Thankfully Reading 2018 #thankfullyreading

I realize that this is late, but I am joining the Thankfully Reading Weekend.

2017 Thankfully Reading Weekend

I am going to do this again, since I have most of the weekend off (have bookclub on Saturday and a shift at my job on Sunday).

I am going to work a few books, but mainly Venetian Blood by Christine Evelyn Volker and Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  I will also read Outlander.  

I will read a combination of print and ebook, but mainly print.

Hope you all have a great weekend of reading.

Sunday Salon /Sunday Post - Christmas Spirit Sign-up #csreadathon and Thankfully Reading Weekend

I realize that its been a few weeks since I have posted a Salon post and at least a couple since I posted anything at all. I've been busy reading books and watching videos and hence my blogging has suffered.

I know that 2015 is coming to a rapid end and I have made a few decisions, especially in regards to my reading challenges.  I am thinking that I am going to back down on the number of reading challenges that I participate during 2016, at least at the start.

I am also signing up for Michelle @ True Book Addict's Christmas Reading Challenge and Christmas Spirit Readathon.

For the reading challenge, I am going go for the Mistletoe level, in which I am hoping to read 2-4 Christmas books and I am also going to do Fa La La La Film challenge as well.  I hope that you can join as well.  And to kick things off, Michelle is hosting a read-a-thon for the first week.  I hope to read at least one or two books during this time.

And to add to that Jenn at Jenn's Bookshelves is hosting the Thankfully Reading weekend.  I hope to spend a bit of time reading during the weekend.  

I will get back to my reading and hopefully I can start to catch-up the book reviews that have been piling up this coming week.

Hope you have a great rest of the day and a great week of reading.

Sunday Salon - Christmas Spirit Read-a-thon, Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge and Thankfully Reading sign-ups

I know that the Sunday Salon is a place to talk about one is reading and other bookish related things, not sign up for reading challenges/read-a-thons,  but it is also a space that I can do with what I like. So I am going to use that for those things for that reason.


Christmas Spirit Read-a-thon

I have done this for at least a couple of years and this will be my third time doing this read-a-thon.  The best part of this read-a-thon is that you only have to read at least one holiday tale during the read-a-thon and since it happens during Jenn's Bookshelves Thankfully Reading Weekend, its a nice way of easing into the holiday season.

Here are a few guidelines that Michelle has give for the Read-a-Thon:

• Read-a-Thon dates: Monday, November 24 at 12:00am CST until Sunday, November 30 at 11:59pm CST (adjust your time zone accordingly)
• You do not have to be signed up for the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge to participate (but I sure would love for you to join us!)
• I am not requiring that you read only Christmas/holiday books during the read-a-thon, but I hope you will pick up at least one holiday tale, even if it's just to read some children's books with your kids or some holiday short stories
• to check in on Twitter, we'll use hashtag #CSreadathon
• as usual, you do not have to have a blog to participate...feel free to link up and check in from Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

And in conjunction with the Christmas Spirit Read-a-thon, Michelle is also hosting The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge.  I think this is my fourth or fifth year participating, but at this point I don't know.

Here are the guidelines for the reading challenge:

• challenge will run from Monday, November 24, 2014 through Tuesday, January 6, 2014 (Twelfth Night or Epiphany).
• cross over with other challenges is totally permitted AND encouraged!
• These must be Christmas novels, books about Christmas lore, a book of Christmas short stories or poems, books about Christmas crafts, and for the first time...a children's Christmas books level!
• Levels:

            --Candy Cane:  read 1 book

            --Mistletoe:  read 2-4 books

            --Christmas Tree:  read 5 or 6 books (this is the fanatic level...LOL!)

          Additional levels:

            --Fa La La La Films:  watch a bunch or a few Christmas movies...it's up to you!

            --Visions of Sugar Plums:  read books with your children this season and share what you read

          *the additional levels are optional, you still must complete one of the main reading levels above

I am going for the Christmas Tree level and will also be doing Fa La La La Films.

Thankfully Reading Weekend

Even though Thanksgiving Weekend is long gone in Canada, I can't give up an excuse to spend a weekend reading.  Here are the details for the reading weekend:

There are no rules to the weekend, we’re simply hoping to devote a good amount of time to reading, and perhaps meeting some of our reading challenges and goals for the year. 

You still have plenty of time to sign up and I hope that you will sign up for one or all of them.

Did not finish anything this past week nor did I post any reviews.  Happy reading.

#thankfullyreading Weekend 2013 Starting post

Since I am going to see Catching Fire this evening, I thought I would get my starting post up before I leave.

I am really looking forward to this and I am hoping to get lots of reading done over the next few days, but depending on what I end up doing, it could be a bit of bust.  But I am going to try nonetheless

Here are what I am planning on reading:

• Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey
• Winter Solistice
• Thunderstruck
• Sarum
• War and Peace
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Villette
• The Snow Child

If you wish to join, you can do so here: http://www.jennsbookshelves.com/2013/11/04/thankfully-reading-weekend-2013/

#thankfullyreading 2012 Kickoff

I have been looking forward to this for the past few days and have a few books that I am planning on working on this weekend:

• Les Miserables

• Anna Karenina

• Mansfield Park

and there are probably a few others that I am going to hopefully work on during the course of the four days, but these are the main ones that I am planning on reading.

Thankfully Reading Weekend 2012

Its that time of year again when Americans induce themselves with lots of turkey (and the stuff that goes along with it) and football.  But for some it will also include a lot of reading.  And thanks to Jenn at Jenn's Bookshleves, there is a way to do this, even if you don't live in the States.

The Reading Weekend will be taking place November 22-25 and you can follow along through the hashtag #thankfulreading.  You can find more details and sign up here.  I hope that you can join.

Thankfully Reading - Wrap up post

I was really bad this weekend; I didn't read one book this weekend.  Part of it was the fact that I was not feeling well, part of it was that my dad was in town and spent Saturday evening and Sunday with him, part of it was that I was really into the second season of The Office, and part of the reason was that I had just gotten off of reading/listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in about 3 or 4 days.  While I realize that I did commit myself to reading this weekend, it just didn't work out and honestly, I feel bad.  But I do realize that life happens and that not everything we plan for happens the way that we want it to.  Hopefully I will be able to participate more fully next year and hopefully there will be another reading week/weekend coming up soon.

Thankfully Reading Weekend 2011: The Kickoff

Can't believe its already time for this.  As for what I planning on reading, I am planning on reading on reading A Plain and Fancy Christmas and Safe Haven.  Both are fairly light and easy to read. I will probably also read the Steve Jobs biography and get some of that done and get What Alice Knew completed as well. I probably will start off with A Plain and Fancy Christmas.  I will be reading print, but I may do an audiobook at some point this weekend, especially since the one that I have is only about 6 hours.

As for updates, I will probably post something tomorrow and Sunday morning, with a wrap-up post on Monday.

Thankfully Reading Weekend, 2011 Edition

Jenn's Bookshelves is hosting the 2011 edition of the Thankfully Reading Weekend.

The details are located on the website and I hope that you will carve out some time during the weekend to participate.  You can sign up on the site and look at the details for the reading weekend there.  Hope to see you there.

I don't know how much I will get done, as my dad is in town that weekend, but I will try to get something done during the weekend.

Thankfully Reading Weekend: Wrap Up Post

This weekend was a wash, as life seemed to creep in more than I wanted to.   As a result, I didn't get as much reading as I had hoped to, primarily due to the fact that a couple of things creeped into my schedule, namely a hockey game that I didn't plan on attending and an hour doing some clothes shopping that I didn't intend on doing.  I only managed to read for a couple of hours on Sunday and only got one book done.  Sunday was no better, as I had a bunch of things I wanted to get done, even though I could have probably and should have done them on Saturday.  I hope that I can get away more to host my own reading weekend next weekend, but I don't really see next weekend as busy as it was this past weekend.  If it is,  then I am going to scream!

Thankfully Reading Weekend: Mini-Challenge #3

The third mini-challenge of the Thankfully Reading weekend asks what reading community we’re most thankful for.

The reading community that I am most thankful for is Books on the Nightstand community.  The reason being is that even though I wasn't reading a lot for the better part of the past year, it was able to keep me engaged in why I love reading.  I love listening to the podcasts and when my life was crazy as anything, I was able to make sure that I was still engaged with the process of reading, despite the fact that I wasn't reading much.   And when I was able to get myself out my reading funk, I had some amazing books to read.

Just a reminder that I am hosting the Time-to-Relax readathon next weekend (Dec. 4 & 5).  You can find out more information by clicking on the tag underneath my information.  Hope you can join us at #timetorelax next weekend.

Thankfully Reading Weekend: TBR

Here is a photo of my TBR for today and tomorrow:

Thankfully Reading Weekend: Mini-Challenge #2

The second challenge for Thankfully Reading Weekend is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. She asks us to:

“Share a photograph of your TBR pile or at least one bookshelf.”

This is one of the 4 bookshelves that are in my walk-in-closet.  This one is of my fiction books.  My dad took out the shelving that was intended for hanging clothes and put my books in here instead, since I had basically nowhere to put my books that I have purchased over the years.  There are three other bookshelves in the room that hold my DVD sets, my non-fiction books, my odds and ends books, and my books that are in a series.  I have books scattered about my room and apartment.

Thankfully Reading Mini-Challenge #1: Thanks for this Book!

I haven't done much reading aside from blogs so far during this Thankfully Reading Weekend - tomorrow will be my big day for that - but I'm taking part in the first mini-challenge anyway. The assignment:

Write a post about the book you are most thankful for.  This could be a book released this year or twenty years ago.  Your post should include why you are thankful for that book.

 There are many books that  I am thankful for and probably would take me a long time to state them all and the reasons as to why.  But I suppose the book that I am the most thankful for is Jane Eyre.  While it may seem slightly cliched, it is probably one of the first books that I feel in love with as a young adult.  Okay, I was a young teenager at the time (about 13), but it was probably the first book that truly entranced me and made me really love reading.  There had been many times I had tried to read a classic, but when I started reading Jane Eyre, I really became enthralled with the story and finished it within a week of starting.  It is also one of the first books that I can truly say that it was a match made in heaven and was the first book that really stayed with me and has stayed with me for the last 17 years.