Books - Fourth Quarter

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and hope that you are not wasting this Sunday recuperating!  Today officially leaves 2011 behind.  It was a good year for me, so I hope that 2012 will be just as good or better.

I had a goal of 17 books this year, because that was one more than I read in 2010.  The total is in and I did not meet the goal.  I did match what I read in 2010, so I'm still content.  Here are my last 3 books of 2011:

14. This book is considered a "Romantic Suspense."  It had some mystery with a sex scene or two thrown in there - I liked it!  A woman moves from the city back to her small hometown in Georgia, where she is opening up a B&B in the home that was her grandmother's.  She instantly is attacked by her teenage crush because he is now the town sheriff and she is a suspected burglar. Of course, the teenage crush is the best-looking bachelor in town who is afraid of commitment.  As predictable as this book was, it was enjoyable with the mystery of who keeps breaking into her B&B and why?  She and the hunky sheriff solve the crime and hook-up.  I give it 3 thumbs up.

15.  I can't tell you enough how much I love reading Jodi Picoult.  Her books get so deep into a subject that is not all that common that you actually learn a thing or two.  This story is about a high school that had the ultimate act of violence occur at it: a shooting.  A troubled teen heads into the school one morning and shoots and kills 10 students and harms several others.  One of the main characters is an eye witness who can't remember what actually occurred that morning.  This story has you feeling sorry for the kids who die along with the student who killed them.  You are immersed into seeing the school system, the police investigation, the court system and how teens really feel inside even though they may not portray it on the outside.  You will have to read the book to find out what is "nineteen minutes."  I give it 5 thumbs up.

16.  This was a fitting book for winter.  I also enjoy reading Nevada Barr.  I had read most of these books, which is a series with the character Anna Pigeon.  She is a park ranger who is assigned a three month assignment on Isle Royale National Park, located in the middle of Lake Superior, in the winter.  The park has a 50-year scientific study to study the behavior of wolves.  Think camping in negative degree weather with hungry animals roaming around you.  Not my idea of a good time, but people do it!  The study is being threatened by Homeland Security and the scientists are not happy.  One of the scientists is ravaged by what appears to be a wolf, but it is very suspicious, then a second scientist goes missing.  Anna tries to be careful while trying to find out who and why someone may be the cause of these "mishaps."  No longer is it just cold outside, but also in the heart of someone at the island.  I give it 3.5 thumbs up.

I enjoy reading but I also enjoy knitting and sewing, so it is hard to find the time to do all of them, never mind all of them at once.  I have so many books on my book shelf, that I do not need to buy another book for a few years, if I read at the rate I'm reading.  I love books though, and can't resist buying them and borrowing them. 

I am not going to set a goal for 2012.  Actually, my goal is to relax more and not worry so much.  That is a challenge all in itself.  So, setting a goal for a leisure activity, like reading, is not something I am going to repeat.

As for the Craftolutions....we'll see.