Library Days are back! I took November and December off of visiting the library (more or less), so I could focus on my Circumreading the World challenge. And then January came, and I set a goal for myself of reading my own books. But I still can't resist the draw of the library, so I finally went on Friday. I was remarkably restrained and only got four books, so hopefully I can continue to fit some of my own in there!

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (A really heart-warming story)

Further Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (Such a fun, refreshing read)
​The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (90% complete!)

A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins (The last book for my Circumreading the World challenge! I told myself I had to finish before I could read any of my library books.)

Yesterday, the American Library Association announced the winners of the Newbery and Caldecott awards for 2017. All of these count towards the Newbery Reading Challenge, and they'll be good books to read even if you're not participating in the challenge. Track down a copy and enjoy!

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan
The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

Premise of the book: In the 1770s, Captain James Cook set off on three voyages of discovery. He discovered islands in the Pacific, he charted and claimed new territories, and he searched for both the fabled southern continent and the Northwest Passage. He was a remarkable man who lived an extraordinary life. Tony Horwitz tells Cook's story in Blue Latitudes, describing his three voyages in detail. Horwitz also visits many of the places that Cook traveled to in order to see what life is like there now - and how Cook's legacy of European discovery has affected these places.

Well, it's 4:00 on Monday afternoon, and I'm finally able to get this post up. My little guy had a cold last week that he has decided to pass on to me. Saturday was a crazy day hanging out with family and attending the Detroit Auto Show. Thankfully, Sunday was a lazy, stay-at-home day and I was able to relax and get some reading done for the 24 in 48 Readathon!

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz (This was the penultimate book for my Circumreading the World challenge, and I loved it!)
Hook & Jill by Andrea Jones (Okay, I didn't technically finish this book. This was my Blind Date with a Book pick from my local library. I ended up DNF'ing it after 100 pages because it just wasn't holding my interest. Ah, well.)
Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (One I somehow hadn't read yet by one of my all-time favorite authors!)

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (Our book club book for February. We're going to go see the movie, then discuss over supper!)
​The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (66% complete. It's getting creepier.)

Further Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (There's just something about winter that makes me want to live in Montgomery's world.)

It's time for another 24 in 48 Readathon! I know I'm going to get nowhere near 24 hours read this weekend because my Saturday is pretty much already taken up with other plans. But hopefully I can get a good chunk of reading done on Sunday! I'll be updating this post with my progress, as well as sharing updates on Twitter. Hooray for readathon time!

Time spent reading: One hour and 8 minutes
Number of pages read: 46
Books read from: Hook & Jill by Andrea Jones;​ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Time spent reading: Three hours and 46 minutes
Number of pages read: 183
Books read from: Hook & Jill by Andrea Jones (ended up DNF'ing this one); Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (Love this one!)

Time spent reading: Four hours and 54 minutes
Number of pages read: 229

Time to sign up for more reading challenges! I'm always looking for new and fun challenges to participate in, and I certainly found some this year. For now, these are all the challenges I'm signing up for this year, but I reserve the right to change my mind and add a few more!

This challenge is hosted by Book Date, and you can find all the details here. The object is to fill in as many squares on the game board as you can. I'm aiming to get them all!

This challenge is hosted by Rose City Reader, and you can find all the details here. This is a challenge I love participating in every year. I'm going for the Five Star level, which means I need to read 5 books set in different European countries. I love books about Europe, so this usually isn't too much of a struggle for me. The challenge is reading outside of my typical United Kingdom, France, and Italy!

This challenge is hosted by Becky's Book Reviews, and you can find all the details here. I am beyond excited for this challenge, because I have a lot of picture books in my future. Now they can count towards a reading challenge! This is also a good excuse to bring home even more piles of books from the library. There are three options for this challenge, and I'm going to try to accomplish the checklist. It's 102 items long, so I won't post it here, but you can click on the challenge detail link to see them all. This is going to be so much fun!

Last but not least, my own challenge! You can check out this post to get all of the details. I'm aiming for the Spinelli level, which means I need to get 30-44 points. I'm slowly accomplishing my goal of reading all the Newbery winners, and this challenge certainly helps with that!

Life has definitely returned to routine after the craziness of the holidays. We had a relaxing weekend at home - which was good, because we spent it baby-proofing the house. We have a crawler now! I have a feeling I'm going to be constantly replacing the books on my library shelves. Pulling them off seems to be popular. :)​

My Life in France by Julia Child (This was my book club book for the month. We each picked a biography to read, then shared about it at our meeting on Friday. It was a lot of fun!)
Slipping Into Paradise: Why I Live in New Zealand by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (Not my favorite book of my Circumreading the World challenge, to say the least.)
Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery (I love revisiting Anne during this time of year!)

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz (I'm only about 50 pages in, but this is a really fun read so far.)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (I've always thought this was supposed to be a creepy book, but I'm nearly halfway through and it's like any other Victorian novel so far. Does it get creepier?)

My library is doing Blind Date with a Book, so I'm hoping to stop there this week and pick up my next surprise read. I've seen this around, but haven't had a chance to participate, so I'm pretty excited!

Premise of the book: The subtitle really says it all. Jeffrey Masson has traveled extensively and lived in many different countries. But when it came time to settle down, he chose New Zealand as the ideal place to do so. In this book, he explains why, as well as giving insights into the culture of his chosen country.

General thoughts on the book:​ I'm sorry to say that I wasn't such a fan of this book. I'm especially sorry to say that because New Zealand is high on my wish list of future travel destinations, and I was really looking forward to reading this book. But Masson's voice just grated on me. He came across as rather too full of himself and his opinions, as if his view of looking at the world was the only one. And then he'd couch his opinion and try to be modest, but it still sounded like know-it-all bragging. He lost me by chapter two when he tried to explain why he chose New Zealand by saying what was wrong with all of the other countries he had ever lived in. I'm sure many other readers will have a much better reading experience with this book than I did. It just wasn't for me.

'Tis the glorious time of year when we get to sign up for all new reading challenges! I love reading challenges. I'm always scouring people's blogs to see what they're participating in, so I can maybe add more to my list. Now that I've got a little guy around (recently on the move!), I'm trying to be realistic about what reading challenges I can complete without stressing myself out. So far, I've picked seven (but I haven't necessarily stopped there if something else grabs my attention!).

The three I'm signing up for in this post are all challenges that will help me read my own books, rather than the shiny new ones at the library (although I know I'll be reading a fair amount of those this year, too).

This challenge is hosted by Book Date, and you can find all the details here. I participated in this one last year for the first time, and it really helped me to only buy books that I knew I would read soon, rather than letting them languish on my shelves forever. I'm aiming for the Making Inroads level, which means I need to read 21-40% of the books I buy in 2017.

This challenge is hosted by Chapter Break and Second Run Reviews, and you can find all the details here. This challenge is designed to help you read books you've bought before 2017. I have a lot of those (boy, that's an understatement), so I'm hoping to achieve the Give Your Shelves a Warm Friendly Hug level. That's reading 21-30 books from my own shelves, which I had better be able to do!

This challenge is hosted by Novel Knight, and you can find all the details here. Beat the Backlist is about reading books published before 2017, which I will have absolutely no problem doing. That's already most of my reading (especially if I'm reading off my own shelves). But I just had to participate in this one because there's a Harry Potter House Challenge! You get points for your house for posting reviews of the backlist books you've read. There are also scavenger hunts and Instagram challenges and all sorts of other fun things to participate in. You set your own goal for this challenge, so I'm going to aim for a minimum of 30 books published before 2017. I'll probably go way over that, but since I don't know how much my little guy is going to affect my reading this year, I'm trying to keep my goals manageable. I'm so excited for this challenge!

Happy New Year! I didn't get last week's Monday post up because we were on our way back from visiting family in Chicago. It was such a fun trip, and I loved seeing my little guy with all of his second cousins. So many giggles!

Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica by Sara Wheeler (If you're even slightly interested in Antarctica, this would be the perfect book to read about it!)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (First book of the year! Wonderful, as always!)

My Life in France by Julia Child (Oh, my goodness, this book makes me hungry.)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (I've really got to keep chipping away at my Classics Club list, and the Serial Reader app is the perfect way to do that!)

Slipping Into Paradise: Why I Live in New Zealand by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (I'm still working my way around the world for my Circumreading the World challenge. This is book 10 out of 12. Almost there!)