Utah Book Month Wrap Up Including First Line Winner and Party Pics!

Wow, it's been a month!

Last night we ended Utah Book Month with a fun Utah blogger/author party at the park. Thanks to those of you that came! We need to get more of you to be brave and join us next time! It's such a low key casual affair, I'd love for more of you to join us!

We had food, and talked a lot, and swapped some books. We came up with some fun bookish questions to ask each other in order to get to know each other's bookish business. So fun!

Let the book swap begin!

(from left to right)
Jenni Elyse from Jenni Elyse
Kami from Kami's Library Thoughts
Karena from Discovery Writer
Jessica from Books a True Story
Jessica from The Bluestocking Society

(from left to right)
John, Megan's husband (with baby)
Megan Hutchins 
Toto (my daughter)
Heather Ostler (with baby)
Shannen Camp
Kathy from Read This Instead

Fun times!

**********************

Next, I need to give a shout out to Kristen from The Book Monsters who won my First Line's Quiz mini challenge! She got every one right! Here are the answers:


1. They say a witch lives in the old house under the interstate bridge. From House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple

2. The crackle and hiss of the flames devouring our house couldn't block out the screaming and wailing of those who were still alive. From Defy by Sara B. Larson

3. The warehouse was coffin dark. From Dangerous by Shannon Hale

4. I did the unforgivable the day my mother died, and for that I've been punished every moment of my life. From The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain

5. The kidnapper looking down at Naomi held a book of poetry to his chest. From The Breakaway by Michelle Argyle

6. A woodlark sings of heartache. From Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

7. Eighteen years had passed since Kate Macauley killed her sister. From Longing for Home by Sarah Eden

8. Mrs. Anderson was dead. From I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

9. I was lying on the long grass, only distantly aware of my surroundings. From Seers by Heather Frost

10. I once believed that heroes existed only in old men's fables, that evil in the world had triumphed over good, and that love--- a true, unselfish and abiding love--- could only be found in a little girl's imagination. From The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Congratulations Kristen! I'll be sending you an email!

*************************************

And finally,  here's what I posted that had something to do with Utah Book Month during August,  just in case you missed it!

James Dashner Launch Party for Rule of Thoughts
Spotlighting the Orem Library
The Maze Runner Movie
Authors Pick Five: Michelle Argyle
Utah Books I Read This Past Year
Utah Books First Lines Quiz
The World's Strongest Librarian Comes to Book Club
Book Review: The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain
Book Review: Becoming Lady Lockwood by Jennifer Moore
Book Review: Cut Me Free by J.R. Johansson
Book Review: Longing for Home by Sarah M. Eden

Wow! What fun it's been! Now, on to the next project!

As Seen on the Salt Lake Comic Con Blog!

Here's some of the fun articles written by my fellow "official Salt Lake Comic Con bloggers" that have appeared on the Salt Lake Comic Con blog these past few weeks. One of mine finally went live this week too! And I totally missed it until this very moment! Click on over and immerse yourselves in the geekdom.


How to Make Your Own Nerdy Comic Con T-shirts by Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings

Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Marvel Universe by Tim Drake

Summer 2014 Reading Picks by Suey

Geeky Activities to do in Utah by Miss Nessa

Cosplay Etiquette 101 by Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings

A Few of My Favorite Bookish Links....

.... or Stuff I Found Interesting This Week!

The Hunger Games Trailer... very good stuff here. So excited for this movie. My guess is, you've probably watched it a gazillion times by now, but if you haven't, it's time to click on over and watch NOW. From this first impression feel, the casting seems pretty good...except for Peeta, but I'm willing to give him chance. Just not how I pictured him, you know?!

Markus Zusak lists his Top Ten favorite book characters... included on the list.... Mr. Collins from P and P (wait, WHAT?) and Sam-I-Am. Click on over to see who else is on there. One thing is sure, I've added Gilbert Grape to my want-to-read mental list... again.

Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath, worries that while her blog is funny, her book is not. Really, it's okay. I say you CAN write a funny blog AND a heart wrenching book. Yes, you can.

Neal Shusterman writes a beautiful blog post about his mom.... beware, you may weep just a bit.

The Story Siren, blogger extraordinaire, reminds us what NOT to do on our blogs. Great reminder here. I hope I'm in compliance.

John Green, once again, makes a video that makes me smile. In this one he lists his five favorite zombie apocalypses. Did I tell you? I just don't get zombies, but he makes me want to. Sort of. Maybe.

Josh sings "Smile" as a tribute to all those Regis has interviewed in his career, that have passed on. Goosebumps and maybe even a tear or two...... oh wait, did I say bookish links? Oops!

There's probably more, but I can't remember them, so this is it for now.

What did YOU find interesting this week? (Bookish or not.)

BBAW 2011: Brilliant Bloggers!

It's time for another crazy week of appreciating book bloggers! I look forward to the blog hopping and post writing and overall back patting we'll all be doing this week. What a blast.

Today's topic is: You are encouraged to highlight a couple of bloggers that have made book blogging a unique experience for you. 


I always find this to be so hard! There's so many, and I hate to leave people out and yet there's no way to include everyone, but I will try to make a list of those bloggers who really shine for me. I think a way to do this is to have categories, and make a list. You know I love lists! (And I will ignore that little part that says "a couple." )

Bloggers That I Really Admire and Look Up To: Last week I posted about Dewey and her rock star status in the book blogging world. I feel like these guys here are next up for that role because of their impact on this blogging community. There's so many more I could list here, but these are some of the ones that feel a more personal connection to.

Florinda at The 3 R's Blog
Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
Michelle at That's What She Read
The1st  Daughter at There's a Book
Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings
Becky at Becky's Book Reviews
Angie at Angieville
Heather at A Lifetime of Books

Bloggers Who Comment: While there are many more of you that comment, these seem to be the ones who have been consistent in recent weeks. Without them, blogging wouldn't be near as much fun, so thanks for the comments guys! You keep  me going! And sorry I've been so crappy with commenting myself lately!

Jenny at Alternate Readality
Kailana at The Written World
Donna at Weaving a Tale or Two
Stephanie at Reviews by Lola
L at omphaloskepsis
Shelley at Book Clutter
Inside A Book at Inside a Book
Melissa at The Avid Reader's Musings
Jenni at Jenni Elyse

Bloggers Who Have Become Real Life Friends: Bloggers I've been lucky enough to meet in real life (except one as you can see) and become friends outside the blogging world.

Melissa at One Librarian's Book Reviews
Jessica at The Bluestocking Society
Kim at Good Clean Reads
Natasha at Maw Books
Becky at One Literature Nut
Emily at Emily's Reading Room
Deanna at Polishing  Mud Balls (even though I have yet to meet her in real life)


Bloggers Who Have Been There Since the Beginning: These are just some of the book bloggers that seem to have been consistently around since I started, and the ones I consider my first blogging friends.

Raidergirl3 at An Adventure in Reading
Susan at Bloggin' 'bout Books
Chris at Book-a-rama
Melissa at Book Nut
Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit
SuziQOregon at Whimpulsive
Lisa at Books. Lists. Life

Thank you to all of you for making my blogging experience fun! I wish I could list you all and hopefully I didn't make anyone sad for leaving you off this list. I love you all. My Reader shows it, and I whenever I sit down to weed things out, I can never "get rid of" anyone. Also, like I said above, I feel like I've been really bad at the commenting thing myself lately, so please know I'm reading, but kinda quiet with the comments. I will try to do better to let you know I'm here and enjoying what you are all posting.

Thanks again all you crazy cool bloggers! Happy BBAW!

I'm on Scene of the Blog!

Today, for my blog post I'm going to send you to two OTHER places. First, I am very honored to be featured on the highly esteemed Scene of the Blog over at Kittling: Books! So exciting! Though, I must say, the scene of my blog is really NOT very exciting, but go check it out anyway! And comment and ask me questions, because I'm going to be hanging out there all week long!

Second of all, I'm happy to announce that my friend Jenny, the one I talked about here, and took with me there, among many other places, has finally decided to start her own book blog! Her first post is up and you really should go read it and add her to your blog lists. You'll love what she has to say about the books she reads.

Righto then, get clicking on over to those other places!

BBAW: First Treasure (Newly Discovered Blogs)

The minds in charge of Book Blogger Appreciation Week have come up with a wonderful theme for the week: A Treasure Chest of Infinite Books and Infinite Blogs! Each day we are to post about a treasure with regarding to reading and blogging.

Today's suggestion is to talk about a first treasure, or in other words a newly discovered book blog! Ah, where to start! I'm assuming this means a "new to us" book blog and not necessarily "new" book blog... but perhaps I'll just go ahead and mention both!

A "new to me" blog that I've really connected with recently is Ibeeeg (Deanna) from Polishing Mud Balls. (How's that for a fun name! She explains it on her sidebar.) We discovered each other because of our mutual personal quest to read The Eye of the World series by Robert Jordan. It's quite the undertaking and we need to cheer each other on! She makes wonderful awesome comments and we've had some pretty fun comment discussions about the characters  in those books.

Then we realized we were both reading the Queen's Thief series also! Not only that, but we realized we both have a Muse obsession and lots of other similar music and book tastes. Don't you love it when that happens?

Other things about Deanna is that she is doing a Bible reading challenge which I find very brave, and she is a mom of a big and busy family, something I can quite relate to. But most especially I love that she has one of those very conversational blogs, you know, the ones where it feels like you are right there with her, just talking as friends. I'm so happy to have found her and her blog this past year!

Other blogs I must mention as favorite "new" and "new to me" blogs since last year:

Leah from Amused by Books
Jan at Eating Y.A. Books
Danielle from There's a Book
Tif from Tif Talks Books
Kika from The Book Bluff
Jenni from Jenni Elyse
Debbie from Cranberry Fries

And that's just a few of the favorites I've discovered this year! And I'm sure it won't be the last!

What blogs have you discovered this year?

Blog Hop Discoveries

After hopping around last week, here's a few that especially jumped out at me. Guys, I'm keeping my eyes on you!!

Teresa's Reading Corner
She Is Too Fond of Books
Page Turners
Book Addict's Book Reviews
Kinna Reads
The Wormhole
Bibliophiliac

What new blogs have you discovered recently?

Third Blogiversary Celebration! (AND a Reader Survey)

It's time for some looking back I suppose, now that I've been doing this blog thing for three years. Yes, it was three years ago that I put up my first little timid welcome post (which I have since added to and enhanced a bit because it's now my "about me" page.) Last year I remembered back on the first two years of blogging. Now this year, oh my, what blogging changes have happened for me! Here's a few:

• all the fun stat numbers are growing in the right directions, slowly but surely!
• just in the last year, I've finally started getting ARCs and review copies
• I started my own features and challenges, stuff I was too nervous to do earlier
• I finally participated in a readathon and a bloggiesta
• I did more giveaways than ever before (still not a ton, but I'm good with that)
• I revamped my whole blog look from what it was last year
• I've participated in some fun blogger/author/bookish get-togethers
• I've participated in many more blog tours, some even "on my own."

Some of my favorite posts from the past year:

True or False: 90% of Everything is Crap!

Lurkers... Delurk! Please?

Remembering the Past Decade

Book Blogging Explained

Pondering Present Tense

BBAW Reading Meme

Summer Utah Book Blogger Bash

Reading: Luxury or Necessity?

A Comment or Two on Comments

Book Club: Report on The Kite Runner Discussion

My Guest Post on Josh, over at A Written World

And now, as part of my blogiversary celebration, and because I had so much fun doing a poll back during the bloggiesta about what you like and don't like in a review, I thought I'd do another one about what you like and don't like about my blog... and also for you tell tell me a little more about yourselves, so I get a better idea of who's actually here and reading! So, please have fun with it and fill it out and let me know what you think!

Lists Needed For Book Club Suggestions

It's a fact, I love making lists. Peter does too. He's the guy that started a book list site called Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations, where you can find lists of lists of lists... of books! Anyway, so he is asking for bloggers (or anyone) to help come up with more fun creative lists for book club suggestions.

Here's what he says:

Open Call for Lists of Book Club Recommendations!

Hello and happy new year from Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations -- where you can find books so good, they'll keep you up past your bedtime. ;-)

It seems the book club community has recently discovered my book club recommendations. From the feedback, not only are the list very much enjoyed, but people are clamoring for more.

That's where you come in. While I've read plenty of books, I'm looking to book club members to contribute new lists -- themed, annotated lists of highly discussable books.

Can you name and describe 5+ flashlight worthy, discussable books that follow a theme? Maybe '7 Great Books that Revolve Around Food'? Or '6 Women's Memoirs That Will Start an Argument'. How About '5 Discussable Novels Set in Africa'?

Take a look at the lists I have and give it some thought. If you're interested, email me at Info AT flashlightworthy DOT com. Thanks so much and have a great new year!

Peter
(The guy who runs Flashlight Worthy)
http://www.FlashlightWorthyBooks.com
Recommending books so good, they'll keep you up past your bedtime. ;)

So what do you think? Have any great ideas? What sort of books have got YOUR book club talking? Send him an email, or comment here, and I'll send him one! :)

Favorite Past Posts

For the Blog Improvement Project this week, the task is to create a page with some of our favorite posts highlighted then add the link to our page. So here's my list:

Favorite Reviews

Farworld by J. Scott Savage
The Hunt for Dark Infinity by James Dashner
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Most Commented On

Reading: Luxury or Necessity?
A Comment or Two on Comments
Weekly Geeks: Judge a Book by Its Cover
Decorating the Tree

Favorite Personal Posts

A Few of My Favorite Things
A Personal Meme
Ramblin' Friday Thoughts
A Look Back: Two Year Blogiversary

Miscellaneous Favorites

Weekly Geeks: Author Pictures
Weekly Geeks: Author Fun Facts (Markus Zusak and John Green)
Review: The American Idol Concert
Seven Song Music Meme

A Look Back on Two Years of Blogging... and a Giveaway!

It's been two years since I started this blog!

It took me a long time to actually hit the button to start it because the whole idea made me a little nervous. But I knew I would have fun letting my book enthusiasm run free. And I really needed an outlet for that, so I went for it. And wow! I was soon getting comments and finding tons of other book bloggers out there! Something I totally didn't expect. It was all very exciting.

Now it's two years and 560 posts later! Here's a quick look back over the past couple of years:

Posts with the most hits:

My review of Deep and Dark and Dangerous. I'm guessing tons of kids are coming to get ideas for a book report. Other reviews on books I promoted for the book fair come in at a close second.

A Couple of Twilight Previews: Not sure why people find my blog for this, since these reviews were posted everywhere!

The first vote for the Bookword Game. The enthusiasm was high for the first vote! I'm needing WAY more votes for the current round!

Dewey, we'll miss you. I happened to catch this news just shortly after it was posted on Dewey's site, then quickly posted my reaction. It seemed I had a lot of hits that sad day.

What is Jason reading? The was first time I posted Jason's name in my title! It works to get lots of hits... but only one comment!

A couple of my favorite posts:

Literary Couples : Inspired by a contest hosted by Literary Feline.

Guess the Author Pictures : A Weekly Geek post.

Blog Advent Tour: Decorating the Tree : This past year's advent tour contribution.


My first commenter two years ago: Lisa at Books. Lists. Life.

My most recent commenter: Boy Mom at Boys-R-Us

By the Numbers:

120 reviews

47 Weekly Geek experiences

81 Booking Through Thursday questions answered

ONLY 5 posts labeled Josh Groban! (Did I miss labeling a few? )

2 Blogger Christmas exchanges and Blogger Advent Tours participated in

Only 3 blog tours.

31 Sunday Salons

17 Teaser Tuesdays

23 random memes completed (at least those properly labeled!)

Okay. I guess I could go on and on looking back. So I'll stop now.

Anyway, it's been a fun two years. I hope to keep it up for a long time to come (even though it often gets discouraging!) Thank you to all of you who have connected, commented, followed, friended, or whatever the word of the day is, with me! You are all wonderful! :)

And to celebrate lasting two years, I'd like to give away a ten dollar Amazon gift certificate to one of my readers! But I'm going to ask for a little blogging critique from you all. So, to enter, please comment on this post with an answer to these questions (and an email address):

What do you most look forward to when visiting my blog? (Or what am I doing right?)

What should I add, change, fix, delete from my blog? (Or what am I doing wrong?)

I'll pick a random winner next Sunday.

Thanks!

Booking Through Thursday: Authors Talking

Suggested by Barbara H.:
A comment on someone else’s BTT question this week inspired this question:
Do you read any author’s blogs? If so, are you looking for information on their next project? On the author personally? Something else?

I read many many author blogs. Too many. I can't keep up. And I'm always adding to the list. It's the same old story. Too many blogs, not enough time.

I read them mostly to learn about them personally. And to follow them through the steps of publication, if they share, which mostly they do. It's very fun to feel like you are a part of the whole process and to cheer for them and celebrate with them as things happen, even if they never even know you exist.

Some of my favorite ones are:

John Green

James Dashner

Shannon Hale

Janette Rallison

J. Scott Savage

Neil Gaiman

Sarah Dessen

Mette Ivie Harrison

Sara Zarr

Brandon Sanderson

Laurie Halse Anderson

Some others I read now and then:

Meg Cabot

Judy Blume

Scott Westerfield

Linda Sue Park

Libba Bray

Mary Pearson

Rick Riordan

Robin McKinley

And I wish, oh I wish, that Markus Zusak would start blogging! Does anyone know if he does and maybe I'm just unlucky in my search? The only thing I've found is this, but nothing that points to an actual blog.

Anyway, there's many more that I've stumbled upon but haven't stuck with for very long. Let me know if I'm missing an amazing one that I should be reading! And let me know if you click on one of these that I've shared and what you think of it.

BBAW: Links to Me

Today's "assignment" for BBAW is to talk up our own blog! So I've been having fun finding some of my favorite posts:

Favorite List Post: I really enjoyed thinking up this Favorite Authors List



Favorite Review Post: The Last Lecture



Longest Post: Farworld Blog Tour

Shortest Post: Yet Another Twilight Trailer

Post with the most hits (though only one comment!): What is Jason Castro Reading?

Post with the most comments (21.. I know it's a drop in the bucket for most of you!): Movie Quote Meme

A couple of posts just about me: Eight Things About Me, Interesting or Not, A Few of my Favorite Things

Posts No One Likes (Except Me): Anything to do with Josh Groban

A Musical Post: Seven Songs Music Meme



A Random Favorite Post: Weekly Geek Author Picture Game


Ah, the memories!

Weekly Geeks #1: Discover New Blogs Week

Okay. So, I'm doing the Weekly Geeks thing over at Dewey's. Many of you have already heard about it, or doing it, so I won't go into ALL the details. But basically, it's all about making new blog friends, participating in a different theme every week... and lots of fun bookish stuff. HERE's the details. Go do it!

The first assignment we had is to visit five "new to me" blogs from the list of participants. There were lots on there that I'm familiar with, but lots of "new" ones too. Here's my five new ones that I discovered that look like lots of fun to me:


Reader Rabbit: A site by two teen sisters, reviewing teen/YA books. And as we all know, I seem to be way into those kind of books these days! Cool.

Page After Page: I can see that Kim is very much into challenges, which makes my head spin. And we have lots in common: quilting, kids, Michael Buble, and.... books of course!

This Readhead Reads: Misa is brand new to blogging, but still, she's listed some of my favorites (The Giver, and A Wrinkle in Time) as some of her favorites, so my guess is we can become quick book bloggin' buddies.

A High and Hidden Place: Heather seems like a lot of fun. One thing I know for sure, she takes amazingly cute pictures of her kids! Oh, and she appears to be excited about the upcoming Twilight movie, just like me!

Passion for the Page: Looks like Kristi's been blogging for awhile and has a gazillion challenges going and lots and lots of stuff happening at her blog. Looks like fun!

Going to add them all to the Google Reader, even though I can't keep up as it is.....

Book Bloggin' Buddies List

So I've started another side bar of links to book blogs that I'm slowly discovering. If you see yourself added to my list and would rather NOT be... please let me know and I'll take you off! If you aren't there and you'd like to be, please let me know and I'll add you in! I'll just be slowly adding to it as I find people!

Thanks for the bloggin' fun so far!