Monthly Update – July 2012

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July

This month did not go as I planned, in terms of reading goals.

It started off pretty good.  I took time off from work — leave I initially planned for the end of May and canceled due to jury duty.  It was supposed to be a week of puttering around the house and reading.  Well, I did a little of that, but the huge stack of books that I’ve read and hadn’t written a review for couldn’t be ignored any longer.  Books with notes already typed up were tackled first.  Of those, notes that only needed minor tweaking got first priority.  I decided that scheduling them to appear one a day was the better option than manually posting them — it would be one less thing I had to remember to do.  During the process, I came up with the “Notes on a Book” format.  I’m not sure if I will stop using the “Three Reasons Review” set up — I think this format works well for first-in-a-series or stand-alone books.  In the end, I manage to scrape together 23 reviews, plus I linked a handful of books to either last year’s mid-point favorites post or the end of the year/top ten post.  It was well worth the time it took and I’m happy with the results, especially since it put a huge dent in last year’s list.  I will post the links below in the “Review” section of this update.

It was also during this time I realized I really wanted/needed a page that listed my Top 10/Favorites all in one place — a quick reference page without having to look at the individual posts.  The page can be found here and it is under the “Index” drop-down.  At the moment, it is up to date as far as my lists since I started blogging (2007-2011).  I started keeping a reading journal in 2006 and I will eventually add my favorites for that year to the page.  I’ve also created my badge for 2012 — I’ve moved away from trophy clip art this year:

Still, even with these distractions, I had high hopes of doing well during the High Summer Read-a-thon.  I did start out well. But some new drama in the blogsphere and Goodreads reared its ugly head.  I like staying informed, so I spent way too much time trying to keep up.  The more I read, the more pissed off I got and I felt like ranting.  I started composing this post — “Christina Speaks Her Mind“.  It took time to write — time which could have been spent reading.  The end result:  Only two books for the month.

August has back-to-back read-a-thons and a write-a-thon.  I hope to make up for July’s sad reading stats, and I hope to tackle the “pending review” stacks during the write-a-thon.

Books Read

Note: All books count toward my personal “Reading Has Its Rewards ” challenge. Exceptions will be noted.
  • Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Donna Andrews) {4 Jul 12} – By the Dozen, Mt. TBR
  • Vengeance in Death (J. D. Robb) {17 Jul 12} – By the Dozen, Mt. TBR, In Death


Challenges Completed this month:
NONE

Incomplete (Ended in July):
NONE

= Will complete; = Maybe; X = Won’t

2012 Challenges:
By the Dozen (personal) – 23/36
Harlequin/Silhouette Reading Challenge -3/6
Mount TBR Reading Challenge – 33/40
Romance Reading Challenge – 3/5
Sci-Fi Reading Challenge (6-10) – 3/?
What’s in a Name 5 Reading Challenge – 4/6

2012-2013 Challenges:
Year of the Dragon Reading Challenge(personal/GoodReads) – 2

Perpetual Challenges:
101 Fantasy Challenge (Month): 0
101 Fantasy Challenge (Year): 5
Grand Total since 2009: 17
~~ & ~~
Georgette Heyer (Month): 0
Georgette Heyer (Year): 1
Grand Total since 2008: 5
~~ & ~~
In Death (Month): 1
In Death (Year): 2
Grand Total since 2010: 2
~~ & ~~
X Reading the RITAs (Month): 0
Reading the RITAs (Year): 1
Grand Total since 2011: 3

Totals (Monthly/Yearly)

Total Read (Month): 2
Total Heard (Month): 0
Grand Total w/o Audiobooks (Year): 49
Grand Total w/Audiobooks (Year): 50
~~ & ~~
Total Audio Hours(Month): 0
Total Audio Hours (Year): 7h, 19m
~~ & ~~
Total Pages Read (Month): 654
Grand Total w/o Audiobooks (Year): 16,043
Grand Total w/Audiobooks (Year): 16,423

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