Mirkwood Reflections

I enjoyed participating in the 888 Reading Challenge, so I went looking for a challenge for 2009. The 999 Library Thing Challenge is very similar - Read 9 books in each of 9 categories for 2009. Here is my list of books. You will see that some categories have more than 9 books. It's easier just to list them all than to try to pick and choose now. My final choices will depend quite a bit on what is available to me from the library. Nostalgia - Books I Read As a Child and want to Read Aloud to My Children 1.The Borrowers – Mary Norton 2.Edward, Hoppy and Joe – Robert Lawson 3.A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L'Engle 4.Five Little Peppers and How They Grew – Margaret Sidney 5.The Book of Three – Lloyd Alexander 6.Dragonsong – Anne McCaffrey 7.The Great Brain – John D. Fitzgerald 8.Soup – Robert Newton Peck 9.Encyclopedia Brown – Donald J. Sobol Kindred Spirits - Books By Favorite Authors 1.An Echo in the Bone – Diana Gabaldon 2.The bodies left behind - Jeffery Deaver 3.Plum Spooky ...

My husband shares his name with a movie star and sometimes I get silly questions about it! But now I can say,"YES, my husband is a movie star!" Well, it may be stretching the truth a bit, but he is onscreen for two seconds in the new DVD movie from Burns Family Studios - Pendragon: Sword of His Father. Here's a screencap! My son was also filmed as an extra in two scenes, but we didn't see him on the DVD. Maybe he ended up on the cutting room floor.

No, no … this isn’t the question you’re probably expecting, that asks about your winter reading habits. What I want to know today is … what are the most “wintery” books you can think of? The ones that almost embody Winter? Well, my mind first goes to children's books. The Big Snow by Berta Hader Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan Grown up books that speak "Winter" to me? Hmmm.... I'll have to give that some thought!

The 888 Reading Challenge was to read 8 books each in 8 different categories in 2008 . I finished today! My categories changed a good deal as did many of the titles I chose initially . That was within the rules. I didn't use any overlaps. I also read a few books that didn't fit any of my categories. Here are my 8 completed categories with the 8 books I read for each one. Following that are the additional 18 books I read. 8x8+18= 82 books so far in 2008. I still have a few days to increase that total. In both 2006 and 2007, I read 86 books. Anyone up for the 999 Reading Challenge?? Books Published in 2008 1.The Secret Between Us – Barbara Delinsky 1-24-08 2.Firefly Lane – Kristin Hannah 5-18-08 3.The Broken Window – Jeffery Deaver 7-22-08 4.Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer 8-7-08 5.Say Goodbye – Lisa Gardner 8-8-08 6.The Keepsake – Tess Gerritsen 9-20-08 7.Sweet Love – Sarah Strohmeyer 10-15-08 8.More Than It Hurts You – Darin Strauss 11-1-08 Books Recommended to me by others 1....

Do you give books as gifts? Yes. To everyone? Or only to select people? Always to my children, sometimes to other people too. Even my husband, who isn't a "reader" by any stretch of the imagination. How do you feel about receiving books as gifts? In theory, I think it's great! In practice, I've often recieved books I have no interest in reading or have already read. I haven't made a practice of returning books, so they sit on the shelf or eventually get resold.

What is the best book you ever bought for yourself ? I bought The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon for myself - brand new in hardcover. And, why? What made it the best? What made it so special? I don't often buy brand new (prefer used) and almost never hardcover fiction. I had read the first four books in the series and had to run out and buy the new one as soon as it came out. Made a special trip, paid full price. Enjoyed the book immensely!

Wow, haven't posted much here lately. I've seen Bolt (LOVED it!) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (LOVED Keanu) in the theaters and plan to write reviews of both of those, when I can find the time. Movies I've seen for the first time on DVD include: John Tucker Must Die - not as awful as I assumed it would be Journey to the Center of the Earth - Ditto Sense & Sensibility (1995) - Excellent! Be sure to watch the deleted scenes! Possession - Pretty good Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - Not too bad! Get Smart - LOVED IT! Hilarious! And I've seen these on DVD, but had already seen them in the theater: Mamma Mia The Dark Knight Wall-E

1. Do you get to read as much as you WANT to read? (I’m guessing #1 is an easy question for everyone?) No, I do not. However, I make time for reading anyway. I almost always read while I eat. (I can hear the gasps of horror now!) And sometimes I read far into the night. 2. If you had (magically) more time to read–what would you read? Something educational? Classic? Comfort Reading? Escapism? Magazines? If I had more time to read, I'd read everything and anything. Staring at my bedroom bookshelf, I said to my husband the other night, "I don't ever think I'll get to read all those books!" I do make time for reading 60-100 books a year, plus magazines, but I could easily read twice that many and still never read everything I'd like to read. I'm getting more selective, now that I realize my time for reading is inevitably limited.

1. Do you have a favorite author? I have several! Janet Evanovich, Ted Dekker, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jeffery Deaver, to name just a few. But for this meme, I'll choose Diana Gabaldon. 2. Have you read everything he or she has written? No. After reading the first book in the Lord John series, I chose not to read the rest because I am not comfortable with that character's lifestyle choices. He is a character in the Outlander series and his character plays a major role, but was important to the plot. I didn't like him enough to read a spinoff series based on him. 3. Did you LIKE everything? Everything that I read I liked except as detailed above. I love Outlander best, though. But all of the books in the Outlander series are compelling and absorbing. There are six now and she is writing the seventh. 4. How about a least favorite author? Wow, that's hard. I don't tend to read books I don't enjoy. I hesitate to name names. I have avoided reading Harry Potter . How...

Just four books in November, but that's ok, since I wrote a book in November too! LOL More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss 11/01/08 - Good - Fiction A doctor suspects a young mother is hurting her baby. This was a thoughtful sort of novel and it didn't end the way I expected. Jane Austen for Dummies by Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray 11/13/08 - Excellent - Non-fiction If you've ever tried to read Austen and gotten confused about historical details or customs of the time, this is the book for you! Conversational in tone and very readable, this guide answered ALL the questions I had – and some I didn't realize I had! The only issue I had is that it revealed some of the plot points in Sense & Sensibility, the only Austen novel I hadn't yet read. So, if spoilers bother you, read the novels first and then get the book. Then you'll want to re-read them all over again! How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich 11/18/08 - Excellent - Non-fict...