100 Word Challenge: Thirty

This is my submission to this week's 100 Word Challenge hosted by Velvet Verbosity. This week's word prompt is Thirty.

Jonah
Thirty days isn’t a lot of time, but it would be enough. There were utilities to shut off and final bills to pay. She just told her landlord she was not renewing her lease. She had decided long ago that after Jonah died she would start over elsewhere. That time was now.

She had a destination in mind but decided to take the long way there. On her journey, she’d look for a new companion – one who would love her as Jonah had. One she could love in return, one who liked mountains. And snow.

Damn. She missed her Jonah.

Unfocused Reading

It's 20 days into 2010 and I have only finished one book.

Pathetic.

I don't know if I blame the book club or not. Every time I pick up a book that is not the book club selection, I can't concentrate. I think what I need to do is plow through The Count of Monte Cristo (which is the book club book and is, so far, good) so I can get back to the books I've got in my to-be-read pile.

What about you? Do you find that if you 'have' to read a book, your desire to actually read the book flies out the window? Or am I just weird?

I've almost got my first audio book of the year finished. But with a 90 second commute (seriously. I should be shot for not walking to work) I don't get a lot of it listened to each day.

I really like the idea of the audio books - keeps your hands and eyes free. I'm taking suggestions for books to listen to next.

Hey, It's The Guy From Bones! No, Not Him...The OTHER Guy.

Internets, you are awesome. And your cheekbones? GORGEOUS.

100 Word Challenge

Inspired by Lou, I'm participating in this week's 100 Word Challenge hosted by Velvet Verbosity:

“Should I do this?” she wondered.

“CAN I do this?” she fretted.

“If I don’t try, I’ll never know,” she muttered out loud.

She immediately turned to stare out her window at the snowy city rooftops. Her mind wandered, in search of the ever-elusive first word. It’s always the first word that trips her up. Give her a starting point, somewhere to jump from, and she’s golden.

“No need to be nervous,” she told herself, “This task has a prompt, just what you need to help you write. “

She sat down and began writing her first 100 word challenge.

Notes to Self:

1. It is JANUARY 14. Take down the damn Christmas tree already.
2. This is your 200th post. Are you going to do anything about that, or let it pass by like all your other bloggy benchmarks?
3. Finish the fookin' scarves already!
4. Oh my gah, DON'T let B cut your hair so short on top next time.
   
5. Plan FUN THINGS to do with your 71 year old mother this weekend. (Anyone have any good movie suggestions? Preferably on DVD...)
6. Finish Aunt J and B's birthday gifts.
7. Buy S's birthday gift.
8. Thomas', too.
9. And M's and T's.
10. (Cripes, January is worse than September for Birthdays.)
11. Create the dog-sitting certificate for J's fundraiser.
12. Start searching for recipes for this year's No-Eating-Out month.
    
13. PLAN YOUR VACATION.
14. Find a new job. You're miserable in the one you've got now.
15. Download books to listen to while knitting.
16. Finish Buffy, Season 2 on Hulu.
17. Re-watch the Firefly series.
18. Stop eating the cookies!
19. And the candy.
20. Don't forget to take your vitamins.
    

Untitled

Not sure what to title a post that only contains a poem I read on another blog and loved so much I wanted to share it here.

The Snow Man
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Wallace Stevens (1923)

30 Books of 2009 - The Year End Review

My reading goal in 2009 was 30 books. I am pleased to announce that I read 33 'new' books. I did not count the books I re-read this past year since I did not count those towards my goal of 30.

So. Here are the books I read, some with notes, most without:

1. Twilight
2. New Moon (finished 1/18/09)
3. Dark of Night (1/27-29/09) blogged about here even though the post is about the book's arrival.
   
4. Plum Spooky (finished 2/8/09)
5. The Hour I First Believed (finished 2/12/09)
6. Miss Buncle's Book (2/13-20/09)
7. Miss Buncle Married (2/20-28/09)
8. Derby Girl (3/1/09) blogged here.
   
9. The Leisure Seeker (3/1-5/09) blogged here. One of my favorite books of 2009.
   
10. The Two Mrs. Abbotts (3/19/09) - a Miss Buncle Book.
    
11. Eclipse (3/30/09)
12. The Kissing Game (4/10/09)
13. The Four Graces (4/4-12/09)
14. Breaking Dawn (4/12-16/09) series re-cap blogged here. (I'll admit that I'm very glad Edward was so much sparklier in the second movie cuz dude didn't sparkle enough in Twilight.)
    
15. Love With the Proper Stranger (finished 4/19/09)
16. Astrid & Veronika (finished 4/30/09)
17. Made in the U.S.A. (finished 6/5/09) blogged here.
    
18. No One You Know (6/6-14/09)
19. Flipped (6/24-28/09) blogged here. Can't wait to see the movie! I'm sure I'll be re-reading this one in 2010.
    
20. Dead Until Dark (finished 7/31/09) I don't really have any desire to read any more of this series. Sookie annoyed the heck outta me, mostly.
    
21. Otherwise Engaged (finished 8/3/09)
22. Hot Pursuit (8/11-14/09)
23. Wishful Drinking (8/15-17/09)
24. Anyone But You (8/20-22/09)
25. The Kite Runner (9/3-6/09)
26. Three Dog Life (finished 9/13/09)
27. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (finished 9/28/29)
28. Finger Lickin' Fifteen (finished 10/5/09)
29. Stand-In Groom (11/24-25/09)
30. Geek Love (finished 11/29/09)
31. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict (12/2-5/09)
32. Size 12 Is Not Fat (12/6-10/09)
33. Size 14 is Not Fat Either (12/11-25/09)

My 2010 goal? 40 books I've not read before. I'm hoping to get one or two Austen's in this year. And the new Stephen King. I'm about half-way through Big Boned which is the third Heather Wells mystery by Meg Cabot (see #32 and #33 on the list above). I'm going to try to read more local authors this year. I've got a book called Four Days In Michigan very near the top of my to-read stack (it was written by one of the doctors in my doctor's office).

I'm also going to keep track of the books I re-read (I am a creature of habit - there will be re-read books this year) so I have a grand-total at the end of 2010. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep a separate list or include them all in one and just note particular books as re-reads.

Any suggestions on how I should track the books I start but don't finish? Or should I not bother to track them at all?