The Great 2016 Classic Children's Lit ReRead Extravaganza (update and outbox)

My predilection for childhood favorites continues. I've read four this month via audiobook. They are perfect for the commute to and from work. It's interesting to read old favorites as "a different person." Charlotte's Web is still sad, though. 

Each of these has seen at least one screen version. It's too late for me to see them, now obviously. I do not see movies based on books that I like... Here's me every time I try to get on board with a movie adaptation:

But I digress:

Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

Found a book tag post that I liked over at in A Bookish World ! Yes, I understand that other people are supposed to tag me in book tags. But I do what I want!! 

1. A popular book or series that you didn’t like.

Usually if a book or series is super popular I won’t read it. It’s hard to live up to the social media hype these days. But I’ll say one book that seemed popular that disappointed me recently was Wuthering Heights. This crap fest is referenced everywhere and people are always all "OH, Healthcliff and Catherine" and I thought, "ok. I have to read this. High school English Lit can't be all wrong, right?" Now, I just want that endless time back. I was also WILDLY disappointed in Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia. Wildly.

2. A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love.

I don’t get to talk to people about books that much, so I’m guessing here. And really, it’s not that everyone hates it. It’s that everyone who read it as an adult (or teen hipster) hated it. One book I loved that continues to get a lot of flack was the Twilight series. I know it’s not great writing and I know that I want to punch all of the characters in the face. But, I have to give credit to any series that makes me run out and buy them all in succession.  There was just something about it. ::shrug::

Outbox: New Stuff I've Read So Far This Month (Feb 20, 2016)

It's been a bit of a slow (print) reading month, but my audiobook game has been strong, y'all. I can't think of why I've been so busy, but I'm sure it was work related! Oh! And I had a show. Duh. I might be able to sit down and do full reviews for a couple of these but I doubt it, so I'll just do a quick mini-review highlight thing. You know how I do it!

I'm going to do a separate post for the children's lit rereads I did this month. There were four of them. A little teaser: A Wrinkle in Time is crazy.

Half- Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older 

Mr. Older is one of my favorite Twitter presences. He gets excited about things, he talks shit, he loves his wife. The whole thing is gold. I read his first YA offering last year, Shadowshaper, which was a definite must- read for 2015. I didn't realize that it was his first YA novel; I just assumed that's what he does. So, enter this little gem. HRB is an urban fiction novel about a man who is mostly dead who hunts down spirit- bad guys, who stumbles into a hot mess when he's sent to kill another half-dead person and then falls in love with that halfie's Halfie sister. Then, crazy stuff starts happening.

Three on a Theme: 3 YA series I'm in the middle of...

I'm almost livid with myself for how long it's taken me to get to these series and that I have not yet consumed them into my eyeballs in their entirety. I am trying to be responsible with my number - of- library- books-checked-out situation... I can't really talk about that without confirmation of your loyalty.

But anywhooo, this three on a theme is about three YA series that I have started, LOVED, and have yet to finish. It's possible that the last book or the resolutions will RUIN everything (::cough cough:: Hunger Games ::cough cough::) but the first books have been worth the trouble, so far.

Each of these series has rich, diverse characters, great stories, worthwhile plots. There's also some action or moral reckoning, which apparently are things I like to read about and keep me drawn to YA books like these.There are, obviously, moral reckoning situations in adult books as well, but isn't it less interesting when the character should just know better!? That's a whole different post, I guess.

*******

In all fairness to me, though, the end of this first series has not yet been published. I have already gushed my soul out about the first book in the Winner's Curse series.

Top Ten Tuesday (Popped!) - Songs for 10 Must Reads

Wouldn't it be awesome if I could get my blog-stuff together enough to do a regular weekly theme thing? Oh, yeah. That would be awesome. Unlikely, but awesome... especially because I rarely like all the prompts on any of those things.

The Broke and the Bookish Top Ten Tuesday is a popular one that I have thought about jumping on board with. First, who can't relate to the blog name, amIRight? But also, all of the prompts are bookish, which I like better than random things about my grocery list or whatever. So... I'm going to give this week's a try... even though it's hard as hell. Here's the original prompt with the original embedded links.

"February 16: This week is all about music & books. We previously did books we'd give theme songs to so feel free to do that! Or 10 songs I wish that were books (check out my love songs I wish were books for an example of what I mean) -- Thanks to the couple people who suggested making this one an official topic. I don't know why I hadn't...I think I thought my post WAS for TTT in my head when I thought back to it."

#DayZero: The 101 Things in 1001 Days Challenge

The Challenge:

Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:

Tasks must be specific (i.e., no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e., represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?

Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple challenges such as New Year's resolutions or a 'Bucket List'. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities. source: about day zero project

* * * * * * * * * *

I saw one blogger who split her goals up into categories. I’m stealing that idea.

Coming up with 101 things to do is hard! I’m not really into traveling and I do most things I want to do… not to sound bitchy. I’m an impulsive shopper; hence the financial category of this list.

Mini Book Review: Notes from the Internet Apocalypse

I waited too long to review this book for it to be meaningful to me or to have any special memories of it. It was a busy week because the show I was in opened. What? You want to know about the show? Ok! I play a middle management overseer of mythical creatures, basically. I'm basically chastising and threatening a Cupid who is overzealous with his arrows of love. Three very different people come out and tell their stories as evidence of Cupid's ineptitude. It's a super fun Valentine's Day show. But the involvement in other things is, as usual, cutting into my reading time. So, I've only been reading via audiobooks during commute to/from work and the theater.

Ok, on to the mini-review for 

Notes from the Internet Apocalypse by Wayne Gladstone

[Check out the Goodreads summary here:]

This is a different kind of apocalypse story.

Libraries Book Tag and #ILoveLibraries2016 Reading Challenge

Howdy, I found this book tag on Arctic Books blog and figured it fits along with my #ILoveLibraries2016 reading challenge hosted by Bea's Book Nook. I love when things go together! Consider this your open invitation to feel tagged, if you are in the taggable mood.

 

1. How often do you visit your local library?
I go the one library or another about twice a week. I work "from home" sometimes and I prefer the libary's desk top to my laptop situation at home. I usually peruse, at minimum, the new books shelves. Plus, I almost always have a book to return... if you count the times I return books through the book drop, without going in: I actually go about 4 times a week.

2. Are you the type of person who checks out more books than you know you can read or are you someone who only checks out the exact amount of books you intend on reading before they are due?
Heh. Well. I rarely return a book unread. But that's because you can renew a loan up to three times if no one is waiting for it, which gives me just over 60 days to read it. I usually have about 10 books checked out at any one time. That number has gotten as high as 30, but I TRY to avoid that level of ridiculousness. I also use the inter-library loan system A LOT and put timers on the requests to try and not get all the books at once, but...

Book Review: Let Me Just Say This by B. Swangin Webster

I was asked if I would be interested in reading this book as part of a blog tour hosted by The Notebook Blogairy. I was super flattered to be considered for this blog tour and accepted a free copy of the book to participate.

Let Me Just Say This by B. Swangin Webster.

Goodreads Description:

"Let Me Just Say This is an urban drama depicting the struggles one woman goes through to get out of her abusive marriage and how she finds the strength to begin the search for love with another."

Not a hell of a lot to go on, is it? I like fiction that depicts realistic people, relationships, and drama. This book certainly does that. The story is mostly about Cheryl, a woman who married a handsome young man despite her misgivings

Book Review- Red Rising by Pierce Brown

My goal is to read at least one book per month that is on "my already owned by never read" TBR shelf as part of two reading challenge I'm doing for 2016. I've considered trying to rearrange my book shelves like normal people to plan which books I'm going to read. It's daunting. PLUS! And this is key: I would have to separate books in a series! I'm not a monster!

Anywhoo... I've read three TBR books in January: a Kindle Book, a classic re-read, and Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Yes!! Red Rising has been on the shelf for quite some time. It was one of those Buy 2 get 1 free things at Barnes and Nobles which you know I'm a sucka for.

Goodreads Summary:

"...Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so." 

Here's the Review part, if you've made it past my rambling

Reading Challenges - Update for Short Challenges

Here's a post of all the Reading Challenges I'm doing for 2016. This current post is just an update on the ones that have a time limit. 

Tower Teams IV: Tower Teams is OVER! A winner was crowned yesterday (1/24/2016).  For those who don't know, The Tower Teams challenges are hosted/ organized through Novel Books and Reading Challenges group on Goodreads. The goal is for a team to get to 25,000 points, gathered by reading books that fit in certain categories or criteria.

Our team came in 4th for most improved, whatever that means, and 14th (which was the middle) for the overall point score. It was a lot of fun and super challenging to keep up with all the activity in the group. The challenge is full of mini-challenges and Book of the Month participation. It was crazy. I had originally volunteered as team co-captain but had to step down because I had no idea what was going on. 

Because there were so many categories and you get points based on the number of pages you read, regardless, I just focused on reading the books I wanted to read and they almost always counted towards something. This must have been an okay strategy, because I basically came in second within the group. We had one chick we was a rock star. For example, I read 46 books as part of the challenge (tied with two other teammates). The Super Star read 75 books. I also read the second highest number of pages and got the second highest number of total points. It was a totally fun reading group and I might participate in another one.

14n4 - This is the Facebook Challenge group that I "run." It's a challenge to read 14 books in 4 months. January is the third month, so February is the last month to finish all the categories. I've got 4 books to go to complete the challenge I think, because I FAILED to read the book club book that would have counted as my Memoir book. I also have left: a book with Fall or Winter in the title and a microhistory. I refuse to read that one about Salt. I CANNOT!

Broadway, Blizzards, and Books, oh my! (January Recap/ Outbox)

Apparently, I had a good month for books. I posted three Outbox posts (including this one) and read 18 books in January. WHOA! As I said in my mid-January post, I read a butt ton of great books this month. I added one book to the DNF shelf and reread a few old favorites.

I attended the first ever Broadway Convention. Yes. It's like Comic-Con, but related to Broadway shows.