January 2015 Wrap-Up

January 2015

How is this month over already?! This year is going to fly by! It seems like I just posted my goals and resolutions for the year.

I did pretty good this month compared to the last few. I'm kind of surprised that I read anything at all considering I have a newborn in my arms 95% of the day but she nurses every hour or two for a half hour or more at a time so I'm also stuck on the couch quite a bit throughout the day and night. I read from a physical book during the day and from my tablet in the middle of the night. 

Challenge Progress

Continents 'Visited'
North America
Europe
Asia

Countries 'Visited'

United States
England
India
Canada

States Visited
New York
Kansas

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We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski


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North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

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Total Books Read: 7

    

Total Pages Read: 1529

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Did you make any progress with your goals and/or challenges this month? 

Stacking the Shelves #46

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by TYNGA'S REVIEWS that features the books we bought, borrowed, were gifted, and were given for review.

{Covers link to Goodreads}

PURCHASED

    

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

The River by Gary Paulson

The Squickerwonkers by Evangeline Lilly


For Review
(via Goodreads)

A Year of Daily Joy by Jennifer Louden
A Guided Journal to Creating Happiness Every Day
This has a positive quote, beautiful photo, or an inspirational prompt with space for writing every day on each page. 

AMAZON FREEBIES

|Amazon|
The Bewitching of Alison Allbright

Cade Crowley, Demon Hunter by Kevin Kneupper
|Amazon|

The Pearl and the Golden Plinth by Bruce McQueen
|Amazon|

Top Ten Tuesday #47

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

Ten Books I'd Read With My Book Club If I Had A Book Club

I've tried the book club thing and it's honestly not my cup of tea. 
Well, I've tried online book clubs anyway. I'll get excited about my book buddies starting one, vote for a book I want to read which is never the book chosen, and then never participate because all the books they read are ones I can't get in time or books I've already read.

Here are ten books I'd probably read a lot sooner if I had a real life book club to hold me accountable.

{covers link to Goodreads}

Winning at Reading Challenge

The Winning at Reading Challenge gives us a chance to read those books that we have won or been gifted and is hosted by Bea's Book Nook.

I have been lucky enough to win several physical books in the past and I have a pile building up in my living room that I've been planning on tackling this year. I want to read at least 2 books for this challenge but hope to read more. Many, many thanks to the bloggers that host the giveaways that feed my reading addiction! 

Books I've Won And Need To Read

Talon by Julie Kagawa

Storm Siren by Mary Weber

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Darkening Dream by Andy Gavin
The Exceptionals by Erin Cashman

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Those aren't all of them, but I will probably only get around to maybe 3-4 of them throughout the month and these will be the ones I can choose from. 

Top Ten Tuesday #46

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

This week is a FREEBIE, meaning I can choose whatever topic I want! 

Top Ten Children's Books That I Can't Wait To Read To My Daughter

For those of you that don't already know, I recently became a mother! I seriously cannot wait to read these books to or with my daughter when she is old enough to get real enjoyment out of the story instead of just my voice! 

{Book covers link to Goodreads}

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Stuart Little by E.B. White

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

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What was your favorite childhood book? What book would you recommend that I read to my daughter? 

Book Review: We Were Liars

We Were Liars

by

E. Lockhart

Genre:

Young Adult 
Contemporary

Published:

2014 by Delacorte Press

Literary Awards:
Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2015)
Bookworm Best Award for Best Fiction (2014)

Pages:

227

My Rating:

3.5

Synopsis:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends - the Liars - whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love. 
The truth.

A modern, sophisticated suspense novel.

Read it.
And if anyone asks how it ends, just LIE.

My Thoughts:

"Silence is a protective coating over pain."

I can sort of see what the hype over this book was about. Sort of.
The ending is really something. A big surprise. Something probably none of us expected at all. I'm not going to tell you about it, though. I'm not even going to lie. 

The majority of the book bored me. Really bored me. If it wasn't for the writing style and the promise of something big at the end I probably wouldn't have finished it. The writing style makes me want to give the author another chance since this is the first book from her that I've read.

Have you read any E. Lockhart books? Which is your favorite? What would you recommend?