October Blog Ahead Challenge

It's almost October and I'm signing up for the Blog Ahead Challenge. The purpose of Blog Ahead is just like it sounds: During the month of October, increase the number of scheduled blog posts ready to publish. The suggested number of posts to schedule is 31, but since I've been having trouble getting more than one or two posts written each week, I can't possibly write 31 extra posts. So my goal is going to be more modest. I plan to end October with 10 scheduled posts: one or two per week starting in November.

I'll update this post with my status throughout October and also report how I'm doing in the weekly Sunday Summary posts.

My Progress

 

COYER Summer 2015, Goals

The Summer COYER (Clear Out Your E-Readers) challenge began on Saturday. There are actually two simultaneous challenges. The first is just to read as many of the books currently in your possession—free or nearly free books. The second is a scavenger hunt. COYER participants can choose one or both of the challenges, so I've been thinking about goals.

I intend to complete at least one freebie every week. (Did I mention that the challenge includes writing a review?) If a book meets the criterion for one of the scavenger hunt categories, then I'll record that as well. And, there are five read-a-thons scheduled for COYER, and I plan to participate in at least three of them—all of them if I can manage it.

I still have some library books on hand that I need to read before their return date; I have a couple of significant year-long challenges that I can't ignore all summer long. So, while I'm going to be participating in COYER throughout the summer, I am not going to be reading exclusively for it.

To summarize:

• Read one freebie each week
• Record qualifying books in scavenger hunt
• Participate in at least three COYER read-a-thons
• Join the discussion in the COYER Facebook group

Monday Motivation

I started reading Mark Schweizer's The Christmas Cantata on Saturday afternoon. I received the Kindle edition as a gift (that counts as free, right?). Next up is The Lost Concerto by Helaine Mario. The eBook came from NetGalley; publication date is July 1, so I need to read it fairly soon. And I'm starting to listen to Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. This was a freebie in the 2015 SYNC audiobook give-aways. Those should give me plenty to read along with the library books I've borrowed—which don't count as part of the COYER challenge

If COYER sounds interesting to you, hop on over and sign up so you don't miss out on any of the fun. It's all hosted by Because Reading, Fantasy is More Fun and Books, Movies, Reviews Oh My!

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which the BookObsessed online community will receive a few cents if you make purchases.

COYER, Summer 2015

Hi all. The Summer COYER (Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge) starts this weekend. As the name implies, it's a reading event with a focus on those free or nearly free books which we all tend to accumulate. But, it appears that instead of the typical challenge lasting just a couple of weeks, this will be a summer-long event, and there are activities galore. Give-aways, read-a-thons, twitter parties, and keeping up with each other in a Facebook group are all part of the planned activities. And...AND...there's a Scavenger Hunt. Yeah! Fun, fun, fun.

Oh yes, I'm participating! Did I forget to say that? Now, not EVERY book I read from 20 June through 4 September will be reviewed for COYER, but I will be making sure to put extra focus on those eBook freebies and eGalleys now cluttering up my Kindle. And, I'm going to be chatting it up with other participants in COYER. For now, that's all the goals I have. I'll think about it a bit more between now and Saturday when it all kicks off.

Are you joining COYER this summer? If it sounds interesting to you, hop on over and sign up so you don't miss out on any of the fun. It's all hosted by Because Reading, Fantasy is More Fun and Books, Movies, Reviews Oh My!

Sunday Summary: 8 March 2015

After spending two weeks attending conferences—first in Las Vegas and then in Seattle—I am finally back home. I don't plan to stay here, though. I have a week's vacation from work and plan to do a little bit of sightseeing right here in Texas.

Where I've been reading

This past week was spent in Seattle, attending the Spring conference of SHARE, a technical organization made up of users of IBM's largest enterprise servers. Friday evening, I flew home to Texas and Saturday was a day of total goofing off. I alternated reading and catching up on missed TV shows.

What I've been reading: Completed this week

Format: eBook
Source: borrowed from Denton Public Library via Overdrive
Completed: 3 March

★★★★☆

Graduation Day is the third and final book of The Testing Trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau. Set in a dystopian future where a series of wars have devastated the world, leaders of the new United Commonwealth have instituted a cruel competition as a means of identifying leadership potential in young students. Survivors of The Testing have their memories wiped and gain admission to The University. But Cia's memories returned. She and her friends are determined that they will be the last to go through The Testing.

First book completed in March's Take Control of Your TBR Pile challenge.

Format: eBook
Source: purchased in August 2008
Completed: 7 March

★★★★☆ One of the first eBooks I bought was The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. It's the second book set in the universe first introduced in The Old Man's War. I have no explanation for why it has sat unread for over 6 years, but I rectified that this week. As I had expected 'way back when I bought the book, I simply loved the story. Scalzi's use of consciousness transfer has set up an intriguing look at the military and space exploration.

Jared Direc, like all members of the Special Forces, is born in an adult body, but with no real consciousness. An implanted "BrainPal" provides context for all experiences, helping the newly created brain lay down memories and experiences. Jared, however, is unlike other Special Forces in that prior to his awakening (birth?), scientists had attempted to insert the recorded consciousness of a rogue scientist. The attempt failed, so Jared is sent off to training with the other newly born soldiers. Almost a year later, the latent memories start appearing and Jared is faced the challenge of whether he can remain himself or whether he will disappear underneath the personality of the imprinted consciousness.

I will be recording this book as part of both the Take Control of Your TBR Challenge and the 42 Science Fiction Challenge.

What I've been reading: In progress

All week long, I was able to listen to at least a half hour of Peter and the Secret of Rundoon in the car as I commuted from my hotel to the location of the SHARE conference. It's the third book in the Peter series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and the story is getting better and better. There are about 2 and 3/4 hours of listening left, and then I'll probably start right in with the fourth and final book of the series.

On my Kindle, I'm reading The Diva Wore Diamonds, the seventh in Mark Schweizer's Liturgical Mysteries. Hayden Konig, police chief and organist, is actually an aspiring mystery writer. His idol is Raymond Chandler and he purchases Chandler memorabilia as inspiration. In fact, he types out his very bad stories on an Underwood typewriter that once belonged to the famous author. In his everyday life, Konig has to solve zany mysteries as well as conduct choir rehearsals.

This Week on the Blog

I was able to give the blog some more attention this past week. I had a couple of items written in advance and scheduled to be posted.

1. Review: How to Fly with Broken Wings
2. Take Control Challenge; starting position
3. TBR Read-a-Thon
4. February Wrap-up

Coming Up

Today, hubby and I head out on a mini-vacation. We are planning on driving over to the Big Bend area of Texas. One place we particularly want to visit is the McDonald Observatory. And I'm curious to experience the Marfa Lights, seemingly sourceless lights dancing on the horizon southeast of town.

During the month of March, I will be participating in the Take Control of your TBR Pile Challenge, hosted by Kimba at The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Joining with about 100 other readers, I'll be working to clear out the backlog of TBR books on my Kindle and bookshelves. It's proving hard to stay away from the library and the NetGalley web site, but I really do want to spend time reading from the books already on hand.

 

And, as usual, I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on the blog, showcase books and things received. Share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead.

Take Control Challenge; starting position

It's March and that means its time for the Take Control of Your TBR Pile challenge. This event is a month long challenge sponsored by Kimberly at Caffenated Book Reviewer. The rules are simple. For the month of March I'm going to ditch the ARCs and library books and focus on reading books in my TBR pile.

Kimberly has organized a group of readers and book bloggers who are all accepting the challenge in March. She's keeping everyone engaged with a Twitter Party, a Read-a-Thon, and a big Give-Away. There's still time to sign up if you'd like to join us.

My Goals

A week or so ago, I made a list of the electronic books that I want to read during the challenge. Many of the unread books were purchased a long time ago, others were gifts from family and friends. (I'm not going to feel obligated to read any of the freebies which I have picked up in the seven years since I bought my first Kindle.) The oldest purchased eBook that I have not read is The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. I purchased it in August of 2008 and I have no explanation for why I have never gotten around to reading it. I plan to correct that this month. Other books I want to read are The Diva Wore Diamonds by Mark Schweizer, The Devil's Grin by Annellie Wendeberg, Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, and Kris Longknife: Intrepid by Mike Shepherd. When I get back home from this trip, I plan to pick out three to five paper books from the TBRs cluttering up my house. I'll post about those in a week or so.

Right now I'm reading Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau. It's one I targeted for the Take Control challenge, but I started it late in the afternoon of February 28. I don't know if it's going to count for the challenge or not. It really doesn't matter since I'm accomplishing my goal of clearing this book off the TBR stack.

Take Control of Your TBR Pile Challenge

Take Control of Your TBR Pile is a month long challenge sponsored by Kimberly at Caffenated Book Reviewer. The rules are simple. For the month of March you ditch the ARCs and read books in your TBR pile. I can do that. I often joke that I could be confined to my house for 5 years and still not run out of books to read. So there's absolutely no problem dedicating one month this year to reading the books that are already on hand.

Kimberly has organized a group of readers and book bloggers who are all accepting the challenge in March. She's keeping everyone engaged with a Twitter Party, a Read-a-Thon, and a big Give-Away. Sign-ups are now open and it looks like I'll be the 50th participant to add my name to the Link-up. There's plenty of time for you to join in, too.

My Goals

One thing that appeals to me is clearing out some of the electronic books I purchased a long time ago. The oldest purchased eBook that I have not read is The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. I purchased it in August of 2008 and I have no explanation for why I have never gotten around to reading it. I'm definitely going to queue this one up as part of the TBR Challenge. Any other goals are going to have to wait until I clear my plate.

Ah heck! What's another challenge or two?

Let's face it, I'm a reading challenge junky. I just stumbled over two challenges which should be an easy, done deal to complete in 2015. Both of these are challenges to borrow books from the library. I can do that. In fact, 77 of the 154 books that I read in 2014 were borrowed from the library. That's exactly ½ of the books that I read came from the library.

This was the highest number of library books of any year, and I attribute this to two factors. First, I put myself on a book-buying moratorium. Since I wasn't allowing myself to buy any new books, if I wanted to read a book that I didn't already own, I had to get it through the library. And the second factor is that my libraries are no offering electronic book check-out. With my travel schedule and my past history of losing library books, I don't allow myself to take a library book out of town. But eBooks simply expire from my Kindle or BeBook reader. If I lose the reader itself, it's tragic, but the library still gets their book back.

So I'm going to join two library challenges, setting the same goal for both.

Snagged @ the Library is a yearlong reading challenge where the goal is to read at least twelve (12) books from the library. While twelve is the minimum, there is no maximum limit. Several levels are available and each challenge participant picks the level which best matches his or her reading plans. I'm going to sign up at Level 4, “Stalking the Bookstacks: borrow 50+ books”.

I'm linking up with 50 other participants at The Geeky Blogger. If you're a fan of the library, you can join us.

A similar challenge is I Love Library Books sponsored by Gina at Book Dragon's Lair. This challenge has a minimum of 3 books and no maximum. Since I will apply books to both challenges simultaneously, that means I've elected the “Just Insert IV” level of 50+ books.

There are over 40 participants in this challenge. I haven't checked to see how many of them are overlapping with the Snagged @ the Library challenge, but I'm sure that there must be some like me who saw an opportunity to double-dip. I'll encourage you to sign up and chat with the rest of us about the gems you find at the library.

I'm tracking the progress of all challenges on a single page. You can always find the status following the link in the right-hand sidebar.

2014 Challenges: An Update

As of 2:30pm EST on 10 December, I had achieved my goal of reading 150 books in 2014. As I mentioned last December when I announced my goals for 2014, I took on only two challenges for this year. With this accomplishment, I've closed out one challenge. And, with 2/3 of the month remaining, I expect to complete at least 6 more books before the end of the year.

With the series challenge, I need to read one more book to complete the target series I selected for 2014: Kitty Norville by Carrie Vaughn, Aunt Dimity by Nancy Atherton, and Honor Harrington by David Weber. At the beginning of 2014, I had 17 books to read in these series. I also completed 29 other series which were not specifically targeted at the beginning of the year. So, in 2015, I've selected three more series to focus on.

Speaking of 2015, I've decided to sign up for a few more series than in 2014. I will be keeping track of my progress in these challenges on this page.

2015 Reading Challenges - Part 3, Finishing the Series and Eclectic Reader Challenges

A challenge that I love to take on each year is to finish series. The goal is to complete a series from wherever you are up to until the last published book. In 2014, I picked three series to focus on, with a combined total of 18 books. I completed two of the series and have one book left to finish the third one—with plenty of time in December to take care of it. And, I also completed 28 other series, many of which needed only a single book to close out. So, in 2015, I think I'll do the same thing—select 3 or 4 series to focus on and then enjoy myself reading as many series books as I wish.

This challenge originates from the BookObsessed online community as well as from Socrates' Book Reviews. If you want to join in, set your goals and then sign up. I'm challenging myself at Level 3: complete 3 series.

My series are:

Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini

8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilters' Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
17. The Union Quilters
18. The Wedding Quilt
19. Sonoma Rose
20. The Giving Quilt

Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters

5. The Leper of Saint Giles
6. The Virgin in the Ice
7. The Sanctuary Sparrow
8. The Devil's Novice
9. Dead Man's Ransom
10. The Pilgrim of Hate
11. An Excellent Mystery
12. The Raven in the Foregate
13. The Rose Rent
14. The Hermit of Eyton Forest
15. The Confession of Brother Haluin
16. The Heretic's Apprentice
17. The Potter's Field
18. The Summer of the Danes
19. The Holy Thief
20. Brother Cadfael's Penance

Kris Longknife by Mike Shepherd

6. Kris Longknife: Intrepid
7. Kris Longknife: Undaunted
8. Kris Longknife: Redoubtable
9. Kris Longknife: Daring
10. Kris Longknife: Furious
11. Kris Longknife: Defender

An intriguing challenge that I'm going to take on in 2015 is the Eclectic Reader Challenge hosted at Book'd Out. Shellyrae has given participants 12 categories. We then select, read and review one book from each category, choosing our books as we go or creating a list in advance. Books can be read in any order, the only goal being to finish all twelve by the end of 2015. The categories are:

1. Retellings (of fairytale, legends or myth)
2. A book set in a country starting with the letter S (eg. Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Slovakia)
3. PI Crime (fiction featuring a private investigator)
4. A novel published before you were born
5. Contemporary romance
6. Fiction for foodies (fiction featuring food/food related business)
7. Microhistory (Non Fiction)
8. Science Fiction set in space
9. Sports (Fiction or Non fiction)
10. Featuring diversity
11. Epistolary Fiction (fiction written in the format of letters/emails/diary entries)
12. Middle Grade/YA Adventure

I'm going to have to think about some of these and I may not have the book for any category selected in advance. I do know that for the microhistory category, I'm planning on listening to Longitude by David Sobel. Other than that, I don't know that I'll do much advance planning. This also reminds me that I need to create a page to keep track of the various challenges.

2015 Reading Challenges - Part 2, 42 SF Challenge

Since I'm organizing this challenge for 2015, it would only be appropriate for me to join in! And, the reason why I revived the challenge is because I wanted to participate in it.

The 42 Science Fiction Challenge is about all things science fiction. Books, surely. But also films, TV shows, audio/podcasts, short stories, essays, interviews, even games. If it's science fiction, it's suitable for this challenge. And, it's about reviews. Those who accept the challenge will not only enjoy the SF item, but will share that enjoyment with everyone in the form of a review. And, those who complete the challenge will be eligible to win a prize.

If you enjoy science fiction in any or all of its forms, please join us. Visit the sign-up post and link up. You can leave a comment, too.

2015 Reading Challenges - Part 1

It's that time of year when I'm winding up my challenges for the current year and looking at challenges I might want to participate in during the next.

Every year, I set a goal for the number of books I want to complete as well as the number of pages I want to read. For the past three years, I've been keeping track at Goodreads Reading Challenge. And, for the past three years, I've set my annual goal at 150 books. For 2015, I'm going to increase this number to 200, predicated on the fact that I'm going to read a lot of tween and teen fiction next year. In fact, a subgoal is that half of the books I read will fall into the tween/mid-grade and teen/YA categories. I think that a goal of 200 books can be accomplished, though it will be a bit of a stretch. I'm going to couple the challenge at Goodreads with You Read How Many? challenge sponsored by Gina @ Book Dragon's Lair

A corollary to the number of books is a goal for the number of pages to be read. I chose 50,000 pages to go along with the 150 books. That keeps me from blowing out the book goal with short works. And, even though I'm increasing my book goal for 2015, I'm going to stick with the 50,000 page subgoal since those tween/teen books tend to be shorter.

Now that I've set my primary goal, it's time to look at other challenges. And for that, I've been taking a look at the plethora of 2015 challenges which have popped up. I'm using the announcements at A Novel Challenge blog to find a couple of challenges that I think will be fun to participate in. I do know that I will set some kind of goal to complete a couple of series during the year.

More info to come.

Progress toward goals

For the past couple of years, I've set a reading goal at Goodreads. I set this goal at 150 books or 50,000 pages since that tends to make me have to push just a little bit to meet the goal. I don't want the goal to be too easy to meet, nor do I want to put a lot of stress on myself to reach it. 150 seems to be just right. And, because I don't want to find myself achieving the goal by reading a whole bunch of short and trivial books, I set a second goal of 50,000 pages.

At the half-way point of the year, I'm making very good progress. I've read 86 books with a total of 26,690 pages. That's 57% of the way to my goal of 150 books and 53% of the way toward a goal of 50,000 pages. I like being ahead of “schedule&rdqou; as it leaves me some slack later in the year. If I get to a time when it's difficult to find time to read, I'll have less pressure to meet my ultimate annual goals.

Reading Challenges

In years past, I've signed up for several challenges. I find that they are fun to keep me motivated, but when I join too many, I lose focus. So in 2013, I only took on two challenges. The first was the annual Reading Challenge at Goodreads (mirrored over at BookObsessed) and the other was a Series challenge at BookObsessed. I'm going to be pushed to meet my goal of 150 books for the year, but I think I can still accomplish it. The series challenge is not going as well.

At the beginning of the year, I listed 9 series that I wanted to complete (or at least read through all the then-currently published books). I've only finished two of those series. I have, however, finished 13 other series, most of which were started before 2013. I'm also making progress in another 16 series. Of course, with new volumes in some of these series coming out in the first quarter of 2014, I'm only temporarily caught up.

I'm now busy looking at challenges for 2014. Since many of these allow for overlap, I can sign up for the Goodreads 2014 challenge as well as You Read How Many Books? with exactly the same goal—which I think will be 150 again. I'm also looking at a TBR challenge which encourages me to read books which have been sitting on my shelf or locked in my Kindle for at least a year and a Library challenge to motivate me to read more books from the library instead of purchasing them. The library challenge might not be too difficult as this year I've use the library to help me complete a number of series.

Passing Books: A Bout of Books Challenge

Welcome to Bout of Books 5.0! It's the first day, so pace yourself. Shaunesay and I have a challenge for you to get things started. Here are the details:

Congratulations to these winners:

Kimberly posted her response on her blog, On the Wings of Books, saying "After I’ve finished reading (and reviewing) a book it gets put on my finished reading shelf. It’s a nice feeling to be able to put it on that shelf. Occasionally I will loan books (but usually just to certain, trusted, people). And I rarely give books away. I know that’s very selfish of me, but that’s just the way I am. I gave away a ton of books several years ago and I regret doing it, so I don’t usually feel inclined to give them away now."

Melanie says "Most I keep, but some I give away (either to someone I know or via my blog)."

Kat C said, "After I read a book I will either keep it, give it to another blogger or trade it in at the used bookstore."

Tracy is a member of BookCrossing. Her BookCrossing member name is mattnem05.

To enter this challenge, tell us what happens to your books after you have read them. Shaunesay and I both belong to BookCrossing.com, an on-line community where books are given a unique identity so, as the book is passed from reader to reader, it can be tracked, thus connecting its readers. So, we're going to give you an extra chance to win if you're a member of BookCrossing. (And you can join today if you're not already a member.)

Here are the details:

• This challenge will be open for 24 hours, from 12:01 am CDT on Monday the 13th to 12:01 am CDT on Tuesday the 14th
• You must be participating in Bout of Books to win. You must have posted your goals and linked them through the linky on this page.
• Four participants will each win one book up to $15 from The Book Depository.
  
• This is open to entrants in any country that The Book Depository ships to.
• Winner will be selected using Rafflecopter and we’ll announce and contact the winner on Tuesday evening.
• To enter, all you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter widget below. You may answer the question in the widget or post your answer on your blog and supply a link to your answer in the widget. You get an extra entry if you're a member of BookCrossing.
• You can submit your entry on either of our blogs. Rafflecopter ensures that duplicates are not received.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Communities: BookObsessed and GoodReads

2012 Reading Challenge

Elsi has read 63 books toward her goal of 150 books.

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63 of 150 (42%)

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The one hobby (passion) that I have been able to sustain for many years is reading and participating in an online community of readers. I joined BookCrossing almost 10 years ago on 29 May 2002. While I found it fun to register books and make “wild releases” by leaving books in public locations, I wasn't getting many “catches”—the books I had released weren't getting journaled, and I was afraid that they were winding up in the trash.

Then I discovered an online community called BookRelay and proceeded to join in a couple of swaps. But life got busy and I stopped swapping for a while and when I next visited the site, it had been shut down. Fortunately, I was able to find a forum post at BookCrossing mentioning that the BookRelay folks had moved to a new site called BookObsessed. I joined in mid-September 2007 and participated in my first swap in October. I still have the books I won in that swap!

At the beginning of this year, the folks at BookObsessed started talking about running their own reading challenge and eventually settled on a "2012 How Many" Challenge. Several of the BookObsessors mentioned that they were also participating the 2012 Reading Challenge at GoodReads. Now, I've been a member at GoodReads nearly as long as I've been at BookObsessed. I joined in January of 2008, but all that I've done there—for the most part—is post the books that I've finished reading to my Bookshelves. When I checked out the challenge at GoodReads, I discovered the widget which can be placed in blog templates. This widget is supposed to allow you to show the ongoing progress in the challenge and I thought that would be a good addition to my blog sidebar. So, as I previously posted, I signed up for the 2012 Reading Challenge at GoodReads. After all, I didn't have to do anything extra to keep a public record of the how I was making progress in the challenge: just adding the books to my “Read” bookshelf with a completion date in 2012—which I was already doing.

And now that the Bout of Books read-a-thon is going on, some of the participants are posting status at GoodReads, so I'm spending even more time on the site. It's becoming another place where I'm connecting with the community of readers.

2012 Challenges

In 2011, I signed up for lots of challenges, but didn't really keep up with them. Although I successfully finished several of the challenges, I didn't follow-through by posting on my blog. So, for 2012, I've only signed up for one challenge—the BookObsessed "2012 How Many" Challenge. Having discovered the challenge widget from Goodreads, I repeated the same challenge over there so that I could show off my progress in the sidebar here in the blog.

2012 Reading Challenge

Elsi has read 54 books toward her goal of 150 books.

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54 of 150 (36%)

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So, I signed up to read 150 books in 2012. This number is a little bit higher than the number of books which I have finished for each of the past few years.

 

This week, I'm participating in Michelle's Spring Horror Read-a-Thon. While I won't necessarily be reading more than I usually do, I will be reporting on what I'm reading via this blog, Twitter, and GoodReads. Let's see if I can finish at least four books during the week-long event.

Reviews: The Gideon Trilogy by Linda Buckley-Archer

The Gideon Trilogy tells the story of two young teens, Peter Schock and Kate Dyer, who are catapulted back to the 18th century due to a chance encounter with an anti-gravity machine. The first book, The Time Travelers, is set both the present and 1763. Fortunately, upon arrival in the past the teens are befriended by Gideon Seymour, a reformed cutpurse now in service to the Byng family of Derbyshire. As The Time Travelers ends, Kate's father has located the kids and attempts to bring them home—unfortunately, Peter is left behind.

Book two, The Time Thief, begins as Kate and her father return to the present, but instead of Peter being with them, they brought back the Tar Man, a criminal from 1763. While the Tar Man quickly adjusts to modern-day London and embarks on a crime-spree, Kate and Peter's father attempt to return to 1763 to rescue Peter. But, a flaw in the time machine deposits them in 1792, in which they encounter a grown-up Peter.

The final book, The Time Quake, ties up the lost ends. Not only is Peter rescued from 1793 and returned to his own time and family, but we learn that due to splintering of the time line, another version of Peter remains behind to grow into the young man who encounters Kate and his father in 1792.

I don't remember when I picked up a copy of The Time Travelers, but in June, I offered it in the Teen VBB (Virtual Book Box) at BookObsessed and in August, it was selected by Melissa in Kansas. Although the rules of the VBB allowed me until 28 February to get it into the mail to her, I decided to deliver it in person in December. That did, however, mean that I hadn't finished reading it before I turned it over to her. So, I asked my library to locate a copy—which they very quickly did—allowing me to finish reading it before the end of the year. Having such success with the library, I had them order in the other two books in the trilogy, and I was able to finish the series by the end of January.

The two books which I read in January are counting toward the TwentyEleven Challenge as well as the 42 Challenge.

2011 Challenges: the first update

So, six weeks into this new year, how much progress have I been making on the challenges that I accepted? While I don't post enough items to the blog itself, I am doing a pretty good job in keeping the challenges status page up to date.

Starting with the first challenge that I accepted—TwentyEleven Challenge—you can see that I have completed two categories completely, meaning that I've read four of the twenty required books.

For the 42 Challenge, while I have completed 6 of 42 items, I have written reviews of only one. I need to buckle down and get those reviews written and posted either here or elsewhere so that I can cross them off my “to do” list.

The same situation exists with the Mystery and Suspense Challenge. Knowing that I would read many more than the target of 12 books, I extended the challenge a bit by charging myself to read and report on 12 books that fall into separate sub-genres. So, while I've read a total of 6 mysteries this year, only 4 of them will be counted toward this particular challenge. And yes, I need to get all the reviews posted.

Now where I'm making the most progress is in the Book Bucket Reading Challenge—where I'm attempting to work my way through books that were in my possession long before the year began. So far, I've completed 8 of the 50 books that I listed in late December. All-in-all, I'd say I'm making progress toward this goal and I definitely expect to complete the challenge well before the end of the year.

That leaves me with a couple of challenges that I haven't made much progress toward. The one that I think is going to give me the most trouble is the Take A Chance Challenge. Not only have I not read any books for this challenge, I've not even begun to make plans for adding any books into my reading schedule which would count toward this goal. Oh well, the year is young. I have a road trip coming up at the beginning of March, and I know I'll get a lot of reading done then. I'll just need to find one or two books which will help me meet this challenge and put them into my traveling library.

Mysteries!

With January 2/3 of the way over, I've read 5 mysteries and 4 books in other genres. This is about normal for me, as about 50% of all the books I read are mysteries of one kind or another.

Having signed up for the Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge 2011, I'm challenged to not only read mysteries, but post reviews of what I'm reading. And, with the large number of mysteries that I will have read by the end of the year, my personal challenge is to read 12 mysteries from 12 different sub-genres. There are lots of ways to subdivide mysteries into sub-genres, so I'm going to use the list posted by Book City Chick.

The first book which I counted toward this challenge was Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell, which I reviewed on 7 January. I have two others to claim toward completion of the challenge, so let's get on with the reviews:

Review: Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell

Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell
Andy Brazil Series #1

Pages: 438
Started: 1 Jan 2011
Finished: 4 Jan 2011
First Published: 1996
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Mystery, police procedural
My Rating: 3/5

Acquired: Received from Lori at BookCrossing.

Disposition: Will be sent to Ramson who selected from a Virtual Book Box at BookObsessed.com.

First paragraph:

That morning, summer sulked and gathered darkly over Charlotte, and heat shimmered on pavement. Traffic teemed, people pushing forward to promise as they drove through new construction, and the past was bulldozed away. The USBank Corporate Center soared sixty stories above downtown, topped by a crown that looked like organ pipes playing a hymn to the god of money. This was a city of ambition and change. It had grown so fast, it could not always find its own streets. Like a boy in puberty, it was rapidly unfolding and clumsy at times, and a little too full of what its original settlers had called pride.

In a drastic departure from her acclaimed Kay Scarpetta series, Cornwell introduces a new cast of characters. This time, the setting is Charlotte, North Carolina.

A serial murderer is preying on out-of-town businessmen, and the pressure is on Police Chief Judy Hammer and her deputy chief, Virginia West, to solve the crimes and put an end to the killings before adverse publicity begins to affect the economy of the area. Andy Brazil, son of a murdered policeman, aspires to write award-winning news stories and has trained as a police volunteer in order to get assigned to the crime beat. Hammer and West are not happy when the editor of The Charlotte Observer newspaper requests that Brazil be allowed to ride along with the police on their regular patrols.

My thoughts:
This was an entertaining, but awkwardly written, story. The lead characters were all flawed and while this could have made them more realistic, too much time is spent inside each character's head as they examine their own motives throughout the book. Brazil suffers from a serious inferiority complex and seems particularly vulnerable and childish; Hammer is a high achiever, but distressed by the state of her marriage as her obese husband spirals ever deeper into depression; and West is simply tempermental and annoying. As if this weren't enough, Cornwell tells part of the story from the point of view of West's cat! The characters had lots of promise, the plot was decent, but the execution was just not well done at all.

I read to the end, and I'm willing to read the next book in the series, so I'm giving this a 3 out of 5 rating. I've read worse.

This book is counting toward the Book Bucket and Mystery/Suspense challenges.