I know, you’re shocked because I loved Amanda’s Surprise-Inside Cakes. Duh. I love Amanda. I have loved Amanda for YEARS. I love her blog and her instagram so her book, obviously. Love.
Now if I could just get someone to make me some of her cakes… I’ve pinned a bunch, pick one and make it for me and I will love YOU, too.
Surprise-Inside Cakes Read More »
Not a very auspicious start for the new year, eh? Four days in and I’ve just now finished the first book — a book I started reading about, oh, a month ago? No big deal — Nellie Taft (the book, not the woman) was a slow read and I’ve been busy doing all the things. My reading rate will pick up and drop off and pick up again. As usual. But, back to Nellie Taft…
I had high hopes for this biography but it was like too many biographies — a bit dull and textbook-like. Too bad since Nellie Taft was pretty darn interesting. Overall, I”m glad I read this one.
I’ve been reloading the Cybils blog for HOURS waiting for the list to appear and now the wait is over. Here are the finalists and I’m off to reserve a few at the library right now.
Easy Readers
– Clara and Clem Under the Sea
– Extraordinary Warren: Super Chicken
– Inch and Roly and the Sunny Day Scare
– My New Friend Is So Fun!
– Okay, Andy!
– Pigsticks and Harold and the Incredible Journey
– The Ice Cream Shop (Scholastic Reader Level 1)
Early Chapters
– Dory Fantasmagory
– Like Carrot Juice on a Cupcake
– Lulu and the Rabbit Next Door
– Lulu’s Mysterious Mission
– The Chicken Squad: The First Misadventure
– The Lion Who Stole My Arm
– Violet Mackerel’s Possible Friend
Fiction Picture Books
– Brimsby’s Hats
– Here Comes the Easter Cat
– Knock, Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me
– Maple
– Shhhh! We Have a Plan
– This is a Moose
Graphic Novels for Early & Middle Grades
– Bad Machinery: The Case of the Good Boy
– Bird and Squirrel on Ice
– El Deafo
– Gaijin: American Prisoner of War
– Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust
– The Dumbest Idea Ever
– Ballad
Graphic Novels for Young Adults
– In Real Life
– Strange Fruit (Volume 1)
– The Harlem Hellfighters
– The Shadow Hero
– Through the Woods
– To This Day: For the Bullied and the Beautiful
Middle Grade Fiction
– Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood
– All Four Stars
– Death By Toilet Paper
– Ice Dogs
– Nickel Bay Nick
– The Crossover
– The Meaning of Maggie
Non-Fiction for Early & Middle Grades
– Chasing Cheetahs
– Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey
– The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats
– Alice + Freda Forever
– Be A Changemaker
– Beyond Magenta
– Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
– The Family Romanov
– The Freedom Summer Murders
– The Port Chicago 50
Poetry
– Brown Girl Dreaming
– Dear Wandering Wildebeest and Other Poems From the Water Hole
– Firefly July
– Hi, Koo!: A Year of Seasons
– Santa Clauses
– Voices From the March on Washington
– Water Rolls, Water Rises Water Rolls, Water Rises
Speculative Fiction for Early & Middle Grades
– Boys of Blur
– Greenglass House
– Nuts to You
– The Castle Behind Thorns
– The Jupiter Pirates: The Hunt for Hydra
– The Luck Uglies
– The Swallow
Speculative Fiction for Young Adults
– Death Sworn
– Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future
– Noggin
– Salvage
– The Living
– The Winners Curse
– While We Run
Young Adult Fiction
– Gabi, A Girl In Pieces
– Girls Like Us
– I’ll Give You The Sun
– Pointe
– When I Was The Greatest
Cybils Shortlist Challenge for 2014 Read More »
Happy New Year etc. etc. etc.
In 2015 I want to read 250 books (which is fewer than I read this year BUT could be a stretch based on the other things that will be happening in my world in 2015.
I’m going to do the Cybil Shortlist again, of course.
I want to read 10 books from my stacks.
I want to listen to 20 audiobooks.
I really enjoyed catching up on sequels and prequels in 2014 so I’m going to do that again this year and also go in search of books I haven’t read by authors I’ve enjoyed.
Nothing too challenging on this list, really. Hopefully.
Did you set any reading goals for yourself?
2015 Reading Challenges Read More »
Well. 2014 was… rough. All around rough. It was also awesome. That’s pretty much what I say every year, isn’t it? Good with the bad and all that sort of thing.
I did almost NO art journaling. I did a lot of doodling and I made a clipboard and a water bottle — so there was art and craft in my life, just not in my altered book or my art journals. Poop.
I loved my Filofaxes and my Every Day journal. Loved. (Though there were a couple of rough spots with both, when life got really crazy or when JMP was here visiting. I fell behind a bit and then struggled to get back on track.)
Reading… I’m going to stop making stretch goals. I wanted to read 300 books this year and I didn’t. I read 253 books — which is pretty much my yearly average. I’m not unhappy with that, just saying that I didn’t hit the big 300.
I wanted to read 12 books from my stacks, I read 4. I also read several that were purchased this year which keeps them from becoming “from my stacks” lol. I really really need to do a better job of this. Obviously.
I wanted to read/listen to 12 audiobooks and read 26. Yay. I should have had a bigger goal, lol.
This is the first year I didn’t read all of the Cybils. I ditched one about three minutes into the audio. It just wasn’t for me. Another one can’t be checked out at my library AND I can’t seem to buy it on my Kindle so I’m screwed unless I want to buy a hard copy and I do not. So. Blah. It was a good year for Cybils and also a not good year. I found quite a few that I just didn’t like very much — that doesn’t usually happen with Cybils. There were some others that I absolutely 100% LOVED and will stay with me forever.
I also wanted to catch up on sequels and prequels and I did a darn good job of that. Really good. I’m very pleased with myself and am super glad I added this as a challenge item.
I put 84 books on my Favorites list. I think that might be a record high for me.
I put 9 books on my Do Not Read This list. I think that might be a record low for me, lol.
2014 is a wrap — onward to 2015.
Year In Review: Reading, Art Journaling and Filofaxes Read More »
As expected, it was a rough month for doing all of the things. That doesn’t mean it was a bad month, it was a pretty darn good month because Christmas and family and the weather wasn’t even that damn bad. Yay for December 2014.
I did a little doodling. A used my Filofaxes when I needed to and ignored them during the holidays. I got both of them set up for 2015 and I’m super excited about this. SUPER excited.
It was a slow month for reading, obviously, but better than I expected. I’m about 2/3 of the way through one more book and I might finish it today. Maybe. But I’m going to call the month DONE and get this up so I can do my year totals and go ahead and start the new year tracking because, why not? Right?
19 books total.
Just one audiobook.
1 short story which I’m counting as a book because I make the rules.
1 YA
10 Non-fiction, 7 from the Cybils shortlist.
1 from my stacks.
Not bad, really.
Filofax, Reading, Art Journaling and Stuff in December Read More »
I’m so bad at reading over the holidays so I made sure to have some easy flip through art books on hand and I’m extra glad I did because I was feeling a little reading withdrawal by the time Christmas was over but family was still here to hang out with.
The one I loved, loved, loved was The Art of Whimsical Lettering. Have you noticed I generally like any books about lettering? I’ve noticed. I’m taking that as a sign that I should spend more time playing with lettering in 2015.
Next was Mixed-Media Self Portraits and it was interesting. I liked it. I might check it out again in a few months and try some of the projects.
Least favorite, Wise Craft. It’s divided into seasons and I found maybe one project for each season that I was interested in. The rest was pretty ho-hum. I did really love her zombie Barbies. JMP and I will do this some day.
Three Non-Fiction Art Books Read More »
Our last audiobook of 2014, Mermaids in Paradise, was amusing. A little long and dry in a few places but overall, very amusing. It needed more mermaid and a slightly better ending but otherwise — totally fun. Also, stop killing the planet, peoples! Satire, funny satire = #awesome.
Mermaids In Paradise Read More »
Neverhome was a beautifully written book. I was surprised by just how wonderful it was.
A woman heads off to fight for the Union in the civil war, leaving her husband behind, because she was better suited for fighting than he was. She was a good soldier but of course, bad things happen and, well, it was beautiful. You should read this one.
I finished a book and couldn’t decide what to read next so I grabbed a Naiad that TW bought at the little used bookstore in Cleveland last month. I should have reached for something that’s been in my stacks longer but I was feeling lazy and it was there. It was also amusing to us because of the title “The Love of Good Women” and because it was written by the author of Patience and Sarah.
And it was … what you’d expect. Old, really old, lesbian fiction. Not great. Not horrible. A classic.
The Love of Good Women Read More »