Sunday, December 30, 2018

My books of 2018

I'm not sure how this happened. But I read 120 books this year.


Yes, I know I read a lot, but this is a lot a lot.

I have switched to listening to audiobooks in the car instead of listening to the news. It takes about a month to listen to a book with regular "around town" driving. Throw in an extended trip or two and I listen to more in less time of course.

I decided to post my books on this blog. But you can also view my challenge on goodreads. I love goodreads. It helps me keep organized with all the books I've read, want to read, and am currently reading. Here is where you can see my 2018 year in books.

Just a quick note about my books choices. I'm a firm believer that there are too many books and too little time. So I don't want to waste my time on books that are not wonderful or at least very good. I weeded out my "to read" list and eliminated any book with a rating of less than 3.5 stars. And I used goodreads to research a book before I take it out of the library or add it to my "read" list. The result was more 4 star books this year! Woohoo!

Here is my reading year:


Here are some statistics of my year in books:





Relative to other Good reads readers:


And this is an interesting statistic....this book was great! I listened to it in the car. 


Here are my favorites of the year:


And there were many more - many with four star ratings.

Here are all my books - not sure how Goodreads sorts them.









This is the last book I read this year:



We will see how many I read this year! I'm still going to set my goal at 75. I don't want to stress out about reading more than that. If it happens, it happens.

Happy Reading!


























Sunday, September 9, 2018

NH book group books 2018 - 2019

Another year of books all planned out....

Our annual Rhode Island weekend was a success! Eight of our group members gathered together at Ruth & Stearns's  beautiful home near Westerly, RI. It may not have been a sunny summery weekend but spirits were high as we had our beach walk and began to relax and wind down.

On the way back to the house we took a detour to a brewery...


The pear ginger cider was a big hit. I got a flight to try a few different brews. A nice little side trip.


We always have lots of wonderful food and drink! I didn't take too many pictures this year. But I do have this photo of the delicious salmon and grilled vegetables. Simple recipe - mix the salmon in a zipper bag with a tablespoon of melted butter and two tablespoons of olive oil. Add 2 lemons sliced (the ends that are not nice slices discard after squeezing the juice into the bag). Finally add some salt & pepper. Mix all up and marinade for a few hours. Cook on the grill on top of foil (do not make packet of foil - we are not steaming this fish) at about 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Yum!


After a lovely dinner and before dessert, we finished our planning of books. book group hosts, and dates. In some cases the host & the book discussion facilitator are the same person. (when they are different they are listed as such). Here is what our 2018-2019 looks like:

Monday, October 22

Pat's house & Ann's book

Tuesday, November 27 

Cindy's house & book

Tuesday, December 11

Holiday potluck and Yankee Swap ($20)
Naedine's house, Marjorie's book



Tuesday, January 15 

Marjorie's house, Ruth's book


Monday, February 25

Jeanne's house & book


Tuesday, March 26

Jin young's house & book

Tuesday, April 30

Ann's house & Sequella's book


Tuesday, May 21

Sequella's house (possibly MA back-up) & Naedine's book 


Tentative Monday June 17

this date is subject to change - it's our end of the year potluck
Susan's house, Pat's book