Here it is - the OFFICIAL 2014 READING GOAL CHALLENGE THREAD

[phorsenuf]

I have to bow out of the challenge this year. Since my surgery in July I haven't really been able to do any reading. Hopefully I will be able to start back up soon. Won't hit my 75 book goal though.

 

[tiggrbaby]

I have to bow out of the challenge this year. Since my surgery in July I haven't really been able to do any reading. Hopefully I will be able to start back up soon. Won't hit my 75 book goal though.

Prayers for your recovery!

 

[Briarmom]

I have had quite a year and, although I'm probably on track to meet/exceed my goal, I haven't kept record of it.

That said, I'm going to provide a link to the last book I read. I read it last weekend. I can say that this book will stay with me. When you love books like I do, that is rare.

http://www.amazon.com/Colorless-Tsu...id=1413594388&sr=8-1&keywords=haruki+murakami

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I have to bow out of the challenge this year. Since my surgery in July I haven't really been able to do any reading. Hopefully I will be able to start back up soon. Won't hit my 75 book goal though.

Best wishes for quick recovery

 

[tiggrbaby]

#36/40: Conflict of Interest by Scott Pratt

From Amazon:

A six-year-old girl is kidnapped from her bed in Tennessee's oldest town.

The ransom note demands millions.

In this fifth installment of the highly-acclaimed and bestselling Joe Dillard series, Dillard is hired to represent the parents of a child who has gone missing. As the clock ticks, Dillard desperately tries to find the little girl, but the return of his wife's dreaded disease and the stunning appearance of his father combine to push Dillard to his emotional limit.

This is book 5 in the Joe Dillard series. It features a John Grisham-like main character. It was pretty easy to predict who was innocent and who was guilty, but still an enjoyable read.

4/5 stars

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #76 - Deceived by Irene Hannon

This is a romantic thriller about a woman who is restarting her life after her husband & son die in a boating accident. She moves to a different state & while at the mall, she hears & sees a boy who resembles her son. She seeks a PI to help her find out who the boy is. I enjoyed the plot & recommend reading this. I can see this as a movie.

For three years, Kate Marshall has been grieving the loss of her husband and their four-year-old son in a boating accident. But when she spots a familiar-looking child on an escalator in the mall, she is convinced it is the son she thought was dead. With police skeptical of her story, she turns to private investigator Connor Sullivan. The former Secret Service agent is dubious but agrees to investigate. Digging into the case he discovers that the incident may have been no accident at all. But if Kate's son is alive, someone is intent on keeping him hidden--and may be willing to go to lethal lengths to protect a sinister secret.

 

[Glynis]

Goal - 70 books

Book #53 - The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

From Goodreads: Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

My review: I absolutely LOVED this book!!! It was the perfect book to get me in the Halloween mood!!! I have loved other books by Neil Gaiman, and this was very similar to Coraline. Spooky, magical, beautifully written... I just don't have enough good to say about it! I can't wait to meet with my book group next week to discuss this book!!!

Next up: No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

 

[Pig Pen]

I just came back to say I didn't finish "All the Light We Cannot See." I just couldn't get into a rhythm. The chapters were very short and choppy. I like to be immersed in the story and just when the action started to catch my attention, the chapter ended and we were off to another character in another part of the world and I was constantly trying to pick up the train of thought.

And what is up with all these books whose timelines jump around? I can usually deal with it but this one was so confusing. I couldn't see the reason why the story couldn't be told chronologically.

So now I am trying "The Invention of Wings." Immediately the story started jumping back and forth between the two main characters but I think it's chronological at least!!

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #77 - Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

This is a great (grate) little YA book that I really enjoyed about a girl & her dog. I loved the main (mane) character, a girl named Rose (Rows), & wanted to jump right (write, rite, wright) into the story to help her. She has Asperger's & loves homonyms, rules, & prime numbers. The story is touching & heartbreaking. Definitely worth a read (reed, rede)!

Rose Howard is obsessed with homonyms. She’s thrilled that her own name is a homonym, and she purposely gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose’s rules of homonyms, is very special. Not everyone understands Rose’s obsessions, her rules, and the other things that make her different – not her teachers, not other kids, and not her single father.
When a storm hits their rural town, rivers overflow, the roads are flooded, and Rain goes missing. Rose’s father shouldn’t have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search.
Hearts will break and spirits will soar for this powerful story, brilliantly told from Rose’s point of view.

 

[xlsm]

I am so, so far behind in posting!!! My goal was (is) 45 books. I've completed 42 of them, so just two left to go. Since the last time I posted I've read:
Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
The Shining by stephen king (reread)
The Chocolate Touch (with the kids)
Bunnicula by James Howe (a childhood fave!!)
The Maze Runner
It's the First day of School Forever by RL Stine (with the kids)
Cell by Stephen King (really liked this!)
Still Missing by Chevy Stevens (about a realtor kidnapped on the job...weirdly connected to real life, as a local realtor was kidnapped and murdered a week after I read this. Ick.)
Death of a Chocoholic
Relatively Dead by Sheila Connolly (enjoyed!)
The Cabinet of Earths (with the kids)
A Game of Thrones
and
Gone Girl (that book was so disturbing!!)

Currently reading A Clash of Kings, the second book after Game of Thrones.
I'm surprised that I'm enjoying this series so much...it is NOT my typical genre!!

 

[jenny105]

Finished book #77 - Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

As in the babysitter's club Ann M. Martin?

 

[rigs32]

#39 - All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner.

Not my favorite by her, but readable. It's about middle aged pill addiction. The most annoying thing was the lead character's sense of entitlement that never truly seemed to go away. This book seems to have been written to be a book club choice because of the issues raised.

#40 - The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx

I'm not a Motley Crue fan, but was intrigued by this book. It was boring in parts and fascinating in parts. I really liked that he had the people mentioned in the diaries comment about what was going on and Nikki also reflected on how things were looking back.

#41 - Subterranean by James Rollins.

I've decided to start reading the works of some popular authors in sequence. I know I've read something by Rollins, but had not read this. Part of why I like YA dystopian books is the world building - the plots are often disappointing. The world building in this book was interesting, but seemed rushed at times. A decent book, but a bit disappointing in the end.

 

[nemofans]

as in the babysitter's club ann m. Martin?

yes!

 

[portia9]

Goal 100-getting there.

#90 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell-prob don't need to review this.

#91 Captain Wentworths Persuasion by Regina Jeffers-Jane Austen fan fic.

#92 A Jane Austen Encounter by Donna Fletcher Crow-only halfway through this but I am enjoying. I don't usually log books until I finish them but I am so distracted by the thought that I think pigletspal would love this that I have to post before I finish it. Isn't it funny that you can read something and think about someone you have never met? This is the third and I haven't read the other two.

I am going on a cruise for 12 days in a month and oh boy have I downloaded some reading. So excited. For all the reading not the cruise

 

[PigletsPal2]

Goal 100-getting there.

#90 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell-prob don't need to review this.

#91 Captain Wentworths Persuasion by Regina Jeffers-Jane Austen fan fic.

#92 A Jane Austen Encounter by Donna Fletcher Crow-only halfway through this but I am enjoying. I don't usually log books until I finish them but I am so distracted by the thought that I think pigletspal would love this that I have to post before I finish it. Isn't it funny that you can read something and think about someone you have never met? This is the third and I haven't read the other two.

I am going on a cruise for 12 days in a month and oh boy have I downloaded some reading. So excited. For all the reading not the cruise

Portia9! I am flabbergasted that you would think of me when you read a new Jane Austen fanfic! And flattered! Thank you so much. I'm going to the library today, and if they don't have it, directly to the bookstore! I've also recruited another fanatic, a dear friend from an overseas assignment, and I passed along six books to her. She read all six in a week. Is she a sister-under-the-skin or what?

BTW, "Death Comes to Pemberley" is going to be on PBS starting this Sunday night (10/26) but I don't know what time - check your local listings, as they say.

Again, thank you for thinking of me, and have a wonderful vacation.

Queen Colleen

 

[PigletsPal2]

Goal 100-getting there.

#90 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell-prob don't need to review this.

#91 Captain Wentworths Persuasion by Regina Jeffers-Jane Austen fan fic.

#92 A Jane Austen Encounter by Donna Fletcher Crow-only halfway through this but I am enjoying. I don't usually log books until I finish them but I am so distracted by the thought that I think pigletspal would love this that I have to post before I finish it. Isn't it funny that you can read something and think about someone you have never met? This is the third and I haven't read the other two.

I am going on a cruise for 12 days in a month and oh boy have I downloaded some reading. So excited. For all the reading not the cruise

Did a little research on my Kindle after having no success at the library or bookstore and found both of the first two books selling for $4.99 each, as well as the third one which you recommended. Going to download them this evening and try my best to save them until I travel to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with DH. I'm not confident that I'll be able to hold off, but I do have three other books I can read in the meantime and I have two crochet projects in the works, so maybe...

Again, thanks for the heads-up on this series; I'm looking forward to getting involved!

Queen Colleen

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #78 - Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

There are 3 parts to this story all from Four's point of view. It gives some insight into why he picked Dauntless & what happened with his father, but not that much is new.

Readers first encountered Tobias as "Four" in Divergent. His voice is an integral part of Allegiant. Readers will find more of this charismatic character's backstory told from his own perspective in Four: A Divergent Collection. When read together, these long narrative pieces illuminate the defining moments in Tobias's life. The first three pieces in this volume—"The Transfer," "The Initiate," and "The Son"—follow Tobias's transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless, his Dauntless initiation, and the first clues that a foul plan is brewing in the leadership of two factions. The fourth story, "The Traitor," runs parallel with the events of Divergent, giving readers a glimpse into the decisions of loyalty—and love—that Tobias makes in the weeks after he meets Tris Prior.

 

[willowsnn3]

Goal 72

#73 Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Enjoyable book, not as good as most of SK's books, but still good.
This one was more on the suspenseful side than horror.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#37/40: The One and Only by Emily Giffin

From Amazon:
Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

I really didn't enjoy this very much. I'm not that into football, so a lot of what was discussed went right over my head.

2/5 stars

 

[zippitydoo]

Book #58 of 75:

Deadly Bonds by L.J. Sellers

From Goodreads:
When a young mother is found murdered in a derelict Eugene neighborhood?and her terrified young son is discovered hiding beneath the floorboards?Detective Jackson reluctantly takes the case. His own life is already in chaos, with his runaway teenage daughter, Katie, still gone and his girlfriend, Kera, facing her own family crisis. Matters get more complicated when the orphaned boy bonds with Jackson, triggering unexpected emotions and compromising his ability to investigate. Meanwhile, Detective Evans, one of Jackson's most valuable colleagues, is pulled off the case to look into the death of a University of Oregon football star?leaving the homicide task force shorthanded. As Jackson works to solve the murder and find a home for little Benjie, he soon faces devastating choices that threaten everything he holds dear.