Today I’m very excited to be featured at Book Bloggers International! This is a great site which makes it very easy to connect with other bloggers who share your tastes, since each feature post is tagged with a few genres. So please, pop on over, check out my interview and maybe find some other new bloggers to follow too. My interview is here.
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
Today is the first day of Bout of Books! Woo! So for my musing today I’m thinking about my goals for this delightfully laid back read-a-thon and would love to hear about yours. Read more »
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
This weekend I’m out of town for a plant pathology conference in Austin, Texas and I’ve had a couple of fun, bookish travel experiences along the way. Today I’m musing about those and am interested to hear about your best bookish travel experiences as well. Read more »
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
If you’re a new blogger looking for advice, everyone will tell you to get social because many of us have found the social aspect of blogging the most enjoyable part. What not everyone will tell you is that not all comments are equal. I’ve tried a variety of ways of finding blogs to comment on and today I’d like to talk about the best ways to spend your commenting time if you want to create meaningful interactions, make blogging friends, and draw some new readers to your blog.
Read more »
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
As book bloggers, we overanalyze a lot of things compared to the non-book-blogger or the non-reader. We think long and hard about what books to read, what books to buy, and how to judge them fairly. We debate about bookmarks vs dog-earing pages and the benefits of the kindle – from on vacation to in a proposed “bookless library”. We discuss prolifically bookish news, from J.K. Rowling’s unexpected new book to the kindle price-setting scandal. Lately, my topic to over-think has been my choice of audiobooks… Read more »
Title: The Society of Timid Souls: or, How to Be Brave
Author: Polly Morland
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: I feel like the subtitle and description of this book overhyped the amount of advice given on how to be brave, leaving me disappointed with the focus on storytelling without analysis.
The Society of Timid Souls was inspired by a society of the same name which existed during World War II and helped members overcome stage fright. Inspired by this society and her own desire to be brave, the author interviews a variety of people who have been brave in an equal variety of ways. She also asks a lot of interesting questions about the nature of bravery and whether people can learn to be brave. Read more »
Today is the first day of a mini Bloggiesta! This a shorter version of the twice yearly bloggiesta and is all about sprucing up your blog while interacting with other awesome bloggers. I’ve got lots of things I want to get done this weekend and can’t wait to get started 🙂 Here’s my current to-do list:
Probably overly ambitious, but at least it gives me a lot of things to choose from! Are you participating in Bloggeista? And is this the first time you have?
Title: Verbatim
Editor: Erin McKean
Source: library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Fun Fact: Dictionaries didn’t used to be objective and included information beyond definitions. For example, Webster’s 1806 edition stated that the earth was created in 4004BC.
Review Summary: This collection included some really funny essays and some that are only going to be enjoyable if you love collecting obscure words.
Verbatim: The Language Quarterly is a periodical that accepts reader submitted essays on all things related to the English language. The book is a collection of some of editor Erin McKean’s favorite essays from her time as editor of the periodical. Topics range from word origins to grammar to pop culture jargon. Authors also express a variety of opinions, from a willingness to embrace changes to the English language to essays lambasting particular developments the author hates. Read more »
Title: The Virgin Cure
Author: Ami McKay
Source: from publisher for TLC book tour
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: This was well written, with such attention to historical detail I felt it could actually have happened but I just didn’t feel a connection to the main character.
Moth is a young girl living in the slums of lower Manhattan until her own mother sells her as a servant. When she tries to escape and finds her mother gone, few options are left to her. Moth is forced choose between returning to the abusive woman who bought her; returning to her old life; or living a life of comparative luxury as a prostitute. With the help of a caring, female doctor named Dr. Sadie, Moth must decide what is most important to her and what she’s willing to sacrifice to survive. Read more »
Hi all! We are officially at the halfway point in the Book to Movie challenge! Well, halfway through the year anyway. Personally, I’m a quarter of the way through my challenge, having read and reviewed Starship Troopers, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Jane Eyre. I haven’t loved any of them as much as some adaptations I saw last year, but hopefully things will pick up with my next book-to-movie read (I’m thinking The King’s Speech). Now, on to how everyone else is doing! Read more »
