J’s Comments (group member since Dec 21, 2013)

J’s comments from the CPL's Book a Week Challenge group.

My surprising book was My First Five Husbands..And the Ones Who Got Away


I really wanted to like this book and went in with high hopes. But she just kept jumping all over the place and it was a jarring read for me - and I found myself looking for ways to avoid reading until I decided to just give it up. I'm sad because I super loved Rue McClanahan on the Golden Girls and thought I would super love this book.

Julie wrote:That's interesting because I listened to the audiobooks as well, but this last one was just so whiny to me. It felt like they just flew around for most of the book finding new recruits, and then the last 1/4 of the book there was all this action that went nowhere. "

You are right - they did do that - I might not have felt the whiny character flaw because I speed up the tempo of my audio so I can get through them faster. But it did feel like a normal stepping book - a step from book one to book three - where all the characters are walking/traveling somewhere to get to the next part of the story. That is how I felt with the Defiance series - in book two all they did was walk, walk, walk, walk, walk (do that in your head to Rhiannon's Work LOL). I wasn't sure if I wanted to read book three in that series - but tried it for about 100 pages and gave up.... Maybe book three in the Glass Sword series will be better... I'm hoping at least :) book one was good... I'm still sore over Maven though >:(

Julie wrote: "I think my least favorite so far was Glass Sword."

You know I feel kind of similar to you on this one - but I still enjoyed it enough that I will continue with the story - I've listened to the entire story on audio and that may be the difference for me.

The book that really started my love for reading was Bridge to Terabithia



Before reading this particular book - I did not like reading and would try to get out of it as much as possible - seems my child takes after me in this aspect - but I read Bridge to Terabithia and fell in love - after that I searched for books that I could love.

So while there was not a particular book that I couldn't get enough of - this one was THAT book that influenced my love of reading.

My most anticipated book for this year was Soldier



It did not disappoint either - but it left me with a gigantic need to know what happens next - as all Julie Kagawa novels do... so now the book I'm most looking forward to will not publish until 2017 - sad faces all around and I'm dying inside waiting to find out what happens to all my favorite characters!

I was on the leaderboard - but someone has more activity points than me now. :(

The one I really like the least was The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty



Usually I'm up for books like this one - but - NO... I just didn't like this one :(

Flowers in the Attic - "Horrifically selfish mom damages children"

I don't know - that was difficult :(

Scan by Walter Jury

I hit 52 on Thursday - so I have a little cushion for hitting 100 in the last 26 weeks

I finished Across the Universe

but book 51 wasn't Never Never - it was

I'm working on books 51 and 52 this week -
Never Never

AND

Across the Universe

I'm about halfway done with both and hopefully I will finish them by we 26 - as my personal goal is 100 and this would give me a little cushion for the next six months.

Nathan wrote: "This challenge has inspired me to start planning/researching an upcoming trip a couple months earlier. :-)

Fodor's Hawaii 2009 (Full-Color Gold Guides)
by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc."

I'm pretty sure that there is a digital badge for researching, planning and budgeting a vacation - Join the Chesapeake Summer Challenge to claim it.

Summer is coming! Have you been steadily working on your summer beach body? Not me. I love pie and cake too much to limit myself to just one piece.

This month's challenge will only continue to encourage my love of pie and cake. Plus there are sure to be many summer cookouts and BBQ's coming up that need a delicious dessert. Why not a strawberry shortcake - or a butterscotch pie.

Check out our selection:

Pies

Cakes

Sarah wrote:
It's great insight into how girls are made..."

Thanks Sarah - I may have to check it out - I'm always looking for way to help my daughter become a young lady - 9-10 year olds don't have much of a filter no matter what gender.

Sarah wrote: "Bringing Up Girls" by Dr. James Dobson (<--- a must read for anyone with girls!)."

What is this about? Why is it a must - I have a little girl....

I think that the gluten free cookbooks may have several low carb recipes. Isn't the purpose of gluten free is to make things with out wheat? Wheat is definitely a carb - and really raises my blood sugars but I have found a lot of the gluten free items to be very bland.

Welcome lovelies - May is underway and what a dreary one we are having so far. Never fear - I see sunshine in our forecast in the future. On warm sunny days I enjoy taking my daughter to the beach to search for seashells and beach glass. Sometimes we go hiking. No matter what we are doing we always get hungry!

This month the cookbook challenge is Snacks and Drinks. Hopefully we can find wonderful cookbooks that include simple snacks to take on our beach walks and hiking adventures.

Here is a link to our new catalog for Snacks and Drinks

Etiquette - maybe something I should look into for the troll and I to read together - we will soon start the teen years and I think she requires a crash course!

I started Outlander and The Sword of Shanara - both are extremely long so I'll probably be working on them for a while!

I had reading goals this weekend on my drive home from DC - but the troll wanted to listen to the Lukas Graham CD and we listened to the same three songs on repeat for the entire 5 hours it took us to get home - while it wasn't my shiny object it distracted me. I have hopes for the rest of the week on my travels to and from work - I will finish those two audio books I'm working on.

I gave up on reading at home because I discovered I can watch Outlander on demand now - MY SHINY OBJECT - so all my free time when the troll is not around goes to that.