Challenge Accepted: My 2014 Reading Challenges Update #08 + The State of My Blog

UPDATE! There's been some interest from others about joining in on my new feature. I've created an interest form. Please fill it out if you would like to participate in Scenic Sundays.

There's some changes coming folks. I hinted at it last week during the Back to School Book Blogger Challenge. And while I initially thought I would wait until the New Year to roll out a feature for my photography, after working on a couple photo projects (Project #1 and Project #2) this last weekend, I decided to roll it out starting in September.

My last The Sunday Post will be on August 31, 2014. While I have enjoyed doing The Sunday Post , it has become somewhat rote for me and I'm not really investing time to think about that post. I just list what I posted on my blog and what's coming up. I don't buy many books so adding a book haul seems a bit much and I'm not that great at keeping track. I do plan to stop by The Sunday Post each week because there are some wonderful participants and I love reading their recaps every week.

So what's Sunday hold for Second Run Reviews if there will be no Sunday Post? I'm starting a new feature. Thanks to some encouragement after my Meet & Greet Feature over on Gin's Book Blog, I'm starting Scenic Sunday. Each Sunday I will post one image from my thousands of photographs along with one quote. So in addition to leaving The Sunday Post behind, I'm moving my Quote of the Week feature to Sundays. I've got the first several posts planned out with some beautiful images. Some of them will look professional, others maybe not so much. But by starting this new feature, I'm going to be able to share two of my favorite things...images and words. I do hope you'll stop by and maybe subscribe to Second Run Reviews to have the Scenic Sunday delivered right to your inbox.

GoodReads Challenge Update

37 of 52 books read.
13,411 pages of 20,000 read.
6,589 pages remaining

January: 665 pages (3.33%)
February: 1,451 pages (7.26%)
March: 3,745 pages (18.73%)
April: 6701 pages (33.5%)
May: 8,202 pages (41.01%)
June: 10,130 pages (50.65%)

July: 13,411 pages (67.71%)
August: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
September: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
October: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
November: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
December: ??,??? pages (??.??%)

Goal: 10 Books

1. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
   by Barry Lyga
2. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, M.D.
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. A Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon
5. Capricious by Jade Eby
6. Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
7. A Horse Called Trouble by C.K. Volnek
8. The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P. #1) by Eoin Colfer

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
2. Sunrise by Mike Mullin

The State of Second Run Reviews

As of August 1,2014, here where things stand with Second Run Reviews.

• Total Posts: 190
• Book reviews posted: 30 books, 1 movie
  
• Email Fans: 29
  
• Twitter Fans: 178
  
• Bloglovin' Fans: 41
  
• Facebook Fans: 146

So how are you doing with your reading goals? I'm continuing to read books, but not necessarily those that were in my TBR pile at the start of the year. I need to fix that. If you are a blogger, what is the state of your blog?

Challenge Accepted: My 2014 Reading Challenges Update #07 + The State of My Blog

I've decided to put a little twist on this month's reading challenges update and add a bit of information about the state of Second Run Reviews. I've been at this since mid-December 2013 and after implementing Parajunkee's Blog Planner, I thought it might be fun to include some blog stats.

GoodReads Challenge Update

32 of 52 books read.
10,130 pages of 20,000 read.
10,198 pages remaining

January: 665 pages (3.33%)
February: 1,451 pages (7.26%)
March: 3,745 pages (18.73%)
April: 6701 pages (33.5%)
May: 8,202 pages (41.01%)
June: 10,130 pages (50.65%)

July: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
August: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
September: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
October: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
November: ??,??? pages (??.??%)
December: ??,??? pages (??.??%)

Goal: 10 Books

1. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
   by Barry Lyga
2. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, M.D.
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. A Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon
5. Capricious by Jade Eby
6. Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
7. A Horse Called Trouble by C.K. Volnek

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
2. Sunrise by Mike Mullin

The State of Second Run Reviews

As of July 1,2014, here where things stand with Second Run Reviews.

Total Posts: 162

• Book reviews posted: 28 books, 1 movie
  
• Email Fans: 10
  
• Twitter Fans: 107
  
• Bloglovin' Fans: 6
  
• Facebook Fans: 65

So how are you doing with your reading goals? I'm continuing to read books, but not necessarily those that were in my TBR pile at the start of the year. I need to fix that. If you are a blogger, what is the state of your blog?

Challenge Accepted: My 2014 Reading Challenges Update #06

Here's a quick update as to where I stand with my 2014 Challenges!

January: 665 pages (3.33%) February: 1451 pages (7.26%) March: 3745 pages (18.73%) April: 6701 pages (33.5%) May: 8202 pages (41.01%)

Since January 1, I have read 8202 pages (41.01%) towards my goal of 20,000 pages. Only 11798 pages to go! We are half way through the year and I'm about half way to my goal. Not bad, not bad at all if I do say so myself.

Goal: 10 Books

1. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
   by Barry Lyga
2. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, M.D.
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. A Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon
5. Capricious by Jade Eby
6. Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
7. A Horse Called Trouble by C.K. Volnek

I'm also participating in [FICT]shun's 2nd Annual Don't Let it End Reading Challenge which started on February 14th and ends NEXT month. The goal of the challenge is to read the final books in a series. I've completed this challenge. The other series ender I was planning to read releases after the challenge ends.

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
2. Sunrise by Mike Mullin

Here's the update to my Random House of Canada bingo card. One new Bingo this month!

What are your reading goals for 2014? How close are you to completing your goals?

Challenge Accepted: My 2014 Reading Challenges Update #05

Here's a quick update as to where I stand with my 2014 Challenges!

Goal: 10 Books

1. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
   by Barry Lyga
2. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, M.D.
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. A Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon
5. Capricious by Jade Eby
6. Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
7. A Horse Called Trouble by C.K. Volnek

I'm also participating in [FICT]shun's 2nd Annual Don't Let it End Reading Challenge which started on February 14th! The goal of the challenge is to read the final books in a series. So far I've finished 2 books that were series enders. I might actually be finished with this challenge. I'm not sure I have any other series enders left on my to-read shelf!

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
2. Sunrise by Mike Mullin

Here's the update to my Random House of Canada bingo card. There are no new bingos this month.

Since January 1, I have read 6701 pages (33.5%) towards my goal of 20,000 pages. Only 13299 pages to go!

January: 665 pages (3.33%) February: 1451 pages (7.26%) March: 3745 pages (18.73%) April: 6701 pages (33.5%)

What are your reading goals for 2014? How close are you to completing your goals?

Book Review #22: Ashfall Series by Mike Mullin

About a year ago, my friend and author, Jade Eby, introduced me to the Ashfall series by Mike Mullin. The trilogy takes place in eastern Iowa and northern Illinois after the super volcano that sits under Yellowstone Park explodes burying the Midwest in ash and triggering an extreme winter. For me, this series is gut-wrenchingly realistic.

I live in eastern Iowa and travel frequently throughout eastern Iowa and northern Illinois. My in-laws live in Maquoketa and I've shopped at the Wal-Mart there. I drive over the Highway 13/Highway 20 overpass on the way to see my sister in Minnesota. And in late March, I drove by the Wal-Mart distribution center near Sterling, Illinois and I saw the turnoff on Highway 30 for Stockton.

Since I live in the area and have visited many of the towns Mullin features across all three books, this is the most realistic apocalyptic fiction book I have ever read. He shaped the post-volcano world in such a way that my imagination would start to run wild and I started to ask myself questions as I read each book. What would I do if the super volcano erupted tomorrow? Where would I go? What skills do I have for roughing it?

Another part of what made the series incredibly realistic are the characters. Even the secondary characters like Alex's family and the other people that become integral to moving the story forward are people you want to get to know on a more personal basis. Rita, Worthington's librarian, is strong and determined to keep the library running despite the devastation. She understands that knowledge of all kinds is vital even in a society that is disintegrating. Doc McCarthy, Warren's town doctor, shows tremendous staying power and strength as he watches his patients die from illnesses that had easy solutions in the pre-eruption world. I found my heart aching for Doc and I cheered for Rita.

And of course, the main characters Alex and Darla are A+ teens. They are not too whiny or full of themselves. Their complaints and struggles make sense. Mullin does a wonderful job at using the new world to shape Alex and Darla into people you grow to love and care about. They don't resist being molded in light of their new surroundings. Their experiences, in a world that is falling apart with every step they take, just as they start making headway at creating a new life, in the post eruption world is devastating, heartbreaking and in the end, full of hope. You want them to win. You become their cheerleaders.

Ashfall is a strong setup for the other two books; introducing the main cast of characters, the key locations and the major threats in the post-eruption world in a way that doesn't drag and keeps the action moving forward. Ashen Winter is a great bridge book that allows the characters to grow into their new roles in society and discover what really matters in the here and now when death can be just a heartbeat away. The most powerful moments in the series happen at the end of Ashen Winter, and throughout Sunrise. Near the start of Sunrise, there is a moment that had me crying in my Cheerios (yes, I was reading while eating breakfast). Sunrise is a tense, gut-wrenching series finale. There is more at stake in the final novel and Mullin keeps you guessing if there is any hope remaining for Alex, Darla and the town of Warren until the very end. The Ashfall series by Mike Mullin gets a thumbs up.

Ashfall:

Buy on from Amazon.com
Ashen Winter:

Buy on from Amazon.com
Sunrise:

Buy on from Amazon.com

Challenge Accepted: My 2014 Reading Challenges Update #04

Here's a quick update as to where I stand with my 2014 Challenges!

Goal: 10 Books

1. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
   by Barry Lyga
2. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, M.D.
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. A Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon
5. Capricious by Jade Eby
6. REVIEW COMING SOON! Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
7. REVIEW COMING SOON! A Horse Called Trouble by C.K. Volnek

I'm also participating in [FICT]shun's 2nd Annual Don't Let it End Reading Challenge which started on February 14th! The goal of the challenge is to read the final books in a series. So far I've finished 2 books that were series enders. One review is complete and the second one is still in process.

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
2. REVIEW COMING SOON! Sunrise by Mike Mullin

Here's the update to my Random House of Canada bingo card. There are no new bingos this month.

Since January 1, I have read 4983 pages (24.92%) towards my goal of 20,000 pages. Only 15017 pages to go!

January: 665 pages (3.33%) February: 1451 pages (7.26%) March: 3745 pages (18.73%)

What are your reading goals for 2014? How close are you to completing your goals?

Challenge Accepted: B-I-N-G-O! Bingo was his name-o! Update #03

Here's a quick update as to where I stand with my 2014 Challenges!

Goal: 10 Books

1. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
   by Barry Lyga
2. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, M.D.
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
4. REVIEW COMING SOON! A Plague of Zombies
   by Diana Gabaldon
5. REVIEW COMING SOON! Capricious by Jade Eby
6. REVIEW COMING SOON! Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

I'm also participating in [FICT]shun's 2nd Annual Don't Let it End Reading Challenge which started on February 14th! The goal of the challenge is to read the final books in a series. So far I've finished 2 books that were series enders. One review is complete and the second one is still in process.

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
2. REVIEW COMING SOON! Sunrise by Mike Mullin

Here's the update to my Random House of Canada bingo card. As you can see with the completion of several books including Citadels of Fire, Ashen Winter and Sunrise I now have 2 BINGOs!

Since January 1, I have read 3745 pages (18.73%) towards my goal of 20,000 pages. Only 16255 pages to go!

January: 665 pages (3.33%) February: 1451 pages (7.26%)

What are your reading goals for 2014? How close are you to completing your goals?

Book Review #13: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

I'm going to cut right to the chase. I am torn about Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I was a late adopter to the Divergent series. I read Divergent and Insurgent back-to-back around the Christmas holidays back in 2012. I eagerly awaited the release of Allegiant and so much wanted to know what was outside the City. Now that I know, I'm think I want to go back and forget I ever read Allegiant and just keep imagining what is on the other side of the chain link fence. Unfortunately, I don't own a Delorian or a T.A.R.D.I.S. so here's my assessment of the final book in the series.

Allegiant frustrated me. Several times in the first 100 to 200 pages, I wanted to throw the book across the room and scream. That's how frustrated I was. Why was I frustrated?

1. The switching narrators. I couldn't tell the difference between Tris and Tobias. There was very little difference in the style of writing when Tris was telling the story vs. Tobias. This led to a lot of rereading or flipping back to start of the chapter to figure out who was talking.

2. The passage of time. Nowhere in the first two books was there a frame of reference for when these novels take place. Somehow I got it stuck in my mind that this was happening sometime in our near future. It wasn't until one of the characters mentions that the destruction in the fringe took place over a century ago (along with how the serums were used) that one of my other frustrations was put to rest^*.

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My third frustration may be a spoiler. You will want to stop reading NOW if you don't want to be spoiled. And just so you know, without having to scroll further, I'm giving this book both a Thumbs Up and a Thumbs Down.

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3. Everyone believes that genetic cleansing and prejudice is new. I can understand how the characters like Tris and Tobias don't know that genetic cleansing is old news, but those individuals working in the government should know it's not old news. That's why the government developed the program to alter the genetic code in the first place, right? It was an attempt to correct all that was bad with humans.

How much more powerful would the revelation have been if Nita or Matthew had pointed out, this wasn't the first time measures to "cut the wheat from the chaff" of the human race had happened? What about World War II? How about Bosnia? Or Rwanda? Or the segregation issues that lead to the civil rights movement? Or the battle for sexual equality that is happening right now? I highly doubt 100 years from now people will have forgotten any of these events. They have led to great bloodshed and amazing (and frustrating) legislative actions as well as great victories.

While actual genetic manipulation may be taking prejudice to a whole new level^*, by ignoring history and not showing more of the inequality between the two groups^*, the fight being waged fell flat and as a result, the event that should have moved me to tears made me shrug my shoulders.

And that leads me to the thing that I admire the most about Allegiant...the end. (Well, at least the part before Chapter 52.) Not that I didn't see the ending coming from a mile away, I was still impressed Roth ended the novel the way she did. I'm sure there are people that hated it. But you know what, life isn't all rainbows and unicorns and that's why I'm okay with it because it mirrors real life.

After all my frustrations with the switching narrators, the lack of timeframe and ignoring history, the ending redeemed the book. And that's why Allegiant gets both a thumbs down and a thumbs up.

Buy Allegiant from Amazon.com
Buy Insurgent from Amazon.com
Buy Divergent from Amazon.com
Buy the boxed set from Amazon.com

* Up until these two things were revealed, I couldn't figure out why all the characters from the City were SO stupid. How could they not know what an airport or an airplane were?

* My WWII/Jewish history is a bit fuzzy, but I seem to vaguely recall the Nazis tracing genetic lines and physical appearances to determine who was pure. Of course, science has advanced beyond such rudimentary observations and now we could actually splice genes in and out of the DNA to "correct" things so I'm not sure how revolutionary this actually is.

* Stories were told about the inequality or observations were made, but there were very few plot points that hinged on an action being taken against someone who was thought less of than another person. How much more powerful would the message of been if we'd actually witnessed Nita being treated unfairly? Or if someone had made a comment to Amar and George about them being so friendly?

Challenge Accepted: My 2014 Reading Challenges Update #02

Here's a quick update as to where I stand with my 2014 Challenges!

1. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
   by Barry Lyga
2. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, M.D.
3. REVIEW COMING SOON!A Plague of Zombies
   by Diana Gabaldon
4. REVIEW COMING SOON! Capricious by Jade Eby

I'm also participating in [FICT]shun's 2nd Annual Don't Let it End Reading Challenge which starts on February 14th! The goal of the challenge is to read the final books in a series. I've a got a few on my 2014 reading wish list that are series wrap ups. I'm really excited for this challenge!

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Here's the update to my Random House of Canada bingo card.

Since January 1, I have read 1451 pages towards my goal of 20,000 pages. Only 18549 pages to go!

What are your reading goals for 2014?