The last few months...

I will be catching up on my posts soon. I'm starting to get my health under control. I'm working full time, going to school full time and playing part-time mommy to my boyfriend's kids. I've really missed blogging and will be back soon.

May and June Books Read

Things have been crazy. Here are my last two months worth of books read. I'm a little behind in meeting my 100 books for the year but hopefully I will be able to read several on my plane trip this month.

May

27. "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 382 pages
28. "The Visitor" by Christopher Pike 162 pages
29. "The Eternal Enemy" by Christopher Pike 180 pages
30. "Scavenger Hunt" by Christopher Pike 215 pages
31. "The Lost Mind" by Christopher Pike 213 pages
32. "Whisper of Death" by Christopher Pike 180 pages
33. "Die Softly" by Christopher Pike 248 pages
34. "Spellbound" by Christopher Pike 211 pages
35. "See You Later" by Christopher Pike 226 pages
36. "The Midnight club" by Christopher Pike 211 pages
37. "100 Way to Beat the Blues" by Tanya Tucker and Friends 194 pages
38. "Fall Into Darkness" by Christopher Pike 213 pages
39. "Last Act" by Christopher Pike 226 pages
40. "Weekend" by Christopher Pike 230 pages
41. "Bury Me Deep" by Christopher Pike 211 pages

June

42. "Gods Behaving Badly" by Marie Phillips 292 pages
43. "Smack" by Melvin Burgess 288 pages
44. "When the Wind Blows" by James Patterson 402 pages
45. "New Moon" by Stephanie Meyer 608 pages

I have just about finished all my Christopher Pike books, and passed them on to a new owner. "Gods Behaving Badly" was a fun book and I recommend it to anyone. I have to admit that I'm addicted to the "Twilight" series against my better judgement.

April Book Log

1. One for the Money (Stephanie Plum, No. 1) by Janet Evanovich
2. The Undead Next Door (Love at Stake, Book 4) by Kerrelyn Sparks
3. Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz
4. Remember Me 2: The Return by Christopher Pike
5. Remember Me 3: The Last Story by Christopher Pike

I am shamefully behind on my reading challenges but hoping to get caught up in the month of May. The first two books were loaned to me by patients. I am definately interested in finishing the rest of Janet Evanovich's series. It was a quick and entertaining read.

The Spark's book was a little too much like a romance novel for me. I may still read more in the series, but they don't hold my interest the same as the Sookie Stackhouse or Anita Blake books.

Dean Koontz again disappoints with his latest book. Lately he has been writing stories about humanity and our good and bad and stepping away from the horror and sci-fi that I had come to love him for.

The last two, Christopher Pike books, are just more in my stack I'm re-reading one last time before getting rid of. I liked the first but the second and third were hard for me to get into.

I'm reading more of my Pike books in May. Also working on Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Loving it so far.

I haven't disappeared...

A few people have been wondering where I've been since I haven't updated in a while. I apologize and promise to be back full swing soon.

I have had two 5 week cram courses going on at the same time as my regular classes and between school and work I'm exhausted.

I'm also not feeling well the last few months. They are doing tests on me and hopefully will be able to figure something out soon. My bloodwork from last week came back with good news. I'm not diabetic, and my iron count has doubled in the last six months. I'm still anemic, but it's good to hear that's improving. More blood was taken today for a whole barage of other tests. I also had two moles biopsied. Later, I'll write a blog about skin cancer.

I hope all my online friends are well and I will see you soon.

February Book Log

12. "When the Emporer was Divine" by Julie Otsuka 144 pages
13. "Secret Vampire" by L.J. Smith 242 pages
14. "Daughters of Darkness" by L.J. Smith 238 pages
15. "Spellbinder" by L.J. Smith 238 pages
16. "The Great Failure: A Bartender, a Monk, and My Unlikely Path to Truth" by Natalie Goldberg 192 pages
17. "Life After God" by Douglas Coupland 360 pages

"When the Emporer Was Divine" was a quick read, but very well written. It's about a Japanese family in the interment camps during World War II. It counts toward my diversity reading challenge.

I read the L.J. Smith series when I was younger. I loved them back then. They are still good teen reads but they aren't as well written as some of the books out there now.

I was really disappointed in Natalie Goldberg's book. I had been wanting to read it for a long time now. I enjoyed some of the section about hedr father, but I really think that she made too big of a deal about some of the things that happened with her teacher. The fact that she felt the need to tell everyone she could about his human failure seemed a little unnecessary to me.

"Life After God" isn't Douglas Coupland's normal witty book. It is a series of short stories about spirituality. Another quick read but some of it was hard for me to get thru.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Books Completed From Last Week

Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs 320 pages

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 305 pages

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk 293 pages

This Weeks Reading List

Coraline by Neil Gaimon

Final Journeys: A Practical Guide for Bringing Care and Comfort at the End of Life by Maggie Callanan

Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan

Up Next

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

New Classes

I started my first Connection class on Tuesday night. The class is title "AIDs: The Modern Plague" and so far I find it fascinating. There are two instructors, both of which are fun and a little off the wall. One teaches psychology and the other teaches socialogy, human sexuality and anthropology. The class lasts for five weeks. At the begining of class they will put a question on the board called a "quick write" which serves as their way of taking attendance. We have to keep a journal and give an oral presentation at the end of class. The first night we watched a video from back in the 80's when the AID's epidemic first was heard off. Our quick write question was "When and where did you first hear about the AID's virus". For our journal we are supposed to put ourselves back into that time frame. Prentend we are just now learning about AIDs. That we aren't as enlightened as we are now. I really can't wait for next weeks class. I'd love to be able to take more classes with these professors.

Tonight I start my second Connection class, "End of Life Issues". I hope that it is as interesting as my Tuesday class.

Stayed Tuned!

Between now and next Wednesday stay tuned for the follow:

1. Eden Fantasys review.

2. Savor Soap review.

3. Introduction to the Biographer's Club.

4. Craft updates.

5. Several book reviews.

This Weeks Reading Pile

This week I'd like to finish the following books:








This layout isn't exactly what I had in mind, but I can't get the plain image links to work.

Wordless Wednesday

Prehistoric Squirrel at the Smithsonian Museum