Top 10 Series I haven't finished

Every Tuesday The Broke and the Bookish hosts a weekly Top 10.  This week's top 10 is series you haven't finished.  I thought I would struggle to come up with 10 and ended up hitting 15.  So these actually are my top 10.

 

1. The Goddess Test (Aimee Carter) - I read the first one and enjoyed reading it, but it was a tad predictable and there was very little character depth.  I might read the rest eventually.

2. The Jessica Darling Series (Megan McCafferty) - I really enjoyed the first one, but just haven't been in the mood for more Jessica yet.  I keep going on these.

3. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) - Didn't even finish the first book.  I forced myself to 50% and I was still bored.

4. Shopaholic Series (Sophia Kinsella) - I had OD'd on shopaholic after the first book, but somehow read the first four.  Just quit spending money!

5. Abandon Trilogy (Meg Cabot) - I enjoyed this book and had the sequel on my TBR list for summer, but then I read Everneath and it was a similar concept and a little better and I lost my enthusiasm for the Abandon series.

6. Gallagher Girls (Ally Carter) - The first couple books were fun, but since then they've gotten monotonous.

7. The Stephanie Plum Series (Janet Evanovich) - I LOVED the first 5 or so of these.  The next five were readable but repetitive.  Now it's like she puts zero effort into writing them.  I attempted to read thirteen and just couldn't do it.

8. Uglies (Westerfield) - Uglies was fine, but Pretties annoyed me so much there was no chance I would keep reading.

9. Shatter Me (Tehereh Mafi) - The first book was thesaurus torture.  Never again.

10.  The Millenium Trilogy (Steig Larson) - I haven't read The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest yet.  I love the first two so much that I've been putting off the final cause I don't want it to be over.

Where's my other earring?

I have to apologize for my blogging absence.  I'm in the middle of a DIY kitchen project that has hijacked much of my free time.  I will eventually post about the oh so fun process of stripping and staining kitchen cabinets, but that's not what this post is about.  I will include a lovely progress pic.

Reminder of the "Before"

And here's somewhere in the middle.  Note the missing valence

Now onto the point of this post.  Whenever I need a pair of earrings I can always find one earring.  I put them in my jewelry box when I'm done wearing them, but the second earring is always missing when I want to wear it.  Evidence this three pack I bought several years ago.  All similar styles, and at this point all singles.

Anyway as I was taking about the valance from the kitchen I noticed that there were 8 buttons sewed into it  to bunch the fabric.  And buttons have two lovely holes.  Hmmm - are you seeing where I'm going with this?

Voila!  Put the pairs of earrings thru the button holes.  They stay together!  Added bonus, I've never had a set place to put the extra buttons that come with clothes.  Some end up in my craft room, others end up in my bedroom closet.  From now on I'll know to keep all my buttons in my jewelry box.



Top 10 Books That Made Me Think

Top 10 Books That Made Me Think

		I'm repeating my self on this one quite a bit, but it raises so many questions and leaves the reader to answer them.
		Not only is The Hunger Games, lose-yourself-for-hours entertaining, but it highlights many issues worth discussion.  My fav - gender roles.  Katniss and Peeta are reverse gender stereotypes and then the next two characters - Prim and Gale are classic gender types.
		The Blind Side really made me think not only about how football evolved (I love football and find this fascinating), but also consider how much national potential we lose by not educating all children.  Michael Oher was obviously a smart guy who wanted to learn, but was just not given any opportunity too until he was in his late teens - and that came about because he was lucky.
		Really interesting fiction novel that delves into the true history and reasons for the violence in the middle east.  I learned quite a bit.
		The main characters in Palmer's novels have similar relationship weaknesses that I do so these are fun reads, but also have me doing some self reflection.
		I'll be repeating myself again on this one, but I'm much more aware of how women are protrayed in the media and politically after reading it.
		History about apartheid South Africa, wonderful quotes that I pull out from time to time.  I read this one annually and it gives me something new to think about each time.
		It's "chick-lit" but it also made me think about marriage and the compromises involved.
		Tademy researched her family's history going back through slavery with what little documentation existed and then turned it into as truthful a novel as she could.  Whenever I think about this novel I think about how much pressure you would put on yourself writing a novel like this.
		Another good insight into the Middle East.  I love being able to learn from fiction.