2014 Reading Bingo Challange

I was trying to fill the whole card, and fell a few books short:

summary:

A book with More than 500 Pages - Ashes of Victory by David Webber 672 pages finished 1/5/2014
A Forgotten Classic -
A Book that Became a Movie -
A Book Published this year - Skin Game by Jim Butcher finished 6/10/2014
A book with a Number in the title - Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card finished 6/7/2014
A Book written by someone under 30
A book with non-human characters - Night of the Wolf by Alice Borchardt finished 5/4/2014
A Funny Book - Redshirts by John Scalzi finished on 1/7/2014
A Book by a Female Author- Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang by Katie MacAlister finished on 1/10/2014
A Book with a Mystery - Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear finished on 1/9/2014
A book with a one word title - Shattered by Kevin Hearne finished 6/20/2014
A Book of Short Stories - Welcome to Bordertown edited by Holly Black (Editor), Ellen Kushner (Editor) finished on 6/5/2014
A Book set on a different Continent - Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch set in th United Kingdom finished on 11/26/2014
A Book of nonfiction - Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox finished on 10/28/2014
The First Book by a favorite Author - The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs finished on 2/21/2014
A book you heard about online - The People's Act of Love by James Meek recomended by bookcrosser Azuki on 2011 finished on 1/27/2014
A Best selling book - The Broken Eye by Brent weeks 8/31/2014
A book Based on a true story -
A book at the bottom of your to be read pile - Himalayan Dhaba by  Craig Joseph Danner on my TBR pile since 2007 finished on 1/31/2014
A book your friend loves - Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett finished on 3/15/2014
A Book that scares you - Carry Me Down by  M.J. Hyland very creepy story. finished on 1/30/2014
A book that's more than 10 years old - Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett originally published in 1998 finished on 11/17/2014
The Second book in a series - Freedom's Choice by Anne McCaffrey Catteni series #2 finished on 3/20/2014
A book with a blue cover - The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore finished on 4/27/2014

Bout of Books day 5 progress

Books in progress:

1. Baghdad Without a Map and other misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz from nickel27 in 2013
2. Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley (audio book listening with Elengil)

Books  Finished:

None finished

Bout of Books Day 4 progress and Challenges

Challenge: If You Like This, Try This:

 “If you liked, 

 you should try 

because the stories included continue the adventures of the crew of the Firefly class ship Serenity and set up what events after the film ends

(I would recommend all 3 of the graphic novels out so far I'm looking forward to the current comic run coming out in book format soon)

Books Finished:

1. Old Shirts & New Skins by Sherman Alexie

Books in Progress:

1. Baghdad Without a Map and other misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz from nickel27 in 2013
2. Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley (audio book listening with Elengil)

Thoughts on what I have read today:

1. Old Shirts & New Skins: very powerful imagery used in the poems in this collection. I loved these early works by Native American poet Sherman Alexie. 

Bout of Books Day 3

Not much reading today.  Today was a day of getting stuff ready for classes next week, a bit of video gaming, and taking a relative to see Guardians of the Galaxy. Which has to be my favorite so far of the Marvel Movies  because of the humor and setting (space!with aliens!). Although the first Thor still stand high on the list of great Marvel movies as well. I've always loved the space setting comics though I never read many comic books growing up. The Silver Surfer was one of the comics my dad shared with me as a youngster that I absolutely loved.

Book finished:

1. 1. Hero by Wing Shing Ma

Thoughts on what I have read today:

• I loved the film Hero when it came out. This comic adaptation was beautifully drawn.

Bout of Books Day 2

Books finished:

1. 1.  Dragon Moon by Rebecca York from thegoaliegirl in 2013. 
2. Your Lover by Seungwon Han (graphic novel) from K00kaburra in 2014
3. The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains: A Tale of Travel and Darkness with Pictures of All Kinds by Neil Gaiman This is in my PC. It was a recent birthday gift from several close friends.

Books in progress:

1. Hero by Wing Shing Ma
2. Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley (audio book listening with Elengil)

Thoughts on what I have read today:

• Dragon moon was exactly what I expected. A nice steamy and quick paranormal romance. It is 9th in a series but stands well alone. I have been picking these up piecemeal so have not actually read any of the books that were published prior to this one.
• Your Lover: The story was complicated and overly angsty and dramatic. I thought this was a graphic novel  about the historical love between Parisian painter Marie Laurencin and French poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Instead I got a contemporary story set in Korea (my fault for not reading the back blurb well enough I guess.
• The Truth is a Cave in the black Mountains: This is probably the best graphic novel I have read all year., I loved the story (But Mr. Gaiman's short stories almost never disappoint). The artwork matched the bleakness and dark thread running through the plot, an I thought the mixture of paintings, pen & ink drawings, and comic style panels  complimented the story incredibly well.

book review: Tula Station by David Toscana

This was very different from the books I have been reading recently.

The book follows three different stories. First is the tale left behind in a journal by the friend of the author about his interviewing Juan Capistran (who says he is his grandfather), and the events leading up to the night of the hurricane when the author of the journal disappears. The second story is that of Juan Capistan and takes place in Tula, Mexico in the late 1800's to early 1900's. The third story is that of the town of Tula and it''s rise in Mexican politics and eventual decline during the war for Independence...

The book alternates between the intertwined stories and lets us see the love, and hatred and pain that shapes the lives of the individuals and the town.  I actually loved this aspect of the plot best. You get to learn each of the main characters over a period of years (even though the whole book covers a matter of weeks in the modern time). The book was written using papers given to the author by his "dead" friends wife who after finding them many years after his disappearance believes her husband did not die during the storm but instead ran away with another woman. As we read the story further  the reasons that influence this decision become more evident.

Bout of Books Day 1

Book(s) Finished:

1. Tula Station by David Toscam (started reading at page 176 read until end at 276) 100 total pages read.
This  came to me from bookstogive in January of 2014.

Books read but not finished:

1. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (e-book read in waiting room this morning)

2. Dragon Moon by Rebecca York - read   The first 39 pages. 

Bout of Books 11 Read a Thon Goals

I sort of forgot about this blog last semester due to the amount of work I had to do. I will be starting my final semester of classes next week, before student teaching in the spring. So, I have a chance to sit down and read this round of the Bout of Books Read a Thon. So Yes! I will participate this time :)

Here are my goals:

Time Devoted to Reading

• As this is my last week before classes I will be reading as much as I can all week. I do have one day of training to attend so may only get commute time reading done that day.

My Goals

• Read down some of the bookcrossing registered book pile both books from other members shelves as well as my own.

Books to Read

• The list is undecided at the moment. I plan on starting with Tula Station by  David Toscana which I have about 100 pages left in then go onto Dragon Moon by Rebecca York (new read) and finish 

Books Wild Released in December 2013

1.) Time Flies  by Bill Cosby  on 12/2/2013

2.) Briarpatch  by Ross Thomas  on 12/2/2013

3.) How Long will i Cry? Voices of Youth Violence  by Miles Harvey (Editor)  on 12/2/2013

4.) Hope Unraveled: The People's Retreat and Our Way Back  by Richard C. Harwood on 12/2/2013

5.) Brazen  by Carly Phillips on 12/2/2013

6.) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Book 1)   by Alexander McCall Smith on 12/8/2013

7.) The Last Juror  by John Grisham on 12/9/2013

8.) How Long will I Cry? Voices of Youth Violence  by Miles Harvey (Editor)  on 12/10/2013

9.) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Book 1)   by Alexander McCall Smith on 12/8/2013

10.) The Last Juror  by John Grisham on 12/9/2013

11.) How Long will I Cry? Voices of Youth Violence  by Miles Harvey (Editor) on 12/10/2013 CAUGHT!

12.) Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas  by James Patterson on 12/17/2013

13.) The Good Earth  by Pearl S. Buck on 12/17/2013

14.) Martin the Warrior   by Brian Jacques on 12/17/2013

15.) Galileo's Daughter  by Dava Sobel on 12/22/2013

16.) Mattimeo: A Tale From Redwall  by Brian Jacques on 12/22/2013  
17.)     Anne of Green Gables  by L.M. Montgomery on 12/27/2013

18.)     Julia Roberts: America's Sweetheart  by Mark Bego on 12/28/2013

2013 wrap-up

According to Good reads during 2013 I read 219 books. This includes 2 short stories which I don't count in my personal total. So I read 217 books.

Looking at the breakdown to see how many print vs audio books vs e-books I read. I  am still primarily reading print copies over the other formats.

Physical: 153
Audio book: 37
E-Book: 29 (count includes the 2 short stories from good reads count)

my reading goal for 2014 is to finish reading all the books traded through bookcrossing.com from 2012 and earlier and to take them to the nearby little free library that went up near my school last fall or the local coffee shops take a book/leave a book shelves.

Books Read in December 2013.

Print Books:
1.) Brazen by Carly Phillips
2.) Fat-free and Fatal by Jaqueline Girdner
3.) Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel
4.) Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
5.) Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by Nicholas Sparks
6.) A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg
7.) Do Kangaroos Wear Seatbelts? by Jane Kurtz, Jane Manning (Illustrations)
8.) Axle Annie and the Speed Grump by Robin Pulver, Tedd Arnold (Illustrations)
9.) Mrs Armitage on Wheels by Quentin Blake
10.) Mrs. Armitage: Queen of the Road by Quentin Blake
11.) Axle Annie by Robin Pulver, Tedd Arnold (Illustrations)
12.) Baudolino by Umberto Eco
13.) Plainsong by Kent Haruf
14.) Season of Wonder by Paula Guran (Editor)

Audiobooks:
1.) Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
2.) Honor Among Enemies by David Weber
3.) The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
4.)  In Enemy Hands  by David Weber

E-Books:
1.) Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley, Peter Dickinson
2.) Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley, Peter Dickinson