Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday #1

Yay, I believe this is my first blog hop and follow friday for the year. I will most likely do this every other week until graduation when I can switch to doing it every week. Can you believe I have only 4 weeks left!? I feel like I'm going to faint. At any rate, on to the blog hop and follow friday questions!

What are you reading now and why are your reading it? 

I am currently reading What You Have Left by Will Allison because my thesis advisor recommended it. I find myself not being able to tear myself away from it, even though I have to sleep and hopefully go to work tomorrow. I'm finding myself working this book around my schedule, figuring if I can finish the book now, I can go to sleep after work before my meeting at 3. It's very rare that a book can do that for me, especially this type of book which is more literary than action. I find myself invested with thses characters and I'm curious to see where it goes. I'm also going to start reading Bhangra Babes by Narinder Dhami, and possibly start listening to Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld at some point. We'll see.

What is the book you are currently 'pushing'?

I'm always pushing people towards The Hunger Games, but it usually depends on the people who ask me for book recommendations. For contemporary reads, I typically recommend John Green, Maureen Johnson, and most recently Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. For darker edgier reads, I'd recommend Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chobsky, and the Hate List and anything by Ellen Hopkins. For PoC, I definitely recommend The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Heidi Durrow and Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Highwire Moon by Susan Straight. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a fantasy, YA or Adult, that has completely wowed me recently, so I can't really push anything moreso than say I didn't enjoy it, but maybe you will.books in this category include Graceling and if people haven't read it yet, The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce (which wowed me at the time I read it)

Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday #6

Hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-books.com

In honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, let's take time this week to honor our favorite book bloggers and why we love them!

The book blogs I like are:

Reading In Color. I really like this book because it highlights the books with people of color and multicultural fiction for Young Adults. It's really interesting to read the books that never get highlighted or get passed over because they feature main characters of color.

Iggi&Gabi. I stumbled along this find through Merrilee's Creativity Workshop posts and she has a Do It Yourself MFA which is awesome. I've been reading along, but I've been failing at posting my results. It's a good series of posts though which is great. I don't think I'd qualify this as a "book blog" but it's one of the blogs I get excited to read and read immediately.

Steph Su Reads: I like this blog because it has comprehensive reviews. She seems to have the same taste in reading that I do, which is awesome because I can determine whether I like a book or not based on her recommendation which is 9/10 pretty spot on.

Hosted by Parajunkee.com

This week's featured follower is Bailey @IB Book Blogging.  So go follow her and read her reviews. They're awesome and she's awesome. This week's question: favorite YA or do you stick to adult reads? I typically read anything if it's interesting and well written. I typically read a lot of YA now because the books seemed to have the immediacy that I'm looking for. And the fact that I can relate more to a 17 year old high school student more than I can to a 40 year adult. I wish they'd have more books about college students and/or people my age(nearly 22).

Week in Review: 

Life: 
Oi. I didn't do much of anything. I really wanted to, but I started watching True Blood with my roommates and it's been incredibly entertaining. I really wish I had HBO so I can keep up with the season. We're on Episode 8 on Season 1 and we have to catch up to Season 3. I have to know what's going to happen. School starts next Thursday, so I have to have some posts written before school gets too hectic. I'm taking 4 creative writing classes and I suspect it'll be fun, but incredibly hectic. (which reminds me I need to get a jump start on the class readings.)

On my Blog:
Blog fest kicked my butt so hard. I keep forgetting how much work goes into hosting a giveaway. Congrats to the winners (your prizes are on the way) and thanks to all the new followers, I hope you find this blog enjoyable.

All I had was Teaser Thursday, which is incredibly sad because I didn't do anything productive this week.

No book reviews. I've been trying to read through The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting, but it's really hard. It's not that it's a bad book, but it seems to have lost its focus. Is it about a crush or a chase for a serial killer?  The point of view feels too distancing for me, I never feel like I'm experiencing the book, just reading it. I will finish it though, just for the sake of finishing, I already have a feeling I know how it's going to end, but I'm hoping to be surprised.

Post of the week: 

Iggi & Gabi talk about plot through the DIYMFA series and it really breaks down the plot to the smallest units. (I wasn't planning on doing this feature, but I thought this post was so helpful, I just had to share. I'll have a bigger list next Friday).

Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday #5

Jennifer at Crazy for Books hosts the Book Blog Hop.
This week's question(it's not a question but it's a cool concept): 

Post a link to a favorite post or book review that you have written in the past three months.

I think my most favorite recent post is this week's (late) Teaser Tuesday. It's been a while since I've shared my writing online and I forgot how fun it is to be a part of web fiction writing. I have no idea when this story will be finished, but I'm hoping it'll be soon. It's fun little romp and it's pushing me outside my comfort zone. I hope you enjoy the little teaser, it'll be cool to get your feedback on it (don't worry if it's positive or negative, I have a tough skin).

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee.

This week's featured Friday Follow is http://readingangel002.blogspot.com so check it out. 

 This week's question: eBook or Print?
 I like both to be honest. Having an ebook allows me to read and switch to do things on the computer. I prefer print though because it totally engrosses me and I can sit for hours with my head in a book. I don't see print books going away any time soon.

I'm having another blog giveaway in honor of Blogfest 2010? What's up for grabs? Two $20 dollar Amazon Gift Cards! So if you want a chance to win... click here and enter! 

Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday #4

Jennifer at Crazy for Books hosts the Book Blog Hop.
This week's question:  
Do you judge a book by its cover?

Yes I do. It's usually when I'm browsing without any specific book in mind. I used to do it a lot when I was younger, but now I go in with specific titles and/or authors in mind. Sometimes I'll browse and pick up a book based on the cover. It usually has to do something with the colors, what's featured on the cover, the blurb, and the first paragraph. I tend to be drawn to books that look unique. 

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee! This weeks featured follower is http://candacesreadingblog.blogspot.com.

This week's question:

What is your favorite brick and mortar bookstore?

It really depends where I am. I definitely like my local library because it has three floors and books that I never thought I'd see there. It always has the latest releases too. I haven't been there in a while and I have a million books that I need to read and fines that I need to pay. If I want to buy a book and I'm near my college, I go to the local Border's, either the one in my town or the one in the next city over. If I'm back at home, there's only one bookstore there, and that's Barnes and Noble. I'm not really a fan because you have to buy a membership to get rewards where at Border's you don't have to.

August in Review: 

The only books I read this month were Mockingjay and the Scott Pilgrim series. I was extremely busy with summer school and with moving out and didn't really have the time to read more. I'm currently half way through Iron King by Julie Kagawa and Harlem Summer by Walter Dean Myers. I hope to be finished with those by the end of the weekend (it's the first time that I've read two books simultaneously). 

I held my first blog giveaway and I saw that it was a rousing success. I'm currently not working and have depleted my funds paying bills that I can't really host another giveaway until Blog Fest. I really don't know what to giveaway, but you can believe me, it'll be awesome. 

I accomplished two goals on the 101 in 1001 list and that was Have a Blog Giveaway and Take a Make up Artistry class. There are a few more on the list that I want to accomplish, I'll be posting a blog when I accomplish them. 

The Psychology of Character posts have started with Openness and Conscientiousness.  Coming up next are Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. That concludes the Big Five portion. 

 

What's Happenin' in September:

Continuing to work on Sex, Drugs, and Steampunk. I'm debating whether this has market appeal or is just something I want to post online. I'm thinking that I'll post it online first and see where it goes from there. I'll be posting the loosely edited excerpts online for Teaser Tuesdays, starting next week. I hope you enjoy reading them.


The Do It Yourself MFA program has already started and so far it seems awesome. I recommend that you join or at least follow along. I posted my goals for the DIY MFA. 

What's going on for you this month?

Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday #4

The blog hop is hosted by Jennifer by Crazy-for-Books.com. It's a fun way to discover to new blogs and make new online friends. This week's question:

Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

No, I don't use a rating system. Why not? Because I tend to like everything I read, so it would nearly always be a 4 or a 5. I typically just like to keep my reviews limited to just my opinions on a book. I'm not really good at rating things. I will rate them on goodreads, but it's really weird for me to put a number value on my opinion of a book. If there's a book I don't like, I'll just say I don't like it, but I don't really need a rating to say that.



Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee!



This week's featured follower is Book Ge3k. She loves to watch anime and loves all things Japanese. Awesome, so do I! She just started her blog in July, so give her some love.



Oh yeah, there was a question for this one. What is the first book that I remember reading? The one I remember most vividly was "Are You My Mother?" about this little bird that got lost and is looking for it's mother. I had my mom read that to me every night. I also remember a lot of Sesame St. books, especially Cars, Trains, and Airplanes or something to that effect. I still have most of these books. I hope they'll still be relevant when I have children (I keep pushing the number of years back every time I have to go to work).

Blog Hop/Follow Friday #3

This week's question: How many blogs do you follow?

Surprisingly, I don't follow as many blogs as I thought. I follow 190, varying from webcomics, webfiction, industry blogs, race and ethnicity blogs, author blogs, book blogs and personal blogs. I'm always looking to follow more, because people's lives and opinions are interesting to me. (even if we don't share the same views.

This week's featured follower is

http://edgyinspirational.blogspot.com/

She blogs about Edgy Christian Romance. Sounds interesting to me.

Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday #2

The Blog Hop is hosted by Jennifer at CrazyforBooks.com.



How many books do you have on your 'to be read shelf’?
Way too many. I have stopped counting at maybe 250, too lazy to go and count but I know the list is massive. I have books that I want to read that I haven't put on my list. I just tend to keep book titles or authors in mind for the next time I go to the library.  



 

Follow Firday is hosted by Parajunkee and this week's featured follower is: - http://nymfaux.blogspot.com/ so go check out her awesome blog.

Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday #1

Book Blog Hop: Do you listen to music when you read? If so, what are your favorite reading tunes? I always listen to music when I read. I tend to listen to instrumentals by Joe Hisaishi, Yoko Kanno, and Hans Zimmer. I love listening to movie soundtracks and since I've been using my new netbook, I haven't downloaded anything. Most of my music comes from whatever shows up on the Pandora playlist. Sometimes I'll just have the TV on mute or on a food infomercial(I know weird, right) just to have noise in the background.