#COYER Summer Reading Challenge

For the past couple of years I've complained about how many books I have on my Kindle App and on my shelves that I just never seem to get around to reading. This has been recently exacerbated by my discovery of the Story Bundle. I have so many books! I swear I had every intention of reading them when I bought them...

So, to help me out, I'm going to join the COYER Summer Reading Challenge. In another post I'll be writing up my list of 30 books (20 ebooks 10 hardcopy) that I am going to get to choose to read from for the summer. If I actually can finish all 30, I'll be pleasantly surprised. As it is, I'll be posting the occasional update here as well as a link to my book list when I get home and get it all written down.

The most challenging part about all of this is going to be avoiding NetGalley. Seriously, I did the math. About 35% of the 40+ books I've read so far this year have been NetGalley requests. I've still got 3 of them to finish before I can fully dedicate time to COYER. And if you see me on Twitter talking about getting another NetGalley book, feel free to shoot me a reminder (friendly or not is your choice).

If you're at all interested in joining, or want more information, you can check out #COYER, @COYERChallenge or visit the COYER website.

*Update: I've created a page with my Challenge List.

New Year's Resolutions

Okay, I've had Christmas, New Year's, and Second Christmas completed. I've had plenty of time to think about my resolutions for the year and I've got a couple of goodies. I'm looking at having one resolution for my health, one for my work, one for my family and one for my hobbies.

Health Resolution: Toning
I've lost a lot of size the past couple of years. So much so that my lifelong weight goal is to just not gain it all back. That being said, I do feel I could do more. So this year I'm going to see about either building up muscle or toning what muscles I have. We'll see how it goes.

Work Resolution: Learn to Read Russian
The one person in my department who was fluent in Russian recently left so the rest of us have been tackling the Russian titles we get as best we can. I'd already had an interest in this and I'm already working on memorizing the Russian alphabet, so this resolution should be doable. It is quite interesting how understandable a lot of Russian words are once you are able to read them.

Family Resolution: Dedicate Time to the Briggs Wiki
This project has been on the back burner for a few years now. I haven't had the time nor the work space to get it done. Recently I started working four 10-hour days, giving me Fridays for things like chores, doctor appointments and, now, the Briggs Wiki. I'm hoping to dedicate one Friday a month to this work and making visible progress.

Hobby Resolution: 
This year I signed up for the #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks challenge. I will not be buying any new books and I will only request one non-fiction from NetGalley a month. I'm doing this because I have over 200 books in my kindle that I've never read. I also have about 10-20 physical books that I've never read. Really hoping I can survive this.

So those are my plans for 2016. What are some of yours?

#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks Challenge for 2016

A while back I calculated that I had over 200 unread ebooks in my kindle. I also have 10-15 unread books on my shelves. I was able to finish 100 books (some of them comics/graphic novels) so I have more than enough books to keep me occupied for a year or two. Also, given my reading habits for the past year I know that if I don't focus on these books that I'm just going to end up letting them continue to sit, unread. And no book deserves to be unread. 

So, I am taking up the challenge set by Estella's Revenge. I will #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks for 2016. I have so many genres and formats left unread that I should always be able to find something I'm in the mood for. The only thing I'm lacking is non-fiction books, so I will allow myself to request one a month from either NetGalley or my local library. I will also not discourage people from buying me books or getting me gift certificates for book stores (wink, wink). 

Apple Pie | Recipe

Today's post is going to be my attempt to recreate my Great-Grandma B's apple pie recipe. This is partially in preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas when I am the main baker. Fortunately I have some of Grandma B's own tools to help me out! Starting with the rolling mat that she used every time she made pie crusts.

First step is to mix up the ingredients for the pie crust: 2c. flour, 1 tsp. salt, 3/4c. plus a little more lard/shortening (room temp). 1/4c. cold water. Then it needs to be rolled out. I'm actually using the same marble rolling pin that Grandma B used. And yes, it is quite heavy.

So, it's a good thing I'm getting some practice in because I've completely lost my instinct for proper water to flour ratios to keep the crust together without letting it get sticky. If you use too much flour, trying to keep it from sticking to stuff, it'll dry out and become weak. If you try to add moisture to it, it'll become very sticky and you won't be able to roll it out or get it from the mat to the pie pan.

As it is, I'm kinda running low on patience, so I'm just gonna piece together the bottom crust from what I rolled out. Use a bit of water here and there, and you can't tell.

Next up, slice up 4-6 apples (I'm going with granny smith) and mix them up with 1/2c. white sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/3c. flour until all the apple slices are covered. Then put them in the pie pan.

Next comes the top crust. I can't get away with piecing it together as much as I could the bottom crust, but I think I did an okay job for being so out of practice.

Then I bake the pie at 400degrees for 1 hour (or until brown & bubbly).

It doesn't look nearly as nice as Grandma B's, but the taste is spot on. It's a bit tart for Fluxxdog, but Veonoss absolutely loves it and I'm very happy with how it tastes. Still need to work on the crusts, though. 

Bout of Books 2015

Okay, enough debating with myself. I NEED a read-a-thon. I've been needing to just dive into books and leave out all other distractions and Bout of Books seems as good a time to do so as any.

My Goals:

1) Bring up my NetGalley Percentage by finishing off all four books I have still to read.

    a) These books are:

        i) The Flux by Ferrett Steinmetz

        ii) Adventures in Human Being by Gavin Francis

        iii) Manga Classics: Emma by  Po Tse, Crystle S Chan, Stacy King

        iv) The Little Red Fish by James Moffitt and Bizhan Khodabandeh

    b) The last two books are relatively quick reads, hence their inclusion on the goal list.

2) Socialize.

    a) I won't be able to do all the blog posts, nor will I be able to attend tonight's Twitter Party (work hours being what they are) but I will try to do as many as I can. I will also try to visit other blogs and I will DEFINITELY be attending the Saturday morning Twitter Party.

Dewey Readathon - 8 PM Update - 12 hours down!

1. What are you reading right now?

William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher

2. How many books have you read so far?

This is only my third book.

 3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

The silliness after being awake for so many hours!

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

No real interruptions!

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

How quickly the time is passing!

April 2015 Dewey Read-A-Thon: Tentative Plan

It's that time again! The Dewey 24 Hour Readathon! Again I'll be aiming to stay up for the full 24 hours AND cheerleading! If things go as they did back in October, I'll be okay until around 3-4 AM. At that point, I may need to get an audiobook and listen while going for a walk to the gas station to get some more caffeine.

I will, of course, be checking twitter and Dewey's blog for hourly updates, but will remind myself to set the books down for a bit every 3 hours. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to eat and read at the same time, I've done it before. I'm also allowing myself to get up and walk around as I need to. The late night shower is because I'm used to taking a shower when I need to wake up and really did help last year.

Tentative Schedule
7 AM - Wake up, Prep
8 AM - Starting Post on Blog
11 AM - 3 Hours Post, Challenges, Visiting other blogs (30 minutes)
2 PM - 6 Hours Post, Challenges, Exercising/Stretching (30 minutes)
5 PM - 9 Hours Post, Challenges, Visiting other blogs (30 minutes)
8 PM - Halfway There Post, Challenges, Exercising/Stretching (30 minutes)
11 PM  - 15 Hours Post, Shower (30 minutes)
2 AM - 18 Hours Post, Challenges, Visiting other blogs (30 minutes)
5 AM - 21 Hours Post, Challenges, Exercising/Stretching (30 minutes)
8 AM - Final Post, Shower, SLEEP


I'm planning on using the Read-A-Thon to at least try to finish several books that I have started but just haven't gotten around to finishing.. With this in mind, I created a list of 5 books to read, but with the understanding that fewer than 5 is acceptable as well as interjecting some comic books and web comic archives.

Tentative Reading List

1) The Religion War by Scott Adams
2) Dead Eye - The Skinwalker Conspiracies by Jim Bernheimer
3) William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Drescher
4) The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell
5) Earth by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Let me know if you have suggestions for audiobooks!

Down the Wormhole by Ana Franco

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. And you know me, I prioritize honesty.

Overall, Down the Wormhole is a good book. It's barely 100 pages, so Franco does not waste pages with anything unnecessary to the story, which I am always appreciative of, especially if sequels are promised.* The rapid-fire pace of events did take a little getting used to, but once I had my brain trained on this speed, I was able to keep up with the story events pretty well. I also liked the blending of Celtic, Norse and Egyptian mythologies, though I do agree with the main character, Kitty, that some explanations are needed.**

I've admitted several times in the past that love stories aren't my thing***. Fortunately Franco is able to give plenty of focus to each of the events of the story that need to take place. She has allotted each essential part of the story enough time that the entire book remains well balanced.

Probably my biggest criticism of this would be the sheer number of typos. They were pretty common and caused me to be distracted while reading. But, this is an ARC, so hopefully another round of proofing/editing will take care of them.

I have to admit, this book is good. With some proofreading it could be great. For now I'm giving it 4 hoots and I look forward to seeing the finished project.

           Hoot!Hoot!

           Hoot!Hoot!

*I know Ana Franco is writing more books whether they are sequels to this one, I'm not so sure.
**Sequel?
***Which is probably why I ended up more interested in the one character that was not part of a couple, Andrew/Anubis.

2015 Reading Challenge: Read Your Freebies

It's never too early to start planning for next year's reading goals! In fact, this reading challenge ties directly into the goals I was already planning on starting after I finished my Non-Fiction November books! 

I subscribe to 3 or 4 different services that notify me of free and/or reduced ebooks. I have so many of them in my Kindle that it would take months to make a dent! So, it's about time I made some headway with them.

So, the basic challenge is to read 12 eBooks. Pfft. I'll admit, I've got a very full schedule, but I'm going to really push myself and aim for the Super Saver challenge of reading 50 eBooks in 2015. Heck, already this year, since March, I have read 66 books and I've still got a month of reading left.

This is my official starting post to join in on this challenge. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can push myself past 50 free ebooks. ^^ If you wish to sign up, click on the image above to go to the main page!