Weekly Geeks 2009-23: Reading Challenges

This week's Weekly Geeks topic was suggested by Sheri of A Novel Menagerie. She writes:

"Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented? Or, do you find that as you near the end of a challenge that you've failed because you fell short of your original goals? As a result of some reading challenges, I've picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Do you have favorite reading challenges?"

As we pass the halfway point of 2009, how are you doing with your reading challenges? Did you participate in any challenges this year?

Well, as most of you probably know, I'm not too big on reading challenges, mostly because I know my limitations and if I were to enter too many challenges, I'd probably fail miserably. So far, in 2009 I am signed up for 4 challenges, and now is the perfect opportunity to update you on all of them :-) You can always use the Reading Challenges button in my header to see how I'm doing, too!

The first challenge I joined this year was the 100+ Reading Challenge hosted at J. Kaye's Book Blog. I figured that I could handle reading 100 book in a year, and so far I have read 65 books! So I'm well on my way to finishing this challenge with not even half the year gone.

I also decided to join the Classics Challenge, which is hosted at Trish's Reading Nook. That seems to be the challenge I'm having the most trouble with. I did read one book earlier in the year, but subsequently realized that I had read it before the challenge actually started. I have since read another book, but still have five more to go before October's out. I'm hoping to catch up on this challenge with my five weeks off between jobs this summer!

The Pages Read Challenge is another one that I knew I should be able to complete--it is hosted at Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic. I have a feeling I will blow my initial estimate of 30,000 pages out of the water given that I've already read over 22,000 pages, but it will give me a good idea for what to plan for next year.

The most recent challenge I joined was the Sarah Dessen Challenge, which is hosted at Em's Bookshelf. After reading and enjoying Just Listen, I decided that reading 8 more books by Dessen by the end of the year (my own time frame) was easily manageable. I just completed my second Dessen book (That Summer) and look forward to reading another one soon!

So far, as this is the first year of my blog, I haven't failed any reading challenges, but I do feel a certain pressure with the one I am most behind in. Of the two challenges, the Classics Challenge and Sarah Dessen Challenge are the two that will likely be responsible for me reading books I might not have tried otherwise. And so far, I've liked what I read! In general, because I am realistic about them and pick and choose which challenges to join, they are a help to me, rather than a hurt. And even if I were to fail a challenge, I don't think I would beat myself up too much--there's always the next year or the next challenge!

So how about you? Having much luck with reading challenges this year?

The Sunday Salon (04.05.09): Week In Review

This week was pretty successful, though you might not be able to tell it from the fact that I only read 2-1/2 books and posted three reviews. With one of those books at over 600 pages, I figure it's almost like I read 3-1/2 books this week. :-) Happily, the books were all 4 and 5 star titles for me, so I really enjoyed what I was reading. Here are the links to those reviews:
Publish or Perish by Margot Kinberg (4 stars)The Host by Stephenie Meyer (5 stars)Sin & Vengeance by CJ West (5 stars)


Sadly, I did have one book that I couldn't finish: Threshold by Bonnie Kozek. Happily, I was able to pass that along to another book blogger for review, and will be getting that out in the mail to Crystal at My Reading Room tomorrow!
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Speaking of Sin & Vengeance, if you haven't read it and enjoy a good thriller, I highly recommend this book--check out my review. What's even cooler is that CJ West has embedded codes within his book that lead to two hidden messages! I have been spending entirely too much time playing with that this morning, first by starting with deciphering a code on his web site and then looking for other clues he's hidden. You can learn more about it by visiting West's web site and subscribing to his newsletter. Sin & Vengeance is slated to be made into a movie and I think it will be a huge hit!
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In other news, I was awarded the Zombie Chicken Award for the second time, courtesy of LuAnne at A Bookworm's World. I haven't posted about it yet, so I figure what better time to give out the award to my choices than in a Sunday Salon post. So here goes:
"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

Again, I'm not one to risk the wrath of zombie chickens, so here are my 5 picks for this award:
ReaderbuzzReverie Book ReviewsBookish RuthMy Cozy Book NookPenny's Pages
Be sure to check out their blogs if you haven't already!!
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I've also been actively participating in this week's Weekly Geeks project--linking reviews. Thank you to everyone who has given me a link to a review and posted one of mine in return! I've also now made my link exchange policy clear with a handy tab in my header and an easy-to-use submission form if you don't choose to leave a comment.
Linking reviews is just part of my own ongoing blog improvement. The header tabs you see when you visit my blog now were a HUGE part of that project, as well. It took me awhile last Sunday, but I finally got those pesky tabs posted and in working order. Now some of what I consider the most important and useful information is easily accessed right at the top of my page! I also got my label cloud under control by cleaning up some of the labels I'd been using. Since I added a Reviews by Author tab, I decided I didn't need to post authors' names in the labels section, among other things I chose to delete. My most recent "improvement" is just something fun I wanted to do and finally figured out how yesterday--I added a favicon, so now you see one of the butterflies from my header in the address bar of your browser when you visit my page!
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And last but not least, here's what I'm hoping to get to this week (not necessarily in this order) but I know this may be a stretch:
Uglies by Scott WesterfieldDeadly Exchange by Geoffrey M. Gluckman
No Place for a Lady by Maggie Brendan

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Weekly Geeks 2009-12: Linking Reviews

This week's Weekly Geeks task revisits the idea of linking our book reviews to each other, something that Dewey, whom I never had the good fortune to "know" in the book-blogging community, recommended. Here are the instructions:

1. Write a post encouraging readers to look through your archives (if you have your reviews in a particular place on your blog, point them there), and find the books that they have also written reviews. Tell them to leave a link to their review on your review post. For example, I've written a review for Gods Behaving Badly and Jane Doe leaves a link to her review of Gods Behaving Badly in the comments section of my review.
2. Edit your reviews to include those links in the body of the review post.
3. Visit other Weekly Geeks and go through their reviews. Leave links for them.
4. Leave a note somewhere on your blog to let people know this is your new policy.
5. Write a post later this week letting us know how your project is going!

This is actually something that I've been trying to do for awhile, and I did go back and edit former reviews to include other bloggers' reviews that I was able to find from my subscriptions. Now of course, there's no way I've managed to subscribe to all the amazing book blogs out there, so I'm sure there are many of you reading this who might have a review of one of the books I've reviewed, but I don't have your review linked... 

So please, use the "Reviews" label in my label cloud to visit my reviews and add links to yours in the Comments section. I'm looking forward to getting those lists updated!

Weekly Geeks: A Quote A Day - Georgette Heyer #7

Well, sadly we've come to my last daily Georgette Heyer Quote. This one is from Friday's Child, and is an exchange between Hero Wantage (Sherry's wife) and Gil Ringwood, one of Sherry's friends. Hero is an unworldly girl, and she and Lord Sheringham were married on a whim of his after he was turned down by the woman he thought he loved. To give you a bit of the context of this particular selection, Hero had just asked Sherry (in mixed company at the opera) if one of the dancers on stage was his opera-dancer.

"It isn't Sherry's fault!" Hero said, firing up in defence of her free-spoken husband. "He is forever telling me what I must not say! The thing is that I don't perfectly remember what I may say, and what I may not. I dare say I ought not to call that dancer a fancy-piece either?"

"Upon no account in the world!" Mr. Ringwood said emphatically.

"Well, I must say I think it is very hard. What may I call her, Gil?"

"Nothing at all! Ladies know nothing of such things."

"Yes, they do. Why, it was my cousin Cassy who first told me about Sherry's opera-dancer, so that just shows how mistaken you are!"

"Well, they pretend they do not, at all events!" said Mr. Ringwood desperately.

"Oh, do they? But Sherry told me himself that everyone has an opera-dancer, or something of the sort, and there is nothing to it. Gil, have you--"

"No!" said Mr. Ringwood, with more haste than civility.

"Oh!" said Hero, digesting this. She raised his eyes to his face and heaved a tiny sigh. "I am not a prude, Gil." 

"No," agreed Mr. Ringwood feelingly.

Oh, poor Hero and her many mishaps and slips of the tongue. It's a delight to watch her marriage to Sherry unfold as the story continues.

Weekly Geeks: A Quote A Day - Georgette Heyer #6

Today's quote is from Black Sheep. I originally wanted to post even more from this conversation between Miles Calverleigh and Abigail Wendover, but it really would have been too much. But it's a great exchange... I settled on the last bit of it.

"I should dearly love to kiss you--here and now!"

"W-well you can't!" said Abby, rocked off her balance.

"I know I can't--not here and now, at all events!"

"Ever!" she uttered, furiously aware of flaming cheeks.

"Oh that is quite another matter! Do you care to wager a small sum on the chance?"

Making a desperate recovery, she said: "No! I never bet on certainties!"

He laughed. "You know, you are a darling!" he said, completing her confusion.

"Well, what you are is a--a--"

"Hedge-bird?" he suggested helpfully, as she stopped, at a loss for words opprobrious enough to describe him. "Gullcatcher? Bermondsey boy? Rudesby? Queer Nabs?"

You've got to love the phrases that Georgette Heyer used--all meticulously researched, of course.

Weekly Geeks: A Quote A Day - Georgette Heyer #5

The Grand Sophy was one of the last Heyer Regencies I came across, possibly the last. My mother had never read it, either, and we both enjoyed it tremendously. Sophy's many escapades are nothing short of amusing. Here we have a conversation between her and Charles Rivenhall that inevitably turns to the subject of his fiancee, Miss Eugenia Wraxton:

He said through shut teeth: "I think I told you once before, cousin, that we did very well here before you came to upset all our comfort!"

"Yes, you did, and what you meant, Charles, was that until I came no one dared to flout you. You should be grateful to me--or at any rate, Miss Wraxton should, for I am sure you would have made an odious husband before I came to stay with your Mama."

This put him in mind of a complaint he could with justice make. He said stiffly: "Since you have brought up Miss Wraxton's name, I shall be much obliged to you, cousin, if you will refrain from telling my sisters that she has a face like a horse!"

"But Charles, no blame attaches to Miss Wraxton! She cannot help it, and that I assure you, I have always pointed out to your sisters!"

"I consider Miss Wraxton's countenance particularly well-bred!"

"Yes, indeed, but you have quite misunderstood the matter! I meant a particularly well-bred horse!"

How can you not have "fits of the giggles" after reading that?? :-)

Weekly Geeks: A Quote A Day - Georgette Heyer #4

There are so many enjoyable Georgette Heyer Regencies... Regency Buck is another of my favorites. Who doesn't enjoy the exchanges between Judith Taverner and her guardian, Lord Worth?

"You have a considerable fortune in your own right. More important than this is the fact that under your father's Will you are heiress to as much of your brother's property as is unentailed."

"Well?" said Judith.

"That being so," said Worth, shutting his snuff-box with a snap and restoring it to his pocket, "there is little likelihood of gaining my consent to your marriage with anyone whom I can at the moment call to mind."

"Except," said Miss Taverner through her teeth, "yourself!"

"Except, of course, myself," he agreed suavely.

"And do you suppose, Lord Worth, that there is any great likelihood of my marrying you?" inquired Judith in a sleek, deceptive voice.

He raised his brows. "Until I ask you to marry me, Miss Taverner, not in the least likelihood," he replied gently.

Men are so insufferable, aren't they? :-) And did anyone else notice that this cover is essentially the same as the one for These Old Shades?! I believe they were released by different publishers, however.

Weekly Geeks: A Quote A Day - Georgette Heyer #3

Another of my favorite Heyer romances is These Old Shades. It is amusing throughout, with a very touching ending--I always tear up when I read it. Here we have Leonie talking to the Duke of Avon after her unsuccessful kidnapping by Saint-Vire.

"He is a fool, Monseigneur. He did not know even that I was pretending to be asleep."

"According to you, my infant, the world is peopled by fools. I believe you have reason."

I'm sure this is blasphemy, but I'd read Georgette Heyer over Jane Austen any day.

Weekly Geeks: A Quote A Day - Georgette Heyer #2

Today's quote is from Lady of Quality, which is the first Heyer novel I ever read, and still one of my favorites. This is from an exchange between Annis Wychwood and Oliver Carleton (naturally, for those of you who've read the book).

"Miss Wychwood," he said, "I lied when I said I liked you! I do not like you! I am very nearly sure that I dislike you excessively!"

"What can I say, dear sir, except that your sentiments are entirely reciprocated!" she responded.

He smiled appreciatively. "Has anyone ever got the better of you in a verbal encounter?" he asked.

"No, but it must be remembered that I have not until today had much opportunity to engage in verbal encounters. The gentlemen I have previously been acquainted with have all been distinguished by propriety of manners and conduct!"

"That must have made 'em sad bores!" he commented.

In my opinion, Annis Wychwood and Oliver Carleton have some of the best exchanges between any couples in Heyer's novels. I find myself laughing often when I read this book.

Weekly Geeks: A Quote A Day - Georgette Heyer #1

I'm participating in my first-ever Weekly Geeks! This week's "assignment" is a quote a day, and I opted to work with a theme to try to make it easier on myself. My all-time favorite author is probably Georgette Heyer. I have my mother's entire collection of older edition Regencies, as well as some of the newer ones throughout the years that we needed to complete the Regency collection.

Today's quote is from Frederica--a conversation between the Marquis of Alverstoke and Louisa Buxted:

"My dear Vernon, you should surely know by now that I never touch sherry!"

"Should I? But I have such a shockingly bad memory!"

"Not when you wish to remember anything!"

"Oh no, not then!" he agreed.

I never get tired of reading the bantering dialogue in Georgette Heyer's books.