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.

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows - Alan Bradley

Title: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce #4)
Author: Alan Bradley
Pages: 288
Published: 2012 (originally published 2011)
Challenges: Christmas Spirit
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Edition: Paperback
Source: Personal library

Description: Colonel de Luce, in desperate need of funds, rents his beloved estate of Buckshaw to a film company. They will be shooting a movie over the Christmas holidays, filming scenes in the decaying manse with a reclusive star. She is widely despised, so it is to no one's surprise when she turns up murdered, strangled by a length of film from her own movies! With a blizzard raging outside and Buckshaw locked in, the house is full of suspects. But Flavia de Luce is more than ready to put aside her investigations into the true identity of Father Christmas to solve this yuletide country-house murder. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: Really liked it, as usual.  I am a big fan of this series and so glad I have made the effort to catch up with the series.  I like how the author has used characters from the previous book in this one and how he incorporated each of a portion of the characters from the previous 3 books, but there is enough that one doesn't really have to read the other books, but it is strongly suggested that one does read the other 3 previous books to understand the characters a little better than if one jumps in right away.

Once I got into the book, which was pretty quick, I found it fairly easy to get into the book and finish it quickly (I got sick towards the end of the book and had to put it aside for a bit as I for some reason am unable to read lots while I am not feeling well; I had a cold, if you are wondering).  And also loved the fact that it took place around Christmas Day.

Bottom line: While the story is a stand-alone, there are elements of the previous three books, that while not exactly crucial to the book, are somewhat important to have a background of (I had forgot some of them).  I would recommend the book to those individuals that like cozy mystery series books and like something light and fairly easy to read at times and also to those that have read the previous Flavia books.  Recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pages for 2013: 17,953

The Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon Staring Line

The Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon hosted by Michelle at The True Book Addict.

To kick off my annual Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge this year, I've decided to have a weekend read-a-thon!
Details:

• Read-a-Thon dates: Friday, November 22 at 12:00am CST until Sunday, November 24 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 Christmas/holiday books during the read-a-thon, but I hope you will pick up 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.

The books that I am planning on reading are:

• I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
• Christmas at Cold Comfort Farms
• The Snow Child

I have some other Christmas-themed books on hands but I can't recall what books that I have on hand.  

Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

I love Christmas, especially the lead up and with a re-injured foot from an injury suffered a few months ago, I will have lots of time for doing some reading, especially of the holiday variety.  And I have always loved this challenge and have participated in the last couple editions of this challenge and I encourage you to join up, especially if you like reading holiday-themed books.  You can find the sign up here or by clicking on the photo above.

As for me I will be attempting the Mistletoe level:
1. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley (review)
2. The Dogs of Christmas by W. Bruce Cameron (review)
3. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (review)
4. Starry Night by Debbie Macomber (review)

And will also be doing the FaLaLaLa Films challenge as well.
1. Love Actually
2. The Holiday
3. A Christmas Story
4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
5. A Christmas Carol (1951)
I don't know if I will do reviews of the films, but if I do, I will link them here.

But to kick off this reading challenge, will be hosting a readathon for the first weekend of the reading challenge.  You can find more information about the readathon here or by clicking on the photo below.  Hope you can join me there as well.

The Gift - Richard Paul Evans

Title: The Gift
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Pages: 335
Published: 2007
Genre: Christmas
Rating: 4/5

Nathan Hurst hated Christmas.  For the rest of the world it was a day of joy and celebration; for Nathan it was simply a reminder of the event that destroyed his childhood until a snowstorm, a cancelled flight, and an unexpected meeting with a young mother and her very special son would show him that Christmas is indeed the season of miracles.

Reason that I read this book: For the 2010 Holiday Reading Challenge and the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. 


Thoughts: It was a nice diversion from the heavier material that I had been reading and took me a couple of days to finish.  I really enjoyed the book and was one of the better ones of his that I have read this Christmas season.  It was an interesting premise and I quite liked it.

Bottom line: Not disappointed by the book, in fact I was impressed more than I expected.  A lovely book.

A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth - Charles Dickens

Title: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth
Author: Charles Dickens
Pages: 304 pages
Published: 2004
Genre: Classic, Christmas
Rating: 4/5

Generations of readers have been enchanted by Dickens’s A Christmas Carol—the most cheerful ghost story ever written, and the unforgettable tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s moral regeneration. Written in just a few weeks, A Christmas Carol famously recounts the plight of Bob Cratchit, whose family finds joy even in poverty, and the transformation of his miserly boss Scrooge as he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.

From Scrooge’s “Bah!” and “Humbug!” to Tiny Tim’s “God bless us every one!” A Christmas Carol shines with warmth, decency, kindness, humility, and the value of the holidays. But beneath its sentimental surface, A Christmas Carol offers another of Dickens’s sharply critical portraits of a brutal society, and an inspiring celebration of the possibility of spiritual, psychological, and social change.

This new volume collects Dickens’s three most renowned “Christmas Books,” including The Chimes, a New Year’s tale, and The Cricket on the Hearth, whose eponymous creature remains silent during sorrow and chirps amid happiness.

Reason that I read this book: I read it for a couple of Christmas reading challenges and for a reading challenge on Goodreads.  I also read it because it was the Christmas season and I wanted to read something with a Christmas theme.

Thoughts:  Overall, it is a very good collection of three of the five Christmas stories that Dickens wrote over a 5 or 6 year period in the 1840s.  I really enjoyed the first and the final stories, but for some reason the middle story didn't really capture my imagination.  Not that it is a wonderful story, but I just felt that The Chimes dragged a little bit and didn't seem to have the same sort of vibe that A Christmas Carol had.  I suppose it doesn't help that The Chimes isn't as well known as A Christmas Carol and the expectations were probably higher than I had for The Cricket on the Hearth.


Bottom Line: Overall, it is a good overview of 3 of the 5 Christmas stories and while it does include A Christmas Carol, which is important, I just felt that the expectations of the final stories were probably a little too high and that the writing for the second Christmas story wasn't exactly what I was expecting and the final story was nice and light and shorter than the previous two stories.

Grace - Richard Paul Evans

Title: Grace
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Published: 2008
Pages: 316
Genre: Christmas
Rating: 4/5

She was my first kiss. My first love. She was a little match girl who could see the future in the flame of a candle. She was a runaway who taught me more about life than anyone has before or since. And when she was gone my innocence left with her.

As I begin to write, a part of me feels as if I am awakening something best left dead and buried, or at least buried. We can bury the past, but it never really dies. The experience of that winter has grown on my soul like ivy climbing the outside of a home, growing until it begins to tear and tug at the brick and mortar.

I pray I can still get the story right. My memory, like my eyesight, has waned with age. Still, there are things that become clearer to me as I grow older. This much I know: too many things were kept secret in those days. Things that never should have been hidden. And things that should have.

Reason that I read this book: For the 2010 Holiday Reading Challenge and the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. 

Thoughts:  I actually had started reading the book about a year ago and then quit.  I picked it up this Christmas and was floored by the powerfulness of the book.  Excellent read.

Bottom line: Probably one of the better books that I have read by Evans and only hope that I am not disappointed with my next read of his. 

Finding Noel - Richard Paul Evans

Title: Finding Noel
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Published: 2006
Pages: 320 pages
Genre: Fiction, Christmas
Rating: 3/5

The Christmas season is supposed to be full of joy, but not for Mark Smart. Life had dealt him one blow after another until one snowy November night, when he finds a beautiful young woman who will change his life forever. Macy Wood has little memory of her birth parents, and memories she'd rather forget of her adopted home. A Christmas ornament inscribed with the word "Noel" is the only clue to the little sister she only vaguely remembers, a clue that will send her and Mark on a journey to reclaim her past, and her family.

Reason I read this book: For the 2010 Holiday Reading Challenge and the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. 


Thoughts: I had read this book about 4 years ago and actually liked it.  Now, I don't know if I like it as much.  I still enjoyed the story and read things I hadn't realized had happened in the book.  Still was an enjoyable read.


Bottom Line:  A lot like what the previous two books that I have read within the last few weeks of Evans and even though I read it a few years ago, I still enjoyed the book.  Nice departure from my regular fare.