The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley

Image from Goodreads

Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?

It's taken me longer to write this review than I would have liked. I read this book as the second book in my firsts series of the year, the second book in the first series selected for the Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge. It was a good book. I realised after I'd read them that the challenge, and Goodreads, actually lists them the wrong way round. 

I think I lost something by reading the books in the order I did. The Hero and the Crown is about Aerin, who is a long lost hero from The Blue Sword, and by reading that first it was almost as though I knew too much about her. The Blue Sword relies quite heavily on the concept of Aerin and the discovery of Harry's similarity to her, I think you can tell this from early on and so you start to look for the book to fit the pattern which spoils it a bit. I can see why the author gets quite vocal in her defensive of the order she wrote the books.

If you can ignore the similarities between the books you get a good read. Written in the 1980s it fits well with the style of fantasy books widely published at that time. Harry's quest is interesting enough to captivate. I do feel that she fell too easily into the sway of her captor, it's a relatively minor niggle. 

My other niggle is that the characters didn't really feel in true danger at any point. Someone always comes sweeping in and just manages to save the day. In The Hero and the Crown, the danger to Aerin, and indeed to Tor, felt more genuine, more appropriate and as such more exciting.

At the end of the book all the loose ends are nicely tied up, which is good if you like that sort of thing. It's neater than you would generally get in a book published more recently and it doesn't leave room for sequels in my opinion. 

This review may leave you thinking I didn't enjoy the book, I did, however I can't help comparing it. 

Sunday recap:14th February 2016

It's been a few weeks since I last participated in the Sunday Post so I have a few things to recap. Don't forget to head over to the Caffeinated Book Reviewer to Sign up.

What I've been reading:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

• An interesting concept, but a book I struggled to get my teeth into. 
•  This will count towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 12 Months Classics Challenge, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

• This is turning out to be a great series and I'm really enjoying my walks to work. 
• These books count towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

• This completed my read of my first series of the year, albeit back to front...
• This book counts towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 2016 Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge, 2016 Series a Month Challenge,  100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

• I'm finally making progress on my goal to finish this series this year! 

Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

• The first book in my second series of the year Call the Midwife is just as good as the tv series it inspired. Now just to see if I can read the rest of the series this month!

What I've Posted:

• Prince of Fools - Mark Lawrence
• The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
• Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
• The Spellsong War - L. E. Modesitt Jr
• The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
• Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
• Emperor of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
• Mort - Terry Pratchett

My Bookish Resolutions

Reading Challenges:

• I have read 9/41 Discworld books
• I have read 9/100 books in 2016 so far

Blogging Challenges:

I've been making reasonable progress with my blogging challenges. I'm working my way through reviews of books I've read over the last few years and have been writing, if not posting, reviews of more recent reads.

Personal Challenges:

My personal challenges could be going better. I'm at a neutral weight to my last loss, so not exactly on target. My swimming has been getting better and I'm up to quarter mile sets (when I was younger I used to do half mile warm ups). I've also done my first tumble turns for years in the last couple of weeks. 

Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery

Image from Goodreads

Orphan Anne has always dreamed of being part of a proper family. So when she’s chosen to go and live with the Cuthberts, life looks grand. But the Cuthberts wanted a little boy to help them on Green Gables farm, not a girl. They cannot keep her. . . .

Meet the girl who soon wins a place in everyone’s heart!

I read Anne of Green Gables as my January book for the 12 Months Classics Challenge 's book you've always wanted to read', strictly speaking I haven't always wanted to read it, I have however heard it mentioned in a number of places over the last few years which has built a desire to read it. My particular motivator was when Andrew used it to win Imogen in Neighbours last year. I'm counting that as good enough. 

When looking into this book I saw a number of people had placed it above the Little Women books in their estimation, while others defended Little Women. I have to say that I fall on the Little Women side of the wall. I liked the exploits of the four girls, which involved less sheer stupidity, better than the exploits of the one girl.

Anne of Green Gables is not a bad book, if somewhat a product of its time in terms of rampant sexism. It is a series of three chapter arcs for most of its length and tells the story of Anne growing up and finding a home reasonably well. You can definitely relate to some of the feelings she displays, her isolation and gratitude when she first arrives at Green Gables, through to her anger and humiliation when someone makes fun of her hair. 

At times Anne's flowery language irritated me. I'm not sure it was necessary to name every place more poetically, although it did do a good job of shoving Anne's characteristics in your face. Anne herself grew on me through the book, halfway through I would have said I wouldn't pick up Anne of Avonlea, having finished the book I can no longer say I'm so sure. 

The final thing I feel I have to mention, as it has perhaps coloured my review, is that I didn't realise this was a children's book until I picked it up. It very probably is perfect for its intended audience.

The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley

Image from Goodreads

Aerin could not remember a time when she had not known the story; she had grown up knowing it.
It was the story of her mother, the witchwoman who enspelled the king into marrying her, to get an heir that would rule Damar; and it was told that she turned her face to the wall and died of despair when she found she had borne a daughter instead of a son.
Aerin was that daughter.
But there was more of the story yet to be told; Aerin's destiny was greater than even she had dreamed--for she was to be the true hero who wouldn't wield the power of the Blue Sword... 

I read this book because it was the first book in the first series nominated for the Flights of Fantasy Book Club hosted by Alexa Loves Reading. I'm not sure that I would necessarily have given this book a chance otherwise since the cover doesn't really appeal to me. To be honest that would have been a shame because it is a really good book. 

I liked the fairly unique take on dragons, there have been a lot of books recently where dragons in general have been either good or neutral. I don't think I've ever read a book where they're considered vermin and the profession of Dragon-hunting is considered shameful. It made the section with the red Dragon seem significantly more dangerous.

In terms of characters I felt that Aerin and Tor we're well rounded individuals, Galanna seemed to be all spite, Arlbeth was all benevolence although with something deeper there and Luthe made next to no impression at all. I do wonder whether that was due to me reading The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword in the wrong order. As an immortal Luthe is the only character likely to appear in The Blue Sword.

This book is definitely worth reading and I'll definitely be reading The Blue Sword, I'm not sure that this will prompt me to seek out Robin McKinley's other works though.

Sunday recap: 24th January 2016

I've not managed so well this week. I felt a little under the weather and it kind of put thoughts of healthy eating, reading and swimming out of my mind. I have managed to listen to most of a 30 hour audio book however.

Don't forget to head over to the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and sign up.

What I've been reading:

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

• An interesting book, but perhaps not entirely to my taste while being every bit the page turner.
•  This will count towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 12 Months Classics Challenge, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

• This book is very different than it's prequel/sequel. I'm not quite sure I've read them in the right order. 
• This book counts towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 2016 Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge, 2016 Series a Month Challenge,  100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.
• This book is also the second of the first series nominated for the Flights of Fantasy Book Club hosted by Alexa Loves Books.

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

• This book is just as good as the first in the series and I've barely been able to stop listening to it. It equates to nearly 30 hours of listening however I have very few hours of it left.
• This book counts towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

What I've Posted This Week:

I've only managed one post this week

• The Eye of The World - Robert Jordan

My Bookish Resolutions

Reading Challenges:

• I have read 9/41 Discworld books
• I have read 3/100 books in 2016 so far

Blogging Challenges:

• I feel like a blogging routine is something that is evading me.
• I have made progress towards cataloguing my 'library', here. 
• So far I have managed to review all of the books I've finished so far this year! Huzzah, one New Years Resolution going well.
• I've set up the basics for some reviews I'm planning to write.

Personal Challenges:

• I managed to maintain a neutral weight this week.
• I only went swimming once this week and only managed 42 lengths.
• I had 2 fizzy drinks this week. A step backwards.

A Couple of Interesting Articles I've seen this week

• This post from Math With Bad Drawings which draws together two of my greatest loves; Maths and Storytelling. It's a relatively intense look at life from the perspective of some of the most prominent numbers we can be taught.
• This post about the semantics of translating from maths into other languages. In school we were taught the two different definitions of a Billion, on the basis that financially we as a nation now use the short-scale version and that historically we have used the long scale version. As a maths graduate and computer programmer I do wish they'd tidied up the code they inserted into the article however as I feel there are a couple of steps which can only cause confusion.
• And finally this post which says that Dirty Dancing is to be remade. I have mixed feelings on the subject. On the one hand I love the film and am a bit concerned a remake could ruin the charm of the original. On the other I always wanted to know what happened after the summer ended and a part of me hopes this may open up avenues for that to be explored. 

A quote from the bible for the week

Purer were her Nazarites than snow, Whiter than milk, ruddier of body than rubies, Of sapphire their form. - Lamentations 4:7

Sunday recap: 17th January 2016

The second full week of 2016 and it's been hectic, Cubs started back but thanks to some last minute meeting cancellation I wasn't quite ready and we had a games night.

I actually managed to get quite a lot of reading done this week. I finished two books and am well on my way to finishing a third. 

In other news my county had it's first snow of 2016 on Thursday evening, which saw me walking home to a numb head and then heading out to my in-laws down some twisty lanes while the snow flurried. My father in laws birthday being something I can't miss even if that stretch of road makes me nervous at the best of times following some ice last winter. 

Head over to the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and link up.

What I've been reading:

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

• An interesting book, but perhaps not entirely to my taste which is taking me a little while to edge my way through.
•  This will count towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 12 Months Classics Challenge, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

• An exceptional fantasy story which I listened to with audible. So good in fact that I used all of my spare time over the first couple of days this week to listen to it and finished it off all in a hurry.
• This book counts towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

Worth the lies by Mara Jacobs

• I love Mara Jacobs Worth series, unlike a lot of romance authors with on going stories she puts time into her characters. They get a real story and real backgrounds and don't feel like the same character every time juste wearing different clothes!
• This book counts towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

• I have to say that when I received this book I was a little put off by the cover. It looked kind of trashy, I'm loving it though.
• This book counts towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 2016 Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge, 2016 Series a Month Challenge,  100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge.
• This book is also the first book of the first series nominated for the Flights of Fantasy Book Club hosted by Alexa Loves Books.

What I've Posted This Week:

• Millie Marrotta's Tropical Wonderland Bird Nest
• The Foster Husband by Pippa Wright

My Bookish Resolutions

Reading Challenges:

• I have read 9/41 Discworld books
• I have read 2/100 books in 2016 so far

Blogging Challenges:

• I still don't feel as though I've made progress towards a blogging routine, although I managed to pattern a couple of posts from last week I still feel as though I'm getting into the swing of normal life.
• I have made  no further progress towards cataloguing my 'library', here. 
• So far I have written a couple of reviews of recently read books. 
• I've written a bit for some backlist books I wanted to review.

Personal Challenges:

• This week I lost another 2lbs. I was a little stricter with myself in terms of snacking. 
• I went swimming twice this week. On Tuesday I swam 64 lengths and on Friday I swam 40 lengths, meaning I've officially managed to swim my first mile of the year, if not twice in one week!
• I had no fizzy drinks this week! 

Sunday recap: 10th January 2016

The Sunday Post is hosted by the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and you can sign up here.

This is the first time I've ever posted any kind of recap post, and for the most part there doesn't seem to be an awful lot to recap this week. 

As part of my Bookish Resolutions I decided to try and organise some kind of blogging routine. As yet this year I seem to have little routine, however this seems like a good place to start! I plan to use these posts to keep track of my progress with various challenges as well as my Bookish Resolutions. 

So for the first time ever here goes!

What I've been reading:

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

• An interesting book, but perhaps not entirely to my taste while being every bit the page Turner.
•  This will count towards the following challenges; Alphabet Soup, 12 Months Classics Challenge, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge

The Eye of The World by Robert Jordan 

• I've actually been listening to this on audible. It's surprisingly therapeutic to listen and colour, or cook, or clean. I've had whole new realms of reading time opened up to me!
• The audiobook has set chapters out differently than the paper book, but I have about 9 Audio chapters to go with this book and so far I'm loving it.
• This will count towards the following challenges:  Alphabet Soup, 100+ Books Challenge and You Read How Many Books Challenge

What I've Posted This Week:

I've actually extended it this week to include everything I've posted after 1st January.

• 2016 12 Months Classics Challenge
• Goodreads Awards Challenge
• 100+ Books Challenge
• You Read How Many Books? Challenge
• Millie Marrotta's Tropical Wonderland Butterfly
• The Soprano Sorceress - L. E. Modesitt Jr

My Bookish Resolutions

Reading Challenges:

• I have read 9/41 Discworld books
• I have read 1/100 books in 2016 so far

Blogging Challenges:

• I haven't really established a blogging routine yet, but as this is week 1 and I spent some of it signing up for challenges I feel this is justified!
• I have made progress towards cataloguing my 'library', here. In some ways this feels like a lot of progress, however since I married the flat I've been sharing with my husband can only hold a small portion of my books, the bulk are at my parents so I can't see myself listing them all until at least mid year. At present the list consists of those in the flat and those I easily remember. I'd also like to amend the list so it is possible to see what I've read and not just what I've reviewed.
• So far I have not written any reviews of recently read books. 
• I've written a bit for some backlist books I wanted to review. You'll see some of these coming soon.

Personal Challenges:

• I lost 1 pound this week and am aiming to lose 6 pounds this month. So I need to try harder next week!
• I went swimming twice this week. On Tuesday I swam 40 lengths and on Thursday I swam 56 lengths. So not quite a mile either time, but roughly a mile and a half over the two. This could have been better but it came down to timings!
• I had 6 fizzy drinks this week. An appalling failure!

A Couple of Interesting Articles I've seen this week

• This interesting article from the Independent on Natural Flood defences in the UK. It appealed to me on a basic human interest level, but also on from a scientific point of view. It's interesting I feel how restoring natural habitats can have impacts on flood waters both good and bad.
• This article about the trends of publishing in Children's books in 2015 and predictions for 2016. It highlighted some interesting statistics about book diversity that I saw in an article towards the end of last year. 

A quote from the bible for the week

'Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the Upholder of my life.'

Psalms 54:4

You read how many books? 2016

My final challenge this year is the You read how many books? challenge. You can head over to the Engineers Bookshelf to sign up.

As I've not quite managed to hit my target of 100 books for the last few years I will be aiming for level 1, 100 books. This is a challenge I might not have chosen to do, due to the number of books as a target (100 minimum), except that the name appeals to me.

I know I read less than many in the blogging community but that's still a phrase I've heard many times from family and friends!

1. The Eye of The World - Robert Jordan
2. Worth the Lies - Mara Jacobs
3. The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
4. The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
5. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
6. Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
7. The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
9.  Call the Midwife - Jennifer Worth
10. Shadows of the Workhouse - Jennifer Worth
11. Farewell to the Eastend - Jennifer Worth
12. The Shadow Rising - Robert Jordan
13. Her Werewolf Hero - Michelle Hauf
14. Red Rising - Pierce Brown
15. Golden Son - Pierce Brown
16. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
17. Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
18. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch
19. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
20. Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch
21. The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan
22. Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo
23. A Nice Girl Like You - Alexandra Sellers
24. Ella the Slayer - A. W. Exley
25. Henry the Gaoler - A. W. Exley
26. In Too Deep - Mara Jacobs
27. In Too Fast - Mara Jacobs
28. In Too Hard - Mara Jacobs
29. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
30. Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan
31. Those Above - Daniel Polansky
32. The Princess Diaries: Bad Heir Day - Meg Cabot
33. The Princess Diaries: Crowning Glory - Meg Cabot
34. A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan
35. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
36. Half a King - Joe Abercrombie
37. Half the World - Joe Abercrombie
38. Uprooted - Naomi Novik
39. Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo
40. A Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan
41. The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
42. Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan
43. Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan

100+ Book Challenge

The 100+ Book Challenge is hosted by Freda's Voice and is the eighth challenge I'm signing up to do this year. Don't forget to head over and sign up.

The aim of this challenge is pretty simple. You aim to read 100 books over the course of the year. I'll be listing the books I've read below and linking reviews as I go.

1. The Eye of The World - Robert Jordan
2. Worth the Lies - Mara Jacobs
3. The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
4. The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
5. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
6. Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
7. The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
9. Call the Midwife - Jennifer Worth
10. Shadows of the Workhouse - Jennifer Worth
11. Farewell to the Eastend - Jennifer Worth
12. The Shadow Rising - Robert Jordan
13. Her Werewolf Hero - Michelle Hauf
14. Red Rising - Pierce Brown
15. Golden Son - Pierce Brown
16. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
17. Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
18. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch
19. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
20. Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch
21. The Fires of Heaven - Ben Aaronovitch
22. Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo
23. A Nice Girl Like You - Alexandra Sellers
24. Ella the Slayer - A. W. Exley
25. Henry the Gaoler - A. W. Exley
26. In Too Deep - Mara Jacobs
27. In Too Fast - Mara Jacobs
28. In Too Hard - Mara Jacobs
29. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
30. Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan
31. Those Above - Daniel Polansky
32. The Princess Diaries: Bad Heir Day - Meg Cabot
33. The Princess Diaries: Crowning Glory - Meg Cabot
34. A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan
35. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
36. Half a King - Joe Abercrombie
37. Half the World - Joe Abercrombie
38. Uprooted - Naomi Novik
39. Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo
40. The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan
41. The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
42. Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan
43. Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan

Goodreads Award Challenge

Another slightly unique challenge that I feel plays to me is the Goodreads Award Challenge. Head over to sign up.

The basic principle of this challenge is that you choose a category or two from the Goodreads Choice Awards and try to read a number of last year's finalists. The reasoning behind this challenge is that when it comes to voting time so many of us have only read the odd book or two listed.

On the basis that the books nominated one year are very often in the same series as books nominated the next this should at least give us some kind of grounding to vote from in 2016. The Challenge allows that we may read first books in series in place of the book listed if we have not started the series.

I'm going to be aiming for tier 3 (6-8 books) in the Best Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction Category and in the Best Fantasy Category. The books I'll have to choose from are listed below and I'll link up my reviews as I manage to read them.

Best Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction

The Heir - Keira Cass (book 4)
                The Selction
                The Elite
                The One
                The Crown

Six of Crows - Leigh Barry to (book 1) [read]
               Crooked Kingdom

Carry on - Rainbow Rowell (standalone)

Queen of Shadows - Sarah J. Maas (book 4)
               Throne of Glass
               Crown of Midnight
               Heir of Fire
               The Assassin's Blade

Fire fight - Brandon Sanderson (book 2)
               Steelheart
               Mitosis
               Calamity

An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir (book 1)
              A Torch against the Night

A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Mass (book 1)
             A Court of Mist and Fury

Winter - Marissa Meyer (book 4)
              Cinder
              Scarlet
              Cress

Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard (book 1)
              Glass Sword

Uprooted - Naomi Novik (standalone)

Best Fantasy

The Aeronaut's Windlass - Jim Butcher (book 1)
                The Olympian Affair

Magic Shifts - Ilona Andrews (book 8)
                Magic Bites
                Magic Burns
                Magic Strikes
                Magic Bleeds
                Magic Slays
                Magic Rises
                Magic Breaks
                Magic Binds

Trigger Warning - Neil Gaiman (Standalone Short story collection)

Fool's Quest - Robin Hobbes (book 2)
                Fool's Assassin
                Assassin's Fate

Vision in Silver - Anne Bishop (book 3)
               Written in Red
               Murder of Crows
               Marked in Flesh

The Fifth Season - N. K. Jemisin (book 1)
               The Obelisk Gate

Shadows of Self - Brandon Sanderson (book 5)
               The Final Empire [read]
               The Well of Ascension [read]
               The Hero of Ages [read]
               The Alloy of Law
               The Bands of Mourning
               The Lost Metal

Dead Heat - Patricia Briggs (book 4)
                Cry Wolf
                Hunting Ground
                Fair Game

Burned - Karen Marie Moning (book 7)
                Darkfever
                Bloodfever
                Faefever
                Dreamfever
                Shadowfever
                Iced
                Feverborn
                Feversong

A Darker Shade of Magic - V. E. Schwab (book 1)
                 A Gathering of Shadows

2016 12 Months Classics Challenge

For Challenge number six of 2016 I've gone for something a little different than the other challenges I've selected for myself. Where the other challenges have pretty much revolved around reading a target number of books or series the 12 Month Classics Challenge offers some guidance on the book we're choosing each month. 

January - "A Classic you've always wanted to read."
               - Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery

February - "A Classic you've always dreaded reading."
               - The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

March - "A Classic you've been recommended."
               - The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

April - "A Classic you've seen the movie/tv series of."
               - Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

May - "An American Classic."

June - "A British Classic."

July - "A Non-British European Classic."

August - "A Modern Classic."

September - "A Children's Classic."

October - "A Classic by a female Author."

November - "A Classic by a male Author."

December - "A Classic written under a pseudonym."

Don't forget to head over to You, Me and a Cup of Tea to sign up.

2016 Finishing the Series

I'm signing up for this challenge as I'm planning to finish the Discworld series which I am certain qualifies. However of the other series I'm planning to read I'm not sure how many qualify. 

Most of the series I have on my radar for 2016 are technically trilogies and so don't fit in with the criteria of 'all books that are part of a continuing series'. 

I do have one or two others that I do think qualify that I'd like to finish in 2016 so I'm going to be aiming for level two 2-4 series.

Don't forget to head over to Bea's Book Nook to sign up.

The Series I'm planning on Reading

Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Clare
The Spellsong Cycle - L. E. Modesitt Jr
The Twilight Reign - Tom Lloyd

2016 A Series a Month

Challenge number four today folks. I will be participating in the series a month challenge. 

One of my reading goals from my Bookish Resolutions is to complete the Discworld series. With around 30 books left to read this may be a little challenging for a single month, but hopefully this will give me a little more motivation to complete the series. 

I'd also like to participate in the Flights of Fantasy Book Club which appears to involve reading six series.

My January Series
1. The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
2. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley

My February Series
1. Call the Midwife - Jennifer Worth
2. Shadows of the Workhouse - Jennifer Worth
3. Farewell to the Eastend - Jennifer Worth

My April Series 
1. Red Rising - Pierce Brown
2. Golden Son - Pierce Brown
3. Morningstar - Pierce Brown (Won't be released until later this year)

My May Series
1. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
2. Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
3. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch
4. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
5. Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch

My June Series
1. In Too Deep - Mara Jacobs
2. In Too Fast - Mara Jacobs
3. In Too Hard - Mara Jacobs

Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016

The third challenge I'm planning on signing up for this year is the Flights of Fantasy 2016 Reading Challenge. The fantasy genre is the one which I primarily read, so when looking for challenges this is one which made me go yup that's for me!

What really cemented this for me is the proposed book club. One of the series listed is one I've been wanting to read for a while, so this should give me the motivation to pick that up as well as introducing me to some new authors.

Because I'm aiming to read 100 books this year, I've already said I'd like to finish the Discworld series and there are a few other books I'd like to pick up I'm going to be aiming to read 75 fantasy books this year.

Don't forget to head over and link up.

1. The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
2. The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
3. The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
4. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
5.  The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
6. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
7.  The Shadow Rising - Robert Jordan
8. Her Werewolf Hero - Michelle Hauf
9. Red Rising - Pierce Brown
10. Golden Son - Pierce Brown
11. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
12. Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
13. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch
14. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
15. Forgive Summer - Ben Aaronovitch
16. The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan
17. Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo
18. Ella the Slayer - A. W. Exley
19. Henry the Gaoler - A. W. Exley
20. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
21. Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan
22. Those Above - Daniel Polansky
23. Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan
24. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
25. Half a King - Joe Abercrombie
26. Half the World - Joe Abercrombie
27. Uprooted - Naomi Novik
28. Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo
29. The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan
30. The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
31. Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan
32.  Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan

2016 Bookish Resolutions

As part of the challenge binge I have decided to join this year I thought I'd join in with the 2016 Bookish Resolutions challenge. With the mini challenges this seems like a great way to keep on top of those challenges I would like to set myself that don't really fit into a more general challenge. I have come up with quite a few I would like to try and hit so here goes.

Reading Challenges

• I would like to finish Terry Pratchetts Discworld series - I started reading this in 2015 and managed to get up to Guard! Guards! I have previously read a couple of the children's books in this series but do plan on rereading them
• Read 100 books - I set myself a 100 book reading goal on goodreads and have never more than 3/4 completed it. So I would like to manage that this year.

Blogging Challenges

• I would like to establish a blogging routine of some description, whether that's a weekly routine or a monthly routine. 
• I would like to create some kind of personal library catalogue a la The Worn Bookmark. I feel like this would be a really good way to keep track of all the books I keep buying, and hopefully motivate me to read some of the books that have been sitting around for a while. 
• I would like to write book reviews within 2 weeks of finishing the book going forward. I'm not saying I'd want to post the reviews immediately, but that I'm currently really bad at doing this.
• I'd like to write some reviews for some of the books I finished a while ago where I've published reviews for other books in the series, maybe work this into the blogging routine. 52 reviews that have needed writing for a while would make quite a dent!

Personal Challenges

• I would like to lose weight. I got married last April so I did quite well at this, I lost around a stone and a half for my wedding, my dress even had to be taken in! But post wedding settling into the New flat with my husband I put back on most of what I'd lost. My original intention had been to lose a bit more, I'm around 3 stone heavier than I'd like to be so I'm making losing that weight and keeping it off a mini challenge.
• I would like to swim a minimum of 64 lengths twice a week. To some people this might seem both a little random and a little daunting. However 64 lengths is a mile so when I've swum that far I feel like I've achieved something, and as a child I swam between one and four times a week at any one point until I gave it up for studying in sixth form. I'd really like to hit my groove again, but I'm not about to kick myself for missing a week.
• I would like to cut down fizzy drinks. I feel like this will be a big challenge for me, I'm very aware of how bad fizzy drinks are for weight gain, your teeth and your stomach lining. At the moment I have a coke in the pub on a wednesday, cans of coke zero in the fridge and if I get a meal deal or have a meal out I tend to choose a coke then as well. I'd like to try and cut this down to just the Wednesday pub coke for now and see how it goes.

So I have a few New Years resolutions there. I might have overdone it but it will give me something to aim for! Don't forget to head over to Because Reading is Better than Real Life to Sign up.

Rowen

Alphabet Soup 2016 sign up post

I like a challenge and whilst finding the time to read at all has been a challenge in 2015 with all the chaos we've had going on I thought I'd sign up to a couple of reading challenges.

This challenge is hosted by Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book and you can sign up to the challenge here.

I am going to choose option A and select my books as I go.

A - Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
B - The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
C - Call the Midwife - Jennifer Worth
D - The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
E - The Eye of The World - Robert Jordan
F - Farewell to the Eastend - Jennifer Worth
G - The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
H - The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
I - In Too Deep - Mara Jacobs
J -
K -
L -
M - Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
N -
O -
P - The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Q -
R - Red Rising - Pierce Brown
S - Shadows of the Workhouse - Jennifer Worth
T - Those Above - Daniel Polansky
U - Uprooted - Naomi Novik
V - Vision in Silver - Anne Bishop
W - Worth the Lies - Mara Jacobs
X -
Y -
Z -

I'm planning on linking my reviews as I go and signing up for a couple more challenges this week. We'll see how it goes!