Christmas Spirit Readathon Wrapup

Well, I was able to finish Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber. It was an easy, quick read and it was okay. I had trouble with the rhyming Ash and Dash combo, but the title was a clever take on the male lead's name. Hopefully I can start the Christmas Wedding soon. Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

Christmas Spirit Readathon Signup

This is hosted by Michelle @ True Book Addict, Castle Macabre and Christmas Spirit blogs and you can signup at this link. This is a bit last minute, but I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit, so I have a few books on my reading list.

I am still reading Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber and I still need to read Christmas Wedding by James Patterson for book club, so I will concentrate on these two for now.

Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

HoHoHo Read-a-thon Signup

Well I haven't blogged much lately, but I am in the mood to read some holiday stories, so I had to sign up for Kimberly's read-a-thon. You can signup at this link. I  hope to do better with this than I have with my past few read-a-thons and maybe I can get back into the hang of blogging.

Reading List
Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber
December book club book (I think this is Christmas Wedding by James Patterson)

I am go to stay with these two and hope to finish at least one of them.

Thanks to Kimberly for hosting!

FrightFall Read-a-Thon Wrapup

Well, work kicked my butt last week and I was gone all weekend, so I did not get to write updates like I hoped. I did finish House of Abraham with 72 pages and A Monster Calls through audio CDs, so that was awesome! Thanks to Michelle for hosting and I will try to be more social next time!!

FrightFall Read-a-thon Signup

This is hosted by hosted by Michelle @ True Book Addict, Castle Macabre and The Christmas Spirit blogs and you can sign up at this link. You must read at least one "scary" book, which does not have to be in the horror genre, but can be a thriller, mystery, Gothic novel, or similar. This time my scary book will be A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, which I am reading for our Freshman Reading Challenge that I do with our local high school librarian.

My reading list:
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
House of Abraham by Stephen Berry
Cress by Marissa Meyer
Losers Take All by David Klass
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I read this book for the Little House Readalong. It is the last book in the Little House series, although there are books of collected letters.

HarperCollins

The book goes back a bit before These Happy Golden Years to the time right before Laura and Almanzo's wedding and covers the first four years of their marriage. Laura and Almanzo work through the trials of farming, the joy of a daughter, and the heartbreak of loss. Through it all they have their love for each other and their pioneering spirit to help them survive.

This book does have a bit of a different style to the story, since it was written down by Laura, but not really edited by her. Almanzo becomes Manly in the story, but in this book his nickname is not explained. It is shorter than the other stories and I missed hearing about the other members of Laura's family. Laura showed the harshness of farming on the plains, particularly how they were at the mercy of the weather and the joys and heartbreaks of married life and building a family. I enjoyed reading Rose's escapades and the scene with the horses always gives me goosebumps and also the scene with the Boasts broke my heart and also made me sad for the friendship that was lost because of Mr. Boast's request. It was still a sweet story and I enjoyed seeing Laura and Almanzo's interactions. 4 cups of cocoa.

Virtual Adult Summer Reading Wrapup

I did attend a chat and did a challenge or two, but not great on my reading. I read 2 of the six books on my list and only reviewed one of them. I did managed to read 8 books so I met the level, but only reviewed 3 books total. Thanks to Valerie and Octavia for hosting and I hope to participate again next year if you guys host it again!