It’s National Readathon Day but I couldn’t resist the call of the Case Western Reserve University book sale.  I go every year and browse the 70,000+ books and other cool things like games, music, dvds, stuffed animals…Take a look around.

I had so much fun.  Sometimes I go with a friend but, honestly, it’s way better to go by myself for a  few hours and not have to worry about hurrying.  This is a common sight on the first day of the sale as people come in and have to wheel their goodies away…

I managed to really restrain myself, only buying five fiction books for myself, lots of train books for Gage, some postcards for my Postcrossing habit, and some planet stickers.  The fun wasn’t even about what I brought home (although that’s nice) it was really just about losing myself in books for a few hours.  Isn’t that how everyone should spend National Readathon Day?

I finished Eligible, a modern Pride & Prejudice, a few days ago for book club tonight.  It took me a little time to come up with an Austen quiz I haven’t done before.  I’m giving you the ages that we first met these Austen characters.  Just tell who the characters are!

No Googling or looking at other commenter answers.  Yes, we’re going by the honor system  Play every week or just one time, you are always welcome 🙂  It only takes once to be eligible for a prize.

Leave your guesses as a comment. Good luck!!

First column are the girls, the second the boys/men. Such a difference in ages!

Your choices-Emma Woodhouse & George Knightley (Emma), Fanny Price & Edmund Bertram (MP), Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood & Colonel Brandon (S&S), Catherine Morland & Henry Tilney (NA), Elizabeth Bennett & Fitzwilliam Darcy (P&P), Anne Elliot (Persuasion)

10-Fanny Price     16-Edmund Bertram

16-Marianne Dashwood     26-Henry Tilney

17-Catherine Morland     28-Fitzwilliam Darcy

19-Elinor Dashwood     35-Colonel Brandon

20-Elizabeth Bennett     37-George Knightley

20-Emma Woodhouse

27-Anne Elliot

Last week’s Lisa quiz here.

The 9th Girl. Finished 4-25-16, 4/5 stars, mystery, pub. 2013

Unabridged audio read by David Colacci. 13 hours, 20 minutes

#4 in the Kovac & Liska series

On a frigid New Year’s Eve in Minneapolis a young woman’s brutalized body falls from the trunk of a car into the path of oncoming traffic. Questions as to whether she was alive or dead when she hit the icy pavement result in her macabre nickname, Zombie Doe. Unidentified and unidentifiable, she is the ninth nameless female victim of the year, and homicide detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are charged with the task of not only finding out who Zombie Doe is, but who in her life hated her enough to destroy her. Was it personal, or could it just have been a crime of opportunity? Their greatest fear is that not only is she their ninth Jane Doe of the year, but that she may be the ninth victim of a vicious transient serial killer they have come to call Doc Holiday.

from Goodreads

I rarely read a series out-of-order and almost never jump in at #4 but I’d heard positive things about this one and I needed something fast and easy to listen to during the 24 Hour Readathon.  It did not disappoint. That being said, I don’t know that I care enough about the two detectives, Kovac and Liska, to continue on with the series, but I did really enjoy this as a standalone.

The case of the Zombie Doe leads the police to a local high school, the very one that Liska’s son attends.  The detectives, the Mean Girls, and the serial killer lead the reader on a very satisfying chase.  I enjoyed, and subsequently hated, the cruelty of high school.  I know it’s changed a lot in the almost 26 years since I’ve been there, but still, I have to hope things aren’t this bad everywhere.

The two detectives are compelling and it was easy to catch up on their backstory without having read the other books of the series.  The twists and turns made this one a fun audio.

I checked it out of the library.

Last week I showed you this year’s Mt. TBR and asked for your book estimate. Amazingly, one of you was only 13 off!!!!  That is impressive.  Drumroll, please…

827!

That means that Hannah was only 13 off with her 840 guess!  It also means that I did a good job of reading my own books (35) and donating to the library book sale (60+)all the while keeping my book intake to a minimum.  I had 49 less books than 2015 🙂

In the few weeks since I painstakingly created this monster for my yearly inventory of unread books, I have read one and gave away 105.  I feel better 🙂  Some of these books have been in Mt. TBR since 2008 and they needed to be re-evaluated.

That first year I didn’t even bother to count the books!  I should compare the two and see how many are still there after 8 years.  Maybe next year.

If any of you would like to share a pic of your unread stacks leave a link to your post or just a picture and I’ll include it here.

Yesterday’s Movie Meme got me thinking about some memorable parties in fiction.  See if you can tell me what book each party is found in.  Leave the number and book title in the comments.

No copying from other commenters or googling – that’s cheating and no fun!

Here are more details and the current leaderboard.  I welcome first timers, you still have a chance to win a prize

1. As readers we were able to attend 2 wonderful New Year Turkey Curry Buffets.  Goofy sweaters optional. – Bridget Jones’s Diary

2. This tea party had a Hatter, March Hare, Dormouse and a girl who thought it was stupid. –Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

3. Nick watched his neighbor’s parties from afar and was entranced.  Until he was actually invited to one and realized it wasn’t as magical as it seemed from a distance. – The Great Gatsby

4. Gwyn and Thomas are divorcing after 35 years and celebrating with a big bash. –The Divorce Party 

5. This Merryton country dance was the first meeting between one of the best-loved couples of all time. –Pride & Prejudice

6. You did not want to be invited to Prince Prospero’s party in this short story by a horror master. – The Masque of the Red Death

7. Bob Cratchit and his family’s Christmas celebration was a source of enlightenment for a certain miser.  – A Christmas Carol

8. This birthday party planned for an amnesia victim by his maid and her son and was very touching. – The Housekeeper & the Professor

9. Luther & Nora decided to cancel Christmas and take a cruise instead.  Only the Christmas party wouldn’t skip them and neighbors saved the day. – Skipping Christmas

10. A war didn’t stop these socialites from hosting grand parties in Moscow and St. Petersburg. – War & Peace

Fool Me Once. Finished 4-17-16, rating 4.5/5, thriller, 390 pages, pub. 2016

Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband—and herself.       from Goodreads

I’ve long been a Harlan Coben fan and have read all of his books, his Myron Bolitar series being some of my favorites. Coben likes to twist and turn and have smart, quick-witted characters, so it’s easy to be a fan. His standalones are always fast pasted, current, and good, but not always memorable.  This isn’t a bad thing, there are many, many books I don’t remember, but it was nice that this one had that extra something that will make me remember it for years to come.

Maya was a tough cookie. She saw and did unspeakable things in service of her country and she paid dearly for every choice she made.  She was a new mom but didn’t seem all that motherly. She was newly widowed but didn’t seem all that broken. She was facing public shame yet seemed unbowed.  She was an interesting character and I kept wanting to know more about what made her tick.

As the police search for a killer and a whistle-blower threatens more public outrage directed toward her, Maya sees her dead husband on the nanny-cam.  Debilitated by war-time nightmares but with a good friend by her side she tries to figure out what is going on and to stay one step ahead of the police.  Oh, and she needs to keep an eye on her niece and nephew who are living with their heavy drinking father.

I hear it’s been optioned for a film and I think it would be a great one.  Not my favorite Coben, but it’s definitely one of his better ones.

Okay, I think I’ll go ahead and start some movie memes and hope that you can join in.  I offered two options.

Option 1 – Instead of a read-a-long we have a monthly Watch-a-thon.  I’d give everyone a few choices, we’d vote, all watch the movie and post about it during the month.  I have some ideas about how to make it more interactive between the participants.  I’d offer new and older movies to choose from and would like to make it somewhat bookish, but that’s not a requirement.

Option 2 – I’d offer something like the now defunct Monday Movie Meme.  I’d offer up a topic or theme and you’d write a post about it and link up.  You can browse through old ones I participated in here.  We could do this weekly or every other week.

I appreciate everyone’s feedback and I think I am going to try both of them and see what happens. I’ll have movie choices for option 1 posted by the end of the month and we’ll watch in June.

I’ll start  option 2 in the middle of June (when my quizzes are on break and after our vacation).

If any of you would be interested in co-hosting (Heather, Staci?) let me know I’d love to have a partner for either one!

I am very much looking forward this new challenge and hope you are too 🙂

In January I began a Kay inspired Bookish Nostalgia feature that I call A look back. I’m revisiting my 2010 blogging life and see what was going on. So far, this has been a lot of fun!  If you care to revisit your own blog in April 2010 and want to share your favorite post, I’ll add it here.

I was a stellar book blogger, posting 23 days and reviewing 7 books.  I watched 9 movies (wow!) and gave a rare F (Stepbrothers) and also posted about one of my Top 100, Romancing the Stone.  Molly and I finished up War & Peace with the last three reviews, the recap is here if you are thinking about giving it a try. I posted a challenges update and that was fun to see – I used to sign up and complete so many.  I am definitely not in a place to do that now! I’m happy when I read a book a week 🙂  I gave away 4 books and participated in 3 movie memes.  I also posted 4 quizzes.  I used to be so disciplined!

I did a fun interview with author Maria Semple after her first book, This One is Mine, but her second novel, Where’d You Go Bernadette?, might be the one you remember her for now.

But the big news this month was the big baby reveal.

 My Favorite Post – After 14 years a pregnant pause. I had such fun rereading the well wishing comments and baby name suggestions. I can’t believe no one suggested Gage!

Jason and I have been together for over 14 years and we decided that we were finally secure enough in our relationship to move forward.  And the reason why I have been so absent from visiting you all regularly is that this step forward has made me sick for the past month, hence the pause in the title.  Obviously, I’m talking about the little one I’m cooking up right now.  Jason and I are just into our second trimester and couldn’t be happier!  Well, okay, once the morning sickness completely goes away I might be a little happier.  By the time this baby comes I will be 39.  I find that so hard to believe.  Where have the years gone?  We do not plan on finding out if it’s a boy or a girl, but we are always open to name suggestions

My favorite book (s) – A tie between Harlan Coben’s, Caught…

I know when I start reading I’m not going to want to stop til I’m done and this was no exception, I finished it in a day.  He’s a master at twists and turns and even when you get to the end there always seems to be something there to surprise you. 

and Greg Iles’s Blood Memory…

The prevailing theme of this thriller is incest and molestation.  If this had been on the back of the book I don’t know if I would have picked it up, but I’m glad I did because it was excellent.  It doesn’t dwell so much on the act, but on the effect on the lives of those harmed and what happens to them after the they’ve escaped the abuse. 

My favorite movie – Ratatouille, 2007. I ranked three movies with the same grade, B, but of the three this is the only one I’d be interested in seeing again.

So, there you have it.  I love revisiting my past blogging life every month, you should give it a try!

Over the weekend I built my annual Mt. TBR (to be read) and I have some exciting news! For the first time since I started documenting this in 2008the number of books actually decreased!! I did some culling in January so that helped.  Here’s my new Mt. TBR

This was a major undertaking and I did it all, construction and deconstruction, in about 9 hours time. It was quite a workout.  Because of that I decided to do another major weeding and that took another day, but well worth it since I pulled another 94 books to donate.  I’ll do more by the numbers stuff next week after the quiz.

Part One – Guess how many books are in Mt. TBR.  I’ll base points on how close you come on relation to others guessing.  If you come within 20 I’ll give you a 50 point bonus!

Part Two – These are books I pulled from the pile to give away and  they are all brand new.  Nothing wrong with them just trying to be realistic about my reading.

Tell me what the titles are and tell me if you’d like any of them to added to YOUR Mt. TBR. I love to share books so I hope you’ll find at least one you’d like to read.  10 points for every title and I don’t even really care if you want to do some googling to figure out what they are. I do want them in your hands after all!

Good luck!