a 3-week check-out period. I rarely have to ask for an extension.

From the library:

I decided to fill in a couple of series by getting the short stories and novellas that are set between the novels, so I borrowed the eBooks from my local library. I'm planning on squeezing these in between the science fiction books I'm reading for Sci-Fi Month. The Shell Game is a short story that introduces con man Nick Fox and FBI agent Kate O'Hare. Time of Death contains three In Death novellas, one of which I read several years ago. Along with Possession in Death, that will leave me with five novels and three novellas to catch up with the series so far!

Sci-Fi Online: Unlikely Story

Unlikely Story is the home of Journal of Unlikely Entomology, Journal of Unlikely Cryptography, and assorted “Unlikely” journals. Publishing three issues a year, with archives online, Unlikely Story is a magazine consisting entirely of fiction—about bugs, about information technology, and more.

If you're looking for some short fiction, how about How to Recover a Relative Lost During Transmatter Shipping, In Five Easy Steps by Carrie Cuinn in The Journal of Unlikely Cartography. Or Coping With Common Garden Pests by Will Kaufmann in the November 2014 issue of Journal of Unlikely Entomology.

The latest issue is Unlikely Story #12: The Journal of Unlikely Academia. Eight short works explore the pursuit of knowledge through formal instruction, fieldwork, and even the library. I recommend The Librarian's Dilemma by E. Saxey.

Sunday Summary: 8 November 2015

Another slow week of reading. I only completed three books, so I'm sliding just a wee bit more behind when it comes to my goal of reading 200 books in 2015. So far, I've completed 165 books and with 7 weeks left in the year, I need to complete an average of five books each week to meet my target of 200. Whew! That's a lot of reading. Guess I need to stop watching TV and Netflix until I've caught up.

Where I've been reading

I was at home all week long. It was the second week in a row that I've been able to sleep in my own bed. However, I had to commute to the office in Dallas instead of working from the house. The good thing about commuting is that I get to “read” by listening to an audio book as I'm driving the hour and a quarter each way. I listened to an entire book in three and a half days and got started on another one.

 

Stacking the Shelves (55)

Sci-Fi Online: Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Beneath Ceaseless Skies publishes “literary adventure fantasy”: stories with a secondary-world setting and some traditional or classic fantasy feel, but written with a literary approach.

So, even though the editors say that Beneath Ceaseless Skies is a vehicle for fantasy stories, most of those that take place in a “secondary-world setting” meet my personal criteria for science fiction.

In addition to the current issue, past issues are available from the web site, and annual “best of” anthologies are sold through various online book stores.

Issue #184 just went online on October 15. It features a podcast of short story A Careful Fier by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, which is also available in traditional text format for those who want to read instead of listen. The second short story is Unearthly Landscape by a Lady by Rebecca Campbell, and from the Archives, We, As One, Trailing Embers by E. Catherine Tobler.

Sunday Summary: 1 November 2015

Work has been brutal for the past couple of weeks. I'm so tired in the evenings that I just cannot focus on a book. Therefore, I remain a couple of books off the pace to complete 200 by the end of the year. I'm really counting on the holidays to help me rise to the challenge.

 

Where I've been reading

I've been at home! It has been so nice to work in my home office all week long, sleep in my own bed, and not to be in hotel rooms. I get to stay at home another week, though I do have to commute to the office rather than working from my house.

 

What I've been reading: Completed this week

All of the books that I read this week were from the library. Two were electronic books and two were hardbacks. And three of these books are part of my Finishing the Series challenge for 2015. I now have two more books to read in the Elm Creek Quilts series and three more in the Brother Cadfael series. And there's two months in which to read them. I think I'm solid on this challenge.

Sci-Fi Month 2015

The entire month of November has been designated as Sci-Fi Month by Rinn at Rinn Reads and Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow. This is a month-long blog event to celebrate everything science fiction, and I'm going to take part.

My love affair with SF

When I was in elementary school, I fell in love with science fiction, and I have kept it up for most of my life. I obsessively read every book I could get from my favorite authors, anxiously waiting for new releases of books that are now considered classics. Back then it was Robert Heinlein, James Blish, Andre Norton, Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Arthur C. Clarke,and so many more. Recently, I've been reading a lot of military science fiction, including David Weber's Honor Harrington series and Mike Shepherd's Kris Longknife novels.

Sci-Fi Month at Reading in Texas

It remains to be seen how much time I can dedicated to blogging this month. As part of October's Blog Ahead Challenge, I did get some posts written and scheduled for November.

Every Tuesday, my post will cover an online science fiction magazine. For those who just cannot get enough SF, these online magazines provide an extra dose or two. I was able to write a couple of reviews that I'll scatter throughout the month, and I plan to produce a list of interesting SF books I find on the shelves at my local public library. I'll also be reading at least one SF book per week and posting a review. Two of these are recent releases: Kris Longknife: Unrelenting by Mike Shepherd and This Gulf of Time and Stars by Julie Czerneda. The others may be classics borrowed from the library—I haven't exactly made up my mind, yet.

Stacking the Shelves (54)

Oh my gosh! I went crazy at the library yet again. Well, I have to blame the librarians a little bit, too. I used the “Recommend a Book” option in the Overdrive application and they approved the recommendations right away. So suddenly, I had two eBooks that I had thought would arrive much later. That wouldn't be so bad, except that I had put a reserve on Sonoma Rose by Jennifer Chiaverini and it became available on Thursday. When I stopped by the library to pick it up, I saw the latest book by Alexander McCall Smith and walked out of the library with it.

Given that I've not read any of these (well, not yet), I'm not going to try to include a blurb of any kind. Rather, just click on the cover image or the title to be taken to Amazon to find a synopsis and reader reviews.

Sunday Summary: 25 October 2015

Arghhh! I need to spend more time reading, or I need to pick shorter books, or both. I'm still behind schedule to meet my goal of 200 books by the end of the year. With nine more weeks left in the year and 42 books to read, I'm going to need to average close to 5 books per week to meet my goal.

Yes, I picked a goal that I knew was going to make me push, but I also expected to be reading a lot more middle-grade books than I have so far. Guess I need to take a look at my TBR stack and line up some of those YA and MG books, moving them to the top of the list.

However, when it comes to the Blog Ahead Challenge, I've finally made some progress.

Where I've been reading

After a delightful weekend at home in Texas, I traveled to St. Louis on Monday morning. Spent an uneventful week there—longish days, but no crises. The trip home on Thursday night made up for it, though. Due to stormy weather in Dallas, my flight was diverted to Shreveport where we sat on the ground for almost three hours before we could take off to complete our trip to Dallas. It wouldn't have been so bad except that there was no airflow within the plane. I usually get quite chilled during a flight, but that wasn't the case at all this time! Everyone was hot and cranky by the time we landed in Dallas at 1:15, four hours later than scheduled.

Stacking the Shelves (53)

There was no Stacking the Shelves post last week because I didn't receive any new books. But I made up for it this week. I hit the online library catalog and grabbed a couple of high-interest books.

From the library:

The Heretic's Apprentice and The Potter's Field are the 16^th and 17^th books in Ellis Peters' medieval mystery series starring Brother Cadfael. I have challenged myself to finish all the books in this series by the end of the year. With 20 books in the series, I need to read at least two books this month and next.

Sunday Summary: 18 October 2015

It was an interesting week for reading. I started out at my sister's house in Orlando and eventually found my way home on Friday evening, just in time to join with over 2000 other readers in Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. Reading all of Saturday (well starting at 7am!) helped to bring my weekly average up just a little bit. I read a total of 472 pages in the 24 hours of the read-a-thon, reading one book from beginning to end and finishing half of another. AND, I have now read 155 books toward my goal of 200. That's one more book than I read in 2014.

Where I've been reading

Spent another week away from home. Mid-day on Sunday, I left my sister's house and drove to Jacksonville, Florida. I had meetings with customers on Monday and Wednesday, working from my hotel room on Tuesday. On Thursday, I flew to Birmingham (Alabama, not England) by way of Charlotte, North Carolina, and met with a customer on Friday before flying home to Texas.

 

Dewey's: Wrapping it All Up

And, now as the sun rises here in Texas, another Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon has come to an end. I took more breaks this time than in years past, and I didn't even try to stay awake throughout the night. Instead, I took myself to bed and set an alarm so I'd be up and reading during the final hour.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog and left some words of encouragement. It really means a lot to see those comments and know that someone actually read what I wrote. See all you Dewey folks next April.

 

Dewey's: After the Nap

Just a quick update. Shortly after midnight, I gave up and took myself to bed. As usual, I read myself to sleep—probably only a page or two—and now I'm up at at 'em for the final hour. It's been fun. It's been intense, even though I no longer have the stamina to read for the full 24 hours. I'll be back in an hour.

Hour 23 Update

Reading Location: My house in Texas

Currently Reading: The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley

Total Pages read so far: 433 pages

Dewey's Read-a-Thon: Entering the Home Stretch

Yes, there are only 8 hours left in the October 2015 Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. Here in Texas, it's 23:00 (11 pm for those who don't do military time). Having just finished reading Calculated in Death, I took an hour off of reading from 9 to 10, spending it visiting other Read-a-Thon-ers and leaving comments as well as scanning Tweets. For the last hour, I've been back into reading with The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley.

Hour 16 Update

Reading Location: My house in Texas

Currently Reading: The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley

Total Pages read so far: 417 pages

Other Readers I have visited:
1. Shaunesay at The Space Between
2. Judith at Leeswammes' Blog
3. Michelle at Because Reading
4. Rachael at Rachael Turns Pages
5. Olduvai at Olduvai Reads

Mini-challenges completed: Introductory Questionnaire and Mid-event Survey

Finished Books: 1 : Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb

Comments: I'm thinking I might fire up an audiobook for a little while and play some Sudoku while I listen. Or, I'll return to The Door in the Hedge. I haven't decided.

Dewey: The Half-Way Mark

Twelve hours have passed since Dewey's Read-a-Thon began. I've been reading steadily—not constantly. Since my last update, I've nearly completed reading Calculated in Death, visited with my daughter, and eaten dinner. Daughter suggested we have supper together tonight and I happily agreed, but when it came time to decide which restaurant, she said she'd really like to stay in. But it's DEWEY'S. I'm not cooking. So, we threw rice into the cooker and hubby went through the drive-in window at Wendy's, bringing home chili for everyone. Chili on rice is a favorite meal, and getting it at Wendy's means no one had to cook. Score!

I didn't finish reading Calculated in Death before supper, but I'm getting really close to the end now. Also, since I took time away from reading to visit with my daughter, I haven't had time to check out other readers on Twitter or their blogs. I'll plan to do that as soon as I finish this book and before I start the next one.

Mid-event Survey

1) What are you reading right now?

Still reading Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb. I'm getting really close to the end, though.

2) How many books have you read so far?

Just the one. I'll be starting a second book in a short while

3) What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

I've decided to read The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley. It's one of the books for the Overdrive Big Library Read. I missed the online chat on the 13th, but it's still fun to participate in a group read-along.

4) Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

I've been my own distraction, starting out this morning frequently falling asleep in my chair. I've taken time out for a visit with my daughter as well. I've not been reading continuously, because I like the social side of Dewey's and visit blogs as well as reading Twitter posts.

5) What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

No surprises. I'm a veteran of several Dewey read-a-thons, and I pretty much know what to expect.

Hour 12 Update

Reading Location: My house in Texas

Currently Reading: Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb

Total Pages read so far: 300 pages

Total Time spent reading so far: Totally don't know.

Other Readers I have visited:
1. Shaunesay at The Space Between
2. Judith at Leeswammes' Blog
3. Michelle at Because Reading

Mini-challenges completed: Just the Introductory Questionnaire

Finished Books: 0

Comments: Feeling really good. Nearly finished with Calculated in Death and thinking about what to read next. Not going to take time to visit other Read-a-thon-ers right now, because I'm so close to the end of my book. (Every avid reader understands the NEED to finish a book, right?)

Another Dewey Update

The first third of Dewey's read-a-thon is now over. So much more fun yet to come. I'm making progress in Calculated in Death—now well past the mid-point.

Hubby took us out for lunch at a nearby pizza place. As with breakfast, I took the Kindle, reading on the way to the restaurant and while we were eating. Got a slice of “S’mores pizza” for dessert.

Stopped by the pharmacy on the way home to get the annual flu shot. I didn't stop reading. Here's the proof. The pharmacist was probably amused that I asked for a photo, but she was a good sport.

We had one more place to stop on the way home from lunch—dropping off a package at the UPS store. Then, with all of our errands out of the way, we returned home where I checked in on Twitter and Facebook as well as checking out a few more blog posts. Got to get back to reading, though. My book is really interesting now.

Hour 8 Update

Reading Location: My house in Texas; Double Dave's Pizza; Walgreen Drugs; UPS Store

Currently Reading: Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb

Total Pages read so far: 204 pages

Total Time spent reading so far: I've lost track

Other Readers I have visited:
1. Shaunesay at The Space Between
2. Judith at Leeswammes' Blog
3. Michelle at Because Reading

Mini-challenges completed: Just the Introductory Questionnaire

Finished Books: 0

Comments: I'm feeling all energetic after a good lunch of pizza and Diet Coke. I have a mid-afternoon snack of grapefruit sections all ready for me to dig in. Hope to finish reading Calculated in Death by supper time, so I need to get back to reading.

Dewey so far

And now that Dewey's read-a-thon has run for 5 hours, it's time for another update. I find that I'm not reading very fast, and I think the reason is that I'm too comfortable. I keep drifting off and then snapping back to the page. Looking at the clock, I'm not gone for more than a minute, but it definitely is eating into the reading progress. I'm going to relocate for a while. First, since it's noon here in Texas, hubby is taking me out to lunch and I'm going to get my annual flu shot while we're out. And when I return, I'm going to sit at my desk instead of curling up in the recliner. That should help a little bit.

Hour 5 Update

Reading Location: My house in Texas

Currently Reading: Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb

Total Pages read so far: 115 pages

Total Time spent reading so far: 155 minutes (estimated)

Other Readers I have visited: 1, Shaunesay at The Space Between

Mini-challenges completed: Just the Introductory Questionnaire

Finished Books: 0

Comments: OK -- this dozing off is cutting into my reading progress. Time to move around, stir up the blood, and get wide awake.

Dewey Begins

OK, so at the beginning of the 3rd hour, I'm taking a break from reading to post and go visit the blogs of other readers.

I barely got out of bed in time to begin reading at the 7am start time of Dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon, and I caught myself dozing from time to time. By 7:45, hubby was up and talking about breakfast, so we got in the car and drove to a nearby diner for a substantial meal of breakfast burritos with tomatoes and avocado on the side. I read all the way to and from the diner and even read through most of the meal.

As the 24 hour read-a-thon begins, participants are asked to answer the introductory questionnaire.

Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

I'm at home in Texas. I'll ride along with my hubby as he runs errands, and we're eating out all day, but otherwise I'm planning on kicking back in the recliner and reading my heart out.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I don't know that I have one I favor over the others. I'm conscious that I have library books which will need to be returned in just over a week, so I'm concentrating on them first.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

I don't stock up on snacks for the read-a-thon. I will keep myself will hydrated with lots of water and the occasional caffeine-free Diet Coke.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I am an avid reader of various fiction genres. Since I've become a grandmother I've noticed that I have less stamina to stay awake for the entire 24 hours of the event, but that's OK, too. I'll still spend my day focusing mostly on reading and avoiding other distractions.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I plan to take regular breaks to visit other read-a-thoners and post updates. And over-all, I plan to have fun!

Hour 2 Update

Reading Location: My house in Texas & Old West Cafe

Currently Reading: Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb

Total Pages read so far: 66 pages

Total Time spent reading so far: 80 minutes

Other Readers I have visited: None so far

Mini-challenges completed: Just the Introductory Questionnaire (see above)

Finished Books: 0

Comments: I'm getting a good start to the read-a-thon. Feeling very energetic now that I've had breakfast.

It's Dewey time again

I almost let the Fall 2015 edition of Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon slip by. It starts bright and early on Saturday morning and as the title says, runs for 24 hours. While I like to participate in read-a-thons, Dewey's is the most intense of all them all. It challenges readers (over 1000 this time around) to read as much as they can in the 24 hours of the event. This read-a-thon is held twice a year and runs from noon UCT on a Saturday to noon UCT the next day. Everyone starts and ends at the same time, so since I live in Texas, my start time is 7am CDT.

I have a couple of library books checked out that I need to read and return, so I'll be focusing on those off the bat. I'll be starting off with Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb as well as The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. Yes, I'll be reading two books, bouncing back and forth between them. And as soon as I finish one or the other, I'll be plunging into The Banished of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler or perhaps The Heretic's Apprentice by Ellis Peters. Now, I reserve the right to change my mind—particularly when I'm sleepy and get a bit grouchy. But for now, I have a bit of a plan.

Sunday Summary: 11 October 2015

I keep having to pinch myself to remember that it's really October. The year is flying to a close so quickly! This week I again completed three books, but that's one short of the number I need to read each week if I'm going to get to 200 by the end of the year. I should find a little more time to read next week since I have several flights and I'll be taking my suppers alone.

Where I've been reading

Ah yes! I've been in Florida. From Monday through Friday, I attended a conference in Orlando and then drove up to my sister's house just north of Orlando to spend the weekend. I enjoyed the conference very much. Many of the technical sessions were educational and I picked up some new information about the software that I use. I also enjoyed getting to spend time with various colleagues throughout the week.

 

What I've been reading: Completed this week

The Union Quilters
by Jennifer Chiaverini
Format: Hardback
Source: borrowed from the library
Completed: 4 October

★★★★☆

The Union Quilters is the 17th (of 20) books in the Elm Creek Quilts series. Set in the time of the U. S. Civil War, the women of Elm Creek Valley in Pennsylvania are left behind when their husbands, sons, and brothers are mustered into the Union Army. The Bergstrom women—Anneke and her sister-in-law, Gerta—join with their neighbors to make quilts and raise funds to support the troops from their community. Weaving the account of the company's battles in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia with the stories of the community they left behind, Jennifer Chiaverini has delivered a compelling account of a war that changed the very fabric of American life.