15 Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 12

It's day 10 of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge. Once again, thanks to April at Good Books and Good Wine for thinking up this fun challenge.

Day 12: How do you fight blogger fatigue?

This is a hard question. There are definitely times when I run out of steam with blogging. Sometimes work will be crazy or life will get in the way or I just don't have any inspiration. During those times, I find it better to just take a step back. I am not the kind of person who does well when I force myself to do things so I'd rather not force a blog post when I am not feeling it. Instead, I will allow myself to take a break and not post if I don't feel like it. I will often re-read books I love that I haven't let myself re-read because I am constantly moving on to the next new book. I'll go to a bookstore and see and pet all the new releases. Seeing books in person will often get me excited about reading again. I will also talk to some of my reading friends about what they are reading and their enthusiasm will often rub off on me.

That's what I do to fight blogger fatigue. Do you have any tips?

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15 Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 10

It's day 10 of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge. Once again, thanks to April at Good Books and Good Wine for thinking up this fun challenge.

Day 10: How do you choose which book to read next?

There's no method to my madness at all. If I don't have a book already in mind, sometimes I will browse my library stack or my many TBR piles. Sometimes I will just scroll through the to-read books in my Kindle and see what catches my eye. Sometimes I will feel like reading a certain genre and I'll choose from those books. Other times I will have no idea what I want to read and will just browse until a book jumps out at me. So there you have it - my very unscientific and random method of choosing my next read.

How do you choose what your next read will be?

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15 Book Blogger Challenge - Day 8

This is day 8 of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge hosted by Good Books and Good Wine. Thanks for stopping by!

Day 8: Quick! Write down 15 bullet points on what you like on blogs.

1. Good, modern design.
2. Light backgrounds
3. Sidebars that aren't crazy
4. Book reviews with personality
5. Book covers and high quality images
6. About me page
7. Easy to find search bar
8. Easy ways to follow
9. Posts that show some of the blogger's personality

Um, those are the only things I can really think of. Are those points too vague? I don't have super specific things I look for in blogs. I'll follow a blog if I like the blogger's writing style and I like the design of the blog. 

What kinds of things do you look for on a blog?

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15 Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 7

It's day 7 of the 14 Day Book Blogger Challenge. I can't believe I've made it this far. Yay for me. Thanks to April at Good Books and Good Wine for thinking up this challenge.

Day 7: Talk about your blogging quirks.

I don't know if I have a ton of quirks really. I usually think of myself as pretty boring/normal. However, here are a few things I can think of that may be a little quirky.

• I pretty much read what I want, when I want. Sure I make lists of what I want to read next and I try to read review books before release date but I don't force myself to stick to a strict schedule. I figure I am not doing myself or a book justice if I force myself to read it.
• I am a super slow reviewer. Peeps, I have a shelf on Goodreads of need-review books that is really long. I read pretty quickly but reviews take a lot of effort for me. Since my review pace can't keep up with my reading pace, I am often behind. I try to write reviews for books I receive for review first but sometimes I will just go by what book I feel like I have the most to say about at that moment.
• I write long reviews. I often wish I could writer shorter reviews but they just don't come out that way. I guess it just takes me a lot of words to describe how I feel about a book.
• I take notes while reading. Nothing crazy, just a few lines here and there and maybe my final impressions. But I find it's helpful since I do often write reviews at a much later date

Those are the only quirks that I can think of. What are your blogging quirks?

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15 Book Blogger Challenge - Day 6

I am having a lot of fun with this challenge. It's so interesting seeing everyone's answers. Thanks to April at Good Books and Good Wine for thinking up this challenge.

Day 6: Describe how you shop for books.

I don't know if I have a really specific shopping style for books. If I haven't come to the bookstore looking for a particular book, I'll usually just wander around to my favorite sections to see what covers catch my eye. If I am at Barnes & Noble (which I usually am since that's the closest bookstore to me) I will hit up the new releases first. Then I will meander over to Fiction and Romance before heading to Sci-Fi. Then I'll usually go to YA and see what new books have come out there.

I a huge cover whore so I will totally buy a book based on the cover. I'll check out things that my friends have recommended or that I've heard about. These days though I am trying to be very careful with the books I buy since I already have so many and funds are tight. If it's an author I love, I'll get it. But if it's something I am not sure about, I usually try to get it from the library.

Besides B&N I also hit up the local used bookstore, thrift shops and any indie bookstores when traveling. I also try to buy at least one book if I am going to a book signing to support the author and store. I don't buy physical books from Amazon too often but I do buy a lot of Kindle books.

This post was a little rambling but I hope it gave a little insight into my book shopping habits. Thanks for stopping by! :)

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15 Book Blogger Challenge - Day 5

Welcome to another day of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge. If you want to learn more about this challenge and perhaps participate, check out the post at Good Books and Good Wine for more info.

Day 5 - Recommend a tearjerker

I am not much of a crier. I don't cry at sad books or movies. My eyes were dry during The Notebook while my friends around me sniffled. I didn't even cry during the last Harry Potter book. My friends like to make fun of my stone heart. Of course I feel happy or sad when reading but I just don't cry. However, today's prompt is for a tearjerker so I chose a book that made me pretty emotional and that I think a lot of people have cried reading. 

It's The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I think a lot of people have cried at this book. It's a really beautiful and well written novel. The movie looks terrible though. Anyway, that's my recommendation for a tearjerker book.

What books do you recommend that might melt this heart of ice?

 

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15 Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 4

Welcome to another day of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge. If you want to learn more about this challenge and perhaps participate, check out the post at Good Books and Good Wine for more info.

Day 4 - What was the last book you flung across the room?

 
Most of my friends know that I am pretty easy going. I am not a super harsh critic and, as long as I am entertained for a little while, most things will get an OK from me. So it isn't very often that I want to throw a book across the room. The most recent one I can think of though is Something Red by Douglas Nicholas.

I was soooo disappointed in this book. On paper it sounded like a dark, Gothic fairy tale gone wrong. Instead it was really slow and repetitive with characters that had little personality. I swear they spent the whole book trudging through the snow. And there was one character who spoke in a strange dialect that was written out phonetically. But even trying to sound it out, I had no idea what they were saying. This was my book club pick for the month, too, and I felt really bad for making everyone read it. I even love the cover, but the insides were sadly lacking. It's unfortunate because it had potential but I think it would have made a better short story. 

I see on Goodreads that I gave this book 2 stars. I may have been feeling generous that day.  :) 

What book has left you frustrated recently?

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*image source: Good Books and Good Wine

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 3

Welcome to another day of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge. If you want to learn more about this challenge and perhaps participate, check out the post at Good Books and Good Wine for more info.

Day 3 - Who are your blogging BFFS?

I don't know if BFF (Best Friends Forever) is the right term but I definitely have some awesome blogging friends. These are all people I know in real life. Some I knew before I started blogging and some I met afterwards. This is by no means a comprehensive list of the bloggers I admire and interact with. This is just a small slice of it. 

Read Now Sleep Later is the blog that started it all for me. I first met the creator, Alethea, a few years ago through a mutual friend. She also worked at Borders at the time, which I frequented pretty much every week. We bonded over our love of books and one day she asked me if I wanted to contribute to her YA blog, Read Now Sleep Later. Until then I really had no idea that there was such a thing as book blogging. It was maybe a year after I started contributing to RNSL that I decided that I needed my own space on the web to write about my non-YA reads and thus, Nite Lite was born. We continue to co-blog on both RNSL and Nite Lite and her passion never fails to inspire me.

The Windy Pages is the home of my real life friend Kimberly. I've known Kimberly for about 8 years and we've had countless book adventures in those years. She is often my partner in crime and when we are together, shenanigans ensue. Kimberly was one of the first people I met who loves to read as much as I do. I can always count on her for a bookstore run and she was the one who introduced me to the paranormal romance genre (yay!). Besides being an awesome friend, I love her blog because she has a great voice and I really enjoy her reviews. It amazes me that can perfectly convey her feelings about a book and does it with such humor and ease.

The Reader's Antidote - I am not sure when I first met Nicole from The Reader's Antidote. The first time I introduced myself though was during an event at Once Upon A Time In Montrose. After that, I continued to see Nicole at and we just started hanging together whenever we saw each other. Nicole's blog is fantastic and I am in awe of how much content she manages to post while being a full time student. I love that she has an undying passion for Harry Potter and isn't afraid to show it.

Elegantly Bound Books - I met Crystal only about a year ago after she came to a blogger meet up that Alethea planned after a local book event. I think it was very brave of Crystal to go to the meetup without knowing anyone (I am super shy and would probably never do this). We hit it off right away and spent most of the night chatting. Since then we've hung out at lots of book events and even survived our first ALA together. I love her dry sense of humor and the fact that she like horror books, like me.

Bookyurt - I first met the Yurt at a Harry Potter event (of course) and when introduced, realized that I had seen her before. I had, literally, sat next to her at Comic Con over the years at various panels. After talking we realized that we both shared a love of sci-fi, fantasy and really bad action movies. Hers is the blog I go to for all the latest film and television trailers and news, as well as fantastic book reviews.Her writing style is really unique and original.

Sorry if I left anyone out but I was trying to keep this somewhat short. Who are your blogging buddies?

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*Image Source: Good Books and Good Wine. Blog banner images copyright their respective owners.

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 2

Hi, everyone. I decided to join the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge. I have been joining a lot of challenges lately. But I thought this looked fun and would be a good way to share a little bit about myself and learn about other book bloggers as well. If you're interesting in joining, check out the start up post at Good Books and Good Wine. The rules are pretty loose, which is nice for people like me who suck at scheduling. Let's get down to it.

Day 2 - What is your bedtime reading ritual?

I don't have any rituals per se but I do read almost every night before bed. People often ask me how I have so much time to read. While I don't have a time turner (sadly) I have made it a habit to read at least a little bit every night. My day doesn't feel complete if I haven't read a page or two, be it from a book, magazine or something else. You'd be surprised by how much reading you can get done if you do a little bit every day. Some days I get in an hour or two, other days I get only 5 minutes before I pass out. I also tend to read on the couch or in bed. For some reason, I am most comfortable reading when I am in some kind of reclining position. And if the book is good, I will definitely stay up way too late reading and suffer a book hangover the next day.

That's my bedtime reading ritual. Do you guys have any interesting bedtime reading habits? 

Thanks to April at Good Books and Good Wine for thinking up this fun challenge! :)

 

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*Image Source: Good Books and Good Wine