Jayne's Books

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

What were your favorite books of 2011?

My favourite reads of 2011 were:
• Unbroken: a World War II story of a survival, resilience, and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
• The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
• Room by Emma Donoghue
• Juliet : a novel by Anne Fortier
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
• The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose, and The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
• True Grit by Charles Portis
• Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady: a novel by Elizabeth Stuckey-French

I saw this on somebody's blog yesterday and I couldn't help myself.  I realize that I have signed up for a lot of challenges lately and I apologize, but this is one of the last ones that I will be joining, trust me!

Anyways here is some information about the challenge, if you are interested in joining (you can  click on the photo to access the sign up) :


Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created. To participate, you only have to follow the rules: everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish)add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review)any kind of historical fiction is accepted (HF fantasy, HF young adult,...) During these following 12 months you can choose one of the differ…

This is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll be reading next?


My Answers:
1. What are you currently reading?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and The Gift


2. What did you recently finish reading?
Nothing


3. What do you think you'll be reading next?
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

This weeks choice:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling Originally Published June 2003

The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.  Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing - for the use of hosepipes had been banned due to drought.  Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the shade of their cool houses, windows thrown wide in the hope of tempting in a non-existent breeze.   The only person left outdoors was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four.
Would you continue reading?

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

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* 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!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.  Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing - for the use of hosepipes hand been banned due to drought.


~ p. 7, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Didn't get a lot done this past month; seemed that I just couldn't get myself to calm down enough to get a number of books completed and it seems that only in the last few days that I have gotten to the point that I can just sit down and read, who knows what will happen in the next few days.  I suppose it didn't help that I had some fairly easy books that I was able to complete during November and December I just seemed to be caught up with getting the Steve Jobs book, which I didn't, but I plan on reading and completing it in the New Year.

Reviews:
1. Lost December
2. The Quiet Little Woman
3. The Christmas Wedding

What I am currently reading:
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - I am still on my Harry Potter kick and am hoping to finishing this book in the next few days

• The Gift - I am going to spend more time reading this book over the next few days in hopes that I can get it done and comment on it; seem to be just not reading it.

I have a few other books…

Hard to believe that the end of 2011 is drawing rapidly to a close and that 2012 is right around the corner.  And scrolling through the books that I have reviewed over the past 12 months, I am really shocked at the amount I have read over the past year and also the quality of books that I have read.  So here are my top ten books that I have read over the past year.

1. Unbroken: a World War II story of a survival, resilience, and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand : This was my absolute favourite novel of 2011 and I seemed to have compared all my books with this one, including the fiction novels.  The book was so engrossing that I did return the book as an overdue and didn't regret that I did.   At times it felt as though you were in the story yourself and I found myself routing for Louie and the other guy on his plane that survived, hoping that they would both surviving in the end.  It was so good that by the end that I was sobbing.

2. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson :…

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a fun weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where we share what we've read and reviewed over the past week and what we plan to read next.

I haven't gotten much reading done this week, but have been primarily reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I am hoping to get done sometime this coming week.  I hope that in the next few days that I will get closer to the 50 book read amount.  I don't think that I am going to get to the 50 book mark, but I will get close.  Hopefully next year I will get to the 50 book mark and hopefully I can read more than that (blogging has helped this year in that I can keep myself accountable as to what I should be reading), but that last bit can be wishful thinking.

What I am reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 
The Gift
Little House on the Prairie
What Alice Knew

What I recently finished:
The Christmas Wedding

What is up next:
Harry Potter and the Blood Prince


See you in the Ne…

This challenge is hosted by The Reading Fever

The challenge: Read all seven books in the Harry Potter series during 2012. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows The challenge will run from January 1st, 2012, to  December 31st, 2012. Books read before or after this time frame do not count. You can join anytime until the challenge ends. Books can be in any format: Print, ebook, audiobook, etc.. You do not have to review the books to participate, although you are more than welcome to. If you choose not to review, you can also do the following and still be eligible for prizes: Answer the discussion questions each month Create a post talking about each book after you finish (any topic) Just update your kickoff post after each book Those without blogs can leave a com…

This weeks posting asks:

Did you get any books for Christmas? If so, what were they?

If you didn't, what books are you most looking forward to reading (and/or buying) in the new year?

I got a Kobo Vox for Christmas and after a lot of consternation, I finally got it set up so that I can borrow books from the library on my ereader.  I don't see myself reading a lot on the reader for the fact that there aren't a lot of titles that I can download for free and I still like holding a physical book in my hands and can see myself reading a combination of the two.

Please leave a comment it you wish to.

Edit: My sister got me The Hunger Games, but I have to return because I already have a copy of the book.

Here is another little Christmas treat from me to you, especially as you are hopefully not making dinner and just enjoying the day.  I realize that a portion of the video is the same as last weeks, but I think you would enjoy something a little longer.

Jan. 12/12: If you are viewing this on or after Jan.12/2012, you can view the material elsewhere; I apologize, but I just don't want to be doing anything that may get me in major trouble. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ AT Home With Books.

I took this photo with my new phone (gave myself a nice pressie a few days early and my old cell had a number that was sticking).  My mom decorated the tree and this will be the last year that she will put my sister and mine decorations onto the tree.  And as usual it looks very nice and very homey, especially with the presents below (and on) the tree, waiting to be opened in less than 36 hours from this post.

Friday Follow asks this week:

Q:  If you had to spend eternity inside the pages of a book which book would you choose and why? 

This is a hard one, as I can think of a number books/series that I would like spend time in but if I had to choose one book/series it would have to be Pride and Prejudice.  While I understand that a number of people would pick this book for probably the officer's uniforms and the outfits that donned our favourite female characters during the course of the book, but it would have to be the fact that the people that moved in these circles were very fascinating people and would just be fascinating to listen to, even though some of them seem very shallow and self-serving.  It would just be interesting to hear the various things that we didn't hear about during the course of the story.

Wow, I can't believe that this completed; it doesn't seem like it was 3 months ago this started, as so much has happened in the meantime.

I managed to finish 7 of the books that were on my initial post back on Sept. 23 and feel quite proud of myself that I got that many completed.

My favourite book that I read during the fall, that wasn't a reread, was Frankenstein, which was on TBR list.  And the least favourite was The Christmas Wedding.  The reason that I chose these two was because Frankenstein was complete revelation to me and totally exceeded what I expected the book to be and found it to be very relevant to our modern society as well and insightful to the things that Humans create, especially when it comes to computers and other things that come to rule our lives.  The reason that The Christmas Wedding was my least favourite because I found the story very simple and not exactly thought provoking and found that Gaby was a very selfish individual, which was in contra…

This week Booking Through Thursday asks:
Any books you’re hoping to get for the holidays this year?
How about giving? Are you giving any good ones?
Answers:
I am hoping to get an e-reader this Christmas, but honestly I am not getting my hopes up.  I usually don't ask for books because the ones that I want, I have either usually read beforehand or have purchased myself.  It doesn't help that my birthday is a month afterwards and usually what I want sometimes comes out 6 months later.


I am giving a couple of books to my dad and sister, but won't say due to the fact that this blog updates on my Facebook page and there might be prying eyes wanting to see what they are getting for me.  I can say that one of the author's that I am giving is well-known, or at least one of his books is well-known.

This is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll be reading next?

My answers: 
1.  What are you currently reading?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and The Gift


2. What did you recently finish reading?
The Christmas Wedding

3. What do you thin you'll be reading next?
No clue.

Title: The Christmas Wedding
Author: James Patterson and Richard Dilallo
Pages: 266
Published: 2011
Genre: Christmas Fiction
Rating: 2.5/5

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day--she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.

But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise--she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever.

Thoughts: After reading a number of reviews on this book and seeing that it has had mediocre reviews, I thought I would still give this book a chance and see if the bo…

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

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* 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!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


Claire Donogue, Gaby's eldest daughter, had just finished her mother's video, and, well, wow. Go, Gaby! 

~ p. 13, The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo

I am going to make this one short and sweet and wish everybody who has read this blog over the past year a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I thank you for coming by and reading and commenting over the past year (I will give you my best of in the New Year, along with my reading resolutions).

Here is a little something from me to you:



Jan. 12/12: If you are viewing this on or after Jan.12/2012, you can view the material elsewhere; I apologize, but I just don't want to be doing anything that may get me in major trouble. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Katherine over at November's Autumn is hosting a Classics challenge that complements another classics challenge that I signed up for.  Its really quite simple: you need to read seven classics (3 of which can be rereads) and then return to her blog on the 4th of every month to participate in a series of questions about the book we are reading that month — questions that will be neutral enough to apply to any classic. Obviously, we post our answers and link back to her blog, so we can check out each other’s posts.  You can click the photo to find out more information.

My seven will be:
1.  Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
2.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3.  The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
4.  North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
5.  Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
6.  Anna Karerina by Leo Tolstoy
7.  The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I know that I have already signed up for more than I can possibly chew off at this point, but the great thing of this book reading challenge is that it doesn't really matter where you read, unless of course you wish to win a prize.  But when I saw this over at Bookjourney, I couldn't help myself.  Basically one has to read a book from each of the 50 states between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2012.

So here are some guidelines:

1.  In a fiction read it would be the State or Country that the book spends the most time in.  (Ie. If your main character is from Wisconsin but the book is all about his/her time in college in California – the books should categorize under California….)

2.  Non fiction reads categorize  in whatever State or Country it is about (Ie…. a book about fly fishing in Colorado is a Colorado point, and a book about women in Afghanistan is an Afghanistan point.

3.  If the book goes from one state to another… go with the state that most of the time is spent.

How to get …