Top 5 books I read in 2016

Hello fellow readers. I will not make my Goodreads goal this year of 75 books. And I'm considering lowering the goal for next year as there are some projects I'd like to take on instead of keeping it at the 75 book mark. But here are the top 5 books I read this year.

 5. 

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson was a fantastic book. I loved the magic system in this book, and the idea of each metal having different properties and magical aspects. I'd have gotten to the next book already if I could catch it at my library. I've been trying to keep myself from buying more books since I have more books than I realized. 

4. 

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull made a surprising appearance on this list. This is a non-fiction book about the start up of Pixar. Even today I'm still thinking back on the book. The most memorable part was a lesson of how Pixar took up a mentality of not going after the problem causer and just wanted to find a way to fix the problem. The example was with one of the Toy Story movies, I think it may have been the second movie. They didn't use Windows or some other operating system where they could go find the actual folder they were looking for, they had to know the path. And there was a path that would delete everything from the servers. Someone accidentally typed in this code one night while Ed was looking at something. He saw what was happening and called the guy in the server room to immediately unplug everything. Even with the fast reaction, many days...weeks even of work had been lost. Thankfully, an employee working from home had most of the files saved on her computer at home and saved the movie.

3. 

Born of Legend by Sherrilyn Kenyon...any book from this series is an automatic buy for me. This latest has to be my new favorite though. Sherrilyn took a character we had been taught to hate with all our soul, then turned him into a hero. I loved the many twists in the book and don't know that I could count them all if I tried.

2. 

A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOMAF) by Sarah J Maas...this book left me speechless. I listened to the audible audiobook and didn't want to hit pause. Working full-time made it difficult not to hit pause; but if I could help it, I didn't. Like most who picked up this book, I am over here on bated breath waiting for the third and final book of the trilogy.

Before I get into the top book, I'd like to mention a few honorable mentions. The Death Note manga series by Tsugui Oba. It took me a while to finish, but I did make it through all 6 books this year and loved all of them overall. Each book received either 4 or 5 stars. Brotherhood in Death by J D Robb was another interesting mystery our favorite tell it like it is Lt. Eve Dallas had to solve. The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A Nielson, was the final book in the Ascendance trilogy. This trilogy overall I think doesn't get enough attention, and it was close, but the other books just edged it out of the top 5.

1. 

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff I think surprised everyone. This book in hardcover not only looked intriguing, but seeing that the book was told in CIA file type format was even more so. I don't know of any other book that does that. I listened to the audiobook file, and could not concentrate even the slightest on anything else. I tried, but the book was too engrossing to do anything else. Before you realized, you'd be there with the characters fighting the ship's computer to keep everyone alive. This book by far, is my top book read in 2016. The only thing more amazing is that I haven't started listening to Gemina, the second book of the series, yet even though it is in my Audible library.

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NaNaWriMo Wrap Up

Once again, I've failed at NaNoWriMo. Not for lack of trying. I'm starting to think the word count is what is working against me. Working a full-time job and writing 50,000 words while still having time for friends, family, and the unexpected is next to impossible. This is especially true because I don't want to just write whatever on the page.

I want it to make sense, and yes I do delete. If I write a scene and then change something later which affects that scene, I'll go back and rewrite it so everything flows and makes sense. This makes hitting the 50,000 near impossible since I keep actively trying to improve the story. It just doesn't work for me to write through, and not change as I go then wait to finish and go back.

It does help to have some kind of goal though. As soon as I knew I wasn't going to come close to 50,000 words, I lost almost all motivation to write. Of course this didn't however stop my brain from playing through some of the scenes I was trying to write out.

I also had issues finding time to write each day. Sometimes work would just require too much time, and I'd come home eat, and go straight to bed because I was so exhausted. A goal for time each day would not work either; so I'm pondering time for each week. I just haven't decided on a time to give to writing each week.

2017 will definitely have some different goals, but I have become more aware these last few months of what I want. What I want to be doing. Stay tuned :-) .

You can find me on Twitter, Goodreads, YouTube, and Facebook. Or email me at sarah_telling@outlook.com.

In Loving Memory, Lucky

On Friday, October 28, 2016, we had to say good-bye to our girl Lucky. We were blessed to have been able to share almost 15 years with her.

I still remember the day my father-in-law brought her home all those years ago. Possibly even more than that, I remember her love of one of their house plants, and at least once, tipped it over. I enjoyed visiting and spending time with her; even taking her to a local ice cream shop and getting a doggy dish of ice cream.

It was because of her, and her puppies, my husband and I had started looking for a Golden Retriever to adopt. Then things happened and we happily accepted her into our home as our own. Since then she has been many things. A friend when I had a bad day. A buddy to keep me company while reading, writing, or relaxing and watching some television together. A playmate in a game of tug of war - yes even at the age of 14. She was a living example of the saying "you're only as old as you feel."

More than any of these, she was a daughter to us. I will miss our family vacations, and outings on my parents boat. I will miss her smile, and playfulness. I will miss our walks, and our talks. Most of all, I miss being able to hug and cuddle with her, and burying my face in her fur.

It is a small comfort to know she is no longer in any pain. And I am grateful for the son she left with us. He is not her though, and no one will ever be able to replace her in our hearts.

Lucky, wherever you are, I hope you are happy, and running and jumping around to your hearts desire. May you rest in peace.

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - Hour 0

Good morning! For the third or fourth time (lost track) I am participating in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. Here we go with the starting post.

1) I am reading from Michigan in the United States.
2) I am most looking forward to finishing the DeathNote V manga, as I will then only have one more volume to read to finish the series.
3) I don't have a particular snack I am most looking forward to. I'm somewhat of a mood eater. I eat what I feel like, but I do have a few snacks planned like some fresh apples that I know I'll enjoy at some point later.
4) I actually prefer tea over coffee, but the teas I mostly enjoy don't have a lot of caffeine content so I do tend to drink coffee in the morning to wake up. I will then likely switch to tea or soda.
5) I've participated in the readathon before, and am hoping to take more naps so I can read for most of the 24 hours and actually see the end, rather than sleep through it and see all the posts after.

Friday Reads October 21, 2016

Due to technical difficulties, this week's Friday Reads is coming to you as a blog post. Apologies to anyone looking forward to a vlog post.

This weekend is Dewey's 24-hour Readathon which you can still sign up for if you want. I will be a cheerleader again and will once again be attempting to stay up the whole 24 hours. Okay, realistically I know I will be taking a nap or two, and probably sleep for a few hours.

My books for this weekend are mostly the books I hope to read during Dewey's Readathon. Without further ado, let's see what I've (as of maybe a minute ago) set aside for me to read this weekend.

I have the audiobook of Shatter Me by Tehereh Mafi I checked out from my library via Hoopla Digital. Thanks to some adulting I had to do, and a 2.5 day long meeting - yes you heard me, I was locked in a room for 2 full work days and half of a third - I was unable to really get into this audiobook yet. I think I'm maybe 5 minutes in.

I also have DeathNote volume 5. I'm only about one-quarter in to the book. So I will have this to get through and help break up the reading time. It is also a fast read to help keep motivation high to keep reading.

Last, but not least, I chose a graphic novel. Since the readathon is only for 24 hours I wanted to choose something short. Although I'm still doubtful I will finish all 3 during the readathon, I'm hoping to finish all 3 this weekend. Wish me luck! And good luck to any joining me in Dewey's Readathon!

Friday Reads Oct 7 2016

This weekend is looking to be another busy one. You could say the office followed me home. Plus my husband and I both have dentist appointments tomorrow. Which is something I really need to do since I haven't been in...well, let's not go there.



Please let me know what you're planning to be reading this weekend.

You can find me on Twitter,
Goodreads, YouTube, and Facebook. Or email me at sarah_telling@outlook.com.

Rapid Fire Book Tag

I recently filmed the Rapid Fire Book Tag. Not sure how "rapid fire" I would consider this, but, here it is. Hope you enjoy, and please feel free to let me know what some of your answers would be to the questions.