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2026 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


27 / 30 books. 90% done!

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


39 / 50 books. 78% done!

2026 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska (1)
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International:

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My Progress:


34 / 51 states. 67% done!

2026 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

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24 / 25 books. 96% done!

2026 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

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29 / 50 books. 58% done!

Booklist Queen's 2026 Reading Challenge

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38 / 52 books. 73% done!

2026 52 Club Reading Challenge

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34 / 52 books. 65% done!

2026 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

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22 / 40 books. 55% done!

2026 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

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24 / 51 books. 47% done!

2026 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

2026 Mount TBR Reading Challenge

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19 / 25 books. 76% done!

2026 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


44 / 52 books. 85% done!

Shelf Reflection Candy Reading Challenge for Kids (and Adults)

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54 / 65 books. 83% done!

2026 Countdown Reading Challenge

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55 / 55 books. 100% done!

2026 Series Reading Challenge


23 / 36 books. 64% done!

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

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70 / 125 books. 56% done!

2026 Southern Literary Reading Challenge

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9 / 9 books. 100% done!

2026 Reading Challenge (by Linz the Bookworm)

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36 / 60 books. 60% done!

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

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10 / 40 books. 25% done!

European Reading Challenge 2026

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7 / 50 books. 14% done!

2017 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge (retired challenge - doing old boards for fun)

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67 / 125 books. 54% done!

2026 Reading Challenge Addict Reading Challenge

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4 / 5 challenges. 80% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

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98 / 100 names. 98% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

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76 / 80 skills. 95% done!
Showing posts with label Gretchen Rubin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gretchen Rubin. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring Has Sprung on Mt. TBR, Part Two


I love me a seasonal TBR list, even if I never actually read any of the titles I so ambitiously place on them. Since I was feeling uninspired for last week's freebie-ish prompt, I actually started this week's topic—Top Ten Books On My Spring 2025 TBR List—early. If you want to see Part One of my list, click here or just scroll down on my blog (since TTT posts seem to be the only thing I publish lately). 

As always, this fun weekly meme is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Spring Has Sprung on Mt. TBR (Or, Top Ten Books On My Spring To-Read List)
- Part Two - 


1. The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor—I've been listening to this World War II novel on audio, but it's been slow going and I finally had to turn it back in to the library since another patron had requested it. Luckily, I have an e-ARC of the book on my Kindle. I'm about 60% through the book and it's still plodding along. You'd think a story about the last survivors of a torpedoed ship struggling to stay alive would be more exciting and emotionally resonant, but it just...isn't. I'm determined to finish The Last
 Lifeboat since I'm so close. It's just a *bit* of a slog...


2. The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth—Since I can't do housework without an audiobook to listen to, I checked out a new one. I read three of this Australian author's domestic thrillers last year and loved them. The Mother-in-Law is about the suspicious death of a wealthy matriarch who had complicated relationships with her two children and their spouses. Although Diana Goodwin left behind a suicide note claiming she can't bear to live with the cancer inside her, the coroner finds no signs of the disease in her body, although he does find evidence of poison and suffocation. Diana was not the warmest of women, but who hated her enough to kill her?


3. You Belong Here by Megan Miranda (available July 29, 2025)—Miranda is one of my go-to mystery/thriller writers, so I'm always stoked when she publishes a new book. I started an e-ARC of this one, her newest, yesterday before setting it aside temporarily while I finish The Last Lifeboat. It has to do with a mother returning to her hometown to drop her daughter off for her freshman year of college. Twenty years ago, Beckett left the same school following a deadly fire allegedly set by her roommate, who then vanished, never to be seen again. Already uneasy about leaving her only child in a place she never intended to return to, Beckett finds her past overlapping with her present as she contemplates what really happened the night of the fire. 


4. A Town With Half the Lights On by Page Getz (available April 22, 2025)—I like the look and sound of this heartwarming novel. It's about a family from Brooklyn who move to tiny Goodnight, Kansas, to check out the crumbling Victorian home they've inherited. Even while they search for a way to go back to New York, Sid Solvang decides on a whim to buy Goodnight's fledgling diner. As the hopeful transplants try to make a go of their new life, they find themselves wrapped up in the small-town spirit of a place that is suddenly starting to feel an awful lot like home.


5. Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister—After about a month of hanging out on a library waiting list, I've finally got my hands on the newest mystery/thriller from another one of my go-to authors. This one is about a woman who is eager to go back to her job as a literary agent after being on maternity leave. She's all set to drop her baby off at daycare and go to work, but when she wakes up, her husband is mysteriously missing from their bed. Then, she hears breaking news about a hostage situation brewing in London. She's shocked to learn that her mild-mannered husband is involved—as the gunman. What has driven him to this extreme and how can she stop him from taking things any further?


6. Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King—The generous folks at Candlewick Press just sent me the first two books in this delightful-sounding middle-grade mystery series. It stars Bonnie Montgomery, aka Montgomery BonBon, a 10-year-old who just happens to be a world-famous detective (or will be someday). When a death occurs at a local museum, the intrepid investigator takes the case!


7. An Appetite for Murder by Lucy Burdette—I'm always on the lookout for fun cozy mysteries. This is the first installment in an older series about a woman who takes a job as a food critic for a Key West, Florida, magazine. Her new boss is the last person she wants to deal with. When the boss ends up dead, the food critic must find her killer before she ends up taking the blame for the foul deed.


8. The Midnight Estate by Kelly Rimmer (available July 22, 2025)—I've got an e-ARC of this forthcoming Gothic family secrets novel. It's about a woman who returns to her Australian hometown to restore her ancestral estate. As she works, she discovers dark secrets long buried by the family she thought she knew.



9. Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin—I made some fairly ambitious resolutions for 2025 which lasted for about, oh, 24 whole hours, if that. I've still got goals I want to work on and fulfill, but I'm in desperate need of motivation. I'm hoping this book will help.


10. Off the Map by Meika Hashimoto—Survival stories are my jam and this one sounds exciting. It's about two friends who are feeling distanced from each other, which makes going on the canoe trip their families planned together a little awkward. When the two get lost, they find themselves all alone in the Alaskan wilderness with no idea how to find their way back to civilization. Can they mend their differences and work together to save themselves?

There you go, ten more books I want to read this Spring. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What's on your Spring TBR list? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Mormon Mention: Gretchen Rubin

I haven't done one of these in awhile, so I was excited to find a Mormon Mention in Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. She's talking about a goal she set for herself to "Go off the path." In an effort to learn about topics she'd never cared about before, she'd go to a magazine store, close her eyes and choose issues at random. In one magazine, she found an article on hosting a "mocktail" party. She mused:

"Is it the case that people in social sets where most people don't drink - observant Mormons, say - a host would serve 'mocktails'?" (129)

Even if you've never met a real, live Mormon, the one thing you probably know about us is that we don't drink alcohol. We prefer hard liquor. Ha ha. Just kidding. Seriously, we follow what's called the Word of Wisdom, which prohibits "strong drinks." You're not going to be kicked out of the church if you sip a glass of champagne, but observant Mormons completely abstain from drinking alcohol.

As for "mocktails," I can honestly say I've never had one. And I've been to plenty of Mormon parties. I guess if you've never tasted a cocktail, you wouldn't be craving a "mocktail," right? We teetotalling Mormons usually just go for non-caffienated soda, non-spiked punch, or plain ol' water. Even on that, you'd be surprised at how crazy things can get.

I'm not even sure what a mocktail is. I do enjoy ordering virgin pina coladas when I'm in Jamaica - does that count?

'Cause, Really, Who Can't Use More Happiness?

(Image from Indiebound)

As 2010 drifts into 2011, I've been thinking a lot about what I did/did not accomplish this year and what I hope to get out of the next 365 days. I've asked myself the big, deep questions: "What did I learn this year?"; "What am I doing right?"; "What areas of my life need improving?"; and "What goals do I need to set now in order to ensure that I'm a kinder/skinnier/smarter/more organized person this time next year?" I didn't, however, ponder how to be a happier person because, really, I'm already pretty happy. Sure, there are things about myself I'd like to improve, but overall, I'm satisfied with who I am, what I'm doing and where I'm going. Happy. That's me. And yet, I suppose I could stand to be happier. Who couldn't, right?
Gretchen Rubin, a New Yorker with a successful writing career, a strong marriage and two adoring daughters, felt much the same way. She was already happy, but wondered if she could be happier simply by revamping certain areas of her life. In other words, as she relates, "I didn't want to reject my life. I wanted to change my life without changing my life, by finding more happiness in my own kitchen" (12). To achieve this, she launched a year-long self-improvement program which she discusses in her book The Happiness Project. Using each month to focus on enhancing different aspects of her existence brought Rubin a variety of experiences, everything from ridicule to triumph to aggravation to euphoria. Did it make her a happier person? Yes, she insists, and it can do the same for you.
The Happiness Project is more of a memoir than a step-by-step manual for achieving joy. Still, Rubin's musings offer great insight into what it means and what it takes to truly be happy. The idea which impacted me most was Rubin's discovery that she had to embrace activities she knew would appeal to her instead of those she thought should appeal to her. Above all else, she vowed to be true to the person she already was.
Unlike most volumes of this type, Rubin's guide doesn't read like a self-help book. It's more personal, more readable, more honest, and more forgiving. The author doesn't profess herself to be some all-knowing guru - she's just an average Jane trying to make herself into a better person. Her account is humble, humorous and, most of all, heartening. It's not the most exciting thing I've read this year, but The Happiness Project definitely made me think. And resolve to try my own version of a happiness project. After all, more happiness never hurt anyone, right?
If you're interested in trying your own happiness project, check out Gretchen Rubin's helpful Happiness Project Blog.
(Readalikes: Um, I can't think of any. Can you?)
Grade: B-
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 only because the sh-word is used one time. There are also some vague references to sex.
To the FTC, with love: I received an ARC of The Happiness Project from the generous folks at Harper Collins. Thank you!
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