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Winter Reading List: December 2013 – February 2014

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I still have a few weeks left to read books for the Fall Reading List, but I want to post this early, just in case I can’t get to it during Thanksgiving weekend.

The Fall list was an experiment and I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.  The verdict so far?  I really like it.  In fact, I’ve already created the Spring list.  There will be fourteen prompts for the Winter and Spring lists, but I will be re-evaluating my method of picking prompts for the Summer list.  The deck of index cards based on Goodreads shelves has reached its limit of usefulness.

What’s (specifically) on my to-read list for Winter?  Why holiday books, of course!  I look forward to participating in Christmas reading challenges.  I haven’t decided on what books to read yet — hopefully they will also work for the Winter list. 🙂

Also, Daughters of England books.  Yes, I’m still behind.  It looks like I’ll be extending the challenge out to 2015 after all.

I will create a page for this list under “2014” and link it in the sidebar the first week of December.

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Some rules I established for myself:

  • Each book can only be counted toward one prompt.
  • Each prompt can only be used once during the season.
  • If all 14 prompts are used before the end of the season, new prompts will not be added.

The prompts:

  1. Read a book by an author who’s first name is Jennifer
  2. Read a book labeled Fantasy (urban fantasy allowed)
  3. Read a book labeled Sci-Fi Romance
  4. Read a book from the Star Wars Expanded Universe
  5. Read a book with a weapon on the cover or in the title (lightsabers count)
  6. Read a book with a four-letter word in the title (i.e., kiss, love, snow)
  7. Read a book by an author who’s first or last name begins with the letter R
  8. Read a book with a time of day in the title (i.e., noon, night, dawn, midnight)
  9. Read a book with a woman on the cover (1 person only, but other objects allowed)
  10. Read a book first published in 2011
  11. 1st in a Series: Mystery
  12. Read a book with an animal on the cover (can be mythical)
  13. Favorite Series
  14. Read a book by an author who’s first or last name starts with a T

The Daughters of England Winter Reading list (subject to change)

  • The Love Child – if not read by 30 Nov
  • The Song of the Siren
  • Will You Love Me in September? (A.K.A. The Drop of the Dice)
  • The Adulteress

~~ & ~~

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Monthly Update – October 2013

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October
Drama over at Goodreads and the Government shutdown threw me off my reading “grove”. Though I read countless “pages” of news articles and comments in various topic threads, none of it counted as “books”. I completed only three novels in the month of October.  My attempt to get back into Read-a-thons also totally failed.

I did not post any reviews here, but I’ve been working on the Booklikes blog I’ve set up in response to the drama on Goodread.  I’m sticking around at GR for the groups.  I’ve deleted my “To Read” list, but I’m maintaining the “Read” shelf for the reading challenges.  In January, I plan to unsubscribe from some of the groups, particularly those I’m least active in.  If they have a Booklikes sister group, I’ll check them out there.  The groups I have already decided to stay with as long as the exist: Serious Overload of Series (SOS), Romance Readers Reading Challenges (RRRC), and the Seasonal Reading Challenge (SRC).

Despite the drama, I did reach a milestone during the month of October.  As of 31 October, my total pages read is 20,381.  I’m not sure I’ll reach 25,000 by the end of the year.  One milestone I know I’ll reach is “number of books read”.  Since GR makes it difficult to count re-reads, my “total books read” is different than the GR Reading Challenge (also contributing to the difference — individual short stories from anthologies).  According to the GR counter, as of 8 November, I need 3 more books to reach my goal of 70 books.  However, by my personal count, I needed to read 1 book during November to reach that goal — and I’ve already done that.

Challenge-wise, the books I read in October did not put a big dent in any of them.  One book didn’t even count toward anything other than GR-based challenges.  And I’m still not caught up with the Philippa Carr challenge.  Fortunately, that’s a personal one, and I can adjust as needed…meaning it’s going to extend into 2015 if I don’t double-up soon.

Books Read

  • The Prophet (Stevens, Amanda) (5 Oct 13) – 4 stars – none
  • Darkness Rises (Duvall, Dianne) (10 Oct 13) – 5 stars – Baker’s Dozen
  • Eye of Heaven (Liu, Marjorie M.) {3/2011} (27 Oct 13) – 4 stars – Mt. TBR

Reviews added this month.

  • NONE


Challenges Completed this month:
NONE

Incomplete (Ended in October)
NONE

2013 Challenges:
A Baker’s Dozen (personal) – 27/39
Cruising’ thru the Cozies – 9/12
E-book Challenge – 18/25
Mt TBR – 27/48
Quick Fix – 29/30
Sequel Reading – 11/12
Seriously Series – 9/12
Vintage Mystery – 4/8

2013-2014 Challenges:
Daughters of England (personal) – 5/19

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Georgette Heyer (Month): 0
Georgette Heyer (Year): 2
Grand Total since 2008: 7
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In Death (Month): 0
In Death (Year): 0
Grand Total since 2010: 3

Totals (Monthly/Yearly)

Total Read (Month): 3
Total Heard (Month): 0
Grand Total (Year): 69
~~ & ~~
Total Audio Hours(Month): 0
Total Audio Hours (Year): 0
~~ & ~~
Total Pages Read (Month): 1,136
Grand Total (Year): 20,381

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Dewey and Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thons

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I’m late signing up for these. I’m not going to track number of hours this time. Also, I’m not sure when I’ll post updates.

read-a-thon2
(Note: I’m listing this first, even though the Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-thon starts on the 11th, because it is only 1 day)
What: Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon
Who: Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon
When: 12 October 2013

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wonderfullywickedRAT2-228x300

What: Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-thon II
Who: My Shelf Confessions
When: 11 – 20 October 2013
Goals: 3 Books; 900 pages

~ & ~

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Monthly Update – September 2013

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September

Off to an excellent start with the Seasonal Reading Challenge at Goodreads. I manage 11 books and 175 points. I just need 210 more point to beat my personal best of 380.

And speaking of seasonal. . .I created a tracking page for the Seasonal Reading List here. I haven’t decided if I will update it weakly, monthly, or something in between.  I’m off to a great start with this, too: 8 of the 14 prompts, and 1 of the 4 Daughters of England books.

In September, I got back into doing read-a-thons, which helped me have a good reading month.  The wrap-up post for the Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon is here.  I also created a tracker for read-a-thons.

Also in September, I started using the Ultimate Book Blogger plug-in.  So far, I’m loving it!  It came in handy for the Spotlight On posts, too.  At this time, I have no plan to re-do older reviews.

I completed the Historical Fiction Challenge and I still haven’t done the wrap-up post for Romance Reading yet.  I’m close to finishing two more challenges — Quick Fix and Sequels.  There is a good chance I will complete them well before the end of October, so I’ll wrap up all four in one post.  And, as stated in the previous update, I removed the Off the Wall Challenge from my list below.

Looking Ahead — I scrapped my plans for a 2014 Reading Has Its Rewards Challenge.  I wasn’t satisfied with how it was coming together.  I still want to do one personal challenge (besides the Daughters of England) and I want it to be simple and one I might actually complete by the end of the year!

Books Read

  • My Fair Concubine (Lin, Jeannie) (4 Sep 13) – 5 stars – Historical Fiction, Quick Fix
  • Death in the Stocks (Heyer, Georgette) (5 Sep 13) – 3 stars – Vintage, Heyer, Mt. TBR, Baker’s Dozen
  • A Deadly Grind (Hamilton, Victoria) (6 Sep 13) – 4 stars – Cozy, Quick Fix
  • Lament for a Lost Lover (Carr, Philippa) (11 Sep 13) – 4 stars – Ebook, Daughters of England, Mt. TBR
  • After the Funeral (Christie, Agatha) (13 Sep 13) – 4 stars – Ebook, Quick Fix
  • A Touch of Midnight (Adrian, Lara) (16 Sep 13) – 4 stars – Seriously Series, Quick Fix, Baker’s Dozen
  • Ice Blue (Stuart, Anne) (17 Sep 13) – 5 stars – Mt TBR
  • Love at First Flight (Force, Marie) (18 Sep 13) – 5 stars – Mt. TBR
  • Books Can Be Deceiving (McKinlay, Jenn) (19 Sep 13) – 3 stars – Quick Fix, Cozy
  • Midnight Reckoning (Castle, Kendra Leigh) (22 Sep 13) – 5 stars – Sequels
  • Blue Forever (Bruhns, Nina) (29 Sep 13) – 4 stars – Quick Fix, Baker’s Dozen

Reviews added this month.


Challenges Completed this month:
Historical Fiction – 15/15

Incomplete (Ended in September)
NONE

2013 Challenges:
A Baker’s Dozen (personal) – 26/39
Cruising’ thru the Cozies – 9/12
E-book Challenge – 18/25
Mt TBR – 26/48
Quick Fix  – 29/30
Sequel Reading – 11/12
Seriously Series – 9/12
Vintage Mystery – 4/8

2013-2014 Challenges:
Daughters of England (personal) – 5/19

~~ & ~~
Georgette Heyer (Month): 1
Georgette Heyer (Year): 2
Grand Total since 2008: 7
~~ & ~~
In Death (Month): 0
In Death (Year): 0
Grand Total since 2010: 3

Totals (Monthly/Yearly)

Total Read (Month): 11
Total Heard (Month): 0
Grand Total (Year): 66
~~ & ~~
Total Audio Hours(Month): 0
Total Audio Hours (Year): 0
~~ & ~~
Total Pages Read (Month): 3,356
Grand Total (Year): 19,245

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REVIEW – Saraband for Two Sisters by Philippa Carr

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REVIEW – Saraband for Two Sisters by Philippa CarrTitle: Saraband For Two Sisters
Author: Philippa Carr
Series: Daughters of England #4 Pages: 335
Published by Open Road Media Year: 1976
Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance
Format: eBook

Twins Angelet and Bersaba Landor may look alike, but their personalities couldn’t be more different. Angelet is sweet, gentle, and submissive, while Bersaba is secretive, sensual, and headstrong. When the sisters are separated by forces beyond their control, Bersaba finds her life taking a dark turn. After years apart, the twins are reunited within the echoing halls of Far Flamstead. As Angelet finds herself at the mercy of the manor’s secret past, Bersaba gives in to a perilous temptation. Bersaba will risk everything —even her life— for the love of one man. Against the backdrop of seventeenth-century England, a time of bloody revolt and new beginnings, Bersaba and Angelet discover that the ties that bind them can also tear them apart.

Goodreads

DISCLAIMER: I purchased this book.

Dear Diary:  Bersaba and Angelet Landor, twin daughters of Tamsyn and Fennimore Landor. Born June 12, 1622.  On their seventeenth birthday, their mother gifts them with journals, encouraging them to continue the family tradition.  She also allows them to read some of the older journals belonging to Damask and Catharine.

Date in History: Death of Charles I in 1649.

How history plays a part:  King Charles’s belief in the divine right to kings put him contention with Parliament. He also tried to enforce religious reform in Scotland.  His actions eventually led to civil wars, his execution for treason,  and the rule of Oliver Cromwell with its strict Puritan way of life. Because of his loyalty to the monarchy, General Tolsworthy, along with Bersaba and her children, flee with Charles II to France.

The Cavalier and the Puritan

General Richard Tolsworthy is hardly in the book.  The political situation keeps him from home, so his interactions with the sisters are limited.  He comes from a respectable family and he’s gentleman.  However, he knowingly cheats on his sweet, harmless wife with her identical twin sister.  I couldn’t like him.  Angelet was definitely the wrong sister for him — he needed a wife with a stronger personality.  Angelet was a total innocent about the physical side of marriage — and it seems as if Richard didn’t take the time to show her there could be pleasure in lovemaking.

I liked Luke Longbridge better than Richard.  Luke is a farmer, a member of Parliament, and a Puritan.  His farm is near Far Flamstead, so he’s also Richard’s neighbor.  Though he and the general are at odds, Luke and his sister, Ella, form friendships with Angelet and Bersaba.  What makes Luke really standout for me is the fact he genuinely loves Bersaba.  He marries her knowing that she’s carrying Richard’s child and is willing to accept the child as his own.

Verdict:  I seriously thought about giving this book a 2-star rating.  I can’t remember what I felt about the book when I read it in the 80s, thought I did manage to remember all the major plot points (Bersaba illness, Angelet going off to London, etc).

I didn’t care for the sisters at all.  I hate that they just happened to have the personalities that fit their names.  As if their parents knew how they’d turn out:  “Bersaba” is derived from Bathsheba.  Why couldn’t Angelet be the one who was sensual and secretive?  I also thought Bersaba was too selfish.  Her behavior is usually attributed to a rival female, or antagonist, in the author’s books.

The book felt like a “filler” — the stage is set for the exile of the Royalists and the eventual Restoration.  There’s a lot more telling than showing, though — weirdly — I thought it was probably a good thing.  It made for quicker reading.  Months, even years, were covered in a few paragraphs.  And that’s why this is a 3-star review.  I was able to read it quickly without it feeling like a chore.

3 Stars

Start: 26 June 2013
Finished: 30 June 2013

Challenges:
Daughters of England
E-Book Challenge
Historical Fiction
Mt. TBR

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