2013 Projected Reading List

 As there has been a change in plans, and I shall not be seeing The Hobbit until tomorrow after I get out of work, and that will make tomorrow very busy, I have decided to post my projected 2013 reading list tonight.

I shall only be posting the first 40 books on my list, and it will not necessarily be the order I actually end up reading them. Also, as it did happen this past year, this list could change in both number and content. You have been warned!

As with the last list, + denotes a re-read, and = denotes non-fiction.

• Jane Austen's Letters=
• Pride and Prejudice+
• Lady of Milkweed Manor
• The Fairest Beauty
• The Apothecary's Daughter
• The Night Dance: A Retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"
• The Girl In The Gatehouse
• Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"
• Northanger Abbey+
• Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince"
• To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn
• Princess of The Midnight Ball (Princess #1)
• Wives and Daughters
• Entwined
• The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence #1)
• The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern #1)+
• What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew=
• The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1
• The Inimitable Jeeves (Jeeves #2)
• That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy #3)
• Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia
• Till We Have Faces
• Violets Are Blue
• Kristina: The Girl King
• The Widow of Larkspur Inn (Gresham Chronicles #1)
• Shirley
• Murder On The Links (Hercule Poirot #2)
• Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without A Country
• Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess
• Oliver Twist
• Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Moving Castle #1)
• Snow White Blood Red (The Grimm Diaries Prequels #1)
• Carry On, Jeeves (Jeeves #3)
• Manuscript For Murder
• El Dorado: Further Adventures of The Scarlet Pimpernel
• Romeo and Juliet
• Little Dorrit
• A Girl Aboard The Titanic: A Survivor's Story=
• The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister=
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot #20)

Now, let's see how many books I actually manage to read this year, and if this all of this list makes it through. ;-)

Happy New Year, everybody! :-D

2012 Reading List Finished

  As it's only a day or so until New Year's Eve, and I shall most likely be busy that day, I have decided to post my completed list of books I read in 2012 now.

It turned out that I read many more books than I had originally planned and the whole list changed in exactly which books I would read. If you want to refresh your memory as to which books I originally intended to read this year, you can check out the post here. I must say some of the books stayed the same, but many left and more came in. I originally had 25 books picked out, and it expanded to 50!

Now, before I begin the list, I must give you a little bit of a key:

* denotes a book I did not finish (usually due to some sort of moral objection)

+ denotes a re-read

= denotes a non-fiction book

In order of first book of the year to the last:

1. Darby O'Gill
2. The Invention of Hugo Cabret
3. A Christmas Carol/The Chimes/The Cricket on The Hearth
4. The Mysterious Benedict Society (The Mysterious Benedict Society #1)
5. Men of Iron
6. Tuesdays At The Castle (Castle Glower #1)
7. The Gammage Cup (The Minnipins #1)
8. Wonderstruck
9. Out of The Silent Planet (Space Trilogy #1)
10. The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey (The Mysterious Benedict Society #2)
11. The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)*
12. Cat Among The Pigeons (Hercule Poirot #32)
13. The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Prisoner's Dilemma (The Mysterious Benedict Society #3)
14. Back Home+
15. Austenland*
16. Lisa and Lottie
17. The Night Circus*
18. Perelandra (Space Trilogy #2)
19. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict (The Mysterious Benedict Society #0.5)
20. David Copperfield
21. The Murder At The Vicarage (Miss Marple #1)
22. The Wind In The Willows
23. The Merchant's Daughter
24. Daddy Long Legs+
25. The Soldier's Cross
26. I Want It Now! A Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory=
27. Finally and Forever (Katie Weldon #4)
28. Behind Jane Austen's Door=
29. At The Sign of The Sugared Plum
30. The Mysterious Affair At Styles (Hercule Poirot #1)
31. Life In A Medieval Village=
32. Only A Novel
33. The Scarlet Pimpernel
34. North and South
35. Beyond Downton Abbey=
36. The Angel of Music Part 1: The Enchanted Violin*
37. Elizabeth I: Red Rose of The House of Tudor+
38. Sanditon/The Watsons/Lady Susan
39. The Diamond Secret: A Retelling of "Anastasia"
40. Heartless
41. An American Guide To Britishness=
42. Brave: The Junior Novelization
43. Clockwise (Clockwise #1)
44. The Nutcracker and Mouse King/The Tale of The Nutcracker
45. Extricating Young Gussie (Jeeves #0.5)
46. My Man Jeeves (Jeeves #1)
47. Number The Stars
48. Asking For Trouble (London Confidential #1)
49. Sew, It's A Quest (Bookania #1)
50. Dragon Slippers (Dragon Slippers #1)

That's the whole lot!

New Year's Day or so I shall be posting my projected list for 2013!

See you then! :-)

The Post Christmas Post

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas!

My Christmas was a little unusual for me, but not bad.

Our Christmas started on Sunday night, having a Christmas dinner (with gingerbread for dessert) and opening presents with my sister and her  family. It's always so much fun to watch my nieces and nephew going through the stockings my mom puts together for them, and opening their presents. :-)
We all got things we love! I got my dad a DVD of The Black Shield of Falworth, which I'd dare say is his favorite movie. My mom got a Nook Glow and lots of Barnes&Noble gift cards.
I got, from my parents, the BBC Classics complete Jane Austen collection DVDs and Little Dorrit DVD! :-D And there was much rejoicing! :-D
Unfortunately, my sister wasn't feeling well. :-(

Christmas Eve I had to work. :-P But, thankfully, it was quite slow and I got out fairly early with plenty of time before having to head out to my grandparents' house. Unfortunately, my sister still wasn't feeling well, and neither was her husband and the youngest. Fortunately, we were able to pick the older two kids up and bring them with us. They had a blast! And they got a small foozeball table from my grandparents, which was a big hit! I got a Barnes&Noble gift card, which was completely spent before I went to bed that night. (I bought four Nook books)
Our dinner was the traditional Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house dinner- Pizza Hut, KFC, chips, and cookies. Thankfully, my dad agreed to make a cut veggie tray to bring. I don't mind having a slice of pizza or a piece of fried chicken...but, please, give me something healthier on the side than potato chips! I didn't have any of the sweets, either. I've had a sore tooth (with a possible cavity) for a week, and I knew that would not be friendly.

Christmas Day we didn't do anything! That was the most unusual part of the holidays for us. Normally we would have a get-together on my dad's side of the family in the evening for snacks and desserts. This year, however, they had it Sunday evening, and since we had already planned our little family Christmas for that night (as it was the only night possible for both sides), we couldn't go. So, we spent the whole day in the house watching Christmas movies (and me reading) and such. My dad had to work that night, anyway, so we wouldn't have been able to go anywhere, really. (He works third shift)
And I ended up having an upset stomach, but it's better now.

Then, today, I had to work again, of course, and my parents went over to visit my dad's mom for a while so she wouldn't go the holidays without seeing them at all.
And, I have to wait a whole week before I can get into the dentist. :-(

Over all, it was a good time. My mom, sister, oldest niece, and grandma also got to go to the Nutcracker on Saturday! My niece won four tickets. :-) They had a very nice time. And I only have one gift to return or exchange...a nice button down shirt my sister got me- it didn't fit quite right. :-P

Now, on to New Year's! I shall finally get to see The Hobbit!!!! :-D

See you all next week! ;-)