Sunday, July 5, 2009

Update to 50 Challenge

QUICK NOTE: I started this post AGES ago! And somehow never finished it or posted it. I have been wiped out for most of this previous week, and the holiday weekend was just one big "I want to do nothing but rest and sleep" weekend. So onward to the post!!!

I finished the book I was on (on 1 or 2 July 2009), so I figured I might as well update my 50 Book Challenge progress!

Broken by Kelley Armstrong was AWESOME!!! Could not wait to get to this book, and it was well worth the wait (especially the very ending! Squeeee!).

On the 1st of July, I did a bad thing, and went to library. Well, not as bad as going to the bookstore... So, I start looking through their new arrivals section, and stumble across two book series. One caught my eye because on the cover, it has a review blurb by none-other than Kelley Armstrong!!! I'm thinking, if she reviewed the book and said it was good...it must be good!

The book is titled: A Drop of Red (written by Chris Marie Green), and it's the fourth of six (at least that's the plan) in a series called Vampire Babylon. The books, in order are: Night Rising, Midnight Reign, Break of Dawn, and A Drop of Red. I'd like to get at least 50 pages into the first one by Saturday.

The other series I found, is a new genre to me, and not one that I have ever though of trying: historical romance. Yeah, that's what I thought too... The blurb on the back sounded interesting, and the fact that it was the third in a trilogy, and I like continuity, figured that I could give it a try. The author is Hope Tarr, a romance author apparently growing in popularity. Her series is set in Victorian London, England, a fave setting of mine, and I guess that's why I'd figured I'd try it. The three books are: Vanquished, Enslaved, and Untamed.

I got through the first book right quick after I finished Broken (on Friday or Saturday, I think). The second book is a bit slower for me to get into, but all in all, they're pretty quick reads. I'm hoping to get the last two books read by the end of the week, Saturday.

Oh, and today, since I was having a bit of time getting into the second Hope Tarr book, I started on the 7th Women of the Otherworld (Kelley Armstrong) book. It's back to hardcover with this one, so it'll take me longer to read the same amount of pages as in the previous 4 paperbacks. I'm hoping to get at least to p. 100 by Saturday.

The number of books, I'm checking out from the library, oi...at least I'm saving LOTS of money! On the note of checking books out... I've been reading the 50 Book Challenge Thread, and looking for ideas to add to my To Read List (as if I NEED any more....) and I found a book series based the on the TV show Monk. The show is cute, so I figure the books'll be quick mystery-type reads, peppered with the usual Monk craziness. I put the first 4 or so on hold at the library, and I'm waiting for them all to come in. I like to check books out in batches, that way it's easier for me to keep track of the due dates. And if I check out a few in a series, I don't have to run to the library, fervently searching for the next one, as soon as I'm done with one.

Okay, let me put up "The List", including my in-progress ones:

1. Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
2. Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris
3. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
4. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover (for my Criminal Justice Class)
5. Courtroom 302 by Steve Bogira (for my Criminal Justice Class)
6. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
7. Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
8. Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
9. Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong
10. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
11. Broken by Kelley Armstrong
12. Vanquished by Hope Tarr
13. Enslaved by Hope Tarr (in progress)
14. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong (in progress)

So the updated count: 12/50!!!

I'm moving right along in my reading. I may make it all the to way to 50 before the year is done after all!

GOALS FOR THE WEEK:
  • Finish Enslaved by Sat 11 July
  • Read Untamed by Sat 11 July
  • Read at least to p. 100 in No Humans Involved
  • Start and read at least to p. 50 in Night Rising

Looks like some of the books I had planned for the summer will get pushed back a bit, but the summer is still FAR from finished, so I may get even more reading done than I'd planned. I'll check back in by next weekend!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Miscount!

Purple Pinwheels Quilt
It's been bugging me for about two days now. I had a feeling that I counted my squares wrong. Well, I went over and over the photos, and I saw that I added 5 and 5 and got....0. Yes, that's right...zero.

I wasn't going to repost the photos...but I figured out a way to do it, without uploading them twice. So, here are all the photos I've got of squares...





Now, counting...again! First photo: 10 Soft Navy, 10 Light Raspberry, and 10 Claret Fleck; for a total of 30! Second photo: 45 Soft White, and 30 Claret; for a total of 75! Third photo: 45 Soft White; for a total of 45. So: 30 plus 75 plus 45 equals...150!

UPDATE: I just checked my last post. I had all the photo totals correct. It's just when I went up add everything up, I didn't count right. Well, I guess I should know better than to do arithmatic after midnight...on Prednisone.... Oh...look at the time! It's past midnight...I'll never learn...