Reading Challenge Wrap-Up: E-Book Reading Challenge 2011

When I joined in the E-Book Reading Challenge, hosted at Ladybug Reads, I didn’t make a list of titles. I just put my name in for 12 books.

So, how’d I do?

The Goddess Test Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch . . . and What It Takes to Win Junonia Invisible Inkling This Girl Is Different Bumped Shine Delirium Bird in a Box Jane Austen: A Life Revealed Made for You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home The Rise of the Dorkasaurus The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus: A Novel About Marriage, Motherhood, and Mayhem

14/12 (117%) – Not bad at all.

Thirteen (93%) were e-ARCs courtesy of NetGalley. One (7%) was a library book. This tells me two things: (1) I really should take advantage of the e-books my library has, and (2) I really should read some of the books I’ve purchased (or downloaded for free). I did use my Nook quite a bit to read the New York Times Book Review. Between the Les Mis Read-Along and the fact that I’ll be doing more traveling in 2012 than I did in 2011, I think my Nook will be getting more use next year.

Because lots of people knew I had the Nook, I tended to get referred questions about e-readers. As the prices have come down, more library patrons have been getting them, and the library/e-book check-out isn’t quite as user-friendly as it could be. So, I sort of had to stay on top of how it worked, even though I didn’t use it much myself! (I used it a bit more than my one book up there would indicate, since I checked out a few e-books that I didn’t finish. At least they return themselves!)

Will I be doing the E-Book Challenge again (hosted for 2012 at Workaday Reads)? Absolutely! And I’m planning to get 25 e-books read this time.

Quarterly Report

Here we are, three months into the year. We’ve entered Daylight Saving Time, which means it’s dark when I get up instead of when I leave work (I don’t think much of this trade, frankly). It’s Springtime, so we’re ping-ponging between days of torrential rain and days of 90-degree (that’s 32 degrees for you non-Fahrenheit folk) sun, and we haven’t yet hit May Gray and June Gloom. It seems like a good time to check on those 2011 Reading Challenges.

First up:

This challenge is going exceptionally well, mostly thanks to NetGalley. I’ve read:

So, 13 books out of, um, 12? Clearly, I should have gone for a higher level of challenge. Especially since I still have a bunch of e-ARCs lined up on the nook, and I just checked out the library’s e-copy of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

Next:

Okay, so those three ARCS from Hachette are still waiting for me to get to them. They’ve moved from the coffee table to my desk, where they are in grave danger of disappearing under a stack of knitting magazines and ukulele sheet music. I should probably rescue them. And I have both The Great Wall of Lucy Wu (which should be interesting reading right after Battle Hymn, eh?) and Across the Universe checked out of the library, but I haven’t started reading them. What have I been reading that actually fits the challenge?

  • This Girl Is Different by JJ Johnson
  • Bumped by Megan McCafferty
  • The Goddess Test (Goddess Test, #1) by Aimee Carter

All courtesy of NetGalley, and none of them were on my list back in January.

 

And finally:

Um, yeah. That one. I’m still reading Possessing Genius… when I’m not reading something on the nook and/or from the library. So many books, so little time.

How are your Reading Challenges going?

Book Review: Science Fair Season by Judy Dutton

Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch . . . and What It Takes to Win

Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch . . . and What It Takes to Win by Judy Dutton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Source: E-ARC via NetGalley, by reviewer’s request

 

Fact: I was never part of a Science Fair. It’s one of those things that I’m a little sad to have missed out on. But Dutton offers a chance to live vicariously through some kids who are really part of the Science Fair scene. Twelve students are profiled in individual chapters, which alternate between a student (as of the book’s writing) headed for the 2009 Intel International Science Fair after winning a qualifying local competition and a participant in a previous year who has become Science Fair Legend. Their projects are not simple baking soda volcanoes or skin cells under microscopes; these are kids who have done things like build a nuclear reactor or create a home heating system out of salvaged materials.

Dutton takes the reader deep into the world of the Science Fair, interviewing not only the students, but also parents, teachers, and mentors. The young scientists reveal themselves to be teenagers much like their less scientifically-inclined peers, just kids with some quirky interests and an uncommon drive to explore. If you think you know what a Science Fair – or a Science Fair entrant – is all about, this book may surprise you. An entertaining and informative peek into the lives of the next generation of scientific discovery for teens and adults alike.

View all my reviews

Reading Challenge Update: January

Here we are, halfway through the first month of the year. Let’s see how I’m doing on my 2011 Reading Challenges.

At the moment, I’m at 1/12. Technically, I’ve finished two e-books in 2011, but I started one of them in the last few days of December 2010. The one I started and finished in 2011 was Lauren Myracle’s forthcoming YA novel Shine, in e-ARC format, courtesy of NetGalley. I’ll have a review up next week. I’ve started another e-ARC, Sonya Sones’ first adult novel, The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus. Like her YA books, this is a novel-in-verse. It’s very funny so far.

Um, yeah. Those three ARCS from Hachette are still sitting on my coffee table, and I’m waiting for the other titles on my list to show up in my library.

This one, I confess, is not going so well, either. I’m one chapter into Possessing Genius. I’m enjoying it so far. It’s just, you know, I have these shiny new ARCs calling to me from the nook….

I’ll get back to you next month.

How are your Reading Challenges going?

Introducing Trillian

For Christmas, I got my very own nook!

My Nook!

Wow, you can really see the difference between the e-ink upper screen and the lower touchscreen. That’s my red shirt reflected there.

I’ve named it Trillian, and of course I gave it a “Don’t Panic” screensaver.  The wallpaper is Dore’s Don Quixote in his Library.

With Trillian in hand, I’ve decided to take on a third reading challenge for 2010.

I’m going for the “Addicted” level – 12 e-books in 2011. I don’t have a list prepared for this one. We’ll see what I download.