So many books, so little time

In 2013 I joined the Goodreads Reading Challenge.  My goal was to read 50 books and unfortunately I only made it to 43.  November and December threw me off target.  Between a cold I had for more than a month and holiday preparations I just couldn't hack it.  2014 will be my year (hopefully in more ways than just 50 books).

Last year I read 14,052 pages, which was 3,320 pages more than 2012.  Fourteen books were eBooks from the Library, Amazon Prime's Lending Library (limited to one per month) or free books I've downloaded.  I've listened to five books on CD or playaways (love this format!).  The rest were normal (old-fashioned) books from the library.

I seem to prefer series.  I guess it's easier for me to read faster when I already know and am invested in the characters.  It's also easier for me to decide what to read next.  I get somewhat paralyzed when I have to pick a new book to read.  There are just too many choices. Without further ado, here are the choices I made for 2013.

Books I Read in 2013

The Hangman's Daughter series  kept popping up in the Kindle Lending Library.  I read some reviews that were positive, so I dove in.  The hardest part was waiting for the month to end so I could check out the next book in the series.  

This series is set in the 1600's based on a real family.  The central characters are the town's Hangman, Jakob Kusil, and his daughter, Magdalena.  A hangman and his family are considered untouchable, the lowest class citizens in a town.  But Jakob and his daughter are clever and have extensive knowledge about herbs, anatomy and medicine.  Jakob and Magdalena always seem to find shifty practices, deceit or corruption and have to solve the mystery before they get into (or find a way out of) dire trouble.

The next series of 2013 was the last half of the Sookie Stackhouse books.  These books are the foundation for the television show True Blood.  It is about a young woman who can read thoughts in a world where supernatural beings exist and are mainstreaming into society.  Sookies friends, family and lovers include vampires, were(wolves, panthers, tigers), shapeshifters, faeries ... I think I have them all.  The books are full of politics, betrayal, love, lust and war. Sookie grows up a little in each novel.  When we meet her in book one she is a small town hick who cares about nothing but sunbathing and waitressing in a bar.  She is thrown into an exciting and dangerous new world many people are not privy too and loses herself without realizing it.  She drifts from her friends, jumps into a relationship with nearly every man she meets and does other unsavory deeds.  Finally she matures and understands loss, painful decisions and being guided by duty and responsibility.  

At times Sookie frustrated me with her blind trust, simple nature and weakness when it came to men.  Sometimes it seems like the editing or writing is missing plot points, and more often than once the book has abruptly ended, just barely tying together the various complicated loose ends.  The books aren't all bad though.  I can read them in two days. Sookie is a likeable character.  She's simple,  but caring and kind-hearted.  In the end, she learns from her experiences and makes decisions that are right for her, and not just right in the moment.

My next series from 2013 were also quick reads and somewhat frustrating.  The numbered series from Janet Evanovich feature the bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.  Stephanie does her best, but her best effort usually includes a lot of luck ... sometimes bad luck.  Stephanie usually gets her skip - while uncovering a bigger mystery.  She's in an on-again off-again romance with the hot Detective Joe Morrelli and is in lust with the dark and mysterious former-bounty hunter Ranger.  These books have the same type of formula as Sookie -- Stephanie uncovers a mystery, fights with Morrelli, gets into trouble, is rescued by Ranger ... and just when things are heating up the book ends.  

The only heat in the Diane Mott Davidson books involves the oven.  These are culinary mysteries featuring caterer and amateur detective Goldy Bear Schultz.  Goldy's latest catering job always puts her in the path of a mysterious murder that somehow connects to her family or friends, so she feels compelled to get involved.  She's married to the town's premiere detective who is usually working the same case.  He tells her to stay out of trouble, and she usually is falling into one mess after another.

The remaining books of 2013 contain five series: You Suck and Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore (comedic vampire books), Son of a Witch (sequel to Wicked), Whiskey Sour featuring detective Jack Daniels, Opal Fire, a Stacy Justice (who is a witch) mystery and Inferno, the latest Dan Brown novel following the adventures of Professor Robert Langdon.

I also read The Help and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  Both were good.

The other most notable book in this list was JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy.  If you're looking for anything similar to Harry Potter - don't even think of reading this book.  

This book had a lot of characters that were hard to keep track of and had a dark theme throughout ... with a lukewarm ending.  It wasn't a waste of time, but I wouldn't call it good.

As you can see, I generally prefer mysteries and light-hearted chick lit.  I enjoy more serious reads, but they take me so much longer to finish.

How do you choose what books you're going to read?  And what's your favorite series or book that I should read in 2014?

Does DIY Matte Nail Polish Work?

Pinterest is a great source for beautiful nail art designs and inspiration for the latest color trends.  I must admit, through browsing Pinterest I've fallen in love with and bought more nail polish in the past year than the past five years combined.

My nail polish hiatus is primarily because .... I simply didn't need it.  I have more than a generous supply.  Reds, pinks, purples, metallics - from the nude to jet black.  But with so much inspiration, I couldn't help but break out the colors and get creative.

There have been a fair number of new trends in nail art lately - swirled designs achieved by magnets and special polish, ombre (that you have to create yourself with patience), stickers (including the whole nail) and jewelry appliances.  The one that struck my interest was matte nails.  Remember back to middle school when you were bored in a certain class and colored on your nails with markers or highlighters   Matte polish creates a similar effect.

I wasn't finding any matte polish in the stores so this pin to create your own caught my eye.

Make Your Own Matte - Pinned from inthiscrazylife-bethany.blogspot.com.

This pin on the original web site came from a collection of tips, and this particular tip was found on a different site all together.  In order to make your own matte nail polish, you simply mix clear nail polish with powder eye shadow.  Just like that - any shade without an extra expense.  Talk about coordinating!  This tip worked - by mixing eye shadow and clear polish/top coat together the result was a matte polish.

However, I wouldn't recommend it.  First, to test it I initially mixed on a paper plate.  After I discovered it worked, for my second shade, I used an old eye shadow container lid. Storage is in issue.  I suppose if you're doing one color as a one shot deal there's no problem.  Come Thursday I had I chip and I wanted to keep the color the same, so I had to remix. I just wasn't properly stocked to store the polish - even enough for re-touches for any length of time.

Second, It takes a lot of clear polish to mix properly and it dries quickly --- and this wasn't even a speedy dry formula!  I never really mastered the ratio and I always had excess, wasting both the clear polish and the shadow.  I even tried mixing the shadow directly in the bottle of clear polish.  This just glopped up the brush and made it hard as cement.

After several tries I gave up, the technique works beautifully, but just wasn't the savvy savings tip I had hoped it could be.

Months later I came across a pin suggesting that I could create matte top coat using cornstarch and clear nail polish. Matte Clear Finish - (Credit: indulgy.com)
  

This technique, I would argue, did not work as expected.  I had  all the same problems with rations, gloppy brushes and sticky receptacles.  Initially it gave the undercoat a matte finish, but as it dried it gained a slight gloss.  I've since bought a matte top coat, which works well, and it leaves nails with a satin finish that is much more matte than the semi-gloss of the cornstarch trick.

My recommendation is if you have patience and don't mind wasting product, go for DIY.  Otherwise just buy matte from the bottle and skip the eye shadow, cornstarch and whatever trick they come up with next.