Sunday, January 31, 2010

Sunday Salon - 1-31-2010 - January in Review

 
Hello, Sunday Blogging Buddies, hope you had a great week!
It has been freezing here this week, we even had some snow squalls one day along with 45MPH winds causing scary white-out conditions for drivers (nearly 100 accidents in the area in a 8 hour period). Fortunately, we were both safe and warm at home...whew!  
I am so happy that I got all caught up on my January books read/reviews, so that I can officially close out the month. 
Here is what I read/reviewed in January:
  1. The Handmaid's Tale; Margaret Atwood - 4.5/5
  2. Gilded: How Newport Became America's Richest Resort; Davis - 4/5
  3. Remarkable Creatures; Tracy Chevalier - 4.5/5
  4. The Disappeared; M.R. Hall - 3/5
  5. One Amazing Thing; Chitra Divakaruni - 4/5
  6. South of Broad; Pat Conroy - 4.5/5 (audio)
  7. Blacklands; Belinda Bauer - 4/5
  8. The End of the Road; Sue Henry - 2/5
  9. The Red Door; Charles Todd - 3.5/5
  10. Secrets of Eden; Chris Bohjalian - 4/5
  11. Making Rounds With Oscar; David Dosa, M.D. - 5/5
  12. Shutter Island; Dennis LeHane - 4/5 (audio)
  13. Winter's Tail; Hatkoff - 4.5/5
  14. Noah's Compass; Anne Tyler - 5/5
  15. Not My Daughter; Delinsky - 4/5
  16. The Happiness Project; Gretchen Rubin - 3/5
  • January = (4) non fiction (2) audio) (12) fiction(12 review books)
  • Favorite Books of the Month: Making Rounds With Oscar and Noah's Compass

2010 Challenge Progress
  1. 2010 100+ Reading Challenge - 16/100
  2. 2010 Reading From My Shelves Project - 13/75
  3. 2010 ARC Reading Challenge - 12/38
  4. 2010 Pub Challenge - 6/10
  5. 2010 New Authors Challenge - 6/50
  6. 2010 Support Your Local Library - 4/50
  7. 2010 Audio Book Challenge - 2/20
  8. 2010 Thriller/Suspense Challenge - 2/12
  9. 2010 Chunkster Challenge - 1/6
  10. 2010 Booker Challenge - 0/6
  11. 2010 Books To Read Before I Die Challenge - 0/20
 
January Books Purchased = (4) 
Total Cost $16.95 includes taxes and/or s/h
February Goals
  1. Read (1) Books for Booker Challenge
  2. Read (2-3) Books for Books To Read Before I Die Challenge
Books in Progress
  1. American Rust; Meyer  (tour book)
  2. Sacred Hearts; Dunant (audio and review copies)
  3. Wish her Safe At Home; Benatar - (review copy)
Other Sunday Stuff

I wanted to take a minute to thank some bloggers for passing on some thoughtful awards to me this week: 

  
              (From Susan @ Suko's Notebook)


      
      (Peaceful Reader)                (SB @ Not To Serious I Hope)

Happy 101 - Asks That I Name (10) Things I am Happy For 
(here goes)
  1. Good Health
  2. A Peaceful Life That I Love
  3. Knowing I'm Loved
  4. Wonderful husband and children
  5. Caring family and friends
  6. (4) amazing feline family members
  7. Books, Book Stores
  8. Bloggers Everywhere
  9. Having enough
  10. Helping others
Have a great Sunday and a terrific week as well!

32 comments:

  1. You beat me by one book this month. I love looking at all your statistics. Well done.

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  2. You did a great job! I read 6 books and reviewed so many more. Finally I am happy that all my reviewing is done! I feel good!

    Here is my Sunday Salon post!

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  3. Wow! Lots of books read in January! Well done! I'm glad you enjoyed the Handmaid's Tale. I enjoyed that one as well. And thanks for making me aware of Not My Daughter. I definitely want to read that one. Looking forward to see what you read in February!

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  4. Sixteen books reviewed and read in January! Wow! I'm impressed and envious. How do you do it? Keep up the great work!

    Hope you'll visit my Sunday Salon

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  5. WOW -- you are a prolific reader as well as blogger!

    Congratulations on the great stats and well-deserved awards.

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  6. You had a great reading month in January! I'm happy with my reading for this month, however I still need to work on writing reviews in a timely manner.

    I like how organized your post is!

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  7. Harvee...I'm lucky in part to not be working for the last 9 months so that leaves plenty of time for reading.

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  8. I wish I'd managed to read as many books as you this month. I had a very slow reading month. I'm looking forward to Blacklands and reading books by Chitra Divakaruni and Dennis LeHane in the near future. Have a wonderful February

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  9. $16.95 for 4 books is not a bad deal, Diane. I've held off on buying any this month - shocker! I'm holding off since my b-day is coming up and I'll probably splurge then.

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  10. You have been busy - me I've read 8 books and only reviewed one of them so far!

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  11. I'm impressed all of your reviews are done! It's been a long time since I've been that on top of things.

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  12. Diane, you had an incredible reading month! You are a prolific reader and writer!

    I hope it warms up soon. :)

    Thank you very much for the mention.

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  13. You had an excellent start to 2010! Good luck with February.

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  14. You are a list maker after my own heart—everything is so neat and orderly.

    It appears you are doing well with all of your challenges, unless some are on a short timeframe.

    And congratulations on the awards.

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  15. Wow! You had an amazing month of reading...I'm impressed. Hope you have a great week and that the weather warms up a bit for you!

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  16. You had a great reading month! Congrats on your awards! They're all well-deserved!

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  17. You had a fantastic January!!! This will be the first year that I will be posting my monthly totals so much easier than trying to figure it out at the end of the year!!!

    Have a great February!

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  18. I'm so impressed you read all those books AND REVIEWED THEM!!!! I've been doing the reading but I still don't have 2009 reviews done yet!

    Most impressive.

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  19. Well done for a great reading month in January! And congratulations on your awards! :D

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  20. Oh, wow! I see several books on your list of those read in January that I either have read or they're on my short stack.

    Read Not My Daughter; reading Noah's Compass; next up Happiness Project.

    BTW...loved The Handmaid's Tale...think I should read it again.

    My Salon:

    http://laurel-rainsnowsaccidentallife.blogspot.com/2010/01/sunday-salon_31.html

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  21. I'll be interested to see how you like American Rust and Sacred Hearts. I have been wanting to read the former and the latter was one of my favorite books of 2009.

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  22. Hi, Diane! You have won a copy of The Swan Thieves in my giveaway! Send me an email with your address.

    e_bogardus AT hotmail DOT com

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  23. what a range of books!!! wow -- where do you find the time? I loved A Handmaid's Tale...it was a bit slow at the start, though.

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  24. SB...Thanks for stopping by. As I responded to Harvee who asked the same question, I am not working right now, and no kids at home so plenty of free reading time. That may change though...LOL

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  25. Happy Sunday Diane. Looks like you had a fabulous reading month! Stay warm and hope you'll have lots of great reads ahead of you :)

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  26. I didn't know about Ann Tyler's "Noah's Compass"; I love her work, so I'll have to look into that. I'm so impressed with all you've read in January! I only read 10 books, and even that was a bit of a stretch for me. And, congratulations on your award.

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  27. I'd like to be at your reading speed! That's a great accomplishment. My Sunday was the opposite weather wise--we swam in the ocean--something you can do on a winter day on Kauai.

    Aloha from Rob

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  28. I'm glad you stayed safe in all the weather!

    You read an incredible amount of books! Congrats on all that reading!

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  29. All those accidents! Oh dear! I am glad you and your family weren't caught up in any of them. Sounds like you had a great reading month and are off to a great start with your challenges, Diane.

    I hope you have a great week!

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  30. Ok, seriously? You read *and* reviewed all of those in January/ Overachiever! ;-) My January reads have to bleed over into February to get all the reviews done cause I'm just that lazy. LOL!

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  31. Kristen, LOL LOL

    Yes since I am a bit obsessive, I am compelled to stop reading and catch up on reviews at the end of each
    month. LOL

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  32. 16 books! Wow Diane, that's awesome. I love the things you're happy for -they're perfect!

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