Category: Potpourri

October 27 – Happy World Day for Audiovisual Heritage!

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October 27, 2016  – UNESCO’s World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.
Theme: “It’s Your Story – Don’t Lose It”

I learn new things in a variety of ways.  For example, I discovered at Wikipedia this morning, that today is World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. Because I didn’t know anything about the day, I went to go to its page on Wikipedia. There I discovered that…..

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage takes place every 27 October. This commemorative day was chosen by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2005 to raise of awareness of the significance of and preservation risks recorded sound and audiovisual documents (films, sound and video recordings, radio and television programmes)

The main objectives of designating the date of 27 October were listed by UNESCO:

  • raising public awareness of the need for preservation;
  • providing opportunities to celebrate specific local, national or international aspects of the heritage;
  • highlighting the accessibility of archives;
  • attracting media attention to heritage issues;
  • raising the cultural status of audiovisual heritage;
  • highlighting audiovisual heritage in danger, especially in developing countries.

 

2016 Theme – “It’s Your Story – Don’t Lose It”

Then at the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations‘s (CCAAA) website. I discovered more about the day and the 2016 theme….

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage has become a key initiative for both UNESCO and the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) to honour audiovisual preservation professionals and institutions that help to safeguard this heritage for future generations despite the many technical, political, social, financial, and other factors that threaten its survival. Audiovisual archives around the world join together annually on 27 October to celebrate their work with activities and events that not only highlight the vulnerability of this heritage, but also celebrate the often unheralded work of the heritage institutions that protect it.

The theme of the World Day this year is “It’s Your Story – Don’t Lose It”. Every culture, every country has its own story to tell. These stories remind us of our shared humanity and build connections between people. Every story we keep in our archives means that we keep memories alive. Stories should be kept safe, stories create an invaluable archive for future generations – it’s your (and their!) story – don’t lose it!

Finally at the  Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations’s (CCAAA) website.I found a list of many programs that will be presented worldwide.

Chicago’s Program – Studs Terkel Radio Archive – American Voices……

Well down the list of programs was  a program from Chicago, Illinois titled Studs Terkel Radio Archive – American Voices……

Studs Terkel broadcast a daily interview show out of Chicago for nearly fifty years.  He was fascinated by human stories and spent his career collecting and sharing them.  We’ve put together the American Voices collection to showcase triumphs and challenges of Americans during the second half of the twentieth century.

Programs:

  • Bob Dylan, 1963
  • Montgomery, Alabama citizens speak about Dr. King’s march, 1965
  • Participants at the Chicago “Be-In”, 1967
  • Chicago high school students, 1970
  • Elsa Knight Thompson, 1970
  • Hunter S. Thompson (featuring a clip of Ron Kovic), 1973
  • Ed and Marlene Sadlowski, labor leaders, 1974
  • Gloria Steinem, 1982
  • Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, 1992
  • Roger Ebert, 1996

 

You can listen to the various interviews here

The Bob Dylan, Carl Sagan interviews along with the Montgomery, Alabama citizens speaking about Dr King all seem interesting! What do you think! Anyway, I hope you had a Happy World Day for Audiovisual Heritage!

Links for the Further Exploration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

Unesco:World Day For Audiovisual Heritage 
CCAAA: World Day for Audiovisaul Heritage
Studs Terkel Radio Archive Blog
Digital Meets Heritage:World Day for Audiovisual Heritage: let’s celebrate!

September 2016 – A Review of the Six Books I Read!

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September 2016 – Six Books Read in a Busy Month! Yeah Me!

I had a great reading month in September of 2016. I finished the five books on the above slider and they all were really good. The books I read came from a variety of genres. There was; a mystery from one of my favorite authors The Second Life of Nick Mason, a non-fiction book history book The Winter Fortress by Neal Bascom, an award-winning general fiction – Life of Pi from Yann Martell, a science fiction space opera Dark Run by Mike Brooks, and a political thriller Red Cell from Mark Henshaw. I think that a pretty good mix of genres!

I also finished a sixth book The One Plan:A Week-by-Week Guide to Restoring Your Natural Health and Happiness by Yogi Cameron Alborzian, but I haven’t written anything about it yet. The One Plan had a lot of good ideas that I plan to implement. I don’t think I’m ready to commit to many of the aspects of the plan though, The Path is a little too intense for me!

Finishing the six books brought the total number of books I have read this year to 37. In order to be on pace to read my projected total of 60 books in 2016, I would have to have read 45 books by the end of September, so I am eight books off of the pace or on pace to read 52 books which would be 1 more than 2015. I would be very happy if I reach that total, but I will still try to pick up the pace and shoot for the goal of 60 books!

 

Vinnie Ream and the Lincoln Statue

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July 28, 1866 – Vinnie Ream receives a commission from the United States government for a statue of Lincoln

 

Ok so think back on what you were during in the summer when you were eighteen. Let’s see, ok well some of us may take a little while to answer because we have to think back a little farther!! Hmm, I was eighteen in 1969. Oh, yeah I was probably waiting to see if my draft number was high enough that I wouldn’t have to move to Canada. I was also going into my senior year of high school. So I was probably working with my dad picking up produce from around the county and trucking it to the New York market.

Now imagine you are an 18 year-old female in 1866. What I don’t think you would imagine, is that you would be receiving a commission from the United States government for a statue of Abraham Lincoln that was going to stand in the U.S, Capital Rotunda! But that is just what happened to Vinnie Reams and on July 28, 1866 she became the youngest artist and the first women to receive a commission from the United States government!!

About Vinnie Ream and the Lincoln Statue

At seventeen in 1863, Reams became an apprentice to scupltor Clark Mills,, after she was introduced to Mills by James S,. Rollins.A year later in 1864, President Lincoln agreed to model for her. Lincoln modeled in the morning for five months,and she created a bust of his figure. In 1866 she used that bust as her entry into the selection contest for the full-size Lincoln sculpture. On July 28th of 1866, Vinnie was awarded the commission by a vote of Congress. Of course the commission was not awarded without controversy. According to her biography at Wikipedia…..

There was significant debate over her selection as the sculptor, however, because of concern over her inexperience and the slanderous accusations that she was a “lobbyist”, or a public woman of questionable reputation. She was notorious for her beauty and her conversational skills, which likely contributed to these accusations.

She worked in a studio in Room A of the basement of the Capitol to produce a plaster model of the statue. During that time Senator Edmund G. Ross boarded with Ream’s family. The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was also in progress at this time. The impeachment trial ended with Ross casting the decisive vote against the removal of President Johnson from office. Of course, since bad things are always the fault of a woman, Ream was accused of influencing his vote. She was almost dismissed from the Capitol with her unfinished Lincoln statue.  It took the intervention of powerful New York sculptors to prevented that from happening!!

Soon the U.S. government approved Ream’s plaster model, Ream traveled to Paris, Munich, Florence, then Rome, to produce the finished marble figure. While she was in Rome she was the subject of more controversial rumors.The rumors claimed that Italian workmen and not Ream were responsible of the sculpture of Lincoln.

Ream returned to Washington in 1871, and on January 25, 1871, her white marble statue of President Abraham Lincoln was unveiled in the United States Capitol rotunda, Ream was only 23 years old!!.[

Other Sculptures by Vinnie Ream

During her career Vinnie Ream created many more statues. Here is a list of her statues taken from Wikipedia…

You can see pictures of these statues and read more about her here at Wikipedia. So what were you doing at 18? Whose bust were you creating? I know I wasn’t doing anything as prestigious as Vinnie Ream was doing!!

 

 

Featured Image: By Mathew Brady – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID , Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1553426

 

First Loaf of Sliced Bread Sells July 7,1928.

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Using a Machine Designed by Otto  Rohwedder Sliced Bread Sells for the First Time – July 7, 1928

Ok so was Otto  Rohwedder, a jeweler by trade, was just sitting around one day and thought ” I think I can design a machine that slices bread!” Must be nice! I sure wish I had those kinds of thoughts!

Anyway that’s what he did and in 192 7, Rohweder not only designed a machine that slice bread, but the machine also wrapped it!! After applying for patents, he sold his first machine to a friend,  Frank Bench, who was a baker. The machine was installed in the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri. Their first loaf of sliced bread was sold on July 7, 1928! Other bakeries soon bought the machine, making sliced bread available across the country, and well ,the rest as they say is history!!

Initially, Rodwedder studied optometry and graduated from the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology and Otology in Chicago in 1900 with a degree in optics. He became a jeweler and owned three jewelry stores in St. Joseph, MI. But as he worked on watches and jewelry, he also thought about new machines. When he became convinced that he could develop a bread slicing machine, he sold his jewelry stores to follow that dream. However, the realization of that dream was delayed for several years.In 1917, a fire broke out at the factory where Rohwedder was manufacturing his machine, resulting in the destruction of his prototype and blueprints.

After the success of his first machine one of the first companies to sell sliced bread was the Continental Baking Company. They introduced Wonder Bread in 1930. Sales of sliced bread went up, as did the sale of automatic toasters. Toasters were invented by Charles Strite in 1926  The end result was that in 1933 American bakeries for the first time produced more sliced than unsliced bread loaves!! Thank You, Otto Rohwedder!

Links for Further Exploration of Otto Rohwedder

Wikipedia
The Great Idea Finder: Bread Slicer

Now there are certain words and phrases that cause the Jukebox in my Head to pull up a song and Jeweler is one of those words. Here is one of my all-time favorite songs “The Jeweler” from Pearls Before Swine!

Let’s Talk Action Thrillers!!

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 Thoughts about the Action Thrillers that I have Read and those I Still Read!

I guess I started reading action thrillers back in the early 1980s, when a work colleague introduced me to the works of Clive Cussler and his hero Dirk Pitt! My first encounter with Mr. Pitt was in the book Raise the Titanic. I quickly went back and read his previous books and continued to follow Dirk’s adventures for several years. The novels always had a good mix of history and action.

At the same time I started to read The November Man novels from Bill Granger. The November Man books were James Bond and Jason Bourne type novels with an intriguing character. I followed this series for many years reading most of the twelve books in the series.

During this period, I also read most of Robert Ludlum;s action thrillers, along with books from David Morrell like The Brotherhood of the Rose and The League of Night and Fog. Richard Hoyt was another author whose action thrillers I enjoyed. His character was James Burlane.

I also read several of the John LeCarre George Smiley novels I know for sure that I read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and I may have read another but I’m not sure.

More recently the three action thriller series that I have followed, though I am way behind on all of them are the Mitch Rapp novels of Vince Flynn, Brad Thor’s Scott Harvath novels and Alex Berenson’s John Wells series. I have enjoyed all the books in these series, but over the last few years, I have read fewer and fewer of these types of books. At this point I think I will just have to just pick up one of the recent books, read it, and then go back and read the earlier one. It seems that if I don’t do that, I will just keep putting off reading books that I like!!!

One action thriller series, that I have kept up with pretty well, is the James Rollins Sigma Force series. The latest book in that series is The Bone Labyrinth, which is number 11 in the series. I have read all of the books except the first book Sandstorm and the two most recent books The 6th Extinction and of course The Bone Labyrinth. I have both of those books checked out of the library right now and Sandstorm has been on my TBR pile forever!!

Prior to starting the Sigma Force Series, Rollins wrote several standalone thrillers like Subterranean, Excavation and Deep Fathom all of which were great reads

Hey I forgot the Gabriel Allon books from Daniel Silva.and what about the Bob Lee Swagger books fromStephen Hunter, those are good too!! Can you say too many books too little time!!

Now I haven’t even touch on the suspense and psychological thrillers that I have read…….that’s for later now it’s back toThe Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child. Child is half of the writing team of Preston & Child whose Pendergrast series I also have read!! Hmm, that reminds me that the Pendergrast series is up to Book 15 and that I am only on book 7 …..argh!

So who is your favorite action thriller character????? Hmm, maybe Mitch Rapp, no John Wells…….

 

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My Biologic Clock Still Not Going Backwards..

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Why the Biologic Clock is not going backwards….

Over the last month and a half I have not done a whole lot to turn back my biologic clock. In fact with my bronchitis and I think a couple of colds, I have basically been trying to keep that clock from taking great leaps forward. One of the things that I haven’t been able to do is start back running, which is hard to do when you can’t stop coughing, and it’s cold outside! But now even when the weather is nicer and I’m feeling better I am finding it difficult to find the time to run.

The other day I was thinking about it and realized that when I add babysitting our two grandchildren to my Target schedule my schedule gets pretty full! I am off Sunday and Monday, but then the rest of the week has been pretty crowded! Lately its been Target Tuesdays and Thursdays followed by babysitting Zoe and then babysitting Oliver on Wednesday and Fridays and Target starting at 6 am on Saturdays With the return of my daughter-in-law’s grandmother from a February vacation, my babysitting duties for Zoe my slack off and Oliver may be going to day care full-time, I may have more time in my schedule. But I also know that I will miss babysitting them greatly, actually, babysitting them is a lot more fun than running, so I think in the long run I’d rather squeeze in the running time and babysit then sit around and miss them! You can’t win!

Anyway, all this has led me to writing a lot less on this blog! From Tuesday through Saturday when I’m done work or babysitting I’m tired and can successfully put off writing until it’s time for bed.

I have been for the most part been keeping up with yoga and meditation in the mornings and sometimes in the evening. I have read ten books so far this year have actually explored the music of a lot of musicians some old favorites but more that I am listening to for the first time!

The Music that keeps me going….

Three weeks ago, I decided to pick a few jazz albums out the listened to them whenever I was in the car those albums included new releases from: GoGo Penguin’s Man Made Objects, Herlin Riley‘s New Direction and Matthew Halsall’s Into Forever. of the three Herlin Riley’s New Direction was my favorite.

More Guitar than Friends - Anni Piper helps my biologic clock slow downTwo weeks, I did the same thing with blues albums and listened to the latest from Anni Piper, RB Stone- Some Call it Freedom (Some Call it the Blues), Riff Riders – Hit the Road,  Toronzo Cannon- The Chicago Way and Van Wilks-21st Century Blues. My favorites were Anni Piper’s More Friends than Guitars, which I did manage to write about, but Toronzo Cannon’s The Chicago Way, is still on my list to write about!

New Age albums that have been in my rotation include: Distant Horsemen from Timothy Wenzel and Uma Silbey’s Altered States. Both of which have been soundtracks for exercise and meditations! Tmothy Wenzel’s is my favorite of these two!

Ok so my goals look a lot like they did three weeks ago…..

The Goals for the Week…..

Get Back to Eating Better: to that end I bought strawberries and blueberries yesterday.

Do yoga every morning (maybe add a new routine)

Run two times this week

Continue to Read, hopefully finish one or two books!

Write about the albums and artists that I have been listening to over the last several weeks!

Here’s Toronzo Cannon and his band performing “Fine Seasoned Woman” from The Chicago Way Oh by the way this song has the Zoe seal of approval as she rocked out to it in her car seat this week!

A Post-Birthday Trip to the Library Book Sale!!

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Five Treasures Found at the Library Book Sale

So October is really zipping by, seems like it was just my birthday (Oct 1), I guess that’s what happens when you’re busy. Anyway, the Cinnaminson Branch of the Burlington County Library had their fall book sale Oct 1-3rd and well since I  needed to take some books back and pickup a book that I had put on hold, I begrudgingly visited the used book sale. Yeah right!

I have discovered that the best way to control my spending at these book sales is to go with a set amount of money to spend! For this sale I had ten dollars to spend. Here’s how I spent my money…..

Think of a Number Book Sale BookFirst up was John Verdon’s Think of a Numb3r.(Dave Gurney #1). From Goodreads….

An extraordinary fiction debut, Think of a Number is an exquisitely plotted novel of suspense that grows relentlessly darker and more frightening as its pace accelerates, forcing its deeply troubled characters to moments of startling self-revelation Read More

I have seen this book  before, but for some reason I have never picked it up. Now is the time!!

 

Next came Last to Die from Tess Gerritsen. I have loved Tess Gerritsen’s Jane Rizzoli since The Surgeon for some reason I have put off reading Gerritsen’s latest book and every time I finish one of them I shake my head and question – why??

The Death Relic Chris KuzneskiBooks from two other authors whose books I have enjoyed and yet don’t seem to read often enough caught my eye. First, The Death Relic from Chris Kuzneski and then Gregg Hurwitz‘s  You’re Next.

When Maria Pelati’s research team disappears in Mexico, Jonathon Payne and David Jones embark on a perilous mission to find the missing archaeologists. The duo quickly finds a link between the group’s work and its recent disappearance. Following the clues left behind, their pair try to solve one of the darkest mysteries of the new world. More

Kuzneski’s books always blend history and action. The Death Relic is book #7 of the Jonathon Payne and David Jones series. I have read books #2 and # 4) in the series and enjoyed them so I know I’ll enjoy The Death Relic!!

Gregg Hurwitz’s You’re Next is a stand alone thriller. I hope that this one is as good as the last Hurwitz novel I read Tell No Lies which was really, really good!

Every Day David LevithanThe final book that I bought was every day by David Levithan

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon Read More

every day is not a book that I would typically read but it sounds really interesting and I’ve been going to get the book from the library for a long time!!

So the final tally at the book sale was two hard backs the first two books and three trade size paperbacks for a whopping $9.00!! Now I just have to find the time to read them all!!

 

RGranddad’s Wednesday Potpouri

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ADD Potpouri…Baseball, Bonamassa, Box and The Tangent –

 

I once worked with a guy named Garry, his brothers were Larry, Barry and Chuck …. Garry, Larry, Barry and Chuck like the above headline one does not belong…here’s a little ADD potpouri for a Wednesday…….

Once again I am apologizing for not posting much over the last few days, but I have been fairly busy. I babysat Zoe on Monday no problem and then yesterday I babysat Oliver and while we had a great day Oliver needed two naps to keep himself going and while Granddad made it without napping when he got home he was spent and napped through several baseball games!! The inning that I would have liked to have seen was the top of the ninth inning in Pittsburgh when the Cubbies scored three to beat the Pirates 9-8, after the Bucs had scored three in the eighth to go ahead.

I have decided that my alternates to the Phillies to root for are the Cubs in the NL Central and the Royals in the American League!My connection to the Cubs goes back to the early 60s when my mother’s first cousin Barney Schultz pitched for them! One time while he was pitching for them, my parents and I were allowed into the area outside of the visiting locker room in Connie Mack Stadium where I got autographs of Cubs players!! That was a big deal for a maybe 12 year-old kid!

As for the Royals while I have never been a fan of them, especially in 1980, but what they have done recently in building an exciting young team has bee impressive and there is a Philly connection through Mike Arbuckle who is now a top person in the Royals front office. He should have been named Phillies GM back when Amaro got the job!! Anyway over the first few weeks I have enjoyed watching both of these teams!!

Muddy Wolf Live at Red Rocks Joe Bonamassa

 

As for music over the last day or so. The soundtrack for the tip down to Paulsboro and Oliver was the new release from Joe Bonamassa Muddy Wolf – Live at Red Rocks, which from what I heard surely does rock. I will listen to it some more and let you know more about the album. On the way back I listened to a little of the latest release from the prog rock band The Tangent A Spark in the Aether.  While I am a fan of Joe  Bonamassa  I know little about The Tangent from ProgArchives I read that they are a multinational eclectic prog band…..

THE TANGENT is a project originally formed by Andy Tillison, Guy Manning and Sam Baine of PARALLEL OR 90 DEGREES [Po90] as well as half of THE FLOWER KINGS including Jonas Reingold, Zoltan Csorsz and guitar virtuoso and former KAIPA member Roine Stolt. Of course to put further icing on the cake David Jackson of VAN DER GRAFF GENERATOR would lend his legendary sax to the band for their debut album. This started out as a mere project and was actually intended to be a Tillison solo effort before it became a full fledged band as Tillison felt the need to produce something more typically ‘prog’ than he’d been doing in Po90 Continue Reading

I am not sure how much I like this album yet based on my limited listening yesterday. So far at ProgArchives the album has a 4.19 rating which is very high! I think I will flip a coin to see which album is the soundtrack to today’s run!!

In addition to The Tangent, l listened to a few tracks from Wolf & Clarke Expedition 2 . This is one of my favorite new jazz albums. I had included the album on a playlist of new jazz albums last week, You can check out that playlist here.

C J Box

 

Finally, I have finished two books this week. First was the latest from Jorgen Brekke Dreamless and the second Island of the Sequined Love Nun from Christopher Moore. Both were great and I promise  reviews today or tomorrow!! Here also is an update on my reading challenges with the latest boos added. So far I am up to 17 books for the year a number I reached near the end of August last year!! As you can see, I am now only reading three books and I probably should concentrate on finishing those three, but Endangered the new C J Box  Joe Pickett novel is calling me from the shelving cart at the Riverside Library!!

So Missy should be home any minute now and babysitting duties will be over and it’s off to the library and then Trader Joes and then a run or maybe just a run and Trader Joes tomorrow……..

Reading Challenge From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 2 2 11 18%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 4 6 10 23 43%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2thy 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 2 1 3 12 25%
Totals 7 10 17 51 33%
Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
The President’s War Nonfiction Library 160 316 51%
What Then Must We Do-Gar Alperowitz Nonfiction Library 45 156 29%
Bowl of Heaven – Benford and Niven Science Fiction Library 36 412 9%

Reading Challenges – A Quick Update – April 2, 2015

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Edward finishes Book 13 of 2015 – brings home 3 new Reading Challenges Books -Oh My!

 

A quick Reading Challenges Update! This afternoon I finished book number 13 for 2015.When Gods Die -a Sebastian St.Cyr mystery from C.S.Harris. This is the first book that I have read in this series and it will not be my last!! It is actually Book #2 of what is now a 10 book series. The book’s setting is London in June of 1811, where Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin is investigating the murder of a beautiful young wife of an aging marquis. The young woman was found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent with a jeweled dagger that once belonged to Bonnie Prince Charlie in her back. And a necklace that belonged to Sebastian’s dead mother around her neck! I will write my complete review tomorrow but for now I’ll just say I really, really liked the book!!

As far as the books I am currently reading and my proposed April reads, let’s recap. I’m am still reading The President’s War, On Writing from Stephen King and Sarah J Maas’s Crown of Midnight.

Now I should be satisfied to just keep reading those three books, but Noooo! I had to go to Barnes & Noble the other night and while there I saw that The Chessmen the third book in Peter May’s terrific Lewis trilogy has been released along with Dreamless, the next installment of the Odd Singsaker series from Norwegian author Jorgen Brekke. I have read the first two books in May’s series The Black House and The Lewis Man and loved them both. I also read Brekke’s first Where Monsters Dwell. and loved it as well! So, after I came home I went to my library’s website and saw that they had both books so I requested them. I also had previously requested the first Jack MacTaggart book Hush Money. I did not think that all THREE of the books were available or that they would come so quickly, but I picked up all three at the library today!!  Now of those three books, I have to read,  The Chessmen,   that series is just too good. So I will set aside the other two books and concentrate on the three books  have been reading and The Chessmen starting either of the other two upon completion of my next book! .

Anyway here is the current status of my reading challenges and the books I am currently reading!! I do believe working on these reading challenges and keeping these charts have helped me focus on my reading, In 2014, I didn’t finish the 13th book until August!! In 2013 I finished book 13 a little earlier in the year, but it was still on May 24th!! So now i just have to keep  going!! So excuse me while I go read!!

 

Reading Challenges From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 1 1 11 9%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 4 4 8 23 35%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 1 1 2 12 17%
Totals 6 7 13 51 25%
Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
The President’s War Nonfiction Library 142 316 45%
On Writing Nonfiction TBR Pile 176 284 62%
Crown of Midnight Fantasy Library 90 418 22%

Reading Challenge Update and March Reads

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March Reading Challenge Update and Current Reads

 

So I finished book 8 of the year The Things Carried on February 27 and Book 9 Hard Rain by Barry Eisler on March 2nd. Both of those books were from my TBR pile and they bring the total number of books I have read in 2015 from my TBR pile to six. Since The Things They Carried is about the Vietnam War,it is historical fiction and the first book I have read this year that counts toward that challenge! While Hard Rain is a cloak & dagger book and brings the total in that challenge to 5! So here is where I stand now on my various challenges!

Reading Challenge From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 1 1 11 9%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 4 1 5 23 22%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 0 1 5 20%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 1 1 2 12 17%
Totals 6 3 9 51 18%

 

Now as for what am I planning to read in March.Well I’m still reading The President’s War about the six presidents who were still alive during the Civil War and what five of them thought of the actions of the sitting President Lincoln’s actions, along with Breaking Creed and Crown of Midnight. However, other night when I was reviewing the new books arriving in March, I came across a new Stanley Hastings mystery Safari from Parnell Hall!! I love the Hastings series so I checked the library and it was available,so I requested it I picked it up on Friday. I have to read it, So I put Green-Eyed Lady on hold.  The good thing though is that Hall’s books are usually fast reads! While I was at the library, I also picked up When Gods Die by C.S. Harris. It is the second book in the Sebastian St.Cyr series. Set in England in 1811, the book goes towards my historical fiction challenge!! Si if you excuse me I have some reading to do!!

Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
The President’s War – Chris DeRose Nonfiction Library 130 316 41%
Breaking Creed – Alex Kava Cloak & Dagger Library 14 310 5%
When Gods Die – C.S. Harris Historical Fiction Library 30 336 9%
Crown of Midnight – Sarah J Maas Fantasy Library 86 418 21%
Safari – Parnell Hall Cloak & Dagger Library 20 261 8%