In My Mailbox (21)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event held by The Story Siren. I have a lot of books to talk about this week, due to Christmas.

From Tor Books: Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers. I've been dying to read this one for months, so I was thrilled to get a copy!

From Paperback Swap: The People of Sparks: The Second Book of Ember (Books of Ember) by Jeanne DuPrau. I recently finished The City of Ember and it was fantastic, so I can't wait to continue with the series.

From my family & friends for Christmas: Rampant by Diana Peterfreund, The Dress Lodger (New York Times Notable Books) by Sheri Holman, The Passage b y Justin Cronin, Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne & Dust by Joan Frances Turner.

I also got one of these... A Nook WiFi!

I bought some books for my Nook as well: Vixen (The Flappers) by Jillian Larkin & Need by Carrie Jones.

From Netgally I also got The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell, The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton, & Like Clockwork by Bonnie Dee.

That's it for my mailbox, and it's probably the biggest haul I've had by far! What's in your mailbox this week?

Favorite Books That I Read This Year

Today I'm featuring my favorite books of the year. This was not an easy list to make, as I've read a lot of books this year! These books are in no particular order.

Anna & The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I think this book has been pretty universally loved. It's such a great story of young love in Paris. Review here.

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl. This is my very favorite paranormal series. Review here.

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. A zombie tale that is truly for everyone. I can't wait to read Dust & Decay, the next book in the series! Review here.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher. This is not an easy book to read, but it's so, so worth it. Review here.

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready. I cannot WAIT to read Shift, the next book in this series! Review here.

Hunger Games Trilogy-Suzanne Collins. I read the first two books in January, and February. I still loved Mockingjay, but not as much as the first two books. Reviews
here, here & here.


What were your favorite books that you read this year?

2011 Goals

With the year coming to a close, it's only natural that we turn our focus to the new year. I decided to take stock of what I accomplished this year and what I want to work on in 2011. This is mostly for myself, but I always get inspiration from reading other blogger's goals, so I thought I'd post it here!

Blog Goals

• Continue blogging ahead and try to have blog posts scheduled for at least one week ahead. 
• Consider which additional blog tours I want to participate in.
• Set a budget for contests, and stick to it!
• Set aside one day twice a month to focus on the blog. Schedule blog review posts, brainstorm topics, etc. 

Writing Goals

• Set aside at least three hours a day to write and revise. 
• Start putting out feelers so I can find a critique partner whose style is similar to my own.
• Research my two long-term "out of the box" projects. The first is a historical/time-travel, the second being a contemporary YA that will take a lot of research regardless. 
• Attend at least one SCBWI event or online Writer's Digest event/course.
• Spend time researching agents and the querying process, so when I'm ready for it, I'll be prepared. 

Reading Goals

• Read at least eighty books in 2011. In 2010 I read about sixty-five, which is an all-time high for me, but I want to go further! 
• Expand my reading list beyond YA. YA will still take up a good chunk of what I'm reading, but I don't want to risk burn-out. I think that could happen if I don't start reading other genres.

Did you set any goals for 2011? If so, I wish you the best of luck with them!

Books I Didn't Finish in 2010

With all the books I read in a year, there's bound to be at least a few that I wasn't able to finish. I usually try to push through with books, but here were the few that I couldn't manage to finish. In order to give a full picture of what I've read this year, I felt it was only fair to talk about the books that didn't capture my interest as most books did.

Feed (Newsflesh, Book 1)-Mira Grant. This is one book I hope to pick up again at some point. There were aspects of this book that I really liked, but ultimately it was very different from what I imagined. It seemed more like a book about journalists following a presidential campaign than really about zombies-at least at the point I set it aside.

The Dark Divine-Bree Despain. I know I'm in the minority here, but I couldn't get into this one. I didn't care for the way it was written, with headings like 'Later that night', etc. distracted me from the story.

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle-L.J. Smith. I really tried with this one, but I just couldn't get past Elena. I'm not a huge Vampire Diaries fan (I like the TV show, but don't watch it weekly) but I like Elena on the TV show, and the Elena in the books (at least in the beginning) is a major bitch. Had to put it down, as mean girls just grate my nerves.

Heist Society-Ally Carter. This is another one that I hope to pick up again at a later date. I just wasn't in the right mood for it and therefore I didn't really connect with the characters. I hope to give it another go next year.

The Julian Game-Adele Griffin. Put this one down for the same reason I put down the Vampire Diaries-mean girls. I just didn't care for any of the characters.

Lady Lazarus-Michele Lang. This book is good, but it was taking me a long time to read, so I decided to shelve it until I had more time to devote to it.  The history elements are really interesting, so I'll probably go back to it when I'm in my twice-yearly 1940's kicks.

 Empty-Suzanne Weyn. I really liked the premise of this book, but ultimately I felt like it read like a book that you'd be assigned in school. There was more focus on a lesson on how the loss of fossil fuels would affect our society, rather than a story about characters I really cared about.

Insatiable-Meg Cabot. This book was good, but not great. If it had been shorter, I may have just continued, but this book is nearly 500 pages. I abandoned it about a third of the way in.

How many books did you abandon this year?

In My Mailbox (20) & Merry Christmas!

In My Mailbox is a weekly event held by The Story Siren. Just a few books for me this week:

 From Around the World Tours: Across the Universe by Beth Revis. From the library: Insatiable by Meg Cabot, The Agency 2: The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee & Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson.

Secondly, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope your holiday is joyful, and there are many books waiting for you under the tree! I'll still be posting through the holidays, but not quite as often.

Review: Mary Anne in Autumn by Armistead Maupin

Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel-Armistead Maupin
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: November 2, 2010
Source: Review copy provided by publisher
Author Website

Building on the success of 2007's "New York Times" bestseller "Michael Tolliver Lives," Maupin presents a new addition to the Tales of the City series that brings readers up to date on a beloved character: the woman who started it all, Mary Ann Singleton.

A hilarious and touching new installment of Armistead Maupin's beloved Tales of the City series
Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York. Now a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, a gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband.
Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple's backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of fifty-seven, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes. Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her checkered past comes back to haunt her in a way she could never have imagined.
(Borders)

I have been a fan of Armistead Maupin's since the 90's, when I first saw the Tales of the City mini-series. It was so well done, and the characters so well developed, that I watched most of it in one sitting. The series is a bit dishy and trashy at times, but that's what makes it so much fun. I'll be honest and say I haven't read all of his books, but the good thing is? You don't need to. If you're familiar with Mrs. Madrigal, Mouse, Mary Anne and the rest of the original players, you'll love this book, but in my opinion, Mary Anne in Autumn is written in such a way that even someone that's not familiar with the series will still enjoy it.

It was interesting meeting these characters again so many years after the original series. Mary Anne returns to San Francisco when she finds her life in turmoil, and she finds herself living in Mouse's cottage in his back garden. Mary Anne is the main character, but we also see the story from her adopted daughter's prospective, along with Mouse's partner Ben, and Jake, a young transgendered man who is staying with Mrs. Madrigal. All of their stories merge at the conclusion of the book, and that was my only real disappointment with the book in general. I don't know how to explain it, but I guess the best thing to say is that elements of the ending felt a bit unrealistic to me.

Despite my slight issues with the ending, Mary Anne in Autumn was such a delight. I loved connecting with some of the gang from 28 Barbary Lane, and hope this won't be the last book with these beloved characters.