Because you haven't heard enough

Books, books, books. That's all she ever writes about! Well, not technically, but pretty close. Books are a safe subject for me. I can never run out of books to write about, but I really DO try to limit the number of posts that I devote to books. So, this will be my last for the night.

I need to set a new goal. Last year's goal was to read 100 books. I read 117. While being realistic, I really do want to set a higher goal. and reach it. What's reasonable? What's realistic? I've already read 7 books this year and it's only 5 days in. By the time I go to sleep tonight I will have finished at least one more. Should I shoot for 120? That's only 12 books a month. Pittance! Perhaps 142 - 13 books a month. But then, why not go for 8 more and make it a nice even 150?

Yes, I think that's what I will set my goal at. 150 books read in 2010. Good luck to me. I'm going to need it!

BookList 2009 - It is Finished!

January

Sandry's Book ~ Tamora Pierce
Tris's Book ~ Tamora Pierce
The City of Ember ~ Jeanne DuPrau
The Mary Kay Way ~ Mary Kay Ash
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg ~ Gail Carson Levine
Teddy Jo & the yellow room mystery ~ Hilda Stahl
Teddy Jo & the ragged beggars ~ Hilda Stahl
Teddy Jo & the magic quill ~ Hilda Stahl
Land of Hope ~ Joan Nixon Lowery
Land of Promise ~ Joan Nixon Lowery
Boxers for Dummies ~ Richard Beauchamp
Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand ~ Gail Carson Levine
Ellen Foster ~ Kaye Gibbons

February

Coffee with Plato ~ Donald R. Moor
A Time for Witches ~ Lynne Hansen
Reckless Revolution ~ Lynne Hansen
Gilded Delirium ~ Jordan Stokes & Mattew Belinkie
The Mark on the Mirror ~ Margaret Sutton
A Thousand Goodbyes ~ Jim Hube
Coffee with Mark Twain ~ Fred Kaplan
A Member of the Family ~ Cesar Millan
The People of Sparks ~ Jeann DuPrau
Tanglewreck ~ Jeanette Winterson
Alanna The First Adventure ~ Tamora Pierce
In the Hand of the Goddess ~ Tamora Pierce
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man ~ Tamora Pierce
Lioness Rampant ~ Tamora Pierce
Trickster's Choice ~ Tamora Pierce
Trickster's Queen ~ Tamora Pierce
The Wednesday Letters ~ Jason F. Wright

March

Coffee with Shakespeare ~ Stanley Wells
The Good Guy ~ Dean Koontz
Shadowfires ~ Dean Koontz
A Wife After God's Own Heart ~ Elizabeth George
The Fairy's Return & Other Princess Tales ~ Gail Carson Levine
The Princetta ~ Anne-Laure Bondoux

April

City of Bones ~ Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes ~ Cassandra Clare
City of Glass ~ Cassandra Clare
Bloodhound ~ Tamora Pierce
Net Force: Virtual Vandals ~ Tom Clancy
Miracles Happen ~ Mary Kay Ash
Flying Blind ~ Frank Peretti
Dragonsong ~ Anne McCaffrey

May

A Haunting in Williamsburg ~ Lou Kassen
The Lioness and the Lily ~ Barbara Cartland
Kiss from a Stranger ~ Barbara Cartland
The Kiss of the Devil ~ Barbara Cartland
The Complacent Wife ~ Barbara Cartland
Call of the Heart ~ Barbara Cartland
The Impetuous Duchess ~ Barbara Cartland
The Husband Hunters ~ Barbara Cartland
A Knight in Paris ~ Barbara Cartland
Beauty Is a Beast ~ Jane B. Mason & Sarah Hines Stephens
A College of Magics ~ Caroline Stevermer
Love In Pity ~ Barbara Cartland
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ~ Ian Fleming

June

Early Sunday Morning ~ Barry Denenberg
Hatching Magic ~ Ann Downer
The Great Good Thing ~ Roderick Townley
Treasures ~ Carolyn Ann Aish

July

Eight Cousins ~ Louisa May Alcott
Castles ~ Carolyn Ann Aish
Kingdoms ~ Carolyn Ann Aish
The Musician's Daughter ~ Susanne Dunlap
Rose in Bloom ~ Louisa May Alcott
Mark of the Demon ~ Diana Rowland
Coffee with Einstein ~ Carlos I. Calle
My Life in France ~ Julia Child
Civil War Hospital Sketches ~ Louisa May Alcott
The Black Tattoo ~ Sam Enthoven

August

Cobwebs ~ Karen Romano Young
Blue Moon ~ Alyson Noel
The Solitary Envoy ~ T. Davis Bunn & Isabella Bunn
A Sword to the Heart ~ Barbara Cartland
Dr. Franklin's Island ~ Ann Halam
Once Dead, Twice Shy ~ Kim Harrison

September

Fragile Eternity ~ Melissa Marr
Shad Run ~ Howard Breslin
The Kingdom Keepers ~ Ridley Pearson
The Mystery of the Million-Dollar Penny ( A Power Boys Adventure) ~ Mel Lyle

October

Twilight ~ Stephanie Meyer (second time reading it. gotta re-read since New Moon shows in theaters 11/20)
Coffee with Aristotle ~ Jonathan Barnes
Tom Swift & His Rocket Ship ~ Victor Appleton II
Naruto Vol. 32 ~ Masashi Kishimoto
Wild Magic ~ Tamora Pierce
Wolf-Speaker ~ Tamora Pierce
Emperor Mage ~ Tamora Pierce
The Realms of the Gods ~ Tamora Pierce

November

New Moon ~ Stephanie Meyer (see comment above about Twilight)
Alcatraz versus The Evil Librarians ~ Brandon Sanderson (MUCH better when my younger sister Rachel reads it aloud, but still pretty funny.)
First Test ~ Tamora Pierce
Page ~ Tamora Pierce
Squire ~ Tamora Pierce
A Rebel Princess ~ Barbara Cartland
Hangman's Curse ~ Frank Peretti
Lady Knight ~ Tamora Pierce
ArchEnemy ~ Frank Beddor
The Medici Secret ~ Michael White
The Bluebird and The Sparrow ~ Janette Oke GOAL - 100 books!!!
The Perilous Gard ~ Elizabeth Marie Pope
Round the Corner in Gay Street ~ Grace S. Richmond
The Game ~ Diana Wynne Jones
Eclipse ~ Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn ~ Stephenie Meyer

December

The Original Girl's Handy Book ~ Lina Beard & Adelia Belle Beard
A Great and Terrible Beauty ~ Libba Bray
Rebel Angels ~ Libba Bray
Uglies ~ Scott Westerfeld
Pretties ~ Scott Westerfeld
Specials ~ Scott Westerfeld
The Boys Next Door ~ Jennifer Echols
Something Borrowed ~ Catherine Hapka
The Sweet Far Thing ~ Libba Bray
The Christmas Dolls ~ Carol Beach York
The Demon King ~ Cinda Williams Chima
Extras ~ Scott Westerfeld

And so ends my year of books with a total of 117 books read. I think I did pretty well. Now I just have to set my goal for 2010.

New Year's Readathon with Kristen

Okay. I have no idea how many hours I read. 9 - I think. I feel like I read more, but when I look at my book list I know that's not possible. Here's the breakdown:

New Year's Eve:

Extras - Scott Westerfeld = 1 hr.

New Year's Day:

Finished Extras = 2 hr.
Magic or Madness - Justine Larbalestier = 3 hr.

January 2:

Martha's Secret Wish - Ella Gibson = 1 hr.

January 3:

A New Name - Grace Livingston Hill = 2 hr.

To be completely honest with you, I expected to read ALOT more than what I actually did however, life always seems to get in the way. On Sunday, for example, I started a 1500 piece puzzle with my future sister-in-law. I'm still working on the puzzle today and on Sunday, I only read and finished one book. Terrible! Oh well, at one book per day since January 1st, I'm still well on my way to my goal.

Reading into the New Year

So I joined the Reading into the New Year readathon last night. You can see the original challenge at Bookworming in the 21st Century. The idea was to read through midnight. Whether you were starting 5 minutes before the year changed or hours before, but to finish reading after 12:01am. I read Extras by Scott Westerfeld last night. On and off for hours before midnight, but I definitely made sure I was reading while the clock changed. This was definitely something different for me. Usually I'm the one yelling the loudest when the ball in New York hits the bottom. It was rather thrilling to read instead. A little out of place, but thrilling nonetheless.

I actually sat in the basement with my little family last night while I read. Joseph was watching TV, while Titus, Shayla, and their friends, Matt and Jessica stood around the ping pong table. Joseph isn't normally the person that lets me read through something, but he let me do it this time so that was HUGE! very fun. I'm totally gonna be doing this again!

I figured doing this challenge was a great way to get myself into the mood for my own personal goal for reading in 2010. I'll post more about that later. Just wanted to leave an update on here.

Merry Christmas

Hope all of you have or had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year.

Love Always,

Hannah