Day: December 19, 2010

DNF Books, End of Year Wrap-Up

2010 DNF Books

Tara

So, I got this idea from Marce over at Tea Time with Marce. She posted her DNF books and is offering a spot to link up your DNF list. Here’s mine:

 

  1.  Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol
    ~I wanted SO much to love this book, but I just couldn’t get into it. I’m not really sure what the problem was, to be honest. It just didn’t catch my attention. Maybe I’ll try again sometime next year.
  2. William Coughlin – The Court
    ~I have only read one previous William Coughlin book and I had trouble getting into it. But I took another chance on this author, and I just couldn’t get through it.
  3. Ted Dekker – The Bride Collector
    ~I read (and LOVED) BoneMan’s Daughter last year. I was hoping that this one would be just as good, if not better. And the blurb sounded great. But for whatever reason, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the main character. I might try again some day, but I’m not in any rush.
  4. Paul Christopher – Rembrandt’s Ghost
    ~    I had read some of the previous books in the Finn Ryan series and enjoyed them. This one, I don’t know if it was the plot or what, but I was not interested in it.
  5. Jeffrey Archer – Sons of Fortune
    ~I read through quite a bit of this book … and I just never liked it. I hated the characters. I found it unbelievable. I simply did not like it one bit.
  6. Steig Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
    ~I was told that this book was hard to get into at first, and to get through the first 100-150 pages and then it would pick up. Well I made it to page 186, and I will admit, it got a little bit better. But by that time, I had wasted 3 weeks to get to that point and I just wasn’t all that into it. I only wish I hadn’t wasted the money by buying the second book at the same time as the first….
Miscellaneous Ramblings, Random Book Discussions

Looking Forward to 2011

Tara

2010 is almost over. Unbelievable! Either way, this time of year is always fun for book bloggers. We get to look at the new challenges. We get to think about what we want to accomplish in the coming year. We get to look back at what we have accomplished over the past year. Can you tell that I LOVE this time of year when it comes to my reading? I’m a planner. I’m a list maker. I just eat up this kind of stuff 🙂

Anyways, I have already over-extended myself on the challenge front. I took a step back from challenges in 2010; I still participated, but I really only chose those challenges that were open ended. By that I mean there was no set lists, there was no categories to find books to fit into. I thought that that would open up my reading and really let me get back to what I enjoyed. And it did. I have had a great reading year this year, even though my quantity of not where I would like it to be, my quality has been over the moon this year.

I have already been signing up for challenges for 2011. I had made myself swear that I would only sign up for 5. Well, I’ve already failed on that. This morning I signed up for my 6th (and last!) challenge. Looking over the challenges that I have signed up for 2011, I noticed that I have gotten back into the kind that require you to find books that fit into certain categories. That’s what I wanted to get away from in 2010. But I’ve gone right back to it. I don’t care, I enjoy the hunt of finding the perfect books. It seems to me that I am going to have to step out of my comfort zone (crime fiction) quite a bit in 2011. I like that, I want to challenge myself in that manner.

I still hope to work on the book series that I have going. I always have to resist signing up for the First in a Series Challenge because I already have SO MANY series that I am very far behind in! In 2010, I have really taken a look at the book series that I had been working on. Some of them I still love and will NEVER give up on. However, I didn’t feel so guilty when I decided to step away from a few (Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone; Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar; Janet Evanvoich’s Stephanie Plum) I don’t feel bad whatsoever. In fact, I felt a little bit relieved when I made the decision. I also decided that I would read Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series, but not necessarily every book in the entire series – just those that sounded good to me. I have come to the realization that life is way too short to read books that I don’t like just because they are part of a series that I want to finish. It’s simply not worth the effort.

In 2010 I have had 7 DNF books. This is something that I never would have done a few years ago. But when a book is taking me 2-3 weeks and I’m still under the 150 page mark – it’s time to put it aside. And I feel absolutely no guilt about doing this whatsoever. As stated above, life is too short to read books I don’t like! Although I did have two books on my DNF list that really disappointed me (Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol and Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – I wanted to enjoy those books SO MUCH and I just didn’t….).

In 2010, I became a lot more selective about which review books I would take on. I decided that it wasn’t doing me any good to accept books for review that I would end up not liking for one reason or another. I have become a lot more selective, I have done a lot more research when I’m first pitched a book. And because of that, I have read some really great books that I NEVER would have found otherwise. I’m very pleased with that.

I’m not very well-known throughout the blog-o-sphere. I want to change that in 2011. I want to come out of my shell and start commenting more on people’s blogs. I want people to become aware of me. I want to hold more giveaways (and have more than 4 people sign up….). I’m considering participation in the Bloggiesta coming up in January (although, I have to double check on the dates and make sure that it’s not scheduled for when I have to go to the World of Concrete in Vegas for work.) ETA: Yep, it is indeed scheduled for the weekend I will be gone…GRRR, oh well, maybe next time.

Anyways, I don’t know where my reading will take me in 2011. I don’t want to plan it out too much. I just want to let it take me where it takes me. I hope 2011 is a great year for us; we have some big plans for 2011. And I don’t want to feel too tied down to my reading. I hope to just be able to read what I want, when I want to. And most of all – I want to have FUN!

READING CHALLENGES 2011

2011 Challenge: Take A Chance Challenge 3

Tara

Oh my. I can’t stop myself. Can’t. Say. No. I came across this challenge and simply CANNOT resist! Oh well ……..

Basic Information
  • The concept of the challenge is to take chances with your reading by finding books to read in unusual or random ways. I’ve listed 10 different ways to find books below. Feel free to complete at many as you want. However, anyone completing all 10 challenges by December 31, 2011 will be entered in a prize drawing to win a book of their choice from Amazon.
  • The challenge will run from January 1, 2011 until December 31, 2011.
  • Crossover books from other challenges is fine. You can read books in any format.
  • On January 1, 2011, I will post pages for each of the 10 challenges so you can link up your completed posts.

The 2011 Challenges

1: Staff  Member’s Choice: Go to a bookstore or library that has a “Staff Picks” section. Read one of the picks from that section.

2: Loved One’s Choice: Ask a loved one to pick a book for you to read. (If you can convince them to buy it for you, that is even better!)
~The Help by Kathryn Stockett (On my grandmother’s recommendation, and she bought the book for me!)

3: Blogger’s Choice: Find a “Best Books Read” post from a favorite blogger. Read a book from their list.

4: Critic’s Choice: Find a “Best of the Year” list from a magazine, newspaper or professional critic. Read a book from their Top 10 list.

5: Blurb Book: Find a book that has a blurb on it from another author. Read a book by the author that wrote the blurb.

6: Book Seer Pick: Go to The Book Seer and follow the instructions there. Read a book from the list it generates for you.
~State of the Union by Brad Thor

7: What Should I Read Next Pick : Go to What Should I Read Next and follow the instructions there. Read a book from the list it generates for you.
~Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson

8: Which Book Pick: Go to Which Book and use the software to generate a list of books. Read a book from that list.
~The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King

9: LibraryThing Pick: Go to LibraryThing’s Zeitgeist page. Look at the lists for 25 Most Reviewed Books or Top Books and pick a book you’ve never read. Read the book. (Yes … you can click on MORE if you have to.)
~Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

10: Pick A Method: Pick a method for finding a book from the choices listed below (used in previous versions of the challenge).
~The Chancellor Manuscript by Robert Ludlum

  • Random Book Selection. Go to the library. Position yourself in a section such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Children (whatever section you want). Then write down random directions for yourself (for example, third row, second shelf, fifth book from right). Follow your directions and see what book you find. Check that book out of the library, read it and then write about it. (If you prefer, you can do the same at a bookstore and buy the book!)
  • Public Spying. Find someone who is reading a book in public. Find out what book they are reading and then read the same book. Write about it.
  • Random Bestseller. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1950 for the min. and 2010 for the max. and then hit generate. Then go to this site and find the year that Random.org generated for you and click on it. Then find the bestseller list for the week that would contain your birthday for that year. Choose one of the bestsellers from the list that comes up, read it and write about it.

I simply can’t resist this challenge for some reason. I know that I said I was done after five … but, really, is 6 such a bad number? I think not!