Well, today is Easter Sunday in our household so a jelly bean issue it is. 🙂 I bought the jelly beans for my husband but since he doesn’t like them (Yes, I knew that when I bought them. He he he…) I’m going to sit here and munch on them while I write.

The round up this week:

Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

And the March monthly wrap-up:

The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown

Isis: A Tale of the Supernatural by Douglas Clegg

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Disquiet by Julia Leigh

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi – DNF

Oddly, March brought along my first DNF for 2010. Guess there had to be a first. Overall, I was pretty surprised by all I read in March considering a few of the books were chunksters.

I finished The Tale of Halcyon Crane this afternoon and, while I was a tad skeptical, (It’s categorized as a horror and it’s not usually the type of book I get in to.) it sucked me in and didn’t let me go until I got to the last page. Than again, I’ve been reading a TON of historical fiction lately and I think I needed something set in my own time frame to get back in my reading groove. I’ll do a review in a few weeks so I won’t say too much more about it today.

Earlier this week I piled up my TBRs and found I have a good bit of reading for April. A lot more historical fiction (I keep promising myself I will add something contemporary…) and of course one book I’m really looking forward to — The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. The is the last month for the LOTR Read-Along and I’m so looking forward to the last book. Sometime this week I’ll put together my final thoughts for The Two Towers and my initial thoughts for The Return of the King.

Well, I’m calling it a wrap. The chocolate bunny ears are calling. Does anyone out there like the red jelly beans? I don’t eat them and I seem to have a lot of them left…

Happy Sunday. 🙂

I was out of town this weekend for work and planned on doing a bit of writing yesterday but never quite got around to it, so Monday morning it is.

Wolf Hall. I’m still reading it so I don’t have much of a round up this week. I’m down to the last 20 pages or so and would have finished last night but I kept falling asleep so those last few pages are waiting for me to finish this morning.

Normally I would have finished by now but life is conspiring against me and I didn’t get much reading time in — even after being stuck on several planes, in four airports, and a hotel room all in a 48 hour period. It’s not that I’m not liking the book, I am, but I picked it up at the wrong time. I think I may have been in the mood for something else. The thing is, I’ve been wanting to read this one for so long and I thought it would be a good book for a trip but, unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. Oh well, what can I say, this happens sometimes.

I have a few books that arrived while I was out of town — Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt and The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb. I think I’ll be starting one these this week. I have a lot of historical fiction in my reading pile at the moment and I might have to re-think that before I burn myself out. I may have a look around the shelves later tonight to see what’s lurking that I can add to the pile. Not that the pile needs to be any bigger…

Well, I had more to say but I’ve had an extremely long weekend which has completely drained me and I honestly don’t remember what I planned to talk about this morning so I’m calling it and probably going back to bed for a few minutes before dragging myself to the office for what I know will be a very long day. My dear readers, you have put up with enough incoherent rambling for one day. Have a good Monday.

This week I read:

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Disquiet by Julia Leigh

I plan to start White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi later today.

I realized this week that I am definitely a one book at a time reader. I’m participating in the Lord of the Rings Read-Along and since I’m re-reading the series, I thought I would take it slow and read only a few chapters at a time. It didn’t work for me. Once I put the book down after only a few chapters, I didn’t pick it back up. I know what happens and I think knowing in the back of my mind what was coming next didn’t make me run back to the book like I would with a new book or a new author. I felt safe in picking up another book and moving on. But when I went back to the book, I found I was once again enjoying the story and I wanted to read more but I told myself it was a month long read and not a day or two day read and put the book back down. Then I started to feel like I would never finish the book because I kept putting it off. I decided to stop thinking about it, because I also realized that I was spending entirely too much time thinking about it, and just finished the book. So, I finished the book. I enjoyed the book, I found new things to like and new things to dislike about the story (dislike in good kind of way) and I’m happy I finished.

There have been times when I’ve read more than one book at a time but usually they’re in different formats — actual books versus ebooks. Because the format is different, I don’t have a problem picking one up and putting one down. I haven’t figured out why that is yet. I sometimes read more than one book when I’m traveling too but that’s usually because I have books for the plane and books for the rest of the trip. Books for the plane have to be so engrossing that I don’t want to put them down and those aren’t always the books I want to read, say, on the beach.

I know people who can read several books at the same time and have no problem keeping track of characters and plots. I can usually do that but I somehow feel like I’m just not finishing something and I think that really bothers me more than trying to keep tons of characters, events, and settings in line.

Well, that’s enough of me rambling this week.  Do you read more than one book at a time? How do you keep track of everything going on?

The week’s round up. I read:

The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown

Isis: A Tale of the Supernatural by Douglas Clegg

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I also started The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien for the Lord of the Rings Read-Along. I pulled The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick off my shelf this morning. I’ve been wanting to read this book for months and I’ve decided that this is the week.

I got hit by some strange flu-like bug on Friday and spent a good part of the afternoon asleep and spent most of Saturday on the couch flipping stations on the TV and reading Catching Fire. I had a review due for another website that I write for and it took a lot of strength to get myself up and moving. I’m happy to report that everything somehow managed to wrap itself up even though I’m not sure how it all happened.

Last week I took a long look at my TBR list and realized that I’m about to break the 100 book mark on the list and this year is only a scant three months old which made me wonder when I was going to find the time to read everything. On average I read about two to three books a week, and yes, if you do the math, (52 x 2 = 104) I can easily finish off the list with a few extras. But the problem is that the list won’t remain in it’s current state. I only expect it to get larger as the year goes on. One comes off, two, sometimes three go on… So, I started to weed. Yep, I took books off my list. Some I don’t remember adding and some, after looking them up, found I don’t have any interest in reading. I took out my red pen and knocked a few books off the list. Who knows, maybe someday those deleted tomes will find their way back on the list, but for now, it’s somewhat more manageable.

Do you have a list? What do you do when it gets out of hand? I had thoughts of ignoring it, but I’m a list maker and I hate when a list gets out of hand especially since the silly list was supposed to be making my life easier! 🙂

Since I’m feeling much better, I’m off to enjoy the lovely weather we’re having today. Happy Sunday!

The roundup this week. I finished:

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

I’m still reading:

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Magicians & Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett

I’m attempting to read The Fellowship of the Ring slowly but with only a few chapters left, I think I’ll be finishing up in the next day or two. I plan to have a mid-book check-in post tomorrow for the Lord of the Rings Read-Along which talks a little bit more about the book so I won’t say much more here.

I’m reading The Magicians & Mrs. Quent on my Nook. So far it’s so so and moving a bit slow but I’m hoping it picks up soon. I’m about half way through the book and there hasn’t been a mention of Mrs. Quent yet but Mr. Quent has finally shown up. I’m curious as to how a few things will be tied up so I plan to keep reading.

Remarkable Creatures was a lovely book. The last Chevalier book I read was The Girl with the Pearl Earring which I enjoyed and Remarkable Creatures was just as entrancing. The main characters, Elizabeth Philpot and Mary Anning, are endearing. Elizabeth is cold, harsh, and way too outspoken for a woman at the time (around 1810) which sometimes gets her in trouble. She takes a minute to grow on you, but once she does, you’re infinitely grateful for her forwardness and willingness to stand up for what she thinks is right. Mary on the other hand is too trusting and you wish she wouldn’t be. While the book is about Mary’s fossil discoveries of previously unknown sea creatures, the ichthyosaurus and the plesiosaurus, and the ways in which her discoveries changed the scientific community and brought about a discussion of the theory of extinction, the book really is about the friendship these two women forge. Elizabeth is an educated spinster from London with no prospects for marriage and Mary is a poor, uneducated girl from the seaside town of Lyme Regis who hunts for fossils on the beach to sell to tourists. Other than the fossils they both love and obsessively hunt, the two have little in common. You get to watch both grow and challenge the men who want to tell them how to act and what to think. It’s a wonderful read and I recommend it.

Sunday here in DC has dawned bright and sunny and I’m off to enjoy the beautiful day. Happy Sunday everyone.