The Book Chat: Currently Reading

I'm so excited to be co-hosting The Book Chat with Jessica from Sweet Green Tangerine today! This week's topic is: What are you reading?

I recently joined the Literary Junkies Book Club, hosted by Pink Heels Pink Truck and By the Porchlight. The January book was The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, she of esteemed Harry Potter fame, so I was excited to finally have an excuse to start it. I had been waiting to buy it until I caught up on all my reports for work, and then the Kindle version was briefly available for only $8! I was stoked. Unfortunately, I'm only about 11 percent of the way through, so I wasn't able to participate in the monthly Twitter chat on Tuesday, but I am still planning to finish the book. If you want to join in on the fun next month, the February book is The American Heiress.

I was also planning to update you on the state of my 2013 reading resolutions today, but with all these technical difficulties I've been having, I don't want this post to be any later than it already is. So, check back tomorrow (or this weekend) for that update. Thanks again for asking me to co-host, Jessica! I'm so honored. :)

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Is this your first time at the Book Chat? Just follow these simple rules:
1. Please follow the host (Sweet Green Tangerine) and co-host (me!)
2. Visit a few other book chat links and show some support.
3. Link back here in your post. Or use the button provided.
4. Old posts are always welcome if you have blogged on the topic before.

Next week's topic: Short stories and novellas.

The Book Chat: Pet Peeves

I know I'm late to the party, but I really didn't want to miss The Book Chat this (last) week. I think it's a great topic, and although there are many different things that have annoyed me in specific books in the past, I wanted to focus on one peeve today: when authors write in dialect.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was so hard for me to get through. I hate having to read the same line three times to figure out what all the misspellings are trying to say. I understand that dialect does add something to the story, but it makes reading tedious when every single line is written that way. When I first started reading The Help, I was really worried I wouldn't like it because certain chapters are written in dialect, but it ended up not being an issue. How do you feel about dialect in books? Can you think of any books that use it well or badly?

See the other posts from this week's link-up by clicking the button below:

Next week's topic: What are you currently reading? Be sure to join in because I'm co-hosting! :)

By the Numbers: 2012

A year ago today, I posted a numerical summation of 2011. I decided to do the same thing for 2012, with a few different categories, and I also added a "most popular" section at the bottom. Enjoy!

Miles traveled by plane (everything else is too hard to count!): 56,615*
> 6,155 miles before I became a Leadership Consultant
> 36,542 miles as a Leadership Consultant
> 13,918 miles over Christmas vacation
Countries visited (not counting layovers, of course): 4
Austria | Hungary | Switzerland | France
States visited: 11
New Mexico | Missouri | California | Georgia | South Dakota
Arizona | Washington | Idaho | Illinois | Virginia | North Carolina
*Thanks, TripIt, for making it so easy for me to count my miles!

Struck to the bone in a moment of breathless delight.

Photo via Instagram

You know what my biggest first world problem is? I've been out of the country for the two biggest movie releases of my life: The final Harry Potter film and Les Miserables. However, I saw both movies the day after I flew back to the U.S., which means I was able to see Les Mis on New Year's Day. I didn't expect the movie to be better than the play; Les Mis will always be a stage production first for me, then a movie. (And, of course, a book.) However, I was very impressed by the movie and definitely plan on buying it when the DVD is released. It will be a great movie to have running when I'm doing other things around the house. I could easily write pages about the 2012 adaptation, but I'll just share my brief thoughts here:

The Book Chat: Reading Resolutions

I know I already said I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions, but I'm all about reading goals! :) Today's book chat prompt is reading resolutions for 2013, so I came up with four reading-related goals I would love to accomplish this year:

Photos via @mcstroup on Instagram

Winter Book Challenge: Month 2

Source: megancstroup.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Welcome to the second check-in for the Semi-Charmed Winter 2012 Book Challenge! Believe it or not, one reader already finished the entire challenge! Please congratulate Heather, who also won the Summer 2012 Book Challenge! Who will be the next finisher? See the full scoreboard below:

My Wish for 2013

I'm not usually one for New Year's Resolutions. I had a small, unofficial list of tasks I wanted to get done this year, and I did some of them (e.g. read at least 25 books, wrote more snail mail) and didn't do some of them (e.g. run a race with my sister, finish writing a novel). But I do have one big resolution that I've made every year since I can remember. It's the one thing I pray for every single night before I go to bed (replacing "year" with "day," of course). I even addressed it in my high school commencement speech. And best of all, it's pretty simple:

Summer Book Challenge Winner: Hannah G.

The second Semi-Charmed Winter Book Challenge check-in will be up on Tuesday, so I wanted to spotlight yet another summer winner to encourage all the winter participants and prove that yes—it is possible to finish! :) Today I'm featuring Hannah G., who finished the summer challenge in 14 weeks, making her the fifth overall finisher. Read more about Hannah after the jump.

The Book Chat: Merry Christmas to Me!

Follow me on Instagram at @mcstroup! :)

I didn't get a single book for Christmas this year. Amazing, right? Instead, my siblings and I all got each other cute little trinkets (like the above mug!) from various Christmas markets during our European holiday, and our mother graciously paid for us to take this European holiday. However, that doesn't mean I didn't buy myself a few Christmas presents on my Kindle. :) Here are my three most recent purchases:

Photo a Day: November

Woot! I'm posting my November Photo A Day challenge recap just before the December challenge ends. Thumbs up to me. I'm also linking up this post with Taingamala's last-ever InstaTuesday. (Sniff sniff.) Does anyone know of another good Instagram link-up I can join next year?