Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Goodbye Summer Read-a-thon Sign Up

Hosted by Bookmarklit

I'm kind of on a break from read-a-thons, but this one sounds awesome so I'm joining. 

The goal of this read-a-thon is to read summer books or books we wanted to read this summer, but didn't. I'm planning on finishing Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, starting The Night Circus by Erin Morgansten, and possibly start The Distance Between Us by Kasie West. 

Head on over and join this read-a-thon. It sounds like a lot of fun. I don't plan on getting a whole lot done since I will be in college and my classes have a lot of reading and homework that go with them. Something is better than nothing. 

Bout of Books 11 Wrap Up


I read 250 pages in 6 hours and 5 minutes in 7 days which is an average of 35 pages per day and about 52 minutes per day. 

Books Started:


Unfortunately the only book I made progress on is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I was hoping to read more, but it was a busy week. This was probably by far my worst Bout of Books. Hopefully I will do better in January. 

Monday, August 18, 2014

Bout of Books Progress

Bout of Books
Bout of Books
Day 1 August 18th











pg 112 to pg 142 

Today was a stressful day at work, which has left me pretty tired and not in the mood for reading. I'm going to get some reading done now before I go to bed. I have a dermatologist appointment in the morning. I always get a good 30 pages done at her office. Then we are planning on going to see The Giver as our going back to school tradition.

Pages Read: 30
Time Read: 45 minutes

Day 2 August 19th











pg 142 to pg 187



Pages Read: 45
Time Read: 58 minutes
Total Pages Read:75
Total Time Read: 1 hour 43 minutes

Day 3 August 20th











pg 187 to pg 271

Pages Read: 84
Time Read: 2 hours 6 minutes
Total Pages Read: 159
Total Time Read: 3 hours 49 minutes

Day 4 August 21st












pg 271 to pg 298

Pages Read: 27
Time Read: 49 minutes
Total Pages Read: 186
Total Time Read: 4 hours 38 minutes

Day 5 August 22nd












pg 298 to pg 316

Pages Read: 18
Time Read: 16 minutes
Total Pages Read: 204
Total Time Read: 4 hours 54 minutes

Day 6 August 23rd












pg 316 to pg 337

Pages Read: 21
Time Read: 27 minutes
Total Pages Read: 225
Total Time Read: 5 hours 21 minutes

Day 7 August 24th












pg 337 to pg 362

Pages Read: 25
Time Read: 44 minutes
Total Pages Read: 250
Total Time Read: 6 hours 5 minutes

Bout of Books 11 Sign Up

Bout of Books

I know I'm late with the sign up, but I will be participating in Bout of Books 11. This Bout of Books takes place during my final week of summer so between work, packing, and a wedding we are attending it is going to be a busy week. Bout of Book is organized by Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal and Amanda @ On a Book Bender. You can find out more information at the Bout of Books Blog.

My goal this week is to finish Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and start The Distance Between Us by Kasie West. I would also like to read around 12 hours. 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Book Review: Little City by the Lake by Celia Wilkins (The Caroline Series #6) (no spoilers)

Book: Little City by the Lake
Author: Celia Wilkins
Publication: April 15th, 2003
Source: Local Library
Read: July 18th-22nd, 2014
Summary (from Goodreads):
Spirit of the Western FrontierFifteen-year-old Caroline is leaving her Concord home for the first time to live with her aunt and uncle in Milwaukee, where she will attend Milwaukee Female College. At first, Caroline is frightened by the big, bustling city, and she finds school more challenging than she expected. But she soon begins to enjoy all the excitement Milwaukee has to offer. As the school year comes to a close, Caroline wonders if living in the city is the life for her.

 Little City by the Lake is the sixth book in The Caroline Years, an ongoing series about another girl from America's favorite pioneer family
.

My Thoughts:
In this novel Caroline is 15 and she is going off to the big city of Milwaukee to attend the Milwaukee Female College to study to be a teacher. It was nice seeing Caroline so grown up and exploring a big city when she is used to small country life. I loved her reaction to the modern conviences we take advantage of today. Could you imagine not having running water? 

There was a lot of things I liked about this book. Meeting Caroline's aunt and uncle, learning about the printing shop, her interaction with her friends, and her interaction with James. I did miss seeing Caroline's family be part of the story. Charlotte (Caroline's mom) had a very small part in the story. Caroline often talked about how much she missed her family and enjoyed keeping in touch through letters. It was realistic that her family wasn't apart of this novel as they were so far away. Her mother's marriage to Fedrick Holbrook and the birth of their daughter Lottie was mention. By the way this is part is historically correct. 

I think as the next book has Caroline married to Charles there will be some plot holes. He wasn't even mentioned in this novel. We will see when I get around to read the final novel. I do hope libraries keep these books around because I would love to read these to my children. As far as buying them goes they are super expensive since they are out of print. I hope that my children will be able to enjoy this novel. I know I did. I enjoyed going back into the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder especially since we recently saw the play in Walnut Grove so I was in the mood for the pioneer lifestyle. 

Friday, August 8, 2014

Book Review: The Real Boy by Anne Ursu (no spoilers)

Book: The Real Boy
Author: Anne Ursu
Publication: September 23rd, 2013
Source: Local Library
Read: July 13th-18th, 2014
Summary (from Goodreads):
On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called Asteri, a perfect city that was saved by the magic woven into its walls from a devastating plague that swept through the world over a hundred years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the earth with magic. And the boy is called Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow. Oscar spends his days in a small room in the dark cellar of his master's shop, grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once lived on the island generations ago. Oscar's world is small, but he likes it that way. The real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in it.

 But it's been a long time since anyone who could call himself a wizard walked the world, and now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill, and something sinister lurks in the forest. Oscar has long been content to stay in his small room in the cellar, comforted in the knowledge that the magic that flows from the trees will keep his island safe. Now, even magic may not be enough to save it
.

My Thoughts:
It has been a week since I finished this magical retelling of Pinocchio. It has taken me that long to form the words to describe this amazing book. I have also read Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu and I liked Breadcrumbs, but I wanted more from that novel. I wanted more detail and more adventure. All that was missing in Breadcrumbs was put into The Real Boy and more. 

Oscar is the shop boy working for one of the most powerful magician, Caleb. Oscar at times reminded me of Cinderella because he did chores, and he was mostly supposed to stay hidden from the customers especially the shining people which are the city people that have a lot of money. I love Oscar as a character because he had his weak qualities and his faults, he had stuff that he said he wasn't good at, but at the end of the day Oscar took risks and stuck his neck out for people. Then there is Callie who is a healer's apprentice. She is supposed to have the magic to heal, but Oscar knows more about herbs and healing people than she does. 

With the two of them together they go on an adventure and to dangerous links to help the sick city children. Along the way they discover many secrets about the city children and what is making them sick. The Real Boy was an amazing novel. I loved the magic and the mystery in this book. The characters were also another bonus for me and how the author weaved Pinocchio's story into the novel I thought was great. The artwork in The Real Boy was great, but there wasn't a whole lot so it added to the magical feeling of this book. Definitely one of my favorites of this year, so I highly recommend The Real Boy. 


The Real Boy was my June Random Read. The Real Boy was a magical fairy tale retelling of Pinocchio that I fell in love with and it will be on my favorites list of 2014. 

Monday, August 4, 2014

July Wrap Up and August TBR

This is just going to be a quick wrap up as it is 12:30 am and time for me to go to bed before we leave for vacation tomorrow morning. July was a super productive month I read 7 books and I really enjoyed them all although some more than others. I completed my June and July random read in July so I'm really proud of that.

I start the month off by finishing The Rules for Breaking by Ashley Elston, which I enjoyed, but it wasn't as great as the first one. Then I read Kailyn Lowry's book Pride Over Pity which was a super quick read followed by Rumpelstiltskin by Jenni James which tops the serieas as my favorite book so far. Then I read Popular by Maya Van Wagenen, which was truly inspirational. Then I read The Real Boy by Anne Ursu and Little City by the Lake by Celia Wilkins during the Booktubeathon. My reviews for both will be up while we are on vacation. Ash by Malinda Lo was my final book of the month. This was such a unique retelling of Cinderella.


I wasn't going to do a TBR this month since we are going to gone and I don't usually read while we are on vacation, but I know what happened last year. I set three books as my July TBR and I completed all of them. I hope to do the same here, but with how busy August is and us being gone I'm not going to worry too much whether I finish all three of these books. I do hope to read owned books this month. I own all three of these books. The books are Don't Call me Baby by Gwedolyn Hensley, The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith, and To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han.

Can you believe how fast this year is flying? I can't believe month 7 is over. More to come when I'm back from vacation.