winter reading challenge!

It's time for the winter installment of the Semi-Charmed Kind of Life Reading Challenge!  There were some very difficult categories this time around!  It took me the better part of the afternoon trying to figure out what to pick!

Here's my preliminary list for the #SCWBC15, which runs from November 1, 2015 to January 31, 2015:

5 points: Read a book that has between 100 and 200 pages.  Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck, 107 pages
10 points: Read a debut book by any author. (The book does not have to be a 2015 debut.)  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson, 465 pages
10 points: Read a book that does not take place in your current country of residence.  The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman, 592 pages (Israel)
10 points: Read a book that someone else has already used for the challenge.  Have to wait for the check-ins before I can pick this one!
15 points: Read a book published under a pseudonym (e.g. Robert Galbraith, Sara Poole, J.D. Robb, Franklin W. Dixon, Mark Twain, etc.).  Out of Africa - Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen), 399 pages
15 points: Read a book with “boy,” “girl,” “man” or “woman” in the title (or the plural of these words).  The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson, 503 pages
15 points: Read a book with a one-word title (e.g. Attachments, Americanah, Uglies, Wild, etc.).  Cinder - Marissa Meyer, 387 pages
20 points: Read a book with a person's first and last name in the title (e.g. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle).  The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - Michelle Hodkin, 452 pages
20 points: Read a food-themed book.   The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, 290 pages
20 points: Read a book with a verb in the title. (For any grammar nerds out there, I mean “verb” in the most general sense, so gerunds count. For non-grammar-inclined people, just use any book that appears to have a verb in the title!)  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson, 563 pages
30 points: Read two books with the same title (by different authors).  The Piano Teacher - Janice Y.K. Lee, 368 pages & The Piano Teacher - Elfriede Jelinek, 288 pages
30 points: Read a nonfiction book and a fiction book about the same subject (e.g. a biography and historical fiction novel about the same person; two books about a specific war or event; a nonfiction book about autism and a novel with a character who has autism, etc. The possibilities are endless!).  The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory, 518 pages (Fiction) & The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Alison Weir, 656 pages (Nonfiction) 

I believe that I must be crazy...  All but three of my books for this challenge are OVER 300 pages!  And if my calculations are correct (if I read these books here, and not including the one I have yet to pick), I'll have read 5,588+ pages by January 31, 2016!  I think I have lost my mind!  But I am extremely excited!  A lot of these have been on my TBR list for a long time, and I get to check a couple off the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge too!

Also, I'm not sure if I picked a good book for the food-themed book category, but I guess we'll see.  I have another one in mind if I need to change it.  

Wanna join in?  Click the button below to find out the challenge rules!  Happy reading!

The Girl on the Train.

On Monday, I finished The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.  I had heard mixed reviews, and actually the cashier at the local Books-A-Million said that people either loved it or hated it...  I supposed that I would be in the latter group...

Reading The Girl on the Train in my new Ravenclaw lounge pants.
Definite nerd, right here...

But I wasn't.  I loved it.  Maybe it's because I adore psychological thrillers where I'm kept guessing who the culprit is right up to the reveal.  Maybe.

A Lesson in Obedience.

On Saturday, I finished reading Ella Enchanted (my first book for the summer reading challenge).  30 points already!  Wooooo!

My copy of Ella Enchanted!

In the Merry Month of May.

Oh goodness... I'm so excited for tomorrow!  May is just my favorite month out of the year!  It's my birthday month, so there may be a little bias here, but it's so much more than that.  May just seems to be the perfect month.  The weather is bordering on spring and summer.  Flowers and trees are in full bloom.  School ends during May (normally, that is), and how could someone not love a month that begins your summer vacation?!

Of course, the days of a three-month long summer vacation are behind me, and I don't get to enjoy all of the amazing weather that May has to offer because I'm sitting behind my desk at work for the better part of the day.  But it's still my favorite...

So in honor of my favorite month, my birthday month, I'm going to do things for me.  Things that I enjoy.  And I'm going to start with reading.  I'm joining the Semi-Charmed Summer 2015 Book Challenge, and it just so happens to start on May 1st!  I've posted the challenge and my selections here, if you'd like to check them out.

Book Challenge!

I think I'm wayyy too excited to join this book challenge for the summer.  2015 has been the year of reading more books, and I'm extremely ready for this challenge: Semi-Charmed Summer 2015 Book Challenge!  It will be my first time participating, and my personal goal is just to finish in time.