October was a really quiet month on the blog, for which I apologise. I’ve been married coming up to two months now, and the time’s just flown by! As well as returning to work and the run-up to Christmas (yes, I know it’s early, but that’s what you get for working in retail!), we’ve had a family situation to deal with, and are also in the process of confirming dates etc for moving house! I’m really excited about the move, as it will mean that we’ll have a second bedroom, which I’ve been given permission to turn into a reading room! I am literally *so* excited I’ve been pretty much running round in circles since we found out. Also since the new place is on the ground floor, I’ll finally be able to get a piano, the lack of which I’ve been feeling severely for the past year! The bad news is that it may mean that our internet connection is even more sporadic than at present, which to be honest I can’t even imagine, but hopefully we’ll be able to find a way around it!
What I have managed to post this past month or so has been mostly rambling and updates rather than actual reviews, and I am so behind that I think it’s unlikely I’ll actually manage to catch up with myself before the end of the year, but I will try!
And now for the exciting news!
Drumroll........
On January 9th An Armchair by the Sea turns one!
I actually cannot stress how much of a gigantic achievement this will be for me. I’m the kind of person who is forever getting really excited about projects and fully immersing myself in them for about a week before getting bored and giving up, so the fact that I’ve actually kept this going semi-regularly for an entire year is nothing short of a miracle. I think it may actually be the first project I feel like I’ve succeeded in since I was a little kid, and I cannot describe the awesomeness of the feeling that gives me! Obviously, I want you lovely readers to feel as awesome about this as I do, so I’m currently trying to think up something fun to celebrate with. Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated, and there will undoubtedly be an incredibly gushy, rambling post about how much I love blogging and you book bloggers nearer the time!
Anyway, back to October. I may not have blogged a lot, but here’s what I read:
1. A Conspiracy of Violence – Susanna Gregory
2. A River in the Sky – Elizabeth Peters
3. Blood on the Strand – Susanna Gregory
4. Death: The Time of Your Life – Neil Gaiman
5. Fables: Legends in Exile – Bill Willingham
6. Franny & Zooey – J.D Salinger
7. Persuasion – Jane Austen
8. Snuff – Terry Pratchett
9. The Annotated Peter Pan; The Centenary Edition – J.M Barrie & Maria Tatar
10. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
11. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender
12. Whip It – Shauna Cross
So all in all, a pretty good reading month! It also saw the arrival of my first ever 24 hour readathon, which I adored and will definitely be participating again in April!
From a sense of great achievement, to a bit of a disappointment.... I went to work out how I’m doing on all my various challenges, and realised that I basically suck and haven’t got anywhere near target on any of them. This being my first year of blogging and given my obsession with lists, I think that I *may* have got slightly carried away, so next year I am definitely going to take on less! There will be some posts going up during the week about some of the challenges I’m planning to participate in next year. For 2011, I’m focusing on The Graphic Novel Challenge and The Historical Fiction Challenge, as they’re the two that I’m close enough to completing to finish by the end of December!
If all goes to plan, I should have quite a lot on the blog for you guys to read this coming week, hope you have a good one! I’m going to get back to the packing.... :-/
*forgot to mention - I also joined NaNoWriMo this week. Late, I know, and with no discernible idea of what it is I actually want to write, but I'm hoping it will get me into good habits. Plus two of my younger sisters are doing it and they were shaming me!*
*forgot to mention - I also joined NaNoWriMo this week. Late, I know, and with no discernible idea of what it is I actually want to write, but I'm hoping it will get me into good habits. Plus two of my younger sisters are doing it and they were shaming me!*
My nano-name is bookinginheels (surprisingly). Add me if you get chance?
ReplyDeleteAre you going to review Snuff and the Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake? I've got both on my TBR but I'm a bit unsure about both of them.
Congratulations on your blogoversary :) I'm the same as you - I'm always starting new projects and wandering off after a while, so I understand what a big achievement that is.
I will do if I can get the internet to work -my phone seems to have some kind of aversion to the NaNo website... If I dont, add me! I'm anarmchairbythesea..aren't we imaginative?! :-P yep I will be reviewing Snuff later this week.. And probably The Particular Sadness at some point soon when I've figured out exactly what to say about it..
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your first blogoversary of many. :-)
ReplyDeleteThankyou! :-)
ReplyDeleteHow is NaNo going for you? I'm getting on ok, but having a break this evening (partly because I accidently fell asleep!), it's getting to be a little stale, I need just one night off!
ReplyDeleteIt's going... That's pretty much all I can say about it at the moment, I'm enjoying it though! I can totally understand needing a night off!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm enjoying your book blog, so I'm glad you're continuing your adventure of nearly a year. As for The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, what did you think? I couldn't get over the CHAIR part at the end. I can't bring myself to review it because well...the chair part!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's my first time ever doing NaNoWriMo, too, so I wish us both (and bookinginheels) best of luck. shelleybean1 is my name on there if you wanna be Nano buddies :)
@shelleybean I think the chair bit is pretty much why I'm struggling with reviewing it too! Up until that point I really liked it... The idea that she can find people's emotions in food is the kind of thing I really like, but then I just felt that the whole chair thing made it a teeny bit ridiculous and that disappointed me slightly.
ReplyDeleteI will find you on the NaNo website- good luck with your writing!