A Year of Christian Reading

I'm still here!

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything, and it's time to change that.  I thought I'd start out 2013 by letting you know about my reading plans for this year.  I've decided that in 2013 I will read only Christian Fiction/Nonfiction.  It is a genre that I'm ashamed to say I've read very little of, and I feel the need to fix that this year.

So to kick off my year of Christian reading, I decided to start with the Love Comes Softly Series by Janette Oke.  I'm on book number seven, Love Takes Wing.  My husband got me the series for Christmas and I have to say I have loved each book.  I plan to do a post about the entire series when I finish the last one.

I know the movies are very popular as well.  I've seen the first two and enjoyed them, so I plan to watch the rest when I can manage it.

I've set myself a reading goal of 50 books this year.  I usually set a goal of 100, but I never reach it.  This year I decided to set a goal that's attainable, and I'm off to a good start with 10 books so far for January.

I'm really looking forward to a year of reading, blogging, and following all the great blogs that I love!  Thanks to all of you who read mine!

I Had Forgotten My Intentions...

I'm actively reading two books right now.  I'm near the end of The Thorn Birds, and about in the middle of How to Eat a Cupcake.  There couldn't be two more different books, and I'm loving that fact.  It's a real joy to go back and forth...sort of clear my head, which has been necessary with The Thorn Birds because it's such a heavy book...lots of tragedy.

I have been annoyed lately by how slow I'm reading which has led to fewer and fewer posts.  I'm not really sure why my pace has slowed...it just has and frankly I'm confused by it.  Then today it hit me...I have forgotten my intentions when I started this blog...TO TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH READING!...not just review books.  Don't get me wrong I love to give my opinions about the books I read, but that's not all I had intended to do when I started this blog.  I had always intended to talk about what I read each day, talk about any research I do, magazines, recipes, etc.--my reading life in general.  Starting today I'm going to try to get back to this, and make time each day to visit the blogs I love.  It's funny how fast we can get sidetracked in life, so wish me luck in getting back on track (:

Two More For This Month And Planning For March...

We had a really busy weekend, so I got very little reading done.  I did make some progress on The Thorn Birds, and I continue to like this book very much.  My goal is to finish The Thorn Birds and Daughter of Joy by the end of February bringing my romance total for the month to eight books, and my total for the year so far to sixteen.

Next month I'll be reading mysteries...March is Mystery Month for the Cupcakes War Reading Challenge 2012 which is hosted by Brenda at Curling Up With a Good Book.  I've started downloading books to my Kindle Fire and searching out books that I may want to read.  There are a couple I'm pretty sure I will read to kick off mystery month.

They are...

This one will be a group read for the reading challenge.
Source:  Goodreads

Source:  Goodreads

345 Pages Read...A Few Hundred to Go

Source:  Goodreads

I'm on page 115 of 692 in The Thorn Birds, and I have to say I'm really liking it.  I was drawn into the story immediately.  I see myself finishing this one well before the end of February.

Source:  Goodreads

I'm on page 230 of 384 in Home Front.  I'm really liking this one as well, and I'm expecting to finish it in the morning.  I'll be posting a full review tomorrow.

What I'm Reading Now...

I was planning on reading Home Front by Kristin Hannah next, but I finished Like Water For Chocolate yesterday afternoon, and I haven't gotten my hands on a copy of Home Front yet.  It's checked out at the library at the moment, and I'm sure there's a waiting list anyway.  So I looked through my bookshelves and came across The Thorn Birds.  It's been a recommendation on Goodreads for me for a while, and since it's considered a romance and it's been on my TBR (to be read) list for a long time I figured I'd read it now.  It seems like every book I've read lately has been on my TBR, which is a very good thing since my TBR list is forever long.  It feels nice to finally be making some progress on it.  Now if I would just stop adding books I might be able to tell  (:

The Thorn Birds is a long book, over 600 pages I believe, so I will probably read other romances while I'm reading it.  I'm setting a goal for myself of at least 50 pages a day on this one in hopes that I will make steady progress and finish by the end of February.  

I'm hoping to purchase Home Front today, and start reading it as well.