February Update

Another good month has passed, and as you can see I've accumulated more books than I've read - yet again! As far as my resolutions go, I 1) posted 3 book reviews this month: Hero's Lot by Patrick W Carr, The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, and Wool by Hugh Howey; as well as an entry about my career development and some thoughts on doubt. 2) I've done a terrible job of getting back into shape for a mud run this summer. :( 3) I've worked really hard on buffing up my resume, and 4) I have only joined one group read - which I quickly realized I wouldn't be able to keep up with. So, yay for partly keeping up on my resolutions!

As for personal news, my mom found out she has breast cancer this month. :( She had the lumpectomy a couple of weeks ago, and now she'll have 6 months of chemotherapy followed, most likely, by a couple months of radiation. On happier news, my sister announced that she is pregnant again - another boy. That should be a big change for the family!

Film and Reading Completed This Month

Watched this with my good friend (eeblue) while I was waiting for the New Year to ring in. This is the world's first introduction to the Daleks, and I really enjoyed it despite (or perhaps because of) the cheesy acting and special effects. I LOVE that they haven't changed the design in all these years - the Daleks STILL have a plunger for a hand. :)

In this story arc, The Doctor, Susan, Barbara, and Ian land on another planet which has been ravaged by nuclear war. On the planet are two races - the peaceful Thal and the violent Dalek. The Thal would like to carve a truce with the Dalek, they will share their anti-radiation medication and the Dalek will share their food. But the Dalek have another plan. EXTERMINATION.

I love the philosophy of these shows. It questioned whether the Thal were really pacifist if it came down to defending themselves, or whether they simply THOUGHT they were pacifist. It also raised the point: There is pride in being unafraid to die, but there is shame in being afraid to live.

I also watched this story arc while waiting for the ball to drop. This story wasn't very interesting to me, I'm afraid. The TARDIS "crashed" and the group was stuck in the ship for two whole episodes. They went paranoid (for seemingly no reason) and started accusing each other of conspiracy. The story didn't present any new concepts or philosophies, and the acting / directing  wasn't strong enough to carry such an uneventful story. :( I almost fell asleep.

I started this audiobook months ago for my real-life book club (eeblue and morphidae). I finally decided I ought to finish it.  

Adorable picture book about a monster who wants to be loved, but he's the only non-cute guy around. He searches and searches for love until... 

I read this book when I was a teenager, and always planned on getting to the rest of the series - but never did. I chose this as a re-read for my real-life bookclub (eeblue and morphidae) with hopes that I'll finish the series this time around. I enjoyed the book, though it was harder-core science fiction than I recalled. I used to read a lot more hard-core stuff when I was a teen. 

Read this book because it was one of the nominations for the World Fantasy Award last year. 

Newly Acquired

Recommendation from a friend on LibraryThing - she says it will help me on my quest to understand :)

Another recommendation from my friend on LibraryThing

Gift from my Aunt 

Gift from my best friend

Free Friday book for Nook

Despite my resolution that I wouldn't commit myself to group reads this year, I have broken down within the first few days of January. :) There is a thread on LibraryThing to read and discuss the books of this series, and I thought it would fit in well with my "Question of Jesus" resolution. :)

I've been meaning to read this series for a long time. Looks pretty good.

I couldn't resist buying this beautifully illustrated book at bargain price at Barnes and Noble

My aunt sent me this book because it helped her fall back in love with Jesus - she thought it would help me answer the "Question of Jesus"

This is the second book to a series that I started last year. I hope it's as cute as the first.

Will read this for a bookclub meeting in April..

Thought I'd perk up my resume a bit. This seems to be a popular resume-writing book.

Yes, I've gotten to the point where I'm buying "For Dummies" books. What has the world come to? I'm hoping they provide some good tips, though.

This is one of the textbooks suggested for The Great Courses - The New Testament, which I'm using as one of my guides to my New Testament and Discovery of Jesus quest.

And this is the other main textbook for The Great Courses - The New Testament

Free Friday book for Nook

My friend Liz is going to teach me how to knit. I want to knit a sweater! She says I should start with a wash cloth. 

Will listen to this audiobook with my friend Liz while I learn how to knit.

Bought this for my nephew

Signed by author. I'm leading a discussion on this book at the end of February for the American Christian Fiction Writer's Association. You can join the discussion by joining the email list. There's still plenty of time to read the book!

Free Friday Nook Book

This monthly update was cross-posted on The Sunday Salon, Caffeinated Book's Sunday Post,  The Story Siren's In My Mailbox, Book Journey's It's Monday What are You Reading?, and on Mailbox Monday.