Dewey's Opening Meme

It's here! It's here! Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon is here! We'll officially begin in about 30 minutes. Sorry for blowing up your feeds today but I'll be posting each hour or so for most of the event. To get the party started here are my answers to the opening meme...

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Florida
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? The Walking Dead graphic novel.3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? chips and dip!4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I am the mom of two of the world's most adorable boys. I enjoy reading (obviously!), watching movies and spending time doing crazy activities with my kids.5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? I've never written reviews right away but this year I'll write a mini review after each book. I'm also splitting my time between blogs/blogging and reading. I've never done that before. 

Dewey's Read a thon Goals Post

Dewey's Read a thon is this weekend and since it's one of my favorite bookish events, I'm excited to be able to participate. The boys are at their dad's so I can spend 24 hours in stress free, guilt free reading and commenting on other blogs. 

I want to split my time between reading and blogging/visiting other blogs and resting my poor old eyes. Instead of a goal to read a certain number of books, I want to read a certain number of pages. I'd like to read 700 pages. 

I've loaded up my Kindle and have a stack of possibilities too. In year's past I've tried to finish as many books as possible but with the change to pages read instead, I'm not concerned with that. Hoping that will take a bit of stress out of the day too. I feel like a loser when I don't finish a big stack. Especially when I see how many others read. 

I'm posting my List of Possibilities tomorrow and think I've got some good ones on there.

The one where I failed...

My plan to update my blog and move to a new URL was an epic failure. I have the new blog URL but I have done NOTHING over there. With Dewey's Read a thon coming up this weekend, I'm staying put for the time being. You'll see update posts from me throughout the day. The boys are at their dad's and I'm taking the entire 24 hours (plus a few after to sleep) for stress free, guilt free, reading and cheering time. I'll be posting my goals tomorrow. 

Blogging Break

Taking a bit of a blogging break while I take care of a few things. I plan to be back and bigger than ever on October 1, 2014. New URL, new blog name, new look!

Bout of Books - Update Post

8/20 pages read:

books read:

impressions:

8/19 pages read: audio of Focus on the Good Stuff by Mike Robbins

books read: none completed

impressions: Eyes gave out today so I am listening to an audio book.

8/18 pages read: read on Kindle so unsure. Reading Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins and 1 hour of an audio book.

books read: none yet

impressions: today was back to school for my kids and my younger son started kindergarten. It as a busy day so I'm glad I got anything read (or listened to).

Bout of Books 11.0 is almost here! It starts the same day the boys go back to school. This is both good (they are at school) and bad (1st weeks are always crazy) but my basic goal is always the same - to read more than I normally do in any given week. Since my reading is way down, reading ANY book will be a win. 

I'm taking a page from Andi's book and shooting for a certain number of pages rather than a certain number of books. I want to average 100 pages a day so 700 pages total. If my eyes will cooperate, I will hit that fairly easy.

I want to participate in 2 challenges.This depends a lot on the challenges because I find some of them to be so labor intensive, I pass but my goal is to participate in any 2 during the week.

I want to attend 1 of the 2 Twitter chats. In years past I have so enjoyed reading along during the Twitter chats. 

Visit 5 blogs each day and leave a comment. Blogger interaction and comments really makes this event even more fun so this time around, leaving comments will be a priority. 

I am so looking forward to this event. If you're participating too, please leave a comment so I can follow you!

Bout of Books 11 - The Goals Post

Bout of Books 11.0 is almost here! It starts the same day the boys go back to school. This is both good (they are at school) and bad (1st weeks are always crazy) but my basic goal is always the same - to read more than I normally do in any given week. Since my reading is way down, reading ANY book will be a win. 

I'm taking a page from Andi's book and shooting for a certain number of pages rather than a certain number of books. I want to average 100 pages a day so 700 pages total. If my eyes will cooperate, I will hit that fairly easy.

I want to participate in 2 challenges.This depends a lot on the challenges because I find some of them to be so labor intensive, I pass but my goal is to participate in any 2 during the week.

I want to attend 1 of the 2 Twitter chats. In years past I have so enjoyed reading along during the Twitter chats. 

Visit 5 blogs each day and leave a comment. Blogger interaction and comments really makes this event even more fun so this time around, leaving comments will be a priority. 

I am so looking forward to this event. If you're participating too, please leave a comment so I can follow you!

Over the Top by Zig Ziglar {thoughts on}

Title: Over the Top
Author: Zig Ziglar
Source: library loan
Rating: 5/5

As someone who loves both Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, I find it a weird thing that I am so interested in only reading positive books that make me think and grow. It seems as if I wouldn't enjoy shows that are so quite so dark but I do. I think that is is super important to fill our minds with what we want to come out of our mouths and Ziglar is always encouraging.

Although this is only my second book written by Ziglar, I have literally listened to and/or watched many hours of his seminars and talks. No matter how many times I listen to one, I always learn something new. I love the combination of humor, faith and practical life tips.

This book is a continuation of See You at the Top (which I've read but not yet reviewed) and it goes into more depth of the general ideas he teaches. There are many, many Ziglar catch phrases and I've heard some of the stories before but the subject matter is excellent.

Being a more positive person helps in all areas of life and he teaches some basics as well as more "advanced" techniques. One thing that I really liked in this book was his example of his planner page where he lists his top 4 goals and what he's done each day to work towards them.

These types of books are ones that I want to own so I can refer to them again and again. 

Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes (Thoughts On)

Title: Human Remains
Author: Elizabeth Haynes
Pages: 438
Publisher: Harper
Source: library
Rating: 4/5

Summary from Goodreads:

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Haynes returns with a disturbing and powerful tale that preys on our darkest fears.

Police analyst Annabel wouldn't describe herself as lonely. Her work and the needs of her aging mother keep her busy. But Annabel is shocked when she discovers her neighbor's decomposing body in the house next door, and she is appalled to think that no one, including herself, noticed the woman's absence. Annabel sets out to investigate, despite her colleagues' lack of interest, and discovers that such cases are frighteningly common in her hometown.

A chilling thriller and a hymn to all the lonely people whose individual voices haunt its pages, Human Remains shows how vulnerable we are when we live alone, and how easily ordinary lives can fall apart when no one is watching.

I've been craving more adult fiction lately so while perusing the new fiction stacks at the library, this title caught my eye. Then the cover kept my attention. It was the tagline "How well do you know your neighbors?" that made me put it in my bag though. How well do we know our neighbors?

That Annabel's neighbor had been dead in the house next door for so long without anyone noticing is a sad commentary on society. We are so caught up in our Facebook "friendships" and in tweeting every little thing that we don't really look up from our little phone screens.

I'm guilty of not actually wanting to know ANYTHING about my neighbors. I've always thought that there was nothing wrong with just wanting to go in my house and be left alone. This book really made me think though. It's a typical thriller but the subject is really interesting.

It seems that there is more to the story when Annabel goes digging into other cases with severely decomposed bodies. The story is told from multiple points of view and this switch up of narration keeps the tension going. We learn pretty early on who's responsible but the need to know how and why made me read on.

I think that thriller fans will really enjoy this one. I look forward to reading more by this author. It was well written with interesting characters and enough suspense to carry you through the entire book.

Adding to the Stacks #14 - Squeal worthy edition

I was super excited over these books!

Canterbury Tales - awesome illustrated version. I learned the first part of this in old English for a class in college and still love it.

Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - 7 book box set. Yessss!

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel - an ARC of this one. Has gotten some good buzz from some of my favorite bloggers. Will be starting this one soon since it's a summer romance type.

Love Letters to the Dead - squeal! I just about shoved a woman aside to get this one and...

Landline by Rainbow Rowell - oh my gosh. Can't believe I found an ARC of this one!

The Lost Hero and Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan - I've become a fan of his from reading the Percy Jackson series. These are the 1st two books in the Heroes of Olympus series. Awesome condition hardbacks. The chances of me getting to these soon are slim to none but I just couldn't leave them. I just couldn't!

I'm baaaacccckkk!

I had no idea that I would be taking such a long break from the blog but now I'm back! Getting back into the routine of reading regularly and am looking forward to getting back into the posting groove as well.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing the awesome books I just picked up. Can't wait to get to reading them but first I am going to finish the two I'm working on now...

#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso. A former ebay seller with a rags to riches story. 

Over the Top by Zig Ziglar. You can never go wrong with the encouragement that is Zig Ziglar.