Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon Mini Challenges

I decided to do a separate post with the mini-challenges.
On Food and Books hosted at A Girl That Likes Books
 I am reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and they are constantly fishing in the section I am reading now. This is a recipe my mom made after my dad went fishing in Florida and brought back pounds of red snapper! It is from Cooking Light's website. It was tasty and fairly healthy!
2   lemons 
  Cooking spray 
4   (6-ounce) red snapper or other firm white fish fillets 
1/4 teaspoon  salt 
1/4 teaspoon  paprika 
1/4 teaspoon  black pepper 
2 tablespoons  butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons  chopped fresh herbs (such as rosemary, thyme, basil, or parsley), she used basil I believe


Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Cut 1 lemon into 8 slices. Place slices, in pairs, on a rimmed baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Grate remaining lemon to get 1 teaspoon lemon rind; set aside. Reserve lemon for another use.
3. Place 1 fillet on top of each pair of lemon slices. Combine salt, paprika, and pepper; sprinkle evenly over fish. Bake at 425° for 13 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.
4. While fish bakes, combine reserved lemon rind, butter, and herbs in a small bowl.
5. Place fish and lemon slices on individual serving plates; top each fillet with herbed butter, spreading to melt, if desired. Garnish with herb sprigs, if desired.


Bookish Brews: A Coffee Challenge hosted at Fig and Thistle 
My drink would be the Perky Southern Belle: This is the generic sweet and happy southern girl that appears in many books; few exist in real life! ;)
Perky Southern Belle: don't forget to stir and can be iced on a hot summer's day
12 oz of coffee (a cup just will not do)
a drop or two of peppermint extract
a pour of heavy cream (calories don't count in the South)
a splash of bourbon (define splash by type of day you are having)
a spoonful of sugar (again define spoonful by type of day you are having)

6 Word Celebration hosted by Estella's Revenge
Reading separately, but together in time.


Best of the Best: Hosted at Lisa's World of Books
Best Book of Your Reading Year
This year, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell is definitely the best book I have read. I loved the twins and their obsession with Simon Snow and fanfiction. Levi was also an awesome male lead and I loved how much he loved Cath reading to him. Fangirl was hilarious and sweet.

Best Children's Book of Your Reading Year
Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo, which was this year's Newbery winner. What could be cooler than a superhero squirrel! There were some very humorous parts to the story, but some serious parts. Flora, the girl who believes in Ulysses the squirrel, struggles with her parents' divorce and with her mother's lack of interest in Flora. William Spiver, who becomes Flora's friend, deals with his mother's remarriage and his stepfather's disappointment in him. Great story as are all of Dicamillo's!

Best Cover of Your Reading Year/ Best Fantasy of Your Reading Year
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
 

I just finished this and loved it. A dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast with perfectly flawed characters. I loved the idea of the importance of being loved for who you really are, flaws and all. Nyx was not the sweet beauty of the original fairy tale and no character is perfect in this story and no one is innocent in this story.




Intro Meme
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

1) Indiana, specifically the southern part
2) Probably Perfect Lies, because I love White's humor and Annie and Fia.
3) Nathan is supposed to bring me a white fluff-filled donut from the bakery when he comes back from his meeting. They are wonderful!
4) I am a Children's and Teen Librarian and Assistant Director at a library and I do most of the collection development and social media for the library. I have a Master's Degree in American History from Purdue with an emphasis in colonial history and an MSLS from the University of Kentucky. I love learning about the past and love doing reader's advisory. Surprisingly I read few historical fiction and that is the area I need to read more to fix up my reader's advisory. I have been married for 6 and 1/2 years to a really great guy, see answer to question #3! :)
5) I am looking forward to reading and hopefully commenting on others' posts.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon Reading Stack and Goals

I have decided to try for 4 hours of reading tomorrow, which may seem like a small amount, but I usually read less than an hour a day. I also want to participate in some of the challenges and maybe do a tweet or two. I would like to finish two books and finally get back into the groove of reading. This is my first time, so I am excited, but a little worried that I won't be able to keep up. I have my reading stack ready and the books included are as follows:

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Perfect Lies by Kiersten White
Crimson Frost by Jennifer Estep
Once Upon a Midnight Eerie by Gordon McAlpine
The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
Dangerous by Shannon Hale
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Sleep No More by Aprilynne Pike
If I Should Die by Amy Plum
Gilded Ashes by Rosamund Hodge (novella)
Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger (audio/ebook)

I will post an update post in the morning! Good luck to everyone!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon Signup

I am going to try this read-a-thon. I have never participated in Dewey's Read-a-thon, but it looks like fun! I see all the posts of bloggers I follow every time it rolls around and I think each time I am going to do it, so this time I am going to try. I have been in a reading slump funk for over a month now, so I am hoping this will help jump start my reading. I will post a reading list soon and my goals soon. You can sign up at this link.

Bout of Books 10 Signup

I love Bout of Books and I think this is my 6th one! I will make a reading list and goals closer to time.


The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Hope you can signup! Thanks to Amanda and Kelly for hosting!

Spring Into Horror Read-a-thon Signup

Spring Into Horror Read-a-thon is hosted by Michelle @ The True Book Addict and Castle Macabre. The signup link is here. You only have to read one "scary" book which Michelle defines as horror, paranormal, thriller, suspense, or mystery. I usually go with a paranormal or mystery. I usually read quite a bit during Michelle's read-a-thons, so hopefully I can break this reading curse I have been on lately! I will make a reading list closer to time. Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

Stacking the Shelves and Showcase Sunday #7

 

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits, and Tea and they are memes for sharing books you've purchased, borrowed, or been sent for review. The books can be physical or e-format. It has been a couple of weeks, since I last did a new books post. I have been trying to read what I own, have for review, or already had checked out at the library. I did purchase three books though. Two are Kindle books and one was a book I had been waiting to purchase in hardcover for a long time!

 

My Name is Rapunzel by KC Hilton I purchased after Rachael's A Month of Rapunzel. I had looked at this book for awhile and after reading all of Rachael's posts, I am inspired to read more retellings!

I picked up The Maze Runner by James Dashner since the movie is being made and all the middle school boys have recommended this one. It was also only $1.99.




So this was the one I had to have in hardcover. Actually I am not for sure it is even available in ebook. I thought the recipes were cute and easy and maybe when my niece( maybe nieces :)) and cousins are a bit older we can make some of these. I want to try Jasmine's Hummus recipe and a few of the drink recipes. I think this would also be cute for a Princess Party and it is probably about time we had another one of those at the library. :)

Hope you all had some great books this week!

April Random Read- Fire Horse Girl

This is a meme hosted by Sarah at imlovingbooks.com. You can choose to use Goodreads or create your own list or use your bookshelves.  The idea is to use random.org and type in the number of books on your list. Whatever number you receive is your random read for the month. I have decided  to use the books on my Kindle as my list. I buy or get free far too many books on my Kindle and then never read them. My current number stands at 441. I have yet to finish last month's book Cruel Beauty, but I am still reading on it and liking it so far. This month's book is number 149 which is Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman. This is a YA historical fiction about Chinese immigrants and what it was like to go to Angel Island and how badly the Chinese were treated in the early 1900s. I haven't read any historical fiction yet this year, so this will be a nice change of pace!

Arthur Levine Books