Thursday Thoughts: TBR Lists

Thursday Thoughts is Hosted by Okay Let's Read. It is a weekly meme to discuss our thoughts on bookish topics. I don't usually participate, but I was interested in today's topic.

This week we are talking about Monthly TBR Lists - Do you make a small TBR list every month (or week)? If so, how strict are you on following your TBR? If not, why not/have you tried it before? Do you feel like making a regular TBR each month (or other increment of time) helps or hurts your reading habits? [TBR = To Be Read]

TBR Lists

I originally did a post about this topic in March last year after an epic TBR fail. I only read 2/6 books from my TBR list. I called it Not Sticking to My TBR Pile and discussed my thoughts. 

Here's my March 2013 TBR. The only two books I read from it were The Host by Stephanie Meyer and Cinder by Marissa Meyer. 

I rolled over the books that I hadn't read over to the next month. I read 4/6 books off my April 2013 TBR. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer sat on my TBR List from March 2013- June 2013. I loved it when I was in the mood to read it. Under the Never Sky is a book I have heard rave reviews about, but I didn't understand the story about 100 pages in so I quit. I also had did not enjoy Splintered. 

My last TBR for 2013 was in May. I finished almost all of the books besides Scarlet. Then I announced at the end of May that there would no June TBR. I wanted to have a relaxing month and pick out what I wanted to read. It worked I read 8 books, but then it went downhill. I used to have such good school reading habits, but college is a lot different from high school. I don't read books in class like I used to. I don't use time management as well as I did in high school because I have so much more access to my electronics. The first half of the year while I was in high school and the first month of summer I read 47 books. Then I slowed down drastically when I took 3 summer classes (math, speech, and leadership) in 4 weeks! Read My Recap Here. I only read about one or two books a month for the rest of 2013. I read 19 books in the second six months of 2013. I still read a total of 66 books in 2013 which I am proud of. 

When January came I knew I wanted to make some changes. I wanted to create better reading habits at college and so far they have worked great. I cut out technology a bit in favor of more reading time and have been averaging about 5 books a month since then. I set my TBR list with about 5 books, but I don't worry if I deviate from it. If I don't read a book I role it over to the next month so far I have been enjoying the books I have read this year and completing my TBR list. They have been a source of motivation for me this year rather than a list the I have to stick to (chore). I let myself deviate and read what books I want to read that way. In the other way I'm proud when I do complete my TBR list. They are fun once more. 

Here is my June 2014 TBR. Currently I'm reading The One and Only by Emily Giffin and enjoying it then I'm most likely going to start The Rules for Disapearing by Ashley Easton. The Frog Princess, Tender Morsels, and Clockwork Angel are all rollovers from May's TBR that I hope to get to. 

In conclusion I like making monthly TBR. I think they give me a guide for books that I may read for the month. I have most of them checked out from the library when I make the TBR so I have a good idea that I'm going to read them soon. 

May Challenge Wrap Up 2014

I joined two new challenges this month. The Book of the Year Bracket Challenge although you won't see any action from this one until January 2015 when I choose my book of the year. Summer Reads which primarily focuses on YA books read during the summer. 

This month I read 6 books and 3 novellas. The books were Open Road Summer by Emery Lord, Reread: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Just Destiny by Theresa Rizzo, Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey, Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James, and Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel. The novellas were Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows, Cinderella is Evil by Jamie Campell, and The Queen's Army by Marissa Meyer. 


2014 Monthly Keyword Hosted by Bookmark to Blog.
Months Left to Completed: January, February, March, April, September, November, December

I made a mistake and realized that Beauty and the Beast by Jenni James which I read in February could count for my May Keyword Read. Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey completed July. Another mistake I made with last month's update is with True Colors by Kristin Hannah which completes June. The Fairest of Them All which I read in January has The in it and therefore can count for October. I have seven months left to complete. I'm hoping to tackle a few more this month. 

New Author Reading Challenge Hosted by  Literary Escapism
16/25 new authors
New Authors Added this Month: Emery Lord, Theresa Rizzo, Jamie Campell, Alyssa B. Sheinmel.

Library Reading Challenge Hosted by Book Dragon's Lair 
25/36
Books Added this Month: Open Road Summer by Emery Lord, Reread: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak,  Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey, Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James, and Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel. 

Finishing the Series Challenge Hosted by Socrates Book Reviews
2 series finished
No new series finished this month

2014 Series Challenge Hosted by Read, Sleep Repeat

Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey, Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James, Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows. 

Prequel Sequel Challenge Hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Writer Grrl Reads

Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey (#2) 2 points

 Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James (#2) 2 points

 Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows (#2.5) 1 point

Total for this Month: 5 points

Total for this Year: 37 points

Series Enders Hosted by Somewhere Only We Know. 

2/5 series enders

Added this month: None

Rewind Challenge Hosted by Coffee Bean Bookshelf 

3/6 novels I read this month would count for the challenge. So far I have read 28 books for this challenge

Everything YA reading challenge Hosted by Books and Iced Coffee.

23 books for this challenge so far. Novellas count. 

Added this Month:  Open Road Summer by Emery Lord, Reread: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak,  Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey, Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James, and Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel. The novellas were Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows, Cinderella is Evil by Jamie Campell, and The Queen's Army by Marissa Meyer. 

Fairy Tales Retold Hosted by Debz Bookshelf. and Retellings Challenge Hosted by The Nighttime Novelist.

10/12 Novellas don't count. 

Added this Month:Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey, Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James, and Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel. 

I just moved up this month and it looks like I will be moving up again soon because I'm still in a fairy tale mood. 

A Year of Rereading Hosted by caffeinatedlife. 

2/1-4

Reread this month: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is most likely the end of this challenge for me. I see myself only read new to me books from here on out. 

Kristin Hannah Reading Challenge Hosted by Rachael Turns Pages. 

2/3-4

Read This Month: None

Quick Fix Challenge Hosted by Jessie's Book Place. 

18/15 books

Books Added this Month:  Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows, Cinderella is Evil by Jamie Campell, Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey, Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James, Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel, The Queen's Army by Marissa Meyer

The In the Middle Reading Challenge Hosted by Rachael Turns Pages

13/20 books

Books Added this Month: Open Road Summer by Emery Lord, Just Destiny by Theresea Rizzo

2014 Chunkster Challenge Hosted by Chunkster Challenge. 

5/10 books

Books Added this Month: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Book Bingo Hosted by Anne and Kristilyn's Book Bingo 

 Not much left and this challenge will be complete. 

Dystopia Challenge Hosted by Blog of Erised

4/7 books

Added this Month: None

Don't Let it End Hosted by Fiktshun

Added  Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows,  Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey

Sequel Spring Hosted by Words in a Teacup.

3/3-5 books

Read This Month: Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows,  Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey

Spring into a Good Book Hosted by Book Dragon's Lair and Spring Reading Thing Hosted by Musings of a Book Addict. 

I have seven books to read for both of these challenges. Hopefully I will be able to complete them both by June 20th. 

Once Upon a Time hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings.

5/1

Already finished with this one, but I'm going to read as many retellings as possible before the challenge ends. 

Summer Reading Program Hosted by Katie's Book Blog and Summer Reads Hosted by My Heart Hearts Books
7 books so far picture soon. 

Book Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (no spoilers)

Book: Attachments
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publication: April 14th, 2011
Source: Goodreads First Reads
Summary (from Goodreads):

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "

 Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

 Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

 When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

 By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

 What would he say . . . ?

.

My Thoughts:

I read Attachments during Dewey's Readathon and read this whole book in one day.

Attachments was entertaining. There wasn't anything serious about Attachments. It showed the friendship between Beth and Jennifer through their email conversations. At first I struggled to picture them as characters because I was seeing them just through emails. The more involved Lincoln got attached to Beth and Jennifer the more connected I got to them.

Lincoln's job sure was interesting. He is literally paid to read emails and report the people. Lincoln feels guilty doing this job and I think I would too. Especially when his relationship starts to build with Beth. It seems one sided, but it isn't as one sided as it seems.

Attachments was a quick moving, entertaining, light read. I had a lot of fun reading this book and it was the perfect cheerful book that I needed to read. I'm excited that Rainbow Rowell had another winner.

Switching Blogger Accounts: My Experience

For fun the other day I decided I would go sign in to my old hotmail accounts to see how much junk mail I had on both of them. I have used either of the accounts in years except I use one as my Facebook login and I use another as my youtube/blog log in. I couldn't remember my password for either account and went to change my password. Then I logged in with the new password only to get that Somebody Else May Be Using my Account. I clicked the next button and was taken a Microsoft Form to prove this was my account. I was asked to give them past passwords, recently sent emails, created folders, and people in my contacts. Of course I couldn't remember any of that because as I said I haven't touched either account for years. My account was suspended because I didn't provide enough information, which means I will never be able to get into those accounts again.

My Facebook I'm not worried about losing access to Facebook. Maybe I should be, but my blog on the other hand that scared me that if I lose access to my blog I lose all the hard work  I have put in for the last year and a half! That fact truly scared me! I went on the hunt to find out if I could transfer my blog to a new account. I'm still going to keep my other account running, but I'm going to start making posts from this account.

All I had to do was go and add the new account as a blog administrator and its done. I now own this blog. As far as what you guys see nothing will change because I made my name the same. This makes me feel so much better to have a new email that I have access to.

This is also leaving behind a piece of my past. I primarily created the last google account for my Youtube channel which now only has a few lyric videos I made left on it. This new account probably won't have any Youtube videos on it, but we will see. I am going to go through my old subscriptions and transfer them over to this new Youtube account. Now I feel a lot more comfortable with my blogger/Youtube account. Now I just have to decide if I'm going to create a new Facebook or not. I really don't want to just because of all the history that is on the old Facebook. My photos would go onto the new Facebook, but the posts would not.

Top Ten Books That Will Be in My Beach Bag

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I'm back with Top Ten Tuesday. I haven't done one of these posts for a while mostly because these are time consuming posts to make. This post is going to double as my beach reads/ summer TBR. I pick all these books off my Operation Summer TBR List which I'm slowly making my way through with only one bonus that wasn't on there. 

Although I won't be reading on the beach this summer sitting in my backyard is a definite possibility. I'm hoping to read these books this summer. 

 1. The One and Only by Emily Giffin- currently reading
2. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han- Summer is in the title so it perfect for this time of the year.
3. Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham- I have wanted to read this book for a while.
4. How Zoe Made Her Dream (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer- a light quick read for the summer.
5. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West- I love Kasie West so I can't wait to read this novel.

6. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins- Companion to Anna and the French Kiss, I'm ready to read this one. 

7. Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian- My sister loved it so I think that I will too. 

8. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick- I have wanted to read this book for a while and I think it will be the perfect summer read. 

9. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George- I have wanted to read this one for a while also. I think this summer is a great time to tackle it.