First Line Friday #81

First Line Friday is brought to you by Hoarding Books. Playing along is easy: open the book nearest you and share the first line. Then check out the link to see the other first lines offered up this week.

"One rainy Sunday in March, I opened a box of books Mom had brought home from Grandmother's house. Although Grandmother had been dead for five years, no one had unpacked any of the boxes. They'd been sitting in the attic collecting dust, their contents a mystery."

You'll have to excuse the middle grade love I will be showing the next couple weeks. Around Halloween I went on a Mary Downing Hahn binge and requested a bunch of her books from the library that I hadn't read, due to them being published while I was in college (or later).

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Happy Reading,
Sarah

Tackling the TBR Week 42: Nov 8 - Nov 14, 2013

Basically, I have a huge TBR and often end up reading new books that are not even on my list, instead of trying to whittle down the list that continues to balloon on Goodreads. I am going to make a real effort to get those books read instead of always grabbing new ones and thus never making a dent in the physical and digital stacks I already have. It will also gives me a chance to take a good look at my list and see if there are ones I'm no longer interested in. I will be posting on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and the last day of the month.

Previous Week's TBR Total: 3,222

Currently Reading: 3

Books Added to TBR: 4

Books Removed from TBR: 8

Books Read: 2

Books DNF-ed: 0

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 3,216

I've decided I am no longer going to count the books I am reading with Eleanor or my students in my 'Currently Reading' amount, because they are not books that were on my TBR.

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Books From The Backlog #20

Books from the Backlog, hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books, is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your shelf unread.

I am featuring books in the order that they were added to my Goodreads To-Read shelf, so sometimes there will be a couple weeks in a row of books on the same topic.

Neglected Book of the Week

Why did I add Warrior Queens to my TBR?

Because badass queens are where it's at, starting with Boudicca. I hope I never have to be as fierce as she, but I'd like to think I could be if necessary.

Have you read this book, or is it somewhere on your TBR? If you've read it, would you recommend it to others?

Happy Reading!

Sarah

First Line Friday #80

First Line Friday is brought to you by Hoarding Books. Playing along is easy: open the book nearest you and share the first line. Then check out the link to see the other first lines offered up this week.

"The first thing I ever hacked was bedtime."

I ended up skimming a bit more than I like to and still found this a valuable read. I understand a lot more clearly what he did and how he ended up stranded in Russia, of all places.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Happy Reading,
Sarah

Tackling the TBR Week 41: Nov 1 - Nov 7, 2013

Basically, I have a huge TBR and often end up reading new books that are not even on my list, instead of trying to whittle down the list that continues to balloon on Goodreads. I am going to make a real effort to get those books read instead of always grabbing new ones and thus never making a dent in the physical and digital stacks I already have. It will also gives me a chance to take a good look at my list and see if there are ones I'm no longer interested in. I will be posting on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and the last day of the month.

Previous Week's TBR Total: 3,229

Currently Reading: 5

Books Added to TBR: 4

Books Removed from TBR: 2

Books Read: 13

Books DNF-ed: 0

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 3,222

 So last week I went on that request-binge of Mary Downing Hahn books at my library and this week it paid off because I finished all of the books and managed to move in the right direction again.

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Backs from the Backlog #19

Books from the Backlog, hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books, is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your shelf unread.

I am featuring books in the order that they were added to my Goodreads To-Read shelf, so sometimes there will be a couple weeks in a row of books on the same topic.

Neglected Book of the Week

Why did I add The Gifts of Jimmy V to my TBR?

Because:

Because Jimmy V taught us about all the things greater than basketball, all the lessons we must learn and must pass on to the next generation. Because he died too soon. Because his legacy is about more than just college hoops.

Have you read this book, or is it somewhere on your TBR? If you've read it, would you recommend it to others?

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Stacking the Shelves #67

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature co-hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It is a chance to showcase all the goodies you've collected throughout the week, whether they're bought on-line or in-store, an ARC or a final copy, borrowed from a friend or the library, physical or digital, etc.

Amazon


Library Treasures

So after last week at the book fair, I plowed through the middle grade books really fast. One of those was a book by Mary Downing Hahn and I loved it. Naturally this lead me to seeking out all her books that I had not read, either because they were published when I was in high school/college/beyond, or I simply somehow missed them in my youth. Wait Till Helen Comes is one of my all-time faves so I requested that one also to revisit.

I also really loved City of Ghosts, so I could not resist the temptation to get book two in the series. I almost don't want to read it yet, because book three won't be out until 2020. But who are we kidding, we all know I am going to devour it. Probably tonight.

The Snowden book came in finally, after being on hold for ages. I heard his interview on NPR a few weeks ago, can't remember which program, but wanted to read his story. The mansion one was an impulse-grab from the Halloween table that will soon be gone.

What did you add to your stash this week?

Happy Reading!

Sarah