this little life of mine

Over the course of this year, I have attempted to participate in various reading challenges. I thought at this stage of the game, I should probably check and see just how many challenges I succeeded in (or didn't).

The first challenge on my list is the Summer Reading Challenge  where I chose 10 books I had lying around to get read between June 20th and September 20th. Here is my post which included a list of the books I planned to read. As you can see, I did pretty well getting 6 out of the 10 books read. The other books are still sitting on my shelf and will likely end up on another challenge list next year!

The next several challenges were all listed on one post. They include the Speculative Fiction Challenge, the 2010 Flashback Reading Challenge, Support Your Local Library, the 2010 Challenge, the YA Reading Challenge, & tbr lite. I pretty much failed in all the challenges (and pretty much screwed up that page by trying to update it now; I gave up and just left it). To be honest, I kept forgetting I was even signed up for challenges, and just picked up and read books I either bought or had on hand, or heard about and picked up at the library.

That said, I did end up reading 42 books this year as of this moment (I am counting one that I havne't technically started yet, but will be starting this week and will likely finish before month's end.)! That's quite an accomplishment, I think! Check 'em out:

1. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson (not started yet, but will this week)
2. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
3. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
4. Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow by The Miller Brothers
5. Murder at Cuyamaca Beach by Sue McGinty
6. The Scorch Trials  by James Dashner
7. Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey
8. Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher  (currently reading, almost finished)
9. Lies by Michael Grant
10. To Kill A Mockinbird by Harper Lee
11. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read for Banned Books Week)
12. Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey
13. Redwall by Brian Jacques
14. First Test by Tamora Pierce
15. Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck
16. School's Out - Forever by James Patterson
17. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
18. Impossible by Nancy Werlin
19. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
20. Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker
21. The Year Without Michael by Susan Beth Pfeffer
22. Except the Queen by Jane Yolen
23. The Princess and the Bear by Mette Ivie Harrison
24. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
25. Salt by Maurice Gee
26. The Line by Teri Hall
27. Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders
28. The Purpose Driven Lifey Rick Warren
29. Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors
30. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
31. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
32. Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
33. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
34. Wake by Lisa McMann
35. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
36. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
37. Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 by Stephenie Meyer
38. Heat Wave by Richard Castle
39. Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
40. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
41. Hunger: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant
42. Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Reading this list I am reminded of all the awesome books I've read this year, all the awesome characters I've met and all the awesome adventures we've gone on together. I'm also reminded of several trilogies or series I started that I need to hunt down the sequel(s) of, as well as a couple series I started that I'm not going to bother reading further.

I've been contemplating doing more reading challenges next year, but right now I'm too tired to even think about it, so I don't know that I'll bother. Unless, of course, I find some that just sound too fun. We'll see!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week I'm reading Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher.  Here's my teaser:

The fire built up behind the wall, rising higher and higher, taking shape as if filling a mold. And as they watched, they saw that in the midst of all this, London carried on. Cars drove through the wall of flame without noticing. A cyclist wove around a taxi, his whistle shrieking angrily, unaware that he'd missed the cab by inches but ridden straight through a studded gate of fire.

I spent yesterday getting my house all decorated for Christmas. I almost didn't do it, but in the end, I'm glad I did:

 
I worried about not having space for my Nativity since I was able to get rid of my ginormous 1988 stereo system last month, but luckily I found a perfect place for it:

 
I actually thought of only putting up the tree and Nativity this year, but in the end, I brought out all the decorations and even got the dining table Christmasy:

Just what I needed to see first thing this morning: something beautiful! 

Since MizB disbanded the New Beginnings meme, I thought I would go back to a monthly resolutions idea introduced to me a while ago by Kim. I stopped doing this, but I think I'll start up again. Having a few small resolutions to keep for one month seems less cumbersome than coming up with a bunch (or even just a few) to try to get through in a whole year. Anyway, here's what I plan to accomplish this month:

1.  Make all my training sessions this month. That's 15 tortuous hours, people! I'm not planning to worry too much about losing any weight this month, just maintain what I have lost this year. I'll concentrate on losing again next year!

2.  Buy a new camera.Yeah, I dropped my totally awesome Canon elph camera in a pot of stew while trying to get a delicious foodie shot and it hasn't been the same since. I'm lookingat getting another elph or maybe this other cool Canon model.

3.  Get my printer working again or buy a new one. Sometime between October 20th and November 22nd my printer and computer stopped talking to each other. The only thing I can think of is something went wonky during a power outage that occurred between those two time periods. I checked connections, checked that the printer still worked (it does; I can print from a card and can print the machine's self diagnostics) and tried to reinstall the software. Unfortunately the software isn't compatible with the Windows 7 upgrade I did last March (though the printer was working perfectly after that upgrade), and long story short, after many valiant efforts by myself and a Geek Squad tech, I still can't print anything off my computer. So, I'm going to see if maybe a new usb cord will help and if that doesn't do it, I'm buying a new printer.

4.  Decorate for Christmas. I didn't decorate at all last year, and even though I'm really not in the mood this year, I'm determined to do it anyway. If nothing else, I can put up the Nativity to remind myself of what this season is REALLY all about despite all the damn atheists out there trying to ruin it for us.

5. Have fun. Can't say I'm doing that so far, but the month is young and hopefully things will improve soon.