15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 8

Day 8's assignment is to do a quick 15 bullet points of things that appeal to me on blogs. Here goes:

1. Strong opinions
2. Neat layout
3. No music or animations
4. Long blogroll
5. Short paragraphs
6. Brevity
7. Photographs
8. Book covers accompanying reviews
9. No colored text
10. Good spelling
11. Vivid logo
12. Some white space
13. Reviews of books I'm interested in
14. Current reviews
15. Frequent updates

And you?

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 7: Blogging Quirks

The seventh question in the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge asks us to "describe your blogging quirks."

• I like to talk about who I think would like the book, whether or not I did. When describing books to others, I tend to break them down by appeal factors- plot, style, setting and character- to help my readers figure out if the book I'm talking about is a good fit
• I like to have the book handy as I'm writing, to make sure I'm spelling names correctly and such.
• But I always end up correcting something after the final review is posted.
• I don't really do rough drafts anymore.
• I write most of my posts on one day of the week and rarely write on other days. So if I write two posts that day, those are the two I have for the week. 
• I tag by publisher, date, rating and broad category- fiction, nonfiction. I will tag for things like science fiction and crime fiction in case someone comes looking for books in those genres. I wonder if I ought to tag translated books, too. What do you think?
• I like listening to music when I write. I have a Pandora station devoted to piano music and classical guitar. For some reason these genres help me concentrate.
• Sometimes I write my posts when I'm watching TV. Like right now, I'm watching My Little  Pony. So this post probably makes no sense and that would explain Twilight Sparkle any weird things you might see pop up.

 What are your blogging quirks?

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge

I guess I forgot about the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge but let's continue, shall we?

I'm on Day 6 of the Challenge and the question for today is:

Describe how you shop for books.

That's quite a question! The short answer is I browse. I look over displays and find things that look interesting to me, either because the book is by an author I like, or comes from a publisher I like, or just because it looks interesting for who-knows-what reason. I do keep a wishlist on my phone, which is handy if I'm at a particularly large bookstore, especially a used bookstore with an eclectic selection. I was at the Strand bookstore in New York this past weekend and let me tell you, it was overwhelming, so having some specific things to look for made my visit fun and productive. But it's also nice to just lose yourself in the stacks!

April at GoodBooksandGoodWine.com runs this Challenge, which is open to all.

15 Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day 5

The topic for Day 5 is Recommend a tear-jerker.

Oh boy. Well what comes to mind first is Sebastian Japrisot's A Very Long Engagement, about a young woman trying to find her fiance in the wreck of post World War 1 France. It has a wonderful, bittersweet happy ending that makes me tear up just thinking about it. Another good one along those lines is Possession, by A.S. Byatt, about two British academics researching the lives of two Victorian poets. The kicker in that book is what they don't find out but we do. Still gives me shivers!

What's your favorite tear-jerker?

15 Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day 4

The question for Day 4 of the 15 Day Book Blogging Challenge is: What is the last book you flung across the room?

You know, I can't even remember. I just don't do that anymore. The last book I DNF'd was James Joyce, the biography by Gordon Bowker.. I started reading it in preparation for my trip to Ireland but the (sad) fact is, I'm not a big Joyce reader, and I'm not that interested in his life. Having said that, it seemed like a perfectly fine book for someone who is. It just wasn't right for me. I'm returning it to the person who lent it to me but usually when I don't like a book I just unfold the dogear and put it in the donation pile. If I flung it, it might break the spine and be rejected for donation, and then what would I do?

You can participate in this challenge at GoodBooksandGoodWine.com.

15 Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day 3

I saw this meme on Magical Doorways, a new-to-me book blog written by the very cool blogger and all-around book person Helen. She's great and I love her blog, so I decided to crib this meme which originally came from GoodBooksandGoodWine.com. 

It's a 15-day series but I will do them on a now-and-then basis. 

Day 3's topic: Who are your blogging BFFs?

Sandy of You've Gotta Read This, myself and Dawn of She is Too Fond of Books

How can I answer a question like that? Book blogging has lead to so many new friendships and fun times.  The bloggers I've been reading since the beginning and haven't met in person are right up there with the bloggers who have become real-life pals whom I see often and the book folks who are professional colleagues and for-real friends. The picture above is me with fellow bloggers Sandy and Dawn on an outing a year or two ago in downtown Boston when we- get this- had lunch and went to bookstores. I know, crazy, right? That's the life of a book blogger for you.  And that's just one example of real-life adventures with my online blogging pals. I could go on and on.

What about you? Have you made IRL friends through blogging?

15 Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day 2

I saw this meme on Magical Doorways, a new-to-me book blog written by the very cool blogger and all-around book person Helen. She's great and I love her blog, so I decided to crib this meme which originally came from GoodBooksandGoodWine.com. 

It's a 15-day series but I will do them on a now-and-then basis. 

Day 2's topic: What's your bedtime reading ritual?

I keep a nonfiction book by my bedside for bedtime reading; I read one chapter a night. That's it. I don't read more than that; it's usually just enough so that I'm tired enough to sleep by the time I'm done. If the chapter is longer than 20 or so pages I'll just read until I feel like stopping but I try to end each night's reading at the end of a chapter. I don't read in bed every day so when I do I like to stop at a good stopping point so to speak.

15-Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day 1

I saw this meme on Magical Doorways, a new-to-me book blog written by the very cool blogger and all-around book person Helen. She's great and I love her blog, so I decided to crib this meme which originally came from GoodBooksandGoodWine.com. 

It's a 15-day series but I will do them on a now-and-then basis.  Here's the full list:

(1) Make 15 book related confessions

(2) What's your bedtime reading ritual?

(3) Who are your blogging BFFS?

(4) What's the last book you flung across the room?

(5) Recommend a tear-jerker.

(6) Describe how you shop for books

(7) Talk about your blogging quirks.

(8) Quick! Write 15 bullet points of things that appeal to you on blogs.

(9) Why do you blog about books?

(10) How do you choose which book to read next?

(11) Show off! 5 of your best blog posts.

(12) How do you fight blogger fatigue?

(13) Describe one underappreciated book EVERYONE should read

(14) Tell us your deal breakers.

(15) Who are your book blogging mentors?

1. I own an e-reader and hardly ever use it. I'm a print lady. Even if it means my house is overflowing with books, I can't really get into e-books. I do use my e-reader sometimes when I travel, but rarely, and basically I don't know where my e-reader is right now it's been so long since I've had any desire to use it. I tried, but... nah.
2. I'm a border-line book hoarder.  I do weed sometimes, but only so I can clear a path from my door to my furniture.
3. I use my books as coasters and tables sometimes. I have a couple of paperbacks that have been ruined by spaghetti sauce and tea. I ruined a book by spilling yogurt on it once. Ewww.
4. I dog-ear. I'm trying to be more consistent about using bookmarks but I don't always. Even though I make and sell fabric bookmarks, and make some for myself too, I still dog-ear. My husband and I have had semi-fights about my poor reading habits in this regard.
5. I'm a collector. I collect first editions of Booker Prize winners, hardcover illustrated copies of Jane Eyre and other first editions, particularly of my favorite authors Margaret Atwood and A.S.Byatt. I own nothing particularly valuable but many that are valuable to me.
6. I never had enough books growing up. I think that's why I have so many now. My parents would seldom buy me books and I relied on the library, yard sales and when I was lucky enough to have a little money, the used bookstore. Now that I review, work for a bookstore and live in a used-bookstore-rich community, I can have all the books.
7. I've collected over 100 books published by Europa Editions, between review copies and what I buy new or used. I've read about 50.
8. Crime novels have been my guilty pleasure for a long time. I read The Silence of the Lambs in high school after seeing the movie and loved it. Before I discovered classy crime novels by publishers like Melville House and Soho and Europa, I read James Patterson. I... don't do that anymore though.
9. When I was a kid and spent a lot of time in libraries, I would procrastinate so much on returning books that I had my library card revoked twice. This is part of the reason I'm a buyer and not a borrower now.
10. I can agree that sometimes people in independent bookstores can be snobs. I work really hard to treat all my customers with respect and to be thankful for them, regardless of what they ask me for or what they're buying. I can't stop myself from thinking things sometimes though!
11. Sometimes I get tired of trying to be open-minded about genre fiction and just want to read my snooty little Euro books. Sue me.
12. I prefer paperbacks to hardbacks. This is one reason I like galleys. I can have a new book and it's a softcover. If I can't get a galley of a book I want, I will usually wait for the paperback. When I buy hardbacks I almost never read them right away. Usually because of the size of my TBR piles I don't get to it till the paperback comes out anyway and then I feel like an idiot.
13. I sometimes daydream about better ways to organize my books, but seldom follow through and change anything.
14. I hate double-stacking books on the shelves but I have to do it because there is simply not enough room.
15. I used to be really fussy about arranging my books in descending order of height, but I have too many to be that particular anymore.