November Wrap-up

Well, we got our first big dump of snow during the last week of November, so that's pretty darn good!! We received between 9-11 cm of snow, so that made for a very slow drive home from work and lots of shovelling that evening. Because of the snowfall, the temps last week had been pretty mild with daytime highs of -6 degrees Celsius but now that's dropped drastically with highs of -15 degrees Celsius.

I did a ton of Black Friday online shopping and am happy to have the majority of my Christmas shopping finished and also for my younger daughter's birthday which is in December. I just have a couple of gifts left to buy for Christmas and then I need to start wrapping! My Christmas tree is up, and now I just need to get back to the bathroom repairs which I hopefully can finish before Christmas. I'm holding off on my bedroom until January. I have too much on my plate right now!

I went from 13 books read in October to 12 books read in November. That's up from 9 books in November 2017, so I'm very happy with that!


FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

4 stars
Heart-Shaped Box
by Joe Hill

5 stars
Naked in Death
by J.D. Robb
(In Death, Book #1)

4 stars
Gladiator
by Anna Hackett
(Galactic Gladiators, Book #1)

3 stars
Tartan Candy
by K.C. Burn
(Fabric Hearts, Book #1)

4 stars
Triple Trouble
by Michael J. Pellowski

3 stars
The BFG
by Roald Dahl

4 stars
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
(Ready Player One, Book #1)
[review to follow]

3 stars
The Midnight Kittens
by Dodie Smith
(The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Book #3)
[review to follow]

FROM THE LIBRARY:

3 stars
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
by Aimee Bender

2 stars
The Queen of the Tearling
by Erika Johansen
(The Queen of the Tearling, Book #1)

FOR REVIEW:

3 stars
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
by Kiersten White

3 stars
Alaskan Holiday
by Debbie Macomber

My stand-out favourite read was Naked in Death followed closely by Gladiator. I've wanted to read Naked in Death for a long time, and I loved the futuristic aspect of the story and loved the main character Eve Dallas. I've never read a sci-fi romance before, and Gladiator was a very pleasant surprise. It was quite nearly a 5-star read for me, and I'm happy to have discovered a new genre to enjoy.

My least favourite read was The Queen of the Tearling, which was quite boring and long-winded. I won't be continuing with that series. Another big disappointment was The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. I liked it, but I did struggle with it. The beginning was very slow but it picked up midway through so that's why I bumped it up from 2 stars to 3 stars.

I discovered nine new authors (including one Canadian, Burn), I started six new series (Robb's In Death, Hackett's Galactic Gladiators, Burn's Fabric Hearts, Johansen's Queen of the Tearling, Cline's Ready Player One, and Smith's The Hundred and One Dalmatians - I actually jumped in that series at the third book), discovered two new genres (sci-fi romance and M-M romance), read two debuts (Johansen's Queen of the Tearling and Cline's Ready Player One) and continued on in one series (Pellowski's Double Trouble). 

I read ten backlist books and two new 2018 releases. I listened to seven audiobooks plus read five traditional books. 

In October, I broke my Goodreads goal of 100 books. I'm currently sitting at 133, and I broke my 2012 record of 123 books since I started keeping track. So, yes, I'm feeling very proud!

via GIPHY

January Wrap-up: 7 books

[3 shelf-love, 1 library, 3 review]

February Wrap-up: 13 books

[10 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

March Wrap-up: 12 books

[5 shelf-love, 3 library, 4 review]

April Wrap-up: 14 books

[11 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

May Wrap-up: 9 books
[5 shelf-love, 0 library, 4 review]

June Wrap-up: 13 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 0 review]

July Wrap-up: 16 books
[9 shelf-love, 6 library, 1 review]

August Wrap-up: 10 books
[5 shelf-love, 4 library, 1 review]

September Wrap-up: 14 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 1 review]

October Wrap-up: 13 books
[5 shelf-love, 8 library, 0 review]

November Wrap-up: 12 books
[8 shelf-love, 2 library, 2 review]

Year To Date Total: 133 books

[72 shelf-love, 43 library, 18 review]

So, how was your November? What was your favourite book? Least favourite? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to add your favourites to my TBR :)

October Wrap-up

I always hope every year that the snow holds off until AFTER Halloween, and I'm pleased that it did! We did have some snow earlier in the month, but it didn't stick around. Our temps will be cooling off even further this week, and our highs will be staying below zero so the snow is inevitable! It's a race to see whether I can bag the leaves before the snow hits the ground. We have one more leaf pick-up, and I'm already out of bags since I put out 23 last week! Last year, I raked 60 bags of leaves and still wasn't done but *I* was done, LOL! I will rake until the last leaf pick-up, and then the rest will have to be done in the Spring.

I went from 14 books read in September to 13 books read in October. That's up from 10 books in October 2017, so I'm very happy with that!


FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

4 stars
The Hatchling
by Kathryn Lasky
(Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book #7)

5 stars
Matilda
by Roald Dahl

4 stars
Double Trouble
by Michael J. Pellowski

4 stars
Deliverance
by James Dickey

4 stars
The Outcast
by Kathryn Lasky
(Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book #8)

FROM THE LIBRARY:

4 stars
Then She Was Gone
by Lisa Jewell

5 stars
The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton

4 stars
The Girl in 6E
by A.R. Torre
(Deanna Madden, Book #1)

4 stars
What She Knew
by Gilly Macmillan

4 stars
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot By the Taliban
by Malala Yousafzai

3 stars
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
by Jordan B. Peterson

3 stars
Agatha Raisin and The Witches' Tree
by M.C. Beaton
(Agatha Raisin, Book #28)

4 stars
The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story
by Susan Hill

FOR REVIEW:

None

My stand-out favourite reads of the bunch were Matilda and The Outsiders. Matilda was funny, and Mrs. Trunchbull was fun to hate. My daughter and I loved it! The Outsiders is a re-read, which I read for a high school novel study. I think I enjoyed it even more than I did back then. My least favourite read was 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos, which I thought was a little long-winded in parts.

I discovered eight new authors (including one Canadian, Peterson), I started one new series (Torre's Deanna Madden), read two debuts (Hinton's The Outsiders and Macmillan's What She Knew) and continued on in two series (Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole and Beaton's Agatha Raisin). 

I read 12 backlist books (including two classics) and one new 2018 release. I listened to eight audiobooks plus read five traditional books. 

Last month, I broke my Goodreads goal of 100 books. I'm currently sitting at 121, and I will break my 2012 record of 123 books since I started keeping track. So, yes, I'm feeling very proud!

via GIPHY

January Wrap-up: 7 books

[3 shelf-love, 1 library, 3 review]

February Wrap-up: 13 books

[10 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

March Wrap-up: 12 books

[5 shelf-love, 3 library, 4 review]

April Wrap-up: 14 books

[11 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

May Wrap-up: 9 books
[5 shelf-love, 0 library, 4 review]

June Wrap-up: 13 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 0 review]

July Wrap-up: 16 books
[9 shelf-love, 6 library, 1 review]

August Wrap-up: 10 books
[5 shelf-love, 4 library, 1 review]

September Wrap-up: 14 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 1 review]

October Wrap-up: 13 books
[5 shelf-love, 8 library, 0 review]

Year To Date Total: 121 books

[64 shelf-love, 41 library, 16 review]

So, how was your October? What was your favourite book? Least favourite? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to add your favourites to my TBR :)

September Wrap-up

For the first time this year, I had to turn my A/C on in May with +30 temps. Now, the chill has come earlier than usual and I had to turn on my heat a few days ago. Our night-time temps are around zero or below so, once the house hit 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit), I turned on the heat. The thermostat is only set to 16 degrees, but it helps keep the chill away. But it wasn't before we had a fine dusting of snow! Yes, we had snow this month. I'm glad that I closed the pool right after the September long weekend because I saw rain in the forecast and wanted it done. Our weekends have been rainy ever since, so I'm happy I got that out of the way. I've still been unable to do much raking or yard clean-up with the rain, but I don't mind, LOL!

With back to school, the kids are bringing home all kinds of lovely new germs. I'm sure the change in the weather doesn't help. We had a very hot and dry (and early!) summer, and our autumn has been chilly and rainy. My kids and I have all been under the weather this past week, so there's been a lot of hot tea, cozy blankets and Netflix :)

I went from 10 books read in August to 14 books read in September. That's way up from 4 books in September 2017, so I'm very happy with that!


FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

3 stars
Deja Dead
by Kathy Reichs
(Temperance Brennan, Book #1)

3 stars
The Burning
by Kathryn Lasky
(Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book #6)
[read-aloud to my daughter]

4 stars
Sweet Tea and Sympathy
by Molly Harper
(Southern Eclectic, Book #1)

4 stars
Ready to Die
by Lisa Jackson
(To Die, Book #5)

4 stars
The Call of the Wild
by Jack London

4 stars
Your Heart Belongs to Me
by Dean Koontz

FROM THE LIBRARY:

4 stars
The World More Full of Weeping
by Robert J. Wiersema

4 stars
Life of Pi
by Yann Martel

4 stars
The Killing Woods
by Lucy Christopher

4 stars
The Girl Before
by J.P. Delaney

3 stars
Before I Fall
by Lauren Oliver

4 stars
Find You in the Dark
by Nathan Ripley

2 stars
Wherever I Find Myself: Stories by Canadian Immigrant Women
edited by Miriam Matejova

FOR REVIEW:

3 stars
Unwelcome Guests

by Anna Willett

I didn't read any real duds, so that's a good thing! Everything I read was either a 3-star or 4-star read. However, that means that nothing either was really superb. My favourite reads of the bunch were The Girl Before and Your Heart Belongs to Me. Both of them gave me a bit of a fright, and they kept me reading/listening to the point where I always wanted to squeeze in some more reading time! They both were suspenseful. My least favourite read was Wherever I Find Myself which is a bit of a surprise and I guess why it's taken me so long to finally get through it. I'm a first generation Canadian, so I thought I'd love this anthology. I was a bit dismayed at the depressing tone of a lot of the stories. 

I discovered nine new authors (including one Canadian, Martel - I'll also include Reichs as a Canadian since she lives in Canada), I started one new series (Reich's Temperance Brennan), read three debuts (Delaney's The Girl Before, Oliver's Before I Fall, and Ripley's Find You in the Dark) and continued on in two series (Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole and Jackson's To Die). 

I read 12 backlist books (including one classic) and two 2018 releases. I listened to seven audiobooks plus read seven traditional books, which is very unusual for me. I definitely don't normally read that much in the way of printed books. 

And the most exciting news? I've reached my Goodreads goal of reading 100 books and there are still three months left! I wanted to surpass my 2017 total of 97 books, and I did it! 

via GIPHY

January Wrap-up: 7 books

[3 shelf-love, 1 library, 3 review]

February Wrap-up: 13 books

[10 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

March Wrap-up: 12 books

[5 shelf-love, 3 library, 4 review]

April Wrap-up: 14 books

[11 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

May Wrap-up: 9 books
[5 shelf-love, 0 library, 4 review]

June Wrap-up: 13 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 0 review]

July Wrap-up: 16 books
[9 shelf-love, 6 library, 1 review]

August Wrap-up: 10 books
[5 shelf-love, 4 library, 1 review]

September Wrap-up: 14 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 1 review]

Year To Date Total: 108 books

[59 shelf-love, 33 library, 16 review]

So, how was your September? What was your favourite book? Least favourite? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to add your favourites to my TBR :)

August Wrap-up

Noooooooo! I'm not ready yet for summer to be over :(


I did manage to take a week and a half off from work, but it wasn't exactly a relaxing vacation. I spent four days painting my older daughter's bedroom (that includes the day of prepping the walls and then a day of removing the painter's tape and touch-ups), then I rented a lakeside cottage for two nights and spend three beautiful days enjoying the beach and the kayaks/pedal-boats/canoes, and then returned home to tackle the makeover on my younger daughter's bedroom. I am going to do a second shampoo of the carpet in my younger daughter's room this weekend, and then I need to spend a couple weeks doing yard work (closing the pool and raking) before I tackle the makeover on my bedroom!

While I painted my daughters' bedrooms, I tackled two long audiobooks (one was 20+ hours and the other was 21+ hours), which was an ideal time to listen. It makes it easier to get through those long books when you can listen for 6+ hours at a stretch. Otherwise, listening to those long audiobooks only on my work commute takes me a while to get through them.

I went from 16 books read in July to "only" 10 books read in August, but three of those books were chunksters: One was 649 pages, one was 597 pages, and the other was 429 pages). It's still up from 8 books in August 2017, so I'm happy with that.


FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

Ten Little Indians

by Agatha Christie

In the Woods

by Tana French

(Dublin Murder Squad, Book #1)

Invisible Darkness: The Horrifying Case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka

by Stephen Williams

**This one takes the prize for the one that has sat on my dusty bookshelf the longest...21 years!!

The Shattering

by Kathryn Lasky

(Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book #5)

[read-aloud to my daughter]

The Good House

by Tananarive Due

FROM THE LIBRARY:

The Word is Murder

by Anthony Horowitz

(Hawthorne, Book #1)

On the Island

by Tracey Garvis Graves

(On the Island, Book #1)

Sky in the Deep
by Adrienne Young

Everything Everything
by Nicola Yoon

FOR REVIEW:

The Nightmare Room

by Chris Sorensen

(The Messy Man, Book #1)

There were a few stand-out favourites this month, and they are all very different from each other: 

Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie: I'm not sure why I've waited so long to try something by Christie, but I absolutely loved this one! It was such a clever mystery, and I can't wait to read more from her.

Invisible Darkness: The Horrifying Case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka by Stephen Williams: This one was true crime, and it was very disturbing but fascinating. It's hard to fathom how sick and twisted this couple was!

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young: This one was the dark horse. It's a YA fantasy debut, and I pretty much finished it during one day of painting. If you are going to read a YA debut this year, pick this one!! I loved it! The heroine is a kick-ass Viking.

Fortunately, I didn't have any terrible reads this month. These were my least favourite:

In the Woods by Tana French: It had a great start, but then the rest was all dialogue and no action. It was very slow-moving, and it could have used some paring down!

The Nightmare Room by Chris Sorensen: It didn't give me the thrills and chills that I was hoping for. For me, it was a bit tame for a horror story.

With the exception of one, all the authors that I read were new to me! I discovered nine new authors (including one Canadian, Williams), I started five new series (French's Dublin Murder Squad, Horowitz's Hawthorne, Sorensen's The Messy Man, Garvis-Graves' On the Island, and Young's Sky in the Deep), and continued on in one series (Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole). 

I read eight backlist books (including one from a Canadian author and one classic), and two 2018 releases. I listened to six audiobooks plus four traditional books. My year-to-date books read total is currently 94, and my Goodreads goal of breaking 100 this year tells me that I'm currently 28 books ahead of schedule and should exceed my goal! 

January Wrap-up: 7 books

[3 shelf-love, 1 library, 3 review]

February Wrap-up: 13 books

[10 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

March Wrap-up: 12 books

[5 shelf-love, 3 library, 4 review]

April Wrap-up: 14 books

[11 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

May Wrap-up: 9 books
[5 shelf-love, 0 library, 4 review]

June Wrap-up: 13 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 0 review]

July Wrap-up: 16 books
[9 shelf-love, 6 library, 1 review]

August Wrap-up: 10 books
[5 shelf-love, 4 library, 1 review]

Year To Date Total: 94 books

[53 shelf-love, 26 library, 15 review]

So, how was your August? What was your favourite book? Least favourite? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to add your favourites to my TBR :)