Reading Challenge 2010 review

Carrie at ReadingtoKnow.com challenged her readers to read anything by L.M. Montgomery in January. I chose Anne of the Island (the first book I found in stock at my library). Even though I've always been a reader, I did not read this series as a child. I read the first few books to my daughter last year and this was a new one to me.


I enjoyed it. I had forgotten her delightful presence in her writings, the emotions and heart. One sweet passage that really spoke to me is after Anne's childhood friend, Ruby, has finally admitted she's dying, and Anne is heading home after spending the evening with her.

"The evening had changed something for her. Life held a different meaning, a deeper purpose. On the surface it would go on just the same; but the deeps had been stirred. It must not be with her as the poor butterfly Ruby. When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different -- something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her. The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth."

Some of the book was too good to be true ... the perfect, affordable rental home, Patty's Place. Her friend Phil, looks, money, men, always partying yet top of the class. The "perfect" boyfriend, richest boy on campus. But, you know what, who cares. It was so enjoyable.

I laughed at all her funny marriage proposals, cried when she turned Gilbert's down, cried when she found out he was dying, and cried at the end, too.

Reading Anne of the Island lightened my heart this January. THANK YOU for the challenge!!

Reading Challenge 2010

Reading is one of my great loves, since a very early age. Books have been my friends when flesh-and-blood friends were not to be found or not available. I enjoy finding ideas for new reads, so was very excited to find ReadingtoKnow.com. Carrie has tossed down the gauntlet for January, to read anything by L.M. Montgomery.


My choice is Anne of the Island. I've only read Anne of Green Gables so can't wait to get started.

Oh, and Carrie's sponsoring a cute giveaway to participants. I hope you're interested in joining in!

To Read List

One of my former swap partners, Natalie in England, follows the "Richard & Judy Book Club". I read several of their selections last year (all I could get from my American libraries) and I think I'll try it again. I love to read but have a tough time finding interesting books sometimes. Hopefully, most will be to my tastes.

The 2008 Books are:

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
2. Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
3. Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
4. A Quiet Belief in Angels by Roger Jon Ellory
5. Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale
6. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
7. Visible World by Mark Slouka
8. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
9. Blood River by Tim Butcher
10. The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
    

If anyone has a Christian recommended reading list, I'd love to have it, too!!

Some recent purchases ...

Taking a quick break from The Biggest Loser to post....
My darling daughter and I just finished Book 1 of the Spiderwick Chronicles. It was a fast read, so I'm hopeful we'll get through the series lickety-split so we can go to the movie soon! Costco's pricing is definitely better at under $7 each than Target, who charged me $9+. I really splurged to buy these .. I have such a book fetish, which I've been taming with frequent library visits but the wait is SO LONG for new ones.


While I was at Joann's for our CGOA meeting, I bought some things including the newest Crochet! magazine. I am so disappointed that I didn't look at it more carefully before purchase -- there is not one item that I desire to make! What a bummer!! And, I don't think it's just my "funk" talking ... what do you guys think of this one?

I also found some cool handles to finally finish off my karaoke Beads, Welts and Popcorns Bag. I used crystals in the body, so here are the handles I found ... I think they're going to look really nice together since I didn't have quite enough yarn to crochet the handles as per the pattern. This bag turned out much taller and narrower than I really wanted, but I'll be happy to make it "finished". Maybe this will be a Pay It Forward??

50 Book Challenge- FINISHED!!

I made it! What a fun challenge, although scary to see how many books I read when I didn't do anywhere my normal this year because we had such a crazy busy year .... Here's the whole list (please note how the year started with a diet book and will probably end with one too - no pounds lost in between):

I've joined a challenge at Crochetville.org to read 50 Books in 2007. Here's my list so far. I'm going to get back in the habit of adding the date read. It was looking touch and go during our move, but I feel confident I'll read 50+ by the time we're knocking back the eggnog. A few of the books are from my friend, Nikki's, who is doing the British "Read Along with Richard and Judy."

1. The Fat SMASH Diet (1/3 too rigid)
2. The Rescuer, Dee Henderson (#6 O'Malley Series) (1/26)
3. Be My Valentine, Debbie Macomber (1/27)
4. Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (1/30)
5. Maggie's Miracle, Karen Kingsbury
6. The Witness, Dee Henderson --- VERY good mystery, Christian writer
7. Family, Karen Kingsbury
8. Confessions of a Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella
9. The Winter Lodge, Susan Wiggs
10. The Undomestic Goddess, Sophie Kinsella (I'm really enjoying her books - light and funny)
11. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan
12. Shopaholic Ties the Knot
13. Shopaholic and Sister
14. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
15. Inside My Heart, Robin McGraw
16. Crime and Clutter, Cyndy Salzmann
17. Chocolate Cat Caper, JoAnna Carl
18. Before I Wake, Dee Henderson (a cliffhanger, first in the series)
19. Death Dines at 8:30 - a great collection of culinary short mysteries!
20. Chicks with Sticks (It's a Purl Thing) - it's a teen book but really cute and one of the main character also crochets
21. A Dash of Death, Claudia Bishop -- another culinary mystery
22. The Loop, Nicholas Evans -- such a wonderful read
23. 6 Rainier Drive, Debbie Macomber
24. Shopaholic and Baby,
25. Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral, Kris Radish
26. QBQ! Question Behind the Question
27. The Madonnas of Leningrad
28. Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, Kris Radish
29. Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly, Robert Dalby
30. Country Brides, Debbie Macomber
31. Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
32. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Paul Torday (* from a British Must-Read list)
33. The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught, Neta Jackson
34. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (7/22)
35. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (#6) (7/26)
36. How to Talk to a Widower, Jonathan Tropper (* from a British Must-Read list) (7/27)
37. Out to Pasture, Effie Leland Wilder (7/19)
38. The Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs (7/28)
39. The Savage Garden, (British List, Mark Mills (7/27)
40. The Mill House, Paul McCusker (8/17)
41. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (#5)
42. A Good Day to Die, Simon Kernick (I can't get his other book on my must-read-list)
43. Scots on the Rocks: A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery, by Mary Daheim
44. The Summer I Dared, Barbara Delinski (swap rec'd)
45. Blood Orange Brewing, Laura Childs
46. Sunday List of Dreams, Kris Radish (not my style)
47. Sugar Cookie Murder, Joanne Fluke
48. The Magician's Nephew, CS Lewis
49. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
50. Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
51. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Joanne Fluke
52. Strawberry Shortcake Murder, Joanne Fluke
53. Blueberry Muffin Murder, Joanne Fluke
54. Lemon Meringue Pie Murder, Joanne Fluke
55. Fudge Cupcake Murder, Joanne Fluke
56. Peach Cobbler Murder, Joanne Fluke
57. The Main Corpse, Diane Mott Davidson
(my streak of culinary mysteries has my daughter a little worried! LOL!!)

New book read

I just finished book #40 this year - The Mill House by Paul McCusker. What a really good Christian novel, with mystery, love and values. Truly a great read.

Book List

Books Read in 2010

• #01 The Christmas Train, David Baldacci
• #02 Christmas Cookie Murder, Leslie Meier
• #03 Light from Heaven, Jan Karon
• #04 New Moon (#3 Twilight), Stephanie Meyer
• #05 Miracles, Karen Kingsbury
• #06 Anne of the Island, L.M. Montgomery
• #07 A Good Day to Die, Simon Kernick
• #08 Percy Jackson & Olympians The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
• #09 Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Lynne Jonell
• #10 Nancy Drew #37 The Clue in the Old Stagecoah, Carolyn Keene
• #11 Cream Puff Murder, Leslie Meier
• #12 Beguiled, Deeanne Gist & J Mark Bertrand
• #13 A Good Day to Die, SImon Kernick
• #14 Getting Rid of Matthew, Jane Falcon
• #15 Eat the Cookie Buy the Shoes, Joyce Meyer
• #16 Forget Me Knot, Sue Margolis (graphic)
• #17 Breaking Dawn (#4 Twilight), Stephanie Meyer
• #18 Mr & Mrs Anonymous, Fern Michaels
• #19 Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins
• #20 The Noticer, Andy Andrews
• #21 Indivisible, Kristen Heitzmann
• #22 Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Suzanne Collins
• #23 Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Suzanne Collins
• #25 Gregor and the Mark of Secret, Suzanne Collins
• #26 Gregor and the Code of Claw, Suzanne Collins
• #27 Sixteen Brides, Stephanie Grace Whitson
• #28 The Help, Kathryn Stockett
• #29 The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride #1), James Patterson
• #30 School's Out Forever (Maximum Ride #2), James Patterson
• #31 Sarah's Key, Tatiana de Rosnay
• #32 The Dead Lie Down, Sophie Hannah
• #33 Saving the World (Maximum Ride #3), James Patterson
• #34 The Final Warning (Maximum Ride #4), James Patterson
• #35 The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
• #36 Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2), Suzanne Collins
• #37 Every House Needs a Balcony, Rina Frank
• #38 Makeovers Can Be Murder, Kathryn Lilley
• #39 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender
• #40 Fabulously Fashionable, Holly McQueen
• #41 Needles and Pearls, Gin McNeil
• #42 Think of a Number, John Verdon
• #43 The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jessica Han
• #44 Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3), Suzanne Collins
• #45 Twelve Rooms with a View, Theresa Rebeck
• #46 Sixteen Brides, Stephanie Grace Whitson
• #47 Within My Heart, Tamera Alexander
• #48 Gingerbread Cookie Murder, Joanne Fluke
• #49 The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies, Laura Levine
• #50 Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots, Leslie Meier
• #51 The Gift, Nora Roberts
• #52 On Strike for Christmas, Shelia Roberts
• #53 The Christmas Sweater, Glenn Beck
• #54 The Spy Who Came for Christmas, David Morrell
• #55 Take Four, Karen Kingsbury
• #56 Starting from Scratch, Susan Gilbert-Collins