Quick Promotion

This giveaway ends tonight, but you still have time to win Hot (Sweaty) Mamas by Lauri Kocanda and Kara Thom over at Cami's Books.  It's the perfect book for those moms among us (myself included) who want to become more fit!

Tell 'em Amber from Views from the Reader Side sent you!

Won books

I love Goodreads, not just because it's a great place to meet like minded book-fiends, but also because they host a LOT of giveaways.  Because I have such a varied tastes in books, I find myself entering just about every giveaway they host. And I've been pretty lucky when it comes to winning things.  (Well, about a 2% return rate, but considering the number of people that request these various books, that's not a bad ratio.)  I'm dedicating 2012 to reading the books that I've won through Goodreads and other locations.

I'm not sure yet which books I'm going to start with, but here's the full list... all 25 of them.

Won from The Book Vixen


 (received)

Won from Cami's Books




   (received)

Won from Goodreads.com



 (received)






 (received - comes out January 24, 2012)



 (received)



 (received)



 (received - comes out January 10, 2012)



 (received)



 (received - comes out January 10, 2012)



 (received)



 (received)



 (received)



 (received)



 (received)







 (comes out January 24, 2012)







 (comes out January 10, 2012)


for she, who kept the other alphabet by Pablo D'Stair (part of a folio series that is only given away, not sold.





 (released January 3, 2012)







People Who Don't Know Me Think I'm Somebody by Mike Parish (a book of poetry initially released as digital media)


So there's quite a bit of reading in my future... not counting any other books I may win.  I can't wait.

Review: Noble Causes Volume 1: In Sickness And In Health

Noble Causes Volume 1: In Sickness And In Health by Jay Faerber

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book was a random find at the library - I was looking for another graphic novel to read, since I have a lot more longer books sitting on my list right now. The title and the cover looked interesting so I figured, "Why not?"

This is the first book in the comic series, Noble Causes, a comic that is a cross between superhero comics and a daytime soap opera. The Noble family is one of superheroes, alien sorceresses, hyper-intelligent men... and marrying into this is a completely ordinary book seller that has fallen in love with the youngest son, Race. This first book tells what happens right after Liz (the ordinary book seller) and Race get married - and how Liz refuses to be bowled over by her famous in-laws.

I really enjoyed the story, as it felt like a wonderful bit of escapist fun. The artwork is wonderfully vivid and the story engaged me. No, it's not a world class piece of literature. It's not the best graphic novel I've ever read. But it IS a great series to pick up if you want to lose yourself for a little while into the problems of those who are supposed to be living the good life.



View all my reviews

2012 A to Z Challenge

Lindsey over at Babies, Books and Signs (another great Mommy Reading Blogger that I love to read) is doing a challenge for 2012 called the A to Z Challenge

Here are the technical details from her blog:

This challenge will run from January 1st, 2012 until December 31st, 2012.
You can join anytime.
If you are blogger, leave the link to your actual post about this challenge.
If you are not a blogger, leave a link to where you will be keeping track of this challenge.


So there are two different ways you can set up your own A-Z challenge.

A - Make a list now of 26 books, picking one for each letter of the alphabet. For example: A - Atonement B- Black Beauty C - The Count of Monte Cristo D - Dances with Dragons etc.

OR

B - The lazy way (how I do it) : Make a list on your blog from A-Z. Throughout the year, as you go along, add the books you are reading to the list. Hope that by the end of the year you have read one book for each letter. Towards the end of the year, you can check and see which letters you are missing and find books to fit.

Each month, I will add another challenge to this main challenge. It might to read a book with both A and Z in the title or to read a book with 3 words that all start with the same letter. I might host a few random giveaways too for good measure.

So to join along....
1. Write a blog post about this challenge and whether you are going go with A or B.
2. Add the button to your blog.
3. Attach yourself to the linky.
4. Follow my blog so that you can see when I post the monthly challenge!

I, of course, will be going with option B.  In the long run, it seems the better way to go, since I have "Ooh shiny!" syndrome (too many books that catch my attention too quickly).  I'll start up a page with my list for the A to Z books.  Keep an eye out for a page later today (it will be at the top of the blog) that will link to my individual challenge pages.

Brief Review of 2011, and Looking Forward to 2012

2011 was a good reading year for me.  For the first time, I actually kept track of the books that I read and reviewed quite a number of them.  According to GoodReads (where I keep track of most of my books and have the reviews ported here), I read 175 books last year.  I still have two to review that hadn't been reviewed yet so that would bring me to 177.  Not bad, all things considered.  This year, along with keeping track of the raw numbers, I'm also going to keep track of the number of various genre books that I've read.  I'm hoping to have a better idea of the kinds of books that I'm reading.

2012 is going to be the year of challenges for me.  Thus far, I have 16 challenges that I am going to be a part of.  Most, if not all, of them can cross over into other challenges so I'm hoping to complete all of them without too much trouble.  I also have some general goals for reading as well.

In 2012, I will

• Read 200 books.  This will NOT count children's books because, while they are excellent reads, they'll have a tendency to inflate my numbers
• Read 100 children's books.  This shouldn't, I hope, be too difficult to do.  With two children who love to read, 100 children's books/stories should be a walk in the park.
• Keep track of various book stats, including number of pages read, number in various genres read, number of different formats read (ebook, paper-book, audio book), how many books purchased, how many won (23 in 2011, all to be read in 2012), how many borrowed (library or friends).
• Be active in more book-related memes.  I want to try to make more of a name for myself among the book blogging community.

I've got a lot of plans in 2012 and reading and keeping track of what I read is just a small part of it.  I hope you'll be with me in that part of the journey.  If you'd like to see what other journeys I'll be partaking of in 2012, you can check out Amber's 101 in 1,001 and Sanity's Overrated.