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Personal Challenges - 2015 > Kassandra's Quest for 110 in 2015

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message 101: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Thanks Renee! I forget that we have longer on that one. I was hoping to finish it twice so we will see how the summer works.


message 102: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Woot! Thanks to some very rainy weather here today, I've spent the day reading and got in some great books. I've officially bested my personal best and am ending the month with 13 books read.


message 103: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Yah! Lucky 13!


message 104: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Only 2 behind schedule now and 1 book away from getting my next Bingo. Woot!


message 105: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments I'm glad this is a good month for you!


message 106: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Thanks Melissa!


message 107: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Yay! Scored my second Bingo today!


message 108: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Yah! You Go!


message 109: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments This month's point challenge is heavily influencing my book choices this month!


message 110: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments But are you enjoying these choices? :D


message 111: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Absolutely I'm enjoying them!!! It just isn't leaving much room for biographies - but I'm not complaining!


message 112: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Wow, officially halfway through the year and I am right on track for most of my goals, while slightly behind on the quest for 110 books. I'm hoping that July will be a great month for some catch up. Beach reads might just do the trick!


message 113: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments July will be a great month for you! Glad the Bingos and the Bonus' helped rack up the points. A beach read recommendation is --- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I see you have it on your to-read shelf. This was recommended by my daughters and sister. You'll read this in a day!


message 114: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Thanks for the recommendation Melissa! I've had it on my shelf for a while now and was waiting to hear a review from someone I know. I'm glad you liked it, I'll be adding it to my summer reading list for sure now!


message 116: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Well, my reading hasn't been as vast as I had planned this week due to some unexpected life things, but I did enjoy the book that I read. I recommend Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers for anyone that enjoys humour, history and some very inspiring word play.


message 117: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments There are sooooooooooo many books and so very little time!


message 118: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments So true, so true! But what a happy way to fill our time. :D


message 119: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments A very happy way indeed Melissa! Next mission - find a way to turn my job into full time reading!


message 120: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments I FINALLY made my way through Thy Neighbor: A Novel - it's a book that I've been trying to get through for 3 years. The only good thing that I can say about it is that it knocked off a book from my TBR.


message 121: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments My squirrel syndrome is really getting me into trouble. I cannot seem to stay on track with my planned reading!!! Every time I find a new author I like, all I want to do is read everything else that they have read. In the process, my TBR gets ignored. Something tells me that my "Haunted by the Unread" pile is going to haunt me again in 2016.


message 122: by Melissa (last edited Jul 31, 2015 07:04PM) (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Kassandra, next year lets do a Squirrel Challenge and see where the adventure brings us! Think about it -- no guilt. Somebody throws in a recommendation and off we go. :D


message 123: by Tracey (new)

Tracey | 916 comments I'll join in that squirrel challenge next year. There are some books I've put on my monthly to-reads multiple times now, and I just never seem to get to them because I keep finding something that I must read first.


message 124: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments It would be fun to see where it would lead us, maybe just plain, no anxiety, you know, when there are no rules.


message 125: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments I would love to do a squirrel challenge!!! It would be nice now to be stressed out about the books I should have read and just enjoy the ones I found! I'm all for this in 2016 - perhaps we could even engage the Challenge Queen (Renee).


message 126: by Cindy (new)

Cindy  | 384 comments I would be fun to see where a squirrel challenge would take us. I need a challenge that helps me clear my TBR pile. I get too many recommendations from Amazon. I read the sample and say I could read that book, I want to read that book. My poor TBR pile gets neglected.


message 127: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments We would be happy to have you join us Cindy!


message 128: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments August hasn't started off all that well for me so far, but I'm hoping to do some catch up mid-month.


message 129: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Kassandra, I'm still struggling along on book number one for this month. Life gets busy, Girlie! It is what it is! :D


message 130: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments That's very true my friend! Thank you for the kind words.


message 131: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments This has been a tough year for me in terms of # of books read, that's for sure! I had upped my goal this year to try and reach 110 and now I'm thinking that I may need to scale it back. I'll leave it for now as I would really like to hit that goal, but I'm falling further and further behind! I can't wait to do something about my squirrel syndrome next year, even if it's just a mini-chalenge to take away some of my guilt at all these distractions :)


message 132: by Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge (new)

Renee M | 4789 comments Mod
Oh My God! How did I miss this squirrelly conversation??? I started 2015 with great focus then somewhere along the last several months it has been All squirrel, All the time! I don't know how to make that a challenge. Lol. Maybe a "What squirreled you this month?" thread. Maybe the key is in what Melissa said (which I may post on my wall), "Life gets busy, Girlie. It it what it is." Awesomesness!


message 133: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Renee, so happy you found the chat. Melissa and I started chatting on another thread (maybe it was on her page?) about how our rampant squirrel syndrome has completely taken us off track this year...and we turned that into a "let's make a new challenge for 2016 so we don't feel guilty anymore! Embrace the squirrel!" As the Challenge Queen, we were hoping you would point us in the right direction of how to make this happen :) We got some interest from others as well.

I'm happy to see that you have been squirelly this year as well! Join us won't you?!


message 134: by Melissa (last edited Aug 20, 2015 09:59PM) (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments This could be The Squirrel Syndrome chat session. I'm trying so hard to stay focused on all these challenges this summer, but then -- *squirrel*! Next year I'm definitely planning an easy going reading year! Let's embrace the *SQUIRREL* girls and go nuts!


message 135: by Melissa (last edited Aug 20, 2015 10:00PM) (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Kassandra, received Normal in the mail today! When do you want to start this? Maybe a buddy read. We can take it at your pace, too.

*Squirrel*

I'm editing, so....also, Everything Changes came today along with three other books. It was Christmas in August!

Kassandra, I knew you would like to share in this news. :D


message 136: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments I second that Melissa, let's embrace the Squirrel and go nuts! It really can lead to some interesting adventures :)

Melissa, I'd love to do a buddy read of Normal! I just started a new one this morning so maybe after I finish that one (Sunday/Monday-ish timeframe) if that works for you? If not, I'm flexible, let me know what works for you.

Yay! I love Christmas in August! I had a Christmas in August last night as well with the arrival of:
Secondhand Souls
Sheltering Rain
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

I so hope you enjoy Everything Changes - glad I was able to convert you over to Tropper's ways!!!!


message 137: by Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge (new)

Renee M | 4789 comments Mod
I started SQUIRREL thread in the Book Chat folder. We can't possibly be the only ones. ;-D


message 138: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Perfect! Thank you for setting that up Renee.


message 139: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Oh Renee, we are not! Chase and Cindy have had an attack or two of Squirrel Syndrome.

Kassandra, Monday would be great! As for Tropper, my sister and mother thank you also. Mom says about 'This is Where I leave you, "It has been awhile that I have laughed so hard at a book." (And she reads piles.) "The beginning is the best." I have a feeling she will get the rest of Troppers books and read them all in one sitting. The problem -- she will want to discuss them each time I call and ask if I've read them (therefore start giving away parts of the book). Each time I'll have to explain I'm savoring them and peppering them in here and there to lighten the moment of other more intense books and "Quit" telling me about the book! I was really on the fence of giving her Tropper. We'll see what happens!

Kassandra, are there any other authors with Tropper's sense of humor and real life characters

Here's my three other books from yesterdays mail:

Clouds of Witness
Memory House
August First

Now to go check out Renee's new thread...


message 140: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Ok, Monday it is. I'll mark it in my calendar.

I'm so happy to hear that your mom and sister have also enjoyed Tropper! I completely agree with your mom's take on This is Where I Leave You, that one is still my fave. You'll have to tell your mom that she can't give away anything about the stories until you're all caught up. Half the fun of his books is seeing where he will take the characters.

I love humorists but Tropper has a lot of heart for his genre and that makes him unique. Have you read Mil Millington? He's quite lovely as well and his characters (or himself, he's written both) are charming. He's British and definitely has the dry humour that I know and love.


message 141: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Oh, thanks Kassandra! I'll look up Millinton, right now. I hope I didn't overstep, but look at Renee's new thread, I was excited and invited others to the Normal read. I love, love dry humour. I like how you worded "Tropper has a lot of heart for his genre," I might pilfer that when describing his characters. :D


message 142: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Millington wrote a fantastic essay (probably more than 10 years ago now) called "Things My Girlfriend and I Have Fought About". Hilarious stuff...and that's where my love for him started. Dry humour is one of my favourites as well. I'll go through my lists and see if there is anyone else that comes to mind.

I don't mind at all that you invited others to join us. The more the merrier!


message 143: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments I can't wait for August to be over. Let September be a better reading month (it wouldn't be hard)!


message 144: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Well Dear, it's over in a couple of hours and I bet you are off to a good start already! :D I hear Normal is a sure bet!


message 145: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Normal is great so far - definitely starting September off on the right note.


message 146: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments Great to hear! I'm still on chapter one -- Oh my!


message 147: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Are you enjoying it Melissa?


message 148: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments I didn't do very well with my summer reading list - I only managed about half before the squirrels overcame me! I'm going to put some thought into the fall plan but I think I'm going to leave more opportunity open for "new" finds.


message 149: by Melissa (last edited Sep 07, 2015 08:27AM) (new)

Melissa Coyle | 1557 comments I think what would unplug the non-reading drain -- just read where your interests take you, that would be fun. That is my plan for next year. No goals! Or follow Rocky the Reading Squirrel!


message 150: by Kassandra (new)

Kassandra | -1 comments Lol that's a great plan Melissa!


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