First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

Read Last Week:

• The Fury by L.J. Smith
• Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith
• Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran
• The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Currently Reading:

• The Queen’s Mistake by Diane Haeger

Plan To Read This Week:

• Alice in Rapture, Sort of by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (my last book for my challenges this year)
• The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
• Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi and she was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie!

Won From Goodreads

• Truly, Madly by Heather Webber

From Paperbackswap

• Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
• The Au Pairs by Melissa De La Cruz
• Nobody’s Princess by Esther Friesner

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

• Alice in Rapture, Sort Of  by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Ash by Malinda Lo
• The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

Read Last Week:

• Son of a Witch by Gregory McGuire
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
• Revelations by Melissa De La Cruz

Currently Reading:

• The Fury by L.J. Smith

To Read This Week:

• Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran
• Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith
• The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi and she was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie!

I know last week I said I was going to lay off the books.  Well then this package arrived.  I had completely given up on the book club.  I’ve been trying to rejoin for months now with no luck.  I was beginning to think I was going to have to go buy the expensive versions of all the books by authors I like to keep!  So, this was a wonderful surprise.

• Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
• The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
• After by Amy Efaw
• Relentless by Dean Koontz
• Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb
• The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

I’ve been meaning to do this meme for awhile now.  I’ve been an avid library person for about 6 months now.   I seem to have passed on this love to my older daughter as well.  She likes to go and get new books too.  So, we go about once a week.   Here is what I got this week…

• The Fury and Dark Reunion (Vampire Diaries #3 & #4) by L.J. Smith
• Revelations by Melissa De La Cruz
• The Queen’s Mistake by Diane Haeger
• The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
• Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran

I’m so excited about this weeks haul!  If you would like to know more about each book, just click on the cover picture!

One of my challenges this year was to read 5 Pulitzer Prize winners.  For me this was easier said than done.  I don’t read a lot of books that qualify, let alone win!  So here is what I did read this year…

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Hours by Michael Cunningham
• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Of these, I liked To Kill A Mockingbird best.  I can’t believe I have never read it!  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  would probably be next, but I don’t think it’s book everybody would enjoy.  The Stone Diaries and  The Hours were just okay in my opinion.  I did not like  The Color Purple at all.  I had to make myself finish it.

First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

Read Last Week:

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
• Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Currently Reading:

• Son of a Witch by Gregory McGruire

To Read This Week:

• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
• The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman

I think that might be all I’m able to fit in this week.  The Three Musketeers is much bigger than I realized

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi and she was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie!

I’m trying to slowdown a little in the book department.  We will see how that goes

• Fate by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• In the Shadow of the Crown by Jean Plaidy

First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week.  I tried to get a review posted, but vacation got in the way    The family and I were in Chicago for Thanksgiving week.  Now, it’s back to the grind.   I have some serious catching up to do! 

Read Last Week:

• 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster

Currently Reading:

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

To Read This Week:

• Specials by Scott Westerfeld
• Son of a Witch by Gregory McGuire

First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

Read Last Week:

• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr. and Cindy Kelley
• The Awakening by L.J. Smith
• The Struggle by L.J. Smith

I think my favorite of last week was The Silent Gift.  It surprised me!

Currently Reading:

• Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith

To Read:

• Masquerade by Melissa De La Cruz

In case you didn’t know, I’m a huge Twilight fan (yes I’m one of those people lol!).  So, I plan to reread the series this week before New Moon comes out.

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi and she was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie!

WON!!

• Ruined by Paula Morris

From Paperbackswap

• The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
• The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson
• The Reluctant Queen (Queen’s of England #8) by Jean Plaidy aka Victoria Holt

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi and she was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie!

Well the family and I enjoyed a brief vacation in Sun Valley, Idaho this weekend.  Lots of fun for all of us!!  Now, it’s back to the grind for 2 more weeks before our big vaction to Chicago to visit family for Thanksgiving!

For Review:

• The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr. and Cindy Kelley
• 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster

First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

I had a fantastic week last week.  I can’t believe I got in 5 books.  I’m only going for 3 this week.  Mostly because we will be out-of-town this weekend and also because I have  a feeling Oliver Twist will take me a little longer than normal.  But, I need to finish it for my classics challenge!

Read Last Week:

• Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
• The Lightning Thief  by Rick Riordan
• Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
• Magic Study by Maria V Snyder
• The Forrest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Reading Now:

• The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman

Up This Week:

• Fire Study by Maria V Snyder
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi and she was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie!

I traded with Debbie from Debbie’s World of Books and got the following:

• Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri and Dani Nayeri
• The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

 From Paperbackswap.com

• Stray (Shifters #1) by Rachel Vincent
• The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

Hmmm..I had to write another Book Meme. I love them so. I do. I came across this one on www.jonobacon.org so here goes:

• Grab the Nearest Book
• Open it to page 56
• Find the fifth sentence
• Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions: “Don’t dig for your favourite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one. Pick the CLOSEST!”

Well so the closest book to me right now is “Genesis” by Bernard Beckett. The fifth sentence on Page 56 is:

The Head Examiner waited for her to move into place and then straight went into the next question, as if the break had happened only in her imagination.

I am so so loving this book right now. Can’t wait to post about it.

First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

Read Last Week

• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• The Manufactured Identity by Heath Sommers – review to come tomorrow!

Currently Reading

• Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

To Read This Week

• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
• Magic Study (Study #2) by Maria Snyder

Thanks to last weekend’s read-a-thon and the Cybils, last week was my best reading week in months! I read:

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts
B.P.R.D. #2: The Soul of Venice and Other Stories
The Year of the Sparrows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Imogene’s Antler’s by David Small
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Sleeping Ugly by Jane Yolen

Amulet 1: The Stonkeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
Amulet 2: The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi
Angels in America by Tony Kushner

The Professor’s Daughter by Joann Sfar
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant

Not Shown:

The Imaginary Garden by Andrew Larsen
Humpty, Dumpty Climbs Again by Dave Horowitz
The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino
Babymouse: Dragon Slayer by Jennifer L. Holm
Abigail Spells by Anna Alter
Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden byEdith Pattou

Right now I’m reading

Peter and Max by Bill Willingham
Hide Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Admissions by Jean Hanff Korelitz

This week I also plan on reading:

The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry

What are you reading this week?

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi and she was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie!

I loved my mailbox this week.  Granted these all came in one package, but I was so excited to get it.  Thanks again to my mother in law for the gift card!

• Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers #1) by Rachel Vincent
• Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
• Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
• The Devouring by Simon Holt
• I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I Would Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1) by Ally Carter

Got this from my friend Lisa over at Tie Me In Words.

What books are your comfort reading–the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
I like to read my girly manga when I’m super stressed. They’re quick, funny and I’m always guaranteed a happy ending (for the most part). My current favorites are Absolute Boyfriend and Chibi Vampire (Oh I am so a girl…)

What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
Harold and the Purple Crayon, because everything he drew came to life. Art has always been a part of me, but when I look back its this book that stands out as the one that helped me know this is what I wanted to do.

What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block. In the explosion of the new young adult genre, this one has sadly been left out. Its a collection of five books that contain all the things of which the “new” young adult genre consists. Fantasy, romance, coming of age, dealing with peer pressure, same sex relationships, wish fulfillment, and the list goes on and on. But because Block doesn’t bother adhering to our rules of reality, her book has gotten lost in the fray. I gave this book to all of my friends in high school to read, with the understanding that they had to write in the margins, underline passages and make commentary if they read it. My copy is much loved and has ink on almost every page. It’s probably my most treasured high school possession.

What is the most unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf–the books you’ve bought but just never get around to reading?
Zombie genre! And that’s really because my husband is interested in them and I’m not. The books I buy and don’t read have no collective genre. I started to list some examples but the amount of books I just haven’t gotten to yet is almost embarrassing. And yet I’ve almost doubled my 52 in 52 challenge.

What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
If there’s a book I want to read, I’ll read it. There’s really little discretion. If a book sucks, I wont read it. Or I will and I’ll hate it. But no genre is safe from my eyes!

What’s the oddest book you’ve ever read?
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar would have to be the oddest book I’ve read. It teaches philosophy by telling jokes. I wish I’d had it before I took the class in college, it may have been a more entertaining experience. I’d recommend it to anyone with a sense of humor and any slight appreciation of philosophy.

What book were you never able to get through,despite the recommendations of people you respect?
A book has to be pretty ass-tastic for me to not finish it. I never got through Dark Lover on the first three attempts. I think I’ve mentioned before that I threw it against a wall many times. Then about 6 months later I picked up the third book in the series, Lover Awakened, the best according to the author and many fans. Then I was hooked and eventually read the other books. I’m now a big fan of the vampire smut. (If you take issue with romance novels, I suggest you hit up Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and rethink your previous assumptions about the largest genre in the publishing industry.)

What’s the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as promised once you finally made it?
See above. >.< To back up in time though, I would say Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. That’s right, when I got this book as a gift I absolutely refused to read it. I started it a few times, never getting past the first three chapters. Then one day I sat down and read more. Holy crap! It was so good! It’s now listed among my favorite books of all time.

What’s your favorite short story–or do you even have one?
Melissa Marr wrote a short story called Love Struck in the YA anthology Love is Hell. I read it before I picked up her novel Wicked Lovely and instantly fell in love with her writing style and her ability to make strong themes interesting enough to read about. Marr does a fantastic job of writing not just a great story, but she touches on things that are really important, while making it enjoyable at the same time. Love Struck was a great story, as is her Wicked Lovely series. If you haven’t read them yet, I strongly urge you to do so.

The desert island. Three books (and collected works don’t count. If you want the Lord of the Rings it’ll cost you all three slots). Go:

1. Ink Exchange – Melissa Marr’s second book in the Wicked Lovely series. If you haven’t read what I had to say about it back in April, go read it now. It’s all the way at the bottom of the post. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Melissa Marr even responded, saying I’d made her day. Well… she pretty much made mine too.
2. Lover Awakened – This is one of my favorite vampire smut books and if I only get three books to read forever this one is going in the mix. This book broke my heart, but it also has a fantastic resolution in the end. JR Ward has broken a lot of the romance rules in her series, and this one is a great example. It’s not exactly a happy ending… not at first anyway.
3. Plato and a Platypus – I’m going to go ahead and throw some humor in here, since I can’t just say Terry Pratchet’s entire Discworld series and I could never ever pick just one to show favoritism to. If I need a good laugh I’ll know where to find it, and I can philophize my predicament at the same time.

Stole this from a friend – I can never resist a good book meme!

What books are your comfort reading–the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
Books are a bit Turret’s like for me—if I read something kind of awful, my own life seems better by comparison, I guess?  So when I’m really stressed, I like to read books about hard times, like Joanne Greenberg’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, or The Joy Luck Club.  That said… I might always lean towards no-brain fun, too.

What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
Mmm… let’s see.  When I was very small it as Who’s a Pest? a book by Crosby Bonsall about a little boy who everyone insists is a pest—even though he says he’s not.  It’s a strange, funny little book, that involves everything from mean sisters to talking animals, and an all-consuming pit.  It’s hard to explain, you’d have to read it.  When I was a little older, though, I was a big fan of Mercer Mayer books, and the Alexander books by Judith Viorst (especially Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday).

What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
Undoubtedly Just as Long as We’re Together by Judy Blume.   That book almost single-handedly got me through the break-up with my first (and second, really) best friend.  Stephanie Hirsch was the first fictional character who I really saw as a reflection of my life—or what my life could be.  She was what Rory Gilmore would be in a few years down the line.  This is also the book that got me serious—at age eleven—about writing young adult books.

What is the most unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf–the books you’ve bought but just never get around to reading?
The ones I buy but haven’t read?  Are probably mainly in the non-fiction genre.  There are certain periods of history that I love—love, love, love, like the American Revolution and the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, and so I have a few books that I own that cover those periods, but I haven’t read any of them.  Also under that list would be anthologies.  I have a few either from classes (writing on music, etc) and gifts from friends, but I just don’t jump into them very often.

What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
There are a few of them.  I tend to get very comfortable either in classics or in young adult or children’s fantasy… so almost anything outside of that is (embarrassingly) kind of a gray area for me.  The ones that I’d really love to say I read are mystery novels—I feel like I’m missing out on a great genre, and the ones I’ve read I’ve enjoyed, but I just don’t go looking for them.  I’d also like to say that I appreciated a good Grisham—because really, everybody is supposed to like Grisham, but all I’ve read was The Pelican Brief, and that was enforced (high school book report).  I’d like to say I’d read Michener, too.  My mother loves his novels, and I love the look and the idea of them… but I’ve never so much as opened one.

What’s the oddest book you’ve ever read?
Does The Host count?  Because I have likened parts of that novel to a Miyazaki film on crack.  Outside of the illustrious Miss Meyer, however… I would have to say… actually, no.  I really think The Host might be the oddest book I’ve read.

What book were you never able to get through,despite the recommendations of people you respect?
I can’t think of one off the top of my head.  Possibly Wicked?  Maybe Eragon as well.

What’s the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as promised once you finally made it?
I don’t do this very often.  The only one I can even remember is Jane Eyre.  Which I started for the first time when I was twelve—I hated the childhood section of that book, and so I kept putting it down.  It remains to this day the only book I’ve ever literally thrown across the room (more than once, I believe) in frustration—and my ugly little orange paperback bears the marks as proof.  It took me months to get through Lowood.  Once I got to Thornfield, though, I was hooked, hooked, hooked, and it is almost definitely my favorite book of all time.

What’s your favorite short story–or do you even have one?
I’m not very good at reading short stories, I’ll admit.  There was one in a literature book of mine in high school, though, called “Chasing Summer,” that I really loved, all about a couple who, after a thermo-nuclear war, chase the patches of light that make their way through the nuclear winter sky.  I also really love “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury… actually, I love his “A Sound of Thunder,” also.  Reason why I’ve always wanted to read more Bradbury (that should go with Grisham and Michener, above).

The desert island. Three books (and collected works don’t count. If you want the Lord of the Rings it’ll cost you all three slots). Go:
1. Jane Eyre… it’s a debate between this and Persuasion, but as yet Jane Eyre continues to have the smallest of edges.
2. Great Expectations—maybe.  Not because it’s one of my favorites (it’s kind of not) but just because I think analyzing it would last me years. 
3. Fingerprints: Payback by Melinda Metz.  At least I think I’d pick this one.  One of the last three, at least.  It’d kill me not to have the full series, though.  Mindless fun—well, mostly mindless.  And one of my biggest fiction OTPs.  Yes, I know you’ve never heard of it.

First, off this is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog.  If you want to participate, head over and join in the fun!

I want to say, while it’s been a good week in the reading department, it’s been a not so good week in the getting the reviews posted.  My husband came home from hunting sicker than sick.  The doctor ruled out everything but H1N1, so that’s what they say he has.  Problem is that the person we thought he caught it from doesn’t have H1N1 (or so his doctor says), so it’s basically just waiting it out and hoping the kids and I don’t come down with whatever he has.  And we all know that men are in dire need of pampering when they are sick (please tell my husband is not the only one!).

Read Last Week

• Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
• Blue Moon by Alyson Noel
• Poison Study  by Maria V Snyder
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Currently Reading

• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

Plan To Read

• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• The Manufacture Identity by Heath Sommer
• Blood Bound  by Patricia Briggs