Tag: weekly meme

Musing Mondays (13)
Monday Musings

Musing Mondays (13)

Danielle3 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. Each Monday, she asks a book-related question and we blog our answers, then link back to her original post. (You can find this week’s post by clicking on the above image).

This week’s musing asks…

Do you snack while you read?  If so, what is your favorite reading snack?

(question courtesy of  http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com)

You know, I’ve never really thought about it.  Occasionally I might snack, but it’s probably something small enough that I could pick at (like chips, popcorn or Ritz crackers).  But I tend to read most at night in bed, and I rarely have a snack in bed (I don’t like crumbs in my bed!)

So that was my semi-long-winded way of saying, I normally do not snack when I read.

What about you?

Musing Mondays (12)
Monday Musings

Musing Mondays (12)

Danielle5 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. Each Monday, she asks a book-related question and we blog our answers, then link back to her original post. (You can find this week’s post by clicking on the above image).

This week’s musing asks…

What are you currently reading? Is it any good? Would you recommend it?

I’m kind of reading a few different books right now.  My long-term is The Count of Monte Cristo. But I guess I shouldn’t say I’m “currently” reading it since I haven’t picked it up in a month or so.

I’m also taking a hiatus from The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, which is a compilation of all 5 books.  I’m about halfway through book 3. Books 1 and 2 were very entertaining but I’ve hit a little wall with it. (It was our June read for the book club on Goodreads you can see in my right sidebar…our first book, and I think maybe slightly ambitious for me to think I could finish all 5 in a month…on top of my other reads).

But I’m reading a book called Plague of Coins by Aiden James. I found this on Amazon (Kindle) and am planning to use it for the What’s in a Name? Challenge.  I’m halfway through it.  Not sure how much I really like it, though.  I’ve come across some very basic grammar mistakes and I really don’t care for the main character all that much….

I also just started Little Bee by Chris Cleave last night.   I borrowed this from my old manager months and months and months ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf.  I asked her about a book I lent her month and months and months ago and then realized that I still had one of hers, but still hadn’t read it.  I figured I might as well at least try the first chapter before giving it back to her.  I read about 1.5 chapters before I went to bed, and I haven’t decided whether to continue reading it or not.  (I forgot to bring it to work today, so I have another night to read a bit more if I choose).  So I don’t have an opinion yet.  Though my old manager said that it was a tough book to get through and she really wasn’t sure which character to “root” for, so I was kind of expecting to not be able to get through the first chapter, but I did.  We’ll see.    Has anyone read it?  Any opinions?

Yay!  Posting my first weekly meme in a while 🙂

Related articles
Musing Mondays (11)
Monday Musings

Musing Mondays (11)

Danielle2 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Each Monday, a book-related question will be posted and we blog our answers, then link back to the original post. (You can find this week’s original post by clicking on the above image).

This week’s musing asks…

Do you have a reading goal for the year? Such as __ books? Why or why not?

Before this year, I’ve never set a reading goal.  I started my blog at the end of last year, so when the end of December came around, I decided I wanted to participate in reading challenges and then set a book goal for myself for 2012.  This year my goal is 75.  I think that’s a pretty good goal.  Last year I read about 30 books in the second half of the year, so I kind of based it on that. Plus I saw the reading goals thing on Goodreads, and thought it would be fun to track.

Next year, I don’t know if I’m going to set a goal. We’ll see how I feel at the end of this year.

(this is going to be my only normal weekly meme this week as I am participating in ArmchairBEA and posting daily posts with them.  You should join!)

Book Beginnings on Fridays (10)
Book Beginnings on Friday

Book Beginnings on Fridays (10)

Danielle4 Comments

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a weekly meme hosted by Gilion over at Rose City Reader.  She recently took over this weekly meme.  Basically, we post the opening sentence for whatever book we are reading and what we think about it.  Clicking the image above will take you to Gilion’s Book Beginning for today.

Well, I’ve been focusing all my efforts on The Count of Monte Cristo, whose first line I shared weeks ago.  I’m really enjoying it and hope to (finally) put a new first sentence up next week!

Happy Friday everyone!

Top Ten Books Written In The Past 10 Years That I Hope People Are Still Reading In 30 Years
Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Books Written In The Past 10 Years That I Hope People Are Still Reading In 30 Years

Danielle8 Comments

The Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they choose a new topic for bloggers to list their top ten of whatever fits into the category. (the image above is linked to today’s post at The Broke and the Bookish)

Today’s Top Ten: Top Ten Books Written in the Past Ten Years That I Hope People are Still Reading in 30 Years

Hmm, a good category, definitely requires some thought…

1. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

2. The Hunger Games  Trilogy – Suzanne Collins

3. Room – Emma Donoghue

4. A Dog’s Purpose – W. Bruce Cameron

5. The Map of Time – Felix J. Palma

6. Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

7. The Millenium Trilogy – Stieg Larsson

8. The Shack – W. Paul Young

9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot

10. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

Honorable  Mentions: Harry Potter Series & A Song of Ice & Fire series.
I only mention these since the first books were published more than 10 years ago, but I think it’s safe to say these books will definitely still be read 30 years from now!

You know, this list actually turned out to be easier to make than I thought (with the help of my Goodreads “read” list, of course!)

{7am EST: The Broke and Bookish haven’t posted their Top Ten for today yet, so I will link back to it later on}

Musing Mondays (10)
Monday Musings

Musing Mondays (10)

Danielle9 Comments

 

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Each Monday, a book-related question will be posted and we blog our answers, then link back to the original post. (You can find this week’s original post by clicking on the above image).

This week’s musing asks…

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

What a great question!

When I was little, I would ask my parents what a word meant and they would tell me to look it up in the dictionary.  I didn’t always do that, though. If I couldn’t figure out the word using the context, I would usually just let it go.  Most  often, I was on a train or somewhere where a dictionary was not readily available, and then I would forget to check it out later.

But now that I have my Kindle, I can just move the cursor to whatever word I want to look up and the definition pops up.  So easy!  I’ve had the Kindle for about a year now, but only recently really started utilizing the dictionary feature.  Especially with books written a long time ago!

What about you?

Book Beginnings on Friday

Book Beginnings on Fridays (9)

Danielle2 Comments

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a weekly meme hosted by Gilion over at Rose City Reader.  She recently took over this weekly meme.  Basically, we post the opening sentence for whatever book we are reading and what we think about it.  I’ve never really done anything like that, and only occasionally pay attention to the first sentence of book…usually only if it really appeals to me. Clicking the image above will take you to Gilion’s Book Beginning for today.

“8 April 1817
Rushton Manor, Essex
Dearest Kate,
It is dreadfully flat here since you have been gone, and it only makes it worse to imagine all the things I shall be missing.”
–Sorcery & Cecelia Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

This is one of my NetGalley books for review.  I”ll be posting my review over the weekend.  Some interesting finds along the way.

Have you read this?

 

UNRELATED SIDENOTE: this is my 100th post!!! 🙂

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday (9)

Danielle3 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  Click the image to be taken to MizB’s WWW post for today.  To play along, answer the following three questions.

• What are you currently reading? 

Almost done with one of my NetGalley reads which was published yesterday.  Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer.

What did you recently finish reading? 

I finally finished The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss.  I’ll post a review soon.

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next read will be another of the NetGalley books.

Monday Musings

Musing Mondays (9)

DanielleLeave a comment

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Each Monday, a book-related question will be posted and we blog our answers, then link back to the original post. (You can find this week’s original post by clicking on the above image).

This week’s musing asks…

What do you do with the book before you start reading it?

It depends.  If it’s on my Kindle, I make sure I’m at the cover of the book and go through each page.  I don’t skip to chapters, and I rarely click on the hyperlinked chapter title/number because I always want to make sure I’m going to the first page and not missing anything.

With a physical book, I may re-read the back of the book (if there’s anything there), but usually I just jump right in.  I may look to see how the chapters are set up (character POVs, dated, formatted as letters, etc.) But mostly, I just start it right away.

Book Beginnings on Friday

Book Beginnings on Friday (8)

Danielle3 Comments

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a weekly meme hosted by Gilion over at Rose City Reader.  She recently took over this weekly meme.  Basically, we post the opening sentence for whatever book we are reading and what we think about it.  I’ve never really done anything like that, and only occasionally pay attention to the first sentence of book…usually only if it really appeals to me. Clicking the image above will take you to Gilion’s Book Beginning for today.

I’m still on The Twelfth Enchantment,  so you can see last week’s Book Beginnings for the, well, book beginning.

But I’m further into it than  I was last week and it’s picking up.  I’ve just been very busy with work that I haven’t done much reading.  It’s pretty interesting. Hopefully I’ll finish it this weekend.

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday (8)

Danielle10 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  Click the image to be taken to MizB’s WWW post for today.  To play along, answer the following three questions.

• What are you currently reading? 

Still working on The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss…

What did you recently finish reading? 

…which means my last book was still Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  Read my review here.

 What do you think you’ll read next?

I still plan to read the NetGalley books next. I think there are 4 of them now…

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I’d Like To See On A Reality Show

Danielle2 Comments

The Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they choose a new topic for bloggers to list their top ten of whatever fits into the category. (the image above is linked to today’s post at The Broke and the Bookish)

Today’s Top Ten: Top Ten Authors I’d Like To See On A Reality Show OR Top Ten Authors Who Deserve Their Own TV Show

This really wouldn’t be my strongest category.  I rarely pay attention to the authors, and never really consider them to be like their characters, who I would be more willing to throw on a reality show.   Though, I really don’t care for most reality shows. So The Broke and The Bookish say we can use this week as a freebie week. But, I’m crazy busy this week and so I think I might pass on the Top Ten this week.  But I figured I’d throw my 2 cents in anyway. 🙂

Okay, I changed my mind, I’m going to list the top ten books I’m looking forward to reading from my challenges this year.

1. Jane Eyre from Back to the Classics Challenge, the Re-Read

2. Gone With the Wind, from Back to the Classics

3. The Deadwood Beetle, What’s In a Name? Challenge, Creepy crawly in book title

4. The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society, 5o States, Tennessee

5. The Knitting Circle, 50 States, Rhode Island

6. Speaker for the Dead, Mount TBR Challenge

7. 100 Cupboards, Mount TBR Challenge

8. Rift in Time, Mount TBR Challenge

9. Hidden In Time, Mount TBR Challenge

10. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Mount TBR Challenge

Monday Musings

Musing Mondays (8)

Danielle3 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Each Monday, a book-related question will be posted and we blog our answers, then link back to the original post. (You can find this week’s original post by clicking on the above image).

This week’s musing asks…

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?

It definitely depends on how much I enjoy the book.  If I’m really into it I’ll think “okay, just ’til the end of this chapter…okay, one more chapter”.  But sometimes, I”m not able to finish so neatly at the end of a chapter.  For example, if I’m on the train to work, I will have to stop reading when I switch trains.  And of course I’ll have to stop reading when I get to work, no matter where I am in the book.

But in situations where I have control, I almost always go to the end of a chapter.  I think it’s “neater” or “cleaner” than stopping in a random spot in the middle of chapter.

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday (7)

Danielle8 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  Click the image to be taken to MizB’s WWW post for today.  To play along, answer the following three questions.

• What are you currently reading? 

The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss.  I had started the a couple weeks ago and had only gotten a few pages into it.  When Ready Player One came along, I put everything else on hold.  So I started it over from the beginning.

What did you recently finish reading? 

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  Fantastic.  Read my review here.

 What do you think you’ll read next?

I was approved to review some galleys from NetGalley (woo!) so I’ll probably read those next.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Quotes From Books

Danielle8 Comments

The Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week they choose a new topic for bloggers to list their top ten of whatever books fit into the category. (the image above is linked to today’s post at The Broke and the Bookish)

Today’s Top Ten: Top Ten Favorite Quotes From Books

This one is TOUGH!  I have a few favorite books, and have read so many, so to choose some quotes is going to be difficult.  I’m also one that tends to read without pausing to take notes or highlight comments (a feature I really need to start taking advantage of on my Kindle!).  I’ve had a little notebook for about, I don’t know, almost 10 years in which I write quotes from things I see (movies, books, song lyrics, quotes of the day from various internet sites, etc.).  I know I have a couple of books quotes in there, so I’ll have to grab that.   I don’t know if I’m going to be able to come up with 10.  I think I need to start paying more attention when I read, if that makes sense….

Anyway, without further ado:

1. “What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do.” – Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw

2. “…but most of all I noticed the quiet; the quiet of a world free from flying machines, traffic and large cities. The industrial age had only just begun; the planet had reached its Best Before date.” – The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

3. “Tolle lege, Tolle lege”  (“Take up and read”) – The Confessions, St. Augustine

4. “The course of true love never did run smooth” – Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,  William Shakespeare

5. “A dream itself is but a shadow.” – Hamlet, Hamlet, William Shakespeare

6. “Like all things in the universe, we are destined from birth to diverge. Time is simply the yardstick of our separation. If we are particles in a sea of distance, exploded from an original whole, then there is a science to our solitude. We are lonely in proportion to our years.”The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason

7. “Emotion doesn’t travel in a straight line. Like water, our feelings trickle down through cracks and crevices, seeking out the little pockets of neediness and neglect, the hairline fractures in our character usually hidden from public view. Beware the dark pool at the bottom of our hearts. In its icy black depths dwell strange and twisted creatures it is best not to disturb.” – I is for Innocent, Sue Grafton

8. “For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever.”- Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau

Okay, so those are the few book quotes I had written down.  Since I don’t have others written (or memorized) the next couple quotes are some of my favorites.

9. “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – St. Augustine

10. “Words aught to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.” – John Maynard Keynes