Memorial Day (USA Holiday)

No matter what you do, on this unofficial beginning of the summer vacation season, take some time to remember ...

and thank someone.

This goes for all the women in the service as well!

Some Traditions:

Every Memorial Day, the U.S. flag is quickly raised to the tops of flagpoles, slowly lowered to half-mast, and then raised again to full height at noon. The time at half-mast is meant to honor the million-plus fallen U.S. soldiers who have died for their country over the years. Re-raising the flag is meant to symbolize the resolve of the living to carry on the fight for freedom so that the nation's heroes will not have died in vain.

Moment of Silence at 3 p.m.

Many will wear or put on display red poppies on this day as a symbol of fallen soldiers. This tradition grew out of the famous poem by Canadian John McCrae known as In Flander's Fields, which he was inspired to write upon seeing red poppies growing over the graves of World War I soldiers.



Information at the History Channel

Sci-Fi Summer Read-a-Thon

Sci-Fi Summer

Read-a-Thon

June 1-7

2017

hosted at Season's of Reading
for more info or to sign up, click here

#SciFiSummerJune

This is a midnight to midnight CDT challenge so you'll need to adjust your reading time. Spend your time reading science fiction! But, fantasy is close so if you're not comfortable with Sci-Fi, Michelle will let you count fantasy. I've got some books that I'm not sure where they fall! I also joined a science fiction reading challenge this year and haven't read any.

THERE ARE PRIZES. Michelle's got some prizes so check out the sign up page and join us for a week of Sci-Fi reading.

~ Books Read ~

~ Possibilities ~
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
1984 by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

Bout of Books Wrap-Up

Bout of Books

Read-a-Thon

May 2017 Wrap up

For more information or to sign up, click here

Link up to any social media as long as a direct link is possible.

#boutofbooks


I had a list of 22 books to choose from and I read none of them. That's not to say I didn't get any reading done, just not the books I was thinking about reading before I started. The fun thing is that I read all new books this time and only one wasn't an adult level book :-D

edit: 1,100 pages seems to be about what I read for a read-a-thon so I think I did pretty good considering everything.

~ Books Read ~

The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian
Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin
Stowaway in a Sleigh by C. Roger Mader
Zac's Mulligan by Ann Lister

Number of books read: 4

Number of pages read: 1,140

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon

Bout of Books

Read-a-Thon

May 8 - May 14

For more information or to sign up, click here

Link up to any social media as long as a direct link is possible.

#boutofbooks

This is a midnight to midnight challenge, in what ever time zone you're in. It's very low key, just push yourself to read more than you might on another week.

There will be Twitter chats. Use the sign up links to visit others. Or don't ;-)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I've got a huge tbr pile and a backlog of books I need to review. I'm also hosting a party at the end of the month and my house (as usual) isn't ready. What's not usual, I'm still got a lot of my Mom's stuff in our family room so I've got to find a place for it (storage/family/donate) :-(

edit: to add books read

~ Books Read ~

The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian
Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin
Stowaway in a Sleigh by C. Roger Mader
Zac's Mulligan by Ann Lister


Possibilities

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

one of these

• Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper 
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• The Star Fox by Poul Anderson 
• All Flesh is Grass by Clifford D. Simak 
• The Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming

one of these

• Lessons from Zachary
• A Dog Like Sam 
• Disaster Falls
• I Have a Voice
• Pumpkinflowers
• Caught Up in Raine
• The Study of Seduction
• The Fairy Tale Girl
• What Happens Under the Mistletoe
• Revenge of the Chili Queens 
• Ever After
• The Art of Sinning
• Before I Fall
• Tastes Like Murder
• The Right Bitch Trio

I'll come back if I think of others

Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge, May

Outdo Yourself

Reading Challenge

2017

Hosted by Corinne

For more information or to sign up, click here

Challenge yourself to read more this year than last year. Any format, any genre. Re-reads and challenge cross-overs allowed. Books that are 100 pages (give or take) count.

There are several levels. You can go up but not down.

Number of Books Read out of My Goal for the Year

2012: didn't keep track of 100+ pages
2013: 168 out of 200
2014: 211 out of 174-178 (then moved up a level!)
2015: 170 out of 227 :-(
2016: 214 (as of 12-30) out of 181-185

I've got real life plans for this year that might interfere with my reading so I'm going for

. . . Out of Breath  . . . 

and hope to read 6-10 more books than my 2016 goal.
Because, really, I read 30 books in December and I've got one more day!
181-185 plus 6-10 = 187-195

~ May ~
It's only been four months and I've read 92 books.
That's about 100 books left to read ;-) and 12/13 a month

1. Wrap It Up by Joyee Flynn
2. Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey 
3. The Coelura by Anne McCaffrey 
4. No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey 
5. Exile's Valor by Mercedes Lackey
6. His Alpha's Alpha by Casey Cameron
7. I Do, or Dye Trying by Aimee Nicole Walker 
8. The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian 
9. Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin 
10. Zac's Mulligan by Ann Lister 
11. Rescued by Felice Stevens 
12. Skin in the Game by Shea Balik 
13. Chiseled Wood by Shea Balik 
14. Here Kitty, Kitty by Joyee Flynn 
15. Stable Secrets by Austin Bates, Aiden Bates
16.  

~ Books Read this Month: ~

~ Books Read this Year: ~
~ Books Left to Read: ~

eBooks Reading Challenge, #103 . . .

eBooks

Reading Challenge

2017 

For more information or to sign up, click here


I've read over 250 books this year (yes, some were short) and only a handful were print. I'm going for . . . empty the cloud . . . with plans to read 101+ ebooks during 2017.

32 in January. 21 in February. 27 in March. And 22 in April makes 102.

~ May ~

Wrap It Up by Joyee Flynn
His Alpha's Alpha by Casey Cameron
I Do, or Dye Trying by Aimee Nicole Walker
The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian
Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin
Zac's Mulligan by Ann Lister
Rescued by Felice Stevens
Skin in the Game by Shea Balik
Chiseled Wood by Shea Balik
Here Kitty, Kitty by Joyee Flynn
Love, Love Me Dude by J. D. Walker
Stable Secrets by Austin Bates, Aiden Bates

~ June ~

If You're Going Through Hell Keep Going by Tinnean
Things Happen That Way by Tinnean
Just the Thought of You by Tinnean
Best Laid Plans by Tinnean
Vendetta by Bradley Wright

~ July ~

Before You Break by K.C. Wells, Parker Williams

May's Books Read

 

Main page

~ May ~

1. 153 - Wrap It Up by Joyee Flynn
2. 433 - Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey
3. 156 - The Coelura by Anne McCaffrey
4. 124 - No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey
5. 402 - Exile's Valor by Mercedes Lackey
6. 174 - His Alpha's Alpha by Casey Cameron
7. 242 - I Do, or Dye Trying by Aimee Nicole Walker
8. 336 - The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian;
9. 393 - Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin
10. 32 - Stowaway in a Sleigh by C. Roger Mader
11. 379 - Zac's Mulligan by Ann Lister
12. 256 - Rescued by Felice Stevens
13. 159 - Skin in the Game by Shea Balik
14. 173 - Chiseled Wood by Shea Balik
15. 136 - Here Kitty, Kitty by Joyee Flynn (updated page count)
16. 48 - Love, Love Me Dude by J. D. Walker
17. 286 - Stable Secrets by Austin Bates, Aiden Bates

~ Books read in May: ~

~ Pages read in Jan-May: ~