2012 Reading List.

Image.

And again I say, the list...

1. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
2. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
3. A Life in Stitches - Rachael Herron
4. Leaving Paradise - Simone Elkeles
5. Sing Me Home - Jodi Picoult
6. The 6th Target - James Patterson
7. Serendipity - Lousie Shaffer
8. Haiti: A Tumultuous History - Philippe Girard
9. Orange it the New Black - Piper Kerman
10. The Secret Holocaust Diaries - Nonna Bannister
11. 7th Heaven - James Patterson
12. The Icing on the Cupcake - Jennifer Ross
13. Mrs. Kimble - Jennifer Haigh
14. Sams Letters to Jennifer - James Patterson
15. Abducted - T.R. Ragan
16. First Time Landlord - Janet Portman
17. Off the Record - Elizabeth White
18. Lady of Bolton Hill - Elizabeth Camden
19. Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell
20. Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey
21. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
22. Daisy Chain - Mary Demuth
23. The Keeper - Sarah Langan
24. The Paris Wife - Paula McClain
25. Hollywood is like High School with Money - Zoey Dean
26. The Lucky One - Nicholas Sparks
27. The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes - Diane Chamberlain
28. Tess of the d'Ubervilles - Thomas Hardy
29. Master your Metabolism - Jillian Michaels
30. The Surgeon - Tess Gerritsen
31. Small Space Organizing - Kathryn Bechen
32. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
33. Organizing Your Day - Sandra Felton
34.  Me & My Big Mouth - Joyce Meyer
35. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
36. Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James
37. Crazy Love - Francis Chan
38. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen - Syrie James
39. Still Missing - Chevy Stevens
40. Seven - Jen Hatmaker
41. 17 Day Diet - Mike Moreno
42. Forgotton God - Francis Chan
43. Girls in Trucks - Katie Crouch
44. Goodnight Nobody - Jennifer Weiner
45. A Desireable Residence - Madeleine Wickham
46. Sail - James Patterson
47. Anything - Jennie Allen
48. The Choice - Nicholas Sparks
49. The Sari Shop Widow - Shobhan Bantwal
50. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller
51. The Atonement Child - Francine Rivers
52. Kisses from Katie - Katie Davis
53. A Version of the Truth - Jennifer Kaufman
54. Nantucket Nights - Elin Hilderbrand
55. Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult
56. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy Kaling
57. War Brides- Helen Bryan
58. Swim - Jennifer Weiner
59. Fearless - Max Lucado
60. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R Covey
61. Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon
62. Start Something that Matters - Blake Mycoskie
63. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller
64. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
65. Quiet Strength - Tony Dungy
66. One Breath Away - Heather Gudenkauf
67. Worth Lying For - Lisa Cheney
68. Mission Possible - Eva Moskowitz
69. The Furious Longing of God - Brennan Manning
70. The Guy Not Taken - Jennifer Weiner
71. Accused - Janice Catore
72. Slammed - Colleen Hoover
73. Point of Retreat - Colleen Hoover
74. 8th Confession - James Patterson
75. 9th Judgement - James Patterson
76. Erasing Hell - Francis Chan
77. Riversong - Tess Hardwick
78. Crash - Nicole Williams
79. Clash - Nicole Williams
80. Where We Belong - Emily Giffin
81. Recalculating - Jennifer Weiner
82. 10th Anniversary - James Patterson
83. 11th Hour - James Patterson
84. I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag - Jennifer Gilbert
85. Dark Place - Gillian Flynn
86. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
87. Style - Lauren Conrad
88. Stuck - Jennie Allen
89. Testimony - Anita Shreve
90. Between the Lines - Jodi Picoult
91.The End of Everything - Megan Abbott
92. The Darlings - Cristina Alger
93. My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick
94. The Circle Maker - Mark Batterson
95. Married by Mistake - Abby Gaines
96. Three Weeks with My Brother - Nicholas Sparks
97. The Edge of Never - J.A. Redmerski
98. In Search of Lucy - Lia Fairchild
99. Domestic Affairs - Bridget Siegel
100. Red Sea Rules - Robert Morgan


Love,
B

Book Club Friday - Updates.

I've been working days ahead of posts in blog world for a few weeks now but I wanted to give you some reading updates. I've continued to FLY through books lately at a rather alarming pace, even for me. Good reads kept telling me I'm over 50% to my goal for the year so I finally upped my goal to 60 for the year. I like to feel like I'm winning. Anywho...

While in North Carolina with my sisters I read 'The Lucky One' by Nicholas Sparks. I use to read everything he wrote (similar to how I feel about James Patterson now). Then after a while it all started to sound the same to me, like a form letter. Tragic situation, plus lovebirds, topped off with a death, the end. But MK from Blonde Out Loud sent me this one and I couldn't wait to read it after several years off from Sparks world.

I wasn't totally in love with it, like many people BUT I did enjoy it and it made for a good vacation read. I read it without too much effort in 2 days. I was trying to get it done in time to leave it with my older sister, Rachel. I managed to do so and MK was gracious enough to not require I send her back the book. Rach is a much bigger Sparks fan than I, so she was thrilled! She got to take her name off the never ending wait list at the library and start reading.

Note: I plan to see this movie with Nichole as soon as I return from Haiti!

I've been trying to incorporate some classics into my reading over the past few years. I had the benefit of reading many of them growing up between the intense literature path I took in middle school and high school, followed my taking every possible lit class I could at Purdue while there. I'm still friends on facebook with my favorite lit professor from school ( I don't think she reads this but she's amazing).

Anywho, Tess of D'Urbervilles wasn't my favorite. It dragged a bit for me. Also the story was kind of a downer in general, which I knew going into it. Glad I read it so I could check it off the list but I would hesitate to recommend this one to you all.

One of my coworkers, Madison, who got me hooked on James Patterson recommended the Rizzoili and Isle's series to me. This is a TV show now but apparently the TV show is nothing like the book series. I haven't watched it, so I'm not sure what the show is like. But I reserved the first book from the library and it arrived right before I left for North Carolina. I took it with me since I planned to finish and leave the Lucky One and knew I'd want something to read on the way back.

I really enjoyed this book. I will say if you're not a fan of murder mysteries then this isn't going to be a series you'd enjoy but if you do, check out Gerritsen. I have a few books I need to tackle before I move to book two but I fully intend to read the whole series before it's all said and done. For this one since you may be unfamiliar I wanted to share the description from amazon:

He slips into homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, about to awaken to a living nightmare. The precision of his methods suggests that he is a deranged man of medicine, prompting the Boston newspapers to dub him “The Surgeon.” Led by Detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli, the cops must consult the victim of a nearly identical crime: Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and filled an attacker before he could complete his assault. Now this new killer is re-creating, with chilling accuracy, the details of Cordell’s ordeal. With every new murder he seems to be taunting her, cutting ever closer, from her hospital to her home. And neither Moore nor Rizzoli can protect Cordell from a ruthless hunter who somehow understands—and savors—the secret fears of every woman he kills.

I know I've said this recently but if you're on Goodreads, find me. I've been loving seeing what everyone's reading and I've been adding many of your books to my lists!

Many more books to come soon!

Love,

B

Hollywood is like High School with Money.

Happy Friday the 13th blog world. I hope you all are equally unafraid of such things but I did note as I was typing the date in for scheduling what date this Friday fell on.

I took a quick break from deeper, darker readings to demolish this Zoey Dean book in literally 48 hours during one of the busiest weeks of my 2012. I was in prep mode for a weekend out of town (my Scottburg trip) AND early prep for my trip the following weekend (Raleigh) because I would only have 3 days at home in between Whew. But despite work, laundry, packing, cleaning, and celebrating friends birthdays I still managed to fly through the 278 pages of thiI've got to be honest, I loved it. It was the Hollywood assistant version of a Nanny Diaries and Devil Wears Prada lovechild. Witty, hilarious, and maybe a little below the belt of the entertainment industry. I ate it up. As if it all that wasn't enough, it even had a hint of Mean Girls thrown in. As Taylor Hennings has to get her mean girl on to get ahead I found myself thinking 'you're a mean girl, Katy Heron' more than a couple times.

Light, airy, deep-as-a-kiddie pool and completely entertaining I'd say this is a perfect sun bathing read. It was just what I needed to break up my last few reads and a great number 25 to add to the list. I admit, I'm a little tempted to grab another Zoey Dean book soon.

In case I haven't done it justice here's the Amazon take on Hollywood/High School:

Twenty-four-year old Taylor Henning has just landed her dream job as an assistant at a major movie studio. But when her catty coworkers trick her into almost getting fired, she realizes that the old saying "Hollywood is like school with money" just may be true. The thing is, Taylor wasn't exactly a social butterfly in high school-how is she supposed to do any better the second time around?

That's when she meets her boss's popular sixteen-year-old daughter Quinn, and has an epiphany: maybe this teenager can teach her how to use her queen bee tactics to succeed in the Hollywood popularity contest. Quinn comes up with a plan to teach Taylor one lesson a week-everything from "Fake it 'til you make it" to "It's *never* your fault"--and soon Taylor finds herself winning the war against rival assistant Kylie. Until, that is, she's directed to steal Kylie's boyfriend, and something happens that's not in the game plan: Taylor falls for the guy. Now she must do the impossible-- harness her inner mean girl while staying true to herself.

Sold? Grab yourself a copy. Unless your Amber and your getting mine

Linked up, locked and loaded. I love book

L

Book Club Friday - The Paris Wife.

I haven't linked up for Book Club Friday in a hot minute so I thought this week, while I will be out of town on Friday anyway, would be the perfect opportunity!

The Paris Wife was book number 24 for me in 2012 and a refreshing break from the 1-2 star Kindle reads of late. I marked it a 4 star read on Goodreads after finishing it before work on Wednesday morning (I hate when library due dates are looming over my head going into a vacation).

This fictitious story about Ernest Hemingway and his first (of four) wives, Hadley, fascinated me. I've read about half of Ernest Hemingway's published work including: The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and I believe the Sun Also Rises (sounds familiar but I'm not positive I've read it). Having read his work I would have pictured his personality almost exactly as author Paula McClain writes him - dramatic, dark, selfish, and brooding.

Well written and strikingly realistic for that time period, in Paris, I found this book really enjoyable. Not a light, summery beach read by any means but a true literary work of art. I found is refreshing she didn't try to paint Hemingway as a favorable light but rather played into what we know of his dark, alcoholic lifestyle. Also, the way she carries you from his first wife towards who will later be his second wife is believable and gracefully composed.

A story of life, love, betrayal, infidility, alcoholism, and the artist plight - McClain really impressed me with this one. I also enjoyed the inclusion of other writers I admire from Fitzgerald (of The Great Gatsby) to Gertrude Stein.

Amazon describe it this way:

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.
A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

Love,

B

For the Love of Books.

I have been a reading fool so far this year. I set out to read 50 books this year and I'm already crushing that goal, being almost halfway through in March. I am apparently 12 books ahead of schedule, or 22% if you prefer.

I committed and shared here that one of my goals for 2012 is to get through some of the books I've been putting off. I've been checking those off book by book on both my Kindle and at home bookshelves. But perhaps the most fun has been passing them along. A week ago now I finished the book 'American Wife' and after seeing via Goodreads that Amber was wanting to read it, I dropped it in the mail to her.

There are very few books that once read I will ever read again. With so many books available and more being written every day I just don't find that I want to go back and cover the same territory. I already feel like I will never have enough days in a year or years in my life to cover all the literary ground I desire. So, swapping books is a great way to get fun, fresh reads and keep your shelves from going stale.

In my mailbox in the last week I've gotten this book from Amber:

Listen to this from Amazon:

In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child.

CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth, and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die in order to protect a lifetime of lies…

Um, let me guess - you want to read it next? ; ]

And this one from MK:

Literature according to Amazon:

In his 14th book, bestselling author Nicholas Sparks tells the unforgettable story of a man whose brushes with death lead him to the love of his life. After U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq, he experiences a sudden streak of luck -- winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph -- his lucky charm.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can't seem to get the woman in the photograph out of his mind and he sets out on a journey across the country to find her. But Thibault is caught off guard by the strong attraction he feels for the woman he encounters in North Carolina - Elizabeth, a divorced mother -- and he keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate love affair, his secret soon threatens to tear them apart -- destroying not only their love, but also their lives. Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, THE LUCKY ONE is an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.

I'm SO excited because after reading reviews and seeing the stars pop up on Goodreads I can't wait to read both. Also they seem like perfect vacation reads. So as I was packing, I added these to my carry on. Hoping for some quality reading time on both of my upcoming trips.

Who's in favor of putting together a summer reading list and/or doing a summer book swap? I know I'm not the first to come up with the idea but I've loved each one I've participated in AND I've found some of my favorite bloggers through swaps. If I put one together would any of you be interested?

Love, B
Ps: If you have a Goodreads account and we're not friends yet, add me. I love seeing what people are reading and if I own something you're interested in, you might just get mail!

Book Swap Loot.

Note: A special thank you to Heather and Katie for hosting this book swap and for giving me the best partner on the list!

I'm thrilled that this book swap made me partners with Darby, and you should totally be following her blog if you aren't already. I am really enjoying reading it myself, and I love interacting with her. We had a great chit chat about books, after which she sent me this one:

I received it Monday night the 23rd of January, and I HAD to finish my current read (Serendipity) so I could begin Orange is the New Black the next morning. Immediately after hearing Darby's taste in books and her suggestion of what she wanted to send me, I knew I was going to enjoy it. It sounded a little like a book version of one of my favorite movies, Broke Down Palace. Except, in this case, the girl actually did the crime.

I was drawn in from the beginning by Piper's way of weaving an intricate story, while leaving out the 'fluff'. It's open, it's honest, and she never plays the victim. Now halfway through I find her character likeable and her view of how punishment in our country works to be fascinating. I am loving this book for it's unique subject matter and way of exposing the insides of prisons in the United States.

Love,

B

Christmas Reading List.

Lucky for me Amazon had an ebook sale at just the right time. I'm prepping to leave town early tomorrow morning for 10 days of Christmas vacation. I of course plan to dominate a few books while I'm on there. I'm pretty much a weeny when it comes to the cold so I expect I will spend plenty of time indoors reading and drinking homemade hot chocolate. I thought for all of my crazy little reader friends you might want to know what I'll be working on.


I'm currently reading this book which came highly recommended on a newsletter from my library (which is also where I got this book):

From Amazon: John Ajvide Lindqvist has taken the horror world by storm. His first novel, Let the Right One In, has been made into critically acclaimed films in both Sweden and in the U.S (as Let Me In). His second novel, Handling the Undead, is beloved by horror lovers everywhere. Now, with Harbor, a stunning and chilling masterpiece, Lindqvist firmly cements his place as the heir apparent to Stephen King.

One ordinary winter afternoon on a snowy island, Anders and Cecilia take their six-year-old daughter Maja across the ice to visit the lighthouse in the middle of the frozen channel. While they are exploring the lighthouse, Maja disappears – either into thin air or under thin ice -- leaving not even a footprint in the snow.

Two years later, Anders, a broken man, moves back to his family’s abandoned home on the island. He soon realizes that Maja's disappearance is only one of many strange occurrences, and that his fellow islanders, including his own grandmother, know a lot more than they’re telling. As he digs deeper, Anders begins to unearth a dark and deadly secret at the heart of this small, seemingly placid town.

I'm only 50 pages in but I wouldn't describe this book as 'horror' at all. Suspense, yes but not horror. Although I imagine losing a child for any reason is horrific. So far I'm impressed with how well written the book is and the imagery the author is capable of.

On Kindle I bought:

(this is in prep for my trip there in April - I wanted to learn more about the history of the country and their culture there)



I also still have the 2nd and 3rd Hunger Games books downloaded to finish as well. After that, well, I've got a list if I get through all of these in time to tackle more. Whew. Let's hope I get plenty of reading time.

Any of you planning on getting some reading done this holiday season? What's in your book pile?

Love,

B