2025 Reading Challenge discussion

happy Australia day from the west side :)

Welcome to Finland where we have had -25C past few days! :D Well, not it's around -3C where I'm living, but with very cold wind.

-2 in Chicago but feels like -27 with the wind chill. Can't wait for winter to be over!

Julia. wrote: "Megan wrote: "It's 56 degrees in West Palm Beach right now, with a high of 76 for the afternoon. That's quite chilly for South Florida and most of the Floridians will be bundled in sweaters today,..."

I would kill for 58 degree weather. In that kinda weather my doors would be open and I would have a short sleeve shirt on. Oh how I wish it was 58

I just wish the weather in North Carolina would make up it's mind! It was 60 degrees here yesterday and now there's an inch of snow on the ground!

Here is a question for all you folk.

How many of you actually look for things like themes, motifs, symbols..etc. when reading ? Do actually come away from finishing a book and instantly say something like, that was a great attempt at showing the predatory nature of the Human existence ? Do you understand that a farm might be trying to symbolize freedom ?

I'm talking about just reading for Fun. Not for school. Not for some Job. Just straight up fun.

Hello Challenge members,

The moderators approved this post in advance - thank you moderators. I would like to offer a free ebook to group members. Note that my novel is not appropriate for all audiences. Please see the summary following:

What would you get if you combined Law & Order SVU, Criminal Minds and Dexter with Twilight?

ASCENSION combines the intrigue of the criminal element, the intelligence of an investigation, the allure of the supernatural and enduring love with some steamy sex.

Ivy Lewis finds herself in a world of violence that she can’t fathom; a world where she must kill to survive. Adopted into an immortal family, she is torn between her strong connection to humanity and her need to kill. Ivy succumbs to her primal urges, discovering that she has a rare gift. She falls in love with Jay, a night club owner. Together, along with her new family and a chosen few from the NYPD accepting of their vigilante ways, they hunt the most appalling criminals in NYC, including the College Rapist, a notorious serial offender. Will Ivy be able to deliver her brand of justice?

I would love to get ratings and honest reviews. I appreciate it and will put suggestions into play for the sequel.

Contact me either through Goodreads or at [email protected]

Sincerely,

Nadine Lalonde

@ Stuart
I think at times I do both, but for the most part I read strictly for entertainment. I think I read the same as some people watch TV (I do this as well), go to the gym, or listen to music, essentially just to let my mind and body relax and decompress from the reality of my life. If I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for things, motifs, threads of something in books it would take away from the pleasure factor.

On the other hand if I am reading something to learn, or for critical analysis to review my mindset is different, and I look for those things.

All in all reading for fun is much more important to me.

Stuart wrote: "Here is a question for all you folk.

How many of you actually look for things like themes, motifs, symbols..etc. when reading ? Do actually come away from finishing a book and instantly say somet..."

Stuart, this is a good question. I don't go looking for this in books but sometimes end up finding it anyway. In some books, you just can't help it.

Stuart wrote: "Here is a question for all you folk.

How many of you actually look for things like themes, motifs, symbols..etc. when reading ? Do actually come away from finishing a book and instantly say somet..."

I definitely like to think about and/or discuss literary techniques when the book calls for it. I agree with Kara - I find it unavoidable in some books. Then there are some books (typically most YA books, at least for me..) where I don't find it necessary to analyze beyond anything deeper than a general review/critique.

This isn't a promotion or anything (I have no affiliation to this company and absolutely nothing to gain personally, so what follows are just my own personal recommendations)

Have any of you heard of Better World Books? If you have and know about them, just ignore the rest of my post (except for the sale going on now) :)

They are a B corporation, which is a completely new kind of corporation (when I took Corporate law in law school just over a year ago, neither the casebook nor the professor ever even mentioned it, so I only learned about this new kind of corporation through my own research out of personal curiosity).

B Corporations have a similar moral philosophy to nonprofit organizations, except they do make a profit. To me it seems like a sensible solution because it is very difficult to make social and environmental changes to the world if that is your sole focus with no interest in profit - unless you, your company, and its employees can make a living from their work, I imagine it is hard to succeed (though of course many nonprofits succeed through generous donations).

Better World Books focuses on partnering with and raising awareness to many known international nonprofit organizations that work to improve education for the disadvantaged, specifically by introducing literature and working to improve rate of literacy around the world, which is heart-breakingly so low in certain parts of the world. And no, the United States is not excluded from that, and the American government (I'm American) should be extremely concerned about the gross percentage of our population (~40% last I read) who are not functionally literate - meaning their reading capabilites are so basic that they are unable to perform the vast majority of good and challenging jobs in today's society.

Anyway! I bring this up because I just got an email from Better World Books today about their Shop from Work Week Sale where if you buy more than 3 used books, you get 20% off and free shipping with the Promo code "MULTITASK20"

Every book you purchase lets the company donate a free book to someone in need (and the used books are so cheap - at $3-$4 from what I've seen).

I lived in Atlanta for 4 years, where Better World Books started and is still based. Once I learned of them in their beginning stages I followed them so closely because I REALLY wanted to get a job with them. I applied twice on a whim but did not hear back (I am sure if I went in and volunteered for a bit I could have gotten a job but was so busy with law at the time).

I wish more companies were like this one and smart enough to know how to profit with a primary business philosophy of advocating for social change rather than a philosophy of make as much money as possible for those in charge. This company has proven to me you can be financially successful without being a greedy person soley obsessed with how much money your company can make for your personal gain.

Going to go browse and order 4 books now :]

Brian wrote: "This isn't a promotion or anything (I have no affiliation to this company and absolutely nothing to gain personally, so what follows are just my own personal recommendations)

Have any of you heard..."

The link I posted seems to be only sometimes working for me and the same goes for the homepage of the website itself, which is very odd. I assume it is a bug in coding or that they are updating their site and I'm sure that it will be fixed soon- I will edit the link in my post if it turns out they implement a fix. It is possible that the errors are simply due to high traffic.

I just got on the website. What a fun place to visit

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!

Yes it's a terrible holiday that just makes single people feel bad about themselves:



But it can be fun even if you're just spending it with friends <3 are any of you doing anything nice to celebrate either with friends or with your special someone? xox

Happy Valentine's Day Brian! I just celebrated Valentine's Day with 20 excited grade 1s. I am enjoying a beer alone in my quite place tonight and happy to do it. I adore my little kiddlets, they really are super cute, but we celebrated 100s day this week and Valentine's Day today. I am ready for some quiet time :)

My boyfriend and I went out to a lovely dinner and now we're settling in for an old school romantic comedy. Looks like it'll be Sabrina or The Shop Around the Corner.

It sounds like you guys had a nice time, and I am glad to hear it. Jodi, I remember loving Valentine's Day when I was in first grade - everyone gives each other so many valentine cards and candy and makes each other feel special (granted my parents were always very involved in making my cards to everyone haha)

I like your style, Kara :] this is the first time in so many years that I've actually decided to celebrate the holiday in a romantic way. I brought a bottle of Prosecco over to my boyfriend's house and then we went out to a nice Japanese restaurant and had some great sushi.

I am rewatching the first season of House of Cards on Netflix, Craig! I started the 2nd season and realized I needed to remind myself what had happened. Ah it is such a good show!!!

Hi everyone. I have a silly question. I'm trying to find a group for my 10 year old to join. Would anyone have any suggestions on a good group for kids this age? I'm trying to get her more interested in reading and thought that maybe if I could find a group for her to join that might help. Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

Hi Kendra, I'm sorry, but the Goodreads terms of service doesn't allow for members under 13, so I don't think there will be any groups she can join. Wish I had better news for you!

FYI, for Kindle users, Amazon's kindle daily deals include reduced prices on books adapted into movies. I found quite a few good deals and thought I would share. Good reading!

Anyone watching the Oscars tonight? I do a huge party for all my friends every year and am super excited to see which of the 9 films wins this year! Which movie do you think will take the big prize?

I'm watching it, I'm in Scotland so it will be an all nighter for me but I do it as a party with friends too. We'll be guessing the winners too.
I think it is gonna be a tough one to call between Gravity and 12 Years A Slave but I think 12 Years might just clinch best film with Cuaron getting best director for Gravity. Not often that the winners of those two are different but maybe this year.

Stefani - SpelingExpirt wrote: "I'm watching it, I'm in Scotland so it will be an all nighter for me but I do it as a party with friends too. We'll be guessing the winners too.
I think it is gonna be a tough one to call between G..."

Stefani, I agree with your assessment, though I personally preferred watching Gravity. Both are excellent films, though!

I'll be watching the Oscars! It is my favorite award show since it is the most classy. I'm not sure who will win, but I can't wait to find out. I haven't seen the best picture nominees, so I have some work to do!

Plus, I like watching the Red Carpet and all of the fashion as well.

Are the Oscars TONIGHT? I'm so out of touch.

I am taping the oscars, working nights tonight

I got on twitter relatively recently, and WOW does it make certain events (like the Oscars) 100x more entertaining.

All I can say since some are having to record it is...best actor winner gave the best speech!! Also, I have so many movies to watch to catch up!! Nebraska looks hilarious, LOL.

PS: I have only heard negative things about Gravity where I am. People have said it stunk and was boring, so I'm going to have to check it out since it won so many Oscars!

Watch them every year and try to see almost every major movie nominated before hand. For Oscar night, I always print copies of a ballot list with each category and the respective nominations. We all check the box next to our predicted winners to make it kind of fun and competitive.

I got the highest score, predicting 19/24 wins correctly :D

Ashley wrote: "All I can say since some are having to record it is...best actor winner gave the best speech!! Also, I have so many movies to watch to catch up!! Nebraska looks hilarious, LOL.

PS: I have only hea..."

I thought the best actress gave the best speech! Though they were all good.

Who told you Gravity was boring??! After the first few minutes, the movie is non-stop action. It actually kind of gave me anxiety to watch, as my heart was racing throughout the whole movie, but in a good way because it was that scary/exciting to watch. I loved it. I saw it in 3-D and I'm sure that enhances it, but I still think I'd enjoy it on a smaller screen. Sandra Bullock is literally in every scene of the movie and is fantastic.

I thought the show was good this year! Ellen was super funny. It seemed like there was a lag between awards about 70% of the way through, but then it picked back up. Hope everyone's parties went well!

Megan wrote: "I thought the show was good this year! Ellen was super funny. It seemed like there was a lag between awards about 70% of the way through, but then it picked back up. Hope everyone's parties went..."

I love Ellen and her stand-up, some of her jokes and shticks were hit or miss last night; but overall, good job. The whole ordering pizza just because she was hungry wasn't funny at all and took up a lot of time and in the end had no point. I could see in the celebrities' facial expressions they were confused/uncomfortable/irritated as well.

The Academy generally picks great hosts and often repeats the ones who are reliably good - in the past, I also really liked Seth MacFarlane, Hugh Jackman, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, etc.

The one exception though that sticks out in my mind as particularly awful was that year when both James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted. They were just..awkward, and I love them both as actors and as people!

Ellen is wonderful because she gets the most uptight image-conscious celebrities to let go and do goofy things. I'm still convinced some celebrities are not really human, but after last night, Angelina Jolie joining the selfie pic was proof that she may not in fact be a cyborg.
That selfie pic WAS hilarious - with all those iconic celebrities in one picture live tweeted (i managed to retweet it before Twitter crashed!)

I also got the most right in our party's ballot. I also got very drunk, Oscars drinking games are always the most fun but the deadliest!

I watched The Walking Dead instead of the Oscars. The Oscars don't interest me. My show is just way more I portent to me.

I ended up giving up and going to bed right before the big awards--it was just so long!

In completely different news, I've finished my Master's program! It's been tough going to school while working full time, but I'm terribly excited to be done and have my MS Finance degree. Yay!

Sam wrote: "I watched The Walking Dead instead of the Oscars. The Oscars don't interest me. My show is just way more I portent to me."

Sam, how are you liking this season of The Walking Dead?? I think it is my least favorite with all of the different story lines. Sundays episode left me going...uhhh what??

Congratulations Kara!! That's a big accomplishment! :)

Sweet! That's amazing Kara :D

Brian wrote: "Ashley wrote: "All I can say since some are having to record it is...best actor winner gave the best speech!! Also, I have so many movies to watch to catch up!! Nebraska looks hilarious, LOL.

PS: ..."

I completely agree, Brian! Gravity is the only one of the nominated films we've seen so far, but we loved it as well. I've heard that actual rocket scientists have criticized it for being scientifically impossible, but that isn't really the point of a movie, so who cares? It was highly entertaining, Sandra Bullock was simply amazing (as usual)!

Kara, congratulations on earning your Master's degree! That's quite an accomplishment...I had started an MBA program years ago, but didn't finish. I do recall being very challenged by the Finance courses I took, so Bravo!

Ashley wrote: "Sam wrote: "I watched The Walking Dead instead of the Oscars. The Oscars don't interest me. My show is just way more I portent to me."

Sam, how are you liking this season of The Walking Dead?? I..."

I'm liking it just fine. Its a little different from the previous seasons but once the all meet up things will get better.

Congrats Kara!

Kara wrote: "I ended up giving up and going to bed right before the big awards--it was just so long!

In completely different news, I've finished my Master's program! It's been tough going to school while worki..."

I don't recall seeing this until now (maybe you had posted it in the welcome committee thread I forget) but Kara, omg congratulations!!!!!!

That is such a huge accomplishment and, wow! To be able to work full time and get your master's (AND mod for this group!) simultaneously makes you so awesome :] I am very happy for you and hope your Master's in Finance degree leads to many more new and enriching opportunities for you down the road. <3

I have some awesome news!! Today was Match Day in the medical school world. That means the 4th year medical students who are getting ready to graduate in May find out where they will be doing their residencies.

My husband matched at University of Kentucky. He will be working in Kentucky Children's hospital in Lexington, Kentucky for the next 3 years.

At least it is a place to call home for a little bit. We have been moving here and there the past 4 years while he has done his schooling.

Best part...Lexington is only 4.5 hours from home in North Carolina!! Woot woot! :)

That is super news Ashley. Was Kentucky on one of the top choices you and your husband were hoping for?

Colin wrote: "Greeting from Perth, Australia. Weather: Sunny and 42 degrees!

I have just finished my first book of 2014 - Gone Girl. Where do I go from here after such a thrilling and suspenseful read?"

Gone Girl was good! The last thriller I read was Child 44. I would recommend that one :)

Kara wrote: "Wow, I've never been as cold in my life as I was this morning scraping my car off! It was 6°F (-14°C), but the windchill made it much, much, much colder than that. I had to keep taking breaks and s..."

I don't think y'all wanna know lol. It's a nice, sunny 79 degrees F here in San Antonio! :)

Just got done cutting wood with my father for the coming cold weather. I succeeded in nearly tripping over every branch I came near, nearly falling on my face about 5 times, cut my arm on thorns, got my pants caught on some more thorns and smashed my finger. I love cutting wood. :D <- Sarcasm

So how was everyone else's day?

Jodi wrote: "That is super news Ashley. Was Kentucky on one of the top choices you and your husband were hoping for?"

Jodi, it was #5 on our rank list and we ranked 10 programs. So, it was right in the middle. We're just happy he matched though, because apparently this was a tough match year for people.

My husband is getting his DO degree instead of MD, and out of 2,700 who tried to match, 644 did not. So, we're lucky and looking forward to the new adventure ahead in a couple of months! I'm just ready to get to Kentucky so I can finally get all of my books out of boxes!! LOL

Ashley wrote: "Jodi wrote: "That is super news Ashley. Was Kentucky on one of the top choices you and your husband were hoping for?"

Jodi, it was #5 on our rank list and we ranked 10 programs. So, it was right i..."


Good luck Ashley. It will be nice for you to get started in your new life in Kentucky.

Thank you so much, Jodi! :)

I'm late to the game, but congratulations, Ashley! That's such great news. :)