Saturday, June 23, 2007

Spring Reading Things Wrap Up

So, since summer started this week, it's time to wrap up the Spring Reading Things, brought to us by Callapidder Days.

Back in March, I made a list of books I intended to read during the spring. Let's see how I did. (All links are to my reviews at Epinions.)

Books listed and read:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
False Profits by Patricia Smiley
Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrams
Remains to be Scene by R. T. Jordan
Kingdom Come by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
The Last Word by Lee Goldberg
The False Hearted Teddy by John J. Lamb (just finished. Review to come soon. Short version is I loved it.)
Whack a Mole by Chris Grabenstein (Enjoyed it, review to come)
Death by Panty Hose by Laura Levine
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
The Lies of Saints by Sigmund Brouwer
Dead and Berried by Karen MacInerney

Books not listed but read:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants by Lee Goldberg

Books listed but not read:
Christietown by Susan Kandel (but I am currently reading it)
Death in Lover's Lane by Carolyn Hart
Sixth Covenant by Brock and Bodie Thoene
Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado

Actually, I'm pretty impressed with that list. Obviously, if I had just stuck with my list as written, I would have gotten through everything. But I also wouldn't have the first six Harry Potter's read by the time book seven came out. And the Hosseini book was a last minute free read from Amazon for their top 100 reviewers, so that definitely wasn't planned. And the Monk novel was an advance review copy as well.

And yeah, that's sixteen books in three months. With everything else going on in my life, that's impressive. Especially since it took me a week and a half to read Harry #5 and I thought I read a book a week.

So Katrina had some suggestion questions I thought I'd answer as well.

What was the best book you read this spring?
I think I'm going to go with a three way tie between The Lies of Saints, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and The False-Hearted Teddy.

What book could you have done without?
Most definitely Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrams.

Did you try out a new author this spring? If so, which one, and will you be reading that author again?
Peter Abrams, Patricia Smiley, R. T. Jordan, and Khaled Hosseini. I won't be giving Peter Abrams another chanse. I will give the other three another chance, and really look forward to more from Hosseini.

If there were books you didn't finish, tell us why. Did you run out of time? Realize those books weren't worth it?
Techincally, I finished False Hearted Teddy on the first day of summer, but that was the only one I started I didn't get to. The reason for not getting to the other four was just because I ran out of time.

Did you come across a book or two on other participants' lists that you're planning to add to your own to-be-read pile? Which ones?
No, mainly because I didn't do a lot of digging. (What's the smilie for embarrassment?)

What was the best part of the Spring Reading Thing?
Realizing my reading habbits aren't quite as subject to change on a whim as I thought. Don't know if that is good or bad. :)

Would you be interested in participating in another reading challenge this fall?
Just try to keep me away!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Yeah, I think that's a good showing, too.

Katrina @ Callapidder Days said...

I think you did a great job. I kept meaning to re-read the HPs in preparation for book 7, but I don't think it's going to happen.

So... are the Mr. Monk books as good as the show? That's one of our favorites!

Thanks for being part of the Spring Reading Thing!

Mark Baker said...

I think the Monk novels are as good as the show (also one of my favorites). Some fans don't like them, however.