Ramblings and the Week to Come 01DEC13

Personal Wrap-Up:
I have had such a relaxing time with this four day weekend (am I already thinking about what I'll be doing when I return to work on Monday? Yes, but in anticipation, not dread.) I had the pleasure of seeing Disney's "Frozen" on Thanksgiving and highly recommend it to fans of animation and women with sisters (I was so thankful I saw it with my sister as I just wanted to hug her at several points.) I think I do like "Tangled" and "The Princess and the Frog" more at this point but I'll need to watch "Frozen" a few more times before rendering a final judgment. On today's agenda is to see "Catching Fire" and I'm anticipating a good time based on the blogging reaction I've seen.

Blogging Wrap-Up:
Yay, I'm on track to reach my reading goal this year! As a reminder, that goal is 300 books for the year and I'm actually ahead at this point (happy dance). Unfortunately part of that total is books for business/non-review books so I'm not ahead on my goals for the blog. But you know what? I'm not even stressing about it. I'm just going to sit back and go with the flow for once. It is going to be a really good week on the blog though (see below).

Monthly Recommendations: 
I wasn't sure if I'd have many to recommend this month but luckily I have a couple, across categories.

For adult non-fiction, Dare by Becky Blalock for pressing my career ambitions.
For adult fiction, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion utterly charmed me.
For YA fiction, my main focus, we have In the Age of Love and Chocolate by Gabrielle Zevin to bring the Birthright trilogy to a close; full thoughts on Monday. I also enjoyed Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel for its unique historical setting and witty writing and Lauren Layne's Isn't She Lovely (NA + "Stephanie" + Pygmalion retelling = winning combination)

My Obsession:
<I'm definitely still obsessed with Candy Crush, which I realized when I completed an episode (aka 15 levels) in about 24 hours (as I wait for my quests, I'm also trying to get 3 stars on every level). But I thought I'd share about something else this week.>


Recently I rewatched "Strictly Ballroom" for the first time in ages. I know many people are familiar with "Moulin Rouge" but this is an earlier work from that director. If you enjoy "Dancing with the Stars" and such, I think you'd like this movie. In fact, my family ended up joking about wanting a remake starring Derek Hough and his inventive dance steps.

Week to Come: I think this is going to be a super fun week and I'm so excited to share with you all! Have you read any of these books? What are you most looking forward to discussing?

Sunday is a new month, which means War and Peace discussion. We're almost done-I can see the finish line and I can't wait to brag to everyone of my acquaintance that I've finished this behemoth :)

Then we have the highly anticipated conclusion to Gabrielle Zevin's Birthright trilogy In the Age of Love and Chocolate. I'm a huge shipper of Anya and Win so that resolution will strongly affect my review. Tuesday is a sneak peek at These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. For Wednesday, I have a review of Crewel's sequel Altered and thoughts about the cover change.

On Thursday, I'm part of a Rockstar Book Tours blog tour with a review for Amy Spalding's Ink is Thicker than Water. Friday is another YA novel Something Real by Heather Demetrios (very early review because Netgalley wants to archive that). And Saturday features the latest Lauren Willig Pink Carnation novel that I had originally skipped over-now I'll be briefly caught up!

For Americans, how is your holiday weekend going? For everyone, how close are you to meeting your reading goal(s)?