Holiday Break Reading Challenge 2011-2012: Part 2

Here are days 9 - 17! Check out Part 1 on this blog for days 1-8.

THANK YOU TO JULIE & KARIN, OF WWW.EDIFYINGANDEDGY.COM, FOR HOSTING THIS CHALLENGE. WHAT FUN! I will miss the daily dose of fun and challenges.

DAY 17: BOOK TRAILER FOR MY #1 BOOK OF 2011
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick  

This one barely squeaked in on 2011 - see my recent blog for more of my thoughts - but it probably would have still been #1 for 2012.  Whether you see the movie or not (I haven't and probably won't) all young and old must read this book.

  
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DAY 16: TOP 11 OF 2011
The challenge didn't say we were limited to YA novels, so I'm including everything from children's to adult!

#11

#10

#9

#8

#7

#6

#5

#4

#3

#2

#1

It was definitely tough to come up with just eleven  (ten shown here!ah, the mystery) books for the year! This is not so much because I read so many wonderful books, but because I was again reading at all.  Work and life had separated me from my love of books, and once we were reunited, it seemed nothing I read was unworthy. (With one exception, and I still can't find any use for the book Jumped. Read it if you want to feel hopeless about this generation of kids.)  My dear friend has a term for people like me - people who love everything they read, just love it.  It's not a polite term, but it's apropos. :-)  I did see a pattern in my favorites, and that is apparently I like books with illustrations. That's a hint at what my top pick will be for tomorrow! Stay tuned.
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DAY 15: READING & BLOGGING GOALS
Done! My first goal for 2012 is to have reading and blogging goals!  Whoo hoo! That felt good.

READING GOALS:
I'm going to be careful, here. On Jan. 2nd, I am starting a full time job - one that requires I be some place a certain time and stay there until a certain time.  I haven't had this kind of job in nearly 16 years!  There will be some adjusting, I believe.  On Jan. 17th, I begin my 5th semester of grad school, and I'll not only have my course load, but an exit exam to study for and a portfolio to assemble.  Oh, and let's not forget my volunteering obligations and my family to take care of. . .and my husband traveling out of town during the week. I have a tendency to over-commit myself and end-up overwhelmed. So. . .
READING GOAL 1:  Don't stress-out about getting books read.  Reading is a pleasure activity, and when it becomes an obligation, then it loses much of its charm.
READING GOAL 2: Always have a book in progress, and try to knock-out a couple of YA books each month. And in that regard, refer back to goal 1.
READING GOAL 3: Keep track of books read on Goodreads.

BLOGGING GOALS:
I just started my blog due to a class requirement over the summer, and I have faithfully reviewed all the children's and YA books I've read, and posted links to articles I felt were relevant. But I'm pretty sure that I am the only one who looks at my blog.  So. . .
BLOGGING GOAL 1: Get others to look at my blog and comment. I probably will try to do this through the kids on library council or my professional Facebook account, and through Twitter.
BLOGGING GOAL 2: Improve the look and functions of my blog.  I am not sure if I'm willing to pay to have a blog, so I may be limited to what I can do, but I will take the time to figure it out.
BLOGGING GOAL 3: Stay committed to blogging about every book I read and posting something YA related at least once a week.
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DAY 14: COLLAGE OF ALL BOOKS READ IN 2011
This is very cool.  I used shapecollage.com to drag & drop the book covers to make my collage.  I did not include all the children's books I read, and I didn't include all the textbooks I had to read for grad school. And since I wasn't using Goodreads until the summer, I probably have forgotten a lot of the books I read!  Nonetheless, that left me with 61 YA and adult books read this year - not a bad start for my re-entering the world of reading.
Here's my collage:

 

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DAY 13: 2012 READING CHALLENGES

Since I am newly returned to the world of reading after years in the corporate world, I definitely have my very own reading challenge to fit in (on top of my full time job, grad school, and family obligations). That is very simply to be actively reading a YA book every week, and to try to get through several a month.  This is a huge commitment for me!  I realize I can't go back and catch-up on this front, but a way to stay current will be to participate in a reading challenge or two.  These are two that interested me, and I probably will choose one or the other so I don't spend to much time on new-ish authors.

It looks like there are some good mini-challenges and contests on the DAC, so that might keep me more in-line with it; however, there aren't specific guidelines as to how many books we're supposed to read.

I like the idea of the sophomore reading challenge - the second time around for an author. We'll see about the book lists that come out.  It may be too hard for me to find a sophomore book that's not a sequel to something I haven't read yet!

Should be fun!
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DAY 12: GUESS THE COVERS
ACK! I spent waaaaaaay too much time on this and only could figure out 8 of 10!  Fun, but a not-so-gentle reminder to me that I have no self-discipline with this kind of stuff. Like a treasure hunt!

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DAY 11: 26TH PAGE, 26TH LINE OF BOOK CURRENTLY READING

". . .ticular reason, poisoned him with a dish of spotted eels, . . ."
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DAY 10: CHOOSE A BOOK THAT WAS RECEIVED AS A GIFT AND MEANS SOMETHING SPECIAL TO YOU.
Nancy and Plum, by Betty McDonald

My copy

latest release