After I received the note from Jayne asking everyone to try to pitch in at least a few books to the challenge, my participatory bone was jiggled, and since I'd just finished a revision and wasn't planning to work on my new book until today, I had time to grab up my ten books.
I wandered through the house with my ten lovelies in my arms. My fifteen year old son glanced up at me as I floated through the kitchen. He was studying at the table with his study buddy, but cast an eye over the biblio-haul in my hands. "Mmm, Giada," he said, noting that I held a Giada de Laurentiis cookbook.
I continued on to the den on the way to my office. From his king chair (what we call the leather recliner and not to be confused with a throne), my husband says, with that note of dread only a man who's married to a book lover can understand, "Honey, what are you doing?"
"Participating," I said, bypassing him quickly before he could ask me if the blankets and towels wil ever be put back in the linen cabinets instead of the several hundred books that reside there now. For years the linen closet has been a makeshift stack behind our bedroom door as my published treasures lie in neat, alphabetically-ordered stacks in the real linen closet.
Safely in my office, I looked through what I had read in the past few weeks. The bible, some Joel Osteen, Giada's marvy cookbook, a little Crusie for while the turkey's roasting, a few insp, hists, a few cozy mysteries--and then it hit me: I am pretty boring! My book choices lean to tried-and-true favorites that I read over and over again, and those I read in years past and then keep re-reading. So I pulled up my account info at Amazon and ehar to see what I'd purchased lately, that perhaps deserved a second run through the house.
I found the Wendy Roberts, which I loved, and several other goodies that were hidden under stacks that I can do reviews on--it's sort of an existential cleaning/reminder service of all the wonderful things one can choose to read when they don't get covered up by kids' tennis bags or financial papers.
Of course then I found my hidden stack of old Temptations, and my secreted best-loved historicals squirreled away in Tim's antique, brought-from-England, marble-topped foyer table--lovely Phillipa Carrs and Victoria Holts, etc. I felt like murmuring "Preciousssssss" over and over again--a very Frodo Baggins moment!
One day, Tim's going to open that cabinet . . . but the kids already know that is Mommy's Don't Touch! cache of books. 
No matter how much they love reading about the Tudors and the Plantagenets.
It's okay to be boring!
:) I'm boring, too. And so are many others around here, so you're in good company. As a matter of fact, I should be even more boring than ever this year as I have vowed to buy or borrow very few books. I counted my tbr (and just the print tbr, not the ebooks in my dh's PDA) and if I don't borrow or buy any new books, it will take me about 2 years to get through it. Of course, there are some authors whose books I must buy no matter what (authors whose titles and back cover blurbs don't even get read -- all I need to do is click on the "add to cart" button). Some of my auto-buy authors have been shifted to "auto-consider" which means that I do actually have to read the back blurb and any excerpts before I can buy it. sigh. I've done really well . . . but I still have a chest of drawers full of my tbr. Actually, at this very moment it's not full as company is coming so I had to unload it and move the tbr to my own bedroom.
Back to the being boring b/c you keep reading your tried and trues. Lorie will have mini-challenges every month. This month is "new to you" so if you want to play (obviously I can't this month, so I'm just reading and reviewing), you try to read new authors or new imprints. We don't know if she's going to have something tied to the RITA finalists that will go on for more than a month but whether she does or doesn't, others of us will do our own informal of seeing how many of the finalists we can get read before they're announced on Aug 2. Sometimes the mini-challenges are just fun things that don't get you out of your tried and true area. Last year or the year before, we had a spring mini-challenge (in one of the spring months) and every time one of your books mentioned something spring-like, you noted it. Those are all for fun, so don't feel pressured to do the mini-challenges. But if they appeal to you, by all means, do. Or, you can do your own. Since you mostly missed "new to you", you could do it in April.
Anyway, welcome to the party!!
Penn
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
Come find my teammates and me at The DFWPlus Blog!
Hi, Penn!
Hi, Penn! Nice to meet you!
Two things I notice right off the bat about you (besides the fact that you're friendly), is that you can put the covers with your reviews (smart girl--I pride myself on being such a nerd yet I can't quite conquer the internet stuff), and second, you're a member of a thing called DFWPlus. Are you from the DFW area?
Yes, books are a must. They were from the time I was a girl. I didn't want to tell anyone on here that practically every day I go back and read a snippet or two from Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. I seem to collect books like static--they just fly to me and stick in my house! My grandmother was the same way.
Ah, but it's a lovely vice, and I have such respect for people who can wordsmith and make such wonderful stories--just can't throw them away unless forced!
Hi Tina. It seems odd to
Hi Tina. It seems odd to see you post in black. I was used to you in pink.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
Hey Tina - welcome to the challenge
Jayne is actually looking for people to give me a run for my money
and bump up the totals while you're trying 
So
)
how long will it take you to catch up with me? (I'm running between
five and ten books behind on my blogging depending on the time of day I
post
Hi
Penni, I'm looking forward to coming and you NOT clearing out the spare
room before I get there, that way I can read them as they're moving out
to your room LOL - if you consider that when I'm on holiday I can read
between six and nine books a day, how long would I need to stay?
Hi FF - is that list ready yet?
Hugs
Sadhbh
May's Member of the Month
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
PS I've sent you a request to accept me as a friend
check out your pending buddy requests (you can refuse the request if
)
you don't want me as a friend, I promise not to flood you out with
tears, I'll just use it as an excuse to read another book
Hugs
Sadhbh
May's Member of the Month
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
Hello, friends!
Fake Frenchie, hello, girl--great to see you again!! Pink? Can I do this in pink? Earlier I was puzzling over these cute little buttons that say things like DIGG and DELICIOUS--I dare not touch them (although they sound like fun!), but pink? Can I do pink here?
I think Penn asked if Jayne and I are true sisters. In fact, we are! We are actually twins. We were separated at birth, and she, the not-as-adorable-and-intelligent baby, was shipped away, whilst I was kept . . . oh, boy, my sister is going to thrash me for such "sisterly" behavior!! It's the writer in me, can you tell?? We are in fact not blood sisters, though I love her dearly and have had Jayne to my humble abode several years ago. In fact, I just threw away the silk pantsuits she once admired--gave me quite the pang, I can tell you, but I no longer fit into size 4's.
I am now a size 8, so you can tell it has been many years since I've seen my sister.
Hi, Sadhbh! I am new to the challenge and cannot keep up with anyone, but must take baby steps to get my ten in . . . in fact, I am a book magnet and will be so slow that Jayne will know that she has truly invited the caboose to participate. Yet it is the slow and steady tortoise who sometimes wins the race--maybe!
I am on a deadline and so must remind myself that I can't start thinking about all these lovely books . . . it must be a treat when I finish. Does anyone else get the best feeling in the world when they walk into a Barnes and Noble? We have a Starbucks in ours (maybe they all do), and between books and hot cocoa, I could LIVE in there! Oh, oh, and another great book thing I've taken advantage of over the years is ehar's little bill-me-later--so nice for that quick purchase--although then I'm racked with guilt and must send my check in as soon as I get my "fix" in the mail because I'm afraid ehar will cut me off! The last ones I bought through ehar were The Briton and Homespun Bride, and I'm anxious to read them. They make it too easy!
And Walmart is great for hardbacks. I have to push my cart very fast past the books in the grocery store because those books I can't seem to keep the receipts organized for, for my tax deductions.
But as for keeping up with you--as much as I would love to do that--I must give you the crown. My family would revolt and my editor would cry if I spent as much time reading as I want to . . . sweetly neglecting my duties while I lose myself in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE for the hundredth time . . . someone mentioned Anne Of Green Gables . . . ahhhhhh.
Off to Whole Foods for now--I must get something tasty and organic for the boys. My daughter is off at college, and so I only have menfolk to feed, but they sure do like to come home and smell something cooking on the stove (and me reading a book, telling them to order a pizza, does not qualify). *giggle*
Hey Tina - don't worry about "beating" me (very magnanimous
of me seeing as I'm about to blog my 210th book this year
) - I'm glad you've joined as I'm in it for the book recommendations
When you read as fast as I do, you need a LOT of book recommendations
The
important thing is not the number of books you read, it's that you
enjoyed them and that your blog communicates that enjoyment to get
other people reading
Maybe there should be a special
acknowledgement of just managing to keep up with my blog, because
that's probably the equivalent of reading three books at least for the
year
Hugs
Sadhbh
May's Member of the Month
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
Oh, Oh, Sadhbh!
p.s. I will share a story about keeping up with bibliophiles tomorrow which may amuse you--some people on the boards probably already know it, but I do love to tell it!
I am the tortoise . . . and sort of a frenetic one at that . . .
Hey again Tina - good luck with the deadline
I do my cooking once or twice a month and freeze (I have two massive
Le Creuset casserole dishes), so I can cook up to three dishes at the
same time, and then just defrost one of each once a week
Then
once every ten days or so we have chips (I think you call them fries),
another once every ten days I get Chinese takeaway or pizza and then I
start over. I keep mixed veg in the freezer to save on preparation time
and wash the previous day's dishes while I make the dinner to save on
time.
Hey what can I say, I'm a readaholic
if I didn't get organized I'd never have time for my kids
Hugs
Sadhbh
May's Member of the Month
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
hi Tina
It's great Jayne is getting the word out there and it's great to interact with all you wonderful authors. I saw one author put the anouncement calling for readers on her blog. It's like that commercial "and they told two friends and so on and so on..."
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Challenge Blog
My Shelfari Page
Tina asked/said,
"Two things I notice right off the bat about you (besides the fact that
you're friendly), is that you can put the covers with your reviews
(smart girl--I pride myself on being such a nerd yet I can't quite
conquer the internet stuff), and second, you're a member of a thing
called DFWPlus. Are you from the DFW area?"
I can put the covers on b/c KatherineT of the Quiet Canadians taught me. She had several blog entries on how to do different things. Not only did she teach me how to add pics, she also taught me how to control the preview window. So, I've been trying to write short reviews that flow along next to the pic of the book and stop at the same point. Sometimes, though, I just have too much to say and it goes on . . .Oh! and KatherineT also taught me how to do that link to my team's blog! She's great!
I LIVE in the DFW area but I am FROM Colorado. I like it here but will never be a Southerner. I do say, "y'all" and "all y'all" and "both y'all". My dh makes fun of me b/c when I'm talking to our kids, I speak both English and French (I'm not French but it's the only language that I speak well enough to teach my kids) and since moving here I translate the plural "vous" into the y'all. So I might say, "Que'est-ce que vous faites? What are y'all doing?" or "Je parle a vous deux! (or vous tous!) Hey, I'm talkin' to both y'all! (or all y'all!)" He just thinks it's funny to listen to. Translatin' French into Texan. But the big Southern thing I forget to do? Have iced tea on hand. I ALWAYS forget when company's coming that I need to make iced tea! So people will know from not only my accent but also my lack of iced tea that I am not from anywhere in the US South.
I miss the mountains and I miss PLAYING in the snow but I do NOT miss DRIVING in the snow one bit. Was reminded of that last month when I was at my sister's. It's 80F/27C here today but still snowing at my sister's. Of course, when it's 100F/38C, I'll hope to be at my sister's. Although, some years it will still be snowing. I've been snowed on every month of the year . . . (not in TX! In the US Rockies! well, even once in Denver I remember being at an outdoor concert on the 4th of July and it snowed on us).
Penn, who must go work instead of playing with y'all here :)
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
Come find my teammates and me at The DFWPlus Blog!
Hi, Christa! And other friends!
So another DFW girl--how cool! I love iced tea though these days I'm drinking it without sugar. Rats! We used to have quite the thing in my house for SWEEEET tea. But I'm weaning kids/hubbie/self off sugar.
I'm sure you've met the other wonderful Candadians on here . . . Sapph, Cryna, Jayne, know I'm leaving many out . . .
Christa, nice to meet you! Yes, Jayne is quite good about reaching out to get those of us who are not usually around much more involved.
Sadhbh, I was going to tell you that when my husband and I were in the first grade (yes, yes, I know, sounds so Brady Bunch or something), there was a reading contest that lasted all year. I read and read and read because I wanted so badly to win. We had to keep lists, etc., and then turn them in. On turn-in day, much to my dismay, I discovered that Tim had beaten me by one book!!!! Amazed (because I had worked really hard at this and thought surely I would win)! I asked him how he'd read so many. Airily he said, "Oh, I didn't read them. I just TURNED the pages."
So I think it's quite fitting that he married me and now has to put up with me not only being a writer but having stacks and stacks of books hidden in every closet. And do you know that I have never seen him read a book in all the nearly twenty years we've been married???
Lol. I tease him about that all the time.
Great story about your
Great story about your husband. Gave me a good chuckle.
Cady
TBR--The Born Readers
Hi, Cady!
Hi, girl! The best part is how Tim was such a reading advocate for his kids . . . I mean, he would GROAN when I took the kids in to B&N or whatever for the lastest Cliffords or Magic School bus, but he got up in bed with them at night and read to them! He may never crack the spine of a book, but he sure feels reading is important.
So turning those pages must have been a good experience. 
Tina - tell your DH that even he couldn't beat me, if he just
turned the pages while I read the books, because he'd get fed up long before I would
Penni - that's perfectly good use of French, so I'm not sure I'd all the "y'all"s if I were to translate you
Not that I translate when I'm not at work, but you know what I mean
Hugs
Sadhbh
May's Member of the Month
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs