Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

Hosted by Fat Mum Slim This challenge is hosted by Fat Mum Slim. I'm going to try to see how many of these I can relate back to books!  You can follow my progress on Instagram , Tumblr , or on my page here .

Here's Where I Stand on the I Love the Library Challenge Books Checked Out and Read: Caffeinated: how our daily habit helps, hurts and hooks us by Murray Carpenter (BCD) Immortal by J.R. Ward Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman Books Checked Out and Currently Reading The World's Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne (BCD) The Guernsy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows Books Checked Out and Not Read - Yet Super Graphic by Tim Leong Think, Eat, Move, Thrive by James Rouse Here's Where I Stand on the TBR Pile Challenge I didn't get anything read, but I did cross off my list any book that wasn't book 1 in a series I haven't read. I've got too many books on my list to mess around with trying to locate previous books since I try really hard not to read books out of order. Nora Roberts Reading Challenge Suzanna's Surrender Daring to Dream With any luck I'll be done with the bac...

Reader's Workouts is a weekly event which is hosted over at  Joy's Book Blog . --- My regular trips to the gym to walk on the treadmill have been infrequent. Between scheduling issues and visits to the chiropractor things have been up in the air. Sunday, the girls and I, participated in the Spooky Tails and Trails walk at my local park. The walk was sponsored by the local YMCA. It was a 5K run, 2 Mile pet and family walk, and 1 Mile kids fun run.  We did the 2 mile pet walk. I knew my pug Lola would be able to walk the 2 miles. She likes a good walk and is perfectly happy to prance along.  Ellie, however, isn't much of a walker. Her weight and short stubby legs are not a good combination. My original plan was to just take Lola but the more I thought about it, the more I realized, I can't leave one at home. So I went online and purchased a dog stroller. The plan was for Ellie to walk for a bit and then into the stroller she would go. On test walks Ellie ba...

I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014  hosted by  Book Dragon's Lair Description of Challenge can be found on the  sign-up post : I aimed for 'just insert IV' which is 50+ books.  I was keeping a list but didn't keep track of the number of titles on the list until earlier this week when I learned I had hit 55 read! So from here on out where just aiming to see how many books over 50 I can checkout and read in the next two months! You can find my ratings and/or reviews of the books I've read on my  Goodreads' Page . Books Checked Out and Read: Real by Katy Evans Francis: A New World Pope by Michel Cool Mine by Katy Evans Remy by Katy Evans Still Foolin' Em by Billy Crystal (Aduiobook) Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman Boy21 by Matthew Quick Cordina's Royal Family: Gabriella & Alexander by Nora Roberts Cane by Jean Toomer Cordina's Royal Family: Bennett & Camilla by Nora R...

Ruth's Journey: The Story of Mammy from Gone with the Wind by Donald McCaig My rating: 4 of 5 stars Historical Fiction is not my typical choice for reading material. That being said, I had to read this book. I did struggle with keeping my attention on the book through a lot of the historical background sections but the story was strong enough to keep me reading. Ruth's journey begins in Santo Domingo, from there it is a complicated journey through a very important part in US history, the lead up to the Civil War. Since the point of this novel is following Ruth's journey, I don't want to give too much away and that's hard because there is just so much good in this novel. For me some of good was reading along and coming across reference that you know will be important later in this story and in Gone with the Wind . You'll be reading along and there's a disdainful mention of those Irish O'Hara brothers, a revered mention of the Butlers of Low Country,...

Write a letter to your 16 year old self. Sixteen wasn't a good year for me, and I really don't know what I would write to myself. A few things stuck with me when I sat down to write this one.  What happened to me at 16 is probably a fixed point in time and can't be changed, so there's no point in writing a letter warning myself about it. Reader's Digest did a contest for life stories told in 100 words and I thought it would be interesting to keep my letter to that word limit.  In high school a friend and I would write our letters with "To You, From Me" or "To Me, From You". Here's my letter: Dear Me,  Sweet Sixteen!  Sadly, sixteen for us will not be sweet. It’s hard to think back that far from where I am now. I can tell you that what sweetness you’ll have will be so very important to your overall well-being.  It is going to be a rough year but you will learn so much about yourself during that time. What you learn will be the foundation th...

As Long As You Love Me by Ann Aguirre My rating: 4 of 5 stars In book 1 of the 2B Trilogy, I Want It That Way , we see Lauren exhibit some really extreme behavior with her drinking. She has this thing with Max and ends up leaving school.  On a trip home Nadia learns that her best friend Lauren and her older brother Rob are seeing each other.  In As Long As You Love Me we get the story about their relationship as well as what caused Lauren to almost self destruct. As someone who has Generalized Anxiety it was kind of refreshing to see main character who sees life the way I do, as one big stressful situation. My situation wasn't as extreme as Lauren's but it did make going away to college stressful and I barely made it to graduation and online courses were so much easier to manage. Coming home to her small town has had a big change in Lauren, she's focused again on school and feels much more like herself. Lauren has always had a crush on her best friend's brother....

Anna @ hearding cats, & burning soup writes: A twist on the traditional Christmas Card Exchange! This time we'll be sending recipes (in the mail) instead of just cards. Recipes that are old favorites, or special to your family. Maybe one you've seen and thought looked amazing but haven't had a chance to try yet. Snacks, main dishes, side dishes or desserts...  They can be on recipe cards, in handwriting or typed out, decorated or left plain and simple. Include notes on why you love it or just go for the straight recipe. It's really up to yall however you'd like to make it special for your recipient. You can include a Christmas card as well or just send the recipe. For me, it's too early for Christmas. In reality, we do need to start realizing it's going to be here before we know it!  This sounded like a fun way to expand on my holiday recipe list (which is kinda small). Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to share! If you're in...

Cover Him With Darkness by Janine Ashbless My rating: 3 of 5 stars Publication date: October 14, 2014 In a remote and mountainous part of Europe, a priest keeps a dark secret beneath his chapel—a prisoner. Even the holy man does not know how long he has been there—hundreds of years, perhaps, or even longer. The priest's fear is that anyone in his parish would ever come in contact with his mysterious and unholy charge. But what happens is even worse than he could have ever imagined. His lovely young daughter Milja, whose innocence and devotion to God he prizes over all else, trails her father into the cavern and catches a glimpse of the prisoner, a beautiful being like the most handsome of men, and yet not. She looks into his eyes and sees pain and wisdom and eternity. Unable to keep away from this silent creature chained to an altar stone, she is torn between family loyalty and her growing connection to their prisoner. One day her father discovers their forbidden intimacy an...