Calendar Girls November Wrap-Up

What a great November it’s been! I’ve been really enjoying talking about book series with you all. I’ve got several great ideas for future blog posts, so if you’re a fan of book series, be on the lookout! Even though right now I’m more into standalones, it’s been great reminiscing about old favorites and adding some new books to my tbr.

Best Middle Book in a Series Picks

The Mark of Athena – Katie @ Never Not Reading (that’s me!)
Queen of Shadows – Adrienne @ Darque Dreamer Reads
This Cruel Design – Teri Polen
Down Among the Sticks and Bones – Krista and Dawlyn @ Little Blind Book Finds
Down Among the Sticks and Bones – Samantha @ Modern Witch’s Bookshelf
A Court of Mist and Fury – Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile
A Court of Mist and Fury – Plot Monster
A Court of Mist and Fury and Heir of Fire – Sophie @ Beware the Reader
Charmed Things – Deanna @ Deanna Writes About
The Girl in the Tower – Lucinda @ Lucinda is Reading
The Heart Forger – Dani @ Mousai Books

Our Favorite Pick is…

I was pretty excited to see that The Girl in the Tower was the winner this month, because I love this series! I’m honestly not surprised it won, either, because it’s been popular with book bloggers. I can’t wait to read the final book in the series when it comes out IN JANUARY! That’s so soon! And I haven’t even pre-ordered it yet? Gah, what am I doing with my life?! Excuse me for a few moments while I fix that…

Calendar Girls Book Chat

On Sunday November the Calendar Girls got together on twitter to talk about some of the things that make the middle book in a series so hit or miss. As always you can check out the entire chat by searching the hashtag #CGBChat, or by following the links to the threads below.

Good evening #CalendarGirlsBooks participants! This month we’re talking about our favorite middle book in a series. But before we dive in, let’s take care of the basics. Question 1: What’s your favorite length for a series? #CGBChat pic.twitter.com/OxkBgdtOX5

— Never Not Reading (@NNRblog) November 19, 2018

Question Number 2: Is it important to you for a middle book, or books, to be better than book 1? #CGBChat pic.twitter.com/udDa4Rnmxn

— Darque Dreamer 📚 (@DarqueDreamer) November 19, 2018

Question 3: Why do you think the middle book slump is so common? #CGBChat pic.twitter.com/EgHyoG5ioX

— Never Not Reading (@NNRblog) November 19, 2018

Final Question: If a middle book disappoints you, do you continue the series? #CGBChat pic.twitter.com/796LwPYMSm

— Darque Dreamer 📚 (@DarqueDreamer) November 19, 2018

 

Calendar Girls December

The December theme is Let it Snow: Best Book Set in Winter.

I’m looking forward to seeing some interesting variety here! I’m still debating between two books that I absolutely adore, so I can bet everyone else is going to be just as passionate about their picks.

We will be changing up the #CGBchat next month to hopefully allow more people to participate. More details to come, but our plan is to post one question a day on twitter, giving participants a full 24 hours to answer and respond to other people’s answers. Then the next day we can do it all again! We’ll start on Monday December 17th and go for the whole week! Look forward to seeing some more people participating!

Our December schedule is:

• Sunday December 2nd – First day of Hanukkah
• Monday December 3rd – Calendar Girls December Posts (don’t forget to link back to me and Adrienne!)
• Sunday December 9th – Voting ends for the January theme (you can still vote HERE!)
• Monday December 10th – Adrienne and I will announce the January theme
• Monday December 17th – Friday December 21st – #CGBChat
• Wednesday December 25th – Christmas
• Monday December 31st – December Wrap-Up
• Monday December 31st – New Year’s Eve

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Thanks again to EVERYONE who participated. In America we give thanks for all the good things we have in November, and I am SO THANKFUL for all of you! Seriously, each and every one of you make my life better. I’m especially thankful to Adrienne, because if it weren’t for her this monthly event would be a whole lot less awesome, especially with me unexpectedly starting grad school halfway through August.

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Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event created by Melanie at MNBernard Books, and Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile, and is now be hosted by me (!), Katie and Adrienne at Darque Dreamer Reads. It is designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers, and was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song, Calendar Girl.

Just like the song, each month has a different theme. Each blogger picks their favorite book from the theme, and on the first Monday of the month reveals their pick in a Calendar Girls post. Make sure to post back to the hostess’s post, and I will make a master list for the month. The master lists allow everyone to see the other Calendar Girls’ picks and to pop on over to their blogs. Thus, we all get to chat about books and even make some new friends!

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