Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for book blogs] 

This week at the Broke and Bookish we're talking about our top ten favorite book blogs. Since I was listed on their top ten I will definitely have to share the love! These are in no particular order.

1. The Broke and Bookish. I love the idea for this blog! It's great that they have multiple bloggers because each one has a different way of reviewing and reads different books. Lots of variety here!
2. Reading on a Rainy Day. Quite a few reviews of books dealing with India, which is different from other blogs out there. She really has eclectic taste and has reviewed some great books this year, including The Bell Jar which I love. I always come away with something I want to read.
3. 1330V. You can always count on this blog for really thoughtful posts about reading and great reviews on an assortment of books. Quite a few graphic novel reviews and lots of books I've never heard of before!
4. Sophisticated Dorkiness. A journalist and book lover blogs about mostly nonfiction. This is the only book review blog I can think of that focuses on nonfiction and that is part of the reason I love it. Since I found Sophisticated Dorkiness I have started to review more nonfiction myself because it's my favorite genre as well!
5. Sasha & the Silverfish. Sasha was one of the first blogs I read when I started blogging. Her posts are long but wonderful. It's like discussion in an English class, except you don't have to worry about getting a grade! Lots of great books here.
6. A Literary Odyssey. This blog attempts to read 250 classics and does multiple posts on quite a few of them. I like that about this blog because you get to hear so much more about her thoughts on a book than you would with just one post. With classics I think that works really well.
7. Drunk Literature. On a bit of a hiatus right now but still one of my favorite book blogs. Rebecca blogs about more than books, that includes art, music, and just what's she into at the moment. She has great taste!
8. A Guy's Moleskine Notebook. He reviews quite a few classics but also a lot of newer books so there is a lot of variety. The reviews are very thoughtful and specific, and he is great at starting discussions.
9. The Displaced English Major. Similarly to A Literary Odyssey this blog is trying to read a list of 100 books. I've been amazed at how patient she can be with books she doesn't really care for. She's read some fairly obscure titles so be sure to check out her thoughts!
10. Iris on Books. I didn't find Iris until this summer but it's quickly become one of my favorite book blogs. She reviews mostly literature and classics, but I really enjoy her posts about reading. She's funny too!

There are a lot more I'd like to list. Basically, check out any blog in my blogroll and know that I love what they do!

Thanks to Amy from My Friend Amy's Blog, I'm excited to announce the dates of the 2009 Book Blogger Appreciation Week. For those of you that don't know, Amy has devoted a ton of her personal time to recognize the value book bloggers have, and to celebrate the book blogging world!

Last year over 400 blogs came together to celebrate the art of book blogging during the first ever Book Blogger Appreciation Week! The second annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week will be taking place September 14-18.

WHO Anyone who blogs about books is invited to participate. In fact, we want everyone who blogs about books and reading to be a part of this week!

WHAT A week where we come together, celebrate the contribution and hard work of book bloggers in promoting a culture of literacy, connecting readers to books and authors, and recogonizing the best among us with the Second Annual BBAW Awards. There will be special guest posts, daily blogging themes, and giveaways.

WHEN September 14-18, 2009

WHERE The new Book Blogger Appreciation Week Blog! (Please note that this year there are three separate blogs and feeds—one for the main event, one for giveaways, and one for awards.)

WHY Because books matter. In a world full of options, the people talking about books pour hard work, time, energy, and money into creating a community around the written word.

WANT TO PARTICIPATE? Please help us spread the word about Book Blogger Appreciation Week by posting about it on your blog, twittering about it, and telling everyone you know that it’s time to have a party and celebrate book bloggers!

Please register by filling out the registration form! Registering ensures your inclusion in the BBAW 09 Database of Book Bloggers and enters you into the drawing for the BBAW 09 Grand Prize!

Award Nominations opened July 15 on the BBAW Awards Blog.

DEWEY began blogging at The Hidden Side of a Leaf in April 2007. While her main topic was books - book reviews, book discussions, reading challenges, book giveaways - her focus was always on building community, as she said herself:

My main focus in blogging is community. I want to share my love for books with other bloggers, hear what they think of what they’re reading, and have lots of bookish fun. My non-review blog activities...are all meant to build community.

In just over a year and a half as a book blogger, Dewey quickly became a leader in the community she sought to foster. Her book reviews were well-thought-out, insightful, and thorough; her style of reviewing and the books she wrote about influenced the reading and blogging choices of many other book bloggers - and while she was a prolific reviewer, her reading outpaced her reviewing, and she often remarked about being behind on her reviews. In addition to her own reading and reviewing, Dewey organized and managed several reading challenges, and founded three events which spread across the book-blogging community: the semi-annual 24-Hour Read-a-Thon, the monthly Bookworms Carnivals, and Weekly Geeks.

In April 2008, Dewey proposed a new sort of "challenge" at her blog; not a reading challenge, but a blogging challenge, to be called "Weekly Geeks" - her initial post to gauge interest in the idea prompted 150 people to sign up! The challenge would involve a weekly assignment - a question, a task, a theme - to be completed and posted on the Geeks' individual blogs and linked at the main assignment post. Not every Geek participated every week, some assignments were more popular than others, and new Geeks joined in as the word spread. Visiting other Geeks' posts for that week was part of the assignment as well, which is where Dewey's community-building focus kicked in.

The book-blogging community was stunned and saddened by the news that Dewey passed away on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - but it never doubted that Dewey's contributions to it would live on, and there was a drive to continue the events she founded. It will take committees of bloggers and several blogs to keep them going, though. Welcome to the new home of Weekly Geeks, part of Dewey's legacy to the community she was so important to.

Written by Florinda

The following table contains links to the many posts that have been written in memory of Dewey:

Blog Name
Tribute Post
Weekly Geek Post
1 More Chapter Dewey You'll Be Missed -- 1330V Dewey Thinking Of Dewey 3 Rs Reading, ‘Riting Randomness Book Bloggers Say Goodbye Blogging For Dewey A Garden Carried In The Pocket Requiem -- A Girl Walks Into A Bookstore Dewey -- A Guy’s Moleskine Notebook Goodbye Dewey -- A Reader’s Respite Rest In Peace Dewey -- A Striped Armchair Rest In Peace Dewey -- APOOO Books RIP Dewey -- Armenian Odar Dewey, Thank You For Everything -- At Home With Books In Honor Of Dewey -- B&B ex libris Dewey -- Back To Books A Sad Loss To The World -- Bart’s Bookshelf :( -- Beastmomma Losing A Blogging Pal -- Becky’s Book Reviews Sad News Indeed In Her Own Words Belle Of The Books Dewey Will Be Missed -- Bibliolatry A Great Loss -- BlogHer Remembering Dewey -- Bloody Hell It’s A Book Barrage Farewell, Beautiful Dewey -- Bluestocking Guide Loss In Our Community -- Bluestocking Society Goodbye To Dewey -- Bold. Blue. Adventure We’ll Miss You Dewey -- Book-A-Rama Unbelievably Sad News For Dewey Book Addiction -- Remembering Dewey Book And Cranny Shock and Sadness -- The Book Mine Set Rest In Peace Dewey -- Book Dads The Butterfly Award -- Book Nut -- Geeky Tribute Book Zombie Remembering Dewey This One's For You Bookfoolery And Babble This One's For Dewey -- Bookgirls Nightstand For Dewey -- Bookish Ruth Farewell Dewey -- Booklorn Sad Day -- Bookopolis Bookworms Carnival -- Bookroom Reviews God Bless You Dew -- Books And Border Collies In Memoriam -- Books And Movies A Huge Loss -- Books And Other Thoughts Remembering Dewey -- Books I Done Read Sad News -- Books Of Mee Bye Dewey -- Books On The Brain A Sad Goodbye -- Bookstack Loss Of A Builder -- Bookworm In Memory Tribute Post brideofthebookgod -- Dewey Care’s Online Book Club -- Weekly Geeks Caribousmom Remembering Dewey -- A Loss In Memory Of Dewey Casual Dread -- Dewey ChainReading -- Remembering Dewey Deus ex machina complex Oh Fuck In The Land Of Denial Everyday Reads Prayerful Weekly Geeks Fizzy Thoughts In Memory Of Dewey For Dewey Fyrefly Books In Memoriam -- Galley Cat Book Blogger Dewey -- Giving Reading A Chance Dewey, You Will Be Missed -- Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading? We Love You Dewey -- In Search Of Giants In Memory Of Dewey -- In Spring It Is The Dawn Farewell Dewey -- Incurable Logophilia Bookshelf Peeping -- It’s All About Books Dewey We’ll Miss You Dewey Tribute Just Add Books Huge Loss Making It Count The Kea <3 -- For Dewey -- Kids Book Buzz Farewell To Dewey -- Kittling Books Dewey's Community -- Kristina’s Favorites For Dewey -- Leafing Through Life Missing You -- Life Happens While Books Wait Dewey -- Literary Escapism Sadness In The Book Blogosphere -- Literate Housewife In Remembrance -- Lit*chick Two Things -- Madeleine’s Book Blog In Memory Of Dewey -- Maggie Reads My Eyes Are Dewey -- Maw Books Blog In Which We Say Goodbye -- Melody’s Reading Corner Dewey ... You’ll Be Missed Honouring Dewey Musings Remembering Dewey -- Musings Of A Bookish Kitty In Memory Of Dewey -- My Friend Amy Farewell Dewey For Dewey My Own Little Reading Room My Prayers For Dewey Remembering Dewey My Years Of Reading Seriously Life... -- Naked Without Books Dewey -- Fortress Is Their Library -- Nothing Of Importance This Is Real Life Tribute To Dewey Out Of The Blue Dewey Remembering Dewey Page After Page Life Is So Fleeting Dewey Edition Pages Turned Remembering Dewey -- Passion For The Page -- RIP Dewey The Printed Page Thoughts And Prayers -- Random Wonder In Remembrance -- Reading Adventures Sad News Indeed -- Reading Derby Dewey You Are Missed -- Reading In Appalachia For Dewey -- Reading Is My SuperPower Oh Dewey -- Reading, Writing and Retirement Candle For Dewey For Dewey Ready When You Are C.B. In Memory Of Dewey -- Rebecca Reads A Farewell -- Savvy Verse & Wit My Dearest Dewey Dewey Tribute She Reads Books In Memoria -- Shelf Life Sad News -- Should Be Reading In Memory Of Dewey -- Sleepy Reader For Dewey -- So Many Books, So Little Time Hole In Our World -- So Many Precious Books Today Is A Sad Day In Memory Of Dewey Some Reads So Sad -- Sophisticated Dorkiness Sad News Remembering Dewey Sprite Writes Dewey -- Stephanies Confessions A Terrible Loss... -- Stephanie’s Written Word The Hidden Side Of A Leaf -- Stuff As Dreams Are Made On Oh No... Weekly Geeks Subliminal Intervention -- Dewey Tales From The Reading Room Saying Goodbye -- Tammy’s Book Nook For Dewey, With Love -- Things Mean A Lot Dewey For Dewey Thoughts Of Joy Extremely Sad News -- Tiny Little Reading Room Rest In Peace Dewey -- Tripping Toward Lucidity Loss -- Trish’s Reading Nook In Memory Of Dewey -- True Confessions Of A Book Lover Dewey -- Valentina’s Room -- For Dewey West Of Mars Public Service Announcement -- Word Lily For Dewey Remembering Dewey Worducopia Goodbye -- In Memory Of Dewey Dear Dewey The Written World In Memory Of Dewey -- You Can Never Have Too Many Books Dewey --

Lisa Roe, an online publicist wrote a three part guest post in memory of Dewey. The posts can be found on these blogs:
1. Part 1 Dewey, Our Blog Friend Remembered @ AndiLit.com
2. Part 2 Lisa Roe’s Memorial Post For Dewey @ BookingMama
3. Part 2 Lisa Roe Remembers Dewey @ Reading Is My SuperPower

My cousin, Emily, blogs over at In Which Ems Reviews Books and she and a friend have started a weekly Sunday feature. I have been a bit absent so far this year (my apologies) but when I saw her post today — the first post of the new feature and saw the topic, I decided this was something I had to take part in. I mean, I never miss an opportunity to talk up my favorite books and today's topic is to pick a favorite and talk about why it's special to you.

Any guesses as to which book I'm going to pick?:)

So there's this book... It's kind of a big deal to me. I talk about it all the time, and it's gotten to the point that if I send certain people a tweet saying — Ask them — they all know which book I'm talking about.

I decided several years ago that I was going to read all the books on the Newbery award list, and when I learned about the Printz award, and it is to YA what the Newbery is to MG, I decided I would read all of those too. And I read a brilliantly funny/witty/hysterical/intelligent Honor winner from 2009 called The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. And let me tell you, I loved that book. It remains one of the smartest funny books I've ever read. But, that is not the book I'm going to talk about today. Because after I finished that book, I wondered why it didn't win the actual award. So I sought out the winner of the Award that year, wondering if I was going to be disappointed that this was the book that ultimately won.

But friends. Do you know what book won the Printz Award in 2009? DO YOU?!

I'll give you a hint... It's this one:

This book wrecked me. It tore me to pieces, pulled apart my heart and pulverized my soul. And then it put me back together again, different, but better. I am never at a loss for words, but I never feel like I can truly articulate what this book did to me. It just... consumed me. I was so incredibly captivated and involved with this book, these characters and their lives.

I've felt sad before, finishing a book and knowing that my time with the characters was over for now, and I've actively wished that some of the people in the book were real. But not even with Harry Potter do I remember being so overwhelmingly devastated that these people weren't real because I just felt them that much.

I have never come across a writer with an ability like Marchetta's before. Something about her writing just hits me, in that perfect way. I tend to get overly dramatic when I talk about Marchetta, specifically when referencing this book and I saw things like — Melina Marchetta owns my soul. And when I'm reading one of her books, she does.

I tell you what — Never have I read anything like this book. It causes me genuine physical pain when I hear that someone didn't like this book. Physical pain. (and I'll be honest and admit that the secret, shameful place inside of me wonders about their mental stability... But only for a minute).

I don't think I will ever run out of positive things to say about this book, but I need an ending point somewhere, so let me also just add this (because I still make giddy/squeaky noises every time I think about it)

After Just Contemporary month, when I emailed Melina (*dies*) I got a surprise package in the mail. From Australia. And I opened it to find this:

I cried.

There have been so many awesome blog posts about Contemporary YA this week! I have loved reading the ones I've discovered, but just know that I had to have missed a bunch. So, if your blog post isn't listed here, please let me know!

Announcement of Contemporary Win!- A whole bunch of bloggers have gotten together to put on a John Green week this January! How awesome is that?! John Green pretty much oozes Contemporary awesomness so a week to spotlight him sounds awesome! Here is a link to one of the blogs hosting sign ups!:) Click me for John Green Week info!!!

Also, I cannot believe that I have so far forgotten to mention this — BUT — November is also Aussie Month over at Carla's blog, The Crooked Shelf. Since it's Aussie authors in general, not everything is Contemporary but there is definitely some Contemp love and seriously, who doesn't love Aussie authors?! There must be something in the water over there because they Rock!
Some of the Contemporary Australian Awesome — An interview with Melina Marchetta! (Whom I absolutely adore!) Reviews of Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley; Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell; A Straight Line to My Heart by Bill Condon; Good Oil by Laura Buzo;

REVIEW:

Alissa @ The Grammarian — Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (not entirely Contemp, but mostly)

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog — Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols (and a giveaway!), The Vinyl Princess by Yvonne Prinz, Dreamland Social Club by Tara Atebrando, Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin and Shattered Soul by Jennifer Snyder (also has an author interview and a giveaway!).

Somer @ A Bird's Eye View — Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Mandie Baxter — Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Allison @ The Allure of Books — Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Mary @ Anxirium — Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Jacinda @ The Reading Housewives — Sea by Heidi R. Kling and The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

The Busy Bibliophile — You Against Me by Jenny Downham

Jennifer @ The Book Barbies — Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Racquel @ The Book Barbies — If I Stay by Gayle Forman, Where She Went by Gayle Forman, Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski and Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez.

Magan @ Rather Be Reading — Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chboksy

Krazy Book Lady — Joint Mother/Daughter review of Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennet

Estelle @ Rather Be Reading — Fringe Girl by Valerie Frankel

Katelyn @ Katelyn's Blog — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Amanda @ Book Love 101 — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Hannah @ Paperback Treasures — Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Bonnie @ A Backwards Story — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Rachel @ Rachel Reads — The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Ginger @ Greads! — Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Farrah @ I Eat Words — Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Amanda @ On a Book Bender — Cut by Patricia McCormick (guest review by Amanda)

Karen @ For What It's Worth — Saving June by Hannah Harrington

A Beautiful Madness — Dancergirl by Carol Tanzman, Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter (second in a series) and Saving June by Hannah Harrington.

Ashley @ Book Labyrinth — I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler

Laura @ The Reading Nook — Lie by Caroline Bock

Jamie @ Writers write, right? — The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

Rachel @ Fiktshun — Where You Are by Tammara Webber (second book in series)

Melissa @ I Swim for Oceans — The Shattering by Karen Healy

April @ Good Books & Good Wine — Playground by 50 Cent and Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner — Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

Anna @ Anna Reads — Kiss It by Erin Downing and Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Jayme @ The Secret Life of an Avid Reader — Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

Yani @ The Secret Life of an Avid Reader — Double Clutch by Elizabeth Reinhardt

Chey @ The Hollow Cupboards — Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins and Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf — North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley, Dancergirl by Carol Tanzman and Where You Are by Tammara Webber (second book in series)

Farah @ Maji Bookshelf — The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler and Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Chelsey @ Starry Sky Books — Rhymes with Cupid by Anna Humphrey

Melissa @ This is Your Brain on Books — The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Mari @ Escape in a Good Book — All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield

Nina @ Escape in a Good Book — Dancergirl by Carol Tanzman

Sarah @ Whispering Words — Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning

Cass @ Words on Paper — Audition by Stasia Kehoe

Samual @ Books for All Seasons — Moving Day by Meg Cabot

Lena @ Addicted to Novels — Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay and Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Steph @ Steph Su Reads — Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Giselle @ Xpresso Reads — Fury by Shirley Marr

The Book Faery — Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

Tee @ Dreaming Dreams — Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, and Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday.

Lizz @ Dreaming Dreams — Want to Go Private? by Sarah Darer Littman

Annette's Book Spot — Saving June by Hannah Harrington

AUTHOR:

Mary @ Anxirium — Guest post w/ author Jennifer Castle about Being a Contemporary YA Writer

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog interviewed Tara Altebrando.

Krazy Book Lady interviewed Cindy C. Bennett

Avid Reader Yani has a guest post from Elizabeth Reinhardt about dating

Kody Keplinger interviewed Hannah Harrington

Kirsten Hubbard is giving away Wanderlove bookmarks

Hannah Harrington lists her Top Ten Road Trip Songs.

DISCUSSION:

Misty @ The Book Rat talks about her most anticipated Contemporary YA (and it's a linky! You can too!!)

Molly Jo @ Surrounded by Words — Contemporary YA: A Love/Hate Relationship
Danielle @ Alpha Reader talks about her favorite Aussie YA novels.
Samual @ Books for All Seasons talks about favorite YA/MG Contemps about friendship

Romance:
Bonnie @ A Backwards Story
Danya @ A Tapestry of Words

More of the Tough Stuff posts that I missed last week:

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog
Bonnie @ A Backwards Story
Sarah @ The Storybound Girl
Amanda @ The Fiction Fairy

Once again — If I've missed anything, Let me know!!:) I'd love to add your stuff to my link up!

Alright guys — Seriously. Today's Memory Monday blogger is one of my favorite people to chat with. Shannon blogs at Books Devoured and I love reading her posts. She's made of win. Like, for realz folks. If you don't already talk to her or follow her, you should (link to her Twitter) . She has an awesome post today!

Bio:

I read and I blog about it. My Life motto... What would Jackie O do?

My name is Shannon and I am the one to blame for Books Devoured. I am a pretty eclectic reader but I have been reading a lot of YA lately. I'm 32 & a Home Schooling Mom to 2 children.
Post:

I was excited to be asked to guest post for Memory Monday. There is only one problem, my memory is awful! I had an idea to change it up a bit so I hope you will indulge me.

I had a great childhood mostly because I had an amazing Mom. She indulged my love of reading with tons of books! I do at least remember having tons of Babysitters club books! They were my favorite. Besides buying me books, I remember seeing my mother read throughout my childhood. It was always ingrained in me that reading was important. Now that I am a mother, I do whatever I can to form those book memories for my children. I make sure that they see me reading. Not only that but they see that I make it my free time priority. I don't just read by myself though, I read to them and with them as well.

When each of my children were really little, their favorite book was But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton. I read that book so many times that I can still recite it. I never minded because I knew at the end of the book when I got to their favorite part (But, YES the hippopotamus! But not the Armadillo) I would be rewarded with their laughter. There is no sweeter sound to a Mother than her child's laughter. The more we read that story the more of it they remembered and before long they could recite it too. Their favorite book series for me to read to them now is Skippyjon Jones by Jufy Schachner. Though I have a suspicion they only like it because I do my best to use lots of funny accents when I read them!

I value the time that I get to read to them because I know that soon they will be able to do it on their own. I try to find books that I can read to them that they will both enjoy. Sometimes that means that I might not be as much of a fan of it as they are. There has been one book that I liked more than the others and I think it made an impression on them as well. It is The Bake Shop Ghost by Jacqueline K. Ogburn. I picked that book up because it was on sale, I knew nothing about it. I might have had it in the house for a while before I even ended up choosing to read it to them. The first time I read them that book was incredibly memorable for me. It started out a bit funny, a ghost who was not leaving her bake shop and causing chaos for anyone who tried to take her place. By the end of that story I was in tears and not the funny kind; the sad, surprised, heartbreaking and sweet kind. It was probably the first time that my children had seen me cry over a book. I am truly grateful for this experience. It opened up a dialogue with my children that was priceless, both about the themes of the book and about why a book could make mommy cry. If you have children I can not recommend this book highly enough. I do suggest reading it first just to make sure your children are ready for it's contents though.

I have tried to make sure that they always have books that they like to read more than worry about what they should be reading. I homeschool them so I have complete control over their reading lives. I learned early that forcing my son to read something he does not like is not helpful. I hated seeing a book he wasn't into take away his joy of reading. Once he gets a little older that might change some but if he is not ready for The Giver by Lois Lowry then we will put it away for now and read James Patterson's The Gift Instead! My daughter picked up reading very quickly so I do hope that she loves it as much as I do. One thing is for sure, she will inherit quite a collection of books from her mother if she does!

Thank you SO much for sharing with us Shannon! I LOVE that you are so involved in reading with your kids! I think it's awesome! I'm definitely going to be looking up those two favorites of your kids!

This week, Ruth's question to Weekly Geeks concerned how we stay organized and inspired in our reading and blogging:

Book blogging, as a concept, is essentially pretty simple: If you have Internet access and an opinion about a book, you can be a book blogger. However, actually maintaining a book blog is much more complicated -- our blogs are labors of love that require a lot of time, energy and devotion. For this edition of Weekly Geeks, I want to focus on the little things that make your blogging and/or reading life a bit easier. Do you use sites like GoodReads, LibraryThing or Shelfari to organize your books? Do you swear by Book Darts? Couldn't live without your Book Buddy? Love connecting with other bloggers on sites such as Twitter? Tell us about what makes your blog tick. Is there something specific that keeps you organized or inspired?

There was one very popular response about a source of inspiration: other book bloggers! Getting ideas about what to read next, exchanging comments about what we've read and written - it seems like it always comes back to community.

Geeks shared some of the practical things that keep their blogging and reading going, too. I'm always impressed to see how many book bloggers track their reading activity on spreadsheets. I'm an accountant in my non-blogging professional life, and I work with spreadsheets all the time - and yet it never crossed my mind to use them in connection with my reading! (There's the "inspiration from other bloggers" kicking in.)

In addition to spreadsheets, the online-library websites are very helpful too. Suey of It's All About Books and Sarah from Puss Reboots are both active GoodReads users, while Trisha of eclectic/eccentric and Jennie at Biblio File organize their books with LibraryThing.

On the blogging side of things, Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise is a fan of XnView image software for online editing of pictures for her posts. Erotic Horizon composes posts using Windows Live Writer and then pastes them into her blogging software, and finds a lot of inspiration and advice in the Book Blogs Ning group.

Thanks to everyone who shared "tools of the trade" this week! There will NOT be a new Weekly Geeks theme posted this weekend because the 24-Hour Read-a-thon is going on all day tomorrow. But please don't forget to check back for a new WG next Saturday, October 31...will it be something Halloween-themed? You'll have to come by and find out!

Once again, here is a link up of all the Contemporary happenings I've stumbled across in the past week on blogs other than Shanyn's and my own! There are some seriously awesome things happening around the blogosphere, so click through the list and check it out!

And since it is absolutely impossible for me to really be aware of all that is happening everywhere, if you have seen or posted anything Contemporary related, Let me know! I will either add it to this list, or include it in next week's post!

Awesome Reading Challenge: The Keeping It Real Contemporary YA Reading Challenge hosted by Kat @ I Write, I Read, I Review. And, there will be prizes!:)

REVIEWS:

Sarah @ The Storybound Girl — Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog — Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler, Amplified by Tara Kelly, Vintage Veronica by Erica S. Perl, North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headly

L.L. @ The Story Girl — I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak

Katelyn @ Katelyn's Blog — The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner and My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

Melina @ Reading Vacation — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales and The Daughters Join the Party by Joanna Philbin (this is the third book in the series.)

Author Jessi Kirby — Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Asheley @ Into the Hall of Books — We the Animals by Justin Torres

Samual @ Books for All Seasons — The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott

Danya @ A Tapestry of Words — Dear Bully by Various

Shannon @ Books Devoured — Looking for Alaska John Green and The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

The Busy Bibliophile — Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee

Anna @ Anna Reads — Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Raquel @ The Book Barbies — Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

Page @ One Book at a Time — Lie by Caroline Bock

Emily @ Red House Books — Reasons to be Happy by Katrina Kittle

Giselle @ Xpresso Reads — dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman, and Room by Emma Donoghue (probably more Adult than YA, but it is definitely a crossover book).

Somer @ A Bird's Eye View — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Liz @ Consumed by Books — The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Nicci @ Paper Dreams — Perfect Cover by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez (she also wrote a fun — Five Reasons to Read Virtuosity post!)

Julie @ A Tale of Many Reviews — The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Chris @ Between the Covers — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Ginger @ Greads! — Amplified by Tara Kelly

Carrie @ Stalking the Bookshelves — Saving June by Hannah Harrington and The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Rowena @ The Book Scoop — My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

Mindi @ Books Complete Me — Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett

Sarah @ YA Love — How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Jennifer @ Novel Thoughts — Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Aubrey @ holes in my brain — How to Save a Life — Sara Zarr

Mary @ Anxirium — Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Lori @ Pure Imagination — Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Lisa @ The Garden of Books — Where She Went by Gayle Forman and Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

John @ Dreaming in Books — Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Kelli @ I'd So Rather Be Reading — Going Too Far — Jennifer Echols

Princess Bookie — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales and Pure Red by Danielle Joseph

For the Love of Contemporary — His Eyes by Renee Carter

Tiffany @ Tiffany Reads — The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder and Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

Ashley @ Bookaholics Anonymous — Raw Blue by Kirsty Egar

Hannah @ Paperback Treasures — If I Tell by Janet Gurtler, Calli by Jessica Lee Anderson and Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott.

Bailey @ IB Book Blogging — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales

The Book Faerie — The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder (WARNING — This review DOES contain spoilers)

Jenny @ The Mimosa Stimulus — Amplified by Tara Kelly and Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Sophia @ The Book Basement — If I Stay by Gayle Forman, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen and The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Natalie @ Quirky Vintage — Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (not completely Contemporary, but mostly & amazing, so...)

Karen @ For What It's Worth — Where You Are by Tammara Webber

Lisa @ The Garden of Books — Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott (this is actually a short — What on Earth could I possibly say about this level of intensity — post)

AUTHORS:

The Nerd Girls @ Books to the Sky Interviewed Janet Gurtler! (And there is a giveaway!)

For the Love of Contemporary spotlighted Sarah Ockler!!!

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog interviewed Anne Pfeffer (and there is an international giveaway!) and she also interviewed Stasia Kehoe!

The Contemps blog spotlighted new author Josie Bloss and her novel Faking Faith.

Sam @ Books for all Seasons interviewed Melissa Kantor!

Liz @ Consumed by Books has a fun This or That Interview with Hannah Harrington!

Hannah @ Paperback Treasures has a guest post from Megan Bostic about the songs that inspired her book!

Melina @ Reading Vacation has a guest post from Joanna Philbin.

Kristi @ The Story Siren has a guest post from Catherine Ryan Hyde (with a giveaway)

DISCUSSION TOPICS

Allison @ The Allure of Books vlogged about her favorite YA Contemporary Books
Mandie Baxter: Why I Love Contemporary
Rowena @ The Book Scoop: Why I Love Contemporary
Author Carol Tanzman: Why I Write Contemporary YA
Bee @ Dreamcatcher's Lair: Her favorite Dark YA books. (Not all are Contemporary, but most of them are!)
Author Abbi Glines: Her 11 favorite Indie Contemporary YA Romances

Tough Stuff in Contemporary YA: (again, many of these were written as guest posts and I am only identifying the author of the post, not the host blog)

Rie @ Mission to Read
Bonnie @ A Backwards Story
Candace @ Candace's Book Blog
Jacinda @ Reading Housewives
Katelyn @ Katelyn's Blog
Cara @ Chasing Words
Mandie Baxter
Nicci @ Paper Dreams
Shannon @ Books Devoured
Ginger @ GReads!

Again — If you have seen or written a post talking about Contemporary YA or reviewing a book, LET ME KNOW!! I'd LOVE to include you in the link up AND I personally read and comment on all of them. (It takes a while, but I'm LOVING It!) So leave me a comment, shoot me an email or send me a tweet and I'll add you to my list!:)

I first heard about The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens from Becky, who blogs at Escapism through Books. She was talking about it, and wrote a really stellar review of the book (read it, you know you want to!) . I left a comment mentioning that I thought it sounded like a great book, and being the wonderful person Becky is, she sent me her copy!! (Thanks Becky. You are made of awesome!)

The book starts out as so many of these intense fantasy series do — It has children (girl, boy, girl) mysteriously/suspiciously missing parents, a prophecy (of sorts) and the understanding that these seemingly unimportant, average orphans are going to change the fate of the world. Everyone has read a book like this recently. I can almost guarantee it. Sure, the number of children, their gender, why/how the parents went missing and the specifics of the prophecy all change, but the basic storyline is the same. When the book started out, following this pattern, I admit that I groaned a little bit. But then, the story moved on and became something completely wonderful. The basic outline laid out for us, Stephens then delves into his own specific mysteries and magics and I was swept away.

Kate has an overdeveloped sense of responsibility for her younger siblings. Her parent's went missing when she was four years old, and right before being taken from them, her mother made her promise that she would keep her siblings safe. That's a lot of pressure to put on a four year old, and Kate feels it at times, but she never tries to avoid it. The children have an amazingly strong bond, and they are deeply loyal to each other. Kate is also the most sure that her parents are not dead, because just after her mother made Kate promise to keep her siblings safe, she also promised Kate that they would all be together again someday.

Michael is more of a dreamer. He's learned to cope with the increasingly horrible conditions in the various orphanages they are forced to live in by imagining hidden and secret worlds, and he is especially fascinated by dwarfs. Emma, the youngest is fierce and tough, having learned early on that in this life, being weak, or unwilling to fight is dangerous and that only the strong survive in these places.

When the children are kicked out of yet another orphanage, they are sent to a mysterious home, where they are the only orphans in the 'orphanage', the orphanage director is absent and nothing 'quite' adds up. One day, while exploring the house, they stumble across a room that they assume is the owner's study and they find a green book. They assume it's just an old photo album, but when Michael places an old picture on one of the pages, the world as they know it will change for ever, and they are thrust into the middle of a conflict that's been brewing for centuries.

I loved the development of this story. Each of the characters was given their own set of strengths and weaknesses, and we watched as all of their unique abilities developed, changed, and led to the growth of the characters. Each of the secondary and side characters was also given a distinct personality. I was actually surprised at how uniquely formed each and every character and situation was, given the rather formulaic pattern used to set the initial stage for the story.

The magic in this book was also wonderfully developed and explained. The children have no idea that the world of magic exists, so we get to learn everything as the children do. I've always loved being able to learn right along with the main characters. It's just an extra way of becoming involved in the book, because we are sharing an experience! And when you get to share a life changing experience with your characters, when you learn it as they do, and they keep no secrets from the reader, it offers the reader an extra connection to both the character(s) and the story.

I'm a little bit sad right now, because I know that my review is not doing this book justice. I read the book a while ago, and I kept putting off writing the review, because every time I tried, I was painfully aware that no matter what I said, I wasn't really going to be able to articulate how this book made me feel. So, instead I'm going to finish by saying that I really enjoyed the story, and it's one that I think will have a very wide level of appeal. It's a book that can be read and enjoyed by both the younger, MG set, and the older groups, YA and up. I believe that this is a series that is going to have a lot of cross-over appeal and will be enjoyed by just about everyone who gives it a chance.

Now, if only I didn't have to wait so long for the sequel!

I was immediately intrigued by Marilyn Johnson's new book This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. After all, I want to go to library school and when I was in high school I used to make comic books where I was the superhero. So the idea shown on the cover, a librarian with a cape off to save the world, was attractive to me. Once I started reading I was surprised to find out that Johnson isn't a librarian herself, but rather a librarian stalker like me. Except that I plan on becoming a librarian and as far as I could tell she did not. I think the book was even better (at least for me) written from the perspective of a non-librarian because it made it more interesting for an outsider. In this book Johnson talks about the changing world of libraries, the problems with digital records and the plus sides to them, the stereotype of the librarian, and what librarians do outside their jobs. And I'll admit this right away, the book made me even more positive that library school is what I want to do in two years.

The book is divided into 12 essays, really, about different aspects of libraries and librarians. One of my favorites was How to Change the World, which talked about librarians that work in other countries and with students from around the world, specifically underprivileged countries to help their nations advance in society through technology. As a blogger I really enjoyed The Blog People, which is all about librarian bloggers (several I'd never heard of even though I follow a lot of librarian blogs). She also touches on the danger of blogging for librarians, particularly young librarians. Even though many librarians know the Internet is the future of libraries and want to further that research, there is still resistance from other librarians. Follow That Tattooed Librarian was also an entertaining look at the stereotype of librarians as old, crotchety ladies when there are plenty of librarians that don't fit that stereotype one bit (Hello! Time Traveler's Wife anyone?).

I read this book at the same time as Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age, and while Scrolling Forward as insightful and certainly made me feel like I knew more about digitization, Johnson was just so much better at making things exciting! Her descriptions alone deserve an A++; "This is the greatest and most fraught romance of modern society, the marriage between the IT staff and those who depend on them" (39). That is just great. This didn't feel like a how to guide on librarianship, it felt like a documentary in which the most exciting possibilities of the career were explored. I've seen a lot of reviews that complain about her extended discussion of the game Second Life. Apparently this game is pretty popular within some groups of librarians and Johnson was obviously a little obsessed with the game when she was writing this, but I just didn't care. Everything else was just so awesome, so perfect, that John could have ranted on about Second Life for another 25 pages and I would have listened to her. Because she completely captured my sentiments about libraries by the end of the book; "We'll always need printed books that don't mutate the way digital books do; we'll always need places to display books, auditoriums for book talks, circles for story time; we'll always need brick-and-mortor libraries. But another library, the ninetieth in the system, is growing explosively in cyberspace" (187).

This book deserves an A.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

It's Banned Books Week!

I don't know about you guys, but it seems like an awful lot of my favorite books or authors have been banned or challenged at some point. I always have two reactions when I hear about the removal of a book from a school or public library — On one hand, I'm always saddened and annoyed by the desire to keep information from kids, but on the other — I'm kinda glad, because it means that a whole bunch of people are now going to pass the name of that book or author around, and it's going to go on lists like these, and be bought and read and given away by people like us and... Yay for publicity... But mostly, I'm sad and angry and wish that instead of saying — NO ONE CAN TOUCH THIS BOOK, people would instead say — I don't want MY family reading this book, but you people can do whatever...
But alas.
ANYWAY — To celebrate the fact that the US doesn't actually ban books, even if some local and school libraries do remove them, and to celebrate the fact that we can read, we can read whatever we want and that the internet allows anyone to find pretty much any book at anytime, I'd like to give away a book today.:)

I will give away either an ARC of Perfect by Ellen Hopkins (who herself has been banned... True story really happened) OR a book of your choice that has been banned or challenged, or even — called too 'dark' and 'lurid' and 'dangerous'. Gotta give a chance to all those newer books out there, who just plain haven't had much chance to get their feet wet...
The ARC will only be shipping to the US, but anyone can enter. If The Book Depository ships to you, enter away!:)
To enter — Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite banned or challenged book (or books) are. AND I'm gonna be a meany and tell you that you cannot use Harry Potter. (If you absolutely have to include the awesomeness that is Harry Potter, you must also include another title.)

Also, please leave me a way to contact you, or make SURE that your email is also linked to the profile you commented with. You can't win if I can't find you...

If you have a favorite book that you know could be pretty controversial, but aren't sure it's been officially challenged or not, that works too.:)

The giveaway will run from now, until Oct 1, as per the linky/hop rules. Comment away and enjoyed reading those banned books!:)

ALSO — Be sure to check out I Read Banned Books and I Am a Reader, Not a Writer, the lovely ladies who coordinated this hop. You can check out their blogs for the full list of blogs participating! Also, stop by the rest of the week! I'm really hoping to have lots of reviews and posts talking about banned books, why I love them and some very definite recommended reading lists.:)

April 2nd was International Children's Book Day. And April is National Poetry Month. In celebration, I have two lovely options for you this week:

Option A: Be a kid!

You could read a picture book (or two or three) and share what you read.
Write up a post sharing your favorite books from childhood
Write up a post about reading together with your child(ren)

Option B: Be a poet!

Write your own poem and share with us!
Write bookish ABC poems--ABC's of favorite authors, favorite books, favorite characters, favorite book blogs, or any combination of the above. Maybe even an ABC's of a bibliophile or book addict. (A is for...B is for...etc.)(For example, ABC's of Dr. Seuss)
Review a book you've read recently in haiku. (It doesn't need to be a poetry book you're reviewing, any book will do.) See Emilyreads for an idea of what I mean.
Read a poetry book and review it
Participate in Poetry Friday (This week's host will be Carol's Corner.)

Hello Geeks.

Shannon Hale (author of Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife, as well as many other books) recently posted on her blog about reviewing books. Take a moment to go read her post, in which she talks about going beyond saying simply whether or not you liked a book when writing a review.

For this week’s Weekly Geeks, we challenge you to respond to the questions Ms. Hale asks in one of three ways.

1. Find a negative review that you have written. In your post, link to or include the original review and then rewrite it to answer these questions:

• Why did you react negatively to the book?
• What was it about the story or characters or style that hit you so strongly?
• Are you reacting to any fears or insecurities?

2. Write a new review about a book you loved, keeping in mind these questions:

• What was it about the story that resonated?
• Would you have loved this book as much ten years ago? Five years ago?
• Will you keep loving it in the future?
• Where are you in your life that this is the story you wanted and needed?

3. At the end of her post, Ms. Hale posed six questions for those who review books on their blogs or other sites. Write a letter to Ms. Hale explaining your position on each of these questions, then return to her post and leave a comment with a link to your post. And remember her request to speak freely, but kindly and respectfully!

• Do you find that the anticipation of reviewing the book has changed your reading experience?
• Are you rating the book even as you read? Or do you wait until the end to sum it all up?
• Does knowing you'll be reviewing it (or rating it) publicly affect which books you pick up in the first place?
• Does the process of writing the review itself change how you felt about the book?
• What is your motivation to assign a rating to a book and declare it to the world?
• If you review a book but don't rate, why not? What do you feel is your role as reviewer?

Thanks to Rhapsody in Books and Word Lily for the inspiration for this week’s post!

This weekend I'm joining over one hundred blogs in the Got Books? event where we are all giving away some books to our lovely readers, new and old. This is really my first book giveaway and I put a lot of thought into the books I wanted to give away. One of them is a book I continuously talk about even though I've never reviewed it here and the other is a book I read when I first started blogging and it's one of my favorite books I've read since I started blogging. So what books am I talking about?

The first book is Notes From No Man's Land by Eula Biss. This is the book I haven't reviewed on here since I read it over a year ago before I even had a blog. I have talked about one of Eula Biss's essays though, The Pain Scale. This is a fantastic book of essays that I think a lot of you would enjoy. It deals with race, gender, human differences, and America. I mean, I read it over a year ago and I'm still talking about it, so that has to tell you it's pretty good right?

The second book I'm giving away is another work of nonfiction, The Moon, Come to Earth by Philip Graham. This is a book that came out of Graham's McSweeney's dispatches from Lisbon, Portugal. It's a travel narrative, but different from a lot of travel narratives I've read because it's about Graham's experience traveling with his family. The story actually really comes away from being a simple travel narrative and becomes more about the experience of being a parent. I posted a review back in November when I was still trying to figure out this whole blogging business. It was the tenth review I ever wrote on here! How crazy is that. Anyway, I also posted about a reading of his, which I attended.

If you'd like to enter (and I really hope you do!) just fill out the form below. You can enter for one book or both. The contest is open until Sunday, July 25 at MIDNIGHT Central Time. You can earn extra entries by being a follower or by tweeting, but you don't need to be a follower to enter the contest. This is only open to U.S./Canada.

This giveaway is closed! Thanks for entering!

This giveaway is closed! Thanks for entering!

This week in Weekly Geeks, Chris thought it was a good time to revisit one of the original Geeky assignments: book review link exchanges.

1. Write a post encouraging readers to look through your archives (if you have your reviews in a particular place on your blog, point them there), and find the books that they have also written reviews. Tell them to leave a link to their review on your review post. For example, I've written a review for Gods Behaving Badly and Jane Doe leaves a link to her review of Gods Behaving Badly in the comments section of my review.

2. Edit your reviews to include those links in the body of the review post.

3. Visit other Weekly Geeks and go through their reviews. Leave links for them.

4. Leave a note somewhere on your blog to let people know this is your new policy.

5. Write a post later this week letting us know how your project is going!
(I've kept this policy on my own blog since the original assignment, and recently edited my Book Review Policy to mention that I participate in review-link exchanges, but other than that I didn't officially participate in WG this week.)

One reason for re-visiting this topic was so that newer arrivals to Weekly Geeks who might have missed this assignment the first time around, as well as Geeks who just haven't gotten around to it before, would have the opportunity to join in and start link swapping themselves. Joanne (Book Zombie) was excited to get this going for her book reviews, and so were Dreamybee (Subliminal Intervention), Farm Lane Books, and Heather (Belle of the Books).

Some of this week's WG players adopted the link exchange in May of last year and have stuck with it since then, but took advantage of the opportunity to re-state the policy. Geeks in this group include Jackie (Literary Escapism), Nymeth (Things Mean a Lot), Nicole (Linus's Blanket), Ali (Worducopia), Heather (Book Addiction), and Gautami Tripathy (Reading Room),

Some Geeks who have fallen off the link-exchange wagon seized this opportunity to catch up or reinstate the practice on their blogs, like Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness), and Megan (Leafing Through Life). Softdrink (Fizzy Thoughts) loves the idea, but confesses that despite her best intentions, she's probably going to keep forgetting to do it.

Check out the Mr. Linky on Weekly Geeks 2009-12 to see who else participated this week, and visit them to find out if you have links to share - but please be aware that this policy was never meant to be exclusive to Weekly Geeks participants. The idea behind it is community building, so you're encouraged to seek out links to any other blogger's reviews of the books you review, and to offer your own review links freely to other bloggers as well. Fyrefly has created a custom Book Blogs Search Engine for Google that makes finding other reviews quick and easy.

Happy linking!

For the second day of Book Blogger Appreciation Week I was paired with Melody of Melody's Reading Corner to do an interview swap. Melody's blog is new to me but I'm excited to start reading it more regularly! Here are Melody's answers to my questions.

Ash: Do you like to eat or drink anything while you read?
Melody: While I’d love to munch on snacks (my favourite snack is chips!) and drink green tea while reading, I try not to do so whenever I can as there is the risk of dirtying my books.

Ash: We've read a few of the same books this year and I noticed some of them were YA titles. Why do you think adults are attracted to reading young adult books? What attracts you to them?
Melody: There was once a bookstore assistant who asked me why I read YA books when I should be reading adult theme books. Her question had sparked some thoughts in me then and I remember telling her this: “I enjoy reading books. Books, to me are a great escapism and also another channel where I can broaden my horizons. I believe we have things to learn and think about from any books, no matter if it is a literary fiction or a children’s book. Also, I find some YA books cover important topics and contain some wonderful messages and I like it that they create awareness and make young adults think.”
I am not sure about other readers, but I do think my above reply are just some of the few reasons why adults would pick up YA books and read them.

Ash: I noticed in your review guidelines you said you do not read nonfiction or memoir. What turns you away from those genres?
Melody: I used to read non-fiction and memoirs some years back, but they have all taken a back seat since the day I started my blog and reading so many wonderful reviews on fictions. I have a huge TBR pile due to that and thus my current main focus is on them. I will still read a non-fiction or memoir from time to time, but that will have to depend if the topic interests me or not.

Ash: You've been blogging for a long time! About four years it looks like. How has the blogging world changed since you started and how have you changed as a blogger? What do you recommend other bloggers do to create such great longevity?
Melody: I started blogging in July 2006, and at that time I was not aware of the book blogging community. I started my blog because I think it is an excellent place where I can record the books I read and how I felt about them without misplacing it like a journal. At that time, I didn’t even care if anyone read it until I received my very first comment from a fellow blogger. It then made me realise that there are people who read my blog and from there onwards, I strive to work hard on my writing. And as for the rest, as they say, is history.

Besides the above, I have to say being a blogger has definitely widen my reading horizons as there are so many wonderful bookbloggers and recommendations out there, waiting for my exploration! It is through reading these blogs that made me read out of my comfort zone, and I cannot imagine how many books I have missed during my pre-blogging days! That said, it is always better to be late than never, right?

As for ways for creating longevity for blogs, I don’t have any good recommendations except that to blog whatever you like and also to take some time in visiting and commenting on other blogs. After all what other ways to start a friendship other than saying hello and reading a new book blog you have visited? That said, I need to remind myself to comment as much as possible but sometimes, it sure is hard when you have about 250+ blogs to read and you can only read and comment so much in a day, but I will try to remedy that!

Ash: Is there any specific message you want your readers to take away from your blog?
Melody: Have fun and be yourself.


Ash: What are your three favorite books you've read in the past year?
Melody: Just three? That’s a hard one since I had read a few good books in the past year. Anyway, here are just a few which I loved (not in any order):

1) Ritual by Mo Hayder
2) Skin by Mo Hayder (Now can you tell I’m a huge fan of her?)
3) Fallen Skies by Philippa Gregory
4) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
5) The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
6) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
7) Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
8) The Lost Hours by Karen White
9) Stolen by Lucy Christopher
>10) The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

I could go on and on, but I think listing 10 books will suffice (after all I have added 7 books instead of listing only three to the list, haven’t I?).


Ash: Are you from a family of readers, or is reading something that sets you apart from other people in your family?
Melody: This is sad but true that I am the only reader in my family. My parents read the papers but rarely books, and as for my husband he mostly read books which are related to his work. My younger sister doesn’t have the interest of reading books, so that left only me. Though they are not as much as a voracious reader as I, they are supportive of my reading habits (read: buying books and occupying much of our room space) and I am thankful for that.


Ash: If you were to start a blog about anything besides books, what would it be?
Melody: I absolutely have no idea! Frankly speaking, I cannot think of anything else besides blogging about books and my reading. I don’t think anyone would want to read about my personal life anyway, haha.

You can read my answers to Melody's questions at her blog, Melody's Reading Corner!

Saylor Oz is a Brooklyn-based sex therapist. She spends her days curing couples of their sexual woes. But when the brother of her long-time friend gets arrested and convicted of serial murders, Saylor feels obligated to put on a detective hat and hunts for the true killer.

The murder victims were all models found around New York City. Each victim has a lock of hair missing. Saylor, a connoisseur of films of a sexual nature, realizes that she's seen this somewhere before: an old movie entitled Bad, Bad, Babydoll. Saylor immediately begins investigating the cast of this movie and discovers some startling similarities to the crimes. She vows to stop at nothing, even putting herself in harms way, to help find the true killer.

Readers of Jenn's Bookshelf know that I can't stand when one author's writing is compared to another. However, in the case of Babydoll

, I can't help but compare it to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. Saylor has the same no-holds-barred attitude as Stephanie Plum. I It's not Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction, but an excellent read nonetheless. Several times I found myself laughing at loud. The emotions the reader experiences ranges from sorrow and hatred to tears-rolling-down-your face humor. The characters are stellar. Each has their own faults, but you can't help but love them. And if that's not enough, the storyline is very suspenseful. Just when you think you've solved the case, Roy throws in something from left field and forces you to reconsider.

While Babydoll is technically the second in a series of books, you lose nothing by not reading the first of the series, Aphrodisiac

. Obviously, since the main character is a sex therapist, there is a good deal of sex in this book. It's not overly graphic or raunchy in any way and completely appropriate for this book.

I highly recommend this one! A steamy thriller for your steamy summer evenings!

About the author:
Allyson Roy translates into Alice & Roy, husband and wife collaborating authors. Roy, a graduate of the University Of The Arts in Philadelphia, has a background in theater, art and standup comedy. Alice, dancer/choreographer/teacher, double majored in dance and philosophy at the State University of New York. They spent many gypsy years living and working in the different neighborhoods of New York City and Philadelphia. Aside from being marriage and writing partners, they are also best friends, which is reflected in the heartfelt, go-the-distance friendship of their two main characters.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour. And thanks to the publisher, Penguin, for providing a copy of this book for review.

Check out the other blogs participating in this tour:

Tuesday, August 18th: The Eclectic Book Lover
Wednesday, August 19th: Jenn’s Bookshelf
Tuesday, August 25th: Jen’s Book Thoughts
Wednesday, August 26th: Cheryl’s Book Nook
Thursday, August 27th: Reading With Monie
Monday, August 31st: Bookluver-Carol’s Reviews
Wednesday, September 2nd: Chick With Books
Thursday, September 3rd: Stephanie’s Confessions of a Book-a-holic
Tuesday, September 8th: GalleySmith
Wednesday, September 9th: Bookgasm
Thursday, September 10th: I’m Booking It

Now to the giveway! To enter, comment on this post. To earn extra entries, blog and/or tweet about it. Please include a direct link to your tweet or blog post in your comment. All comments must contain an email address. Comments received without email address will be automatically removed. Open to US and Canadian residents only. Winner will be announced on this blog on Friday, August 28th.

Bev over at Merry Weather has awarded me with the Premio dardos Award!

This award is for bloggers who distinguish themselves for showing cultural values, ethics, great and fun writing skills, as well as individual values through their creative writing.

Thanks, Bev!!

Becky, a fellow BB reviewer, awarded me with the Zombie Chicken Award! If she hadn't nominated me for this award, I would have given it to her! She gives great recommendations. Each time I read her blog my wish list increases by at least one or two!

Ok, back to the award!

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

Ok, so I'm going to do something I don't typically do! I'm going to pass on these awards so I don't face the wrath of the zombie chickens!

So, I will nominate:

Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog-Kathy is a very active book blogger! She's one amazing lady, always takes the time to comment on blogs (even on posts that don't involve giveaways!)

S. Krishna's books-another active book blogger. She posts reviews 6 days a week! She's the fastest reader I know! Her book tastes are quite eclectic and cover many genres.

Trish from Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?- Trish is a great mentor for a new book blogger. She offers great advice on how to improve your book blog. I love her "What are you doing here?" posts!

Dar from Peeking Between the Pages and Toni from A Circle of Books. Both of these great ladies are members of the online book club I belong to, Pageturners. They are both amazing and strong women. They each have overcome many things in their lives...things that would hold the typical person back but in each of their cases, it only made them grow stronger!

Ok..you all know that I typically don't like picking and chosing a few blogs to showcase for these awards..but these five women have made a particular impact on my book world :).

It is now about 2:30 and I figured now is probably a good time to update!:)

I finished Book 4 a little before 2 and have been updating Goodreads, Twitter & chatting with some other participants, cheering them on. Now, I just need to finish this post and I'll be off to start book 5!

Book 1 — Variant by Robinson Wells (started on 103/375)
Book 2 — Kane Richards Must Die — Shanice Williams (272 pgs)
Book 3 — Anya's Ghost — Vera Brosgol (221pgs, graphic novel)
Book 4 — But I Love Him — Amanda Grace (252 pages)

So, it's just before hour 2 of the Read-a-thon and I just finished my first book!:) I figured now was a good time to do the little intro survey & stuff!:)

So-
1)Where are you reading from today?
Idaho

2)Three random facts about me…
I played both Flute and Tenor Saxophone in high school.
I am currently in love with puzzles.
I make some seriously delicious chocolate chip cookies.

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
Not a set number. I find it impossible to stick to a list, so really, it's however many I can read. I have my whole shelves to choose from.:)

4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
To read lots of books for the entire 24 hours.:) I think I'm going to set a tentative goal of 10 books... I think I can reach that, so here's hoping.:)

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
Read books you WANT to read. Action-y books are good because they keep you interested and eager to read. Now is the PERFECT time for anyone not sure they want to read a verse novel because they read FAST. I can read 600+ pages in less than 3 hours.:)

As for my status — I have read:

most of Variant by Robison Wells (started on page 103/375)

With Bloggiesta and Book Blogger's Appreciation Week (BBAW) registrations kicking off, Chris thought this week would be the perfect time for Weekly Geekers to reassess their blogs, clean up the cobwebs, fix the broken links and have a general tidy-up. How successful were we? Well...

Amanda at The Blog Jar has been stymied by a lack of internet access and so was looking for suggestions in helping her find the quiet time she needs to blog without internet access bills blowing a hole in her savings

Rikki at the Bookkeeper updated us on her blog improvement projects - I think she was a bit hard on herself but I did laugh that she included one task twice just so she could have something else to tick off her long list. Now that's innovative motivation for you.

And these blogs all used the opportunity to pick out their five brightest, shiniest posts (for inclusion in their BBAW registration or not). What a great chance to read the best work from some terrific book blogs:

• Here's To Us
• Literary Transgressions
• Mysteries in Paradise
• Notes from the North

I, of course, didn't manage to post anything for Weekly Geeks this week but it was deliberate this time. I have only recently finished a blog makeover and clean-up that took several months so had no desire to do that again just yet and I still haven't made up my mind about BBAW registration.

Thanks to all those who participated in Weekly Geeks this week and come back tomorrow to find out the next topic for discussion.

Bernadette from Reactions to Reading