30-32: Hearts of Montana - Importance of Setting

This week, I read the Hearts of Montana series by Misty M. Beller online, reading in the evenings, after having finished a very busy week during quarter three of school.  One of the questions I had asked my students to discuss their own books was the importance of setting.  As I reflected a bit on this series I had just finished, I concluded that the mountains in these three books were characters, very important characters.

The mountains in the books at times are friends, while at other times the foe.  Often they provide comfort to main characters Ingrid and Micah, Joanna and Isaac, and Laura and Nate, while, also, at other times, standing dark and aloof.

A Christian series, this trilogy I recommend.  Much action.  Just enough romance.  Several Biblical reminders.  All adding up to an enjoyable series.

Happy reading!

PS:  After perusing the author's other titles, the mountains seem to be a reoccurring setting.  Interesting.  Will journey to those moutnains, also!  Soon!

2022 Reads...Past the Start Point

Yesterday, a cold, gray, rainy day, I spent the majority of it within the covers of a book..and had the best of times.

My daughter has decided she wants to read the Harry Potter series, and as I had begun reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone last semester  (he was not successful, and I sat aside the book in the busyness of the season), I picked this one up again and spent some time with Harry and his friends (and enemies), reacquainting myself with the details of the novel.  That's right...no movie includes all!  A good way to begin 2022' reading goals; plus, this one fits within several categories of the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge!  Yay! AND...The Daughter already has begun reading the book!  Win!

My second read...Christmas Next Door, a collection of four short, intertwined stories...concludes my reading the books I bought to give as gifts for the 2021 Christmas season.   Faith-based, these stories are ones that could be read and then set aside...except yesterday, once I picked up the book again, I read to the end! Set in the 1800s, conflicts fit the setting yet are applicable to today. Engaging!

AND..I have begun reading Gone with the Wind!  I took the book to school...and left it there, for I had hoped to read several chapters this weekend.  Hummmm.... BUT...as I chatted about my book challenges for 2022, a couple of students said they, too, would read the book...and, just like that, a book club was formed!  Yay!

Sweet Taste of Muscadines will be my next read...for Lyon College Alumni Book Club, along with my continued reread of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Happy Reading!

85 Books in 2021!

While this has been a challenging year in some ways, the year, also, brought accomplishments, one in the form of books read.

My 2021 Reading Goals:  

1. to read an average of one book per week = minimum of 52 books
1. Mission accomplished...85 books!
2. to read half of my goal from my own TBR pile = 26 books (these will be bolded).
1. No...only 20.  OR 20!  (Cup is half full!)
3. to complete books for book clubs before the meeting time (love book clubs!)
1. Some, yes...some, no.  Uh oh!
4. to read more series (love series!)
1. Yes!  AND I so enjoyed thme!
5. to completely read more professional books 
1. No...
6. to read more ebooks 
1. Yes!  33 (at least!)
7. to continue to read more young adult books
1. Only three.  Need to work on this.
8. to read a classic...or four!
1. No...need to work on this one, also.

My favorite?  The series.  Of course!  AND I finished reading the Bible through for the sixth time...just in time to begin again tomorrow!

They say what you do on the first day of the year, you will do all year long.  I will find time to read on the first day of 2022!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Reads!

The most wonderful time of the year...well...hummm...honestly?...any day of the year is a good day to read!

But...I do enjoy reading seasonal reads, especially during the Christmas Season.

For this very time, I have downloaded several free Christmas books from bookbub.com (a great site that sends a daily email with either free or reduced-priced books from the categories of one's choosing).  Thus far, I have read two...and have a third loaded and ready to read.

Of course, I have purchased a few...just a few!

1. The Christmas Promise by Richard Paul Evans
2. Christmas with You and Starlit Winter Nights...both by Nora Roberts (used from thriftbooks.com)
3. This year for the first time (why did this take me so long?!) I purchased Christmas books as gifts for friends and family.  This has been sooooo much fun!  (Some recipients have already contacted me to share their enjoyment of reading the books!  Yay!)  Of course, I had to keep a set for myself.  Of course!
• The Carols of Christmas 
• A Royal Christms Wedding
• The Christmas Prayer
• Return to Christmas by Kathi Macias 

Please tell me...what are you favorite Christmas titles?!

Seriously, Series!

Serious talk...I just finished two books, each within a different series.  And...I am deciding, that for now, to not read the series.  Why?  School starts in two weeks...and, after checking on Overdrive, I cannot borrow the next in one of the series.  Plus, I am in the middle of reading Robert Galbraith's (aka JK Rowling!) C.B. Strike series.  Thus...as in, yes!...I am getting that series "fix"!

At dinner the other evening when I was sharing that I was reading this Galbraith/Rowling series, another avid reader friend asked where I had learned about about this series.  Hummmm....?  I cannot remember for sure.  Maybe the Internet?

I had four in the series...only one of which I had read.  As time became available, I pulled them off the shelf and began the series again, only then to learn of book number five, which I now, of course, own!  Of course.  As seems to be typical Rowling format, each novel increases in length.  Such a detailed writer she is.

I just love a good series, and I already have plans for my next dive into the depths of a character.  Just in time for the beginning of fall and the Readers Imbibing Peril Reading Challenge (which after a quick perusal...not sure if this challenge continues), I plan to read the Odd Thomas series, some of which will be a re-read, as its been several years since I read the first ones.

Currently, I am, also, reading Sea Change for a book club and will need to read The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermont.  Unless COVID changes our plans..again..., Alice McDermont will visit our area for a speaker series.

Thanks to series and a return to devoted reading time, I have now read 67+ books so far in 2021.  Will I make 100?  Maybe?  I have met my goal of 52. Nice!

What are you reading good?

Summer Reading 2021

Now weeks since summer  break began...and the reading for pleasure continues, reading, what I call, "fun" or "easy" reads, involving, this year, a series.  Yes, one of my favorite types of reads, especially since once the series has several books out for me to enjoy.

While at Wal-Mart very early in the summer, I picked up a book by new-to-me author Heather Graham, as I later read the front and back covers and began to dive into the book, I realized that I had started with the latest book in the series.  Yay...and what?!  A quick search for this series revealed that this one was number 35ish!  Wow!

Using the Overdrive app, I found the first one...and then the next 19...all in a row.  That has been my Summer Big Read.

Two interesting tidbits about this series:

1. Ghosts help solve the who-done-its.  The Krewe of Hunters see ghosts...thus, their name.
2. The author includes much history within each novel.  I actually ordered two that included facts and characters from the Salem Witchtrials, as my students and I read The Crucible and I could use the as examples of allusions.

Will I finish the series?  Probably.  May be next summer...as this summer is quickly passing and I have much to do yet before returning for year 31!

The Return to Reading

Meeting and surpassing my 2021 reading goal I am!  Just click on the above 2021 Reading List to check out my titles thus far.

I question myself:  why so many books in such a short time span?  My love of reading has returned after having lived in a dessert entitled "Pandemic and Busyness."  After the atrocious first semester during which time was not my own, I decided...and since have affirmed...that I needed a diagnosis of normalcy.  Therefore, I committed again to reading one book a week, reading books I owned (still have bought plenty...for that is very normal!), and reading books I enjoy...yes, even fluff...and young adult...and suspense...with a few witches thrown in!

Then, that love of reading began to return...not because I needed to meet a deadline (book clubs often place that pressure on me!  Yikes!)...but because I absolutely love to immerse myself in a good book.  Now, I feel more like me than I have in a long time.  Yes!

One of my more recent reads The Distance Between Lost and Found (bought based on a student's recommendation) reminds me so much of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, both about a girl bullied who lost...and then found...her voice.  Books on this topic remind...oh, why do I need to be reminded?!...of the power of the bully and to evermore take a stand against such violence.

Also, I have read three books by authors from my home state of Arkansas...have bought another...and reserved a copy for another.  Such talent we have!  Here are the titles of the ones I have read thus far...all very good:

1. Vilonia Beebe Takes Charge by Kristin Gray - middle grade
2. Eventide by Sarah Goodman - young adult
3. Letters on the Table by Pattie Howse-Duncan - adult

I certainly hope your love of reading has continued...and should you have taken a break (of whatever kind or length), I encourage you to dive back in with a book that speaks to you!

Happy reading!