a random mix of faith, family, and the many things that fill my mind
The winners of the gift certificates from Spring Reading Thing 2011 are:
$20 gift certificate winner: Lisa notes…
$10 gift certificate winner: Katherine @ KatenRead
Congratulations to both of you!
Hope to see everyone back here in September for Fall Into Reading 2011!
Around our house, we’ve been grilling out, pulling weeds, riding bikes, and visiting our favorite ice cream stores. No doubt about it: Summer is moving in and spring is moving out.
As spring says its final goodbyes for this year, we also have to say goodbye to Spring Reading Thing 2011. I want to thank all of those who participated. We ended up with 127 participants — a great turn-out! Thank you for spreading the word, sharing your love of books, and 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, there are still two Amazon.com gift certificates up for grabs — one for $20 and one for $10. 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. I’ll announce the winners next weekend.
Thanks again to all the participants. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading with you!
Well, even though things looked if-y at times, I actually did it. I completed all the books on my Spring Reading Thing 2011 list! I set aside some time last week to do one final push toward finishing up the final two nonfiction books on my list, and that final push paid off. My list was completed with a couple days to spare.
Here are a few thoughts on the books I read over the course of the last three months:
I was trying to decide which fiction book was my favorite this spring, but I can’t pick one! My list was so varied. I read Anne of Green Gables (completely different from my usual reading style) and loved it; I enjoyed the second clever adventure of Flavia de Luce in The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag (so much so that I’ve picked up the third book in this series, and hope to read it soon); I liked my dip into some middle-grade fiction with The Kneebone Boy; and I found River Rising to be an engaging, if haunting, read.
I’m glad I chose such divergent genres and themes — it made my spring fiction reading fun and never boring.
In the realm of nonfiction, I have to say I got the most out of Practicing Affirmation and The Organized Heart. I read both books on my Kindle, and both books now have tons of underlining and note-taking in them. There was just so much to apply and think about. Good stuff!
I also finished up the two books I was reading with others: Crazy Love and Unpacking Forgiveness. Both books were very good, and were made even better through the process of reading and discussing them with others. I’m learning more and more how much I appreciate the input of good friends as I read through challenging and convicting books. Encouragement, new perspectives, and thoughtful exhortation are just a few of the many benefits!
What do my summer reading plans hold in store for me? I tend to be pretty casual and random when it comes to summer reading — picking up whatever appeals to me at the time. In addition to lunch-time read-alouds with my kids, I’m doing a little book club with my tween (more on that another time), and I’m trying to clear off some shelves of fiction that has been here for a long, long time. That should keep me plenty busy during these next few months.
Not surprisingly, I’ve been completely slacking when it comes to finishing up the last two nonfiction books on my SRT ’11 list. But we have one week left, so I’m not giving up. Let’s finish strong!
I will be posting the official wrap-up post (complete with a Mr. Linky to collect your links) on Tuesday, June 21st. So you can join me in reading right up until midnight on the 20th, and hopefully, we’ll be able to accomplish some of our goals.
I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone did on their personal goals! I hope you will take time to write a post letting us all know how Spring Reading thing 2011 went for you. Once you have your post written and posted on your blog, you can come here next Tuesday and add your link to the Mr. Linky I’ll have ready.
I don’t have any specific requirements for your wrap-up post. Feel free to just ramble about your spring reading experiences — that works for me! (And I admit, I tend to ramble, too.) But if you like a little more structure or direction, here are some questions that can help guide your post. (Remember — these are just suggestions and are optional. You can approach your wrap-up post in whatever way works for you!)
The official wrap-up post and Mr. Linky will go live next Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. EST. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
And don’t forget — you only have a few days left to see if you can finish your Spring Reading Thing books!
I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to believe that it’s May 20th already. 2011 is just flying by!
And the fact that it’s May 20th means we only have one month left in Spring Reading Thing 2011. One month from today, summer will be arriving and SRT ’11 will be ending.
SO…how are you doing? Do you think you’re on track for achieving your SRT goals?
I’ve been pleased with my progress this time around. As of this morning, I only have two books to go (both nonfiction, of course) and I’ve already begun both of them. Because I am a geek, I figured out last night that if I read 12 pages per day, I should finish them both by June 20th. That’s totally doable…as long as I actually follow through!
Let me know how SRT ’11 is gong for you!
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