Update: I managed to squeeze in another book while traveling to my in-laws this weekend bringing my total up to 55!
My uberlist goal for reading for the year was 50 books. This number pales in comparison with many of the book bloggers I have seen but it represented twice as many books as I completed each of the previous two years. One of the things I wanted to see some change in was my habit of starting, and not finishing, books. A subset of this goal was to try to pull books off of my pile in the basement rather than just starting new books. I did really well with that at the beginning of the year but slacked off as the year progressed. All told, out of the 54 books I completed, 13 were books I had owned (but not yet read) prior to the start of the year. 18 were books I purchased new this year, 3 were books I purchased used, 7 were gifts from others (some of which also count as the 13 I mentioned first), and 9 were books that I borrowed from others or from the local library. The rest were re-reads. How many books did I purchase this year but have not read to completion, or even started? Ummm……
Vampire fiction, outside of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula, is something I am fascinated by but am admittedly not very familiar with. Thus it has been very exciting over the past several months to ‘meet’ Colleen Gleason via the wonder of the world wide web. Colleen writes vampire fiction and her first novel, The Rest Falls Away, will be coming to a bookstore near you this January. Colleen Gleason has given me a wonderful opportunity: a chance to badger her with interview questions and the opportunity to give away a copy of The Rest Falls Away. Colleen was gracious enough to answer my questions and I hope you’ll enjoy her responses as much as I do. And with that introduction, heeeeere’s Colleen!:
There are a couple of new book challenges going on in the blogging world that I think I can join in on. The reason? They tie into something I am already doing and will help be a motivating factor!
One of my goals at the beginning of 2006 was to slow down on the purchase of new books and make some progress in reading the stack of books that I had piling up that have never been read. To that end I made shelf space down in the basement and made a pile of books that I have never read and one of books that I was wanting to read again. My progress towards that goal was more fruitful at the beginning of the year though throughout the year I have periodically pulled things off that stack to read. That will be a goal that continues next year and this latest challenge urges me to start on that pile again:
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
~ Shakespeare, Macbeth
Wow! It has been an amazing 2 month period of shared reading. Allow me to begin the eulogy of the 2006 Readers in Peril (R.I.P.) Autumn Challenge with the most heartfelt Thank You that I can convey over this impersonnal medium. The number of people who participated in this challenge with reckless abandon has me in awe. Whether you dove in for the full challenge or were only able to commit to a few stories of an R.I.P. persuasion, I am thrilled that you joined in. Thank you so very, very much.
Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man
far better than through mortal friends.
~ Dawn Adams
I can’t begin to describe how excited I am that Neil Gaiman’s newest book is almost finished! Its hard when your favorite author is a relative newcomer as they can never write fast enough for you. This is scheduled to come out in September.
Anansi Boys comes out September 20th and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride comes out the 23rd….September is shaping up to be a great month!
