This was seriously No Read November!

For some reason, I haven't been in much of a reading mood lately. Or really, at all. I finished one book last month. One. And it was a book that I began in October!  It's sad. But it happens. So here goes.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan (466 pages). Fanny Osbourne was in her late 30's when she met much younger Robert Louis Stevenson. He fell hard and fast; her love for him took a while to grow. But eventually she divorced her husband and they began a life together that saw his greatest literary successes, travel all over the world, and his constant poor health. Fanny was a fighter and a survivor. This author also wrote Loving Frank, which was an amazing book about Frank Lloyd Wright and his love, Mameh. This book was just as great. Unfortunately, I just haven't been in much of a reading mood lately. So it took me 40+ days to read (just 6 days of actual reading though). 

Ouch

October was a bust

I am completely humiliated by my lack of reading this month.  Literally, I finished one book.  And I'm not even sure it should count.  But it will!

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by (duh) The Brothers Grimm (729 pages, 279 stories).  I bought this book a while ago (because seriously, has anyone read every single story by the Brothers Grimm?).  And I started it on New Years Day this year.  I read one story a day.  Which is why it took until October to finish the darn thing!  I will be the first to admit, I thought I was going to be reading children's stories.  For anyone who thinks these would be super great for their kids to read, think again.  Some of these stories were seriously disturbing.  Some of them were really stupid.  But most of them were great to read.  We definitely weren't in Disneyland, Toto.

Anyway, this is the only book I finished this month.  I got about 2/3 through another one (which I'm loving).  But it's just been one of those months.  Between the flood and turning a year older and no pool weekends or vacations, I just found myself not wanting to do a lot of reading this month.  But I'll try to do better next month.  Key word being TRY!

September was a great month, reading-wise

Thanks to a holiday and some vacation, I managed to get myself back on track with readings this month.  7 books and 2,454 pages.  Not too shabby!  So here we go.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (321 pages).  I go back and forth between liking Hoffman as an author and not understanding her style in the slightest.  One third of the way through and I was thinking this one might be one of the later.  By the end, I knew I was right.  Eighteen year old Coralie lives on Coney Island with her father in 1911.  He owns the Museum and Coralie has been one of his wonders- a mermaid, thanks to her webbed hands and ability to hold her breathe for a very long time.  But the Museum is faltering.  Coralie happens upon photographer Eddie Cohen, a former Orthodox Jew, on the banks of the Hudson.  A mystery and two fires later, Coralie learns some truths about herself and her father that finally allow her to escape the Museum.  I didn't like the book very much.  Some of the passages were very beautifully written, but a nice turn of phrase isn't the same thing as a great book.  I wanted this book to be better than it was- the premise of a freak show seemed so good!  It took me fifteen days to read (only four days of actual reading time), but the bulk of those days were in August!

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (353 pages).  The Andreas sisters have always been a little different than everyone else.  Probably because their father, a Shakespeare professor, named them after Shakespearean characters and peppers his speech with the Bard at every opportunity, a trait that rubbed off on the girls.  The sisters are all adults now, but find themselves back at their parents' when they learn of their mother's cancer.  Each sister is at a very different place in her life, but each of them seem equally lost.  They book was a very easy read and a lot of fun for this English major (who took two different Shakespeare classes in college)!  One thing I really enjoyed was that the narrator uses "we" and simultaneously refers to each sister by her name or as "she."  It's like the narrator was all three of them somehow.  It took me three days to read it (only two days of actual reading time).  I actually read half of it each day.  Hooray for pool time over the holiday weekend!

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian (375 pages).  This was a weird one.  And more than a little disturbing by the end.  Chip Linton was a commercial airline pilot who was unable to do what Sully Sullenberger had been able to do- he couldn't land a plane in water and have all of his passengers survive.  When Chip was unable to cope, his wife Emily decided that the family needed to move.  So the Linton family, including twin daughters Garnet and Hallie, moved to a very small town.  A very small town with a lot of greenhouses.  And a lot of women with herbal first names.  And into a house where a twin had "committed suicide" many years earlier.  Chip's PTSD has made him more susceptible to the ghosts that haunt their home.  And who knows what the crazy herbal witches have in store for the twins.  One fun line- when a character goes missing, one of the herb-named comments that maybe he did what that South Carolina governor did.  And that was literally the only light point in the entire novel.  It was dark and the ending totally blindsided me (as Bohjalian tends to do).  It took me twelve days to read it (only three days of actual reading time).

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (321 pages).  I watched this miniseries when it came out a year or so ago.  And I remember thinking, did they even read the Bible first?  While I've always been torn on whether or not Dinah was raped, I never had other doubts about the stories of the Bible.  This novel seems to take liberty after liberty with the history of the Bible.  Like making some of Jacob's sons twins.  That's never mentioned in the Bible.  Which you'd think would be a big deal because of Jacob being a twin and all.  Or changing names of people.  I did like hearing about the relationships between all of the women in Jacob's family.  And the creative story that the author gave to explain Dinah's rest of the story (which isn't in the Bible at all).  All in all, if you take it as fiction, it's a good story.  If you take it as historically accurate Biblical truths, it's almost blasphemy.  What baffled me the most was that the author is Jewish.  You'd think SHE would know her Old Testament a little better than most.  It took me three days to read it.

Always the Bridesmaid by Whitney Lyles (321 pages).  A little light chick lit after two slightly heavy books.  Cate Padgett is 26 years old, happily dating a picture perfect man, and the bridesmaid in four weddings in just a few months.  She manages to be the perfect bridesmaid, all while wondering when it's going to be her time to say "I do."  But when an old friend reenters her life and her perfect boyfriends turns out not to be so perfect for her, will she figure out what she really wants before it's too late?  Super cute, super easy.  It took me half a day to read it.

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes (369 pages).  I loved, loved, LOVED this book!  It was two intersecting stories- that of Sophie in 1917 German-occupied France and of Liv in modern day London.  Sophie's husband was an artist and painted a beloved painting of her, for her.  Unfortunately, the German commandant in their town took both a liking to the painting and to Sophie.  Decades later, Liv is a young widow.  Her husband purchased a painting for her on their honeymoon.  The Girl You Left Behind.  A painting of Sophie.  The ensuing legal battle over the restitution of the painting was fascinating.  And the ending was everything I wanted it to be and more.  Both of the stories were enthralling - Sophie's quest for survival and Liv's quest for a new life.  It took me three days to read it (only two days of actual reading time).

I read one other book, but for some reason there is a bug on my blog and it won't let me post about it.  While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax (354 pages).  Took me half a day to read.  Really good.  About the lives of residents in an apartment building in Atlanta who become friends thanks to a weekly viewing party of Downton Abbey.

All in all, a pretty good month.  Only one book that I truly disliked and a lot that I really enjoyed!

August readings were not august (see what I did there?!)

So I didn't have my best month.  I blame it on not a lot of pool time/free time last month.  Or any time in the near future.....

Go Set the Watchman by Harper Lee (275 pages).  I went into this knowing that Atticus was going to come out as a bigot and a racist.  So I wasn't shocked.  What did shock me was how big of a deal people made about it.  And I didn't return the book to Books-A-Million for a refund.  For a myriad of reasons.  Not the least of which is that Harper Lee is a BRILLIANT writer.  Absolutely brilliant.  I was reading on the elliptical at the gym and I'm sure people were wondering why I was laughing to myself.  Long story short, this story occurs twenty years after To Kill a Mockingbird (but was actually the first book Lee wrote).  Scout (now going by her given name of Jean Louise) has come home from New York City for her annual visit.  Everything seems normal- her aunt is still bossy, her hometown beau is still hopelessly devoted, and Atticus is still Atticus.  Then Jean Louise's whole world is turned upside down when she sees her father and beau at a community council meeting, aka a citizens against segregation meeting.  Jean Louise must come to terms with the world she grew up in and the world she THOUGHT she grew up in.  I read 220 pages in one day.  And I finished the book in three days (only two days of actual reading time).

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick (377 pages).  Apparently it was a sort of companion book to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (which I haven't read).  But I'm pretty sure that's irrelevant.  The book was really cute- an easy read and a creative idea.  A re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice.  Except Lizzie is a 24 year old mass communications grad student who started a thesis project of a video blog (that's apparently the other book).  This one is the secret diary she kept while vlogging.  I read it in two days (hurrah for pool time!)

The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith (398 pages).  This is the sequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  But is totally a stand alone book.  For some background, Abe was a successful vampire hunter.  The Union was a group of vampires who had sworn to protect mankind from vampires.  Abe's teacher and friend was vampire Henry Struges.  And this was his story.  It was AMAZING!  The most creative history novel ever.  All of the mysteries of the world?  Vampires.  The Lost Colony of Roanoke.  Jack the Ripper.  The Hindenburg disaster.  The downfall of the Romanovs.  Vampires were involved.  So, so awesome.  I loved, loved, loved it.  I read it in nine days (only five days of actual reading time).

So there you have it.  3 books, 1050 pages.  I did get about halfway through a fourth book.  But alas, alack- I didn't finish it during the month.  So it couldn't be accounted for this month's readings.

I"m late posting July readings because I am so humiliated

July was not a very successful month for me, reading-wise.  I blame it on the fact that I didn't get a lot of pool time the second half of the month.  Also, that I started a book that I read 40 pages of in 14 days and then put down.  I might try it again in the future.  But I just can't right now.  So this month was 2 books, 695 pages.  Ouch- I hang my head in shame.....

Ruth's Journey by Donald McCraig (372 pages).  Have you ever wondered about Gone with the Wind's Mammy?  Like where she came from?  What her real name was?  Apparently, so did the author.  Her name was Ruth.  And she was born on Saint-Domingue.  Her mistress, Solange Escarlette Fornier, saved her when the rebellion happened.  The Fornier family escaped the island and found themselves ensconced in Savannah.  When Solange lost her first husband, she found another.  Two daughters and another dead husband later, Solange found herself married to Pierre Robillard.  Through it all, Ruth was by her side, save for the brief time she left Savannah for Charleston with her husband (and spent some time with the Butler family).  When Solagne died giving birth to Ellen, Ruth was right there to raise the girls.  And when a heartbroken Ellen lost the love of her life and married Gerald O'Hara, Ruth went to northern Georgia with her.  At this point, the author took some liberties with GWTW that I did not appreciate.  Changing the very story that I have read numerous times, the story that Margaret Mitchell so beautifully crafted.  Thank goodness, that part of the book was mercifully short.  Other than that, I enjoyed the story.  It was kind of like Wide Sargasso Sea, which told the back story of Mr. Rochester's crazy wife in the attic.  I finished the book in two days.

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman (323 pages).  I had never heard of Jan and Antonina Zabinski.  Neither had any of you?  It's a shame.  Because they managed to save the lives of over 300 people in Poland during World War II.  They ran the zoo in Warsaw.  Once the war came to Poland, they were able to remain in their home (albeit with far fewer animals).  Jan became involved with the resistance.  And they managed to house several Guests for the length of the war.  Sometimes for a few days, others for several months.  Some lived in outbuildings meant for animals, others in closets.  Their story was absolutely fascinating.  The author culled from Antonina's journals, from people who knew them, and from events of the time.  I finished it in five days (only three days of actual reading time).

So there you have it.  The books I read were great.  I blame the stupid Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on my downfall this month.  I thought, every guy my age has read it.  I'm cure it'll be fine.  It.  Was.  Not.

June, glorious June

June was pretty successful- 6 books, 1894 pages.  So let's dive in!

Crazy Hot by Melissa de la Cruz (271 pages).  The final book in the YA series The Au Pairs.  I figured, why not just finish out the series, seeing as I read book 3 last month?  In this one, the girls are back in the Hamptons, the summer after their freshman year of college.  Eliza is working on her fashion line, Jacqui is quickly becoming a top model, and Mara is back au pairing when her summer in Europe falls through.  But things always manage to work out for these girls!  A mindless pool read.  I finished it in a week (only 3 days of actual reading time).

Room by Emma Donoghue (321 pages).  This was my book club book, chosen by me.  Of course, book club had to be rescheduled until August.  But at least I'm now ahead on my reading!  This book was crazy.  Five year old Jack and his mom have always lived in Room, or so Jack things.  Room is everything to him.  And Old Nick, who visits them at night, brings anything they might need.  But Jack soon learns that there is a world outside Room.  And becoming accustomed to the outside world is a whole new adventure.  I feel like this was a fictionalized version of what it must have been like to be Amanda Berry's daughter (aka the victim of Ariel Castro's kidnappings).  I read the book in one day (hooray for pool time!)

Vampires of Manhattan by Melissa de la Cruz (225 pages).  It's been 10 years since the Blue Bloods series ended, when they defeated Lucifer and the Blue Bloods could live in peace.  Or so they thought.  Oliver Hazard-Perry, former Conduit and familiar until the Almighty granted him immortality, is now the Regent of the Coven.  He and his familiar, Finn, decide to resurrect the Four Hundred Year Ball.  But the sight of pentagrams popping up around the city has the Blue Blood Venatators (aka the vampire police) more than a little worried.  When they finally learn that vampire blood has been mixed with Lucifer's ashes to be peddled as a drug to unwitting humans, they realize that a new fight has begun.  I like the Blue Bloods series- it's an interesting twist on vampires and history to have them be Fallen Angels who live a cycle and then come back later for more cycles.  I finished the book in three days (only 2 days of actual reading time).

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige (452 pages).  No one loves an Oz story more than this girl!  In this one, Dorothy went a little power mad when she decided to return to Oz, and now a tornado has brought Amy Gumm from Kansas all the way to Oz (sound familiar?).  Amy is quickly taken in by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, who have one goal.  To kill Dorothy in order to save Oz.  Soon Amy finds herself deep undercover in Dorothy's castle.  Can she do it?  Can she kill Dorothy?  All of the old characters are there- Glinda (who's gone bad), the Lion (who feeds on fear), the Tin Man (who is hopelessly devoted to Dorothy), the Scarecrow (who's a mad scientist now), the winged monkeys, and several characters from the other Oz books.  I finished the book in five days (only 2 days of actual reading time).

The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige (293 pages).  In for a penny, right?  Let's go ahead with the sequel, shall we?  Amy learns that if she can get the Scarecrow's brain, the Tin Man's heart and the Lion's courage, she just might be able to defeat Dorothy.  But little does she know that someone even more conniving has a bigger plan that just defeating Dorothy.  And when she learns that Oz's magic comes from the last place she ever expected, will it be too late for her to remember who she truly is and what she truly stands for?  I seriously, seriously enjoyed these books.  The only thing I didn't like?  The ending- I wanted more!  I finished it in four days (only 2 days of actual reading time).

Down the Rabbit Hole by Holly Madison (332 pages).  The TV show The Girls Next Door was always a guilty pleasure of mine.  And I always thought Hef was a fool to let Holly get away and end up married to that stupid Crystal.  Looks like Holly dodged a massive bullet by freeing herself of the Mansion.  At least, according to her.  Hef was verbally and emotionally abusive, frequently pitting the girlfriends against each other.  Once the show began airing and the girlfriends were down from 7 to 3, they learned that they could be each other's supports.  Holly was massively depressed during her time in the Mansion and when she learned that Bridget and Kendra were both leaving, she decided it was time for her to escape as well.  After leaving the Mansion (and enduring another bad relationship), she finally began to figure out who she was.  A successful Vegas show and TV show eventually led her to where she is today- happily married and a mother.  The things that TGND always seemed to imply she wanted with Hef.  Despite the fact that Hef and Kendra have both spoken out about Holly rewriting history, I've read another memoir from a former girlfriend.  And it honestly seems like the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, as seems to be typical.  I enjoyed reading Holly's side of things though.  I finished it in one day.

I MAY have gotten some good reading in this month....

I feel like I'm finally picking up steam again with my reading.  6 books, 2254 pages.  Finally, some good reading in!  Hooray for pool time and traveling.  So let's get to it.

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult (421 pages).  I decided to go back to an old favorite.  I feel like Picoult's books used to be very predictable.  But she's definitely changed it up a little.  In this one, Luke is a divorced father of two.  And a preeminent wolf researcher (like he lived with them in the wild for two years).  When he and his daughter are in a car accident, his estranged wife and estranged son are notified.  And a family that had found itself completely torn apart finds itself healing.  By the horrific trauma that Luke himself experiences.  What I love most about Picoult is that she does massive amounts of research for her books- I feel like I could totally live amongst a wolf pack and be just fine!  I started the book at the very end of April.  And finished it in 5 days (only 3 days of actual reading time).

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (323 pages).  This was my book club book.  It was fantastic!  Rachel is a drunk divorcee who takes the train into London every day.  And every day she looks at the houses on the street where she used to live.  And imagines the lives of the one couple in particular.  One day, she very briefly sees something that makes her wonder about this imaginarily perfect couple.  And then learns that the wife has gone missing.  Slowly, memories of that night come flooding back to her.  And Rachel finds herself deeply involved in the lives of the people on her old street, including her ex-husband and his new wife.  The story definitely didn't go where I thought it was.  Which was great!  I finished it in 4 days (only 2 days of actual reading time and I read over half the book in one day!)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (352 pages).  Jacob Portman grew up with a fantastical grandfather.  Abraham was sent to a small island off the coast of Wales in order to survive the Nazi attacks on Poland.  He lived at an orphanage with other special children.  Abraham told Jacob amazing tales of growing up with these peculiar children- they could fly or had bees living inside them or were really strong.  Eventually, Jacob quit believing his grandfather.  Until a family tragedy sent him running to Cairnholm in search of the truth about his grandfather and the children he grew up with.  Turns out, they weren't just refugees from the Nazis.  And they didn't die in  a German attack on the village.  What Jacob learns is astonishing.  I can't even go into more detail without giving the whole book away.  But suffice it to say, the supernatural was in full effect. One of my favorite parts was the cool old photos that the author included.  He has been collecting them for years and they inspired characters in the book.  I read over half the book in just one day.  I finished it in 5 days (3 days of actual reading time). 

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult (506 pages).  Yes, two Picoults in one month.  Don't judge.  This was atypical Picoult, in that it was all in third person narrative and actual numbered chapters.  Normally, her chapters are by character name and told from that character's perspective.  In this one, Ross Wakeman is a ghost hunter for one reason- to reconnect with his lost fiancée.  His sister Shelby and nephew Ethan live a half-existence in a small town in Vermont due to Ethan's medical condition.  This small town is being rocked by paranormal activities as a developer makes plans to basically poltergeist an old Indian burial ground.  Ross is asked to help, but finds more than he bargained for when he meets Lia, a woman who sparks something in him that he hasn't felt since he lost his fiancée.  The story becomes even more fascinating when it turns out that Lia's father was instrumental in the passing of a law in Vermont called the Act for Human Betterment by Voluntary Sterilization (aka- sterilize the "bad seeds" so they don't pass along their genetic make-up).  A law that was passed in 1931.  Has Ross found the ghost he didn't realize he was actually looking for?  I read most of this while traveling, so managed to finish it in 8 days (3 days of actual reading time).

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright (346 pages).  I saw this movie when it came out and honestly didn't remember much about it, other than it was very dark.  In the town of Daggerhorn, the villagers sacrifice an animal to the Wolf every month in order to protect their village.  Until one month, a blood moon appears.  And the town bell tolls four times- the Wolf has killed a human.  Valerie has never truly fit in.  And now she is torn- should she marry the blacksmith (who offers stability), run away with the woodcutter (the love of her life) or give in to the requests of the Wolf (how does she understand him)?  She doesn't know who to trust or what to do.  When a werewolf hunter comes to town and tells them that the Wolf is one of their own, all hell breaks loose.  Quite literally.  And Valerie learns the truth about the Wolf.  It was a super easy read.  I finished it in 4 days (2 days of actual reading time).

Sun-Kissed by Melissa de la Cruz (306 pages).  The third book in the YA series The Au Pairs.  Mindless poolside reading.  Jacqui, Mara and Eliza first met when they au paired for the Perry family.  They've seen each other through a lot.  And are looking forward to their last summer together in the Hamptons, now that they are all heading off to college.  But plans always seem to change in the Hamptons.  At least the girls have each other!  I literally finished the book in one day sitting by my pool.

April was a lost month

For those of you who don't know how I keep track of what I've read, I have a note on my iPad and write down everything about the books I'm reading as I finish them.  Well, last month, my iPad decided that it had had enough of life and completely bit the dust.  Wouldn't turn on.  Wouldn't charge.  Of course, I think it was nearly 4 years old.  So it had a good long life (as far as iProducts are concerned).  The bigger problem was that it hadn't backed up to iCloud recently.  So everything I'd typed up for the first 5 books I'd read was gone.  I can't remember the first three books I read (I know, that's really sad, but I'm not sure I could remember my name some days).  I am not going to do re-write-ups of the other two.  I read Captivated by You by Sylvia Day at 356 pages (the most recent in the Crossfire series and a genre that I am completely over- it's like 50 Shades with an actual storyline) and Where Courage Calls by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan at 329 pages (a continuation of the Canadian West series and a wonderful Christian fiction book that immediately cleansed my palate after the Crossfire).  The only book that I finished post-iPad disaster actually got a write-up.  So here it is.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (225 pages).  I am never opposed to YA novels- some of them are very good and quite thought provoking.  This was one of those.  At age twelve, children are assigned their job in life.  Jonas isn't assigned- he is selected to be the Receiver of Memories.  In the sameness of his world, his mentor, the Giver, shows Jonas that there is so much more to life than sameness.  I finished the book in one day, without even being poolside!  And I 100% understand why the book won a Newberry medal- it was beautifully written!

So there you go, possibly 6 books (definitely 3) and probably 2000+ pages (but definitely 910).  I promised, I'll do a better job of backing up my iCloud in the future!

March reading was a little better!

This month, I finally stepped it up a little bit and got back to pseudo-normal.  5 books, 1302 pages.  So away we go!

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black (331 pages).  Kaye is 16 years old and has spent much of her life traveling around with her rock band mom, Ellen.  But a strange incident with Ellen's boyfriend leads them back to their New Jersey hometown.  There, Kaye remembers all of the faeries she used to know.  And when the truth about herself comes out, it changes everything she knew about the fey.  It was a super weird book and to be honest, I didn't really like it very much.  I finished it in a week (only 3 days of actual reading). 

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran (344 pages).  Back to my historical fiction addiction.  And one of my fave historical fiction authors!  This one was beyond fascinating.  It tells the story of Rani Lakshmi, the queen of Jhansi, India.  I had never heard of this woman, but apparently she is the stuff of legends in India.  Originally, India was a land of kingships, with no one ruler.  When the British East India Company decided to overstep their bounds, they took thrones away from the kingships and frustrated/insulted their hired soldiers.  Those soldiers eventually began a rebellion that swept the country.  Rani Lakshmi at first attempted to stay neutral, for the sake of her people and her adopted son.  But finally the British went too far.  And the rani knew that her future was forever changed.  So she fought.  Shortly after the rebellion, Britain took over the whole of India as part of their empire.  The story is told through the words of Sita, one of the members of the rani's Durga Dal (a group of ten women who were the elite guards and friends of the rani).  Some of the truly historical aspects of the story were shocking- the Circular Memorandum that allowed the soldiers of the BEIC to take young Indian girls and basically turn them into prostitutes for the soldiers, the fact that the rani sent a delegation of some of her guards (men and women) to appeal to Queen Victoria, the customs of India themselves.  I finished the book in 1 day!

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery (248 pages).  I am a HUGE Anne of Green Gables fan.  As in, I have been to PEI and was pretty much offered a job as a tour guide at Green Gables while still in middle school.  I've read all of her books, multiple times over.  Or so I thought.  When my friend Debbie asked me if I'd read this book, I was shocked and mortified that an LM Montgomery novel existed that I'd never even heard of, let alone read.  There's something about Maud's style of writing that is like curling up with a favorite blanket- it envelops you and makes you feel right at home from the first sentence.  This novel was no different!  Valancy Stirling (um, best name ever) is 29 years old and, GASP, basically an old maid.  Her family doesn't understand her and she doesn't really care for them.  So she imagines a life for herself in a blue castle, somewhere far away.  Then, one day, Valancy receives news that makes her realize that she's not going to be content living this way for the rest of her life.  So she makes a change.  And learns that her own blue castle AND her own happily ever after do exist.  She's now my new favorite Montgomery heroine, well, favorite after Anne (she'll always be number one!)  I finished the book in 2 days.

Time at the Top and All in Good Time by Edward Ormondroyd (379 pages).  This was two books in one (the first of which I'd already read and the second was a heretofore unknown to me sequel).  I finished the first book in 2 days.  Which is to be expected, as I've read it before.  Susan Shaw and her widower father are living in 1960.  One blustery day, she helps an old lady and is given "just three."  But three what?  When she goes back to her apartment building, she takes the elevator up to the top floor and finds herself in 1881.  Yep, it's three trips in the elevator!  She quickly befriends the Walker children who live in the house and they decide to help the widowed Mrs. Walker.  On trip number three, Mr Shaw comes with Susan.  The book is narrated by the author (who was a neighbor of the Shaws when they lived in 1960).  The book ends with the narrator seeing a picture of a family from the 1880's.  And a young girl in the picture looks suspiciously like Susan!  The sequel is a result of the narrator finding Susan's diary and learning what happened after the Shaws met the Walkers.  Boy, was it an adventure!  But it ended with a happily ever after for the Walker-Shaws.  I finished this one in 2 days as well.  Reading these two books reminded me of my childhood (the first book was a favorite back then.)

February = embarassing lack of reading

I am utterly mortified by my lack of reading this month.  I will blame it on the fact that it was a short month.  I only read 2 books (at only 529 pages).  Ouch.

Gossip Girl: Psycho Killer by Cecily von Ziesgesar (309 pages).  I have shelves and shelves of unread books (including two stacks of hardbacks on the floor next to the bookshelves).  All in alphabetical order by author.  Yes, I'm a little OCD.  And this past month, nothing was jumping out at me.  So I decided to go backwards, alphabetically.  Thus, we start with a Z author.  Or should she actually have been a V?  Anyway, the original author of Gossip Girl reimagined her own book.  With the main characters as psycho killers.  Awesomeness!  Serena returns home from boarding school and decides that life can go back to normal between her and Blair if Nate is out of the picture.  And by out of the picture, she means dead.  Then she sees Nate and all bets are off!  The characters are all the same as the original book, not the TV show.  The book was campy fun.  I didn't start reading until the 13th.  And didn't finish it until the 25th.  But I probably only actually read for about 4 of those days.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer (220 pages).  The fourth in the Lunar Chronicles.  This was Queen Levana's story, and a sad story at that.  Her older sister caused an awful accident that left Levana scarred and unhappy.  But Levana was able to use her glamour abilities to be considered quite beautiful.  She managed to glamour the man she loved into marrying her.  She did everything she could to make him and his daughter Winter happy.  But he never loved her in return.  When her older sister died and left her one year old daughter as her only heir, Levana became quite comfortable as queen regent.  And decided that she could eventually have everything she wanted as the fairest queen who ever ruled Luna.  But at what price?  Winter's story is going to be the final story in the series.  I love this series- any reworked fairytale is a win for me!  This book only took me one day to read.

January readings

I didn't do great this month.  Only 5 books and 1,802 pages.  Here we go!

A Better Way to Pray by Andrew Wommack (180 pages).  One of my New Years resolutions was to improve my prayer life.  I bought this book several months ago and decided this would be a great book to help me kick off 2015 right!  To be honest, some of it was very outside my comfort level (the author prays in tongues and he doesn't seem to believe that God ever says no to a prayer request).  But for the most part, it was a nice way to remind myself of why I want a better prayer life - because God is my Father and who doesn't want a great relationship with their Dad?!  It's not about trying to supersede what Jesus has done and save people from their sins.  It's not to pester God until He gives me what I want.  It's to simply thank Him and praise Him for the blessings currently in my life, and the blessings yet to come.  If my earthly parents, who are sinners, want good things for me, how much more so does God want those good things for me?!  I need to remember that prayer is a time of intimacy and communication with God.  I read this in one afternoon and already feel more encouraged about my resolution.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (458 pages).  This was my book club book.  I've read two of Moriarty's books before.  Loved one.  Didn't like the other.  So I knew this one could go either way.  Just like all of her books, it takes place in Australia.  This one centers around an elementary school and the families of the children who attend it.  Madeline is 40 and fabulous - she is witty and loyal.  She and her husband Ed have two young children, along with her teenage daughter from her first marriage.  Her youngest is starting kindergarten.  Alongside the first child of her ex and his yogi new wife.  The first day of orientation, she meets Jane and her son Ziggy.  Jane is a young single mom who can't seem to settle down.  Madeline quickly introduces Jane to her good friend Celeste.  Celeste is gorgeous and a seemingly happy wife and mother of twin boys.  But in this school, things are never what they appear.  From day one, the other mothers have issues with Jane and Ziggy.  But never fear - Madeline has appointed herself Jane's protector!  Slowly, things with Ziggy seem to be getting worse - he's accused by one of the parents of bullying her daughter.  But things in the classroom seem normal and Ziggy and the little girl seem to be friends.  So who's bullying whom?  Then the school trivia night happens, which is some sort of costume party/fundraiser from what I can gather, and all hell breaks loose.  Interspersed in the chapters are interviews with Detective-Sergeant Adrian Quinlan and the mothers as he investigates a murder.  But who is dead?  And who is the murderer?  Neither were who I expected, I can tell you that!  I found the interviews to be a little distracting.  I will say that, while I didn't like this book as much as I liked the first one of Moriarty's that I read, I liked it a lot more than the second.  It took me 8 days to read.

The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer (517 pages).  The second book in Kurt Hummel's Land of Stories series.  The Bailey twins (Alex and Connor) have returned home and life is moving on.  Their mom is dating.  Their grandmother (you know, the Fairy Godmother) has been MIA for a while, but that's not totally unusual.  The twins thought they had left the Land of Stories in pretty good shape when they returned home.  Boy, were they wrong!  The Enchantress, the very one who cursed Sleeping Beauty, has returned.  And this time, she's back with a vengeance.  She starts attacking Sleeping Beauty and the Eastern Kingdom.  Then kidnaps the twins' mom and steals the Fairy Godmother's soul.  Her goal?  To take over both the Land of Stories and our world!  The twins find their way back to the Land of Stories and meet up with their old friends in order to save the world.  Just like before, they are on a quest to find magical objects that will help them.  This is a fairy tale, after all, so they succeed.  But the way they had to was very interesting.  Once the Enchantress is defeated, the Fairy Council decides that it will be safer for the Land of Stories if the portal between the worlds is forever closed.  Alex knows that she is the one who is going to carry on her grandmother's legacy.  And that Connor is going to share that legacy with the world through his writing.  It took me 11 days to finish the book.  Which is no reflection of the book itself, which I really enjoyed.  Just like the first one.

The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning by Chris Colfer (469 pages).  Yes, book three.  I bought them at the same time, so decided to go ahead and read them book!  Alex (in the Land of Stories) and Connor (in our world) have been apart for the first time in their lives.  They can interact via a magic mirror, but it's not the same.  Alex is happily training to join the Fairy Council and take her place as the heir to the Fairy Godmother, who's health is starting to fail.  Connor is, of course, living the life of a 14 year old boy - going to school, getting crushes on girls, and taking school trips to Germany.  Wait, what?  Yep, he takes a school trip to Germany to attend a festival for the Brothers Grimm.  A time capsule has been uncovered and three new stories are to be read.  One of those stories contains a warning about the Grand Armee, an army of 5000 men who have been magically lost between the worlds, but are heading to the Land of Stories to seize it for Napoleon.  Connor has to find a way to warn Alex.  His classmate Bree overhears him talking to Mother Goose and their European adventure has begun.  From London to Monte Carlo to Neuschwanstein Castle, they are on a quest to again save the Land of Stories.  As the Fairy Godmother's powers grow weaker, the portal between the worlds reopens.  And a war has begun.  The Armee finds help from a prisoner, the Masked Man.  But the rest of the Land of Stories finds that its greatest strength can be found from the citizens of the land, if only they can work together.  Being a fairy tale, of course the citizens of the Land of Stories are victorious.  But the twins' world is rocked when they realize who the Masked Man is.  It took me 8 days to finish and I'm totally ready for the next book in the series!

Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days by Kay Arthur (178 days).  I started this book at the beginning of the month and it took me the whole month to finish (obviously).  It was a daily devotional and I really got a lot from it.  It focused on the model prayer that Jesus gave us in the book of Matthew, the Lord's Prayer.  And it broke it down, section by section.  It's actually really helped me focus my prayer time on what it needs to be.  The author REALLY loves to underline and decorate her Bible (she suggests drawing a crown over Jesus' name every time you see it) - I would LOVE to get a look at her Bible.  That's not really something I'm keen on.  But the rest of it was fantastic.  Kay Arthur is a wonderful Christian devotional leader and I think I really got a lot from the book.

Fare thee well, 2014. It's been swell reading!

I did okay in December.  4 books, 1649 pages.  So let's get to it!

The Kill Order by James Dashner (338 pages).  This was the prequel to the Maze Runner series.  Mark and Trina are teenagers when the Flares decimate the earth.  Separated from their families, they end up meeting Alec and Lana, both veterans from the Army.  They finally find a new settlement in North Carolina and are somewhat happily living there.  Until one day a Berg shows up and opens fire with darts.  The next thing they know, people are getting sick and dying from a virus.  A virus that starts mutating.  They head off to find out what is happening in the world and find Deedee, a five year old girl who had been infected but showed no signs of the virus.  Mark and Alec eventually learn the truth and find a way to send the immune Deedee to safety.  Deedee, who is eventually renamed Teresa by the people at WICKED.  The people who created the Maze.  This one was both my least favorite and the one I liked the most because it gave some good background information of the dystopian world Dashner created.  I read most of it in November, but left the book at the office over Thanksgiving.  Oh well.  It ended up taking me 16 days to read because of the unexpected break.  But I did read the last 100 pages in one day!

Somerset by Leila Meacham (607 pages).  The prequel to Roses, which I loved.  The story of how the town of Howbutker came into existence.  The background of the Tolivers, Warwicks and DuMonts told in far more detail than Roses could have.  This is the story of the grandfathers of the main characters in Roses.  Silas Toliver is the second son of a wealthy plantation owner, left with no inheritance when his father dies.  So he and his best friend Jeremy Warwick decide to travel to Texas, where they know their fortune lies.  Each of them will carry with them the roses of their family- the red Lancaster roses of the Tolivers and the white York roses of the Warwicks.  Jessica Wyndham has just returned home to South Carolina from school.  She and her maid, who is truly her best friend, enjoyed the freedom of Boston and its abolitionist thinking.  Jessica doesn't really fit in with the society in which she grew up; she's a little too forward thinking.  Silas is engaged to the beautiful Lettie and ready for her to be the stepmother to his son.  But a change in finances leaves him indebted to Jessica's father and he finds himself married to the young woman.  Before their wedding, Silas' mother tells him that there will be a curse on his family if he goes through with this marriage.  Nonetheless, the marriage happens and the wagon train leaves South Carolina.  They travel to New Orleans, where Silas and Jeremy meet Henri Dumont, the son of a merchant.  Henri wants to join them and, after leaving several of the women and children in New Orleans, they head to Texas.  They stay closer to the east than anticipated, but when Silas asks Jeremy, "how about here," they know they have found what they are looking for.  Silas purchases Somerset, Jeremy turns to lumber, Henri opens a store, and the town of Howbutker (short for "how about here") is born.  Jessica and Silas truly fall in love.  Jeremy and Henri each find wives.  Then the Civil War breaks out.  Silas has already begun agreeing with Jessica's stance against slavery (some of the events actually brought me to tears).  And the outbreak of war (with its threat of taking the life of his last remaining son) is too much for Silas.  He worries that his mother's threat might finally come true.  His son, and most of the other founding sons, make it home from war.  But life is forever changed for everyone.  The Toliver line eventually suffers more loss.  But the families persevere, their traditions intact.  I loved this book just as much as Roses and Tumbleweed- Leila Meacham is a fantastic author.  You become completely enthralled in her stories.  I technically started this book at the end of November, but didn't get most of it read until the end of December.  I actually read about 300 pages in one day.  The lack of TV shows during Christmas is fantastic for reading!

Winds of Salem by Melissa de la Cruz (306 pages).  The third book in the Witches of East End series.  It's been a while since I've read the books.  But I enjoyed the TV show (until it bit the dust).  The problem is that the show and the books are so different that I couldn't remember which storyline I was supposed to be following!  In this book, Freya (former goddess of love and modern day witch) has been transported back to Salem Village in 1692 (you know, not a very good time for witches, either real or fake).  She has no memory of her life.  But she should have known that Killian, her true love, would find her in any century.  And that his troublemaking brother Loki, her other true love, would be there too!  Eventually she remembers who she really is and from where she really came.  Meanwhile, back home in North Hampton, her sister Ingrid, twin Freddie and parents Joanna and Norman are doing everything in their power to rescue her.  But their powers are dwindling, as something has shifted within the magical world.  Will they rescue Freya before she is hanged as a witch (again)?  Because this time, she will not be resurrected.  Once I got back into remembering the differences between the books and the show, this one sped along.  I finished it in 3 days.

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult (398 pages).  I've loved Picoult since the very first book of hers that I read (The Pact, btw).  And she's only had one misstep as far as I'm concerned (Songs of the Humpback Whale- it was torture, y'all!)  Yes, she can be a little predictable.  But lately, her novels have been a little less typical that her earlier ones.  Her most recent, The Storyteller, was AMAZING!  And so different that what she normally does.  In this book, Jenna Metcalf was three when her mother, the famous elephant scientist Alice, disappeared after a freak accident on the family's elephant sanctuary that left one of the caregivers trampled to death.  Ten years later, with her father in a psychiatric hospital, Jenna decides that she is going to find her mother.  She enlists the help of former a-list and now powerless psychic Serenity and Virgil, the cop who had been on her mother's case.  In typical Picoult fashion, the story is told through different characters' eyes.  Jenna, Serenity, Virgil and Alice.  Alice's chapters told the story that led up to the fateful night, while everyone else's focused on modern day.  I especially loved the elephant facts that were interspersed in Alice's chapters.  Also, in typical Picoult fashion, the ending wasn't what I expected.  But it was absolutely perfect.  It only took me 4 days to read it and I read over half the book on the last day of 2014- hurrah for no plans on NYE!

So there you have it- 2014 is over.  Another year's worth of reading is done.  All together, I read 45 books (which is way below my monthly average) and 16,593 pages.  But considering the fact that there are some people in this world who don't even read one book a year, I guess I did okay.  I need to read at least 50 books next year.  I can totally read 4 books a month!