The Summer Reading Challenge

I like challenges, and The Summer Reading Challenge is a pretty simple one! Taking place from June 21st to September 21st, all you have to do to be in is to make a list of the books you want to read this summer and… read! Click here if you’re interested or if you wish to visit other particpants.

As for me, here is my list (I’ll cross them off and I’ll add the date as I read them 🙂 ):

1. The Ghost Writer, by John Harwood (11/8/2009)
2. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan (23/6/2009)
3. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (8/7/2009)
4. Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson (19/8/2009)
5. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (3/9/2009)
6. Lock and Key, or This Lullaby, by Sarah Dessen
7. Prada and Prejudice, by Mandy Hubbard (24/6/2009)
8. Moon Called, by Patricia Briggs (28/6/2009)
9. Dead until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
10. Sloppy Firsts, by Megan McCafferty
11. The Awakening, by Kelley Armstrong
12. The Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith(27/7/2009)
13. Never let me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro(11/7/2009)
14. Take me There, by Susan Colasanti(23/7/2009)
15. The Demon’s Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan(20/7/2009)
16. Two Way Street, by Lauren Barnholdt(30/6/2009)
17. Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld (12/9/2009)
18. Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld
19. My Soul to Take, by Rachel Vincent (6/9/2009)
20. Twenties Girl, by Sophie Kinsella (5/8/2009)
21. Prey, by Rachel Vincent(5/7/2009)
22. Rude awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, by Laurie  Viera Riggler, (16/7/2009)

It’s a very “light” list, mostly. 22 books in 3 months seems like a good objective; we’ll be traveling a little this summer and I’m back to school on September 1st, so I probably won’t have much reading time from then on.

The Ghost Writer, Santa Olivia, Prada and Prejudice are all books I have read the first 20 pages or so, and I’m well into The Forest of Hands and Teeth but it will be finished within the challenge’s dates. I’m about halfway through Pride and Prejudice, but it’s a lot harder for me since it isn’t modern english (and you’d think I should be able to handle that pretty easily after reading Trainspotting last year!)

Oh, and I have to read Santa Olivia and Warbreaker really, really soon : the man getting a little less patient everyday, and I’m afraid he’ll soon steal them from me to read them! Nooo! (I know it’s selfish and ridiculous and probably really immature, but I hate when people read my books before me!)

Hello, Goodbye! (about book-packing, travel, and such)

Hello, fellow readers!

Where we're going : Melia Hotel, Cayo Coco, Cuba (not my picture)

I’m now 24 hours away from getting on the plane to Cuba! We will take off at 6 in the morning, and land there around 10 am – which means, I’ll be dipping my toes in the water around 11 am on Saturday morning!

Now, there’s a lot of planning that goes with such a travel; I painted my toe nails, shopped for a new bathing suit, bought approximatively two litres of sunblock lotion and found a great catsitter. I haven’t written all of my reviews though, but that can wait until I come back. I still have much to do before we go, one of those tasks being the selection of the books I’ll be bringing with me.

First, I did a few calculations; 7 days of beach + 2 four-hours plane trip + hours waiting in airport = how many books? I can probably read one 300-pages book per day, so I should bring 8 books plus a few alternates. I’m still trying to chose among the numerous books of the TBR pile; I have around 30 to choose from, now. I’m trying to make choices that will give me variety in genres while not making it impossible to carry.

Here is so far, the list of the books I want to bring the most. It’s mostly light, funny and fluffy stuff : 

1. “Reunion” by Therese Fowler (I have to review it when I come back, so this one is assured to have a place in the bag)
2. “Tipping the Velvet” by Sarah Waters
3. “Jane Austen ruined my life” by Beth Patillo
4. “The Summoning” by Kelley Armstrong
5. “Evermore” by Alyson Noël
6. “In the woods” by Tana French
7. “Postmorterm” by Patricia Cornwell
8. “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd
9. “Nefertiti” by Michelle Moran
10. “This lullaby” by Sarah Dessen
11. “An abundance of Katherines” by John Green
12. “Neuropath” by Scott Barker
13. “Too good to be true” by Kristin Higgins
14. “Tempting Faith DiNapoli” by Lisa Gabrielle
15. “La Joueuse de Go” by Shan Sa
16. “Sloppy Firsts” by Megan Maccafferty
17. “Memoirs of Cleopatra” by Margaret George
18. “Something Blue” by Emily Griffin
19. “The Mummy Congress” by Heather Pringle
20. “Generation Dead” by Daniel Waters

Have you, readers, read any of those? Any advice? You can also look at my “Paper brick wall” page to see what else I have and suggest something! 🙂 There’s still 24 hours to do so!

I should be back on Saturday the 16, so you can expect a new post around the 17 or 18, I guess! This trip will be a computer-cure since we won’t have access to any internet (hopefully I’ll survive). At my return, I’m planning on a few new things for the blog, too!

So, see you all again in a week! 🙂

The countdown has begun!

The countdown has begun!

Five days from now, the Man of the House and I will be sitting on the beach and drinking pina coladas in Cuba! Only 5 nights left before we jump in the plane to what was supposed to be our Mexican vacation (but as you can guess, now is not exactly a good time to go there.) I’m excited, but I still have a lot to do before we go: haircut, posting reviews for the 5 books waiting on my desk, last minute shopping, etc.

And of course, packing.

So, how does a book-addict pack her bags for a one week vacation on the beach?

(yes, I did it again : I draw!)

Musing Mondays; the infamous TBR pile! (2)

This week’s Musing Mondays question (see more answers here) :

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile?

Oooh, the dreaded number!

Last time I tried counting the piles of books sitting on my desk, I stopped at 100. There were a few left to be counted, but knowing I had over a hundred books sitting there made me dizzy. Considering my reading speed, it would take me around 2 years reading them all! And that’s not counting the new books that will join those with time (I blame you for that, book-bloggers!) An untrained eye would think my TBR pile’s number is pretty stable, but in fact, it is getting bigger with subtlety. I read one, then buy two. I read two, I buy three! 

Here’s a picture I took of the West wall of the Paper Brick Wall, almost a month ago. The front pile has already gotten bigger by about five books since. The rest of the books are on my right, 4 piles on the edge of my desk, counting the biggest part of the complete TBR pile (around 80). 

Finally, as you’ll notice, I don’t really have a “system”; mostly, I just try to keep the piles stable. The last thing I want is to die crushed by a pile of books I haven’t read yet! 😛

Musing Mondays; the infamous TBR pile!

I decided to answer this week question, as my TBR pile is very dear to me! You can see this week’s question by clicking here. Have fun!

As a follow up to last week’s question, Joseph asked how you keep track of your tbr list. Do you have a paper list or on your computer? Do you take it with you when you go shopping? How do you decide what gets added to it?

Basically, my TBR pile is my desk. Everytime I buy a book, it sits on my desk, waiting to be read. I used to keep them on a seperate shelf in my bookshelf, but then I would often forget about them. Having them under my eyes is a good remember, as weel as a great incentive when I’m tempted to buy the whole Amazon’s book section!

I don’t keep a precise track of the books I have, but I recently put up the Paper Brick Wall page here on the blog. It’s not complete, but it gives a good idea of what’s on my desk. I’ll have to post pictures soon so everyone can witness the disaster! 😛

As for how I decide what gets added to it, it’s a mix of everything: blogs or readers communities, other people’s suggestions, books from an author I’ve already read from, books that cath my eye in the bookstore, etc. I’m more selective now though, and I try to borrow more books from the library instead of buying-buying-buying.

Cover Madness

I fell in love with The Thirteenth Tale‘s cover when I first saw it in store, a while ago, when it was still new and nobody I asked to knew what it was about.

Since then, it has reached a certain level of popularity and most people, if they haven’t read it, have at least heard of it. Reviews have been written, time has passed, the book went from hard cover to paperback and still, I didn’t own my copy.

Last weekend I went to the used books bookstore, thinking I wouldn’t find anything else new when, on the floor in a box, I saw the side of a book titled The Thirteenth Tale. I took it in my hands, frowned; that was not the cover I knew and loved! Still, I wanted to read the book; it was a large paperback, which are usually my favorites, and it was only 5$. After a few moments of putting the book back in the box, taking it in my hands again, putting it back in the box, etc. I decided to bring it back home.

    

Only today, we went to the bookstore, and they had a sale. 

I hate sales. They sell all those great books I’ve been wanting to read for so long and then I have to make a choice and I can’t make a choice so I end up ruined. It happends every time! And amids all the other great books, was The Thirteenth Tale, all new and in hard cover and with the cover I love. This book looks great in hard cover. Really.

Which means I now have two copies of a same book I haven’t even read yet. It’s Emma all over again! (I have 3 copies of Emma, and I have yet to read it). I just hope I’ll love it. Maybe I’ll giveaway the paperback copy?