The Sunday Salon and Reader Resolutions..

Happy New Year! And welcome to The Sunday Salon! Winter has finally come to Connecticut and the excitement of a new year is in the air. As we put away our cut-offs and tank tops (yes, it was that warm last week) and we move indoors for the next few months, it's time to turn our attention back to reading and book shelves and other inside activities. Of course reading is always on our mind, isn't it. I almost always have a book with me just in case I get stuck somewhere. But what other bookish things do we do during the year or mean to do during the year? And do you have any reader resolutions?!

Reader Resolution #1… This is probably "Read More Books" for most people, or read more nonfiction or horror or "you fill in the blank" kind of books. Or read a specific amount of books… I signed up for the reading challenge of reading 50 books for the year (a lofty goal). But I have resolved to read more poetry in the past, and to read more science fiction too. But does it always have to be about reading? NO!

What About… Organization or decoration? How about  resolving to organizing your books in one place or by author or even by color?! How about resolving to get a book shelf or build one! Or how about rotating the books on your shelves? Do you like to have your favorites there, the currents there or a combination? I always have favorites on the shelves, but when I run out of room for some of the new books I want to shelve, it's time to rotate… and decide to store or donate (see resolution below)!

A Resolution to "Clean out the Shelves"…  Yes, for some of us it's hard to get rid of books. I NEVER throw out books, but every year I do clean out my shelves and donate books that I have read, but don't need to keep. My local library has a sale and my book donation helps raise money for things not in their budget.

Visit Your Local Library… Why not resolve this year to visit your local library?! Libraries are a great local resource for a lot of things and even just walking through those doors and checking out a book once in a while shows that people still use the library! I have a fantastic local library, but I can remember times when funding was leaner and budget cuts took away some of the things I enjoyed (like eBooks). If libraries aren't used they will disappear! In some places they already have.

Read What You Have!… This could be a sub category of "Read More" resolutions, but I think that it deserves it's own category! How many TBR books do you have on your shelf?(or nightstand or table…) TBR, aka To Be Read, can multiply like rabbits in some readers homes! I know this from experience. There are many reasons for buying a book and not reading it right away, but sometimes those books can get lost in the shelves for YEARS! Am I right?! So, why not resolve to read what you already have? Not easy with all these wonderful books coming out every month, but maybe resolving to read at least one for every new book you buy?

My Reader Resolutions are simple…

1.  I resolve to read books that I think I will enjoy and if I'm not enjoying a book, I am going to put it down without guilt (that's hard sometimes). 
2.  I resolve to sign up for reading challenges for FUN! I have signed up for a few reading challenges (read 50 books, read 12 Graphic Novels, read 6 library books), but I am NOT going to let the challenges rule my reading life! Theses challenges are for pleasure and fun, NOT Stress! And that includes my own Chick with Books "Book Bingo" Challenge, which I'm hosting as a FUN way to read books. 
3. I resolve to use my library more. Not just because of the library challenge I signed up for, but because I don't need to buy every book I want to read and this will save some money!
4. I resolve to Blog more! The past year or so life just got in the way a bit, but I miss chatting with everyone here and in the book blogging community! So expect more this year, including the fun stuff like giveaways! 

I'm hosting a FUN reading challenge! Book Bingo is a fun way to see if you can fill in the spaces of a bingo card with the books that you're reading! It's also a way to nudge you to read something you may not normally read, so you can get that space filled for a Bingo! Follow this link: Chick with Books "Book Bingo" to read all about it and join in on the fun! If you would like a printable Bingo card, just email me at quzy@mac.com and I'll get one to you!

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I think that about does it for MY reader resolutions! What about YOU?! Do you have any Reader Resolutions for this year? Hope I shared some ideas for you! Let me know! And share any ideas you have with me here! I'd love to hear all about them!

Happy Reading… Suzanne

2014 Book Bingo Reading Challenge

2014 Book Bingo Reading Challenge

Do you like Bingo? This Bingo isn't played in a hall with an announcer calling out the numbers drawn, but it does have a Bingo card you must fill in during the year. I love playing games, and I just couldn't resist playing along with this reading game, so I signed up! It will be a challenge (there are a lot of books to read if you want to fill in the whole card), but hey, I have a whole year and I love reading anyway! To "win" or meet the challenge, you don't have to fill in the whole card, just one line either horizontal, vertical or diagonal, just like Bingo, but why not try for more?! This is the 2014 Book Bingo Reading Challenge, hosted by Anne from  Creativity's Corner and Kristilyn from  Reading in Winter. I'll be posting the books I've read for this challenge at the bottom of this post..

Here are the rules and the official Bingo Card…

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Of course, a challenge isn’t really a challenge unless there are some rules and guidelines:

1. Be awesome. If you’re not, this isn’t going to work.

2. The challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2014.

3. If you want to participate, you can join in any time of the year! Feel free to write up a blog post with the rules linking back to my and Anne’s blog in your sign-up post. You can add your post to the Linky at the end of this post!

4. If you read one book for the “1 book” in any category, you can’t change it later on when you read another book to “2 books.” Once a square is crossed off, it’s crossed off for good! (Feel free to print off the scoreboard to keep track!)

5. Books read for one square are for that square ONLY and cannot be counted towards another category. This is all about reading ALL THE BOOKS.

6. The FREE SQUARES are a little different this year — now you can use those squares to read ANY book you like of any genre! Woo!

7. You can start your board over again, but ONLY if you receive the stamp of awesome by completing a blackout. The “winners” of the challenge will be the ones who achieve the most winning combinations by the end of 2014.

8. You can feel free to post your reading list for each category, though it’s not a requirement.
9. Having a blog or writing reviews for books read is not required. So long as you want to have fun, you can participate!

10. Every 3 months I will post an update here and all participants can link to their own updates. An update post will go up April 1st, July 1st, October 1st, and December 31st.

11. This isn’t a race, but don’t be afraid to rub your reads in the other player’s face. This will be seen as encouragement. Feel free to use the hashtag #BookBingo2014 on Twitter!

Doesn't this sound like a lot of fun?! Interested in joining? You can check out all the details, how to be an awesome player and find the place to sign up at Reading in Winter!
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Books Read for the Challenge…

Three Souls by Janie Chang for The Square: New Releases: One Book.

Reading Resolutions & A Happy New Year

2012 was a year of transition for Chick with Books. Ok, maybe  just for the girl behind Chick with Books. I was here, I was there, but I still usually had a book in hand and never lost my love of talking about great books! 

The start of a new year is always exciting to me. Fresh starts, new ideas, and plenty of great reading on the horizon. I always look forward to my favorite authors writing wonderful new books, discovering new authors whose words wrap themselves around my reading soul, and finding books that transport me to places I've never been. Chick with books is coming back Sundays with The Sunday Salon, where I'll be highlighting some great books wrapped around a theme, or covering bookish happenings from around the world. I'll be reviewing some great new books, but also some books that we might have missed when they were first published, a.k.a."oldies but goodies". If you enjoyed my coverage of memoirs, Memoir Mondays will pop up monthly, covering memoirs and maybe some great nonfiction thrown in too. I haven't forgotten about the new way we read either... eReaders! There are some great reading bargains to be had, but also plenty of new ways to get those new ebooks and we'll talk about  what's new in the electronic world of the printed page (and I'm so tempted by a certain HD reader we'll be talking about that too!) Author interviews, bookish news, and some great giveaways are all on the Chick with Books reading horizon! 

Talk is cheap, so what's a reader to do in 2013 besides chatting about books? How about joining a reading challenge?! Join a group of people virtually and challenge yourself to get reading! What kind of books do you like to read? Classics, fantasy, or historical fiction? Dystopian, romance, or YA? How about Banned Books? There's a challenge for you! And not only does a reading challenge encourage you to read books you like, it also can challenge you to read books in a genre you would never normally crack the spine on... here are some of my challenges....

Japanese Literature! One genre I started to read and absolute love is Japanese literature. There are many authors, Haruki Murakami being one of the more popular, but they all share the same beautiful and yet simple writing. Every year, Dolce  Bellezza hosts The Japanese Literature Challenge, with great reading suggestions I enjoy joining in on this one. The 2012 will be wrapping up the end of January, and I'll be looking forward to joining in on the next (7th Year!) challenge. Generally the challenge starts in the summer, but that doesn't mean I can't start reading sooner than that!

Dystopian fiction! In 2009 I joined the Books on The Nightstand Dystopian YA challenge (or DystopYA challenge) I had never really read Dystopian fiction, or "fiction about a world that is attempting to be perfect but contains a fatal flaw. It's the opposite of a utopia. This can take the form of a fascist government, a failing environment, corporate rule - anything. In it, life is miserable and people have to strive to rise above.", but once I did, I was hooked. I still can't recommend The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist enough! (click on the title to read my review) There are plenty of other books in this genre that are captivating, challenging and well worth your time! (The Hunger Games falls in this category too!) More details to follow about where to sign up for this challenge. 



Graphic Novels! This was a reading challenge that was really out of the box for me when I first started participating. Graphic novels are often overlooked by readers who have never read one. Sometimes I hear, "Oh, you mean comic books". No, graphic novels have grown up. Now I admit, I don't like all graphic novels. I look for certain things... beautiful artwork... a good story. Basically what I'd look for in a good literary book with the addition of visuals. I might also mention that a graphic novel actual won a Pulitzer Prize! (Maus by Art Spiegelman in 1992). I'll be challenging myself to find some more great Graphic Novels and joining in on The Graphic Novel Challenge hosted by Nicola of Back to Books hosts . BTW, I just finished a great graphic novel called Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel,  look for my review coming soon, and my official post about this reading challenge!

I'll be reading plenty of other genre's of books through out the year, but these challenges kind of nudge me to make sure I take time to read from books I don't normally find myself reading. I might be nudging my book club to take up a few of these challenges too!

Are you challenging yourself to read outside your comfort zone? Or joining a reading challenge to get some of those books gathering dust on your shelf to be cleaned off? (Off the Shelf reading challenge).  How about just planning some great reading for 2013? Share your reading plans for 2013! Maybe it will inspire someone to open a book!

Happy New Year! and Happy Reading.... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon... Reading Resolutions 2012

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's that day of the week where we get to kick back, relax and talk about... Books!

It's also a brand new year and there are plenty of resolutions that us readers make. Maybe you'll resolve to try a genre that you've never read before, or maybe resolve to actually read more. Whatever your choice,

it's the start of a new reading year!

But before we look ahead, let's take a look back at some of the books I am so glad to have made the acquaintance of this past year. Of course there were many pages turned this year, but if I had to pick out just a few that shined a little brighter, these would be the ones...

READING RECAP for 2011... Some of the books I enjoyed this year were...

Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt. This was a quirky fun read!

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruku Murakami. It's amazing that Haruku Murakami could turn running into something interesting and philosophical, but he did!

The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman. Laura Lippman never disappoints and this novella was quite a page turner.

Song of The Silk Road by Mingmei Yip. This book took me a little while to digest and realize that I enjoyed it. Funny how that is sometimes, but after I finished it I realized that I did really enjoy it.

When We Danced on Water by Evan Fallenberg. This was a nice surprise. A love story and a war story. Evan's writing was spot on and I couldn't put this down.

FAVORITE read of the year... Delirium by Lauren Oliver. This YA book just resonated with me. It was a wonderful love story set in a dystopian world that seemed so believable. But what was even more believable was the emotions that just dripped off the page between the two teenagers. Falling in love the first time is special, frightening, and confusing. Lauren Oliver captures all these emotions and puts them all down on the page. My only wish is that the second book in the series (it's a trilogy) will be as good.

Some of the challenges that I did test the waters with were Manga and Graphic Novels. Of course I have read and enjoyed Graphic Novels, but Manga was new to me. I did meet a sweet little kitten in Chi's Sweet Home by Konami Kanata and I do have a few more Manga set aside to crack the spines on, but Manga still is a bit of a mystery. Any suggestions out there to sample a little more? I'm still open to reading a bit more.

Looking a bit farther back, there are still books that I read that I still think about. I looked to see when I read and reviewed some of these gems and was surprised to find that years had gone by on a few of them. I still recommend these great reads when talking books! Here are a handful of those DON"T MISS titles!

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist... At the time I reviewed it, 2009, I called it compelling and disturbing. It was and still is. The story still haunts me. I have recommended this to anyone who will listen. It's dystopian, it's a love story, it's a novel that will have you thinking late into the night. And if you're over 50, it'll scare the heck out of you!

True Grit by Charles Portis... Mattie Ross is the perfect heroine and she will have you loving this story! This was one of the last books I read in 2010 and simply stated, I LOVED it! "It's adventure, it's revenge, it's redemption" is part of what I wrote about True Grit, and it is so much more. A story that will have you wanting more... much more! Wonderful memorable characters! READ THIS if you haven't!

The Favorites by Mary Yukari Waters... Another great read in 2010 that I still think about today. A wonderful, powerful story of 3 generations of women with the beautiful background of Japan.

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex... Another great book that I read in 2010 that made me swoon to the affections of The Count! What a love story! Sexy, Sensuous, and a timeless love story all wrapped up in one. Ladies, this is a read for you! Karen Essex re-imagines Mina's point of view in the classic tale of Dracula and brings the characters to life, especially Dracula!

Sugar by Bernice McFadden... This was the first book I read by Bernice and it introduced me to a writer who can capture my heart with the drop of her pen on the page. Her women characters are so real and wonderful, but her writing is even better. I've been a fan of hers ever since.

So, now that we've looked to the past, recent and not-so-recent, what will the future hold for reading this year? I'm not taking up any official "challenges" this year. I'll be looking in the mailbox for some wonderful ARC's from the very generous publishers and authors out there, and I'll be perusing the bookshelves of the 2 independent bookstores that are not so near me, as well as the big bookstore that still stands proud that it didn't file for bankruptcy. And I'll be looking for recommendations from Y'ALL of course! I've already been "challenged" to read Cannery Row and Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck! And as always I've got my reading group to discover new books. It use to be me picking out the books for us, but now everyone takes a turn and it's a great way for me to discover books I normally would not pick up.

So, what's your reading year ahead going to be like? What were some of your favorite reads from 2011? After a crazy later part of this year, I'm looking forward to wrapping up some things that took time away from my reading and sitting in a comfy chair with a cup of java and many great books in my hand!

Happy reading... Suzanne