Tuesday, January 2, 2018

A Century of Books


A Century of Books
This is a challenge that bloggers Stuck in a Book and The Captive Reader are attempting to do this year. I decided to do it as well, to challenge myself to read more and not spend all my time staring blankly at my computer when I'm not writing.

I really need to read more. So I decided to read a century of books spanning from 1919 to 2018 because I'm not sure I have or will be able to find books only existing in the 20th Century. Oh well. Maybe next year I'll be able to attempt the 20th Century, when I'm not juggling college.

Time: Well, I want to give myself a year, maybe 18 months because I'm getting a job when I go back to college, and then I'll be trying to get an internship for my practicum after I graduate.


1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937 – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942 – Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Gray Vining
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948 – King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963 – Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander
1964
1965
1966
1967 - The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977 – The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986 – Mandie and the Medicine Man by Lois Gladys Leppard
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999 - The Frozen Space Pilot by Gilbert Morris and Dan Meeks
2000
2001
2002 – The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership by Steven B. Sample
2003
2004 – Thunder From the Sea by Joan Hiatt Harlow
2005 – Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan
2006 – Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia by John Flanagan
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012 – Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
2013 – Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
2014
2015 – An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
2016
2017
2018 – A Most Noble Heir by Susan Anne Mason

Monday, January 1, 2018

2017: A Year's Books in Review & Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's guys! I'm finding it extremely hard to believe that it's already 2018!

Where did the time go? It feels like 2017 just started. It reminds me how I'm going to be graduating in April.

I celebrated New Years by watching the festivities on and off on Fox TV since the channel actually shows important and interesting things instead of the inappropriate like on CNN (though we only checked long enough to see what they were saying before we would switch back to Netflix so we could continue watching BBC's The Musketeers, lol. I don't live close enough to anywhere to go watch fireworks in person.

As for New Year's Resolutions... well... I haven't thought of any. Other than how many books I might read.

I guess, if I had to make some resolutions, I'd say I'd... well, I'll try to get more exercise by playing some Kinect games on my brother's Xbox 360 since I'm bringing it down to college with me. I'll also try to get at least two short stories published this year, maybe get a novel written that I might be able to publish at Angry Robot when they open their doors to all manuscripts again.

I'm excited for this new year. It's a clean slate. I hope this coming year will be safer for everyone.

Another thing I wanted to go over in this post was the books I read last year. I certainly didn't read as many as I wanted, clocking in at 8 when I was aiming for 10. Unfortunately, the 9th book I had decided to read was a mass market paperback with around 650 pages.

According to Goodreads, I read a total of 2,662 pages over the 8 books. My shortest book was The Life and Diary of David Brainerd by David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards at 256 pages. The longest book I read was Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland at 544 pages long.

The books I read this year, in order, were:
Fractured by Rae Elliott
Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
True to You by Becky Wade
The Life and Diary of David Brainerd by David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards

This coming year I hope I will be able to read 10 books. At least ten books. Though, it all depends on how long my practicum is going to be and where I will get it. My practicum was going to take place in Tibet, but due to health issues, I will have to do it in Canada. Somewhere. I'm thinking 100 Huntley Street since 1) They have an intern program that's more than running around and getting people coffee, and 2) my Grandma knows almost all the up and ups that run 100 Huntley Street. So getting an internship and doing my practicum there is highly likely.

I'm really excited about this coming year. How is my life going to change? How will my grades turn out to be? Where will I be living in six months?

I hope your year will turn out to fantastic. I have a question, though: how did you celebrate your New Years?

Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia, a review

The Battle for Skandia . John Flanagan. 2006. Puffin Books. Pages: 294. Price: USD $8.99/$11.99 CAN. Setting: Skandia. ISBN 0142413402. [S...