Burn by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

 

        I live in a 2 family house and our upstairs neighbor, a woman in her 60/70s will occasionally send me the books she finishes. This is how I've gotten most of my James Patterson books (and perhaps how she reads anything by anyone other than James Patterson..lol). This is part of the Michael Bennett series.I enjoyed this one a lot. I don't think I've read any of the previous Michael Bennett books, but I might go find some after reading this. The story lines were simple and there was a lot of humor in the dialogue. There was some violence, but compared to other books that I have read the violence was not super descriptive or gratuitous.

    I've mentioned before that I really like how short Patterson's chapters are because I can devote a few minutes to reading- or, like today, a bunch of hours while I'm hiding from the heat outside. Seriously, I hid inside all day. At lunch time I decided that I would treat the boys to Panera just to get out of the house. However, when I got back in my car after Panera:

 

Gross. I was not designed to live in hot, humid weather. So, we went back home and hid from the sun read a lot. 

      Next up is an advanced reader copy that is set in the Victorian Era. I'm happy to be catching up on my reading challenges:

Goodreads: 24/60

Mount TBR 14/36

Keyword Reading 7/12 

    Now I just need to catch up with cleaning and writing. :/

Reading Challenges update- May

Keyword Reading Challenge: 5/12

I don't know how I never read this classic in my adolescence.  It was written in 1959.  It was a nice story about a 12 year old boy, Sam Gribley,  who leaves home to live in the wilderness- and actually does for months. He hollows out an old tree and builds himself a nice dwelling. He trains a falcon named Frightful and meets a few other friends in his adventures. I am looking forward to sharing this book with my 10 year old. I'm wondering what other classics I've missed

Mount TBR- Mt. Vancouver-  9/36

The last book I read for this is the same book for the keyword reading challenge. I'd like to say that my NetGalley experiences are slowing down my Mount TBR challenge, but I'm really happy to be reading all kinds of advanced reader copies, so I'll live. (My last one was Tiny Infinities by J.H. Diehl) 25% there!

Goodreads 14/60 

   I'm not going to lie guys, 2018 is kicking my butt. Personally and professionally I have had a bad year. (Remember how I said I'd miss last year's 8th graders? I was right. Seeing those kids constantly reminded me of why I teach. I think I have received one genuine thank you all year... and a whole lot of negative things.)  This has been almost half a year of getting up, putting one foot in front of the other, aiming for the end of the day and repeating. Today was my first "day off" from having things to do since mid-November. (And that's only because both boys had their baseball games canceled.) I did go out to eat with my family, but that was something I was really looking forward to.  I could really use a weekend away- or something nice and unexpected. I would like to catch up on letters and reading but my mind has been racing too much for a lot of either.

Reading Challenges 2018

     I finished all of my reading goals in 2017! Unfortunately, I got absolutely no input on my reading challenges for 2018. So, I'm playing it safe and just going with what I enjoyed. I have other goals for myself in 2018 but might take it month by month instead of making crazy year long lists for myself. Here are the 3 reading challenges I would like to complete in 2018.

Mount TBR Challenge:


   Last year, I challenged myself to get to the top of Mount Blanc- reading 24 books from my TBR pile. This year I will attempt to climb Vancouver, which has 36 books.

The Monthly Keyword Challenge:

   You may remember that I attempted this challenge last year, but the person who hosted the challenge gave up her blog. (Thank Claudia for all the hard work you did if you are reading this.) Luckily, Bev at My Reader's Block decided to host this challenge this year. So, I'm in again. Here's the list of words I have to work around.
 
You'd be surprised how difficult this is sometimes, especially if I'm trying to pick from my TBR pile.

I'm upping my Goodreads challenge by 10 books this year. So, in 2018, I'd like to read a minimum of 60 books. I would also love to make some new friends on Goodreads, so if you are a member and would like to meet some new people, send me a message and I will add you as a friend.

   How did you do on your 2017 goals? Do you have any books that you've recently read that you are excited about? How about any book releases coming up that you can't wait for?