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. 

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