Happy 90th Birthday Grandpa!

Today we're off not only celebrating the birthday of the US, but also the birthday of my grandpa. He's 90 years old today! (The picture shown above was taken last year on his 89th birthday.) So we'll be spending the day with him, on his farm, with many extended family, eating cake and cookies and talking and remembering. Hopefully, we'll even fit in a little street fireworks.

My grandpa is one that inspired me be a reader. He is amazing. He reads so much, and remembers every word he's read. He's like a walking encyclopedia! And every time I see him, he never fails to ask me, "Read any good books lately?" Either that or, "Hey, I read a great book recently!" If I was to pick his favorite genre, I would guess it was historical fiction.

So I plan to have a fantastic day with family today and I hope you all either having a wonderful Fourth of July or if not celebrating, a peaceful Sunday of reading!

Review: Everlost by Neal Shusterman

Book: Everlost by Neal Shusterman
Genre: YA paranormal/science fiction
Rating: A
For: Fun
From: the library

The first of yet another Neal Shusterman series. In this one, we are introduced to Nick and Allie, both of whom are in a fatal accident in the first pages of the book, and as they are "going toward the light" they bump each other and are thrown off their course. They end up in Everlost.

What they find there is a community that reminded me much of Lord of the Flies. (Which is fun because that book is even referred to by the characters themselves!) Nick and Allie are forced to figure out how to survive in this new realm along with discovering who is telling them the truth and who is not. There's some pretty tough things that go on here, some pretty mean characters and some pretty intense moments. Yes, maybe even a little scary.

But it's a great story that once again, I loved. Things get all twisty and turney which means in the end, you are left anxious for the next book, which is even out already! It's called Everwild. And the third one, Everfound, is in the works.

Four Shusterman books down, a whole lot to go!

Bottom line: I enjoyed it a lot.

Other reviews:

Read This Book!
The Book Muncher
The Book Spot
Reader Rabbit

Review: My Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions by Becca Wilhite

Book: My Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions by Becca Wilhite
Genre: YA Romance
Rating: A
For: Fun
From: I bought it.

This was just what I needed after the heaviness of Little Bee. It was perfect! I totally enjoyed this simple story about a girl, Sarah, who goes off to college and tries to not be worried about her love life. But of course she is. But right off the bat, and much to her surprise, she is getting attention from a way cute guy, Ben.She doesn't understand why and she doesn't believe anything is true about the relationship that follows. She is insecure and not confident and nearly messes everything up because of that!

It was light, funny, cute, clean, romantic and just plain fun. And as I already said, perfect for a fast summer read.

Bottom line: I loved it.

For more about author Becca Wilhite check out her official site here.

Other reviews:

Gamila's Book Review
Becky's Book Reviews
Novel Teen
The Book Butterfly
Bloggin' 'bout Books

Half Year Check In

Wow, it's insane that half the year is gone! So I'm wondering, how's my reading going for this first half of the year?

First of all, if I want to make it to my unwritten goal of 100 books a year, I'm right on target for that having read 53 books this first half! Already that's better than last year where as you can see here, I was only to 40 books read by the end of June.

So, if I were to make a Top Ten list of favorite books read so far this year, what would I put on it? Here you go:

1. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
2. The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran
3. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
4. The Passage by Justin Cronin
5. Coop by Michael Perry
6. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
7. Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman
8. The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
9. My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters by Sydney Salter
10. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Of course,  the interesting thing will be to see which of these books end up on the year end's Top Ten list!

What new-to-me authors have I discovered and fallen in love with so far this year?

• Neal Shusterman
• Megan Whalen Turner
• Patrick Ness
• Simone Elkeles
• Juliet Marillier
• Robert Jordan
• Sydney Salter
• Ann Dee Ellis
• Jennifer Roberson
• Justin Cronin
• Michael Perry

How am I doing on challenges?

Oh, not so good! I did finish Once Upon a Time though. And I'm doing quite well at reading local authors. But the TBR Challenge is getting extremely neglected along with Printz books. I have read a couple for the Take Another Chance Challlenge. And I'm nearly giving up on That's How I Blog Challenge, but I may keep trying there still

What genre do I seem to read most so far this year?

Out of the 53 total books, 31 are YA (and most of those are paranormal, romance and/or fantasy), 2 are classics, 2 non-fiction (already better than last year!), 5 or so are fantasy, about 9 Literary/Contemporary Fiction, 2 from science fiction, and about 2 or so historical fiction.

We had a big discussion the other day on Twitter at the #Bblog chat about what niche we might fill with our book blogging. I figured I'm all over the place... but what does my little report tell you? I'm mostly YA? Or mostly fantasy? I don't know what I am....

How do I need to tweak my goals in order to be satisfied with my reading accomplishments by the end of the year?

If I keep going like I'm going and not have a "bad" month of only a couple books read, I should get to that 100 mark. I need to add TBR books to the list like crazy if I'm to succeed in that challenge. And try to get a classic and a non-fiction in there maybe once a month so that at the end of the year I won't be disappointed in my low numbers in those categories.

Where do you stand at this half year mark reading-wise? 

June Monthly Recap

Awesome reading month for me! Totally awesome! See if you don't agree:

Insatiable by Meg Cabot: Meena is sick of vampires, but then she meets a mysterious guy at a party  and suddenly, the whole vampire legend is awfully real.

Coop by Michael Perry: The author's experiences during his first year of farming, mixed with his memories of growing up on a farm.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl: Ethan is attracted to Lena the second he sees her at school and after they talk, they find some amazing connections between them.

The Sea of Monsters by Rich Riordan: Percy Jackson must find the Golden Fleece and save Camp Half Blood.

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whelan Turner: The thief finds himself in the middle of a war and does some major political maneuvering to try and save his kingdom.

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles: Carlos comes to live with his brother Alex, meets Kiara at school and feels conflicting emotions.

Muffins and Mayhem by Suzanne Beecher: The author tells recipes of her life, and shares some real recipes too.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave: The intertwining stories of both Little Bee, an African girl, and Sarah, a London mother.

My Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions by Becca Wilhite: Sarah meets Ben at college and feels like she is not even at all good enough for him.

Everlost by Neal Shusterman: Nick and Allie get lost on their way to heaven and together they deal with the world they find instead.

Hidden Wives by Claire Avery: Sisters Sara and Rachel face all forms of abuse at the hands of their polygamous father and strive to find the courage to overcome.

Way hard to pick a favorite this month. I think I'm going to have to go with Coop though, surprisingly, since it's so different from what I normally read! Love it when that happens! The Queen of Attolia is a very close second though.

Plans for next month:

• Review Hidden Wives for a TLC Blog Tour later on this month
• Finish Captivate
• Finish The Dragon Reborn
• Read a classic like, say, Bleak House! :) (oh but this cracks me up!)
• Read a book from my TBR challenge list (maybe The Curious Incident....)
• The King of Attolia! More Gen please.....
• Get a start on Fall of Giants
• Spells
• Find that cowboy book Susan at Bloggin' 'Bout Books recommended, then read it!
• Read Son of Shadows before it's due
• Find out what the deal is with Bree Tanner

What was your favorite book you read this month? What plans do you have for July?

Thoughts on Eclipse

What I liked:

-- Jasper! Wow, lots of lines. Way to talk Jasper! He is as cool a dude as I thought.

-- back stories of certain Cullens. Interesting. And Jasper should really talk in that southern accent more often!

-- feisty Jacob. Oh... so very very feisty! "I'm hotter than you!"

-- smiling Edward. Yes, much less sullen, more smiley, and his talking was less mumbly this time and more just soft spoken, which I liked.

-- Riley. I hardly remember him from the book, and he played quite a bigger role here than I expected. He was good, I mean bad.

-- The fighting scene was awesome, as was the "training to fight" scene.

-- The tent scene was just as I imagined it! Way to go people! The pain on Edward's face, the gloating on Jacob's. Perfect!

-- Charlie. Always Charlie.

-- The Kiss! You know the one I mean (not the "ouch I just broke my hand" one, the other one.) Yeah, it was a good one!

-- the sparks between Edward and Jacob. They pulled that off really well I thought.

-- Jasper and Alice interaction. Whoa!

What I didn't like:

-- I completely missed the Muse song, but it was there!

-- It felt a little slow to start, and took awhile to get going (except for that Riley scene at the beginning.)

-- Leah. Hmmmm.... not too sure about her.

-- Imprint talk creeped me out, maybe because I know what's coming.

-- Really there's not a whole lot I didn't like actually I guess.

Are you going to see it? Will you come and tell me what you thought when you do?

Authors Pick Five: Suzanne Beecher

Last week, I reviewed Suzanne Beecher's fun book, Muffins and Mayhem. This week, I asked her my favorite author question:

What five books are most important or influential to you?

This is her answer:


My favorite books, the ones that I’d consider all-time favorites, change with the flow of my life. I read for what I need. But answering the question today, here are my five choices: (I’m primarily a nonfiction reader.)

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Humor is essential to a satisfying, happy life and this book makes me laugh and laugh and laugh out-of-control every time I reread it. ( I wish I would have written the book.--my greatest compliment.)

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

One of my favorite inspirational books for writing, especially when I started working on my memoir, “Muffins and Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life”. You can pick this book up, turn to any page and jump into a story. It’s fabulous.

A Complaint is a Gift by Janelle Barlow and Claus Moeller

This book changed the way I run my company, DearReader.com In the midst of reading it, I was so excited about trying out the suggestions that I couldn’t wait for someone to complain to me. You don’t have to own a business to get something out of this book. If people complain to you, or you ever feel the need to complain to others, you’ll love the strategies in this book.

Poems Old and New and Girls by Helen Ferris

This is a book of poetry copyright 1957. I had this book when I was a kid. I’ve read this book so much that there isn’t even a cover on it any longer. I can even recite some of my favorites from memory. . .

“The Monkeys and the Crocodile” by Laura E. Richards 

Five little monkeys
Swinging from a tree;
Teasing Uncle Crocodile,
Merry as can be.
Swinging high, swinging low,
Swinging left and right:
“Dear Uncle Crocodile,
Come and take a bite!”

Five little monkeys
Swinging in the air;
Heads up, tails up,
Little do they care.
Swinging up, swinging down,
Swinging far and near;
“Poor Uncle Crocodile,
Aren’t you hungry, dear?”

Four little monkeys
Sitting in a tree;
Heads down, tails down,
Dreary as can be.
Weeping loud, weeping low,
Crying to each other;
“Wicked Uncle Crocodile
To gobble up our brother!”

(I live in Florida and I never tease crocodiles! :))

The Answer to How is Yes by Peter Block

It’s an older book. The author offers a new way of thinking, so we can free ourselves from making life choices and decisions out of guilt and messages that we are bombarded with from marketing and other people. A great book that really made me think.

Thanks for participating Suzanne! What a fun list of books!

Please check out Suzanne's DearReader.com site and learn more about her book at MuffinsandMayhem.com. If you are at all interested in life stories mixed with fantastic recipes, you'll want to read this book!