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.