Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for goals] 

Two events are happening at the moment: Bloggiesta and Book Blogger Appreciation Week Registration. Both provide an opportunity to reassess your blog and your blogging goals.

If you are participating in either one, great but even if you are not you can still take part in this week's Weekly Geeks.

During Bloggiesta participants are asked to take a look at blogging goals. What are your blogging goals? Maybe you did this for the last Bloggiesta, find that post and reevaluate those goals. Have you reached them? Do they no longer apply?

And/Or

If you are a book blogger*, register for BBAW. It's a great way to find new readers. To register you must find your best 5 posts from the last year. Find yours even if you don't register for BBAW. In your Weekly Geeks post, link to your registration post or put the 5 links in your Weekly Geek's post.

Then tell us why are these your best posts of the last year? By looking at these posts, you can figure out your blogging goals: be more funny, personal, concise, topical, etc.

*If you're not a book blogger, find your 5 best posts of the last year anyway.

So, it's a bit of work but a chance to see where you are and where you want to go. Good luck!

** I've been bit by Mr Linky too many times. Please leave your links in the comments.

Happy 2012 everyone! Hopefully, this year will be awesome for everyone!

I've never actually made New Year's Resolutions before, but I decided that, this year, I wanted to give them a try. I really like the idea of starting a resolution at the beginning of something (1st of the month, 1st of the week, whatevs) so 1st of the year should be extra awesome, yes?

I'm probably making too many, but I've got quite a few this year. Some of them are personal/life goals, that I'm not going to share specifics of, but some of them are blogging goals. So, here are my 2012 blogging goals:

*Keep my Review Archive & Goodreads Reviews up to date. (Possibly include Amazon reviews also)
*Be better at general blog upkeep — updating pages, procrastinating less, etc...
*Be better about commenting — both commenting on reviews I read and visiting those who comment on my blog.
*Have at least some reviews written before they are supposed to be posted. (An awful lot of my reviews are written either before I go to bed the night before they post, or right before I post them. It'd be nice to have a few written ahead of time)
*Get (and stay) ahead of/on top of review books.
*Memory Monday
*Stay up to date on both reading challenges I'm hosting.
*Remember that this is something I do for fun, because I enjoy it. And stop letting it stress me out.

That last goal has more to do with personal pressure than any outside pressure. Because I've felt, off and on, throughout the whole time I've blogged that I have to be reading, and sometimes, that I have to be reading those books. And every time I feel like that, I get bogged down and overwhelmed and I get so focused about WhatIneedtobereadingrightthisverysecond and it gets to be too much and so I read nothing at all. I do that about a lot of things (this is another of my life goals: P) When I feel overwhelmed because there is too much to do, I generally end up doing nothing. It's my way of coping. With reading, I've never thought about reading slumps and stuff before. If I felt like reading a ton, I would. If I didn't, I wouldn't. And it wasn't any big thing. It just was. But since I started blogging, I'm hyper aware of my reading moods and it stresses me out now when I don't feel like reading.

Long explanation there, to basically say — This year, I'm going to read if I want and what I want, and it's not going to be a thing anymore. It's just going to be me, enjoying my books and telling the whole freaking world about how awesome this reading thing really is.:)

This past week Becky wanted to know what reading challenges you are participating in or hosting this coming year. She also wanted to know how you plan ahead for the next year. Do you make lists? Or do you just read whatever catches your attention?

Kerry wrote a great post taking about why she does challenges, lists the ones she is interested in, and give ideas for other challenges she would think about joining. Overall, her goal consists of 3 challenges and 43 books.

Gautami also signed up for 3 challenges which she says is her max amount. She prefers to read whatever takes her fancy than planning everything out.

Rikki isn't fond of sticking to lists, but also signed up for 2 challenges and is hosting a Steampunk Challenge of her own.

Becky is hosting three challenges (42 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Young Readers) and one mini challenge (Connie Willis). She's also signed up for quite a few challenges hosted by other blogs and lists a few that have caught her attention, but she isn't sure if she'll sign up or not.

Melanie is signed up for 4 challenges, but has also set a personal goal of reading some of the Russian books off her TBR list. (If anyone knows of a Russian challenge, please let her know!)

Zee hosts the Nordic Challenge and has signed up for at least 9 others. She planning on getting a post up with book lists for all of these within the next couple days.

Chelsea is a new Weekly Geek who hasn't done any reading challenges in the past and isn't sure that she'll sign up for any this year (unless she can find one that gets her to read a wider variety of books).

Katherine hasn't thought about which ones she wants to do this coming year, but lists her favorites from past years and a few that she'll be looking for in 2011.

Carina has signed up for 9 challenges and has 2 that are on-going from this year. She's looking for imput as to what your favorite reading challenge and if there are any you would recommend.

Hannah has signed up for more posts that she originally thought she would. She's up to 5 starting in 2011 and 2 carrying over. She likes the structure and setting goals for herself. She's still looking for more suggestions!

Margaret has only signed up for 3 challenges and has mixed feelings about them. While part of her likes the structure, the other part stops wanting to read a book as soon as "should" read it.

Lifetime Reading Plan has reading goals that she has set for herself based on the book The Lifetime Reading Plan. She has them broken into 6 categories and hopes to read them chronologically.

Amat Libris loves reading challenges! She has signed up for 2 and is thinking about a few more. Her goal for next year can be summed up in three words "Read. More. Books."

Alex wants to sign up for them all. The problem is making sure it is manageable, which should be too hard to this list-maker.

Florinda tries not to sign up for too many due to her mixed experiences with them in the past. She is signed up for at least 2 and is going to continue working on her own Blogging Authors Reading Project.

Suey is going for more general goals after seeing how spontaneous of a reader she really is this past year. However, she's still keeping an eye open for a good challenge.

Jacqueline didn't even realize there were reading challenges prior to this week's post. She isn't sure that she would like being over structured with her reading, but she's ruling out the possibility of doing one if she comes across something great.

Have you posted about your reading challenges yet?
Link up here!

Because this is a much bigger post than an update, I'm going to post it separately.

Click the image to learn more!
I decided that midnight would be my stopping point for this post because (unless my math is horribly off) this is the midway point, halfway between start and finish. So, here is my first official reporting!

First of all, give us an end-of-day status update.

Total Books Read: 6
Total Pages Read: 1218 Books Read Since Last Update: 2 Pages Read since last update: 394 Total time read: 9 hours How I'm currently feeling: SO great! I think I'll read for a while longer, but I'll probably go to bed at a semi-reasonable time (meaning, of course that it's still going to be around 2 or 3 before I finally turn off the lights)
Books read:
1 — I Heart You, You Haunt Me — Lisa Schroeder
2 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor)
3 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, reread)
4 — The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom
5 — Dobry — Monica Shannon (Newbery Award)
6 — Repossessed- A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor)

What is the favorite thing you have read today? I've actually been quite pleased with everything I've read today, except for book five. But, if I had to pick a favorite, I'd say it was probably I Heart You, You Haunt Me. It's the second book by Schroeder I've read and I've officially decided that I love her. She's incredibly talented and she is a perfect example of why novels written in verse can be so powerful.

Which mini-challenge was your favorite? I haven't really participated in the mini-challenges today. I've been too busy reading.:) The only one I actually participated in was the book title sentence, so I guess I'll pick that one.

What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon? An excuse to just sit and read and munch on junk food.: P I also love that it gives me more motivation. I'm motivated to read more, so I get more done. It's not everyday you get through 6 books!:)

What has been your LEAST favorite thing about the read-a-thon? Nothing really. The only thing that I don't love is how quickly and often the update posts are up. When I'm reading, especially during a read-a-thon, I don't want to be stopping. My preferred way to read is straight through, getting the whole book read in one sitting. Which means I either miss the updates or I have to pause my book, which throws off my reading groove. I think I'd have liked it better if they were either spaced out more, of left 'open' longer.

Are you on track to meet your goals? Yes! Completely! It's actually quite the rush!: P I initially just wanted to get as many books read as I could, not really putting a number to it. But shortly after my third book, I realized I was only 3 books behind on my GR challenge, something I've been far behind on all year because I started the year in a reading slump.: ( So, I decided that I was going to try and get all caught up today, and I finished my 6th book 15 minutes before midnight!:)

Will you be participating tomorrow? Do you have any new goals? Definitely!! I'm am most certainly going to be participating tomorrow!! I'm not all the way sure about goals yet, although 6 more books would definitely be amazing! Not sure I can manage that though, because I do plan to get some sleep tonight, so really, I just want to read as possible! I'm thinking I will probably read one more book tonight, two at the most before I need to go to bed, and then waking up at a (hopefully) decent hour and getting more reading done.

My Moment of Breakthrough

When I set out to write my memoir, The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference, it was my purpose to tell the story of a breakthrough I’d had about who I was and who I had become; the breakthrough freed me to become who I wanted to be.

For me to have that breakthrough, it meant I had to understand my own dysfunctional behaviors and what had formed them. Whether you come from an extremely dysfunctional family or a relatively happy (mildly dysfunctional) one, your family situation taught you specific behaviors as well as coping mechanisms to deal with your family members’ behaviors, actions or attitudes. No family is perfect, and every individual must learn to adjust to living with his or her family members even in the best of families. Sometimes this means repressing memories of what happened; sometimes this means being a child who accepts physical or verbal abuse from an adult from fear of worse if you don’t submit. Sometimes, it’s simply going along with your mother’s belief system to avoid an argument.

We learn behaviors that allow us to function within the family unit with as little disagreement among family members as possible—sometimes it may seem all the family has to offer is disagreement—but we learn to function and cope within that framework.

We have learned to protect ourselves. But when we reach adulthood, we may find that what had protected us from negative situations now inhibits us from enjoying life.

In The Sitting Swing, I recall my visit to the Avalon Recovery Center. I went there as a practicing therapist wanting to learn how better to help my clients. I had no idea I would learn how to help myself. It wasn’t until I visited Avalon that I learned how I had repressed my ability to love. Prior to that visit, I had largely been in denial of my feelings and afraid to love from fear I would be hurt. When my marriage was not as happy as I hoped it could be, I blamed my husband for not loving me the way he should.

I was frustrated that my husband did not support me in my personal and career goals the way I thought he should. He always had an excuse, such as bills to pay, for why I couldn’t have what I wanted. I thought if anything, he needed to see a therapist to figure out what went wrong in his past that made him so controlling.

While the problems with my marriage had long nagged at me, it wasn’t until my visit to Avalon that I was ready to analyze them. At first, I tried to analyze what was wrong with my husband, but the counselors told me to look deeper. I tried then to analyze why I let him have control rather than fulfilling my purpose in life. Eventually, I realized I was interpreting everything my husband said or did from my belief he was controlling me, rather than actually listening to him or trying to understand his viewpoint.

That was when I had my breakthrough. I realized my husband was not trying to control me. He was just looking at things from a practical, often financial standpoint. I had not taken the time to try to see things his way because I was too demanding to have my own way. It was about communication and understanding—that’s what had been missing in our marriage, in my understanding of our marriage.

I learned that day that I had to be an individual, depending on myself rather than letting my husband control me. Perhaps more importantly, I learned that a marriage is about teamwork and we had to look at things from each other’s viewpoint and to support each other’s goals. I also was filled with renewed love for my husband, realizing he had made his own sacrifices to be with me. Since that day, new understanding sprang up between us.

That moment of breakthrough—of realizing I was keeping myself from happiness by practicing the protective measures I had learned in childhood, and by selfishly looking to my husband to fulfill the wants left from my childhood—that moment freed me.

That’s only part of the story I tell in The Sitting Swing. I hope, by telling my personal story, I help other people have their own breakthroughs. I hope I give them courage to explore what holds them back, and the courage to change.

Check back tomorrow for my review of THE SITTING SWING.

Two conversations inspired this Weekly Geeks. First, during Book Bloggers Appreciation Week, Amy asked us to write about our blogging goals. I noticed many people's goal was to acquire a larger readership*. Then during a Twitter conversation Natasha from Maw Books said she was told by a non-book blogger that book blogs were confusing. Which brings me to our topic.

Take a look at your blog as if you were someone who has never seen a blog before. Imagine they are looking for something specific. Could they find it? Could they find YOU again? Be able to contact you? Would they understand your jargon?

With these questions in mind, start making your blog more reader friendly. You can do as much as upload a new template to adding a subscription button. Here are some ideas:

*Add meta tags to help people find your blog.
*Add a RSS feed button.
*Add a contact page.
*Make sure as many people as possible can comment on your posts.
*Make your blog searchable.
*Check your links.
*Explain your rating system, if you have one.
*Create a glossary if you use a lot of blogger acronyms ie- BBAW, BTT, ARC.

These are just suggestions. There are probably a million more. Check out Blogging Tips on the Book Blogger's Ning for more ideas and advice.

After you've accomplished all you can, write a post telling us what you did or even what you plan to do down the road on your blog to help your readers.

Now if you haven't thought about your goals, it's a good time to do so. Maybe you haven't thought about readership, maybe you could care less! Then where do you see your blog in a year. How do you plan to accomplish that? Write a post about it.

*Adding Google Analytics to your blog will help you figure out who your current readers are and how they found your blog.

Good luck and have fun!

Today's Topic post is about what I'd like to see more of in Contemporary YA. And, to be perfectly honest, my answer to that question is simply — More. I'd like to see more of all of it. But even if Contemporary doesn't get as much publicity as some of the other genres right now, there is still a lot of it being written, and a lot of it being published. So rather than talking about what I'd like to see writers do that they aren't doing (because they are) or what publishers should be doing (because they try) I'm going to talk a little about what I want to see readers doing. But more than that — I'm going to put my metaphorical money where my mouth is and do something about it. But, I am only one person, so I need your help!

What I really want to see more of in regards to Contemporary YA is readers well, reading it. I've been amazed and gladdened and thrilled by the response to Just Contemporary month. It's blown my mind. So many bloggers and authors and readers have gotten behind this event and participated and it's fabulous. But there are still people that I see saying, I don't think Contemporary is for me, or I've tried reading a Contemporary and couldn't get into it, or (I see this a lot) I read to escape, why would I want to read about real life?! But to be honest, I think there is something within the Contemporary genre for everyone.

SO — I am hosting a reading challenge to encourage and promote Contemporary/Realistic YA!

<a><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Dw1sKTR7qHs/TtLNLJQExwI/AAAAAAAABec/XiTJ5TAioyM/s250/17531993964.jpg" alt="button1" /></a>
Rules/Guidelines/Important Info:

This is a challenge to get people reading more Contemporary/Realistic Fiction.

There are two possible ways to participate:

The first is simple — Read Contemporary YA. Every single Contemporary counts. Challenge yourself to read more Contemporary YA than normal. If you never read it, add a few next year. If you are new to it, try for one a month. Or two a month. Or even more!

The second is the same basic idea (read more) but it adds variety to what you pick. Instead of reading any Contemporary, this gets you to mix-it up. There are so many sub-genres within Contemporary that I want to encourage people to try more of them. This is a good place for those who already read a lot of Contemporary.

If you want to participate in option 2, you can make it as strict or as flexible as you'd like. If you only read YA Romantic Comedies, reading one book about grief or even a romantic drama can qualify you for the second group. Reading to me is very personal, and Contemporary more so, IMO, than any other genre, so I'm letting that carry over into how you set your goals for this challenge.

There will be monthly updates and mini-challenges and giveaways going up around the first of each month. Each month will be something different and (hopefully) fun. Participation in mini-challenges is optional. Some of the monthly challenges and 'games' will be the same between challenge group 1 & 2 and other months they will be different.

Books must be read between January 1, 2012 and December 31st 2012.

Any Contemporary YA book will count toward this challenge regardless of publication date.

There will be a weekly link up for reviews. Reviews are not mandatory, but are strongly encouraged (spread the word!!) and extra entries into all relevant giveaways will be given for each review.
Reviews can be posted to a blog, goodreads or, for those who don't use either, guest review options will be available as well.

Extra entries for giveaways during any future Contemporary Event will also be awarded to participants of the challenge.

You do not need to be a blogger to participate. International participants are completely welcome and although every giveaway will not be available to you, I will make sure that there are some open to you too.

To sign up use the Linky below and tell me which of the two options you are signing up for and how many Contemporary books you would like to read next year. (So I would sign up as — Basically Amazing Ashley — 2; 52)

And please share in more detail! I would absolutely love to see sign up posts where you declare your goals for the Challenge and let others know why you are participating, or leave me a comment with what you think of the challenge and what you hope to see from it! And, as always, if you need or want any Contemporary YA recommendations in any category or sub-category, let me know! If I can't find the perfect book for you, odds are pretty good I know someone else who might!

Joining us now we have Bonnie from A Backwards Story interviewing Sarah Porter, author of the 2011 debut Lost Voices.
Check it out!

Sara Porter’s debut novel, Lost Voices, is the first in a trilogy... about MERMAIDS. While not directly re-telling any single tale, Porter weaves together mermaid lore from several places while creating her own world. The most creative twist is the fact that mermaids were once human girls, reincarnated after “dying” and have siren-like tendencies. For a teaser of Lost Voices and to learn more about the novel, please visit A Backwards Story. A full review is scheduled to post on ABS June 21th to celebrate the first day of summer. Lost Voices comes out two weeks later on July 4, 2011, so please add it to Goodreads and your TBR now!

1) What were your favorite fairy tales growing up? What drew you to them?
I grew up with this old book of Russian fairy tales that someone gave my mom’s dad when he was a kid back in 1911, and I adored them. They were long and dark and complicated and painful, and I think they’re very true to life. A lot of them follow a storyline where the protagonist betrays his or her magical beloved and has to go through a long journey and a series of ordeals to win that lost love back. In fact many of us do have to undertake a long (emotional) journey before we’re ready to truly love.
Those stories are embedded in my mind. I still see life through the lens they revealed to me.

2) What made you decide to write Lost Voices? What brought everything together for you?
It’s hard for me to say where it all came from. One source was a talk I had with a friend on the beach, where we improvised a story about a punk mermaid who lived apart from the others. And I wrote an earlier story in graduate school that used some of the same ideas as Lost Voices. In it, mermaids were orphaned girls who could swim through the earth and steal other girl-children away. When I actually started writing Lost Voices, I was unemployed and stuck on another book, and the story just kind of picked me up and carried me. I wrote a draft in four months.

3) Was it hard coming up with your own lore when you began world-building? How did you bring everything together? The mermaids felt so real!
Thank you. They feel real to me, too. The mermaid lore actually develops a lot more in the second volume of the trilogy, Waking Storms, when my heroine Luce begins to learn about the history of the mermaids and why they’re so driven to kill.
But I wouldn’t say it’s hard to come up with the lore or the world. The hardest part of becoming a writer is getting yourself to the place where the stories come to you by themselves. Once you’re finally there, it’s all a lot easier. I knew from the beginning that the mermaids were the lost girls who’d flowed away to sea.

4) Can you tell us more about your overall goals for the trilogy?
That’s hard to do without giving too much away! But Luce has a long way to go, and things will get much worse for her before they can start to get better. The trilogy is really about a choice we all face: we can stay stuck in our pain and keep repeating the same reactions to that pain, the way the mermaids keep sinking ships. Or we can look for creative ways to break the cycle and move on. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, but ultimately that’s what Luce has to accomplish.

5) What other ideas are you working on right now?
I only work on one idea at a time, because I can only live in one imaginary world at a time! But I do have a novel for adults sitting around half-finished; it’s sort of a horror novel about sentient objects, called Boudoir, and as soon as I complete The Lost Voices Trilogy, I want to get back to it. And I’m playing with the idea of a young adult novel based on some of those old Russian fairy tales, too.

6) What are some of your favorite fairy tale inspired novels and/or authors?
Well, it’s not YA at all, but I really love Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina. It starts out seeming realistic and then gets creepier and more fairy-talish as it goes along. The heroine’s boyfriend gives her a hairy black dress that eats into her skin, and that she can’t take it off. And Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was fantastic and really captured the odd logic of the fairy world. That’s a book I think a lot of YA fans would adore! Most of my favorite books have kind of a fairy tale quality about them even if they’re not directly inspired.

7) If you could live out any fairy tale, what would it be and why?
Hmm. Maybe I’d like to be the Frog Princess. She’s such a badass.
In fact I think we all live out fairy tales all the time, whether we want to or not. Not necessarily the happily-ever-after parts, but the struggling-to-make-our-way-through-forces-that-are-bigger-than-we-are parts.

8) What's your favorite Disney rendition of a fairy tale? What makes it so special?
Dumbodoesn’t count, does it? Then I think I’ll go with “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” section of Fantasia. It conveys so much of the feeling of being overwhelmed by magic, caught up in a dream.

9) Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Sparrow. I totally identify with little hoppy, dust-colored birds.

Hey everyone! This is an update post for everyone participating in the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by me and Jacinda at The Reading Housewives. If you are not yet participating, we are still taking sign ups! You can sign up as late and anything that you've read since May 30 counts toward the challenge!

Personally, I've been very productive. I've read a lot that fits with this challenge, because it's been a personal goal for years and when I get motivated to do something, I get motivated.: P

Personally — I've read 10 books for the challenge, some of which I have reviewed, some I have not and some of these will be future Award Winning Wednesday reviews. I've linked the ones I've already reviewed on the blog-

1 — Fat Kid Rules the World — K.L. Going (Printz Honor)
2 — Stolen — Lucy Christopher (Printz Honor)
3 — King of the Wind — Marguerite Henry (Newbery Award)
4 — Shadow of a Bull — Maia Wojciechowska (Newbery Award)
5 — Daniel Boone — James Daugherty (Newbery Award)
6 — Please Ignore Vera Dietz — A.S. King (Printz Honor)
7 — Rules — Cynthia Lord (Newbery Honor, reread)
8 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor)
9 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, reread)
10 — Repossessed — A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor)

I had originally planned to read 12 books for the challenge, but since I'm so close and this is the time in the challenge we are opening it up to everyone to adjust their goals, I'm now aiming for 24. I know it's not an actual level, but I'm the host, so I'm running with it.: P

I would like to encourage all the participants to offer a check-in post of their own! I really want to see how everyone is doing! I want to see what you have gotten read, what you plan to read, whether you think you are going to be able to meet your goal, etc. Use your check-in post to link up your reviews and then come link it up to us!

If you do not have a blog, but would still like to post an update, email me at basicallyamazingbooks [at] gmail [dot] com (or Jacinda at readinghousewivesofindiana(at)gmail(dot)com) and we would be more than happy to post something for you so that you have a place to share your updates as well.

As mentioned above, this is also your chance to update your challenge level. If you don't have as much time as you'd hoped and think that a lower level would be less stressful/more attainable, or if you are reading at a faster pace than you thought you would and would like a chance at a slightly larger prize pack, this is the month to make that happen! Just fill out the form below (that is also the giveaway form) and select your new level. If you don't remember which level you signed up for, contact me or Jacinda and we can get that information to you. To refresh, the levels are:

Level 1 — Underachiever: Read 3 books Level 2 — Nerd: Read 6 books Level 3 — Brainiac: Read 9 books Level 4 — Teacher's Pet: Read 12 books
For the giveaway, one participant will have a chance to win the book of their choice from the prize pool. To win this, you MUST be a participant of the challenge, and you MUST have completed at least one book that fits in with the challenge.
The prize pool is below. I promise I will update this soon with a picture, but things were a little crazy today, so I don't have it right now. The books I have available are
Jellicoe Road- Melina Marchetta Fat Kid Rules the World — K.L. Going The Summer of the Swans — Betsy Byers (used, very good condition) Adam of the Road — Elizabeth Janet Gray (used, good/okay condition) Postcards from No Man's Land — Aidan Chambers
Hope was Here — Joan Bauer When You Reach Me — Rebecca Stead The Watson's Go to Burmingham — Christopher Paul Curtis Dear Mr. Henshaw — Beverly Cleary
This giveaway will end in one week, last day to enter is July 5th! So, don't put this one off! You also only have a week to change your reading level! There will also be an email sent out to all participants, just in case you somehow missed this post.
in my blog TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AND/OR CHANGE YOUR LEVEL!!
Best of luck to you all!

Don't forget to link you reviewsposts!!

Spring break is almost over and I'm quite sad about the whole thing. I've had a taste of summer and now it's all I can think about. I'm feeling a little sick today, or maybe I'm just embracing my last lazy day. I'm planning on spending time in bed, watching TV, and reading. I haven't finished five books quite yet, but I think I can make it happen by the end of the day. Essex County

is the real stand-out book I finished and I can't wait to review it. I think it might be my favorite graphic novel.

I'm still hard at work on my Day Zero Project. I've come close to completing two more projects on my list and have several of the long term projects going too. The project has really forced me to change my attitude about life. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the things I need to and want to do (and not doing them) I now just see these as things I will finish eventually. Something that will be checked off a list. It's a little freeing, and empowering to realize you can complete your goals with planning and passion.

In other news, my book buying ban has twelve days left. I went to Barnes and Noble this week and even thought I felt like buying a lot of things I resisted. And you know what? I'm still alive. Two things are getting me through this ban. The first is the $40 I taped to my calendar. If I get to April 1st then that money is mine to buy books with. The second is the Goodreads application on my iPod. Now if I see a book I want in the store I just scan it and add it to my wishlist. Once the ban is over I can go through my wishlist and see what what books I'm still pining for and what I can probably forget about.

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.

I've been reading for one hour and I'm already off to a good start! I decided to take a quick break and check out the Readathon site and do whatever challenges are post. Miss Remmers' Mini-Challenge is to talk about your kick-off strategy. I'm not really surrounded by anything right now, but I did know I wanted to start off with Fahrenheit 451 since it was the heaviest book in my pile but still short. I should still be able to accomplish something early in the day, but I'm also reading the hardest book while I'm still fresh. I made myself a pillow fort on my bed because I knew I wouldn't want to get out of bed at seven o'clock in the morning, so all I had to do was wake up, grab my book, and start reading. Eventually my tummy started to growl, so that is when I decided to stop, have a pop-tart, and do this mini-challenge.

On the Dewey website they asked you to answer the following questions for hour one:
Where are you reading from today? Since waking up an hour ago I've been reading Fahrenheit 451.
3 facts about me … I am a sophomore at the University of Iowa. I have flowers on my desk but they are starting to wilt. I read about museums for fun.
How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? 6
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)? I would really like to finish the Shelf Discovery Challenge today, we'll see.

Well I'm back to read for awhile. I'll be back in a few hours!

The Spring into Summer Read-a-Thon is over! It did end about 3 hours ago, but I was off hanging with a friend... So, I'm just now getting it posted.: P

Survey:

Give us an end of read-a-thon status update:

Total Books Read: 10 Total Pages Read: 2129
Books Read Since Last Update: 1 Pages Read since last update: 80 Total time read: 17 hours How I'm currently feeling: Awesome!! I got a lot of reading done, and I'm definitely feeling good about the progress that I made! List of books read- 1 — I Heart You, You Haunt Me — Lisa Schroeder 2 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor) 3 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, Reread) 4 — The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom 5 — Dobry- Monica Shannon (Newbery Award) 6 — Repossessed — A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor) 7 — Where the Red Fern Grows — Wilson Rawls (Reread) 8 — After the Kiss — Terra Elan McVoy 9 — Scars — Cheryl Rainfield 10 — Animal Stories Daddy Told Us — Innocent Emechete
What is your favorite book you read during the read-a-thon? Such an impossibly difficult question to answer! I read and really enjoyed quite a few books! Where the Red Fern Grows is one of my favorite books of all time, but it's also a reread, so I feel kind of like I'm cheating to mention that one, so I'll have to keep it with I Heart You, You Haunt Me. Seriously folks, Lisa Schroeder is awesome! Did you participate in any mini-challenges? Which ones? Not too many. I did the book titles, which book I think should be taught in schools and... I think that might have been it... : / Which mini-challenge was your favorite? Probably the book titles. It's always a fun one to see what people come up with. What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon? Having a reason/motivation/excuse to sit around and read. Read-a-thons are incredibly motivating to me. Especially when I talk with a lot of other people, sharing progress, cheering and being cheered etc. Are you satisfied with how much reading you got done? Did you do more/less than you expected? I am pretty satisfied, yes! Although, I do wish that I had spent more time reading. I spent 17 hours reading, which is a lot, but out of 36, it's just about half. Which means, I could have gotten a lot more read if I hadn't wasted so much time. I spent more time that I would have liked on Twitter & checking/writing updates.: P But, I still got 10 books read in 2 days, and I refuse to feel bad about that progress.:) As for expectations, I intentionally didn't give myself any, other than read a lot, because if I meet my goal, I feel like I can stop. But if I don't meet my goal, I feel really bummed and down. So, my only official goal was to 'read. A lot.' I did make a few smaller goals after I had judged my current progress, and that seemed to work really well. What did you think of the updates? I liked them okay, but as I mentioned before, I thought there were too many of them. For the most part, I was more interested in reading my books than other peoples updates or writing my own. I really like end of day/end of event/mid-point surveys, but don't love regular updates, which I'm sure you can tell, because I didn't post very many of them. I feel like so many updates forces me to take artificial breaks in my reading time. If you could change one thing about the read-a-thon, what would it be? See above. Would you participate again? Most definitely!! Any last comments? Thank you! I had a lot of fun & would definitely participate again, so... You should definitely host again!:)

VIA Miss Universe Canada 2011 Contestant - Sierra Wagner's Photo & Profile/Biography

I am participating in the Dewey Readathon today! My readathon mornings are always messed up. I always oversleep, and it seems like I'm always going to my parents' house for the weekend. This readathon was new different. I got started about two hours late, nine o'clock my time. I haven't wasted much time though, one and a half books finished. Jason and I made a little pit stop in Pella, Iowa on the way home to meet some of family for lunch. Now I'm at my parents' house to read for an hour before we go get our engagement pictures taken.

Time spent reading: 15/21
Pages read: 704
Hours listened: 3
Books completed: The Walking Dead Volume 2 by Robert Kirkman, Welcome to My Country by Lauren Slater, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, The Pharmacist's Mate by Amy Fusselman
Activities completed: None
Trees planted: 8

I'll be returning to update this post throughout the day. You might be wondering about trees planted. For each book I finish during the readathon I am planting two trees through Eco-Libris.

Update: My engagement pictures are complete! We had a lot of fun getting out pictures taken and I read a little Shakespeare during the photo shoot. I'm sure I'll share some of those later. For now I will just say The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a fantastic book. A really quick read too! Also, I didn't fill this out during hour one, so I'm doing it now.

1) My parents' house in Altoona, Iowa. Started at my house in Iowa City, Iowa and read on the road in between.
2) I love essays, almond macaroons are my favorite cookie, and I'm probably going camping next weekend.
3) 10
4) I don't really have any specific goals this time around, I'm just hoping to get a lot of reading done!
5) Relax and have fun. Try to get some actual reading in instead of checking up on everyone else's blogs!

Update: It's now 11:18 here. I went and got some dinner, took a nap, and started two books. I was originally planning on reading Molly Fox's Birthday, but decided it wasn't really working for today. Right now I'm reading Welcome to my Country by Lauren Slater instead. I've been working on some art projects for school while listening to Genghis Kahn and the Making of the Modern World, which has been a nice break from reading and a good opportunity to get some work done. Now I think I'm going to get back to some real text reading for a few hours. Who is still out there? Are you hanging in there?

Update: A few hours have gone by since my last update. I'm officially starting to get tired. I've accomplished a lot more in this readathon than I thought I would. I've finished four books and made a pretty good dent in the beginning of an audiobook. I even managed to get a little homework done. In the last few hours I read a graphic novel to give my eyes a rest from all the text. In the next couple hours I think I might listen to some audio while trying to get some more homework done and then see how I feel.

Update: This will probably be my final update for the readathon. My eyes are heavy and I'm at the beginning of a book which is making it difficult for me to keep up with it. I might try to get up after a little nap to read just a little bit more-but I am basically done for this readathon. I also keep thinking about the paper I have to write tomorrow and how I should probably be a little coherent for that!

How is your readathon going? If you're not participating then how are you spending your Saturday?

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I have surpassed my goals for today! So it seems like a good time to go to bed, especially since I'm getting over a cold and I have to work tomorrow afternoon as well as finish two history papers. Oh tomorrow will be a fun day. Coming into this Readathon I was hoping to finish the Shelf Discovery Challenge, which I did! I only had three books finished for the challenge, which ends April 30, and now I have finished all 6. Easy YA books are greats reads for Readathons, although they weren't my favorite books I read today. My stats are pretty similar to my last reading challenge, but for some reason I feel more accomplished. Probably because I actually finished more books. Another reason might be that when I took a look at how this Readathon has fit into my overall 2010 reading I was amazed! At the beginning of this Readathon I had read 29 books in 2010, and now I've finished 34 and I'm well on my way to getting to 35. So look at that, completed a challenge, read some good books, almost to 35 books in 2010 which puts me well on my way to my unadvertised goal of 100 books this year. Overall, a great day.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi, Blubber by Judy Blume, and I'm Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph
Number of books read since you started: Finished 5, Read 6 (I'm more than halfway!)
Pages read since last update: 372
Running total of pages read since you started: 897
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 5
Running total of time spent reading since you started:12
Mini-challenges completed: Miss Remmers' Kick-off Challenge, I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read's Soundtrack Challenge, and 'Til We Read Again's And The Nominees Are challenge.

Thanks to all of the great co-hosts for the Readathon, the cheerleaders, and the mini-challenge hosts! You guys all helped make this day a lot of fun!

With us today we have the lovely Elizabeth C. Bunce, author of A Curse Dark as Gold, a fantastic retelling of Rumplestiltskin (set in the Industrial Revolution! Brilliant!) and the "Thief Errant" series, which is about Digger, a spy and thief who unwittingly finds herself at the center of a magical rebellion. The first book, StarCrossed, is out now, and the second, Liar's Moon, comes out in November!
Make sure to stick around till the end of the interview for a chance to win your own copy of StarCrossed!
Without further ado, I give you: Elizabeth C. Bunce!

~What inspired you to set the tale of Rumplestiltskin in the Industrial Revolution?
A couple of things, actually. First, I wanted to set the novel in the time and place of fairy tales—that imaginary Fairy Tale Country—and thanks to classic artwork by Dulac, Dore, and others, for me that's the 18th century. Second, it was a natural extension of the decision to set the story in an ailing textile mill, because the social and economic changes of the Industrial Revolution presented an existing set of realistic obstacles and conflict for the plot. And, to be perfectly honest, I was in love with the clothes of the era, and just couldn't imagine Uncle Wheeler dressed any other way!

~What was the research process like for the story, both on the fairy tale front and the historical front?
On the fairy tale front, I read as many traditional versions of Name of the Helper tales as I could—not just early "Rumpelstiltskins," but also pieces like England's "Tom Tit Tot" and Scotland's "Whuppity Stoorie." But my goal was always to focus on the story of the girl who bargains away her infant son, so I did stick pretty close to the "Rumpelstiltskin" framework. The rest of the research—oh, mercy! I dug into everything from everyday life in the 18th century, to traditional folk magic and ghost stories, and, of course, a huge amount of research (both book learnin' and the hands-on kind) into the woolen textile industry. I have monographs on wigmaking, esoteric economic histories of individual mill towns, even the journals of period woolworkers. For me, research uncovers not just the things you know you're looking for—but almost more importantly, the things you had no idea you needed.

~Will we ever see more stories set in Charlotte’s world?
Yes! I have one published now, a ghost story called "In for a Penny" in the Scholastic anthology Bones, edited by Lois Metzger (July 2011). And I have a few more ideas—including more retellings—up my sleeve, as well.

~Why fairy tales? What is it that calls to you, personally,as a writer, and why do you think readers connect to them the way they do?
As a reader, I'm even a bigger fan of retellings than I am of the original tales. I am fascinated by the ways authors expand and adapt the source material while keeping the stories fresh and accessible to today's readers. There's so much potential in the fairy tales, and I find it really comes to life in a brilliant retelling. I'm particularly drawn to the fairy tale landscape—the dark woods, the impenetrable briar hedge, the castles. But as a writer, I like the challenge of re-imagining those classic settings; expanding the borders of Fairy Tale Country, as it were!

~StarCrossed seems pretty different from Curse; did you feel it was a departure for you? How does StarCrossed’s Digger compare to Curse’s Charlotte?
I like to say that Curse was written for my adult literary and fairy-tale scholar self, while StarCrossed and Liar's Moon were written for my inner 16-year-old fantasy fan. So in that way, I can't say the series is a departure, although it did feel very different to write Digger's story than Charlotte's. As characters, Digger is a complete 180 from Charlotte. Charlotte thinks over everything before she makes any move, and Digger is very much more a Shoot First, Ask Questions Later kind of girl. Oddly enough, their goals end up being the same (saving the people they care about), but their methods are a little different. I have a feeling Digger would have taken one look at Shearing and Stirwaters, said, "To hells with this," grabbed everyone, and lit out of there.

~StarCrossed is a series, so I know you’re in the middle of that, but are there any plans to tell more straightforward fairy tale retellings in the future?
Definitely! The first novel I ever wrote was a retelling, I have a collection of short retellings that's been in the works for a while, and I've just started collecting research materials for a Victorian-era fairy tale project I'm excited about.

~What’s your favorite scene you’ve ever written?
I don't know! What a great question. Since we're talking about Curse, let's narrow it down some. I still think that book has some great scenes (I especially love the conjuring of Jack Spinner, the introduction of Biddy Tom, the crossroads, and the denouement)... but today I'm feeling romantic, so I'm going to say Randall's gift of the watch. There's something magical about those rare moments where you can capture everything about a story in just a few lines, and I think this scene between Randall and Charlotte tells us so much about both characters.

Lightning Round!

~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Hopefully I'd get a name! But it would probably be something like Donkeyskin or Aschenputtel. Maybe Doghair. Hundehaare. That sounds about right.

~ Using that name, give us 1 line from your life as a fairy tale:
Hard by a great prairie, in a cottage surrounded by mud in all seasons, guarded by a pack of hounds, lived a woman known as Hundehaare, whose back was permanently bent from bending over her books, her fingers gnarled and pricked from the needle. But from her muddy cottage, Hundehaare crafted things of great wonder, and her work was sought by folk from distant lands.
(Ok, that's two lines!)
[The judges confer... Two lines is acceptable, since they are such good lines.:) ]

~Best fairy tale villain and why?
Well, see, I tend to take a longer, more sympathetic view of my fairy tale villains, so it's difficult to come up with a list of inexcusable baddies. The thirteenth fairy in "Sleeping Beauty" is awfully petty, but, then, who hasn't felt wounded at being excluded from a party? And for mismatched dishes? But after giving this some deep thought, I'm going to have to go with The Pea.

~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites?
My favorite always was and will probably always be "Beauty and the Beast." The least favorite one is hard to answer; it used to be "Rumpelstiltskin," hands down—but I feel kind of bad about saying that now, since the story has actually been very good to me!

~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be?
Although it directly contradicts another answer below, I'm going to say I'd like to accompany the soldier as he follows the dancing princesses to Faerie.

~Would you rather:
- — eat magic beans or golden eggs?
Eggs

- — live under a bridge with a troll, or all alone in a high tower?
Tower

- — be forced to spin straw into gold for hours on end, or dance every night until your shoes are worn through?
Spin. Was there ever any doubt?

Thanks so much for stopping by and chatting with us, Elizabeth! For those of you who haven't read A Curse Dark as Gold (was there ever a better title?), Misty and Ashley both highly recommend it! And if you haven't read StarCrossed, here's your chance!

Misty's review of A Curse Dark as Gold | Ashley's review of StarCrossed ***GIVEAWAY*** Thanks to the awesome people at Scholastic, we have a beautiful finished hardcover copy of StarCrossed to give away to 1 winner!
To enter, answer this question: If you were to retell a fairy tale, what would it be and where/when would you set it?
Then, fill out this form.
International
Ends May 5th May 8th!

Welcome to the return of Weekly Geeks! We took a break for six weeks to give us time to honor Dewey, regroup and decide how to proceed. It takes a village to keep Dewey's projects going - and that's just what this blogging village (blogage?) is doing. Although there will be different facilitators every week, this is the place to come for the Weekly Geeks theme, Mr. Linky and comments, so add this page to your favs.

So - shall we begin?

In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis. Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh. Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.

Another option: Reading goals for ’09 and wrap ups for ’08 have been pretty well covered by now on a lot of blogs and other memes. But if you haven’t done this, feel free to make that your first WG of the new year, in addition to or instead of the above.

Most of you know the drill, but for newcomers (welcome!), create your blog post, come back here and sign Mr. Linky with the url to the actual post so we can find it easily. In addition, leaving a comment is a nice touch. So go be Weekly Geeks! And don't forget to visit your fellow Geeksters and say hello.

I hope you're as glad as I am to have this meme return , and I'm sure Dewey is smiling her approval.

This week's WG brought to you by Terri/teelgee

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Hey everyone! It's now August, which means month two of the AWR Challenge has just ended. I hope you all are doing well and on track to meet your goals!:)

I would love to hear about how well everyone is doing with their challenges! Feel free to link any reviews after this post, and link up your July check-in as well! I want to know how everyone is doing!

Since the beginning of the challenge, I have read 16 award winners. 8 of those have been from the Printz list, 8 have been from the Newbery list and 3 have been rereads. I know that I have met my goal of 12 books in three months, but I'd like to do even more. I'm only three books away from having read each of the Printz Award winners (although I've still got about 25 of the honors to read) and I'd love to finish the list by the end of the challenge. I own two of the winning books that I've yet to read, and my library has a copy of the third.

As for the Newbery list, it's significantly larger, but I've also been working on it longer. But, I'm really close. At least, I feel close. I only need to read 13 books to finish that list (and I haven't even counted the Honors I'm missing). I'd like to get closer to finishing this list as well by the end of the challenge and think I'll set my goal for this list to 2, maybe 3 additional books my Labor Day.

Wish me luck!: P

Don't forget to write your own post, link up and let me know if you have any questions! I'm always good for a recommendation or a book push!:)

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)

This week's Weekly Geeks topic was suggested by Sheri of A Novel Menagerie. She writes:

"Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented? Or, do you find that as you near the end of a challenge that you've failed because you fell short of your original goals? As a result of some reading challenges, I've picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Do you have favorite reading challenges?"

As we pass the halfway point of 2009, how are you doing with your reading challenges? Did you participate in any challenges this year?

Be sure to come back to this post and leave a link to your Weekly Geeks post. Don't forget to visit your fellow Weekly Geeks throughout the week and see how they're doing with their reading challenges.