30 day book challenge

 

I came across this, this morning while surfing my Tumblr dashboard, and thought it perfect to accompany the 13/13 challenge. Who else would like to play along? I won’t be posting everyday for this challenge, but there will be a total of 30 posts at some point in 2013!! (side note – do you Tumbl? Leave me a link and I’ll come follow you!)

 

So. DAY ONE – BEST BOOK YOU READ THIS YEAR

Probably quite early to be declaring this one!! Most of my books so far have been re-reads, but I did read The Book Thief for the first time, and it hit me hard in the feels. It was fabulous, and I read it in a day or two while Mr Dove was home on holidays at the beginning of January. Loved it to pieces and sobbed like a baby at the ending. SO so much I could say on this one, but I will keep it short by saying I think I would still feel the same even without the influence of first trimester hormones. It was beautifully written, very evocative, and the characters were well-developed and sucked me right in. 10/10 on this one.

 

Currently on the reading list – Anna Karenina, and a re-read of The Great Gatsby. What’s on your reading list at the minute?

(email blast going out to 13/13 readers in the next day or two, can’t wait to catch up and see how you’re getting along!)

13/13 :: Change of Altitude (Anita Shreve) {review}

A Change of Altitude – Anita Shreve (affliate link)

Wow. Sitting in a camp chair, looking over the river so still it’s almost glassy, rosellas tweeting and the sun sinking slowly behind the trees, I closed the back cover and took a deep breath. My first thought was of the ending (obviously), which seemed to hang without the resolution I was looking for. And so I slowly out the book down, and turned my head, leaning back in the chair, and let the story as whole wash over me. Then it all became a bit clearer.

It was the attitudes of the characters that unsettled me. Not that they were unrealistic, but that they were sadly too real. Unwanted flirtations, and the consequences laid at the feet of the unwilling woman. I have been having several discussions lately with friends about modern day feminism, rape culture, and internalised sexism. And this just hit fair to close to home for me, that despite how far we have come, there is still a lot we need to fight for, for ourselves and for our daughters.

But you don’t come here to listen to my ramblings on gander politics. And to be honest, I feel underqualified to comment too much – there are much better and articulate bloggers who can cover the issue better than I can. I enjoyed this as a thought provoking read, which, really, is what I wanted from this challenge. Not just ticking boxes, re-reading favourites, or powering through lighter reads to notch up a tally (not that they won’t be included!). It was well-written, with a solid plot and good characterisations. I’d rate it a 8/10.

{current 13/13 total – 15 books (2 new reads, 13 re-reads)}

Branching out.

Next week is the start of school holidays here in NSW. After a busy term of running around, I’m very much looking forward to jammie days and lots of chilling with my small people. The three of them play beautifully together, so I’m seeing a few days of being happily ensconced on the daybed as I watch them whizz around on their scooters, or prepare to put on a show on the trampoline, or attempt to squeeze Butterfly into a dolls pram and wheel her around.

Which is the perfect opportunity to catch up for the 13/13 challenge! Today I took the two small ones to the library, and as well as some fresh stories for them, I collected a couple of books for myself.

I got a couple of novels – A Change of Altitude by Anita Shreve, and Change Baby by June Spence. On my way back up to the storytime area, an end display caught my eye, and the bottom book “What to knit when you’re expecting” kind of fell in my bag. Which then reminded me that while a knitted layette would be sweet, a name would be infinitely more useful, hence the top book. (side note – can anyone recommend any good books or sites? I just grabbed this one because it was thickish and looked reasonably new).

Baby girl is still asleep, and a grumpy but insisting-he’s-not-sleepy boy is resting, which means it’s mummy’s downtime too. A bit of knitting to while away half an hour or so sounds like just the ideal thing…

13 books in 2013 :: update

Ooops. I know I promised a monthly update, but life kind of got in the way. So here’s where I’m up to (in no particular order, just as I remember titles from the last couple of months):

1. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
2. Anne of Avonlea – LM Montgomery
3. The Brethren – John Grisham
4. A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
5. The Red Queen – Phillipa Gregory
6. The White Queen – Phillipa Gregory
7. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
8. The Partner – John Grisham
9. PS I Love You – Cecilia Ahern
10. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
11. Restaurant at the end of the Universe – Douglas Adams
12. Life, The Universe and Everything – Douglas Adams
13. So Long and Thanks for all the Fish – Douglas Adams
14. Mostly Harmless – Douglas Adams

And look at that! Two and a half months in and I’m “done”!! Or not. All but one of these is a re-read, so I’m going to keep going, and try for at least 10 new books this year. I certainly never expected to do as much reading as I did, especially in January. But my husband was home for a couple of weeks, and my mum had time off work as well so had the children a bit. And for most of the past two months, I’ve been quite unwell, which, along with meaning I haven’t wanted to move from the lounge much, also means I’ve had no mojo for crafting and writing. And I’m sure it’s not surprise to anyone when I say, daytime tv is RUBBISH! So whenever I got the chance to sit down for 10 minutes or so, I’d pick up my book. And things like the Douglas Adams marathon were made easier by the fact that our copy of the first four books are in an anthology, so they just kind of run together.

So I will come back and do up a page with everyone listed (with a link to your blog if you have one), and your tally so we can see where everyone is up to! It’s on my to-do list (which is scary long at the minute, but getting there!). I hope you are all enjoying the challenge so far!!

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In the mood for some shopping? Head over to Book Depository (affiliate link) to find something to boost your challenge along! If you are instagramming or tweeting, we are using the #thirteen13 tag.

Not signed up yet? Link up here, or just go visit some of the other lovelies joining in the challenge:

Then add the button to your post or sidebar to spread the love:

<div align="center"><a href="http://thedovenest.wordpress.com/tag/1313/" title="Little White Dove"><img src="http://thedovenest.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/13-13button.jpg" alt="Little White Dove" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

And we are GO for launch!

It’s the first! And I can finally hook into the books that have been taunting me this past week! If you are stuck for ideas, check out this list of great summer reads found by Helen (or, more correctly, Mr Helen). I’ve also added “Mary Bennet” to my list after seeing the review on Adventures of A Subversive Reader. Kylie’s blog also has some good reviews.

So. Here’s the plan. At the end of each month, I will post about what I’ve been reading. I’d love it if you’d do the same, and come leave a link in the comments. Then in the first week of the month, I’ll do a round-up post and link to you. If you are tweeting or instagramming, feel free to use the #thirteen13 hashtag so I can find you.

Extra bonus – for everyone signed up by January 15, I’m thinking of having a little giveaway. How does a Book Depository voucher sound? That link there is an affiliate link, by the way, so using that means I get a small commission. Which I’m planning on using to fund some giveaways during the year. Win-win, really.

Not signed up yet? Link up here:

Then add the button to your post or sidebar to spread the love:

<div align="center"><a href="http://thedovenest.wordpress.com/tag/1313/" title="Little White Dove"><img src="http://thedovenest.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/13-13button.jpg" alt="Little White Dove" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Who’s ready? On your marks. Get Set. READ!!!!

teacher gifts and bargain shopping

I’ve been eyeing them off on various blogs and Pinterest for a while now. So Tuesday afternoon, with two grumpy small children, I popped on Playschool for the grumps, and Bear and I raided the tip affectionately known as my studio. With the various bits and pieces in hand, we set ourselves up on the craft table. Bear picked the fabric and the post-it pad, I helped him glue it, and quick as a wink, two little clipboards appeared. A little bit of ribbon to pretty it up, and done.

I then had to scoot and get dinner organised, but Bear wanted to keep crafting. I cut the piece of fabric he asked for, and then left him to his own devices. He chattered away to himself, happy to be pottering and creating. Just as I was serving up dinner, a little hand tapped me on the leg. “Mummy! Close your eyes, hold out your hands!” A small parcel was placed in my hands, and then I heard the command. “OPEN!!” and the first thing I saw was a small face, beaming with pride. The second thing I saw was his own little interpretation of the clipboards. “it’s for you mummy, to write your shopping list, or make notes, or, you know, just for whatever you need to write down. It’s good to write stuff down, isn’t it mummy?”. It seems someone knows his mother’s memory too well

Adorable or what?

Today we headed out to coffee with friends, then off to the library for story time and Santa Claus. Boy2 was hesitant at first, upset that Bear was upset that he wouldn’t get to see Santa. He kept saying he didn’t want to see Santa without Bear, because “he wants to see Santa and I want to see Santa with him.”. But the promise of a lolly bag was too much, and won out over solidarity as he climbed up and told Santa he wants “three horn Lego” for Christmas (the new Lego range includes a set with a Triceratops that Boy2 has been coveting for months). A table of books for sale caught my eye as we were leaving, and a  quick browse saw a spine jump out at me.

The Parrot’s Theorem {disclaimer – affiliate link. I receive a small commission on books purchased using this link.}

The blurb sounded alright, so I thought for $1, it was the perfect addition to my 13/13 list. There was another there, an anthology of mini-biographies of inspiring Australian women, that I’m quite keen to go back and grab too. Might put that on tomorrow’s list.

13 in ’13 :: reading challenge

It seems, after a #reverb12 prompt asked about out favourite books, that I’m not the only one disappointed about the lack of reading this past year. I thought about how the 50/50 challenge motivated me to read more than I normally would.

And so I propose, a 13/13, 13 books in twenty13, challenge. Read 13 books, of the no-pictures-not-for-small-people variety, in the next 12 months. That’s one every four weeks. Seems do-able, don’t you think?

Simply sign up in the linky below (the URL is optional, so even if you don’t have a blog, you are more than welcome to join in!), and grab the button for your sidebar and/or challenge posts. If you are a blogger, I’d also love if you posted occaissionally about what you are reading, or even come back and comment, and maybe we all might find something new to add to our lists. (and if you would like the banner above, please let me know, and I’ll add some grab-code for that one too.)

Sign up here:

Then grab the button:

<div align="center"><a href="http://thedovenest.wordpress.com/tag/1313/" title="Little White Dove"><img src="http://thedovenest.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/13-13button.jpg" alt="Little White Dove" style="border:none;" /></a></div>