The Oh-My-Word... Readathon: Final Tally

The readathon is over! It was so much fun, and I'm glad I participated.

Total Books Read: 3

• Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini
• The Coming of the Dragon, by Rebecca Barnhouse
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor

Although the number of books finished wasn't too high this time around, I think it was the perfect amount of reading for right now. I read the second half of Inheritance, the last two-thirds of The Coming of the Dragon, and all of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I also made significant progress in but did not finish Tales of Grimm and Andersen. I spent a lot of time reading, but I never felt like I was overwhelmed by too much reading (yes, there is such a thing). After I finished Smoke and Bone I had a couple of hours left before the readathon ended, but I didn't pick anything else up because it was a wonderful book to end the year with.

See you in 2012,

The Oh-My-Word... Readathon!

The readathon has officially begun! Somehow, life tends to get in the way of reading on the specific dates that readathons are scheduled for, but I'll at least keep a book on hand throughout the next two days.

I will probably not be updating my progress much, but I will have a final tally up on January 1st.

What I want to finish:
I have several books that I have gotten about halfway through and that I'd like to finish in the next day or so, or at least make significant progress on:

• Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini
• The Coming of the Dragon, by Rebecca Barnhouse
• Tales of Grimm and Andersen, by The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen

I don't have many goals beyond that, as I can tell those three will be quite a bit of reading on their own, but I have a ton of books stacked up by my bed (my regular TBR shelf  and  the temporarily commandeered "helper shelf" are both full and have additional books stacked on top of them) that I would love to begin, including but not limited to:

• Shatter Me, by Tareh Mafi
• The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell
• Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
• Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver
• Well Witched, by Frances Hardinge
• Spindle's End, by Robin McKinley
• Wither, by Lauren DeStephano
• Birthmarked, by Caragh O'Brien

And as if those and several large handfuls more were not enough (because you can never have too much with books), I have a few by my bed that I've been itching to reread for a while now:

• Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale
• River Secrets, by Shannon Hale
• Forest Born, by Shannon Hale
• Dragon Flight, by Jessica Day George
• Dragon Spear, by Jessica Day George
• East, by Edith Pattou

I have no intention of getting through these lists, but they're much of my selection. And the books that I don't get to now will be the one's I'll be reading in the next few weeks, or more likely, months.

Are you participating in the Oh-My-Word... Readathon? Have you read any of the books above? What should I read first? Let me know in the comments!

Mini-Review: Dealing With Dragons

by Patricia C. Wrede
Age Recommendation: 8-10 (but fun for everyone)
Mass Market Paperback, 212 pages
     and Audiobook, 5 dics
Published July 1st 1992 by Scholastic Inc. (first published September 18th 1990)
Series: Book 1 of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Summary (from Goodreads):
"I want to do things. . . ."

Take one bored princess. Make her the seventh daughter in a very proper royal family. Have her run away.

Add one powerful, fascinating, dangerous dragon.

Princess Cimorene has never met anyone (or anything) like the dragon Kazul. But then, she's never met a witch, a jinn, a death-dealing talking bird, or a stone prince either.

Princess Cimorene ran away to find some excitement.

She's found plenty.

My Mini-Review:
Dealing With Dragons was a ton of fun. In a time of rash and impulsive YA protagonists, I loved this book about practical, no-nonsense princess Cimorene. I listened to the audiobook version, and although some of the voices were a little bit silly, overall it was a wonderful audiobook. The story is simple and fun, nothing too complex, yet it is a wonderfully magical and delightfully innocent tale that is simply a pleasure to listen to. I can still hear the voices of Cimorene, Kazul, Therendil (her hopelessly boring fiancé), and Alianora (her best friend, princess of the dragon Woraug as I think back on the story. This was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, and I will definitely keep it in mind when I come looking for a good book to listen to again.

I'm back, and ready to blog!

Hello, hello! I'm back from my unexpected blogging break, and fully recharged. I hope you all had a wonderful (insert holiday of your choice here), and are enjoying the last few days of 2011.

I've had a great few weeks in terms of reading. Since I went on break, some highlights were: The Circle Opens (series) & The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (still in the middle of this one, but I like it so far!), So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld, and Legend by Marie Lu. All were great. I also got a bunch of books as gifts (and bought a few for myself) that I am so excited about and cannot wait to begin. Thank you, bookish gift-givers!

In a few days, I will be participating in the Squeaky-Books-hosted oh-my-word-the-year-is-over-and-I-haven't-reached-my-goal read-a-thon, which takes place on December 30th and 31st. I have actually met my goal of 200 books in 2011 (yay!!) but I'd love to get a few more in before the year ends. I have huge stack of library books that I can't wait to open up, not to mention all the wonderful books I received in the past few weeks. The picture to the left links to Squeaky Books for more information and sign-ups.

One last thing: I saw this video today on Victoria Schwab's (amazing author of The Near Witch) blog, and I'd love to share it. Videos like this make my day. Hurray for YA authors doing fun things!

Happy post-holidays relaxing!

A Quick Update

Hello, readers.
I just wanted to let you all know why I haven't been posting on Pica Reads nearly as much as I would have liked recently. In September and even October, I had time to write posts for at least an hour a night. In November, my workload increased significantly, and I now have time for about a half an hour a night to write, which is usually spent on other activities, such as sleeping and that "one more chapter" of whatever book I'm reading. I wish I could share with you all the wonderful books I'm reading, but I just don't have the time to review them all. So for now, I've suspended Weekly Review and IMM posts, and I've been focusing on reviews as well as a new feature I hope to start posting soon. I have a few reviews lined up that I'd like to tweak just a little more before posting, so you'll be seeing those soon.

Happily, though, Winter Break is just around the corner, and I'll be able to jump right back in.

If I don't get to post reviews of some of my new favorites in the coming weeks, here's a list of recent reads that I loved:

• Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu
• Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick
• Icefall, by Matthew J. Kirby (I did review this one, see my review of Icefall!)
• Chime, by Franny Billingsley (AMAZING!)

I also checked out a ridiculous number of books out the the library, and I'm really looking forward to them. They look fantastic!

Until later,