What I'm Reading Wednesday - Cat Stories, Vampire Academy, Frostbite, The Scorch Trials, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I skipped a week so I have quite a few books to post today!

Cat Stories by James Herriot

This was one of my favorite books growing up, and I decided to reread it last week. The stories were just as charming and heart-warming as I remembered.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

I'm way behind on this train, and decided to finally see what all the fuss was about. I see it! I finished this book in just a few days and immediately started the next one. 

Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Sometimes the second book in a series sucks compared to the first. This was not one of those times. Again, I finished this in a few days and had trouble putting it down. You should have seen the look on my face when my kindle died while I was reading this on the beach. So sad. 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

The plan was to continue working my way through the Vampire Academy series. However, when I went to see Paper Towns on Tuesday with my sister, the preview for The Scorch Trials came on and I had to hunker down and plug my ears so that nothing was spoiled. After that experience I realized it was time to finally pull this one out of my virtual to-read pile. 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (audio)

The great thing about audio books and beach vacations is that I can lay back on the beach with my eyes closed and still read a good book. I just have to be careful not to fall asleep and miss something!

Until next time...

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Tell Me and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Tell Me by Joan Bauer

One of my students bought this from the book fair for me and I'm finally getting around to reading it. Even though it's middle grade I'm liking the voice a lot. I'm interested to see how the book handles the serious topic of human trafficking. 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Some reviews of this book call the author crazy, but I've only gotten a hint of that so far when she mentioned thanking items before discarding them. I guess I'm not far enough in yet to decide whether this method would work for me. 

2015 Resolutions - Update 3

It's been 6 months (27 weeks) since the New Year! Halfway there :). Time to check in on my resolutions and see where I am.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I have 5 scenes left until I finish the first draft! I will DEFINITELY, FOR SURE, be finished by this Saturday. I'M SERIOUS THIS TIME. 

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

I have currently read 35 books, so I'm halfway there! Goodreads tells me I'm one book behind but I'm halfway through quite a few so I should catch up easily. 

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

In the past 2 months I've missed twice, once for no reason and once because I was at a teaching conference. I'm not sure how this resolution will look once I finish the first draft. I guess it will be 1,000 words a week still, but unrelated to TGITP, kind of like my Camp Nano project. 

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

I only missed once this time, for the teaching conference. I've started working on exercises to increase my hand independence (so that I can play a different melody on each hand at the same time, which is necessary for the song I'm learning) and I'm excited to say that I've already seen some improvement!

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

Yikes. So I've only missed once, which is good. However, for awhile there I was doing 5 pull-ups a day. I had a routine down, but school ended and that routine died. I need to make a new routine for the rest of summer and stick with it, because I've already seen a loss of muscle definition!

Here are my spreadsheets for May and June. 

That's it! I'll check back in at the end of August, where I may re-evaluate my resolutions. 

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Ash, Throw Out Fifty Things, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Ash by Shani Petroff and Darci Manley

I actually haven't started this one yet since I finished UNTOLD this morning. My coworker's daughter recommended it to me and I'm a sucker for dystopian. 

Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke

Haven't started this one either! I'm kind of bored with THE ART OF NON-CONFORMITY so I'm switching to this for now. 

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis by Isabella Wentz

I've put this book down for way too long, it's time to finish. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (audio)

As I said a few posts ago I've been craving Harry Potter, and the movies just weren't doing it for me. Back to the books it is!

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Untold, The Art of Non-Conformity, and Death by Food Pyramid

 Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Onto the second book in the series! We discuss this one at my book club next week so I needed to get on it. It's started off a little jumpy, but I'm intrigued to see where it goes. 

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

Just started this one yesterday so I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The author is very blunt, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

Death by Food Pyramid by Denise Minger

Haven't read much of this one this week but I'm still working my way through it.