March Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for March! Last month, my Random Read was Stardoom: A Scientific Account of the Beginning and End of the Universe by Paul Davies. I sort of started it, and then decided I didn't really want to read it, and into the donate pile it went.

So it's off to the random number generator. Normally I would use the total number of books on my TBR shelf (765), but I'm taking a cue from a few other Random Reads participants and trying out using a subset of my TBR shelf to make sure an older book gets picked. So I'm entering 48 as the min (to skip all the review copies and other stuff I'm planning to read soon anyway) and 428 as the max (so that the range only includes books I've had sitting around since 2009 or earlier).

Drum roll, please!

For February’s Random Read I'll be reading Argument: Critical Thinking, Logic and the Fallacies by John Woods, et al. It's been on my TBR shelf since May 18, 2009. Wow. That's three non-fiction books in a row, Random Reads! What are you trying to do to me?! I guess that's good, though. Non-fiction books have an unfortunate tendency to appear on my to read shelf and then never leave.

February Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for February! Last month, my Random Read was Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown. I'm still in the process of reading that one.

So it's off to the random number generator. Normally I would use the total number of books on my TBR shelf (763), but I'm taking a cue from a few other Random Reads participants and trying out using a subset of my TBR shelf to make sure an older book gets picked. So I'm entering 50 as the min (to skip all the review copies and other stuff I'm planning to read soon anyway) and 431 as the max (so that the range only includes books I've had sitting around since 2009 or earlier).

Drum roll, please!

For February’s Random Read I'll be reading Stardoom: A Scientific Account of the Beginning and End of the Universe by Paul Davies. It's been on my TBR shelf since July 11, 2009. Wow. The Random Reads challenge sure did its job this month, picking a book that always gets picked last! This falls into the category of books that always get considered when I'm looking for books to donate, but always end up being kept because "maybe one day I'll want to read about the beginning and end of the universe!" Well, at least now I'll be dealing with this one once and for all. :) We'll see if I can actually finish it or not...

January Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for January! I haven't done a Random Read since June, because I've been too busy with review copies and challenges. I'd like to get back into it for 2014, now that I'm trying to free up more of my reading time for fun.

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 764 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 764 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For January’s Random Read I'll be reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown. It's been on my TBR shelf since July 11, 2009.This is a great Random Read, because it's one of those ones that I always see on my shelf and think, I should read that book. But I never do. So, now I will!

June Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for June! I haven't done a Random Read in a few months, but now that I'm back in the swing of things it's time to pick it up again. I'm glad because I've missed this feature! :)

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 771 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 771 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For June’s Random Read I'll be reading The War in the Air by H.G. Wells. It's been on my TBR shelf since May 27, 2012. So it hasn't been collecting dust for too long, but I'm embarassed by how many books were added to my TBR shelf in 2012, so it's probably for the best to read a book from that year. :)

March Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for March! Last month, my Random Read was Daughters of the Moon, Sisters of the Sun. I ended up flipping through it and losing interest. At least it's off my TBR pile!

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 765 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 765 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

That's new! This is the first time my random number has been so low that it's in the part of my list reserved for review copies and other books I need to read soon-ish. So this month, instead of reading a random old book, I'll be bumping up a review copy to the head of the queue.

For March’s Random Read I'll be reading The Dark Victorian: Bones by Elizabeth Watasin. It's been on my TBR shelf since January 31, 2013.You may recall that I reviewed the first book in this series, The Dark Victorian: Risen, last year.

February Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for February! Last month, my Random Read was Geomancer by Ian Irvine. It was a big one, but I got it done, and while it was a bit disappointing, at least I got a big book off my shelf!

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 751 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 751 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For February’s Random Read I'll be reading Daughters of the Moon, Sisters of the Sun: Young Women and Mentors on the Transition to Womanhood by K. Wind Hughes. It's been on my TBR shelf since July 12, 2012. I picked this one up at a community rummage sale last summer.

January Random Reads selection

Happy New Year!!! Also, it's time to select my Random Read for January! I took a break from Random Reads in December to get caught up on some review copies, but now I'm back and ready for some randomness!

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 751 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 751 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For January’s Random Read I'll be reading Geomancer (The Well of Echoes #1) by Ian Irvine. It's been on my TBR shelf since May 15, 2009, which is when I was adding my collection to Goodreads, so it's potentially a few years older than that. I'm happy with what the Fates have thrown me in this month's Random Read! It's been a while since I read a nice fat fantasy novel. :)

November Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for November! Last month, my Random Read was The Art of Egypt: The Time of the Pharaohs.

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 746 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 746 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For November’s Random Read I'll be reading S Is For Space by Ray Bradbury. It's been on my TBR shelf since June 2009, which is while I was still adding my collection to Goodreads, so it's probably been in my pile for much longer. (Side note: A huge number of my books were added to Goodreads in May and June 2009, and those are currently a priority of mine. I'm hoping to have read them all in 5 years. That sounds really far away but it's actually a fairly aggressive goal! I spend too much time making reading goals...)

October Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for October! Last month, my Random Read was Claws by Will Weaver, which I read, and it was terrible. C'est la vie.

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 717 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 717 as the max, and hit Generate. (If you actually looked at my shelf and saw that this number is way off, that's because I wrote this post right before buying a huge pile of books at the Children's Hospital Book Sale!)

Drum roll, please!

For October’s Random Read I'll be reading The Art of Egypt: The Time of the Pharaohs by Irmgard Woldering. It's been on my TBR shelf since May 17, 2009, which is during the time when I was adding my collection to Goodreads, meaning it's probably much older. This is the first time a non-fiction book has come up for my Random Read. I'm a little nervous about it! My non-fiction books tend to be the ones that I don't want to get rid of, but at the same, I don't really want to read them. I put them off way too much. So this is good. I WILL read this non-fiction book!

September Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for September! Last month, my Random Read was Sabrina the Teenage Witch #14: Spying Eyes by Nancy Holder, which I finished way back near the beginning of the month.

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 718 books on my TBR shelf at the moment (if you actually check, and see that that's a bit off, it's because I did this a little bit early), so I enter 1 as the min and 718 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For September’s Random Read I'll be reading Claws by Will Weaver. It's been on my TBR shelf since June 23, 2009, which is from when I was still adding my collection to Goodreads, meaning it's actually much older.

August Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for August! Last month, my Random Read was The Wish List by Eoin Colfer.

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 711 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 711 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For August’s Random Read I'll be reading Sabrina the Teenage Witch #14: Spying Eyes. It's been on my TBR shelf since July 2009, which is in my first few months on Goodreads, meaning I've probably had it a lot longer than that. This one is in the middle of a series, which would normally mean I'd skip over it, but the Sabrina novels are pretty standalone I think, and I'm not collecting them all anyway (I collect enough things as it is!), so I'm not going to worry about the order. This one should be a nice, quick, pleasant read!

July Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for July! Last month, my Random Read was Ghostlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Unfortunately, for the first time, I did not get to my random read. However, I have moved it up into the "read these soon" section of my TBR list, so that I won't forget about it, and will hopefully get to it soon! In the meantime, I'll pick a new one for July. I don't like being held back by one book I didn't get to.

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 695 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 695 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

I actually managed to get a book that's not in the middle of a series on the first try this time!

For July’s Random Read I'll be reading The Wish List by Eoin Colfer. It's been on my TBR shelf since April 19, 2011. I'm really happy with this month's selection! Next month is (surprise surprise) looking like it's going to be pretty busy, in terms of both reading and life in general, and The Wish List is a nice short, YA type book, by an author I know I like (the author of the Artemis Fowl series). So I should have no trouble fitting this one in.
Also, happy Canada Day!!! :)

June Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for June! Last month, my Random Read was Jesus on Mars by Philip José Farmer, which I did indeed read. Review coming soon!

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 692 books on my TBR shelf at the moment (yikes!!), so I enter 1 as the min and 692 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

Well, it took a lot of tries before I got something that wasn't in the middle of a series, but eventually I got one:

For June's Random Read I'll be reading Ghostlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It's been on my TBR shelf since March 26, 2011.

May Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for May! Last month, my Random Read was Starrise at Corrivale by Diane Duane. I ended up giving up on it, because it was kind of terrible. At least it's off my pile now!

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 672 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 672 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For April's Random Read I'll be reading Jesus on Mars by Philip José Farmer. It's been on my TBR shelf on Goodreads since July of 2009, which is in the first few months after I got Goodreads, meaning I've probably had the book much longer than that. I think I got this one when my uncle cleaned out his attic and gave me a big box of books.

April Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for April! Last month, my Random Read was John Dies at the End by David Wong.

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 666 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 666 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

For April's Random Read I'll be reading Starrise at Corrivale (Harbinger #1) by Diane Duane. It's been on my TBR shelf since February 9, 2012. This is one of my newest books! Kinda takes the fun out of it, really. I contemplated picking another one, but decided to just go with it. At least this is one book that will never make it to the pile of books I've had forever but haven't read. :)

March Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for March! Yay! Last month, my Random Read was The Hollow Tree by Janet Lunn, and I did read it in February, so I'm succeeding in this challenge so far!

So it's off to the random number generator. I have 668 books on my TBR shelf at the moment (up from last month thanks to a huge shopping spree at the Children's Hospital Book Sale!), so I enter 1 as the min and 668 as the max, and hit Generate.

Drum roll, please!

It took me a couple tries to get one that wasn't in the middle of a series. I kept getting Goosebumps and Fear Street books, which make up a pretty big chunk of my TBR shelf, but which I'm planning on reading in order at some point in the future. Then, finally, I got:

For March's Random Read I'll be reading John Dies at the End by David Wong. It's been on my TBR shelf on Goodreads since February 2011, so not too long, relatively speaking. It's one of those books I just picked up randomly because it looked interesting, and then never got around to. Time to give it a shot! I'm also going to double this one up as March's Read Your OWN Library! Challenge book, because I'm doing the Review Copy Cleanup this month, and will therefore be short on reading time for old books.

February Random Reads selection

It's time to select my Random Read for February! How exciting! The suspense is killing me! Now it's off to the random number generator. I have 649 books on my TBR shelf at the moment, so I enter 1 as the min and 649 as the max, and hit Generate. (I can't help but picture myself spinning a big wheel as I do this. "Where it stops, nobody knows!")

Drum roll, please!

For February's Random Read I'll be reading The Hollow Tree by Janet Lunn. It's been on my TBR shelf on Goodreads since June 2009, which is in my first few months on Goodreads, when I was still adding my whole library, so I've really had it for much longer than that. Probably since the 90s. So it's about time I finally got around to this one!