Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for random

  • Round-up for Weekly Geeks 2009-28

    Last week's assignment involved creating a review or a scene out of random words and a random phrase. Participation was pretty sparse (was it too hard? Are you all on vacation? Were you trying to make it easy on me when I posted the answers?) but those intrepid Geeks who did it wrote such fun posts! If you haven't had a chance to read them, go do it now, before I give away the answers.

    OK, ready? Did you post your guesses in the comments?

    Go ahead, the answers will still be here when you're done, and it won't be nearly as fun if you've already peeked at them.

    .
    .
    .

    Ready now?

    Let's start with the real books.

    1. First of all, please welcome Gigi, the Solitary Spinster. This was her first WG post and she did such a good job that for a moment I thought she hadn't followed the directions. She reviewed a tattoo book called Body Type, using the random phrase psychological sizing therapy, the sentence, the killer listens and the words orientation, indicator, and regret.

    2. Jason of Moored at Sea is a relatively new Geek, and I enjoyed checking out his blog for the first time. Beautiful poetry, among other things. He did a stunning job modifying an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem, Aurora Leigh, modifying the random sentence Extremist trade charms a crown to fit the meter, and adding the random words Junior, Adaptor, and Escape.

    3. The book I reviewed is one I got from Mini Book Expo, called Something Drastic. I made up a quote using the random sentence, The debt rattles into the Jack coach, and my random words were robot, slogan, and bus.

    4. Lahni, of Nose in a Book, included a scene from a real book but she didn't tell me which one. Her random words were annoyance, delivery and opening. Her random sentence was The hardened likelihood passes the wish.

    5. At Farm Lane Books, Jackie reviewed a short piece. Yes, F. Scott Fitzgerald really entitled it Mr. Icky, and the quotes are real. Her random words were Happiness, Prize, and Garble, and her random phrase was The jazz lusts through the pot.

    6. Bookworm Kristen used a passage from A Lady Raised High by Laurien Gardner. The added words and phrases were: modeling, sinking, crush, 'furry mixture' and 'The reckless stair weds.'

    7. Emily chose a book about an artist, replacing the artist's name to make it especially tricky to guess. She says, "The entry I came up with is a description of an actual piece of art by installation artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois, and the actual book referred to is Louise Bourgeois: Memory and Architecture." Her random sentence was The cage closes on a lighted landscape, and her three words were career, minus, and conducting.

    Now, on to the fake books.

    1. Unfinished Person (Just a Reading Fool) kept his short and sweet, using only three sentences to write an intriguingly bizarre scene with the random words wow, Fall, Pumping, and the random sentence, An every realm persists.

    2. By contrast, Coversgirl wrote a scene that was almost a short story in itself (not that it was too long, but she managed to fit in some suspense and a plot!), using the random words: pedestrian, notation, miss; the random sentence: The juice disables an idle independence, and the unnecessary random phrase: worthwhile scarlet.

    3. Another Cookie Crumbles reviewed a fake book, which the random phrase generator entitled Circumferential Dragon. I want to read this one! The random words were drink, taxi and sneak
    and the sentence was The machine despairs.

    4. Gautami made up a book with the randomly phrased title, Seraphic Mandrake. Her random words were Hypothesis, hero and enterprising, and she says, "The random sentences were obvious!" so I think we can assume they are the quotes from the book.

    5. And, saving the first poster for last, Kerrie was inspired by the random phrase Hot Typewriter to review a fake mystery. Her random words were Witch, Neck and Mean, and her random sentence was An urban heaven blinks.

    That's it--but if more come in today, I'll get them added to this post by the end of the weekend.

    How'd you do with the guessing?

  • Weekly Geeks 2009-28

    Weekly Geeks 2009-28

    Hello, Geeks!

    So, a while ago, Care sent the Weekly Geeks team a very original idea, and I've been toying with it ever since. The words you're reading right now do not fit in with Care's idea, as I understood it. She wanted no explanation, just one word, and "Go!"

    I thought about it, but couldn't resist adding a little more to it.

    Ready?

    Set...

    Go!

    Just kidding. Here's your assignment:

    1. Go to Creativity Tools' random word generator.
    2. Get yourself a random word. Write it down. Then click "new word" to get yourself two more random words, and write them down, too. You should have three words written down.
    3. Now find the random sentence generator and get yourself a sentence, write it down underneath the three words. If you don't like that sentence it's okay to click "new sentence" until you get one you like.
    4. Use the Random Phrase Generator to generate a phrase. Write it down. You may not need this, but keep it handy, just in case. Again, it's okay to go through a couple of phrases before settling on one that works for you.
    5. Now, using the three words from Step 2 and the sentence from Step 3, write one of the following, (but don't tell us which!):

    (a) A book review (if you have an obscure book that many of us won't recognize by the title, this would be a great time to do it--or you could omit or replace the title [see -d- below] just for this week)
    (b) A scene from a book (you'll need to replace some of the words and a phrase with the random ones).
    (c) A scene you make up completely from scratch
    (d) A review of a fake book, using the Random Phrase from Step 4 as your book title

    6. Send me an email at Worducopia/at/gmail/dot/com, with the subject heading Random Post, letting me know if your review or scene was from a real or fake book and what your random words, sentence, and phrase were.
    7. As always, go visit other Weekly Geeks. Try to guess which Geeks have posted fake reviews or scenes, and which used actual books. No fair Googling the phrase as a hint. In the Round-up on Friday, I'll post which were real and which were fake, and you can see how you did.

  • WINNERS!!!

    So, I'm actually doing a winners post!! I know, right?! I'm terrible at actually getting these things up.: P

    First, I had a giveaway from Jill Alexander for a signed copy of her book The Sweetheart of Prosper County. I read and (mostly) enjoyed Paradise, so I'm jealous of this winner! And — it is:

    MARY!!
    I've already heard back from Mary and will get her book mailed as soon as I hear back from the read-a-thon winners! (So be fast peeps!)

    Alright — So... This contest was WAY harder to judge than I thought! I thought I was being all awesome, deciding to pick my favorite recommendation as a winner, but it was hard!! Like, really hard!! So... I'm really sorry if I didn't pick you. There were just WAY too many!

    Also, I think random.org is MAGICAL!! I SWEAR!! Because while I was struggling to pick one favorite, random.org picked the recommendation that had my favorite line. That's pretty awesome!

    So — The random winner is: UPDATED

    Nikki @ Wicked Awesome Books actually already owns each of the books I was offering, so the new random winner is:

    Raelena @ Through the Haze She has been emailed!:)

    My favorite rec winner is:

    Momo @ Books Over Boys
    Why did I pick this one? Because Momo took two books that I didn't previously have any interest in reading and made me WANT to read them. Which is unusual for me. And, really, isn't that the point of a book recommendation?! To match a reader with something they might have overlooked? So, yay for Momo! I'll have to see about finding copies soon!:)
    Rather than put full recommendations in this post, I do want to give a shout-out to some of my favorites by including my favorite lines from their recs so here are my top favorite lines: All names will link to their posts.

    Nikki @ Wicked Awesome Books said of The Near Witch:

    It's like a bedtime story come to life... Ya'll know how I feel about fairy tales, yes?

    Usagi @ Birth of a New Witch said of Wasteland:

    I emotionally connected with the characters and I’m sure you will, too. And I have the heart of a Vulcan. Or maybe no heart at all, I’m not sure. But I felt like I had one while reading this book. Hahaha! This seriously had me laughing. And it made me want to give Francesca Lia Block another try even though I was so not impressed with the one I've read.

    Jenna @ Jenna's Blog said of The Book Thief, regarding Death (the narrator):

    Any author who can make me feel emotion for a personified abstract noun writes extremely well. Umm. This is truth. Plus I also just really love that book!

    Zoe @ A Corner of My Bookshelf said of One Night that Changes Everything:
    It was a quick, fun read that was cute and catchy. (Kinda like a Disney movie, but who's asking anyway;) ) Because who doesn't love Disney movies!?: P

    Rachel @ Endless Reading said of Les Miserables and The Counte of Monte Cristo:
    Les Mis is all about redemption and love and war. Just phenomenal. Monte Cristo is about betrayal and revenge being best served cold. These are two of my very favorite classics and I love that her recs for them are short, to the point and definitely peak my interest.

    There were SO many more that I could have chosen quotes from and tons that came close to be favorites! I have tons of new books to add to my tbr now! Thank you to everyone who participated!!: D

  • Summer Break Reading Challenge: Create-A-Cover

    Summer Break Reading Challenge: Create-A-Cover

    For this activity in the Summer Break Reading Challenge we're supposed to create a cover to a book using a fake name generator and a random word generator, then find a random picture to go with the name of the book and create the cover. Then we share the book with you and create a fake synopsis. It was a really fun activity!

    Nuzzle by Robert Hansen

    Caitlin has been around horses before she could walk. These days she prefers them to people. As a new high school student she finds the habits most of her classmates have to be annoying, stupid, and immature. Especially Kurt Livingston's. He is every girl's crush because he has a wild streak. He loves to drink, party, and act like a bad boy. Caitlin can see through him, or so she thinks.

    Over time though, Caitlin finds that the wildness she loves in horses might actually run through Kurt too, and if she can understand her horse, Nuzzle, then maybe she can understand Kurt better than anyone else.

  • Sunday Salon: Reading Short to Clear the Shelves

    Sunday Salon: Reading Short to Clear the Shelves
    The Sunday Salon.com

    So remember how I went on a book buying ban in March and everything went swimmingly? And then I bought quite a few books right after it but felt guilt free about the whole thing? Well in the last week I somehow managed to obtain 18 new books. Which is a lot and now I feel guilty and stressed about it. For awhile I've been trying to read thicker books in order to get another shelf of "read" books on my shelves but the length of most of these books is daunting for me. I've also been in a reading funk, which isn't helping. On Friday I picked up Juliet, Naked

    because it was short and I knew I'd be pulled in right away since I love Nick Hornby. I ended up finishing the book yesterday and that is when I realized it. Short books.

    After I finished Juliet, Naked I went to my bookshelves and pulled all the books that looked to be about 200 pages or less. I found eighteen books which comes out to about 2500 pages total. My goal is to read about 80 pages a day and finish all of these books in the month of May. 80 pages a day, that is totally doable. And in one month I can clear off a huge chunk of books sitting on my shelves. Another great thing about this is the selection of books. It's pretty evenly spread between books I've just gotten and books I've had for quite awhile. It's also pretty even between fiction and nonfiction, classic versus modern and so on.

    Short books are great because they don't seem like a huge commitment. If I get fifty pages into a short book and I don't like it then I can put it down knowing I read at least a quarter of the book. Amazingly, I often put off reading short books because I think they'll be better for a week when I have a lot going on or when I'm doing a readathon. Short books are great for those things--but I never try to read them when I have a lot going on. I also buy short books a lot because I think there is no way I won't read it if it's only 150 pages. Obviously all of these assumptions are a little sketchy since ten percent of the books I own are of the short variety.

    Anyone want to join me?

    Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to give Briana at The Book Pixie a shout-out. She sent me Capote in Kansas during April for Random Acts of Kindness. I'm looking forward to reading it around Halloween as it is a ghost story! If you haven't checked out Random Acts of Kindness you definitely should. I've really enjoyed sending others books and getting books in return.

    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.

  • Random Act of Kindness (R.A.K.) Update

    So, this post is really late in coming.: P Sorry about that.

    But, earlier this year, the lovely ladies at Book Soulmates started a new feature called Random Acts of Kindness, and the whole point behind the R.A.K.s is to randomly pick someone, and send them a book or bookish item from their wishlist. Everyone loves getting mail, and everyone loves presents (even when we pretend we've outgrown them) and giving presents is just as fun (well, almost.;) )

    So, I signed up back in February and have gotten several R.A.K.s from many wonderful bloggers and sent out a few of my own, although I will admit many of mine also tend to involve candy... Lots and lots of candy.: P

    So, to show you what I received, and to publicly thank those who have sent me packages, I vlogged. For the first time. And, it's probably going to be a little awkward. I might be weird in this... Not sure. But I do know that the syncing is off after the first minute or so, but I don't know how to fix that.: ( Please forgive me.

    Mystery person of AWESOME! UPDATE!! — I FOUND HER!!:) I will include this in the next R.A.K. Video I do, but I wanted you to know that I found the mystery blogger!:) I was cleaning my room (I know... I know...) and I came across the card that was included with the two books! So, an extra huge thank you to

    Ashley @ Bookaholics Anonymous

    Ginger @ GReads!

    Jennifer @ Carbohydrates and Conjugations

    Liz @ Consumed by Books

    Missy @ Two Reader Reviews

    Lillie @ Read My Mind

    Sniffly Kitty @ Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books

    Alexa @ Pages of Forbidden Love

    I did also just remember that I forgot one package in the video. Which is LAME of me, because it was seriously one of the best packages ever... SO I will include that at the beginning of my next update, which will hopefully be sometime before the end of July... We shall see.:)

  • Just Contemporary Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

    The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson is a book that had been on my radar since its release, but one that I hadn't really put any effort into getting a copy of. But Allison and I have a thing going, where we trade book recommendations and this is one that she pushed on my pretty hard.:) So I bought a copy and a few months later I read it. And guys — Let me tell you what — This is so a book worth gushing over.

    I'll admit that it's not the best book I've ever read and it's not perfect. There was quite a bit about the book that I didn't love, quite a bit that annoyed me and some that kinda igged me out. But it didn't matter, because the book was told so incredibly well and the emotional confusion, the pain and turmoil in the mind of Lennie after is sister died was so real and honest and just there. The way this book made me feel what Lennie felt made the annoyances fade into the background. I don't know that I have ever read a book that so perfectly and so completely captures inner turmoil.

    Lennie and her older sister Bailey have always been incredibly close. They are that rare type of sister that has also always been friends. My older sister and I are good friends now, but when we were younger, when we lived in the same house, we did not get along at all. But just before the story begins, Bailey dies. Her heart gives out suddenly and Lennie feels completely adrift. She'd been really questioning her place in her own life for a while, and the abrupt loss of her sister sends Lennie into complete confusion. She doesn't really know who she is or how to be without her sister and she's scared and lonely and wants her sister so bad she aches with it.

    And then life gets even more confusing. One minute, she and her sister's boyfriend are talking about Bailey and sharing pain and the next they are kissing like their whole souls depend on it. Lennie had never been interested in Toby, could barely see why Bailey wanted him, but when they are together now, it seems like a part of Bailey lives again and Lennie doesn't know what to do. To make it even worse, the new kid at school, Joe, is pretty much perfect for her and she finds herself falling hard and fast and is thrilled because Joe is right there with her.

    The story line with Toby was my least favorite. I understand it better now, but it kinda creeped me out to be honest, and it is also one of the reasons that the book wasn't higher on my radar when it first came out. I expected it to be a lot more involved and a lot worse than it was, so I'll say that right now for anyone hesitant to read it for that reason. It didn't happen as frequently as I expected it to. And although they are kissing, it's not as sexual as I expected it to be. It's mostly the two of them so desperate for comfort and understanding from someone else who also loved Bailey that they get confused and their emotions take on inappropriate actions. And it creates problems for them too, it's not just some random side note that happens. It matters, and it helps to explain more about Lennie's emotional state.

    The characterization in this book was so completely perfect it amazed me. Every character was unique and whole. There were no half filled roles or caricatures. Each character was given their own depth and reality and I believed in each of them completely. And I do mean all of them. Lennie's grandmother (who raised them) and her Uncle Big are some of the most interesting and hilarious and just plain awesome characters I've ever come across. I can't even begin to describe them, you just have to read it to get it. Even characters we never actually meet are fleshed out and given more depth than I expected. Their mother was a wanderer and left the girls with her mother when Lennie was just a baby and she'e never come back, never made contact again. It very obviously affected both girls growing up although it affected them differently.

    There is one last thing that I have to mention, because I loved it so much. Lennie writes notes to and about Bailey and what's she is going through right now on random scraps of paper or garbage and leaves them just lying around. They are never really meant to be seen or read, it is simply Lennie's unique way of grieving. A ot of them are included in the book, along with a note of where they were found and I loved this. It was my favorite individual part of the story. The notes and poems that Lennie writes gives us a greater insight into how Lennie is really feeling and what she needs to heal.

    Overall, this is just a wonderfully marvelous book. One of those amazing books whose flaws become irrelevant in the face of the story and I, for one, was completely in love with this book. It is so worth reading. If you have been putting it off, don't. This is Contemporary YA at its finest. There is life and pain and love and hope and it is so real and honest that I can't help but love it.

  • Once Upon a Time Read-a-Thon Mini-Challenge! — CONTEST CLOSED

    ALRIGHT — The contest is now over! It's going to take me a while to go through all the entrants, so I'm hoping to have the winners listed by Sunday! Good luck to everyone!

    Today is my mini-challenge for the Once Upon a Time Read-a-thon!! I'm hoping to make this one easy for you.:)

    Anyone who talks to me on Twitter knows that I simply live for book recommendations and getting someone to read a book I recommend is awesome. Even better though, is having that someone turn around and tell me how much they loved it.:)

    Because I'm such a fan of book recommendations, I want you to recommend books to me. I want you to recommend 2 books to me.

    The first is any book of your choice. Pick any book you want and tell me and the world why it should be read and loved.

    The second is what you would pick as your favorite of the read-a-thon. You can chose to answer this question now, during the third day, or I'll give you one extra day to give that book just waiting to be picked up a chance.:)

    How to enter — write your recommendation pitches into your read-a-thon update posts and then come back here and leave a link in the comments. IF you do not have a blog, you may leave your recs in the comments as well, but I would prefer you to link me to a post if possible.

    This giveaway is only open to participants of the Read-a-thon. It will be open from now (the time of posting) until Friday around noon MST. That should give you plenty of time to pick those favorites and pitch them to me.

    There will be two winners — One winner will be chosen from Random.org. The second winner will be whoever manages to write the most convincing and compelling pitch. If your recommendation manages to instill that happy giddy feeling I get when I hear about an upcoming book I just know I'm going love, you win. (Which, in case you didn't guess, means that this winner will be a completely subjective choice)

    :) I'll contact both winners via email, and on Friday, I will also announce the winners on the blog, along with their winning recommendations!:)

    *Note — These recommendations are designed to get someone knew to read a book you love. Which means I do not want to see any "Read Book X because it totes rox!" But I also don't want to see a 4 pg review of the book. So, convince me in a standard sized paragraph.:)

    *PRIZES:
    The winner(s) will have their choice between a copy of
    The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott (PB)
    The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (PB)
    If I Stay by Gayle Forman (PB)
    Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (HC)
    Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (HC)

    If they both pick the same book, whoever emails me back first will get their first pick.

  • Tales of a Female Nomad

    Tales of a Female Nomad

    I got some wanderlust from my dad and I took a travel writing class last year, so I was really intrigued by Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

    , one of the few full length travel narratives I've seen written by a female. To add to my interest, one of my good friends from high school really liked the book so I knew it had to be pretty good. Rita Golden Gelman has reached a turning point in her life. She is living with her husband in California, but they no longer love each other and she hates their modern lifestyle. Her children are on their way to college and she doesn't feel like they need her anymore. Her career, a children's book author, doesn't require her to stay at home. When she and her husband decide to take a break she goes south of the border to Mexico for an intensive Spanish class and finds that she loves traveling. After that trip she changes her life and has no permanent address, she lives on a small amount of money, travels, and meets new people.

    The bulk of this book takes place in Indonesia and in my opinion it could have only taken place in Indonesia. Her time in Mexico shows us where her nomadic journey began, but her random trips in the United States and Canada could have been much shorter. Indonesia was really the only place where Rita got to know the people around her and really participated in the culture. I really liked the places Rita went to in the book, but she didn't get to know hardly anyone so it was basically just a book about everywhere she went in this time span and everything she did.

    I wanted to like this book a lot. I love the idea of just packing up your stuff, taking off, and seeing the world in your own way. Rita's voice got in the way though. The book is written in the present tense, which lends itself to "I did this, I see this, I hear this" writing. She spends so much time talking about what she did that you don't ever get a good feeling of what the culture is like. She spends at least 100 pages in Indonesia but I didn't come away from the book with any different perspective on it. And that's not totally necessary for me to enjoy a travel narrative. The Moon, Come to Earth didn't change my perspective on Portugal, but it did make me think about travel in a way that I wouldn't have without the book. That was not the case with Tales of a Female Nomad. Honestly, I thought Rita was a little self-centered and while I enjoyed reading about a few of the amazing things she did, there was always this nagging feeling in my head that the way she was telling them just wasn't right. This book could have been awesome, but it ended up just being okay.

    I give this book a C.

    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.

  • Memory Monday — And Then There Were None

    I know I mentioned in a previous Memory Monday (click to read) about how much I loved Mary Higgins Clark while growing up. My mom handed me my first MHC the summer after 6th grade and I was hooked. But, there were only so many MHC books and I soon finished her back list. By 9th grade I had read everything she'd written, but was still desperate for some more awesome murder mysteries.

    My mom suggested I try Agatha Christie. It makes sense, right?! I'm pretty sure she's like, the mother of all murder mysteries. My school library had two shelves just for her, so I decided to just go pull a random book off the shelf. I don't remember the title of the book, but I remember being disgusted. Her main character, Hercule Pointe (?) spent the beginning of the book complaining about the dentist. That was certainly not what I had been looking for. I was horrified and upset. Who wanted to read about a grown man complain about the dentist! I was about ready to give up on Ms. Christie when I found And Then There Were None.

    I don't remember if it had been a recommendation or just a lucky grab but I read through that book in horrified fascination. 10 people are sent to a mysterious island where their host never shows up and a record begins to play, informing everyone that they had been invited to the island because they had committed a murder and gotten away with it. Justice had finally caught up with them and they had been invited to die.

    They start to die, one by one and the ceramic Indian figurines being to disappear at the same rate. Not only that, but there is a poem — Ten Little Indians- and each death follows a line in the poem (stung by a bee= death by hypodermic needle etc). Everyone is scared, trying to figure out who the murderer could possibly be. And they know it has to be one of the ten. They have searched the entire island and there is no one else there. And, they are in the middle of an incredibly violent storm and there is absolutely no way to or from the island until the storm blows out.

    I can remember being beyond fascinated as I read this book, but waiting, waiting for the next death, the next clue, so that I could figure out who done it. But I couldn't. There were a few times I thought I had it figured out, but then that character would die, or would be talking to another character when someone else was murdered.

    I reread this one again a few years ago, and I loved it. I loved being able to watch the character interactions knowing the ending, knowing who was really behind the murders and being able to pick up on a bunch of clues I had missed the first time around.

    I tell you what — this is a phenomenal book. If more of The Agatha's books are like this, it's easy to understand why she's still recognized as one of the greatest suspense writers.

  • The Geek Community

    The following people have participated in Weekly Geeks, either here or at Dewey's blog. Thanks for joining the community!

    *Note: We are no longer regularly updating this list (as it is ginormous and time-consuming), but if you would like to be added, just send us an email with a link to one of your Weekly Geek posts. Thanks!

    3M at 1morechapter

    Aaron at That’s the Book!

    Adrienne at Bookmark My Heart

    Aerin at In Search of Giants

    Adventures in Reading

    Alessandra at Out of the Blue

    Ali at Worducopia

    Alisonwonderland at So Many Books, So Little Time

    Alix at Not enough bookshelves

    Alli at Books Fall Open

    Alyssa at The Shady Glade

    Amy at My Friend Amy

    Andi at Tripping Toward Lucidity

    Andrea at So Many Books

    Angela at Acerebral

    Anna at Diary of an Eccentric

    Annie at reading is my superpower

    Ariel Dalloway

    Bart’s Bookshelf

    beastmomma

    Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews

    Bernadette at Reactions to Reading

    Betsy at Cream of Soup

    Between the Covers

    Bibliolatrist at Bibliolatry

    Bonnie at Redlady's Reading Room

    Bookfool at Bookfoolery and Babble

    Booking It

    Bookish Ruth

    Bookwormans at Complete & Unabridged

    Bride of the Book God

    Bybee at Naked Without Books!

    Calissa at Dancing among the stars

    Callisa at SMS Book Reviews

    Cam at The Cookie Crumbles

    Cara at The Curvature

    Care at Care’s Online Book Club

    Cesia at At It Again

    Chainletters

    Chayenne at The Ax For the Frozen Sea

    Chris at book-a-rama

    Chris at Stuff as Dreams are Made On

    Christina at Jackets & Covers

    Christina at Reading Through the Night

    Christine at She Reads Books

    Ciaralira at Ciara Stewart

    CJHill at My Years of Reading Seriously

    Claire at kiss a cloud

    Darla D. at Books and other thoughts

    Dave, The Cubicle Reverand

    Debbie at Friday Friends Book Blog

    Debi at Nothing of Importance

    Debra at Reading Animals

    DeSeRt RoSe

    Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf

    Dizzy at gravity, avoirdupois

    Dorte at DJS Krimiblog

    Dreamybee at Subliminal Intervention

    E.B. at The Reader’s Quill

    Edgy at Books Are King

    Erika Lynn at Kiss My Book

    Erin at A Book Every Day

    Erin at crazy comma momma

    Erotic Horizon

    Eva at A Striped Armchair

    Fern at Booktrash

    Florinda at The 3 R’s

    Frances at Nonsuch Book

    Gautami Tripathy at Everything Distils Into Reading

    Gavin at Page 247

    Gnoe at Graasland

    Happyichigo at Ichigo Fields Forever

    Harmony at Call Me Harmony

    Harry~DD at Writing Chaos That Is Me

    Heather at Belle of the Books

    Heather at Book Addiction

    Heather J. at Age 30+…A Lifetime of Books

    Hope at Hope’s Bookshelf

    Holly at Book Pilgrim

    Icedream at Reading in Appalachia

    Iliana at bookgirl’s nightstand

    Imani at The Books of My Numberless Dreams

    Infant Bibliophile

    J at Thinking About…

    Jackie at Farm Lane Books

    Jackie at Literary Escapism

    Jacqui at Words ‘n Wags

    Jaimie at Bell Literary Reflections

    Janicu at Janicu’s Book Blog

    J.C. Montgomery at The Biblio Brat

    J. Kingston Pierce at The Rap Sheet

    Jeannie at I Like To Be Here When I Can

    Jennie at Biblio File

    Jenny at Read. Imagine. Talk.

    Jessi at casual dread

    Jessica at Wanderings

    Jessica at The Bluestocking Society

    JLSHall at Joy’s Blog

    Jo at Ink and Paper

    Jo at Peachybooks

    Joanne at The Book Zombie

    Jocelyn at Teen Book Review

    Jodie at Book Gazing

    John at The Book Mine Set

    John at Notes of a book dreamer

    Jordyn at Page Numbered

    Joy Renee at Joystory

    Jules at Jules’ Book Reviews

    Juliann at Unwritten Reads

    Julie P. at Booking Mama

    Jupiter at crazy dumbsaint of the mind

    Karin at Karin's Book Nook

    Katherine at A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore

    Katrina at Katrina’s Reads

    Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise

    Kerry at Saving my Sanity

    Kim at Bold. Blue. Adventure.

    Kim at page after page

    Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness

    Kimifiction at CityLightLove

    Kris at not enough books

    Krisma at Bookworm’s Sweets

    Kristen at Bookworm Kristen

    Kristi at Passion for the Page

    Kristina at Kristina’s Favorites

    Kylee at Kylee’s 2009 Blog

    LadyTink at Up Close and Personal with LadyTink

    Lahni at Nose in a Book

    Laura at State of Denmark

    Lauren at Reading Comes From Writing

    Library Mermaid

    Lightheaded at everyday reads

    Lilly at Reading Extravaganza

    Linda at Silly Little Mischief

    Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty

    Lizzie at Suzy Q Homemaker

    Lynda at Lynda's Book Blog

    Louise (bogsider) at Lou’s Pages

    Lu at Regular Rumination

    Lynda at Lynda’s Book Blog

    Maree at Just Add Books

    Marg at ReadingAdventures

    Margot at Joyfully Retired

    Marie at Boston Bibliophile

    Mariel at where troubles melt like lemon drops

    Marina at Momma Writes About Books

    Marineko at Dreaming Out Loud

    Mary at This Book Is For You

    Matt at A Guy's Moleskine Notebook

    Meg at Literary Menagerie

    Megan at Leafing Through Life

    Melange’s Book Reviews

    Melanie at Cynical Optimism

    Melanie at The Indextrious Reader

    Melissa at Book Nut

    Melisssa at Melissa's Bookshelf

    Melissa at Page Turning Momma

    Melissa at The Blog of Melissa Pilakowski

    Melody at Melody’s Reading Corner

    Melydia at It Never Stops

    MFS at Mental multivitamin

    Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies

    Michelle at inthelouvre

    Michelle at Master Musings by Michelle

    Misa at This Redhead Reads

    MizB at Should Be Reading

    Mog at Mog’s Blog and More…

    Molly at My Cozy Book Nook

    Molly at Restless Reader

    Mommy’s Fun Books at Coz I’m a Book-aholic

    Monica at Buy Books for the Holidays

    Monica at Monniblog

    Moo at Moo’s Place

    Mrs S at Blue Archipelago

    Myrthe at The Armenian Odar Reads

    Naida at thebookworm

    Nan at anokaberry

    Nari at The Novel World

    Natasha at Maw Books

    Nicola O at Alpha Heroes

    Nicole at Linus’s Blanket

    Nymeth at things mean a lot

    Patti at Here Happiness Resides

    Paxton at Cavalcade of Awesome

    Penny at Penny's Pages

    Phamie at Paula Marie: Switch Witch

    Presenting Lenore

    Rachel at American Bibliophile

    Rae L. at A Writer’s Dream

    Raidergirl3 at an adventure in reading

    Reader Rabbit

    Rebachin at Librain-ism-ish

    Rebecca at Just One More Page

    Rebecca at Rebecca Reads

    Rebecca at The Book Lady's Blog

    Renay at the deus ex machina complex and other theories

    Retinna at Tales of the Looking Glass

    Rhinoa at Rhinoa’s Ramblings

    Rikki at The Bookkeeper

    Robin at A Fondness for Reading

    Robin at My Two Blessings

    Sam at Wrong Decade

    Samantha at Bookworms and tea lovers

    Sandra at Fresh Ink Books

    Sarah at Behold, the thing that reads a lot

    Sarah at Books and Other Miscellany

    Sarah at GreenBeanTeenQueen

    Sarah at Puss Reboots

    Sarah at Small World Reads

    Sari at The View from Sari's World

    Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit

    Shana at Literarily

    Shannon at Confuzzled Books

    Shannon at Just Another Musing

    Sharonanne at Sharon Loves Books and Cats

    Shelley at Chain Reader

    Sher at A Novel Menagerie

    Sherrie at Just Books

    Sherry at Nite Swimming

    Skooter at Pink Blue Whale

    SmallWorld Reads

    Softdrink (Jill) at Fizzy Thoughts

    Somer at SomeReads

    Staci at Life in the Thumb

    Stefania at Books of gold

    Stephanie at Confessions of a Book-a-holic

    Stephanie at The Written Word

    Steven at Book Dads

    Strumpet

    Suey at It’s All About Books

    Sunnymama

    Susan at Black-Eyed Susan

    Tammy at Tammy’s Book Nook

    Tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn

    Tasses at Random Wonder

    Tea at Living Life and Reading books

    Ted at Bookeywookey

    Teddy Rose at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time

    Terri (teelgee) at Reading, Writing and Retirement

    Terri B. at Tip of the Iceberg

    Terry at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub

    Tez Miller at Tez Says

    That's the Book

    The Abbot of Unreason

    The Chic Geek

    The Dark in the Dark

    Thom G at Surface Tension

    Tiny Librarian at Tiny Little Reading Room

    Tracee at The Review from Here

    Tracy (Gentle Reader) at Shelf Life

    Trisha at Eclectic/Eccentric

    Trish at Hey Lady!

    Trublu at Starry Night

    Twiga at Books and Life

    Un:bound

    Uncertain Principles at another cookie crumbles

    Unfinishedperson at Just a (Reading) Fool

    Valentina at Valentina’s Room

    Vasilly at 1330V

    Violette at The Mystery Bookshelf

    Wendy at Caribousmom

    Word Lily

    Yati at Fiddle-de-dee’s not English

  • Weekly Geeks 2009-44

    Weekly Geeks 2009-44

    This week's post is from Trisha at Eclectic/Eccentric...thanks Trish!

    Books take us on journeys, flitting us off to other times, people, and places. From ancient caves to medieval castles to modern skyscrapers; from delicate geishas to turn of the century immigrants to future captains of spaceships; books are our path to other worlds. But what about the journey we give our books? What path do books take through our hands?

    How do you choose what to read? Is it random or planned? Based on your mood, challenges, titles, covers, topic?

    What process do you use for reading? Do you take notes while reading? Annotate your books? Just read?

    What happens when you are done reading? Do you wait to review or write immediately? Do you revisit and revise before posting?

    What other tasks do you go through after reading a book? Is your blog the only place you post a review? Do you keep lists of readings? Catalog genre, page numbers, gender of authors, etc.?

    What happens to the book when you are done with it? Does it end up in your home library? Go back to a public library? BookMooch?

    Overall, if you had to give someone a "How To" list for your dealings with any particular book, what would it look like?

    As usual, leave the link to your post in Mr Linky...and have fun with Trisha's questions!

  • Teaser Tuesday-May 12

    Teaser Tuesday-May 12

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:



    • Grab your current read

    • Open to a random page

    • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

    • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

    • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

    My teaser comes from CEMETERY DANCE by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child:

    It was as silent as a tomb in the basement lab, with the faint hissing of the forced-air system like a steady whisper in the darkness. The nightmare at the hospital had spooked her-the dream had been so real.

    Please share your teaser!



    YAHOOO!!! This post is my 200th post! Check back in a few days to find out how to win my ultra-amazing giveway. I'll give you a hint...it's a ton of books, and the more you comment on my blog, the more chances you get to win!!

  • Award Winning Reads Challenge Giveaway/Prize information

    I'm warning you right now — this is going to be a bit of a long post. But I promise it will be well worth it!

    For all of those participating in the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by myself and Jacinda at The Reading Housewives, or any of you thinking you might want to participate but haven't decided yet, this post is for you.


    In our intro post to the Challenge, both Jacinda and I made promises for lots of great prizes and giveaways for participants. This post is just to offer a little more detail and explanation for how each giveaway will work.

    To start — The most basic:

    For each level of participation, there will be a specific giveaway. So those who sign up to read three books will have a drawing independent of those who sign up to read nine. Each of the four levels will have one winner.

    Jacinda and I both have a selection of books that we are going to donate, with titles from both the Newbery and the Printz list. Some are brand new, some look brand new, and some are gently used. This forms our prize pool. A full list will be provided at a later date.

    To be chosen as the winner from your reading level, you must complete your goal. You can read more than your challenge level, but you must at least reach it. This will earn you one entry.

    For every book you read past your reading goal, you will gain an additional entry.

    For every review you post a Newbery or Printz honor or award, you will gain an additional entry.

    To encourage people to sign up for the reading level they think they are capable of, and not just sign up for level one and then read 100 books, the number of books you can win increases with each level increase.

    The winner from Level one will receive 2 books from the prize pack.
    Level two will receive 3.
    Level three will receive 4.
    And Level four will receive 5.

    We are also going to have a giveaway for one random participant, whether you complete your level or not. Everyone who signs up and agrees to participate will be eligible for this prize, although if you win the prize pack for your reading level, you will not be able to win this one.

    The final giveaway that is for sure going to happen is a special giveaway, just from me. Jacinda and I are on the same page with the whole challenge, and are working very well together, but I wanted to include this giveaway, because I am a book pusher. I like the idea that other people are reading my favorite books, and that authors I find especially gifted are getting extra love.

    So, I decided to offer the participants of this challenge a special incentive for reading my favorite books. Below, I have compiled a list of 10 (ish) books each from both the Newbery and the Printz award lists. I've included a Goodreads and Amazon link to each title for your convenience. If you want more information about a book, or if you want to know why I seriously think you should read it, just ask! Comment, email, tweet, whatever!:) I love talking up my favorite books!

    Anyone who reads any of these books will be entered in to win a special drawing. Reviewing the book will gain you an additional entry as well. (Note — if you don't have a blog, that's totally okay! Posting a review anywhere will count! Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books A Million etc etc etc. As long as it's a review, it's online and you can link me, it counts!)

    The number of winners and the prizes to be won for this giveaway are yet to be determined. Part of this is going to depend on the number of participants, some will depend on how my pocket book is feeling come September, and some will depend on how excited I am that (hopefully) so many people are reading my favorites. At this point, it's likely to include at the very least a book of your choice from the complete awards lists, but I might also include some of my own personal favorites in there as well. Suggestions and preferences are welcomed. And now:

    THE LIST: Printz: * Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (amazon; goodreads) (2009 Award) * The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (amazon; goodreads) (2009 Honor) * The Book Thief (amazon; goodreads) / I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak (amazon; goodreads) (2007 Honor/ 2006 honor, respectively) * Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (amazon; goodreads) (2000 Honor) * Monster by Walter Dean Meyers (amazon; goodreads) (2000 Award) * The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (amazon; goodreads) (2003 Honor) * Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger (amazon; goodreads) (2000 Honor) * Going Boving by Libba Bray (amazon; goodreads) (2010 Award)
    * how i live now by Meg Rosoff (amazon; goodreads) (2005 Award)
    * The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci (amazon; goodreads) (2001 Honor)

    Newbery: * When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (amazon; goodreads) (2010 Award) * Rules by Cynthia Lord (amazon; goodreads) (2007 Honor) * The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spear (amazon; goodreads) (1959 Award) * Dicey's Song (amazon; goodreads) / A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt (amazon; goodreads) (Books 2 and 3 of the Tillerman Saga) (1983 Award/ 1984 Honor, respectively) * Walk Two Moons (amazon; goodreads) / The Wanderer by Sharon Creech (amazon; goodreads) (1995 Award/ 2001 Honor, respectively) * Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff (amazon; goodreads) (2003 Honor) *Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl (amazon; goodreads) (1971 Honor) * The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (amazon; goodreads) (2008 Honor) * The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (amazon; goodreads) (1991 Honor) * The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (amazon; goodreads) (2009 Award)
    I can't wait to see what everyone plans to read! Stop by here or over at The Reading Housewives tomorrow for our kick off posts. I'll be including links to previous Newbery/Printz reviews here on the blog and giving you a peek at my tentative reading pile. I believe we will also have a linky with the post, so feel free to link up your starting post!
    Tomorrows the day! Happy reading!
    *Ashley and Jacinda reserve the right to change the number of prizes for each level. We will keep you informed of any and all decisions regarding prizes. Three months is a long time. I can't guarantee that everything in this post is going to remain exactly the same. But take heart. This also means we can give you more books!:)

  • Teaser Tuesday-July 7

    Teaser Tuesday-July 7

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

    Just do the following:

    • Grab your current read

    • Open to a random page

    • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

    • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

    • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

    My teaser this week comes from The Spare Room

    by Helen Garner:


    "I was afraid I would slide off the bench and measure my length among the cut roses. At the same time, a chain of metallic thoughts went clanking through my mind, like the first dropping of an anchor: death would not be denied."


    Share your teaser by commenting below, or by visiting MizB of Should Be Reading.

  • IT'S TIME!! Welcome to Just Contemporary November!!

    Hello everyone and WELCOME! Today is the first day of November, which also means it is the first day of Just Contemporary, a full month dedicated to nothing but the awesome that is Contemporary YA. I mean seriously, how awesome is that?! Best idea ever, right?! Thank you, thank you. You may now bask in my glow...

    Or, better yet — Bask in the awesome that will be coming to you ALL THIS MONTH!!!

    Shanyn and I have so killer awesome stuff coming at you. There will be authors, guest bloggers, interviews, guest posts, giveaways, videos and lots of reviews and bookish talking posts. It's gonna be intense. Like, whoa.

    I am devoting my entire blog, the entire month of November to ONLY Contemporary talk. The reviews will all be Contemporary, the authors all write Contemporary, even the Memory Mondays will be about Contemporary reads! Shanyn's blog will be the same. Contemporary FTW yo!

    Now, I don't actually expect anyone else to do this. Devoting an entire month to only one genre is hard. I get that. If you want to become an entirely, or even mostly Contemporary place for November, YOU WILL ROCK MY FACE OFF. If you can't become entirely Contemporary, don't worry, I'll still love you!:)

    But here is a list of seriously great things you can do to still show your love and support for Contemporary YA (some of these are Shanyn's and some are mine)

    *Read a Contemporary book, especially if it isn't your normal go-to genre
    *Review a Contemporary book you loved
    *Add the button/banner to your sidebar and/or any Contemporary themed posts in November
    *Write a post about the Just Contemporary event on your blog. Talk about it on Twitter. Tell all your friends.
    *Read the awesome Contemp happenings on the host blogs for the month
    *Write a post talking about Contemporary YA (write about your own topic, or check out our guest post topic list)
    *Enter the giveaways!! (easy peasy, yes?!)
    *Keep an eye out for participating authors & post about those authors or their books around the same time we do
    *COMMENT! There is a lot of time and effort that's been put into showcasing all this awesome Contemp & all of the participants, bloggers, authors, readers and writers would love feedback!
    *Talk to friends, IRL & online about Contemporary YA that you love. Buy a book. Buy a book for a friend or your library. Buy a book and give it to a random stranger on the bus... And then tell us!:)
    *Tell a Contemporary YA author that you love them.:)

    I could keep going here... Really, I could. There is so much you can do to help! Both this event and Contemporary YA in general!

    Also — I plan to have a weekly post going up where I talk about all the awesome Contemporary love happening around the blogosphere. But, for this to really be a good round up, I'm going to need your help! There is no way I can possibly find everything going on. I'm going to try, but it's not gonna happen.: P SO. PLEASE — If you are participating in the event, if you grab the button to add to your Contemp reviews, if you interview a Contemporary author, review a Contemp novel, Let me know!! I am going to be on top of my commenting game, reading (hopefully) hundreds of awesome Contemporary posts every day!

    So what are we waiting for?! Let's get this show on the road and SPREAD THE LOVE!!!

  • Giveaway from Book Journey! — CLOSED

    In addition to providing a guest review for us, (read her review of Cloaked ), Sheila from Book Journey has generously offered a giveaway for our lucky readers today! It's pretty simple. Here, from Sheila herself, is what you have to do:
    In celebration of the FUN that is Fairy Tale Fortnight I wanted to offer a giveaway. First, read my review of Cloaked at The Book Rat and leave a comment there about the review. Then return here and share with us your favorite fairy tale and why.


    A winner will be chosen using random.org and the winner will get to choose from one of three of Alex Finn's books that I will send them from Amazon: Cloaked, A Kiss In Time, or Beastly.

    USA and Canada entrants only please. Ends May 5th May 8th

  • Massive Fairy Tale Fortnight Winners List!!

    Hello, lovelies! Hope you're having a great day — and for a lot of you, it's about to get better. Settle in for a really long list of winners from Fairy Tale Fortnight.

    Disclaimer: All winners will be emailed, and will have 2 days (48 hours) to respond before a new winner will be picked. No exceptions — there are just too many giveaways, and too many sponsors waiting on shipping information for us to wait on responses.
    All winners chosen with random.org, based on criteria in each individual giveaway.

    Now, lets get to it, shall we?

    Anahita's Woven Riddle 6 people guessed the correct country (Iran), but there's only 1 winner: Congratulations, Vickie Mae!


    The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison The winning question was — I have a crush on my very handsome best friend, but I notice he tends to prefer short and not very bright skinny blonds (that are my total opposite). How do I get him to look at me as more than just a friend? This question was asked by — Karla VollKopf!


    Jessica Day George Prize Pack #1 Includes: an ARC of Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow and a paperback of Princess of the Midnight Ball Devony!

    The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson Vidisha!

    Zoë Marriott Prize Pack Susanna!

    Jaclyn Dolamore bookplates Mearadh!

    The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettleheim
    Lindsey M.!


    Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix Birgit!

    Hoppy Easter Blog Hop Giveaway: Bee!


    The Introverted Reader's Prize Pack (print + book of choice) Lexie! (whose book of choice is Princess of Glass!)

    Ash by Malinda Lo Ana Lucia!


    Impossible by Nancy Werlin Scoot, whose fave childhood fairy tale was Beauty and the Beast!
    Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin ArtsyBookishGal, whose favorite villain is Ursula from The Little Mermaid!

    Nancy Werlin Prize Pack wins both Extraordinary and Impossible Casey! (The Bookish Type) whose fairy tale name would be Asparagus.


    The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
    winner TBD


    Jessica Day George Pack #2
    includes Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, Princess of the Midnight Ball and Princess of Glass
    Jacinda!


    Fables by Bill Willingham Kat! (email begins with ave)


    Fragile Things + Black Thorn, White Rose
    Tore!


    My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
    bookworm1494!


    A True Princess by Diane Zahler
    Lieder Madchen!

    A True Princess/The Thirteenth Princess swag
    Small Review!
    Jadey!
    Brenda Jean!


    Winners Choice from Enna Isilee
    Alexa (chose Entwined)!
    Brenda Jean (chose Entwined)!
    I think I see a theme here!

    Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher, signed
    Christine!


    Acrostic Poem ~ YA Prize Pack The Girl on Fire!

    Acrostic Poem ~ Kids Prize Pack
    Ems!


    ARC of My Unfair Godmother + How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-boyfriend, by Janette Rallison (both signed)
    Debz!


    Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky
    Sysha!


    Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon, signed
    Bee!
    Vidisha!
    Kulsuma!


    Winner's Choice of an Alex Flinn book, from Sheila
    Sierra!


    StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce
    Carmella V.!

    Congrats everyone! Remember, if we email you for your address and we don't hear back by Wednesday, a new winner will be chosen.

  • Weekly Geeks Round-up: Stuck on Series

    Last week, Weekly Geeks were questioned by Erotic Horizon about what they do when they get stuck in a book series:

    • What series do you read where you have had an issue with one of the books in the line-up?
    • Do you cut the author lose after one miss, or do you have a limit of failed books in a series before you toss in the towel?
    • What's your suggestion for that book that you struggle with in a series?
    At Mysteries in Paradise, Kerrie suggests that if you've been keeping up with a series all the way along up until the most recent volume, give it a pass if it's not working for you and just pick back up with the next one. Not every book an author produces is of equal quality, after all.

    Bernadette of Reactions to Reading is willing to give series she's followed for a long time second and even third chances - sometimes she's been rewarded, and sometimes not. She's also found it's not absolutely essential to read every book in some series.

    Sarah at Puss Reboots proposes some "shoulds and shouldn'ts" for making a series work.

    Mark of Random Ramblings From Sunny Southern CA is a pretty big series reader, and like some of our other Geeks, rarely gives up on a series entirely if he's been with it for a long time - but if a new series doesn't hook him by the second book, it's probably all over.

    And on the other side of the question, we have Gautami of everything distils into reading, who would much prefer to read stand-alone books over series in general.

    Thanks to everyone who participated in Weekly Geeks this week, and remember to check back tomorrow for our new topic!

  • Sunday Salon: Shiny New Bookshelf

    Sunday Salon: Shiny New Bookshelf
    The Sunday Salon.com

    I moved into my townhouse with three bookshelves and they were completely full right away, so I knew a new bookshelf was in my future eventually. I finally got sick of all the random stacks of books around the house towards the end of last semester and yesterday I bought the bookshelf. It's the biggest bookshelf I've got so far. Apparently I've become more realistic about my growing library. I'm amazed by how many of the books I own I've purchased since I started blogging. Apparently I just didn't know what books to buy before my blog and now I'm constantly bombarded with books I want to read plus I find ones on my own. Book blogging has definitely changed the way I approach shopping in a bookstore-- but that is a post for a different day.

    The bottom shelf is games and children's books, two things that didn't really have a home in my house so it makes sense for them to go on a fairly empty bookshelf. Above that is about two shelves of unread books. Just by looking at my bookshelves it seems like I'm finishing one shelf of books for every shelf of new books, which means I'll never get past that one bookshelf worth of books I haven't read. I'm pretty okay with this ratio right now, obviously I would like to read more books than I'm taking in. The worst part is that I have two shelves of books that I've owned for a long time but still haven't read. When I look at the books I think I want to get to them someday, but I don't want to read them as much as the new books I bought in the last year. I should probably get rid of some of the books I haven't read but I honestly think getting rid of books is a humongous pain in the butt.

    The second shelf from the top houses literary magazines which were previously under my coffee table. This collection is only going to get bigger in 2011 because I not only have a subscription to The Believer (my second year with it) but I have one to McSweeney's as well. The very top shelf has some beer bottles from Germany on it. Not much to do with books, I just thought they were pretty.

    Have any of you gotten a new bookshelf recently? Do you need one? Are the stacks of books taking over your house?

    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.