Callapidder Days

Thanks to everyone who has submitted a wrap-up post for Spring Reading Thing 2008! I’m working my way through them, visiting all of you to see how the challenge went.

The winner of the $10 Amazon.com certificate is:

Congratulations, Shauna!

Summer heat has been slipping into our days for a while now, and Summer officially makes its entrance tomorrow. Which means, of course, that Spring Reading Thing 2008 has come to an end. I want to thank all of those who participated. We ended up with 226 participants — a great turn-out! Thanks for your enthusiasm about books, for spreading the word, and for reading along with me this spring.

I’d love to hear how the challenge went for each of you. I hope you’ll take the time to write a wrap-up post and link to it using the Mr. Linky below.

Feel free to work from the questions I listed in this post, or just write about your experiences, thoughts, and results in any way you please. Once your post is up, come back here and sign up on the Mr. Linky below. Don’t forget — include the URL to your wrap-up post, not just your general blog web address, to make it easy for people to find your post.

Also, if you have any final book reviews you’d like to post, I’ll leave the Mr. Linky on the Spring Reading Thing 2008 Reviews post up for a few more days. (As I write this, there are 473 reviews posted — wow! What a great resource, especially if you’re looking for the next book to read.)

And…there’s still a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate up for grabs. To be eligible, please post your wrap-up post (and put it on the Mr. Linky) by midnight EST on June 24th to get your name in the drawing.

Oh – one more thing. Let me know, either in your post or in a comment here, if you’re interested in another Fall Into Reading Challenge when September rolls around.

Thanks again to all the participants. I’ve enjoyed reading with you!

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

This spring, I decided to read six nonfiction books and five fiction books. How’d I do? Well…

I finished all the fiction, plus read another book or two. Not surprising. And I finished all but one of the nonfiction, while also fitting in a few nonfiction books for blog tours. I was pretty happy with that result, since nonfiction is always more of a struggle for me.

Once again, I did not write a single review for the books on my list. I think I have to face it: I’m a reviewing failure. I have no excuses.

A few random facts from my spring reading:

• I thoroughly enjoyed Ender’s Game. I don’t read a lot of Science Fiction, but this book appealed to me both as a fiction-lover and, interestingly, as a mom. Since it was about a young boy, I immediately felt protective of the protagonist and was pulled into the plot right along with him. I’m definitely planning on reading more books in the Ender series at some point.
• Nineteen Minutes was absorbing and well-written, but left me utterly depressed.
• I had been curious about The Princess Bride for years. I’m so glad I finally read the book. I enjoyed it. But I think I like the movie better. (Please don’t hate me.)
• Take Joy was a delightful book for writers of all kinds. Inspiring, encouraging, it has a permanent spot on my bookshelf.
• Humility was a great little read. Short and sweet, but full of good stuff. Mahaney offers lots of practical advice on how to deal with pride, and why it’s so important to do so.
• The book that I haven’t finished is The Beautiful Fight by Gary Thomas. I’m about 5 chapters in, and it is a good book. But it’s one of those books that requires much thought and processing on my part, so I’m taking it in bits and pieces.
• 11 books seemed just right for the challenge. I probably read closer to 15, including the various blog tours I did, plus the extra fiction, but it’s good to have that flexibility and a little wiggle room.

Check out how everyone else did with their Spring Reading Thing goals Here.

Okay, I’m not sure how this happened, but Spring Reading Thing 2008 is about to come to a close! I guess the 85-degree weather should have clued me in, but I’ve been so busy adjusting to school being over that I haven’t even thought about the seasons officially changing.

Summer will arrive this Friday, so that means it’s time for us to post about our Spring Reading Thing experiences and results. I’ll put up a Mister Linky on Thursday, June 19th, and I hope many of you will link up with a post about how you did with your readings lists.

Feel free to just share your thoughts, but if you’d like some specific questions to work from, here are a few to get you started:

• Did you finish all the books you had planned to read? If not, why?
• Do you think the challenge helped you read more? Or maybe helped you read books you otherwise wouldn’t have?
• What was your favorite book you read this spring? Least favorite?
• Did you discover any new authors or genres that you now love?
• What did you learn about your reading habits or interests?
• Are you interested in another “Fall Into Reading” challenge this fall?

Come back this Thursday and read all about how everyone did!

Believe it or not, we’re about halfway through spring, which means we’re also about halfway through Spring Reading Thing 2008.

So…inquiring minds want to know:

• How are you doing with your Spring Reading Thing list?
• Have you stuck to the list or changed it up a bit?
• Are you halfway (or more) through your books?

As for me, I am (as predicted) zipping right through my fiction books. I have about one and a half left to go (and, of course, I already have another pile of fiction waiting for me). I’m currently in the middle of Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. It’s good, but it’s also sad, so I’ll be glad to move onto something a bit more light-hearted next (The Princess Bride).

And in the nonfiction department? Well, I’ve read 3.5 of the 6 that I put on my list. But I have also slowed down dramatically. Part of the reason for that is just my usual struggle to finish nonfiction. The other part is that I’ve been doing a number of blog tours for books that weren’t on my list, so I read them instead of reading my SRT books.

I’ll give more details about which books I’ve loved which I slogged through at the end of the challenge, but I just thought it would be nice to check in and see how everyone’s doing. Leave me a comment letting me know how you’re coming along.