Book Challenge

I FINISHED THE SEMI-CHARMED WINTER BOOK CHALLENGE! WOO! Go me.

5 points: Read a book written by an author you have never read before. Divergent by Veronica Roth

5: Read a book you already have at home but haven’t gotten around to yet (from the library, from a bookstore, borrowed from a friend, on your e-reader, whatever). All Clear by Connie Willis

10: Read a book written in the decade that you were born. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

10: Read a book that takes place in the state/province where you were born. Eat The City by Robin Shulman

15: Read a book titled The _______'s Daughter or The _______'s Wife. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

15:  Read a book that was originally written in a language other than English. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

20: Read a book with a number in the title. This could be an actual digit or a number like “hundred” or “thousand.” No arbitrary numbers are allowed. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

20:  Read a book set during Christmas or another winter holiday. The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

20: Read a book written by an author who shares your initials. Bringing the Summer by Julia Green 

25: Read a Pulitzer Prize winner or finalist for fiction. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  by Junot Diaz

25:  Re-read a book. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

30: Read three books from three different genres (e.g. romance, historical fiction, horror, biography, etc.). Remember, the books used for this category cannot count for any other category
1. A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (Fantasy)
2. The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Distopia)
3. Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier (YA Sci Fi/Romance)

Read and Read

Random thought of the day: Read and read are strange words. Not only is the spelling of the two words the same the pronuncuation different, but I am pretty sure they are the only words in which the past and future tenses are spelled the same way.

Anyway, book challenge. I have one category left: Book written during the decade I was born. I am reading (and almost done with) The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood (1985). Yay! I know I have a lot of reviews to do, and I will get to them soon. I have been busy applying to jobs. If someone would hire me then I would not have to spend all day writing cover letters and I could spend some time on writing book reviews!

Of course, one could make the argument that if I had a job, instead of filling out job applications all day I would be working all day and still would not have enough time for book reviews. But we're not picky here, are we?

Review: Sapphire Blue

Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier

I had really enjoyed the first book in the "Edelstein Trilogie," Ruby Red. I finished the second book in the series, Sapphire Blue. I liked it and liked reading about Gwen and Gideon's adventures through time, but I enjoyed it slightly less than the first book.

Like Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue starts with a prologue that follows Lucy and Paul. Readers get a glimpse into their side of the story, and a few clues into the many mysteries in the book. Lucy and Paul are the two time travelers who are responsible for Gwen and Gideon's current task: finding all past time travelers and getting a few drops of their blood to put into the chronograph (the machine that helps the time travelers go back to specific time periods). Only a small amount of blood is needed, and most of the past time travelers are willing. There are a few who refuse, though, making a task that could be simple, difficult. There is also the part where Lucy and Paul stole one of two chronographs specifically to prevent all 12 time travelers from putting their blood in and closing "the circle of 12." They will not be donating their blood any time soon. If the circle is closed, it will reveal a secret that may or may not save the world. Save it from what, I don't know... but neither do the characters in the book. It's a secret, after all.

New Layout

As you can see, I have decided to redo the blog layout. There are still some things I need to work on, but so far I like it a lot more than the previous design. What do you think? Any suggestions?

Review: All Clear

All Clear by Connie Willis

I finally read All Clear by Connie Willis. It is the sequel to Blackout, which you may remember I read way back in March. The story is about historians who are from the year 2060 and travel back in time to World War II. In Blackout, The three main characters, Polly, Eileen and Mike, all started on different assignments and wanted to observe different parts of England in WWII. Eileen was in the country observing evacuated children, Mike went to Dunkirk to learn about heroism, and Polly went to London to see how people survived the Blitz. When each of these historians want to go back to 2060, the find that their drops -where they go to be transported back to the future- don't open. They are stuck in the past.

All Clear begins exactly where Blackout left off. The three historians have found each other and are trying to figure out how to get word to their retrieval teams (the people who are supposed to rescue them should anything bad happen) to let them know they are stuck and need to get out. The three end up writing ads in the news paper that will hopefully survive for historians in the future to find, letters to the editor and articles with their names and location coded in them.

Reading ChallengeS update

I have written and updated on the Semi-Charmed Winter Book Challenge that I am doing. It's fun and I am reading a lot of books that I have been meaning to scratch off my 'to-read' list. But I signed up for another reading challenge, too. The Good Reads book challenge. I did it last year, as well. All I did was set a goal of how many books I want to read this year, and try to finish. Last year my goal was 50, and I went past that by reading 62. This year, I am making my goal 70. It will be a lot of reading, but I have faith that I am a big enough book worm/nerd to get it all done. I have already read two books, after all. Only 68 to go! I added a widget so everyone can see my progress and check out which books I am reading. Below, I updated my stats on the Winter Book Challenge. 


Happy New Year!