Retirment Fantasy: Bout of Books Day 3

Today's challenge is hosted by Sarah @ Rocky Top Real Talk.  As a child of the 90's, she remembers playing the MASH game.  Although it wasn't called MASH, we had something similar in my childhood.  Girls will always find a way to fantasize about their future.  Sarah's challenge was to put our own twist on the game.  She suggested using fictional characters from our favorite novels as the leading men, fictional locations as our possible hometown, etc.   Since I've been married for better than thirty years, and the number of children I will have has long since been decided, my sister and I decided to take our own twist.  So here is my Retirement MASH:

I will retire in a   [type of dwelling]    in _[place]____, with my husband, Dave.  We will have __[#}_____ grandchildren, who visit frequently.  I will drive a ___[type of vehicle]______, to my __[hobby]_.  I will have free time to read _____[#]     book(s) per week.

M-A-S-H (MASH stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House.) 

Place                            #Grandkids             Car                     Hobby                #books
Hutchinson Is, Florida           7                  VW Bug          Greeter @ Wal-Mart          2
Outer Banks, NC                   5                  Mercedes        Bowling                            1
Bar Harbor, ME                    10                 HoveRound     Photography                     4
Manhattan, KS                      6                 Range Rover    Shopping                           3
  
So, there you have it - my retirement plan according to the MASH game.  MASH normally stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House. 

Dave and I retire to our split-level home in Manhattan, KS (home of Kansas State University.  Go Cats!).  Our 10 grandchildren will  visit frequently to attend games with us.  I drive my VW Bug to take my award-winning photographs of the tall-grass prairie and flint hills surrounding Manhattan.  All this keeps me so busy I only have time to read 1 book/week.

Wait just a dog gone minute, Tami - S is supposed to stand for Shack.  

I know, but I chose to reject that plan and substitute my own - which is to live in a lovely 4 bedroom, split-level home with in-ground swimming pool.  

But that's cheating!  You can't just make up whatever future you want.

That's true.  Even the best laid plans sometimes get hit with unforseen circumstances, but this is my retirement fantasy and, to paraphrase Evelyn from Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, "Face it girls, I'm older.  I have more 401K" 

Bout of Books - Day 2

Forces have conspired to keep me from getting much reading done - work, a sewing project on deadline, a car that needed to go to the shop . . . wasting time with games on my phone.  I promise to do better the rest of the week.

I have managed to find time to enter today's Book Scavenger Hunt hosted by The Book Monsters.  Here are my finds:

Books beginning with the letter B

Blue Books

A book I hope to read during the readathon:

Books from my favorite genre - Mystery

     - I included the entire series that tops my fav list.  

My TBR shelf -  At least 5 of those are Dave's, so it's not just me.

Bout of Books Readathon: Better Late Than Never

Whew!  I'm sliding in under the wire.  The Bout of Books Readathon starts today.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 

Theresa at Armchair by the Sea, who is hosting the Re-Readathon beginning September 7, called Bout of Books the push she needed to finish up what she's reading now, so she'll be ready to sink into some old favorites.  It's not to late to join both Readathons.


Fictional World Travel Challenge:  The first challenge of the readathon is brought to you by Leann at Between Library Shelves.  The idea is to choose 3 to 6 books of fiction, set in countries other than the one where you currently reside.  I learned something about myself - I'm not very adventerous in my reading.  It proved difficult to come up with a third book.

Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani is set in Italy.

The collection of English Country House Murders is self explanatory.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King is a bit of a stretch, 

but it takes place in the fictional world called Mid-world.

I'm off to the library to broaden my fictional world. 

Bout of Books Challenge: Looking Forward

As part of the Bout of Books Readathon, Shannon @ River City Reading is hosting the Books You Are Looking Forward To Challenge.    I thought it was a good opportunity to look at books that are due to be published soon.   When I worked at the library, I stayed to date on book releases, but now I'm out of the loop.  To form my wish list of upcoming reads, I browsed Barnes and Noble's "Coming Soon" section.  I found that some of my favorite authors have books coming out in May and June that I will definitely put on my library list.

The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank

Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich

Save the Date by Mary Kay Andrews

Mr.Mercedes by Stephen King

Bout of Books Day 1 - Goals

Bout of Books is the second of three read-a-thons I'm participating in this summer.  

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 

Time Devoted to Reading:  Two of our children graduate from college this week.  Since I will be traveling Thursday through Sunday, my reading goals aren't as high as they would be otherwise.

Monday - Wednesday: My goal is 1 1/2 hours per evening -- thirty minutes with my Nook while I'm on the treadmill, and 60 minutes later in the evening after my chores are done. 

Thursday and Sunday:  Dave and I read together in the car, so that's a minimum of 8 hours of reading time while we travel.

Friday and Saturday:  Those two days will be jam packed so I'm giving myself a break and only pledging a fifteen minute read in bed each night.

My Goals:  With an expected reading time of thirteen hours, but a brain overloaded with preparations, I think it's realistic to set a goal of 2 books finished -- so I'll push myself and set a a goal of 3.

My Reading List:  I am currently reading Lighthouse Bay by Kimberly Freeman (I've only read 10 pages); Snow Melts in Spring by Deborah Vogts (I'm nearly half done); and The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks (nearing half way).  Yes, I know that's a little scattered, but that's me.  I hope to finish the first two and make progress on the third.

Dave and I are reading Private L.A. by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan.  I'm sure we can finish it and move on to a book to be named later.

What Have You Gotten Me Into?

My big sister wouldn't steer me wrong, right?  So signing up for three readathons in the next 4 months must be a good idea.  Every summer, I make myself a Summer Reading List - usually new releases with pretty covers.  Last year I chose seven books and only read four of them so, when Teri @ Henningsen Happenings challenged me to step up my reading for the summer I hesitated.  But it sounds like so much fun, that I gave in.  

The largest of the challenges is Summer Reading, hosted by Katie's Book Blog.  Summer Reading runs for four months - May 1 to Sept. 1.  You just set your own reading goal - minimum of 5 books - and read.  There are prizes throughout the summer and a grand prize drawing for those who reach their goal.  Just like being a kid at the library again!  Picking that magic number of books is the tough part.  There are 17 weeks in this challenge (+ a couple days), so I've settled on twelve as being a reasonable goal.

Read-a-thon #2 is the Bout of Books Read-a-thon, hosted by Amanda and Kelly.  BoB, as the hostesses call it, runs from May 12 through May 18, with daily challenges and giveaways, and three Twitter chats during the week.  Since that is the week that two of our children graduate from college, I'm not setting a goal other than to participate as much as my schedule allows.  

Readathon #3 is the Library Read-a-thon hosted by Rachael Turn's Pages.  During the week of June 9th-16th, read as many library books as you can.  Sounds simple.  And I usually have a stack sitting around collecting overdue fees.  The timing on this one is perfect.  All of the graduations and family reunions will be over and I'll be ready for some down time with books.

This is my starter stack.  Lighthouse Bay, The Engagements, and Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble are the three leftovers from last summer that STILL haven't been read.  The Help is on loan from a former co-worker and needs to be returned soon.  The last two, The Bookstore and The Invention of Wings, are recent purchases that I'm excited to read. There are a lot more options on my shelves, plus an excellent city library, so finding the other six books to reach my goal should be easy.

So there you have it - a summer of books with my sister.  And if it doesn't work out, I'm telling Mom!

Books Read:
1.  Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield
2.  Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman