international
Didn’t read as many books this month as I did last month, but I did get caught up with three of my favorite paranormal romance series. All three series have books coming out in May/June, so it was important to get those out of the way now. And I read a Star Wars book. I only finished one audio book this month. Part of this might be because I don’t feel pressured to finish an audiobook I own. I’ve also had to “re-listen” to sections, thanks to losing my place when I re-charge. After I finish To Say Nothing of the Dog, I think I’ll see what’s available at the library.
Only got two reviews posted this month. It took me days to get the one for Buffalo West Wing written. I knew what I wanted to say, but getting it down on paper (or on the computer screen) was a struggle. I would organize my thoughts, think too far ahead of myself, and then loose what I mentally constructed as a starting point.
Speaking of the backlog, I’ve removed the list from the monthly update. It was just getting too long, and I have a nice hand-written list that I can scratch titles off as I post the review, and add to as I finish reading the book. The list is only going to get longer, not shorter, as I signed up to play “Bookshelf Bingo” conducted by one of the Goodreads groups. The goal is a book a week. I don’t want to let my team down, so I might not get any backlog stuff done because I’m too busy reading.
As for challenges, I’ve been doing a good job of picking books that count toward multiple challenges. This month, they’ve been mostly Goodreads or personal challenges. For March, several of the books I’ve picked will fall in the “new to me author” and the “first in a series” challenges.
On a blog-related note, I closed the comments on the majority of my posts. Those pesky spammers. It doesn’t happen too often, but occasionally, a legitimate comment would get tagged as spam and I was getting tired of screening pages of the stuff just to be on the safe side. I noticed the bulk of the spam was on much older posts, so I decided that it would be best to close anything from 2009 and earlier.
The number of new books coming into the house has slowed down a little. For March, I don’t expect to have a big order for Harlequin, so I may wait to the end of the month to do a “New Additions” post. Most of the books I’m interested are due to be released later in the year — starting with May. I’ll miss doing the weekly posts, since I’m somewhat impressed with the pictures I’ve been taking. I mean, I’m terrible with gauging distances, so I’m very surprised when I get a shot where I can read nearly everything on the spine!
Books Read:
Note: “Goodreads” means the book fit one or more of the challenges hosted by the various groups I joined. The link is to my tracking post on that site. “Personal” means the book fit one or more of the challenges I’m doing for myself (not hosted somewhere else). The link is to the master list under the “2011” tab.
- Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil (Karpyshyn, Drew) – Off the Wall, Goodreads, Personal
- Blood Spells (Andersen, Jessica) – Goodreads, Personal
- Unchained (Ashwood, Sharon) – Men in Uniform, Goodreads, Personal
- Whisper Kiss (Cooke, Deborah) – Goodreads, Personal
Audiobooks:
Note: I will continue to count audiobooks toward “total pages read”, using the physical book’s page count. If I own a copy, the page number will be the page the story ends on (not counting any excepts, author’s notes, etc.). If I don’t, I will get the page number from a on-line source (Amazon, Goodreads, etc). Unless otherwise noted, the audiobooks count toward the two audiobook challenges only.
- Persuasion (J. Austen/A. Flosnik) — (pgs. = 304) (8h, 37m)
2010 – 2011 Backlogged Reviews:
Posted:
- The Painted Lady (Metzger, Barbara)
- Buffalo West Wing (Hyzy, Julie)
The Challenges:
Challenges Completed this month:
Four monthly-themed challenges from GoodReads groups
Incomplete (Ended in February):
NA
2010-2011 Challenges:
Connie Willis Mini Challenge: 1/2
2011 Challenges:
1st in a Series: 1/6
2nds Challenge: 0/12
Audiobook Challenge: 3/20
Blogger Recommendation: 0/5
Contemporary Romance: 1/10
Cruisin’ Thru the Cozies: 1/6
Harlequin/Silhouette: 0/6
Historical Fiction Challenge: 2/15
Men in Uniform (6-10 books): 2/?
New Authors: 2/15
Off the Wall: 4/30
Pub 2011: 1/11
Retold Fairy Tales: 0/3
Romance Reading: 1/5
SF Romance: 0/5
Whisper Stories in My Ear (audio): 3/12
Perpetual Challenges:
101 Fantasy Challenge (Month): 0
101 Fantasy Challenge (Year): 0
Grand Total since 2009: 3
~~ & ~~
Georgette Heyer (Month): 0
Georgette Heyer (Year): 0
Grand Total since 2008: 2
~~ & ~~
In Death (Month): 0
In Death (Year): 0
Grand Total since 2010: 0
Totals (Monthly/Yearly)
Total Read (Month): 4
Total Heard (Month): 1
Grand Total (Year): 12
~~ & ~~
Total Audio Hours(Month): 8h, 37m
Total Audio Hours (Year): 32h, 54m
~~ & ~~
Total Pages Read (Month): 1,793
Grand Total (Year): 3,738
