So Many Books, So Little Time

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.  My family had a great December (other than a little bit of stomach flu) and now I'm ready for 2017!  As I'm sure it was for a lot of people, 2016 was a hot mess, not just because of current events but also in my personal life.  So I'm looking forward to having a great 2017! December was another good reading month for me!  I read 12 books for the month which I think is great.  I started out strong in the beginning of the month but kind of tapered off toward the end.  Because of how much I've read in the last two months, I managed to hit 101 books for the year which is way more than I anticipated. My stats for December are as follows: -12 books read    -1 non-fiction    - 0 historical fiction    - 0 review books    -9 library books    -3 books I own    -5 ebooks I had a lot of bookish goals for the 2016 y...

June is over and now onto July!  We survived Julia's birthday and now hopefully we can relax for a while.   Not too long ago, I was sure that June would be my worst reading month for the year.  I hit a major slump for the first half of the month and just wasn't loving anything I was reading.  Surprisingly enough, I managed to read 8 books this month which I'm super happy about!  My reading goals for the month were to read two books I own and two non-fiction books; I didn't read anything I own but I did manage to read two non-fiction books so I'm feeling good about that.  I also wanted to try to post on the blog at least once a week and I managed to get that done as well.  So overall June hasn't been too bad. For the year, I am at 34 books completed and my goal is 52.  I'm sure I'll exceed that goal but by how much, I'm not sure.  Some of the books on my TBR list for the rest of the year are pretty long so we'll see how it goes....

Thank goodness April is over!! What an awful month that was.  I had a major reading slump and dealt with a ridiculous amount of work stress and drama.  I am so glad that May is here and hopefully it will be a kind of fresh start.  I hit a serious reading roadblock this month.  There was a whole week where I read nothing (except some stuff for school).  I just had no motivation to read. I somehow managed to get through 4 books  which I probably only got to because I participated in the read-a-thon.  I'm at 19 books out of 52 for the year and according to goodreads, I'm ahead so I guess it's not all bad.  The class I'm taking ends next week so I'm hoping for a better reading month in May. I don't normally do this but I am setting monthly reading/non-reading goals for the month to help me focus a little bit. 1.) Read one non-fiction book 2.) Read a book I own 3.) Spend less money 4.) Exercise regularly 5.) Clean my house (!) Here is what ...

Happy 2016 everybody!  I am really excited for this year and all that it has to offer.  I have a lot of goals (both bookish and not) for the year and I'm excited to start working on them!  I usually share all of my goals here on the blog but this year I'm just going to stick with the bookish ones (mainly because I have so many!).  I will share some of what I am working on this year in future posts but I don't want this post to be six miles long so I'm leaving it out. 1.) Read 52 books - Typically, I read much more than this however, I plan to focus on different kinds of books this year and I don't want a high goal to distract me or stress me out.  If I read more, great but if not, I think focusing on one book a week is great. 2.) Read more non-fiction- I did really well with this goal last year but this year, I want to read even more non-fiction.  I am shooting for about 40-50% of my books this year to be non-fiction. 3.) #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks - Andi at...

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season!  I am so looking forward to 2016 especially since 2015 was kind of a bummer in general (except with regards to reading!). December was a crazy stressful month and as much as I love Christmas, I am so glad it's over.  I actually read more than I expected this month and even went over my increased goal of 100 and ended the year with 102 books read.   In December, I read the following: 1.) Anything for You by Kristan Higgins 2.) Asking for It by Kate Harding 3.) Bellagrand by Paullina Simons 4. ) Missing Pieces by Heather Gudenkauf- 5.) Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf 6.) The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown 7.) The Bride by Julie Garwood My numbers for December:   -7 books read    -2 non-fiction    -2 historical fiction    -2 review books    -4 library books    -1 books I own    -5 ebooks ...

I have a lot of reading goals for the 2015!  I love the prospect of a new year and new things to work on.  This year instead of setting personal resolutions, I decided to create a 'to do' list for the year.  It will mostly be a work in progress throughout 2015 but will not have the pressure of an actual resolution.  I always think of resolutions in that if you screw up then it's over for the year.  I anticipate that I won't be perfect in regards to my 'to do' list but I definitely want to work on it through out the year. Here are my bookish/reading goals for the year: 1.) Read 80 books -I've read approximately 80 books per year for the last two years so I think this is doable.  I would love to read 100 books this year but I'm not sure if that's going to happen.  I will have more time to read since I won't be taking a class this Spring (and maybe not the whole year) so we'll see how things pan out. 2.) Read 20 books I own- I really need...

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.  December was an absolutely insane month.  I had some serious work deadlines to meet and I was finishing up my Russian class (got an A-!) on top of getting ready for Christmas.  Julia got really sick during the week of Christmas but she has enjoyed her presents and my house looks like a Toys R Us now.  Because of everything going on, I didn't read as much as I expected to this month though I didn't do too terrible.  I read a total of 7 books this month which got me to a total of 82 books for the year.  Not too shabby! Here is what I read in December: 1.) The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor 2.) Whither Thou Goest by Anna Belfrage 3.) Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater 4.) The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory 5.) The Secret Place by Tana French 6.) A Grave Inheritance by Kari Edgren 7.) The Virgin Widow by Anne O' Brien I just looked back at my bookish goals for...

  Taken from 'Quote Queens' on pinterest. Can you believe that 2013 is over?!!  It's crazy how fast it went by!  There were some really great times (having Julia!) and some really sad times (losing my grandpa) in 2013 but for the most part, it was a great year! I did okay with my reading goals.  My original goal was to read 75 books and I met that goal!  However, I set a secondary goal of 90 books for the year and I only got to 88.  Oh well, I had a LOT going on this year!  I also did a good job of buying fewer physical books and I purged my book collection again.  I still had a TON of books to move in August but it was better than it could have been!  I didn't do a good job of keeping up with the blog nor did I read very many physical books that I owned (only 12!). For 2014, I am setting my reading goal low.  I know things are going to be really busy for the next few months and I don't want to stress myself out.  I hop...

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish . This week's topic:  Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013 I don't have 10 bookish goals so I am splitting this up into bookish and non-bookish goals. Bookish Goals:   1.) Read 75 books in 2013 -This is a low goal for me but considering that life will be changing dramatically in June, I don't want to set my number too high. 2.) Read books that I own -Last year I didn't read very many books that I own.  This year I plan to make at least every other book I read, one that I already own.  There are so many books on my shelf that I want to read that I just keep putting off in favor of a library book. 3.) Purge book shelves again- This will be easier once I make a dent in my TBR pile of books.  I own a lot of books I bought on a whim that I don't necessarily want to keep forever.  Once I have read them, I plan to get rid of them. 4.) Buy fewer physical books- Until I am...

I can't believe 2012 is almost over!  The year went by so fast!  I set a lot of goals for myself for this year and I met some of them but not all of them.  My original 2012 goals post can be found here . Goals for Reading:  I signed up for 5 challenges and completed 3 of them.  I really wanted to finish them all but I had a really hard time with reading towards the end of this year. Back to the Classics Challenge- 9/9 2012 TBR Pile Challenge- 9/10 2012 Support your Local Library Challenge- 24/24 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge- 20/20 2012 Eastern European Reading Challenge- 3/4 I didn't do too well on all of my other reading goals.  I didn't read very many books I owned (only 21 out of 86!) and I didn't read any books in Russian.  I did take a Russian language class in the fall so I think my goal to work on the language skills kind of got met.  My last reading goal was to read one non-fiction book a month.  I did read 14 non-...

Ugh, August was such a crappy month.  I hardly read anything, work was insane, dealing with the new place sucked and I kind of turned into a giant slug.  Now that September is here, I am feeling much better and decided to set some goals to try to get back on track.  I usually try to keep an unofficial reading list for the month but lately I have kind of been reading whatever sounds good at the moment so I don't have a list for this month. Reading Goals: 1.) Read one challenge book this month.- I only have 4 books left not including Les Mis , if I read one a month for the rest of the year I will be able to finish my challenges. 2.) Read at least 300 pages in Les Miserables.- I definitely won't finish this in a month but if I try to break it down, I should be able to get through it. 3.) Get caught up on Library Books- I need to decide which I will read and which are getting returned because I am overwhelmed. Personal Goals: 1.) Exercise at least 5 day...

I did it!  I can't believe it but I managed to complete a Half Marathon and I didn't do too bad.  2:04:20 was my chip time and 2:05:28 was my gun time which averages out at 9.5 ish minutes per mile (I was so glad to get across the finish line that I didn't pay that close attention).  My goal was to stay under 2:10 so I am pretty okay with how I did.  I wish I could have done better but I really hit a wall between mile 11 and 12 and was just ready to be done.  I was so nervous before the race; I was worried I was going to get there and throw up because I was nervous.  It was chilly morning and a lot windier than I expected but I was glad that I still wore shorts and a t-shirt because there were spots where it was pretty warm.  The wind sucked (!) especially on the last big hill we were running and on the last mile.  I hate running into the wind.  Otherwise the course wasn't bad and I have run most of it at various times since I have liv...

I can't believe February is over!  It definitely had it's ups and downs and I am still not sure whether I think it was a good month or not.  I didn't read a ton this month but overall, I think I did fine.  I have made progress on all 5 challenges I am participating in and of the 10  books I read this month, 4 are books I own.  So that's decent!  Here is what I read this month: 1.) The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez 2.) March by Geraldine Brooks 3.) Lover Mine by J.R. Ward 4.) Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison 5.) The Little Russian by Susan Sherman 6.) A Handful of Earth by Larisa Walk 7.) Education of a Princess by Grand Duchess Marie of Russia 8.) East of Eden by John Steinbeck 9.) When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman 10.) The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice Regarding my personal goals, I have done pretty good.  I have really gotten into following my training schedule and, except for last week, I have been pretty dilig...

Can you believe that January is already over?  The month completely flew by.  I managed to read 12 books (see below) and I got started on 4 of the 5 challenges I signed up for this year.  That being said, I did even make a tiny dent in my TBR pile.  I read one (!) book that I has been sitting around for a while and that is it.  I had a bunch of galleys to catch up and all the library books I requested in November became available this month.  So hopefully in February, the majority of what I read will be books I already own. Regarding personal goals, I am struggling to stay on my training schedule for the half marathon.  I was doing really good and then I had a rough week and last week was just okay.  If I can't get my butt back on track this week, I am not sure that I will be ready enough to participate.  I want to do it, I am just being kind of lazy.  Hopefully next month I will have better news about that. Anyway, here is what I re...

Happy weekend everyone!  Work has been miserable lately so I am really looking forward to having a 3 day weekend.  Since I set so many goals for myself this year, I felt like I should write an update post here and there to let you know how I am doing. -I have read 4 books so far this year.  That's right I said 4.  Last January I read 20 books but this year, not so much.  I am completely okay with that because it's nice not to feel pressured to read every second of the day.  Instead, I have spent a lot of time watching The Big Bang Theory or some other random tv shows. -Of the 4 books I have read, 3 count towards the read challenges I decided to try to complete this year.  I hope to get at least 4 of the 5 challenges started this month. -I am two weeks into training for a half marathon and I am scared sh*tless.  I have been really good at making myself get up in the morning and running but I am worried that I am going to falter or I just won'...

I am officially insane.  I said I wouldn't commit to any more reading challenges but this was one I could NOT refuse.  The Eastern European Reading Challenge 2012 is being hosted by The Black Sheep Dances .  Half of the 81 books I own and need to read are about Russia or Eastern Europe so I figured that this challenge would only encourage me to read books I already own and need to read.  I am only planning to complete the 'tourist' level which is 4 books about Russia/Eastern Europe.  These can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, basically any genre.  There are already 2 Russian related books on my list of books for the TBR challenge but I am trying to not overlap books for challenges so I will read 4 additional books. Here is what I plan to read: 1.) Education of a Princess by Grand Duchess Marie of Russia 2.) Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie 3.) The Death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories by Lev Tolstoy 4.) The Voices of the Dead   by H...

I am super excited for 2012!  2011 was kind of a sucky year so I am looking forward to good things this year.  I have lots of goals for the blog and for books I plan to read.  I also have some personal goals for the year that I hope I will be able to achieve. Goals for the Blog: - Comment more -I get lazy and don't always comment on reviews I read nor do I usually reply to comments on my blog.  I feel really bad about this and want to try to comment more. - Work on layout - Technical Stuff -I really need to figure out how to create a button!  I also need to get some working knowledge of html and need to learn how reconfigure things so that when GFC goes away there won't be too many issues. - Better Reviews -As I said on Friday, my reviews have been pretty crappy lately.  I plan to work on that this year. - Hosting a giveaway -I have great followers and I really want to host a giveaway to show my appreciation. - Get more comfortable with s...

Oh my goodness, what a month this has been!  I hit my goal of reading 200 books and actually surpassed it by 2 (thanks to the Vampire Academy series).  I read 202 books in 2011 which is INSANE.  I am glad I can say I did it but I don't think I will be trying that again anytime soon.  Throughout the year I kept track of all the books I read that I borrowed from the library, got for free from NetGalley, borrowed from friends, etc. (basically books I didn't pay for in 2011).  I then kept track of the lowest price I could find for a new copy of each book to find out how much money I would have spent had I purchased all of those books.  The grand total was $1,651.33!  It's crazy to think that's how much I could have spent this year...thank goodness for the library!!  I finished the Henry VIII challenge I participated in which wound up being not nearly as fun as I expected.  I am getting kind of bored with nonstop Tudor novels.  There are ...

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read . Question of the Week: The New Year is here -- and everyone wants to know your New Years Blogging Resolution! What are you going to try to revise, revamp and redo for 2012 on your blog? 1.) New Design:  I recently changed my blog design but it is still pretty blah.  I am planning on working on that this year. 2.) Comments:  I read a lot of blogs but for some reason, I rarely comment.  I have been trying to do better but I really want to work on commenting more. 3.) Better Reviews:  My reviews have become progressively worse in the past couple months.  Due to the fact that I was trying to hit my goal of 200 books, I was reading too fast and pumping out some really poorly written and not well thought out reviews.  This is part of the reason I don't plan to set such a high goal for myself next year.  I really want to improve the quality of my reviews in 2012. ...

Since I have a ton of unread books on my shelves that need to be read, I decided to participate in the 2012 TBR Pile Challenge! Here is how it works: This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012 . As we would like to see quality reviews linked up to our monthly wrap-ups, only bloggers can ente r. Sorry about that! Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Only books released in 2011 and earlier! NO ARCs and 2012 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed! You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you. When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2012 TBR PILE Reading Challenge (You need to include the info + host list + challenge button. You can also grab the button code and add it to your sidebar!) You can move up levels, but no moving down. Sign-ups will be o...