my books. my life.

April was the month that I didn’t read. There are four books here. Two of them are audio and two of them are really, really short. EDIT: I forgot THREE books when I originally posted this! I’m not so much of a slacker as I thought.

• A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd (not pictured)
• The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (not pictured)
• A Good American by Alex George (audio)(not pictured)
• Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (audio)
• Candide by Voltaire
• Countdown by Mira Grant
• Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan (audio)

It was also the month that I didn’t review books. I didn’t get to any of the ones I read in April. The four I managed to bring you:

• The Invisible Ones by Stef Penny
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
• Baby Bargains
• The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

But, lest you be too concerned, I did talk about a few other things, like my new favorite breakfast; the UCF Book Festival; the new Shins album; my love of Blind Pilot; and dance shows.

And now it is May. And I could have a baby this month. So I should probably squeeze in some actual reading while I can, huh?

January ended up being a pretty good reading month for me. Probably because I did all of those mini-reviews in December so I had to keep reading in order to keep blogging. Nothing like a little pressure to get me going. I read a pretty diverse pile of books as well (and look, Ben, only two YA books!).

In January I read:

1. The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar
2. Out of Breath by Blair Richmond
3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling (audio)
4. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker
5. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (audio)
6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
7. When Elves Attack by Tim Dorsey (audio)
8. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
9. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

In addition to the links above, I reviewed The Poisonwood Bible, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I also shared the authors whose next book I am anxiously awaiting, Ingrid Michaelson’s new album, and I posted my 2011 wrap-ups: reading stats and new goals; my favorite albums; my husband’s top ten of 2011; and my favorites of the year.

My favorite book this month was The Fault in Our Stars. Naturally.

I must go now and continue my weekend of doing grown-up things like going to the theater and buying houses and naming babies. But leave me a comment and let me know how 2012 started out for you!

It’s hard to believe but December is here and it’s time to recap November (and soon 2011 – yikes!). Considering how little time I had to spend reading (due to a busy schedule and feeling pretty awful), I was pleasantly surprised to see I finished 5 books in November. Not only that, but I reviewed every print book I finished. I am definitely not on par to hit 100 for the year  anymore (which really wasn’t ever my actual goal anyway) but there is always next year.

In November, I read:

• The Radleys by Matt Haig
• Fallen by Lauren Kate (audio)
• Leisl & Po by Lauren Oliver (audio)
• Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
• Saving June by Hannah Harrington

November Favorite: Saving June (but many of these were really very good). What was yours?

Now I am off to do a million things, which includes decorating for Christmas (yay!). Have a wonderful Sunday.

I just got back from Pittsburgh so I’m posting my Sunday Salon a little late (9pm is stil Sunday). Also, I want to stay consistent with this subpar blogging thing I have going on. Accordingly, there will be no photos.

In October, I read:

1. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
2. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (audio)
3. Every Step You Take by Jock Soto
4. Supernaturally by Kiersten White
5. Storm Front by Jim Butcher (audio)
6. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
7. I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder
8. Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson
9. Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

Hello October. Can you believe it’s time to wrap up September already? At least we’re finally getting some fall weather after my complaints in last Sunday’s post. And by fall weather, I mean highs of only 80 degrees. The windows are open, fresh air has once again entered my home, and I am happy.

I’m going to do the recap a little differently this month so bear with me. I read eight books in September (and actually reviewed half of them!):

• Record Collecting for Girls by Courtney E. Smith
• The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson (audio)
• Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audio)
• Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
• Sloppy Firsts by Meghan McCafferty
• The King’s Speech by Mark Logue (audio)

My favorite book this month was Ready Player One, by least favorite was probably Amsterdam (sorry, Ben).

In addition to the four reviews posted above, I also reviewed these books this month:

• The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson
• Deadline by Mira Grant (audio)
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
• The Hunger Games Trilogy audiobooks
• One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
• Divergent by Veronica Roth

For fun, I told you all about the new fall television shows I want to watch and what I think the are the best Buffy episodes. I participated in Book Blogger Appreciation Week where I shared the new blogging friends I have made this year; participated in a blogger interview swap; and explained how blogging has changed my reading. Finally, I posted the books everyone but me has read and the books I want to reread in audio for Top Ten Tuesday.

When I do the wrap-up this way, my month looks much more productive, huh?

What was the best book you read in September?

Are we enjoying the long weekend? After the craziness that was last weekend’s trip up to Michigan, I am in dire need of it. This week did somehow turn out to be uber-productive in the reading realm. I finished FIVE books. Which is crazy talk in my world. I also wrote a few reviews – shocking, I know.

AND…notice anything different around here? Even though I really liked my old theme, I’ve been contemplating a change for a little while. After a little push from a friend, I found a theme I love. It really didn’t even take that much tweaking to become what you see now. Let me know what you think in the comments.

But let’s talk about August. I finished ten books this month: 7 print and 3 audio. Again, kind of crazy talk.

1. Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen
2. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and and Margaret Stohl (audio)
3. Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner
4. Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell (audio)
5. Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
6. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
7. Earth (the Audiobook): A Visitors Guide to the Human Race
8. Divergent by Veronica Roth
9. Deadline by Mira Grant (audio)
10. The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson

I loved so many of these but my favorite book was probably Vaclav and Lena. My least favorite was Unfamiliar Fishes.

What was the best book you read in August?

Reading was pretty hit or miss on my trip. I either didn’t read at all for days or I read a book start to finish. The first week I hardly read at all. The second week of the trip, I finished 5 books (we were on the train a lot). The third week I went back to not reading. But in the end, I think I read more than I would have at home. Probably because I stuck some easy YA in there (shh…don’t tell).

I finished seven books. And now I need to review them. Any opinion on what I should review first?

• Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
• Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy (reviewed yesterday)
• 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
• Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars #1)
• Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman
• Flawless by Sara Shephard (Pretty Little Liars #2)

BTW, anyone who continues to speak against ereaders has clearly not been on a long trip. My iPad was AMAZING. I read all of these on it and I had so many choices while I was there. I couldn’t imagine lugging actual books around.

May was a busy month but I still managed to finish a good amount of books.

• The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagan
• Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready
• Bossy Pants by Tina Fey (audio)
• The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism by Deborah Baker
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
• The Ninth Wife by Amy Stolls
• Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson
• The Hunger Games (audio)(reread)

Favorite: Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready
Least Favorite: The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism by Deborah Baker

What was your favorite book in May? Anything I should add to my June list?

So apparently it is May. I was pretty sure April didn’t actually happen until I went back and realized I read TEN books. Yep, 10. This is my first month ever in double digits. I have the readathon to thank for that but I’m going to pretend I could do it anyway. So what did I read?

1. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh
2. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (audio)(reread)
3. Purple Daze by Sherry Shahan
4. Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace
5. Our Town by Thornton Wilder
6. All My Life by Susan Lucci (audio)
7. This Life is in Your Hands by Melissa Coleman
8. One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
9. Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
10. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (audio)

Favorite: Shade
Least Favorite: The Little Stranger

What was your favorite book this month?

Good morning.

March was a busy month for me so I am happy that I still managed to finish 7 books (let’s ignore the fact that three of them are audio). And it was a pretty successful reading month – I enjoyed all of these and I feel like I was pretty well-rounded. I’m not even going to do a least favorite for this month.

It’s been a bit of a rough blogging month. I apologize for my lack of reviews. Silly life getting in the way of blogging.

1. Matched by Ally Condie
2. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
3. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (audio)
4. The Inimitable Jeeves by PG Wodehouse (audio)
5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
6. Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett
7. Bonobo Handshake by Vanessa Woods (audio)

Favorite: The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.

How was your reading month? What was your favorite book?