The totally amazing and incredible Sheila from Book Journey is once again organizing the First Book of The Year 2018 edition. This is the fifth year that she is hosting this.
I had to say I wasn’t sure what book I wanted to read for my first book of the year and I decided to go with Faithful by Alice Hoffman. Its been sitting on my TBR for a little while now and this is an author I have not read before so why not plus it sounds really good.
What are you reading into the new year?
Read 100 books (which was my goal for the year) which equals to 21,583 pages read in 2017.
The shortest book read was 32 pages:
The longest book read was 532 pages:
3 people also read The Snow Queen by Charlotte Cooke
This is the first year I have actively used Good reads apart from last year (2016) and I am curious to see what 2018 will be like.
Do you use Goodreads to track your goals? Do you keep track of your reading stats?
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.
Wishing you all the best for 2018.
If you are a reader of my blog you have read that I admit I suck at reading challenges numerous times over the course of my 9 years of blogging and I am not afraid to admit it. Although I think this upcoming year might be the year that I change that.
I found a few reading challenges that I think will work for me and I can overlap them all so that I won’t get overwhelmed in the end.
The reading challenges that I am doing in 2018 are:
The first one is The Blogger Shame Challenge that is being hosted over at The Herd Presents. If your a book blogger you know you have some review books sitting on your TBR that you haven’t read and there is no shame in that I have quite a few. You can read any format but they must be 4 months and older.
The second one is Try Something New Challenge and this is being hosted over at The Herd Presents as well. For this one you are basically going to be reading new to you books ie debut, first book in a series, genres, author, book format etc. This is another way to tackle that TBR pile.
I decided that I am going to do level 2 which is 11-20 books. If I do more that is great but for now I am keeping it at this level.
The third one is Tsundoku Bingo Winter 2018 Challenge that is being hosted over at The Broken Spine. Erica has come up with a new Bingo board every quarter of the year and its basically reading the books in your own TBR pile. This board is good from January to March. I am hoping to complete this board by the end of March.
Finally the last one I am doing is Tackle My TBR Challenge being hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads and all this one is is reading your own books that you have sitting on your own bookshelves. I am hoping to read at least 5 of my own books each month. Any amount I can take of my own shelves is good.
I somehow stumbled up another reading challenge called The 2018 Reading Challenge being hosted on the blog Modern Mrs Darcy and it seems really interesting. The goal is just to read amazing books and who doesn’t want to read amazing books in 2018? There is 12 categories and you read a book from each one. Sounds easy doesn’t it.
Finally the last challenge I am going to do is 2018 Picky Pledge Reading Challenge and its being hosted by Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Hannah from So Obsessed With and this is just like the above one with 12 categories and you pick the books off your TBR shelf. I know I want to read my own books and I am worried I will get a little bored so I think this will be a fun way to add some variety to doing that.
What reading challenges are you doing in 2018?
Good Monday morning everyone. Its been since July since I have done a unhauling post and sadly since that time I have passed on many books that I didn’t get to document. I need to get better with that because all numbers eventually add up to the bigger outlook.
I had so much success in 2015 unhauling books that I thought I would continue this again for 2017 and going into 2018 I will be doing the same thing again. I think I do this out of curiosity for myself to see if I am giving more away then I am bringing in.
With the lack of documenting over the past 5 months I have no idea what I have given away so the totals are a little off.
So each month I have been posting about what books I unhauled and then another monthly post I have been sharing what books I physically bought in the month.
Are you a constant book buyer? Can you resist buying books on a weekly bases? Please tell me I am not alone in this?
This is going to be probably a huge unhauling since its been like 5 months since I shared what I have unhauled. These books have been read and have been stacking up beside my desk.
Take a look at what I unhauled this month:
Total books released this month: 22
Total books released in 2017: 156
Total books released in 2016: 124
Total books released in 2015: 211
Today I am truly honored to be able to host Wendy McLeod MacKnight debut middle grade author of It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! Her second book coming out and its called The Frame Up! is scheduled to be released in 2018.
About the author:
Wendy McLeod Macknight wrote her first novel when she was nine-years-old. Her entire life she wanted to be a children’s book author, but kept getting sidetracked by her work for the Government of New Brunswick, where she held various posts, including Director of Early Childhood Services, Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for children’s programs, senior’s programs, child welfare programs, housing and low income programs.
After serving as the Deputy Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, she decided it was now or never. She left her position and began work on It’s a Mystery, Pig Face!, which is a love letter to the town where she grew up, St. Stephen, New Brunswick.
Married, she has a daughter and a son, a dog, three squirrels she has helped rescue who hang about, and a groundhog who lives under the gazebo. Besides writing and reading, Wendy loves cooking, Paris, New York City. gardening, New Brunswick, shoes, and most of all, her family. It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! Is her
debut novel.
Cindy: Hi Wendy, I was beyond thrilled when I discovered you were a Canadian author and excited to find out you were from New Brunswick. I am originally from Bathurst, NB and lived there for almost 23 years until making the move to Quebec. I have to admit that I had to google where Hanwell was because that’s a new to me location.
Wendy: YAY Bathurst!!! I love Bathurst!!!
Cindy: What inspired you to become a writer?
Wendy: I wanted to be a writer as soon as I knew a person could be a writer, but I suspect that when Anne Shirley starts trying to sell stories for publication in Anne of Avonlea, I was hooked on the idea. Of course, I took a LONG detour to get to my first book, but never say never!
Cindy: What was your favorite childhood book to read growing up?
Wendy: This is like asking me who’s my favourite child! I adored Anne of Green Gables, A Wrinkle in Time, All-of-A-Kind-Family, Harriet the Spy. Basically, anything I could get my hands on!
Cindy: That has to be one of my favorite questions to ask because everyone’s answer is always so different. I have never heard of All of a Kind Family and I have to say you peeked my interest. I will need to see if I can find them. Did you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
Wendy: It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! is a love letter to the town I grew up in, St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and there are all kinds of mentions throughout the book of local places—new and old. And I had to throw in a character named Trixie after my beloved Trixie Belden!
Cindy: Who is your favorite author? What is one book they wrote that you would recommend?
Wendy: I’m picking a classic and a contemporary author to try and get around the rules!
Classic:
L. Maud Montgomery and of course Anne of Green Gables, but all of her books are wonderful and they make me so proud to be Canadian!
Contemporary:
In middle grade, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life is amazing.
In young adult, I bow down to Philip Pullman. Start with The Golden Compass and rejoice!
Cindy: I think one of the books all east coast girls read was the Anne of Green Gables series and I absolutely loved the books and to this day I still love Anne. Thanks for your recommendations I have not read any of those books but definitely will in the new year. If your looking for more suggestions be sure to click on this to see what else Wendy enjoyed reading. What was the inspiration behind It’s A Mystery Pig Face?
Wendy: I loved mysteries when I was a kid, and was always looking for one in my neighbourhood. Alas, we were mystery-free, but not for lack of trying! When I decided to write my first middle grade novel, I knew I wanted to start with a mystery, and have a very flawed main character (which is basically me!) and so It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! was born! And proudly set in New Brunswick!
Cindy: I am so happy that you decided to write with a New Brunswick setting. Since this is your debut book and I noticed you have a second one coming out will this become a series?
Wendy: My next book is completely different. It’s called The Frame-Up and is being published by Greenwillow Books in June, 2018.
It’s a fantasy set at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, and many of the characters are from actual masterpieces the Gallery owns, including a Freud, a Dali, a Gainsborough. The premise is: what if every original piece of art is actually alive, living parallel lives to ours, only in the world behind the frames?
I love the book so much and can’t wait to share it with the world! And Greenwillow is making it a truly beautiful book, complete with full colour images.
As for whether there will be more Pig Face books – I would sure love that! We’ll see!
Cindy: If we were to look at your desk what would we be surprised to find or discover?
Wendy: Well besides the fact that it’s a mess right now because I’m editing my next book? They might be surprised that I have a little figurine of Wendy from Peter Pan, which is there to remind me to soar!
Cindy: What are you currently reading?
Wendy: I just finished The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, which made my jaw drop continually, and am about to read Lindsay Eagar’s new middle grade novel, Race to the Bottom of the Sea. I think she is wonderful!
Cindy: Wonderful suggestions. I just added both books to my chapters wishlist. How important is it for you to write your books with a local setting?
Wendy: So important. When I realized Anne of Green Gables was set only four hours from where I lived as a kid, I remember being gobsmacked. When I do school visits, especially in New Brunswick, I spend a lot of time talking about how important it is to tell your stories and not be afraid to set them where you live. I have a book in a drawer set in England in the 1800s which may yet see the light of day, but I love writing and talking about New Brunswick; who I am is very much shaped from being a Maritimer!
Cindy: Even though I have been in Quebec 19+ years I still consider myself a proud Maritimer. What is the hidden jewel that one should visit when they go to Hanwell/Fredericton?
Wendy: Well, I’d say I’m the hidden jewel in Hanwell, but go to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, which isn’t really a hidden jewel, but not enough people know about what a world class gallery it is. Of course, they’re about to read all about it in my next book…
Cindy: Wendy thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. I truly appreciate it and loved having you on my blog today. Please come back and I hope everyone will pick up It’s a Mystery Pig Face! to read and support this fantastic Canadian author.
Wendy: Thank you! I loved your questions!
Ways to connect with the author:
website: http://wendymcleodmacknight.com/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WendyMcLeodMacKnightAuthor/
twitter: https://twitter.com/wendymacknight
goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14223581.Wendy_McLeod_MacKnight
pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/WendyMacKnight/
Thank you to YA Reads Book Reviews for making this interview possible.
Jessie Lane is a best-selling author of Paranormal and Contemporary Romance, as well as, Upper YA Paranormal Romance/Fantasy.
Chasity Bowlin lives in central Kentucky with her husband and their menagerie of animals. She loves writing, loves traveling and enjoys incorporating tidbits of her actual vacations into her books. She is an avid Anglophile, loving all things British, but specifically all things Regency. She also writes steamy contemporary and paranormal romance.
I quickly have to thank Enticing Journey Book Promotions for allowing me to be a part of this book tour and for sending me a copy of the book to read for my review today.
