The Blonde Diaries

Hello and happy Monday! It is another quick Monday and I only have one thing on my list that I have checked off for work. Eek! I also am mentally preparing a to-do list for chores around the apartment this week since Mike has been doing most of them for the past few months while I’ve been sick and I feel like I need to “pay” him back for it. So while he’s in Beaumont Monday-Friday I think I’ll work on things to make the weekend easier. I did a little bit of reading last week to help relax after a long day at work. I’m excited about the progress I’m making on a few series and hope to have them finished in the next month!

Books completed last week:

1. Visions of Sugar Plums ~ Janet Evanovich
2. To the Nines ~ Janet Evanovich
3. Dead in Dallas ~ Charlaine Harris

Books I am currently reading:

1. Ten Big Ones ~ Janet Evanovich
2. Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard
3. Full Bloom ~ Janet Evanovich

Up Next:

1. Club Dead ~ Charlaine Harris
2. Dead to the World ~ Charlaine Harris
3. Dead as a Doornail ~ Charlaine Harris

January 2010 is now a thing of the past. My January was extremely busy being that my client decided they wanted to file a Form S-1 with the SEC before the end of January. That meant that my audit that is normally finished on April 30th each year was now due by January 15th. Talk about a lot of stress. To relieve the stress since I couldn’t get to the gym, I read. I read A LOT! Here is my recap below on what I read. I actually finished my Stephanie Plum Challenge for 2010 already and will be extending it to try and finish all the books in the series by June. We’ll see.

January
One for the Money ~ Janet Evanovich *
Two for the Dough ~ Janet Evanovich*
Project Princess ~ Meg Cabot
Princess in Pink ~ Meg Cabot
Princess in Training ~ Meg Cabot
Three to Get Deadly ~ Janet Evanovich*
Oh.My.Gods ~ Tera Lynn Childs*
Four to Score ~ Janet Evanovich*
The Princess Present ~ Meg Cabot
High Five ~ Janet Evanovich*
Hot Six ~ Janet Evanovich*
Seven Up ~ Janet Evanovich*

January Total: 12 books read, 8 borrowed from the library, 4 already owned, 1 reading challenge for 2010 finished!

Reading With Tequila has put together a list of the most recommended books by bloggers from 2009. This list contains over 200 books recommended by 33 bloggers. Talk about a great master list!  I was happy to see quite a few books that I had read already on this list. There were also quite a few books I was already planning on reading this year on the list so I decided to join on in with this challenge.  Like all book challenges, there are rules and levels to help you complete the challenge.  The full list of 2009 books can be found here.  I am aiming for level one as there are exactly 5 books on the list that are on my lists for various challenges and will try for level 2 if I time is on my side.

The Levels:
Level I – Read 5 books from the 2009 Book Blogger Recommendation List
Level II – Read 10 books
Level III – Read 15 books
Level IV – Read 20 books
Level V – Read 20+ books

The Rules:

• Challenge will run January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. Participants can join anytime throughout the challenge.
• Create an intro post, linking back to this post.
• Sign up with the MckLinky below. Please link to your challenge intro post, not your blog home page.
• Chose your own books from the list. You can decide to read books only on the Top 25 list or from the entire recommendation list. You do not have to make a list of books before the challenge begins.
• All forms of books acceptable (audiobooks, eBooks, etc.)
• Rereads do not count towards the completion of the challenge. The challenge is about discovering books that are new to you.
• You don’t need a blog to participate.
• Reviews, while always appreciated, are not mandatory.

The title of this challenge is fairly easy and straightforward. MizB (click button) is hosting the Read Your Own Books Challenge in 2010 with the goal of getting more of the books sitting around your house read. I have a good number of books just lying around thanks to the Houston Library Sale last summer that are just waiting to be read. I also have books that my friend bought at the sale and has since finished that just appeared on my doorstep today so the books are really starting to pile up around here.

I am going to aim to read a total of 10 books that are either sitting on my shelf or were passed along to me by my friend. I am hoping to read more than 10 but I have other challenges I need to get to as well!

The rules are simple:

* Pick a number of books you’d like to read in one year
* Choose those books from your OWN collection
* Read them between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010

And, that’s it!
Some other guidelines for this challenge:

* Re-Reads are NOT allowed (the challenge is to get more of your own books read that have been sitting there waiting!)
* Audiobooks & e-books ARE allowed
* You do NOT need a blog to participate — you can leave comments on this post with your progress

Beth Fish Reads is hosting a Sookie Stackhouse Challenge.  I love a challenge, I love series, and I love Vampires, so this should be a challenge right up my alley.  Unfortunately, the challenge started in June 2009 and ends in June 2010 so I might not finish it by then but I am hoping to get a good start on the series and finish it in 2010.  Maybe if I like the books, I’ll look into the HBO series True Blood which is loosely based from this book series.

The books in the series (written by Charlaine Harris) are:

1. Dead Until Dark ~ Read February 2010
   
2. Living Dead in Dallas ~ Read February 2010
3. Club Dead
4. Dead to the World
5. Dead as a Doornail
6. Definitely Dead
7. All Together Dead
8. From Dead to Worse
9. Dead and Gone