Monday, October 19, 2015

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Oct. 19, 2015)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? was a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. She has decided to pass it on to The Book Date. It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Other Than Reading...

After regular school on Monday and Tuesday and parent-teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday evenings, I had the rest of the week off. I spent my time off doing some more purging at my house and hauling the things I no longer need to the Salvation Army.

I also did some extra reading but mostly stories and novellas from anthologies that have been sitting on my TBR mountain for quite a while. Now I've gotten eight more books off the TBR mountain.

I spent all day Saturday at the Twin Cities Book Festival hanging out in the Middle Grade and Teen Tents. I had a chance to hear so many authors speak, have them sign my autograph books, and buy books for them to autograph too. It was the first time I had a chance to meet John Flanagan and Julie Kagawa. I also saw again some authors I had met before. I thought I exercised remarkable restraint because I managed to buy only 5 books. I also bought a copy of A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston that I didn't picture below. I bought this one to donate since I've already read the ARC.

Please visit this link and sign up for a chance to win a box of mysteries both finished and ARCs. The contest ends on Halloween and I have not gotten very many entries. US only, I'm afraid. It is a large box and shipping is too expensive to send it outside the US.

Read Last Week
I read The Producer's Daughter by Lindsay Marcott. It was a interesting mystery that got off to a slow start for me but picked up the pace as it went along. It also felt a little dated because of the many references to movie stars who aren't still big news. My review will be posted on November 14.

The Trouble with Fate by Leigh Evans was from my TBR mountain. This is the first book in an urban fantasy series. While it was an okay read, I don't feel the need to add the rest of the books to my stack. My review will be posted on December 12.

With a goal of reducing the number of books on TBR mountain firmly in mind, I decided to cherry pick some of the many anthologies on the mountain to read the stories I bought the books for.
I read the stories by Charlaine Harris and Ilona Andrews from An Apple for the Creature which arrived on TBR mountain on Dec. 14, 2012.

Hex Appeal arrived on my stack on September 18, 2012 and I read the stories by Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine and Carrie Vaughn.
Evolve:Vampire Stories of the New Undead arrived on September 8, 2010. I only read the story by Kelley Armstrong from that collection.

Running with the Pack arrived on May 12, 2010. I read stories by Carrie Vaughn, C. E. Murphy, Stephanie Burgis, Laura Anne Gilman, and Maria V. Snyder.

All of these stories will be summarized in a post on January 6, 2016. I kept reading stories from various anthologies.
I only read Kim Harrison's and Jeaniene Frost's novellas from the Unbound anthology. Both starred other characters from their series and were entertaining

I read Ilona Andrews' story and Jeanne C. Stein's story from the Hexed anthology. The Andrews story tells about the romance of two of the side characters in the Kate Daniels world. The Stein story opened a new world to me as it told me about an adventure Anna Strong had. I haven't read any of that series.
I only read the In Death story from each of these anthologies - The Unquiet and Mirror, Mirror. Both were good stories that gave me more details about the characters in that world. It is always nice to visit with Eve and Roarke even when the visits are brief.

These four books will be blogged about on Feb. 3, 2016.

Currently
I got a new review book this week that will be released on Nov. 3. I moved things around on my calendar and am reading Tenacity by J. S. Law next.

Next Week
I am back to my TBR mountain later in the week. I have Don of the Dead by Casey Daniels and The Secrets of the Heart by Kasey Michaels on my reading stack.

Reviews Posted
Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?
Tenacity by J. S. Law is a thriller that I received from Henry Holt. It will be released on November 3.

To see what Young Adult books I have been reading and plan to read, check out Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.

19 comments:

  1. Even tho you are a 'firm' one book at a time reader, you get a lot read!! Have a great week. It's raining in Northern Nevada today!

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  2. Book festivals sound like so much fun and what a great opportunity to meet authors. Wish we had those around here...

    I noticed lots of people reading Tenacity for Readathon last weekend.

    Have a great week!

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  3. It's interesting that you are able to just read a single story from an anthology and then let it go. I always get hindered and bogged by "having" to read the complete thing. It's the same with series. If I read the first one, I feel compelled to finish the series, even if I hate it. I wish I could let books go.

    Have a good week!

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  4. Must be good to get some of those TBR books read and some purging of household items - more space! The book festival sounds awesome and so good to meet authors.

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  5. Wow, lots of good books! I am curious about The Producer's Daughter...and good for you, purging and hauling stuff away.

    Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  6. The Producer's Daughter my eye immediately.

    Thanks for sharing...have a great week.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My It's Monday, What Are You Reading

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  7. So many titles, wow, great for you. Thank you for the chance to enter your giveaway because I read the first book in the series by Armstrong and enjoyed it. The others look good too. Have a great week!

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  8. It's a good feeling having a clean out and donating unwanted stuff. Way to go getting so much reading done from the TBR mountain. Just in time to get more books from the book festival ... that sounds like so much fun. Have a great week and enjoy your new reads!

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  9. All of your books look so good. I've wanted to try the Casey Daniels' series for a long time. Enjoy and have a great week!

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  10. An impressive eight books read. Always a great feeling to read those books that have been sitting in our TBR piles for a while.

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  11. Oooh...I haven't heard of any of these yet! Looks like you are reading creepy, spooky stuff this month just like I am!

    Enjoy your books this week -

    Sue

    Book By Book

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  13. My eighth grade sons have 40 book challenges at school this year. I'll be coming to you when they get stuck.

    As for me, Tenacity looks good!

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  14. I had to pop over for your review of Laurell K Hamilton's newest! That was a series I used to read all the time - I might have to pick this one up!

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  15. I had to pop over for your review of Laurell K Hamilton's newest! That was a series I used to read all the time - I might have to pick this one up!

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  16. Good for you for getting so many books off your TBR stack! That's such a great feeling!

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  17. You manage to read a lot of books in a week - I wish I had your ways!! Also, yay for getting a good few books off your TBR. I'm currently working on my own TBR and they mount so quickly!

    Happy Reading!

    All Things Bookish – Jade Louise

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  18. What amazing books and wow, you read a lot! I noticed the JD Robb sotories in your list. I love that series! Happy reading.

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  19. The book festival sounds fabulous! I hope you've been having a great week!

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