Long time no post! Oops.
So I finished 2018 strong with a nice 61 books.
I continued my reading challenge in 2019 and managed to read 122! books. Most of which were not rereads. I doubled the amount of books read!
So we are going to play catch up.
New books that I read are as follows.
I read all four books of Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series.
I am now up to date on Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series (11 books). I am also now up to date with the related Hunter Legacy series (3 books).
As previously mentioned, I finished Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of Ages series (2 books).
I am now up to date on L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s The Saga of Recluse series (9 books). I also completed his Imager Portfolio series (9 books).
I finished Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (15 books).
I finished Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices and The Dark Artifices (total of 6 books, 3 in each series).
I finished P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast's House of Night series (3 books).
I am now up to date on JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood (4 books) series as well as it's related series Black Dagger Legacy (4 books).
I finished Tina Folsom's Scanguard Vampires series (4 books). Kinda. There was a short prequel to the entire series that I couldn't find until the new year.
I finished Sara Douglass's Darkglass Mountain series (3 books) which is a continuation of her Wayfarer Redemption series (which is 6 books) but is not marketed as connected since there's only a handful of Wayfarer Redemption characters that makes an appearance. More get mentioned, but only like 6 or so are actually in this series.
I tried Kiersten White's And I Darken from her The Conqueror's Saga and did not like it at all. So I have no plans to read the rest of the series.
I then read Alissa Woods's Jaxon from her Riverwise Private Security series, and unless the following books become free or available through the library or Kindle Unlimited, I don't plan on reading them.
And I finally got around to reading Kami Garcia's Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles) and while I did finish it, I wasn't impressed with it so I will not be reading the rest of the series.
Now I mentioned previously that I have acquired a lot of freebies the past few years and so I made a list (like the nerd that I am) of how I can read the other books in the series. So here goes what I've already read for 2020.
I found and read the prequel of Scanguards Vampires by Tina Folsom. Officially done with that series but should probably read the related series at some point.
I read all four of Katharine Kerr's Nola O'Grady series, and it was actually pretty good.
(I re-read Sarah J. Maas's The Assassin's Blade while I was waiting for book four of Kerr's to get to me.)
I acquired Auryn Hadley's The Wolf of Oberhame trilogy bundle and learned that she has a few other series that are available with Kindle Unlimited so I plan on at least trying them.
I read Elizabeth Briggs's Her Elemental Dragons series. Well, I read the first 4 and have no plans on reading the 5 because it is set after the first four and I wasn't too impressed with them. So I have no plans to read the last book.
Ok. Amy Sumida. She has a 30 book series titled Godhunter (which is also the title of the first book). I am now caught up and waiting for book 31. She also has other books available with Kindle Unlimited that I may read.
Aja James's Pure/Dark Ones is really unique and I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing. I kept with the 12 books and am awaiting the 13th, but the way she writes the "sexy" scenes makes them anything but sexy. But the history surrounding the characters is well written and almost, but not quite, makes up for the awful sex scenes.
Cassandra Clare's Chain of Gold which starts her The Last Hours trilogy was released and I had the privilege to read it and now I'm mad because I have to wait at least a year before the next one is released. #ReaderProblems
Joely Sue Burkhart's Their Vampire Queen series is actually really good and makes up for the series I'm indecisive about. This one is 11 books strong with a 12th coming out soon.
I then mistakenly read Rye Brewer's Redemption which is the start of the League of Vampires series, but this is not a Kindle Unlimited series so I'm not reading the rest of it just yet.
I am now reading Liz Mistry's Unquiet Souls which is 1 of 4 for the DI Gus McGuire series. And it sounded so interesting but it's so dry and it drags on and I will not be reading the other three in the series.
I'm trying to read these books in order as much as possible, I had to wait a few days for Sumida's 30th book to come out but that was fine. Aja James's next book is set to release May 1st and Joely Sue Burkhart's next book is set to release May 4th.
I'm trying to read all the series that are available with Kindle Unlimited right now, but I haven't decided what to read next when I'm done with Liz Misry's book.
But to date (April 11th), I have read 69 books (or in the process of reading book 69). It took me until almost July to read 61, and here I am, having passed that number by the middle of March. A coworker has challenged me to read 183 books this year, which is the equivalent of one book every two days, which I'm ahead of schedule. Which is good because I started Unquiet Souls on April 6th and I've still got about a quarter of it left to read.
Although part of this is my work schedule has been crazy (I am considered an essential employee during this Covid crisis) going back and forth with times so I haven't been able to dedicate the time I previously was to just sit and read. (Just for a reference, I worked 5am to 1:30 on Sunday, 9am to 5:30 on Monday, was off Tuesday and Wednesday, 2:30am to 11 on Thursday and Friday, and 4am to 12:30 today (Saturday). I was originally scheduled 1pm to 9:30 but they scheduled the store to close at 5:30 (since it's Easter) so I now have a paid day off, 8am to 4:30 on Monday, off Tuesday and Wednesday, 3am to 11:30 Thursday and Friday, and then 4am to 12:30 on Saturday. And the following week is just as crazy.)
*Today being the 102nd day of the year means 51 books, so I'm ahead by 18 if anyone cares.*
So if anyone cares, I'm still kicking. I'm still reading. I'm just exhausted because of work and I don't think to post here much but I decided to in case anyone is actually reading these!
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Friday, March 22, 2019
Another One Bites the Dust.....
So in my post from September 23, 2018, I talked about the longevity of certain types of shows. Then, in my post from February 2, 2019 I mentioned that quite a few shows that I watch have been renewed. I also mentioned that Criminal Minds will be ending with this upcoming 10 episode 15th season. Criminal Minds has been airing for the same amount of time as the CW hit Supernatural. It was just announced by the cast that this 15th season of Supernatural will be the last. It was also announced that it will contain 20 episodes, meanwhile Arrow, which has been airing since 2012 has been announced that the upcoming 8th season will be its final season with 10 episodes.
This is kinda awful to say, but now I am waiting for the CW (or the cast, because Stephen Amell, star of Arrow was the one to announce the 8th season is the finale season; and Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins who are the main cast for Supernatural were the ones to announce it) to announce that The Flash's upcoming 6th season will be the final season.
In other news, NBC newcomer Manifest is a show that I greatly enjoyed and it had a short pilot season of 16 episodes. Has not been confirmed renewed or cancelled. The other 12 shows I watch are as follows:
Supergirl, CW
The Resident, Fox
Legends of Tomorrow, CW
Shadowhunters, Freeform
The Magicians, Syfy
Blindspot, NBC
Agents of SHIELD, ABC
Van Helsing, SyFy
Cloak & Dagger, Freeform
Wynonna Earp, SyFy
Killjoys, SyFy
Game of Thrones, HBO
As I mentioned in the Feb. 2nd post, Supergirl, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Supernatural and The Flash (all are CW shows) had been renewed for another season. Now, Arrow and Supernatural have been confirmed that this next season will be the last.
Freeform's Shadowhunters was announced that the final 12 episodes of the 3rd season will serve as the last. Which makes me incredibly sad because the show means a lot to a whole lot of people. However, their show Cloak & Dagge
r is set to air it's second season on April 4th. No word yet on if it has been renewed, but I don't expect word for at least another month/month and a half.
SyFy's Van Helsing and The Magicians have both been renewed for another season, the former to air probably around October 2019 (the show's fourth) and if they are following suit, The Magicans (the fourth season is currently airing, and was renewed for a fifth before the fourth even aired) around January or February 2020. Wynonna Earp and Killjoys will most likely air around June 2019, and Killjoys has already been confirmed that this fifth season will be the final.
HBO's Game of Thrones has had a two year hiatus and will return mid April for it's 6 episode 8th and final season.
ABC's Agents of SHIELD is set to air it's sixth season starting in May 2019 (no official date at time of posting) and was already renewed for a seventh season.
NBC's Blindspot has not been renewed or cancelled yet, but they already have cancelled Midnight, Texas which I was sad about.
Fox's The Resident is still airing it's second season and has no official decision either way.
So there you have an update on shows that I watch.
This is kinda awful to say, but now I am waiting for the CW (or the cast, because Stephen Amell, star of Arrow was the one to announce the 8th season is the finale season; and Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins who are the main cast for Supernatural were the ones to announce it) to announce that The Flash's upcoming 6th season will be the final season.
In other news, NBC newcomer Manifest is a show that I greatly enjoyed and it had a short pilot season of 16 episodes. Has not been confirmed renewed or cancelled. The other 12 shows I watch are as follows:
Supergirl, CW
The Resident, Fox
Legends of Tomorrow, CW
Shadowhunters, Freeform
The Magicians, Syfy
Blindspot, NBC
Agents of SHIELD, ABC
Van Helsing, SyFy
Cloak & Dagger, Freeform
Wynonna Earp, SyFy
Killjoys, SyFy
Game of Thrones, HBO
As I mentioned in the Feb. 2nd post, Supergirl, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Supernatural and The Flash (all are CW shows) had been renewed for another season. Now, Arrow and Supernatural have been confirmed that this next season will be the last.
Freeform's Shadowhunters was announced that the final 12 episodes of the 3rd season will serve as the last. Which makes me incredibly sad because the show means a lot to a whole lot of people. However, their show Cloak & Dagge
r is set to air it's second season on April 4th. No word yet on if it has been renewed, but I don't expect word for at least another month/month and a half.
SyFy's Van Helsing and The Magicians have both been renewed for another season, the former to air probably around October 2019 (the show's fourth) and if they are following suit, The Magicans (the fourth season is currently airing, and was renewed for a fifth before the fourth even aired) around January or February 2020. Wynonna Earp and Killjoys will most likely air around June 2019, and Killjoys has already been confirmed that this fifth season will be the final.
HBO's Game of Thrones has had a two year hiatus and will return mid April for it's 6 episode 8th and final season.
ABC's Agents of SHIELD is set to air it's sixth season starting in May 2019 (no official date at time of posting) and was already renewed for a seventh season.
NBC's Blindspot has not been renewed or cancelled yet, but they already have cancelled Midnight, Texas which I was sad about.
Fox's The Resident is still airing it's second season and has no official decision either way.
So there you have an update on shows that I watch.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Tangently Off Topic....
So I am aware that sometimes people find books that most people aren't aware of.
For instance, if I were to mention the Harry Potter series, or Game of Thrones, or Hunger Games, people would at least recognize the name if not the series itself. There are a few others with such notoriety, but there are also a large number of series that never reached the fame that those did, even if they have a few books under the name.
One such series is the Symphony of Ages by Elizabeth Haydon. If you recognize it, yea! If not, well I'm gonna talk about it.
I'm not sure how this book series was originally intended to be done, but there are a total of nine books in the series. According to the wikipedia page (which everyone knows that wikipedia is not always full of correct information) it was split up like this:
Rhapsody: Child of Blood was released in 1999, Prophecy: Child of Earth (2000) and Destiny: Child of the Sky (2001) make up "The Rhapsody Trilogy"
Requiem for the Sun (2002) and Elegy for a Lost Star (2004) make up "The Middle Books"
The Assassin King (2007), The Merchant Emperor (2014), The Hollow Queen (2015) and The Weaver's Lament (2016) make up "The War of the Known World".
I found this series initially in 2009 (I believe) and my local library had the first five books. I remember asking my godmother for 6, The Assassin King, for my birthday in 2010. I got it, and I read it, but read The Merchant Emperor in 2015 (according to GoodReads, that is what I have it marked as) it had been about 5 years since reading the previous book and I didn't remember much about books 6 and 7, but since I had read the previous 5 a few times, that information was more in my head. So since I've been trying to remove books from my to read list by reading them (makes sense right?) I decided that I needed to re-read the whole series so I had all the information straight in my head. Let's just say that most of what happened in 6 was vaguely familiar, but I didn't recognize much from 7.
Either way, not really what I wanted to talk about.
Okay. Set up. I enjoyed the world that Haydon created in Rhapsody, but I adored both Prophecy and Destiny. I loved the love story between Rhapsody (the title character, one of the main characters) and Ashe (also known as Gwydion, and by a few other names), and I loved the idea of their time-crossed love. If you have read the story, you understand; if you haven't, it doesn't make much sense and trying to explain it will make this longer than I intend. Now, I'm a sucker for soulmate stories and the idea behind it, so these fantasy books really fulfilled that. Requiem for the Sun and Elegy for a Lost Star added in the element of they have a child together and it is magical (literally, the child gets referred to as the "Child of Time"). And again, Haydon did a wonderful job with the fantasy element, and fantastic story weaving for this.
I felt that The Assassin King and The Merchant Emperor had too many view points in the story telling, and therefore that the material just dragged on. However, it kept to the pattern and it really set things up for the next two. But The Hollow Queen also had as many view points and it's hard to correctly format books if there are too many viewpoints going on in my opinion.
Now I'm going to point something out. The three main characters, Rhapsody, Achmed and Grunther are very long lived characters because of events in the book. Ashe is also a long lived character but for slightly different reasons. But things to point out timeline wise. Rhapsody, Prophecy and Destiny happen relatively right after each other, maybe a couple of weeks in between each book. There is a four year gap, however, between Destiny and Requiem. The next four follow practically right after each other, like the first three. The big difference is at the very end of The Hollow Queen it mentions something about peace only lasting about one thousand years. Which when you read The Weaver's Lament you realize there is a thousand year gap between books 8 and 9 (I'm getting tired of typing the names out....). In the final book, they explain certain things that Haydon had hinted at previously, as well as expanding on certain things. But it also took a left turn out of no where. I freaking cried for a good chunk of the book. I tweeted that "The Weaver's Lament is tearing my heart apart like I thought Kingdom of Ash was going to. THIS. IS. NOT. OKAY." (Kingdom of Ash being the final book of Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series)
Like, KOA ended and I was like yeah, okay, not the best situation but the main characters are still alive. They can move on from this, eventually.
Now I'm gonna tell you what I had put for the GoodReads review for the book:
"So this finale begins a thousand years after the previous book. And HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.
Wow. Haydon decided to rip my heart out of my chest, tear it into tiny little pieces and do a samba on it.
Did not see that coming at all, and considering I have gotten pretty good at guessing what is going to happen, this was a completely 180 and sharp left at "far from alright".
In the end, it is a good ending to the story, but definitely not how I images this story would end"
I was expecting rainbows and sunshine and kittens and happily ever after. Instead I get sadness, angst and misery with salt in the wounds to top it off. Like, I appreciate the not being able to guess what happened (not being predictable), but at the same time wow. Just. Wow.
I'm trying to process my emotions on a book series that ended completely different that I expected and that has been with me for about 10 years at this point.
One thing to note however, is that throughout the series, Haydon continued to remind the reader of information in a way that was slightly annoying, like she was trying to make sure that if, for instance, the third book was the first one that you read, you may be a tad confused but could figure out information. But when you do what I did, which was re-read all the books before reading the ones you had left to read for the first time, it was unnecessary. Why yes, I do remember why Ashe is calling Rhapsody "Emily" and why Rhapsody calls Ashe "Sam" and why Grunther finds it funny to make comments about eating Rhapsody.
Ok. Stopping here before this gets any longer.
For instance, if I were to mention the Harry Potter series, or Game of Thrones, or Hunger Games, people would at least recognize the name if not the series itself. There are a few others with such notoriety, but there are also a large number of series that never reached the fame that those did, even if they have a few books under the name.
One such series is the Symphony of Ages by Elizabeth Haydon. If you recognize it, yea! If not, well I'm gonna talk about it.
I'm not sure how this book series was originally intended to be done, but there are a total of nine books in the series. According to the wikipedia page (which everyone knows that wikipedia is not always full of correct information) it was split up like this:
Rhapsody: Child of Blood was released in 1999, Prophecy: Child of Earth (2000) and Destiny: Child of the Sky (2001) make up "The Rhapsody Trilogy"
Requiem for the Sun (2002) and Elegy for a Lost Star (2004) make up "The Middle Books"
The Assassin King (2007), The Merchant Emperor (2014), The Hollow Queen (2015) and The Weaver's Lament (2016) make up "The War of the Known World".
I found this series initially in 2009 (I believe) and my local library had the first five books. I remember asking my godmother for 6, The Assassin King, for my birthday in 2010. I got it, and I read it, but read The Merchant Emperor in 2015 (according to GoodReads, that is what I have it marked as) it had been about 5 years since reading the previous book and I didn't remember much about books 6 and 7, but since I had read the previous 5 a few times, that information was more in my head. So since I've been trying to remove books from my to read list by reading them (makes sense right?) I decided that I needed to re-read the whole series so I had all the information straight in my head. Let's just say that most of what happened in 6 was vaguely familiar, but I didn't recognize much from 7.
Either way, not really what I wanted to talk about.
Okay. Set up. I enjoyed the world that Haydon created in Rhapsody, but I adored both Prophecy and Destiny. I loved the love story between Rhapsody (the title character, one of the main characters) and Ashe (also known as Gwydion, and by a few other names), and I loved the idea of their time-crossed love. If you have read the story, you understand; if you haven't, it doesn't make much sense and trying to explain it will make this longer than I intend. Now, I'm a sucker for soulmate stories and the idea behind it, so these fantasy books really fulfilled that. Requiem for the Sun and Elegy for a Lost Star added in the element of they have a child together and it is magical (literally, the child gets referred to as the "Child of Time"). And again, Haydon did a wonderful job with the fantasy element, and fantastic story weaving for this.
I felt that The Assassin King and The Merchant Emperor had too many view points in the story telling, and therefore that the material just dragged on. However, it kept to the pattern and it really set things up for the next two. But The Hollow Queen also had as many view points and it's hard to correctly format books if there are too many viewpoints going on in my opinion.
Now I'm going to point something out. The three main characters, Rhapsody, Achmed and Grunther are very long lived characters because of events in the book. Ashe is also a long lived character but for slightly different reasons. But things to point out timeline wise. Rhapsody, Prophecy and Destiny happen relatively right after each other, maybe a couple of weeks in between each book. There is a four year gap, however, between Destiny and Requiem. The next four follow practically right after each other, like the first three. The big difference is at the very end of The Hollow Queen it mentions something about peace only lasting about one thousand years. Which when you read The Weaver's Lament you realize there is a thousand year gap between books 8 and 9 (I'm getting tired of typing the names out....). In the final book, they explain certain things that Haydon had hinted at previously, as well as expanding on certain things. But it also took a left turn out of no where. I freaking cried for a good chunk of the book. I tweeted that "The Weaver's Lament is tearing my heart apart like I thought Kingdom of Ash was going to. THIS. IS. NOT. OKAY." (Kingdom of Ash being the final book of Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series)
Like, KOA ended and I was like yeah, okay, not the best situation but the main characters are still alive. They can move on from this, eventually.
Now I'm gonna tell you what I had put for the GoodReads review for the book:
"So this finale begins a thousand years after the previous book. And HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.
Wow. Haydon decided to rip my heart out of my chest, tear it into tiny little pieces and do a samba on it.
Did not see that coming at all, and considering I have gotten pretty good at guessing what is going to happen, this was a completely 180 and sharp left at "far from alright".
In the end, it is a good ending to the story, but definitely not how I images this story would end"
I was expecting rainbows and sunshine and kittens and happily ever after. Instead I get sadness, angst and misery with salt in the wounds to top it off. Like, I appreciate the not being able to guess what happened (not being predictable), but at the same time wow. Just. Wow.
I'm trying to process my emotions on a book series that ended completely different that I expected and that has been with me for about 10 years at this point.
One thing to note however, is that throughout the series, Haydon continued to remind the reader of information in a way that was slightly annoying, like she was trying to make sure that if, for instance, the third book was the first one that you read, you may be a tad confused but could figure out information. But when you do what I did, which was re-read all the books before reading the ones you had left to read for the first time, it was unnecessary. Why yes, I do remember why Ashe is calling Rhapsody "Emily" and why Rhapsody calls Ashe "Sam" and why Grunther finds it funny to make comments about eating Rhapsody.
Ok. Stopping here before this gets any longer.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Proof I Am Still Alive
So despite the fact that it has been colder where I live than in the fucking South Pole, I am still alive.
Work is causing depression to flair up and anxiety to form, but I am still alive.
Anywhooooo....
In my post Word Vomit, A Redux from September of last year, I talked about the longevity of certain shows of certain natures. I also talked (previously) about how the shows that air on the CW Network are geared towards 18-25 year olds. I want to talk about that for a hot minute.
For the 2018-2019 schedule (September 2018 to usually April or May 2019), Criminal Minds (CBS) had been renewed, but for a shorter 15 episode season. Normally, at least the previous seasons, it had around 23 (sometimes more, sometimes less, but around that number). About mid-way through January it was announced that it was renewed for a 15th season. However, it was only going to have 10 episode, which is a dramatic drop, and that it was going to be the last season. (Sorry for spoilers if you hadn't heard yet). Although I am a couple of seasons behind on this show, season 11 episode 15 "A Badge and a Gun" is my next episode to watch, this was kinda sad news.
Yesterday (again perspective because I have not gone to sleep yet; January 31st) the CW network renewed 10 shows of its current lineup. Including (because I watch them) Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, The Flash and Supernatural. Remember how I mentioned that Supernatural and Criminal Minds began airing the same year, 2005? No word yet on how many episodes Supernatural will get at this point, a full season order being around 22. Legends of Tomorrow is almost guaranteed to have a shorter season than the rest, but that is par for course at this point.
The point is that Supernatural, which has slowly been losing viewership, is going to outlast Criminal Minds. Now, CM has also slowly been losing viewership, but the Neilsen rating has never dropped below 3 million viewers. For the 14 episodes that have aired, it has an average of 4.67 million. The final episode for this season is set to air on February 6th.
Supernatural has an average of 1.459 million for the 12 episodes that have aired this season. This season is set to have a total of 20 episodes.
Now I know that the Neilsen rating isn't the only thing that networks use to set parameters on what gets renewed and what gets cancelled. Because the SyFy network renewed The Magicians for a season 5 before season 4 even aired, despite rarely having a 1 million viewership rating (usually around 0.7 million; they had one in season 1 and one in season 2). Budget is another. If it is extremely costly to produce (between salaries for actors and workers, any CGI, advertising, etc) then snip snip. Sometimes its the main actor(s) leaving for new projects, disagreements between cast members/crew members, or other unsavory problems (Roseanne Barr being a prime example).
So the point of this post actually got lost as I was writing it, so short and sweet. I was really hoping that the CW network would do the smart thing and not renewed those shows, with the exception of Legends of Tomorrow (as previously mentioned, short seasons mean more material to work with) and Supergirl (although they have some problematic areas too).
In tangentially related news, Agents of SHIELD had been renewed for a 7 season, despite not airing until July 2019 (theorized reason being they can shoot back-to-back and reduce cost of production this way). This still makes me happy so I'm mentioning it again.
Work is causing depression to flair up and anxiety to form, but I am still alive.
Anywhooooo....
In my post Word Vomit, A Redux from September of last year, I talked about the longevity of certain shows of certain natures. I also talked (previously) about how the shows that air on the CW Network are geared towards 18-25 year olds. I want to talk about that for a hot minute.
For the 2018-2019 schedule (September 2018 to usually April or May 2019), Criminal Minds (CBS) had been renewed, but for a shorter 15 episode season. Normally, at least the previous seasons, it had around 23 (sometimes more, sometimes less, but around that number). About mid-way through January it was announced that it was renewed for a 15th season. However, it was only going to have 10 episode, which is a dramatic drop, and that it was going to be the last season. (Sorry for spoilers if you hadn't heard yet). Although I am a couple of seasons behind on this show, season 11 episode 15 "A Badge and a Gun" is my next episode to watch, this was kinda sad news.
Yesterday (again perspective because I have not gone to sleep yet; January 31st) the CW network renewed 10 shows of its current lineup. Including (because I watch them) Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, The Flash and Supernatural. Remember how I mentioned that Supernatural and Criminal Minds began airing the same year, 2005? No word yet on how many episodes Supernatural will get at this point, a full season order being around 22. Legends of Tomorrow is almost guaranteed to have a shorter season than the rest, but that is par for course at this point.
The point is that Supernatural, which has slowly been losing viewership, is going to outlast Criminal Minds. Now, CM has also slowly been losing viewership, but the Neilsen rating has never dropped below 3 million viewers. For the 14 episodes that have aired, it has an average of 4.67 million. The final episode for this season is set to air on February 6th.
Supernatural has an average of 1.459 million for the 12 episodes that have aired this season. This season is set to have a total of 20 episodes.
Now I know that the Neilsen rating isn't the only thing that networks use to set parameters on what gets renewed and what gets cancelled. Because the SyFy network renewed The Magicians for a season 5 before season 4 even aired, despite rarely having a 1 million viewership rating (usually around 0.7 million; they had one in season 1 and one in season 2). Budget is another. If it is extremely costly to produce (between salaries for actors and workers, any CGI, advertising, etc) then snip snip. Sometimes its the main actor(s) leaving for new projects, disagreements between cast members/crew members, or other unsavory problems (Roseanne Barr being a prime example).
So the point of this post actually got lost as I was writing it, so short and sweet. I was really hoping that the CW network would do the smart thing and not renewed those shows, with the exception of Legends of Tomorrow (as previously mentioned, short seasons mean more material to work with) and Supergirl (although they have some problematic areas too).
In tangentially related news, Agents of SHIELD had been renewed for a 7 season, despite not airing until July 2019 (theorized reason being they can shoot back-to-back and reduce cost of production this way). This still makes me happy so I'm mentioning it again.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
I am the Book Queen.
So I have a couple of different posts that talk about the 2018 Reading Challenge that I set for myself, but because they are on different posts I thought I would talk about the entirety on one post.
Ok. So the gist of it was I had a lot of books on my GoodReads To Read List, and I wanted to lower that number. I set a reasonable goal of 25 books, with the intention to just read as many as possible. But I'm not good at these kinds of things without a set goal, so there you go. I chose not to count any re-reads in the official count because I kinda consider that counterproductive. But I do have an unofficial count as well. So I'm going to list, in order the books that I have read (including the re-reads, which will be noted with a r) this year. I also noticed that I forgot about a few of them so this is the complete list (as of 12/25) that I have read this year.
1. Ice by Skye Jones
2. Kiss of a Dragon by Alisa Woods
3. Written in Red by Anne Bishop
4. Amaury's Hellion by Tina Folsom (r)
5. Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
6. The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
7. Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop
8. Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop
9. Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop
10. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
11. Bound by Blood by Cynthia Eden
12. Blades of Magic by Terah Edun
13. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
14. Enchanter by Sara Douglass (r)
15. Deeper Than Midnight by Lara Adrian (r)
16. Darker Than Midnight by Lara Adrian (r)
17. A Touch of Midnight by Lara Adrian
18. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
19. A Taste of Midnight by Lara Adrian
20. Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian
21. Edge of Dawn by Lara Adrian
22. Lover Mine by J.R. Ward (r)
23. Lover Unleased by J.R. Ward (r)
24. Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward (r)
25. Legacies by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (r)
26. Darknesses by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (r)
27. Scepters by L.E. Modesitt Jr. *
28. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
29. The Last Hunt by Bruce Corville
30. Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
31. Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong
32. Day Shift by Charlaine Harris
33. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
34. Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
35. Broken by Kelley Armstrong
36. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong
37. Personal Demons by Kelley Armstrong
38. Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
39. Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong
40. Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong
41. Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong
42. Crave the Night by Lara Adrian
43. Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong
44. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead (technically a reread but I'm counting it as a initial read)
45. The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (same as #44)
46. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (r)
47. The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead
48. Lover At Last by J.R. Ward
49. The King by J.R. Ward
50. The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead
51. Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead
52. The Shadows by J.R. Ward
53. The Beast by J.R. Ward
54. The Chosen by J.R. Ward
55. Night Shift by Charlaine Harris
56. The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead
*I technically started a book after Scepters and before Dead Ever After but I only made it like 70 pages into it in like a month and a half. I gave up reading it and moved on. Otherwise this challenge would have been completed with re-reads but not first time reads which was what I wanted to do.
So now GoodReads only has 46 books counted towards the goal of 25, so it tells me that I have completed (and exceeded the challenge) by 184%. But that's not counting 10 books, which makes the challenge 224% complete. I like that number!
Now my To Read list is still a lot (currently sitting at 73 books) but that was also because of re-reading 10 books, plus for some reason I have the yet to be released 5th and 6th books of Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series on there but not the 4th; I moved one from Currently Reading back to the To Read; all of the books by Anne Bishop where not on the list originally; and for some reason I didn't have The Fiery Heart, Silver Shadows or The Ruby Circle like I had The Indigo Spell. I also added the more recently released books from both Lara Adrian and J.R. Ward. I did however delete like 5 books because they were the continuation of L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s Corean Chronicles (Legacies, Darknesses and Scepters are 1-3 of 8) because he did a drastic perspective shift by going back in time and I had grown attached to the main character/narrator for the first three. I may return to the series in the future but not any time soon.
Ok. So the gist of it was I had a lot of books on my GoodReads To Read List, and I wanted to lower that number. I set a reasonable goal of 25 books, with the intention to just read as many as possible. But I'm not good at these kinds of things without a set goal, so there you go. I chose not to count any re-reads in the official count because I kinda consider that counterproductive. But I do have an unofficial count as well. So I'm going to list, in order the books that I have read (including the re-reads, which will be noted with a r) this year. I also noticed that I forgot about a few of them so this is the complete list (as of 12/25) that I have read this year.
1. Ice by Skye Jones
2. Kiss of a Dragon by Alisa Woods
3. Written in Red by Anne Bishop
4. Amaury's Hellion by Tina Folsom (r)
5. Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
6. The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
7. Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop
8. Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop
9. Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop
10. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
11. Bound by Blood by Cynthia Eden
12. Blades of Magic by Terah Edun
13. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
14. Enchanter by Sara Douglass (r)
15. Deeper Than Midnight by Lara Adrian (r)
16. Darker Than Midnight by Lara Adrian (r)
17. A Touch of Midnight by Lara Adrian
18. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
19. A Taste of Midnight by Lara Adrian
20. Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrian
21. Edge of Dawn by Lara Adrian
22. Lover Mine by J.R. Ward (r)
23. Lover Unleased by J.R. Ward (r)
24. Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward (r)
25. Legacies by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (r)
26. Darknesses by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (r)
27. Scepters by L.E. Modesitt Jr. *
28. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
29. The Last Hunt by Bruce Corville
30. Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
31. Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong
32. Day Shift by Charlaine Harris
33. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
34. Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
35. Broken by Kelley Armstrong
36. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong
37. Personal Demons by Kelley Armstrong
38. Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
39. Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong
40. Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong
41. Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong
42. Crave the Night by Lara Adrian
43. Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong
44. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead (technically a reread but I'm counting it as a initial read)
45. The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (same as #44)
46. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (r)
47. The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead
48. Lover At Last by J.R. Ward
49. The King by J.R. Ward
50. The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead
51. Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead
52. The Shadows by J.R. Ward
53. The Beast by J.R. Ward
54. The Chosen by J.R. Ward
55. Night Shift by Charlaine Harris
56. The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead
*I technically started a book after Scepters and before Dead Ever After but I only made it like 70 pages into it in like a month and a half. I gave up reading it and moved on. Otherwise this challenge would have been completed with re-reads but not first time reads which was what I wanted to do.
So now GoodReads only has 46 books counted towards the goal of 25, so it tells me that I have completed (and exceeded the challenge) by 184%. But that's not counting 10 books, which makes the challenge 224% complete. I like that number!
Now my To Read list is still a lot (currently sitting at 73 books) but that was also because of re-reading 10 books, plus for some reason I have the yet to be released 5th and 6th books of Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series on there but not the 4th; I moved one from Currently Reading back to the To Read; all of the books by Anne Bishop where not on the list originally; and for some reason I didn't have The Fiery Heart, Silver Shadows or The Ruby Circle like I had The Indigo Spell. I also added the more recently released books from both Lara Adrian and J.R. Ward. I did however delete like 5 books because they were the continuation of L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s Corean Chronicles (Legacies, Darknesses and Scepters are 1-3 of 8) because he did a drastic perspective shift by going back in time and I had grown attached to the main character/narrator for the first three. I may return to the series in the future but not any time soon.
Friday, November 23, 2018
Priorities. Kinda.
Well I'm glad that I stopped the tv show reviews because I've been reading so much that I've gotten behind on almost all of them. The official GoodReads count is I'm currently reading 37 of 25, but because I've reread some books the actual count is 44 of 25.
I managed to shorten the number of episodes I currently have to watch by 2, watching episodes 3 and 4 of Legends of Tomorrow, but I'm still 3 episodes behind on Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash. I have 2 episodes for Supernatural, and then Monday's episodes for The Resident and Manifest. I then have the episodes airing tonight (Friday) for Midnight, Texas and Van Helsing. I am caught up on Blindspot
but that's just because there is not an episode airing this week.
More show talk. Shadowhunters has an official air date for the second half of season 3: February 25th, which means it moves to Monday night. No idea what time it is expected to air, although I expect it to be at 8pm. And well ahead of the season 6 premiere since that is set for July 2019, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD has been renewed for a 7th season, which makes me so freaking happy. It was announced about a week ago, but I'm just now making this post so :p
Now I do have Saturday off, as well as Monday and Tuesday (the 26th and 27th) so I can at least catch up a little on the shows as well as read the books because I've got books 38, 39 and 40 already on loan because I'm taking about 2-3 days on average to read a book.
So I mentioned two posts ago about the 25 books that achieve my set goal of books read, and I'll list the ones I've read since.
Book #26 was Kelley Armstrong's Broken, which is book 6 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#27 was No Humans Involved, book 7 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#28 was Personal Demon, book 8 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#29 was Living With the Dead, book 9 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#30 was Frostbitten, book 10 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#31 was Waking the Witch, book 11 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#32 was Spell Bound, book 12 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#33 was Crave the Night by Lara Adrian, book 12 of "Midnight Breed".
#34 was Thirteen, book 13 (funny, right?) of "The Women of the Otherworld". Now, this completes the series, however there are books that are tangent to this series that I will read at some point.
#35 was Bloodlines by Richelle Mead which is the first in the series of the same name that follows almost immediately after the events of Last Sacrifice which is book 6 of "The Vampire Academy". Now, I had this one already checked as having been read, but I didn't remember much so I am counting this as a fresh read and therefore on the GoodReads list.
#36 was The Golden Lily, which follows Bloodlines.
#37 is The Indigo Spell, which is book 3 in the "Bloodlines" series.
#38 will be Lover At Last by J.R. Ward and is book 11 of the "Black Dagger Brotherhood" series.
#39 will be The King, which is book 12 of the "Black Dagger Brotherhood".
#40 will be The Fiery Heart, book 4 of the "Bloodlines".
Now, my library has kindle loans thing available, which all of these but Thirteen were digital loans (for whatever reason it has 1-12 of "Women of the Otherworld" but not 13 so I bought it, I know own 1, 2, and 13 for that series *insert eye roll*) and they have the next book (5) in the "Bloodlines" series as well as 13, 14, 15 and 16 of "Black Dagger Brotherhood". As well as a couple of other books that I am interested in reading.
So yeah, update.
I managed to shorten the number of episodes I currently have to watch by 2, watching episodes 3 and 4 of Legends of Tomorrow, but I'm still 3 episodes behind on Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash. I have 2 episodes for Supernatural, and then Monday's episodes for The Resident and Manifest. I then have the episodes airing tonight (Friday) for Midnight, Texas and Van Helsing. I am caught up on Blindspot
but that's just because there is not an episode airing this week.
More show talk. Shadowhunters has an official air date for the second half of season 3: February 25th, which means it moves to Monday night. No idea what time it is expected to air, although I expect it to be at 8pm. And well ahead of the season 6 premiere since that is set for July 2019, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD has been renewed for a 7th season, which makes me so freaking happy. It was announced about a week ago, but I'm just now making this post so :p
Now I do have Saturday off, as well as Monday and Tuesday (the 26th and 27th) so I can at least catch up a little on the shows as well as read the books because I've got books 38, 39 and 40 already on loan because I'm taking about 2-3 days on average to read a book.
So I mentioned two posts ago about the 25 books that achieve my set goal of books read, and I'll list the ones I've read since.
Book #26 was Kelley Armstrong's Broken, which is book 6 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#27 was No Humans Involved, book 7 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#28 was Personal Demon, book 8 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#29 was Living With the Dead, book 9 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#30 was Frostbitten, book 10 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#31 was Waking the Witch, book 11 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#32 was Spell Bound, book 12 of "The Women of the Otherworld".
#33 was Crave the Night by Lara Adrian, book 12 of "Midnight Breed".
#34 was Thirteen, book 13 (funny, right?) of "The Women of the Otherworld". Now, this completes the series, however there are books that are tangent to this series that I will read at some point.
#35 was Bloodlines by Richelle Mead which is the first in the series of the same name that follows almost immediately after the events of Last Sacrifice which is book 6 of "The Vampire Academy". Now, I had this one already checked as having been read, but I didn't remember much so I am counting this as a fresh read and therefore on the GoodReads list.
#36 was The Golden Lily, which follows Bloodlines.
#37 is The Indigo Spell, which is book 3 in the "Bloodlines" series.
#38 will be Lover At Last by J.R. Ward and is book 11 of the "Black Dagger Brotherhood" series.
#39 will be The King, which is book 12 of the "Black Dagger Brotherhood".
#40 will be The Fiery Heart, book 4 of the "Bloodlines".
Now, my library has kindle loans thing available, which all of these but Thirteen were digital loans (for whatever reason it has 1-12 of "Women of the Otherworld" but not 13 so I bought it, I know own 1, 2, and 13 for that series *insert eye roll*) and they have the next book (5) in the "Bloodlines" series as well as 13, 14, 15 and 16 of "Black Dagger Brotherhood". As well as a couple of other books that I am interested in reading.
So yeah, update.
Monday, November 5, 2018
What's Old Is New
So I've been talking a lot about books recently, and I mentioned that I was blogging about my 2015 reading challenge that I didn't complete, but I still have the list from it so I'm gonna talk about it now.
So the goal was 52 books in 52 weeks. I did not accomplish that because I stopped reading my list about half way through the year. But, I'm going to list what the prompt was and the book I had picked for said prompt as well as if I read it or not.
1. Book with more than 500 pages. I had picked Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule. The first book in the Sword of Truth series, and also the book that the short TV series Legend of the Seeker was based on which is what interested me in that book. It was also a book that my brother had so I was able to read it.
2. Classic romance. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I don't remember much about this book. But I read it!
3. That became a movie. I had picked Kami Garcia's Beautiful Creatures, but is still on my to-read list. I will get to it...eventually.
4. Published this year. Yeah, I never picked one.......................
5. With a number in the title. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five was the choice and I did read it. I read it in one day, but only gave it 1 star on GoodReads.
6. Written by someone under 30. Pierce Brown's Red Rising. Which I thought was horrible. Yeah.
7. With nonhuman characters. Silvana De Mari's The Last Dragon, which I didn't get to.
8. A funny book. Apparently Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief was a funny book, but I don't remember much other than I did read it. So....
9. By a female author. Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle was picked but not read.
10. Mystery/thriller. Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was picked but not read.
11. With a one-word title. Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf was picked but not read.
12. Book of short stories. James Finn Garner's Politically Correct Bedtime Stories was picked but not read.
13. Set in a different country. Nicole Hadaway's Release was picked but not read.
14. Nonfiction book. Erik Lawson's The Devil in the White City. When I picked this one, I thought it sounded so interesting but it was dreadful. Just awful and dull and boring and yeah.
15. Popular author's first book. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet was picked but not read.
16. From author you love but haven't read yet. Jodi Picoult's The Storyteller was picked but not read. And I still have not read it.
17. A friend recommended. Rachel Hartman's Seraphina was picked but not read. I don't even remember who recommended it.
18. Pulitzer prize-winning. Jeffrey Eugindes's Middlesex was picked but not read.
19. Based on a true story. Beatrice Sparks's Go Ask Alice was picked but not read.
20. At the bottom of your to-read list. Tina Folsom's Cain's Identity which is book 9 of the Scanguards Vampire Series. Which I'm pretty sure I rearranged my to-read list shortly after but who really cares. It was also one of the first ones I read that year.
21. Your mom loves. I never picked one, mainly because my mom is no longer with us, but I remember some book series that she enjoyed but I never got that far.
22. That scares you. Dan Simmons's The Terror. And I don't know if it scared me or not because it was picked but not read.
23. More than 100 years old. Jack London's White Fang was picked but not read.
24. Based entirely on cover. Nothing was ever picked.
25. Supposed to read in school but didn't. Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita which I did a paper on in college and did pretty well on for not reading it all the way through. Didn't get around to reading it this time either.
26. A memoir. Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love was picked but not read.
27. You can finish in one day. Because I read Old Man and the Sea in one day, I theorized that I could also read Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises in a day. Which I did.
28. With antonyms in the title. Jaime Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was picked but not read. I had to google this prompt and that was the only one that sounded interesting.
29. Set somewhere you've always wanted to visit. Again with the Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms however this one was picked but not read.
30. Published the year you were born. Andrzej Sapkowski's The Last Wish, which is the first in the "Witcher" series that the video game is set after. I don't remember much about it.
31. With bad reviews. Believe it or not, but Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray had bad reviews. I enjoyed it but you know, there is always one person who complains about anything.
32. a Trilogy. JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series was picked but not read. This is why even though there is only 50 prompts, there were 52 books to read.
33. From your childhood. Bruce Coville's Dark Whispers from the Unicorn Chronicles filled this prompt. Since I didn't want to count re-reads, and a lot of the books series from my childhood I had actually finished or couldn't remember where I left off, I went with this one.
34. With a love triangle. Richelle Mead's Storm Born was picked but not read. Since I enjoyed her Vampire Academy series, which also had a love triangle, I figured I would enjoy this one too, but still haven't gotten around to reading it.
35. Set in the future. Veronica Roth's Allegiant filled this prompt. Considering I had read Divergent and Insurgent in 2013, I figured I should finish the series.
36. Set in high school. Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why was picked but not read.
37. With a color in the title. Richelle Mead's The Indigo Spell was picked but not read. I had read the previous two books in the Bloodlines series, but for some reason didn't read this one. I still haven't but I plan on it.
38. That made you cry. Markus Zusak's The Book Thief was picked, but I'm not sure if it made me cry.
39. With magic. L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s Ordermaster was picked, however I still haven't gotten to it. Oops.
40. Graphic novel. Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis was picked but not read.
41. By an author you've never read before. Rachel Vincent's My Soul to Take was picked but not read.
42. You own but have never read. Nothing was picked for this one. I now have an ample supply of ones I own but have never read.
43. That takes place in your hometown. Coreen Callahan's Fury of Fire (go Seattle!). I did accomplish this one... but haven't read any of the rest of the series. I plan on it. Just haven't yet.
44. Originally written in different language. I took this one a step further and read Antoine de Saint-Exuréy's Le Petit Prince IN FRENCH. I had started reading it Senior year of high school but hadn't finished it and it was one of the first kindle purchases I made but never got around to it until 2015.
45. Set during Christmas. David Baldacci's The Christmas Train was picked but not read.
46. Written by author with your initials. A.D. Miller's Snowdrops was what I picked and if I remember correctly I actually enjoyed this one. However, now that it is three years later I realized that Ann M. Martin, the author of the Baby-Sitters Club series, would have been exact. I counted first and last because not a lot of authors include either their middle name or initial.
47. A play. Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream was picked but not read.
48. Banned book. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was picked but not read.
49. Based on or turned into a tv show*. Melissa de la Cruz's Witches of East End, which aired on Lifetime under the same name, was picked but not read. Oops.
50. You started but never finished. Dram Stoker's Dracula was picked but is still not finished.
*I did however, read Bitten and Stolen by Kelley Armstrong which are the first two books in the Women of the Otherworld series, which was turned into the SyFy show Bitten that aired for 3 years. So technically this prompt was filled, but not by what I had picked and was done after I basically called it quits on the reading challenge.
Some of these I am still interested in reading, but as I mentioned previously (at least I think I did), I want to get the books that are physically on my to-read list on GoodReads done before I get to ones that aren't on that list/ before I add more. Some, like the two by Mead and the ones by Modesitt and Goodkind are on my list so I'll get to them at some point.
So the goal was 52 books in 52 weeks. I did not accomplish that because I stopped reading my list about half way through the year. But, I'm going to list what the prompt was and the book I had picked for said prompt as well as if I read it or not.
1. Book with more than 500 pages. I had picked Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule. The first book in the Sword of Truth series, and also the book that the short TV series Legend of the Seeker was based on which is what interested me in that book. It was also a book that my brother had so I was able to read it.
2. Classic romance. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I don't remember much about this book. But I read it!
3. That became a movie. I had picked Kami Garcia's Beautiful Creatures, but is still on my to-read list. I will get to it...eventually.
4. Published this year. Yeah, I never picked one.......................
5. With a number in the title. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five was the choice and I did read it. I read it in one day, but only gave it 1 star on GoodReads.
6. Written by someone under 30. Pierce Brown's Red Rising. Which I thought was horrible. Yeah.
7. With nonhuman characters. Silvana De Mari's The Last Dragon, which I didn't get to.
8. A funny book. Apparently Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief was a funny book, but I don't remember much other than I did read it. So....
9. By a female author. Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle was picked but not read.
10. Mystery/thriller. Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was picked but not read.
11. With a one-word title. Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf was picked but not read.
12. Book of short stories. James Finn Garner's Politically Correct Bedtime Stories was picked but not read.
13. Set in a different country. Nicole Hadaway's Release was picked but not read.
14. Nonfiction book. Erik Lawson's The Devil in the White City. When I picked this one, I thought it sounded so interesting but it was dreadful. Just awful and dull and boring and yeah.
15. Popular author's first book. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet was picked but not read.
16. From author you love but haven't read yet. Jodi Picoult's The Storyteller was picked but not read. And I still have not read it.
17. A friend recommended. Rachel Hartman's Seraphina was picked but not read. I don't even remember who recommended it.
18. Pulitzer prize-winning. Jeffrey Eugindes's Middlesex was picked but not read.
19. Based on a true story. Beatrice Sparks's Go Ask Alice was picked but not read.
20. At the bottom of your to-read list. Tina Folsom's Cain's Identity which is book 9 of the Scanguards Vampire Series. Which I'm pretty sure I rearranged my to-read list shortly after but who really cares. It was also one of the first ones I read that year.
21. Your mom loves. I never picked one, mainly because my mom is no longer with us, but I remember some book series that she enjoyed but I never got that far.
22. That scares you. Dan Simmons's The Terror. And I don't know if it scared me or not because it was picked but not read.
23. More than 100 years old. Jack London's White Fang was picked but not read.
24. Based entirely on cover. Nothing was ever picked.
25. Supposed to read in school but didn't. Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita which I did a paper on in college and did pretty well on for not reading it all the way through. Didn't get around to reading it this time either.
26. A memoir. Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love was picked but not read.
27. You can finish in one day. Because I read Old Man and the Sea in one day, I theorized that I could also read Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises in a day. Which I did.
28. With antonyms in the title. Jaime Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was picked but not read. I had to google this prompt and that was the only one that sounded interesting.
29. Set somewhere you've always wanted to visit. Again with the Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms however this one was picked but not read.
30. Published the year you were born. Andrzej Sapkowski's The Last Wish, which is the first in the "Witcher" series that the video game is set after. I don't remember much about it.
31. With bad reviews. Believe it or not, but Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray had bad reviews. I enjoyed it but you know, there is always one person who complains about anything.
32. a Trilogy. JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series was picked but not read. This is why even though there is only 50 prompts, there were 52 books to read.
33. From your childhood. Bruce Coville's Dark Whispers from the Unicorn Chronicles filled this prompt. Since I didn't want to count re-reads, and a lot of the books series from my childhood I had actually finished or couldn't remember where I left off, I went with this one.
34. With a love triangle. Richelle Mead's Storm Born was picked but not read. Since I enjoyed her Vampire Academy series, which also had a love triangle, I figured I would enjoy this one too, but still haven't gotten around to reading it.
35. Set in the future. Veronica Roth's Allegiant filled this prompt. Considering I had read Divergent and Insurgent in 2013, I figured I should finish the series.
36. Set in high school. Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why was picked but not read.
37. With a color in the title. Richelle Mead's The Indigo Spell was picked but not read. I had read the previous two books in the Bloodlines series, but for some reason didn't read this one. I still haven't but I plan on it.
38. That made you cry. Markus Zusak's The Book Thief was picked, but I'm not sure if it made me cry.
39. With magic. L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s Ordermaster was picked, however I still haven't gotten to it. Oops.
40. Graphic novel. Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis was picked but not read.
41. By an author you've never read before. Rachel Vincent's My Soul to Take was picked but not read.
42. You own but have never read. Nothing was picked for this one. I now have an ample supply of ones I own but have never read.
43. That takes place in your hometown. Coreen Callahan's Fury of Fire (go Seattle!). I did accomplish this one... but haven't read any of the rest of the series. I plan on it. Just haven't yet.
44. Originally written in different language. I took this one a step further and read Antoine de Saint-Exuréy's Le Petit Prince IN FRENCH. I had started reading it Senior year of high school but hadn't finished it and it was one of the first kindle purchases I made but never got around to it until 2015.
45. Set during Christmas. David Baldacci's The Christmas Train was picked but not read.
46. Written by author with your initials. A.D. Miller's Snowdrops was what I picked and if I remember correctly I actually enjoyed this one. However, now that it is three years later I realized that Ann M. Martin, the author of the Baby-Sitters Club series, would have been exact. I counted first and last because not a lot of authors include either their middle name or initial.
47. A play. Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream was picked but not read.
48. Banned book. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was picked but not read.
49. Based on or turned into a tv show*. Melissa de la Cruz's Witches of East End, which aired on Lifetime under the same name, was picked but not read. Oops.
50. You started but never finished. Dram Stoker's Dracula was picked but is still not finished.
*I did however, read Bitten and Stolen by Kelley Armstrong which are the first two books in the Women of the Otherworld series, which was turned into the SyFy show Bitten that aired for 3 years. So technically this prompt was filled, but not by what I had picked and was done after I basically called it quits on the reading challenge.
Some of these I am still interested in reading, but as I mentioned previously (at least I think I did), I want to get the books that are physically on my to-read list on GoodReads done before I get to ones that aren't on that list/ before I add more. Some, like the two by Mead and the ones by Modesitt and Goodkind are on my list so I'll get to them at some point.
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