January 2012 Reading Wrap-Up

I read 10 books this month, which is lower than I expected to read. That said January was a weird month. We’ve been dealing with major work on our house, and paperwork, research, and conversations about a few major life changes that might be coming up this year for us. With all of this I didn’t do as much reading primarily because my head just wasn’t in the right frame. I couldn’t focus on the words on the page for all the thoughts running in my head. February might be somewhat similar in this aspect, but I think a few things have been settled within our house, so I think it should be at least a little better.

In light of some of these potential life changes, and the work we have had done on the house, we are on a major spending freeze right now. This will probably continue for the next few months as well. I struggled with the whole not buying books thing a lot at first, but now I have decided to turn this into a challenge of sorts.

I want to drastically cut my “owned, but not read” stash on our shelves. I know I will buy some new books (like if B&N has another bargain book sale and my Presidential Challenge books) as the year progresses but I hope to keep it to a smaller amount than last year. I won’t tell you the dollar amount we spent in books last year. I use Quicken…so I could pull up this figure real quick…but I don’t think any good could come from it so I’ll just skip it.

I’m taking a lesson from the amazing Jacki at Lovely Little Shelf and will share photos of my (hopefully) shrinking stash. She does hers monthly, but I have so many I’m not sure you would really notice the change so I’m going to share new photos every quarter for now. I will use this post (from the first of the year) as my starting line. 


By my rough count there are 150 books that are mine (both Brett and I's to-read stash is stored together) - I really hope to make a big dent in the stash this year! You can see on this photo (click to enlarge) where the TBR starts and ends...it's a lot, huh?

Here are the books that I read in January:

Dear Bully by Megan Kelley Hall
Blank Slate Kate by Heather Wardell
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Matched by Ally Condie
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Last Founding Father by Harlow Giles Unger
Madame Bovary's Daughter by Linda Urbach
Faith by Jennifer Haigh
Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein
Vision in White by Nora Roberts

One of the pieces of data I am collecting this year that I haven’t before is my page count. I’m going to share this data one my monthly wrap-up posts this year so I can see how each month is different. I’m such a sucker for formulas and data analysis!

Total pages read: 3,477
Average: 347.7
Shortest: 192
Longest: 560



  
 

Review: Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories

Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 1, 2011
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Source: Borrowed from Julie at Book Hooked

From Goodreads: You are not alone

Discover how Lauren Kate transformed the feeling of that one mean girl getting under her skin into her first novel, how Lauren Oliver learned to celebrate ambiguity in her classmates and in herself, and how R.L. Stine turned being the “funny guy” into the best defense against the bullies in his class.

Today’s top authors for teens come together to share their stories about bullying—as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and as perpetrators—in a collection at turns moving and self-effacing, but always deeply personal.

My review: This is a very hard book for me to review, in part because the Mama Wolf comes out in me thinking of my daughter being bullied at some point in her future. Sammie already has glasses, has a life threatening peanut allergy, and has one scar (will be more in the future) above her right eye from her droopy eye-lid repair. She is a walking billboard for a child to make fun of and pick on. Which, breaks my heart…but also lights a fire under us to start building her self-worth and self-esteem now. We want her to know that she is smart, beautiful, intelligent, and worthy of respect. Of course, much of that is hard to express to a toddler, but we try every day.

Guys, this book tore me into pieces. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t cry very much because I was seeing red in my eyes. I was irate for these authors as children. I realize that today things are different – better in some aspects but worse in others. If I ever hear of a teacher in this day-and-age telling a child to suck it up instead of reporting obvious bullying I will not rest until that teacher has gone before their school board to be held accountable. The whole cyber-bullying thing freaks me out – like makes me sick to my stomach freaks me out.

Anyway, enough about me – everyone should read this book. In fact, this should be required reading for all parents. Really – read this!

Tot Tuesday: Alphabetical Sleepy Sheep by Rory K. Zuckerman

Welcome to Tot Tuesday – a weekly feature where I review and share a children’s book. Children’s books are such a big part of my life now that I want to share them for other parents, grandparents or anyone who buys a child a book with the hope of instilling a lifelong love of reading.

The books I review and share are generally books from my daughter’s bookshelves and her library selections. She generally selects library books by a very technical method of grabbing every book in her reach and shoving them into the bag we bring with us. Thus, each week will be a surprising post.

Alphabetical Sleepy Sheep by Rory K. Zuckerman, Maryn Roos (Illustrator) - This book is an absolute riot - for both the kid and the adult reading it! The illustrations are vivid and rich in color, and the text is a rolling tongue twister through the alphabet. Sammie would request us to read the "sheep book" at least once a day. She would attempt to read along with us, pointing out the things she recognized and asking questions (what's that? Why?) when she saw something she didn't know.

I highly recommend this book - especially for preschoolers learning the alphabet. It is one of those books that can last until school-age due to the tongue twisting letter/word combinations.

Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile 

Release Date: January 10, 2012 

Format: Hardcover 

Pages: 313 

Source: Won from Tameka

From Goodreads: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

My review: At one glance this book seems like another book about kids with cancer. I read every one of Lurlene McDaniel’s books in high school - my 2nd favorite book ever is Don’t Die My Love in fact – but this book is SO much more than kids with cancer. It almost becomes this tiny little piece of the whole plot – really, I promise it does. If the whole kids with cancer and/or dying aspect has you leaning towards not reading this you need to get over that issue right now. You will be missing out on a book that will change your heart.

I devoured this book – two sittings ending up with a late night last page turn. I really didn’t have words through much of my reading to explain my feelings and emotions – it was that powerful. I was left without the power to speak coherent sentences. Heck, I couldn’t even form coherent thoughts, let alone speaking out loud. I’m still struggling with writing this review many days later. So let me put this out there:

Everyone should read this - no, really everyone.

The writing is beautiful. The story is rich and perfect. The characters are real, flawed, and amazing. I laughed hysterically – snorting out loud kind of funny. I read passages to Brett because they were so hilarious. I cried. I sobbed. I let these characters touch my heart. And I am viewing life a bit differently now.

I have had a lot of thoughts and emotional worrying lately about my life goals and what’s reachable and worth the time spent obtaining it. This book came at a perfect time in my life and truly touched me. Life is what you make of it – big, small, or in between. These characters have reminded me that life without fame or far-reaching impacts is STILL a life worth living. People around the world may never know my name, I may never get a book on the shelves in my local bookstore…but that’s ok. I have warm relationships with the people most important to me and that is legacy enough. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still going to work towards some of my big/lofty dreams, but at the end of the day my legacy isn’t dependant on those dreams being reached. The people I love are.

So, when I say this book changed the way I see life – it really did. I found a sort of peace within my inner juggling. I think when that gets off balance again; I will pull out this book for a re-read to re-center myself. 

 

In My Mailbox - January 29, 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is an opportunity to share any books I have received this week in my mailbox, on my nook or in my hands.

This week I got one review book, one book I won via Twitter, one book from Paperback Swap, one signed book from a great friend...and one book I still can't figure out why I received it.

The book won via Twitter

Top book - Book tour. Bottom book - NO IDEA!

And on to the book I was most excited to receive this week - Looking for Alaska by John Green.

I also got Truman from PBS (HUGE book for when I hit him in the Presidential Challenge)

Now, this might seem like a normal book to get excited about - and it truly is (hello, JG!) but what makes this book extra, EXTRA special is that my friend Smash loves me. So...when John Green was doing a speaking/signing in her local she offered a personalized signed copy of any of his books for one of the peeps in our online book club. I happened to be the winner! Woot!

Smash said that she was near the front of the signing line which enabled her to get a personalized copy - after the first few he totally said he couldn't do anymore extras...I mean, the man just signed his name on The Fault in Our Stars like 150,000 times so who can really blame him.


So...behold my beautiful personalized JG novel:

I am SUCH a sucker for personalized books.

Bookish: E-book Cookbook Review

A while back Brett bought a e-book cookbook on his nook. He thought it would be a nice way to consolidate space in the kitchen – e-books take up much less shelf space in our cabinets. Well, turns out it wasn’t as conducive as he anticipated. We have the first generation nooks, so ours aren’t in color and that is his biggest complaint. The beautiful photos of the dishes…that generally make your mouth water and cause an immediate drive to the grocery store…well in non-color e-book they are black and white and not pretty at all. After giving the e-book version a few attempts he gave up – buying a print copy that now stands with our other numerous cookbooks.

He did say if we had a color e-reader it would be worth trying again. I think this is just his desperate attempt to get me onboard with upgrading to the iPad. Keep dreaming babe.

Friday Five (19)

1. Sammie threw up last night so Brett called in to work. As much as the hours of his job make me crazy he accrues mega sick time which is really nice with a kid!

2. Did you see my vlog I posted last night? If not - check it out here! On a related note, does YouTube purposely pick the most unattractive moment to use as the cover photo/thumbnail thing?

3. As a parent of a toddler myself, I loved this post Jacki posted this week on her blog, Lovely Little Shelf, about how she is working to raise her son Izey to be a reader. If you don't follow Jacki's blog - you should. She is super cool...and her kid is beyond adorable.

4. We had a realtor come to the house this week and we got some good and some not so good news. He said we would probably sit on the market awhile for the price we were hoping to sell at but that our house is great and at a $10,000 lower price we would sell really quick. So, we are mulling that over trying to line up finances with some other possible plans for this year to see what course of action is best. Sigh. Being an adult is not so fun sometimes.

5. In light of #4 I have been doing a lot of looking forward to this in an effort to keep me from obsessing over things that I can't control right now.