Apr 21, 2018

#Goodreads 10 Books Read in 2017 Reading Challenge


2017: Still unemployed without a permanent teaching position. I'm still subbing schools and treated terribly by either the kids or the adults in the building. Still anxiously waiting to become a full-time teachers now in 2018. Links go to either review of the book or a list the book is in.

 American Gods by Neil Gaiman 
 First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
 The Voyage of the Basilisks by Marie Brennan
 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
 Nightblade by Garrett Robinson 
 Day Shift by Charlaine Harris
 Rituals by Kelley Armstrong
 Herophobia by Alex Lane
Boundary Born by Melissa F. Olson

Apr 20, 2018

#Goodreads 20 Books Read in 2016 Reading Challenge

2016 the year that ends my time in college. I had a lot of time to read that year, too. I've taken most of my classes so I'm just waiting for graduation.  Links go to the reviews I've written.


  1. Too Many Frogs!  Sandy Asher
  2. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
  3. Kindred by Octavia E Butler
  4. The Summoning  by Kelley Armstrong (re-read)
  5. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
  6. The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
  7. The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong (re-read)
  8. The Gathering Kelley Armstrong
  9. The Calling      "                       "
  10. The Rising       "                        "
  11. Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran
  12. Omens by Kelley Armstrong
  13. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A Kimmel
  14. Visions by Kelley Armstrong
  15. Deceptions "                        "
  16. The Tropics of Serpents by Marie Brennan
  17. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
  18. The Orange Cat by Kelley Armstrong
  19. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
  20. Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong

Apr 19, 2018

#Goodreads 8 Books Read in 2015 Reading Challenge


I read far less than what I did in 2014 . My goal for 2015 was five books but ended up reading eight. Shocking, I know. This was my first full year in teaching college there wasn't any time.

Most of the books in this year were kid literature for my history class. Links go to the reviews I've written about them.















Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf


Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale by Deborah Hopkinson


The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen


Apr 18, 2018

#Goodreads 113 Books Read in 2014 Reading Challenge

I read 113 books in the year of 2014. I'm not a person with a lot of time on my hand this year. The majority of the books I read this year was because of one of my college classes. The focus was reading and elementary kids. It was the year I learned that there are a lot of people becoming teachers who hate reading.

Books I read for College Class:

  1. Sleep Like A Tiger
  2. I love You, Mommy
  3. A Sick Day for Amos McGee
  4. Cupcake
  5. Kitten's First Full Moon
  6. Tuesday
  7. What I do with Vegetable Glue
  8. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
  9. Jay Leno: If Roast Beef Could Fly
  10. Igor the Terrible: Don't Dare Push My Tummy
  11. Journey
  12. Amelia Bedelia
  13. No, David!
  14. Yellow Elephant
  15. Necks Out For Adventure 
  16. Froggy Gets Dressed
  17. Voices in the Park
  18. Tracking Your Nightmare
  19. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
  20. Frog and Toad Are Friends
  21. Dragon of the Red Dawn 
  22. Revolutionary War on Wednesday
  23. Lincoln: A Photobiography
  24. Miss Daisy is Crazy!
  25. Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth? 
  26. Zombie Blondes
  27. Sadie Rose and the Daring Escape
  28. Are You My Mother?
  29. Dragon's Egg
  30. Catherine, Called Birdy
  31. The Wednesday Wars
  32. Jellyfish
  33. Earthworms
  34. Button Up@!: Wrinkled Rhymes
  35. How Do Flies Walk Upside Down?: Questions and Answers about Insects
  36. My Hippo Has the Hiccups with CD: And Other Poems I Totally Made Up 
  37. The Night Before Christmas
  38. Sports Cars 
  39. More Bears!
  40. Something Fishy
  41. Stone Soup
  42. The Lion and the Mouse
  43. Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China
  44. And Then There Were Eight: Poems about Space
  45. Cinders
  46. How the World Was Made: A Cherokee Creation Myth
  47. The Jacket
  48. Coyote, Iktome, and the Rock: A Sioux Trickster Myth
  49. How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?
  50. My Brother Sammy
  51. The Gardener
  52. Ramona's World
  53. Junie B Jones is (Almost) a Flower Girl
  54. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
  55. The Cricket in Time Square
  56. If I Had A Car
  57. Surprise Kick
  58. Can I Play Too?
  59. Olvier Button is a Sissy
  60. The Horror of Camp Jellyjam
  61. Death Maul's Mission
  62. Dinosaur Roar!
  63. Attack of the Ninja Frogs
  64. The Greedy Triangle
  65. Children's Literature, Briefly
  66. Volcanoes!
  67. Devastated by a Volcano!
  68. James and the Giant Peach
  69. Jacob's New Dress
  70. Dragon's Fat Cat
  71. The Monster in the Backpack
  72. Dragon's Love Tacos
  73. A Pair of Protoceratops
  74. Without You
  75. Johnny Tremain
  76. Turkey Trouble
  77. Green Eggs and Ham
  78. That is Not A Good Idea!
  79. Cat's Pajamas
  80. The Spiky Stegosaurus
  81. The Lightning Thief
  82. A Tale of Two Squirrels
  83. Amazing Caterpillars 
  84. Olivia Goes to Venice
  85. There's A Wocket in my Pocket
  86. Zora!
  87. Terrible, Awful, Horrible Manners!
  88. The Cat and Mouse Who Shared a House


Literature Class Reads:


  1. The Metamorphosis
  2.  Madame Bovary 
  3. Lysistrata
  4. Oedipus Rex
  5. The Death of Ivan Illych

The Other Books I read:
  1. Requiem and Poem without a Hero
  2. Fahrenheit 451
  3. Lost Lake
  4.  Gun, With Occasional Music
  5. Frankenstein
  6. Sugar Queen
  7. The Peach Keeper
  8. Garden Spells
  9. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
  10. Brave New World
  11. I Am Legend
  12. Great Expectations
  13. Anthem
  14. Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
  15. All My Friends are Dead
  16. To Kill A Warlock
  17. B is For Bad Poetry
  18. The Mind Readers


I'm missing three books. Ah well. The links go the reviews I've written about them or a list that lists the books. 








































Apr 17, 2018

#Goodreads 5 Books Read in 2013 Reading Challenge


Yes, the 2013 sign with a piggy is appropriate for this.

In 2013 I didn't complete my reading challenge of reading 10 books that year. I have no idea what went on that year. I was in college so I can only assume the school year I was swamped with required reading, homework and wishing for death.

5 Books I read in 2013:



The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling -- no wizarding worlds just plain life and the shitty people in them. It took me April, 2013 until December 30, 2013 to finish this.

It's a great read if you need to read something that is disturbing and depressing about a small town. It was hard to get into but it is interestingly enough to read.



Thirst by Claire Farrell about Ava Delaney who is a hybrid of human and vampire. This is a quick read with a few problems in story line / plot. But it's amusing enough.






The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Teenagers with cancer fall in love and things happen along the way. I read this because we were going to watch the movie. I prefer the movie over the book.






Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead. I started this because I fell in love with the Vampire Academy books. I didn't like this and haven't tried anything else by her since.







Gandhi by Amy Pastan. Read this for my in2books.com penpal program. Now apparently called Crickettogether 










Apr 16, 2018

#Goodreads 19 Books Read in 2012 Reading Challenge


Goodreads 2012 challenge goal was to read 50 books. I managed to read 19 of the 50. 2012 is the year my chronic illness started to blossom and suck out all the fun of life. I have been struggling prior to 2012 but this was the year I was starting to slowly get treatment and...fighting with doctors.



I started reading this book in 2011 but finished it in 2012. This book is called Demon Girl by Penelope Fletcher when I read it. But it's changed its identity and life... it's now called Glamour. Name change or not I don't remember this book at all. It honestly tripped me out when I first clicked Amazon and to find that it didn't exist anymore. I was, DID I IMAGINE THIS? I mean, IT IS on Goodreads but doesn't exist?



Who Was Albert Einstein? by Jess M. Brallier. I read this for my penpal program called in2books.com. Enjoyable read.







Narrative of the Life of Federick Douglass by Frederick Dougless. I'm fairly certain that I read this for a class.









The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.









One For the Money by Janet Evanovich. I think this is also a movie, too? I liked both of these. I never finished this series though. Believe I just read the first book.









Graceling by Kristin Cashore ...had the displeasure of being compared to The Hunger Games. Why? The main character's name is Katsa and her love interest is Po. Katniss/Peeta.

I enjoyed the concepts and what was attempted through this. I even gave it a higher rating than needed due to this. It's mostly hated because of the premarital sex and feminist ideas addressed in this story.

Which they should have been angry at the pacing and the wasted potential given to us in this story.


Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction by Lawrence Boadt. This was a textbook I had for my Old Testament class in college. The joys of being in a conservative state and having this class. Other students struggled with talking about the Bible in historical context and not religious.

But honestly...really good read if it's an interest to you.




The Empty Pot by Demi. A book I read through the penpal program in2books.com









Hungry Plants by Mary Batten. Another in2books.com book.







A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgress. It is a nightmare. But what I loved was how easy it was to adjust to the writing and know what was going on.








Caught in Crystal by Patricia C. Wrede loved that the story was about a mother with her children.








The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. This book gave me nightmares as a kid and I hated it. I re-read it as an adult and loved it.







The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I enjoyed this story when I first read it and again as a manga.








Divergent by Veronica Roth. My aunt warned me about this book yet.. I still went and read the damn thing.









Toys Go Out:  by Emily Jenkins ... I don't remember this but I did keep track of my progress through it on Goodreads.







Ice by Linda Howards a romance set in a winter setting with drama.










Well of Darkness by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. Slow pace but I enjoyed this.





Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield. This gets knocked for the purple prose BUT IT FEELS SO RIGHT IN THIS BOOK.








Different Seasons by Stephen King. This was the semester that I had to drop my classes. I got through a lot of the classes. This was one of the assigned readings for it. AH!







I survived.. you survived..we made it through the list of books I read in 2012. Have you read any of the above? What did you think of them?