Book Club Bash Readathon Day #4

Pages read today: 320 (The White Pearl)

Pages read total:  1227

Time read today: 2 hours 10 minutes

Time read total: 7 hours 45 minutes

Comments: Good historical fiction after tons of nonfiction.

The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall

Title: The White Pearl

Author: Kate Furnivall

Publisher: Berkley 2012

Genre: Historical fiction (WWII)

Pages: 433

Rating:  4 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Historical Fiction; Fall into Reading; Mount TBR; Color Coded -- White

How I Got It: I own it!

Malaya, 1941. Connie Thornton plays her role as a dutiful wife and mother without complaint. She is among the fortunate after all-the British rubber plantation owners reaping the benefits of the colonial life. But Connie feels as though she is oppressed, crippled by boredom, sweltering heat, a loveless marriage. . .

Then, in December, the Japanese invade. Connie and her family flee, sailing south on their yacht toward Singapore, where the British are certain to stand firm against the Japanese. En route, in the company of friends, they learn that Singapore is already under siege. Tensions mount, tempers flare, and the yacht's inhabitants are driven by fear.

Increasingly desperate and short of food, they are taken over by a pirate craft and its Malayan crew making their perilous way from island to island. When a fighter plane crashes into the sea, they rescue its Japanese pilot. For Connie, that's when everything changes. In the suffocating confines of the boat with her life upended, Connie discovers a new kind of freedom and a new, dangerous, exhilarating love.

Hmmm... First off, I have to say that I liked The Russian Concubine trilogy much more than this stand alone novel.  I loved the setting in Malaya and the Pacific.  I liked the backdrop of WWII.  I liked many of the side characters.  I just couldn't stand Connie.  Sure she was stuck in a bad marriage.  But did that mean she had to treat everyone else like she was the center of the universe?  I felt no sympathy for her.  And it made me want to throw the book down a few times.  Don't get me wrong, the story's great.  My annoyance at one character made my reading of the book feel like more of a struggle than an enjoyment.

Book Club Bash Readathon Day #3

Pages read today: 0

Pages read total:  907

Time read today: 0

Time read total: 5 hours 35 minutes

Comments: So Lazy Todaay

Quote Wednesday - Holmes

Life is a romantic business. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Screw Valentine's Day, I always get romantic during the holidays.  Maybe it's just the music and the treats.  Or maybe it's just life...

Book Club Bash Readathon Day #2

Pages read today: 144 (Minigami) and 204 (The Green Book)

Pages read total:  907

Time read today: 1 hour 37 minutes

Time read total: 5 hours 35 minutes

Comments: Two short nonfiction books for the day.  I got distracted with packing for vacation.  I hope to get back to some fiction tomorrow.

Secret Santa Thank Yous

I signed up for two different book exchanges this fall.  I've received my books, so it's time to send back some thank you love to the senders!

I received two books from Allyson... Stealing Fire by Jo Graham and Storm Glass by Maria Snyder.  So excited to read them after January.  Thank you!

I received two amazing books from Alicia.. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen and Brithmarked by Caragh O'Brien.  Looking forward to diving into these.

Mini Reviews

I've recently read a few nonfiction books, but just didn't have enough to say about them for full reviews.  So here's my mini reviews:

Title: A History of Egypt: From Earliest Times to the Present

Author: Jason Thompson

Publisher: Anchor Books 2008

Genre: Nonfiction -- History

Pages: 382

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 960s; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Library Loan

This is the type of history books that I should be reading.  This volume is a much more comprehensive history of a culture, people and country.  I enjoyed the depth and readability.  Good read.  And I learned much about the rise of Islam in the area (definitely a lacking area of my historical knowledge).

Title: Blue: 350 Inspiring Ways to Decorate with Blue

Author: Lisa Cregan

Publisher: Hearst Communications 2011

Genre: Nonfiction -- Home decor

Pages: 272

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 740s; Fall into Reading; Color Coded -- Blue

How I Got It: Library Loan

Such pretty pictures.  I would love to add more blue into our decor, but it seems the boys' room is the only place I can get away with it.

Title: The Green Book

Publisher: Three Rivers Press 2007

Genre: Nonfiction -- Enviroment

Pages: 204

Rating:  4 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 330s; Fall into Reading; Color Coded -- Green

How I Got It: Library Loan

Tips to live a greener lifestyle.  Okay introduction book, but some of the ways to green your lifestyle area bit hard to do without owning a business or at least your own house.  The testimonies from celebrities seemed a bit wonky to me.

Title: Active Liberty

Author: Stephen Breyer

Publisher: Alfred Knopf 2005

Genre: Nonfiction -- Law

Pages: 164

Rating:  4 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 340s; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Library Loan

A great slim but dense volume on the differences between active and modern liberty and their applications.  I am a huge Constitutional Law geek.  I love reading about interpretations and applications of the various sections of the Constitution.  And Breyer definitely knows his Constitution.  I've never quite looked at it his way, but it was a nice analysis.

Title: Minigami

Author: Gay Merrill Gross

Publisher: Firefly Books 2005

Genre: Nonfiction -- Paper Craft

Pages: 144

Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 730s; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Library Loan

I loved looking at all the pretty pictures, but origami is harder than I thought it would be.  I tried to do some of the designs and they weren't that clean looking.  I imagine that practice would make cleaner designs.

Top Ten Tuesday -- 2012 New-to-Me Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join.  If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

I read a ton of New-to-Me authors this year.  Here's my 10 highlights:

1. Mira Grant -- I thoroughly enjoyed Grant's Newsflesh trilogy.   I can't wait to see what else I could read from this author.

2. Rhiannon Frater -- Another great zombie trilogy.  I've been seeing a huge bunch of rave reviews for Frater's other books.  I must check them out.

3. Madeleine Roux -- I'm sensing a trend of great zombie authors...  Anyway, loved these two companion novels.

4. Libba Bray -- The Gemma Doyle trilogy was great.  Looking forward to other books.

5. Philip Pullman -- Very layered books

6. Mike Mullin -- Scared the crap out of me.

7. Kendare Blake -- Another scary book.  I really want to read the sequel.

8. Carlos Ruiz Zafon -- The Shadow of the Wind was a great love letter to books and literature.

9. Robin McKinley -- Sunshine was so beautiful, I'm kind of afraid to read her other books for fear that they won't live up to it.

10. Lev Grossman -- The Magicians was very complex and interesting.

Book Club Bash Readathon Day #1

Pages read today: 164 (Active Liberty), 272 (Blue) and 123 (The White Pearl)

Pages read total:  559

Time read today: 3 hours 58 minutes

Time read total: 3 hours 58 minutes

Comments: I've started a readathon just after I finished another.  Crazy me!  But I am dying to finish some more of my 2012 reading challenges.  I want to knock out at least five books during this week.  I've already got one down and another started.  Great beginning!  Today's reads: Law, home decorating, then on to WWII... interesting change in reading mindset.

Time's Top 100 Novels Reading Challenge

Robert started 101 Books as a way to document his goal of reading Time Magazine's Top 100 Novels (since 1923).  I decided this was a worthwhile reading challenge to add to my perpetual challenges.  I will be adding this challenge to my Perpetual Reading Challenges page.  Out of the 100 novels, I have already read 18.  Here's the complete list:

• The Adventures of Augie March (1953) by Saul Bellow
• All the King’s Men (1946) by Robert Penn Warren
• American Pastoral (1997) by Philip Roth
• An American Tragedy (1925) by Theodore Dreiser
• Animal Farm (1946) by George Orwell
• Appointment in Samarra (1934) by John O’Hara
• Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970) by Judy Blume
• The Assistant (1957) by Bernard Malamud
• At Swim-Two-Birds (1938) Flann O’ Brien
• Atonement (2002) by Ian McEwan
• Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison
• The Berlin Stories (1946) by Christopher Isherwood
• The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler
• The Blind Assassin (2000) by Margaret Atwood
• Blood Meridian (1986) by Cormac McCarthy
• Brideshead Revisited (1946) by Evelyn Waugh
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) by Thornton Wilder
• Call it Sleep (1935) by Henry Roth
• Catch 22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
• The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger
• A Clockwork Orange (1963) by Anthony Burgess
• The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) by William Styron
• The Corrections (2001) by Jonathan Franzen
• The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) by Thomas Pynchon
• A Dance to the Music of Time (1951) by Anthony Powell
• The Day of the Locust (1939) by Nathanael West
• Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) by Willa Cather
• A Death in the Family (1958) by James Agee
• The Death of the Heart (1958) by Elizabeth Bowen
• Deliverance (1970) by James Dickey
• Dog Soldiers (1974) by Robert Stone
• Falconer (1977) by John Cheever
• The French Lieutenant’s (1969) by John Fowles
• The Golden Notebook (1962) by Doris Lessing
• Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953) by James Baldwin
• Gone With The Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell
• The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
• Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) by Thomas Pynchon
• The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• A Handful of Dust (1935) by Evelyn Waugh
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) by Carson McCullers
• The Heart of the Matter (1948) by Graham Greene
• Herzog (1964) by Saul Bellow
• Housekeeping (1981) by Marilynne Robinson
• A House for Mr. Biswas (1962) by V.S. Naipaul
• I, Claudius (1934) by Robert Graves
• Infinite Jest (1996) by David Foster Wallace
• Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison
• Light in August (1932) by William Faulkner
• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950) by C.S. Lewis
• Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov
• Lord of the Flies (1955) by William Golding
• The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Loving (1945) by Henry Green
• Lucky Jim (1954) by Kingsley Amis
• The Man Who Loved Children (1940) by Christina Stead
• Midnight’s Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie
• Money (1984) by Martin Amis
• The Moviegoer (1964) by Walker Percy
• Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf
• Naked Lunch (1959) by William Burroughs
• Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright
• Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson
• Never Let Me Go (2005) by Kazuo Ishiguro
• 1984 (1948) by George Orwell
• On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey
• The Painted Bird (1965) by Jerzy Kosinski
• Pale Fire (1962) by Vladimir Nabokov
• A Passage to India (1924) by E.M. Forster
• Play It As It Lays (1970) by Joan Didion
• Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) by Philip Roth
• Possession (1990) by A.S. Byatt
• The Power and the Glory (1939) by Graham Greene
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) by Muriel Spark
• Rabbit, Run (1960) by John Updike
• Ragtime (1975) E.L. Doctorow
• The Recognitions (1955) by William Gaddis
• Red Harvest (1929) by Dashiell Hammett
• Revolutionary Road (1961) by Richard Yates
• The Sheltering Sky (1949) by Paul Bowles
• Slaughterhouse Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut
• Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson
• The Sot-Weed Factor (1960) by John Barth
• The Sound and the Fury (1929) by William Faulkner
• The Sportswriter (1986) by Richard Ford
• The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1964) by John Le Carre
• The Sun Also Rises (1926) by Ernest Hemingway
• Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston
• Things Fall Apart (1959) by Chinua Achebe
• To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee
• To The Lighthouse (1927) by Virginia Woolf
• Tropic of Cancer (1934) by Henry Miller
• Ubik (1969) by Philip K. Dick
• Under the Net (1954) by Iris Murdoch
• Under the Volcano (1947) by Malcom Lowry
• Watchmen (1986) by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• White Noise (1985) by Don DeLillo
• White Teeth (2000) by Zadie Smith
• Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) Jean Rhys

Music Monday -- Favorite Christmas Carols Part 2

It's December.  Time to pull out the holiday music.  I thought I would share my all-time favorite Christmas carols.  I've even pinpointed my favorite versions of my favorite carols.  Part 1 of 3.

She and Him "Baby, It's Cold Outside"

Point of Grace "Carol of the Bells / What Child is This?

Jason Mraz "Winter Wonderland"

Michael W. Smith "Christmas Waltz"

Josh Groban "Ave Maria"

The Sunday Salon #37

Listening To: Instead of the usual listening to, I wanted to highlight what we did last night.  J's boss gave him two free tickets to Live 105's Not So Silent Night.  Awesome seats!  We traveled up to Oakland, finally got into the arena and took our seats.  Because of crazy traffic, we missed seeing Imagine Dragons (I really do like them).  But we did see:

• Grouplove -- Decent live, but their songs are really hit or miss with me
• Tegan and Sara -- No real stage presence, but I love their music
• Passion Pit -- Horribly mixed sound, it just didn't sound right at all
• M83 -- My second favorite band of the night... and I've only heard a little bit from them before this
• The Killers! --- OMG!  So much better live than I thought they would be.  A nice selection of old and new songs.  I loved them.

I posted a video of Tegan and Sara and two of The Killers on my Facebook page...

Book finished: With the no pressure Book Drunkard Readathon, I finished a ton of books this week!

• Arthurian Romances
• Note Quite What I was Planning
• Chocolate
• Social Q's
• The Boys Vol. 12
• Words Words Words
• Sprezzatura
• Click
• The History of Egypt

Reading: Active Liberty by Stephen Breyer

On the Nightstand: The Book Bash Club Readathon starts tomorrow.  I want to read at least five books this week to lessen my load for the trip back home.  I am focusing on reading physical books, so I can save my iPad reads for the planes.  I had tons of momentum reading last week, just hope I can keep it up for this coming week.

The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall, The Green Book, 350 Inspiring Ways to Decorate with the Color Blue, Minigami, Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

MakingLists: Christmas gifts still to buy (only a few left) and tentative packing list for my trip back to Indiana.

On the Web: Attempting to clean out my Google Reader, but actual reading keeps getting in the way.

Crafting: None this week, although I have a meet and greet today.  I also want to send out my Christmas cards this week.  And I need to make a few for my holiday card exchange buddies.  Plus, I told mom I would bring more love and romance cards for the shop when I return to Indiana.  I need to get those done.  Finally, I'm looking forward to my final stamp class of 2012 on Thursday.

Watching: Downtown Abbey S3 (yes, I have it early and it's wonderful), White Collar S4 (caught up to the fall break), The West Wing S4 (slowly getting through this series), many cheesy Christmas movies (thank you ABC Family and Hallmark)

Wondering: Again, how am I going to pack all this crap in one suitcase?  (and leave room for returning presents?)

From Nature: A bit on the chilly side for the area (40 degrees waking up, up to low 60s), but still way better than the Midwest.

Shopping Scores: Nothing this week, although I am determined to get a decent purse before I leave for Indiana.  I need to make a Target run next week.  And maybe some skinny colorful pants?  And maybe a new lightweight sweater or dress?  Watching people at the concert last night, I was coveted some of the clothes I saw...

Book Club Bash Readathon -- Starting Line

From Bitsy Bling:

This is the place to sign up for the READ-A-THON hosted by Bitsy Bling Books...

Novel Publicity is hosting a Book Club Bash event December 10-14.  In conjunction with this event, Bitsy Bling Books will be co-hosting a READ-A-THON!!! Yipppeee!!! There are several ways to participate so why not join in the fun?  You can do as little or as much as you have time for AND of course, prizes will be offered!

WHAT IS THIS BOOK CLUB BASH and READ-A-THON all about?

The love of books! And finding other people who like to talk about them too is always a thrill. Be it online, in person or some other kind of book club, we think the chance to sit down and dig your teeth into a good book with a group of people is one of the best parts of reading.

The prizes lined up so far include:

• A custom book club guide from Novel Publicity
• Signed Paperbacks
• Gift Bags with Swag and Books
• The chance to name a character in an upcoming book
• Manuscript Feedback by one of our authors
• An Amazon Gift Card (amount to be determined)
• Skype Session with an author for a book club or interview

My goals:

• Read at least 5 books
• Review all books read
• Read at least 2 hours a day
• Update once a day

TBR List:

• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman
• The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
• Living History by Hilary Rodham Clinton
• Active Liberty by Stephen Breyer (already started)
• The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall
• The Green Book
• 350 Inspiring Ways to Decorate with Blue by Lisa Cregan
• Minigami by Gay Merrill Gross

Readathon -- Finish Line

Pages read today: 382 (A History of Egypt) and 14 (Active Liberty by Stephen Breyer)

Pages read total: 2816

Time read today: 3 hours 45 minutes

Time read total: 21 hours 35 minutes

Comments:  I am so excited by my progress this readathon.  I knocked out a ton of books and even read some interesting ones.  I signed up for the Book Bash Club Readathon starting on Dec. 10.  These two events should lead to great book totals for the year.  Plus I loved the no pressure nature of this readathon.  I just sat and read.  Much more enjoyable!

My goals:

• Read at least 5 books -- 9 done and 1 started! √
• Review all books read  √
• Read at least 2 hours a day √

My TBR pile (what I need to read to finish my 2012 challenges):

• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
• The Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristin McMorris
• Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman
• The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
• The Firemaster’s Mistress by Dickason
• Living History by Hilary Rodham Clinton
• Not Quite What I was Planning edited by Smith Magazine (added)
• Chocolate by Shara Aaron and Monica Bearden (added)
• The Boys Vol. 12 (added)
• Words Words Words by David Crystal (added)
• Sprezzatura (added)
• Click (added)
• A History of Egypt by Jason Thompson (added)
• Active Liberty by Stephen Breyer (added and started)

Readathon Day #6

Pages read today: 240 (Click)

Pages read total: 2420

Time read today: 1 hour 25 minutes

Time read total: 17 hours 50 minutes

Comments: Good compilation.

Click edited by Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan

Title: Click: When We Knew We were Feminists

Edited by: Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan

Publisher: Seal Press 2010

Genre: Nonfiction -- Women's Studies

Pages: 240

Rating:  4 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 300s; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Library Loan

When did you know you were a feminist? Whether it happened at school, at work, while watching TV, or reading a book, many of us can point to a particular moment when we knew we were feminists. In Click, editors Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan bring us a range of women—including Jessica Valenti, Amy Richards, Shelby Knox, Winter Miller, and Jennifer Baumgardner—who share stories about how that moment took shape for them.Sometimes emotional, sometimes hilarious, this collection gives young women who already identify with the feminist movement the opportunity to be heard—and it welcomes into the fold those new to the still-developing story of feminism.

This book took me back to to my college women's studies day.  I loved reading about how others found out they are a feminist.  This is more of a feel good book for me.  I really enjoyed the the stories that were a bit more sad.  They seemed to really ring true.  This is a great little introduction to feminism.  Definite read.

Readathon Day #5

Pages read today:  216 (Words Words Words) and 396 (Sprezzatura)

Pages read total: 2020

Time read today: 1 hour 59 minutes + 3 hours 35 minutes

Time read total: 16 hours 25 minutes

Comments: Love reading about language and history.  Two good choices for today.

Sprezzatura by Peter D'Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish

Title: Sprezzatura: 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World

Author: Peter D'Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish

Publisher: Anchor Books 2001

Genre: Nonfiction -- history

Pages: 396

Rating:  4 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 940s; My Years -- 2001; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Library loan

A witty, erudite celebration of fifty great Italian cultural achievements that have significantly influenced Western civilization from the authors of What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? The word "sprezzatura," or the art of effortless mastery, was coined in 1528 by Baldassare Castiglione in The Book of the Courtier. No one has demonstrated effortless mastery throughout history quite like the Italians. From the Roman calendar and the creator of the modern orchestra (Claudio Monteverdi) to the beginnings of ballet and the creator of modern political science (Niccolò Machiavelli), Sprezzatura highlights fifty great Italian cultural achievements in a series of fifty information-packed essays in chronological order.

A very detailed overview over 50 gifts from Italy.  I was familiar, at least in a general sense, with all 50 entrants.  I especially enjoyed the chapters on satire, the Roman Republic, Dante's Divine Comedy, the legacy of law, and da Vinci.  While I overall enjoyed the volume, I didn't dive completely in because of my prior knowledge.  I guess I am too much of a history buff truly enjoy skimming the topic books.  I need to grab onto deeper tomes.

Words Words Words by David Crystal

Title: Words Words Words

Author: David Crystal

Publisher: Oxford University 2006

Genre: Nonfiction -- Language

Pages: 216

Rating:  5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey -- 400s; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Library loan

"Lexicography is not just an exercise in linguistic accounting," writes preeminent English language scholar David Crystal in this exceptionally lively and erudite little book. "It is a voyage of lexical exploration and discovery." In Words, Words, Words, Crystal takes readers on a fascinating linguistic adventure, exploring the English language in all its oddity, complexity, and ever-changing beauty. Traveling from word origins and word evolution to wordgangs, wordrisks, wordplay, wordgames and beyond, Crystal shares his immense knowledge of, and equally immense delight in, language. He celebrates new words, old words, words that "snarl" and words that "purr," elegant words and taboo words, plain English words and convoluted gobbledegook, eponyms and antonyms, spoonerisms and malapropisms, and a host of other written and spoken forms and variations.

I grabbed this book for my Dewey challenge simply because the 400s selection at my library is slim.  This was just about the only book not foreign language learning.  But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.  Crystal obviously has a love of language and wants to make language accessible to others.  I learned some many interesting tidbits about language.  I also enjoyed the review of language construction.  This was such a fun book to read in an afternoon.  Now I want to rush out and learn more about language.  I think I will start with a word-a-day service.

Some interesting tidbits of information:

• The origin of 404 messages comes from the room number of the researchers at CERN
• We all have wordhoards (the collection of words in our heads)
• A new word, debagonization (the cessation of anxiety when our luggage eventually emerges from the black hole of an airport carousel)
• Latin evolved from a prehistoric tongue called Indo-European
• Did you know that kingly is Germanic, royal is French, and regal is Latin?  Now you do
• 98 of the top 100 English words (in terms of frequency) are Anglo-Saxon in origin
• British accent is called Received Pronunciation while the US one General American

Readathon Day #4

Pages read today: 170 (The Boys Vol. 12)

Pages read total: 1408

Time read today: 1 hour

Time read total: 10 hours 51 minutes

Comments: