HM&SL Book Challenge 2014

Here are the categories for this year's challenge along with the required number of books for each category:

Science Fiction/Fantasy - 4 books
Travel (Books about travel or set in places you've never lived) - 4 books
Nonfiction - 4 books
Mystery - 4 books
History/Historical Fiction - 4 books
Award Nominees/Winners - 4 books
Religious - 4 books
Classics - 2 books
Adult Fiction by an author you've never read - 4 books
Books You Own - 6 books
Books on Your To-read List - 6 books
Other - 4 books

Books have to be at least 100 pages long to count.

SCORING GOES AS FOLLOWS:

In all categories except for Books You Own and To-read Books, each "required" book is 10 points. (In other words, the first two or four books in the category.) After you have read the required number of books, each book is 5 points in a given category.

For Books You Own and To-read Books, each book is 25 points - no matter how many you read! (But you are required to read at least 6 in these categories for full credit.)

Also, for Books You Own and To-Read Books, if those books fit into another category, you can count them in both categories! Hooray!


Those are the rules. Any questions?

HM&SL Book Challenge 2013 Report

Like Heidi-Marie, my goal this past year was to read less books than usual. I did better than she did, but then again, I don't have to read for my job. :)

Here are some of my favorite books from the year:

Troubled Waters - Sharon Shinn
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate DiCamillo
Happier at Home - Gretchen Rubin
Wife for Life: The Power to Succeed in Marriage - Ramona Zabriskie
The Many Loves of Marriage - Thomas and Nannette Kinkade
Seven from Heaven - Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap - Wendy Welch
My Life with Eleanor: A Memoir - Noelle Hancock
Crooked House - Agatha Christie
The Franchise Affair - Josephine Tey
Bewitching Season - Marissa Doyle
Edenbrooke - Julianne Donaldson
Blackmoore - Julianne Donaldson
Squashed - Joan Bauer
Wonder - R. J. Palacio
Death in the Stocks - Georgette Heyer
Carry On, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
The Mansion - Henry Van Dyke
Spare Change - Aubrey Mace
Life's Lessons Learned: Personal Reflections - Dallin H. Oaks
A Heart Like His - Virginia Pearce
The Continuous Conversion - Brad Wilcox
For Times of Trouble - Jeffrey R. Holland
The Great Divorce - C. S. Lewis
The Lauren Holbrook series - Erynn Mangum
The Christmas List - Richard Paul Evans
Time and the Hour - Faith Baldwin

I got a higher total of points than I anticipated. This was because I either owned or had on my to-do list 51 of the books I read. That helped my score immensely!

Total points - 1080

My highest scoring category was Mystery, which was kind of funny to me as I didn't realize I read that many mysteries. :)

HM&SL 2013 Book Challenge

We have 12 categories this year:

Science fiction/Fantasy
Books made into movies/musicals
Travel books/books set in a country you've never been
Nonfiction
Mystery
History (can be historical fiction)
Award winners/nominees
Recommended by...
Classics
Adult fiction by an author you've never read before
Religious
Other

Rules:
1. Each book must be at least 100 pages to count.
2. The first four books in a category are worth 10 points. The rest are worth 5.
3. Any book you own is worth double points. (We're both library readers and want to whittle down our stack of unread books that we own.)
4. Any books on your goodreads "to-read" list is worth double points.

I'm excited for this year's challenge because while it's less books to read than our previous challenges, more of these categories out challenging to me. Plus, I'm trying to read at least one book I own plus one book from my to-read list in each category. Should be fun!

By the way, I reported on last year's challenge in my previous post. Check it out.

Book Challenge 2012 Recap

Stats:

13 pictures books
6 children's books
13 young adult books
10 nonfiction (general) books
10 classics
5 Church books
24 adult fiction written since 2000
8 from my to-read list on Goodreads
8 books on reading/writing/language
25 "other" books

122 Total books (Recorded books anyway. I often forget to write books down before I take them back to the library. Heh, heh.)

27,486 pages read (according to Goodreads, upon which I only had 111 books recorded...)

The challenge was to read 10 books in every category. As you can see, I wasn't quite successful in each category, but more than over-compensated in others. :)

Some of my favorites from the year:

Stuck - Oliver Jeffers
It's a Book - Lane Smith (um, read yourself before you read to children)
Hate List - Jennifer Brown (MUCH better than I expected it to be)
The King's Speech - Mark Logue and Peter Conradi
My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business - Dick Van Dyke
Being George Washington - Glenn Beck (I gave this one five stars for being so inspiring!)
Madame Bovary - Flaubert
A Return to Virtue - Elaine S. Dalton
To the Rescue: A biography of Thomas S. Monson - Heidi Swinton
In the Sea There Are Crocodiles - Fabio Geda
Cool Beans - Erynn Mangum (And the two books that completed the trilogy)
The Guy I'm Not Dating - Trish Perry (made me laugh so hard)
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader - Anne Fadiman
Tryst - Elswyth Thane (one of the weirdest books I've read, but something about it jived with me)
Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson


Hope y'all had a great reading year. Do you have any to recommend?

Some books

I've read an embarrassing number of books this year so far, but there it is. I've been meaning to write about some of them for a while, but I've been too busy reading. (Among other things.) So I guess I'll just list some of my favorites that I've read so far.

My favorite "book" so far this year was actually a series of lectures by Hugh Nibley from 1954. The title of the series is "Time Vindicates the Prophets." The series affected my thinking so much and really opened up a new level of the gospel to me. Rating: EXCELLENT.

My favorite picture book so far this year was "Stuck" by Oliver Jeffers. I laughed so hard reading that book! I highly recommend it, especially to adults!

I liked "In the Sea There Are Crocodiles" by Fabio Geda a lot. Based on a true story, it's about a boy who makes his way from Afghanistan to Italy over a few years.

"Tryst" by Elswyth Thane was a fun read for me. The writing style was very cozy. Possibly my favorite style. The story had a twist that drove me crazy at first and then made me chuckle. I'd love to read more of Thane's books.

I read Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" to see if I could appreciate his writing better as an adult. Nope. I can't. Only pure stubbornness got me through that book and then I regretted finishing it. What can I say? I think he's a terrible writer who occasionally had flashes of not bad writing. I should give him his due though. The man did know how to avoid adjectives. And that is impressive.

I started and put down several classics. I'm making my way through "Crime and Punishment." I'm about half-way through and I've finally started to get interested in the past few pages. :)

I've also read a number of "fluffier" books, some of which I really enjoyed. And despite me calling them fluffy, I actually find some great things in such books (not just relaxation):

The Guy I'm Not Dating - Trish Perry (laughed my head off!)
Funeral Potatoes - Joni Hilton (laughed my head off again)
My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business - Dick Van Dyke
My Angelica - Carol Lynch Williams (I love to laugh) (and now I feel a song coming on)

And various and sundry others which I will not write about right now. Maybe later. We'll see. I'm in the middle of about five different books, each vying for my attention. Maybe with the next report, I'll have more to recommend.

2012 Reading Challenge

For our 2012 Challenge, Austen Knows Best and I decided on a less creative, more straightforward approach. :) It's a 10x10 challenge meaning ten categories of ten books each. The categories are (drum roll, please):

1. 10 Children's books
2. 10 Juvenile Fiction books
3. 10 Young Adult books
4. 10 Nonfiction books
5. 10 Classics
6. 10 Church books
7. 10 Adult Fiction published no earlier than 2000
8. 10 Books from your to-read list on Goodreads (if you are a member) that were added prior to 2012
9. 10 "Choose Your Own Category" books
10. 10 Other

So to explain, for the "choose your own category," it's a category of your choice that isn't up here. :) So you could pick something general like "Science Fiction" or "Mystery" or something specific like "Books on Gardening" or whatever. The "Other" category is for books that don't fit into any of the other categories. Or if you've filled the other categories, I suppose you could dump surplus there. Basically anything could go into "Other."

For my own category, I'm going to read books on writing. :) I think that's kind of funny, but there it is.

Report for December Reading

To wrap up the 2011 Reading Challenge, here's my December report, but first of all, understand that I tend to read less on vacations. So despite the fact that I was excited for the December challenge, I really didn't read all that much past the first week.

Nonfiction:
The 7: Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life - Glenn Beck and Keith Ablow (****)
The Heroine's Bookshelf - Erin Blakemore (**)
A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me about Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter - William Deresiewicz (*****)
Started several biographies on Walt Disney
Read some critical essays on Jane Austen and her work

Challenge (Jane Austen and Walt Disney):
Jane Austen Ruined My Life - Beth Patillo (***)
Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart - Beth Patillo (****)
Pride and Popularity - Jenni James (****)

Other:
Love Finds You in Pendleton, Oregon - Melody Carlson (***)
Buttercream Bump Off - Jenn McKinlay (**)

As you can see, a lot of my nonfiction reading dealt with the challenge. It was a fun reading month. I still have a stack to go, so it might show up in this year's reading. :)

December Challenge

Both Jane Austen and Walt Disney were born in December. Read a book that is somehow related to either of them. (Spin-offs, about the park, biographies, relating to the movies, etc….)

I hope you had a wonderful month of reading in November. The challenge being for reading fun books, I read mostly fluff. :)

Challenge books:
North by Northanger - Carrie Bebris (should have saved this one for Jane Austen month!)
Love Finds You in Sisters, Oregon - Melody Carlson
Prada & Prejudice (likewise should have waited for Dec. Forgot it would be Jane Austen month)
The Reluctant Heiress - Eva Ibbotson (not that great)
A Billion Reasons Why - Kristin Billerbeck
Kissing Adrien - Siri Mitchell (read at the same time as Siddhartha, which made them both more thought-provoking, believe it or not)
Cut to the Quick - Kate Ross (mystery from the 1820s, I think)
Sprinkle with Murder - Jenn McKinlay (wish I could try the cupcake recipes!)

Nonfiction:
This Time Together - Carol Burnett (very fun!!)
Fat Burning Furnace - Rob Poulos (recommended to me. Just reiterated all the things I have found to be true. Kind of disappointing, but a quick read, at least.)

Other:
Siddhartha - Hemann Hesse (been meaning to read this one for a long time. Finally got through it. Reading at the same time as the other book, I found it an interesting contrast that strengthened my belief in "all things in moderation.")

My favorites of the month were "This Time Together," "Cut to the Quick," and "Sprinkle with Murder." I guess I'm back in mystery mode. I also reread a few books, which was fun, but I didn't write those down so I can't report on them. :)

Happy reading!

November Challenge

Here is the challenge for the month: November is the best month of the year. Read a fun book!

Report for October:
When I said a book concerning America, I really meant that as broadly as possible. In other words, I counted books set in America. :)

So my "American" books were:

Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania - Cerella Sechrist (which was okay)
Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas - Sandra D. Bricker (pretty fun)
Time and the Hour - Faith Baldwin (love her style for some reason I haven't pinpointed yet)
I Just Got a Letter from Allyson Pringle - Anya Bateman (cute)
The Makeover of James Orville Wickenbee - Anya Bateman (loved it)
Fat Cat - Robin Brande (okay)
Consider Lily - Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt (okay)

My nonfiction books were:

Home: A Memoir of My Early Years - Julie Andrews Edwards (very good)
Through His Eyes - Virginia H. Pearce (excellent!)

My other books were:

Marshmallows for Breakfast - Dorothy Koomson (thought-provoking. Difficult in some parts. Glad I read it.)
Suspense and Sensibility - Carrie Bebris (part of a Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery series. Fun.)
Amrita - Banana Yoshimoto (my first Japanese book in a long time. Interesting, but...)

All in all, it was a pretty interesting reading month. I read a lot of books that were out of my usual zone. It was broadening in a lot of ways, but also reminded me why I tend to read the way I do...

October Challenge

The Challenge for October - Columbus discovered America in October. Read a book concerning America. (I realize that is pretty wide open. I wanted some options by this time.)

I read a couple of doozies during September. First of all, I read the graphic novel of "Jane Eyre" by Amy Corzine and determined once and for all that I can't stand reading graphic novels. Blech. I had to read Charlotte Bronte's full "Jane Eyre" so I could get all the depth of the story again. I haven't read it since college, so it's been a while. The graphic novel version hit a lot of the "highlights" of the book but managed to not get any of the heart and soul of the book. I thought that was fairly impressive. :) I really did enjoy rereading the full novel. I read with pen in hand and marked my book to death. I forgot how good that book is! If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend "Jane Eyre." It is truly exceptional.

I read David McCullough's "The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris," which was fascinating. McCullough is always interesting and this book was a treat. Another high recommendation from me.

I really enjoyed "Daughters in My Kingdom," put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I found it very inspiring.

Other than that, I read a few light and fluffy books - "Powder and Patch" by Georgette Heyer, which put me in the mood for (and therefore subsequently read) "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy. "I Now Pronounce You Someone Else" by Erin McCahan. I had some real bones to pick with that one. "Love Finds You in Miracle, Kentucky" by Andrea Boeshaar. That was actually quite fun. I wouldn't rush out to recommend it, but for a light, quick read, I enjoyed it.

Happy reading this month!

September Challenge

The challenge for September - The first comic strip published in an American newspaper was on September 11, 1975. (According to several sources none of which I'm sure are accurate. What does it mean by comic strip, for one...?) However, we'll just take that date to spur this month's challenge which is to read a comic book, graphic novel, or a manga book. (I'm not sure if I'm using "magna" correctly, but forgive my ignorance. I've never actually read one before! Anyway, you know what I mean!)

As for reporting August, I have little to report. I was traveling and, uncharacteristically, I read almost nothing on my trip. Although I didn't quite finish all the books for the challenge, I'm taking points anyway since how many kids never finish their summer reading? :) Not that I know about that. I always finished my summer reading. (No, really. I did. I'm a reader and a bit of a nerd.) ;)

So for my non-fictions:

"Covenant Hearts" by Bruce C. Hafen - I really did finish this one. And it was excellent. I highly recommend it.
"Promptings or Me? Recognizing the Spirit's Voice" by Kevin Hinckley - Another excellent book. I will finish this one soon, but seeing as I read over 200 pages of nonfiction books (in addition to "Covenant Hearts") I'm going to go ahead and count this one as it is "most finished." I know, I know. Cheating here.

School book:

"Don Quixote" by Cervantes - Again, didn't actually finish this book, but got quite a ways through it. Probably could pass a teacher's "did you read this summer?" exam on the book. :)

Other:

"Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynn Jones
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

I love J.K. Rowling for her Harry Potter series. I know some disagree with me, but I think that series is one of the best ever written. I love, love, love her characters and writing style and plot and symbolism and brilliantness in tying everything together and... Well, there's not much I don't love about the books. But more than anything, her characters. As one who tends to read books for characters and their relationships, the Harry Potter series is pure joy. I could write an essay and maybe I will. For myself. Hm... There's an idea.

Anyway, here's a sweet cloud picture.

August Challenge

The challenge for August it is back to school time. Read a book from either a summer reading list (high school, of course,) or this link.

As far as my report for this past month, it kind of stinks. But for good reasons generally.

The book I read for a place I wanted to visit was set in Lyme. It was "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier. It was a very interesting book about two women in the 1800s who were fossil hunters. And I have to say that I want to go to Lyme even more now...

For my nonfiction books, I read The Book of Mormon (start to finish) and 150 Power Foods by the editors of the Martha Stewart Magazine.

Read a few more books, but mostly was busy with other things this month.

Happy reading in August!

July Challenge

Here we are into July and I have totally forgotten that means posting the challenge for this month. (Happy 4th of July, by the way! Hope yours is patriotic and full of family.)

The July reading challenge is that July is vacation month. Read a book about a place that you want to visit, but have not yet visited.I think it's funny that I actually traveled last month and will be traveling next month, but not this month. But there you are. Not to mention this is particularly a challenge for me since I have visited most of the places I want to visit. Hm... Well, this is why we call it a challenge, right?

Okay, so June report.

Some old:
Daddy-Long-Legs - Jean Webster
Danger in the Shadows - Dee Henderson (Not a favorite, favorite, but a fun reread)

Something new:
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson
Darcy and Anne - Judith Brocklehurst

Something borrowed:
Please Pass the Guilt - Rex Stout
Becoming Queen - Kate Williams

Something blue:
Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball - Donita K. Paul
The Final Deduction - Rex Stout
Too Many Cooks - Rex Stout

Nonfiction:
Shakespeare: The World as a Stage - Bill Bryson
The Duggars: 20 and counting - Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar

Besides my old favorites, I particularly liked "Becoming Queen," "The Final Deduction," "Shakespeare," and "The Duggars." "Darcy and Anne," "Too Many Cooks," and "Two Tickets..." were all right.

Happy reading this month!

May Report

No pictures for this one. I didn't read too much in May because we were busy with getting ready for our trip as well as many other things. My two non-fictions were borderline cheater books, maybe. Lots and lots of pictures. :) But I finished two. So here it is.

Non-fiction:
Williamsburg, Jamestown, & Yorktown - Robert Llewellyn
Monet: Life and Works - Marianne Sachs

Green covers for the challenge:
A Thousand Tomorrows - Karen Kingsbury
Close to Famous - Joan Bauer
Stuck in the Middle - Virginia Smith
Leaving Carolina - Tamara Leigh

I read several non-challenge books, also, but none to particularly recommend. I wouldn't particularly recommend any of these, either. They were mostly fine, but nothing I felt the need to rush out to share with somebody.

On a different note, look for pictures of what I've been doing recently in the near future. (Maybe even today if I'm productive!) :)

June Challenge

Sorry this is late. I'm on vacation, so I probably won't be updating much over the next few weeks - if at all. But I wanted to put up the challenge for this month. (I'll have to report about last month later.) So here it is:

I got this idea from a group of Goodreads, but I love it. It's a longer challenge, but once again, I love it. :) June is the month of weddings. There's the saying "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." Read an old favorite, a book you've never read before, a book you borrowed either from the library or a friend, and a book that either has "blue" in the title or the cover is blue.

And don't forget the two non-fiction. :)

May Challenge

Since emerald is the birthstone for May, read a book with a green cover.

April check up:

I read Emerson Eggerich's "Love and Respect" for my marriage book in April. It was super fantastic! And since I've been paying more attention to the issues he brings up, I have noticed some interesting things. Curious? You should definitely read the book! :)

I started several other marriage books, but that was the only one that was good enough to finish of the ones I tried this month.

My nonfiction books for the month were:
"How Starbucks Saved My Life" by Michael Gates Gill

"And Furthermore" by Judi Dench

and "Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose


I loved "Starbucks," enjoyed "And Furthermore," and was disappointed by "Reading."

Some of the other books I read:

April Challenge

So several of my favorite people, including the most important person in my life, were born this month. So the challenge is to, in addition to two non-fiction books, read a book on marriage. Interpret as you will, I guess.

For March reading, I didn't read nearly as much as I generally do in a month since I was so busy, but I did manage to finish the challenge!

I'll go in order of favorites and this month, I even have icons for you to see what the book covers look like!

I read "Eat the Cookie... Buy the Shoes" by Joyce Meyer, which was about getting over feeling guilty and learning to rejoice. I liked the general message, but I wasn't all that impressed with the book. Not one I would actually discourage a person from reading, but also not one I would go out of my way to recommend.

For my mystery (as March was mystery month), I read "The Big Over Easy" by Jasper Fforde. Bizarre and very British. But funny. PG-13, so if you decide to read it, don't say I didn't warn you. :) I loved how all sorts of nursery rhymes were woven through the story. And found several obscure movie quotes, twisted.

The other non-fiction book was "At Home: A Short History of Private Life" by Bill Bryson. As usual with Bill Bryson, I adored the book. It was fascinating! And horrifying! I knew things were a lot different 150 years ago, but there were some things that I hadn't quite pictured and wow! I am so grateful to live now and not then!


Other... notable... (can't think of a better word) books I read this month were "The Rogue Shop" by Michael Knudsen and the Whitney series by Judy Baer. ("The Whitney Chronicles," "The Million Dollar Dilemma," "Norah's Ark," and "The Baby Chronicles.")

Book Challenge for March

March - Beware the Ides of March. Read a mystery.


I made the February challenge by the skin of my teeth. (Finished my final nonfiction today, but finished the other nonfiction and special challenge only in the past few days!) I read "The Private Life of the Cat Who..." by Lilian Jackson Braun for the animal book. This month I discovered I don't so much like reading about animals. Hm... I started a couple of other books, but couldn't get through them, so this is what I ended up with. I remember liking "The Cat Who..." books mainly for the how she writes about cats, so this was a fun, if very short, book. Now I want another Siamese cat. :)

For my nonfiction books, I read two books by writers: "Knit Together: Discover God's Pattern for Your Life" by Debbie Macomber and "Page after Page: Discover the confidence & passion you need to start writing & keep writing" by Heather Sellers. I really enjoyed "Knit Together" and I found a lot of good information in "Page after Page."

Other than that, I didn't read a whole lot because I was so busy with solo and ensembles and work this month.

Any good books y'all read this month?

Book Challenge for February

February – Groundhog’s Day happens in February. Read a book about an animal.


I enjoyed my reading for January. I read "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin and "Of Pigs, Pearls, and Prodigals" by John Bytheway for my nonfiction books. I read "Tuesdays with Morrie" for my book that I've been meaning to read for a while. And then various and sundry other books, none of which particularly stick out.

Heidi asked a few questions concerning the challenge.

Question - Can more than one book fill the goal for the month? Or can we only fill the goal with one book and all others count as 5 pointers?

And if we read more than 2 nonfiction in a month, do each of them count as 10 points, or are they also just 5?

Well, Heidi, I say we can read more than one book to fill the goal of the month, each worth ten points. And also, go ahead and count any nonfiction for 10 points. Why not? It's always fun to get more points. :)

Any other questions?

Happy reading!

Book Challenge 2011

Two non-fiction books (of any length) a month plus one challenge a month. (10 pts per book)

Here are the challenges:

January – January is the month of resolutions. Read a book you’ve been meaning to read for a long time.

February – Groundhog’s Day happens in February. Read a book about an animal.

March – Beware the Ides of March. Read a mystery.

April – A very important person was born in April… Read a book on marriage.

May – Emerald is the birthstone for May. Read a book with a green cover.

June – I got this idea from a group on Goodreads, but I love it. It’s a longer challenge, but once again, I love it. :) June is the month of weddings. There’s the saying “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Read an old favorite, a book you’ve never read before, a book you borrowed either from the library or a friend, and a book that has “blue” either in the title or the cover is blue.

July – July is vacation month. Read a book about a place that you want to visit, but have not yet visited.

August – Back to school in August. Read a book from either a summer reading list (high school, of course), or this link: http://www.neh.gov/projects/summertimefavorites.html.

September – The first comic strip published in an American newspaper was published on September 11, 1875. Read either a comic book or a manga book. (Is that a correct way to use that word? I have no idea. But you know what I mean.)

October – Columbus landed in America in October. Read a book concerning America. (I realize that is pretty wide open. I wanted some options.)

November - November is the best month of the year. Read a fun book.

December – Both Jane Austen and Walt Disney were born in December. Read a book that is somehow related to either of them. (Spin-offs, about the park, biographies, relating to the movies, etc….)

Bonus: Any other books you read this year over 75 pages. (5 pts per book)