Ellen tries again for 75 in 2013

Happy New Year!!




JANUARY
#1 - I Could Pee on This - Francesco Marciuliano
#2 - Love Saves The Day - Gwen Cooper
#3 - Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) - Cheryl Strayed
#4 - The Fame Game - Lauren Conrad
#5 - Invisible Monsters Remix - Chuck Palahniuk
#6 - Killer Blonde - Laura Levine
#7 - Silver Girl - Elin Hilderbrand
#8 - Shoes to Die For - Laura Levine
#9 - Bad Habits: Confessions of a Recovering Catholic - Jenny McCarthy
JUNE
#10 - The First Prophet - Kay Hooper
#11 - Dark Tort - Diane Mott Davidson
#12 - What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty
#13 - What the Dead Know - Laura Lippman
#14 - Summer People - Elin Hilderbrand
#15 - Best Friends Forever - Jenifer Weiner
#16 - The Sinner - Tess Gerritsen
#17 - Cemetery Girl - David Bell
JULY
#18 - Such a Pretty Fat - Jen Lancaster
#19 - Bright Lights Big Ass - Jen Lancaster
#20 - The Love Season - Elin Hilderbrand
#21 - Native Tongue - Carl Hiaasen
#22 - Killer Cuts - Elaine Viets
#23 - Touch and Go Lisa Gardner
#24 - In The Woods - Tana French
AUGUST
#25 - My Fair Lazy - Jen Lancaster
#26 - Touch and Go - Lisa Gardner
#27 - Not Young, Still Restless Jeanne Cooper

*high five* for trying again. Did you meet your goal last time?

Just short of 100 for 2012!!

I won't do that great this year. But, maybe 75

Happy New Year Ellen!!! Hope 2013 is a great year, full of great books!!!

Welcome back!

So wonderful to see you again, Ellen! *hug* Happy New Year, and I hope you meet your reading goal.

Happy New Year, Ellen!

Happy New Year, guys and gals! So good to see you!

So, looking over my reads for 2012.......

my top 5

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand

Surely the best book I read in 2012 Loved it!!

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

I was turned on to Gillian Flynn by reading Gone Girl. I gobbled up her other 2 as well and Sharp Objects (her 1st book) was my favorite.

Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture - Andy Cohen

I'm a bit of a Bravo junkie and I adore Andy Cohen. I felt like I was with him and he was talking to me while listening to this audio book. Pure guilty pleasure

A Stolen Life: A Memoir - Jaycee Duggard

I found Jaycee's story fascinating.

Life- Keith Richards

As a long time Stones fan, I enjoyed this book very much.

Interesting how most of my favorites were non-fiction in 2012. I'll have to read more non fiction this year.

Happy New Year, Ellen. I haven't actually done a top five for books I read last year, but Life would definitely be amongst them.

#1 - I Could Pee On This



I thought this would be cute. The pictures were cute. The poems very awful.

#2 Love Saves The Day - Gwen Cooper

I thought this would be cute, too. Some of the story is told in the point of view of Prudence, the cat. I wish more of the tale came directly from Prudence, those were the chapters I enjoyed the most.

The story itself was very moving and heart wrenching. Prudence's Most Important Person, Sarah has died and Prudence goes to live with her daughter, Laura. It wasn't the cutesy book I was expecting and I cried more than I laughed.

Aww, such cute books! I might have been tempted by I Could Pee on This, but you have saved me. Thanks!

I don't think I would have been tempted by Love Saves the Day, as it looks too sweet/sappy/cutesy for my taste. You've made me look at it a little closer. It's not on my wish list yet, but on my mental 'maybe' list. :)

Hi, Carol! I received Love Saves the Day from LTER.

#3 - Wild (From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed





I loved this book! I read it with awe and admiration. Highly recommended!

Well, at least book number 3 made up for the first two, right?

Hi, Stasia! It sure did! I think it will end up being one of my favorites of 2013. I really enjoyed it. Have you read it yet?

#4 The Fame Game by Lauren Conrad



A guilty pleasure book that was perfect for a day spent at the ER.

ER? Oh, no. I hope that you, your mom, and other loved ones are all okay.

Thanks. It's my mom's feeding tube. All kinds of problems. She's feeling ok, though. It's just clogged and the hospital was unable to unclog it.

Has anyone read Chuck Palahniuk I've never read Invisible Monsters and I'm working through the "remix"

Dude is nuts

I'm glad your mom is feeling okay, and the ER issue was a resolvable one.

I haven't read Palahniuk... not sure I'm up to it. I'll be looking forward to your thoughts when you've finished, so I can find out whether "Dude is nuts" is a complaint or compliment!

We're hanging in there......

"dude is nuts" is always a compliment!! LOL!!

Hi Ellen!!! You and your mom have been in my thoughts, hoping everything is better today!!!

I read Wild From Lost to Found on The Pacific Crest Trail last year and really enjoyed it. When I read books like that, foolishly I always think to myself, I would like to try something like that. The good thing about it, I am inspired to get outdoors more and check out local trails and parks.

I've been thinking about you and your Mom as well, Ellen. Be sure to pass along all our good wishes to her.

I have Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail on my wishlist, sounds like I am in for an interesting read when I finally get there.

Thank you so much for thinking of us. Things are going really well. I'll be sure to let her know you folks were asking for her.

I loved Wild......and I'm also inspired to do some hiking. Although I don't imagine myself doing anything like Cheryl attempted on my own.

#5 - Invisible Monsters Remix - Chuck Palahnuik

My second Palahnuik book. I don't know what is different about the "remix" vs the original book published in 1999. Was it the backwards chapters you had to read in the mirror? The skipping around from chapter to chapter? Either way.....an entertaining story and fun book to read. I'm also interested in reading Bret Easton Ellis

#6 - Killer Blonde - Laura Levine


This book was fun. I discovered the Jaine Austen Mysteries perusing the library isles looking for "death" in a title and choose "Death By Pantyhose" for a TIOLI challenge last year. Yesterday I found myself without a book and near the library and I wanted to pick up something quick and light. Killer Blonde fit the bill perfectly. The heroine in these stories is very likeable and funny. Plus, I adore Prozac, the cat

Glad to know your mom is doing well, Ellen! Glad you are able to get back to reading again, too, and that the books you are reading seem to be so much fun. Not sure, though, that a book like Invisible Monsters would work for me. Read in the mirror? "Dude is nuts" doesn't half cover it!

Hi! I start classes next week, so I'm trying to get some pleasure reading in while I can. I wonder if you would enjoy Damned? Do you like satire?

#7 - Silver Girl - Elin Hilderbrand


I've read of few of Hilderbrands novels. They're ok. I enjoy the Nantucket setting, references to Philadelphia and her food descriptions.

My favorite thing about Silver Girl was how the title is derived from a song lyric, Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

25> Now you've got me singing! "Sail on, Silver Girl, sail on by . . . "

LOL!! I've been singing it for days!

#8 - Shoes to Die For - Laura Levine


Ok.....this happens to me. I get sucked into some cheezy mystery series. Last year it was China Bayles.

I have to admit, I find Jaine rather amusing, but reading 2 of these so close together was pretty repetitive. They're simple afternoon reads, so that is enjoyable. I'll be waiting awhile before reading another in the series.

Are we allowed to add text books to our list? LOL!

I spent over $100 RENTING books for this semester. What a drag. Hopefully everything will go well and I'll at least be able to listen to a few audio books for pleasure in the coming months.

#14: No, I have not gotten to it yet, but I mean to!

#28: Textbooks definitely count, Ellen!

Textbooks most definitely count! You spend 100 bucks on them, so those books had better make it up to you. :)

Any book counts, Ellen, including textbooks. I've got a number of children's books that I am reading for a project, but I'll still reach a double 75 in adult books alone for the year. I'll at least hit a single 75 in children's books, but probably not a double (because of the project).

Textbooks definitely count!

Hi Ellen!!! Just stopping to check on you. Hope you are doing well!!!

Right now I'm reading The Big Rock Candy Mountain. It's quite long and I'm enjoying it!!! What have you been reading?

Hi there! I've been MIA...busy with school and Mom. But, now I'm back to pleasure reading. Nothing that great. I just finished Summer People by Elin Hilderbrand and that was pretty good.

My last few have been a waste. I realized halfway through that I had already read What the Dead Know I finished it anyway because I forgot how it ended. Not a memorable ending even the 2nd time around!

I did like What Alice Forgot

The First Prophet was terrible!

How was Big Rock Candy Mountain? Isn't there a song........

Hi Ellen!! How are things going?

Big Rock Candy Mountain was a long one, but I liked it. My reading has slowed down a bit this year. So far I've read 33 books. Years past by July I had around 50. Yea, I think there is a song. I think Neal Young, but I might be wrong.

Summer has been filled with my son's baseball games and work. Do you have any exciting plans for the summer?

I read What The Dead Know several years and gave it a good star rating, but I don't remember it at all. It would be easy for me to inadvertently re-read it, too!

Hi, guys! Happy summer. Things are pretty mellow around here, so that's nice. And the beach is close.

I just finished book #21 so far. Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen


I thought I'd enjoy his books because I love Tom Robbins and Christopher Moore. But, not so much. I was slow going and I never really got into it. I much prefer the Florida crack pots in Tom Dorsey's books. :)

#24 - In The Woods - Tara French



I'm not one to try to figure out mystery type books. Normally, I'm nicely surprised by the "who did it" but, I saw this coming from the beginning and because of that I lost interest throughout the story. Also, I was a little dissatisfied because the mystery at the core of the book was never solved.

Happy Thanksgiving Ellen!! Hope you are having a wonderful day!!