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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

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My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
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- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
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- Idaho (2)
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- Washington, D.C.*

International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
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My Progress:


12 / 51 states. 24% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 50 words. 20% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


15 / 50 books. 30% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

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32 / 50 books. 64% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

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27 / 52 books. 52% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 40 books. 53% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


13 / 40 books. 33% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

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5 / 25 books. 20% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


17 / 26.2 miles. 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


15 / 100 books. 15% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 104 books. 33% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


31 / 52 books. 60% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Wednesday, December 11, 2013

These Are a Few of My Favorite (Bookish) Things—Part One

Sorry for the radio silence here at BBB.  That's what holiday busy-ness, plus a 4-day trip to the (freezing cold) Midwest, and now a nasty cold will do to a blogger!  Thanks to the *lovely* weather (actually, it was lovely—it's been a while since I've seen falling snow), I spent even more time in airports and on airplanes than I thought I would, which means I got more read than I thought I would.  Which also means that I am even more behind on reviews than I was before I left town.  Ack!  I'm not sure I'll ever catch up.

Since I'm already procrastinating on the reviews, I thought I'd give you a little something different today.  I've never understood why "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music is played so much at Christmastime (something to do with the "brown paper packages tied up with string," I assume), but the title works well for this post.  I've been meaning to tell you about several of these items for a while now, so I'm just going to combine them all into two posts of bookish awesomeness.  Sound good?  Well, alright then, here we go:

1.  Not long ago, I entered a giveaway over at Mommy's Reading Break and won this cute little block stacker.  Isn't it adorable?  I had my choice of stackers, but this one seemed most appropriate.  It sits on my desk, making me smile every time I look at it.


Heather sells all kinds of stackers in her Etsy store, Rutherford Wood Designs.  She's got Christmas themes, sports themes, family themes, etc.  The stackers are very affordable, running between $8 and $14.  They'd make great Christmas gifts, so be sure to check out the store.

2.  Have you all heard about SwoonReads?  It's a new website run by Macmillan that allows authors of YA romances to publish their manuscripts online and lets readers browse titles and leave their feedback about the books.  Those entries that get the best response will be considered by Macmillan for publication.  Cool, right?  I'm going to let Stephanie Moore, an author from Utah whose book, A Flutter of Butterfly Wings, is up on the site right now tell you a little more about this very cool program:

Hello my fellow bookies! I’m Stephanie and am excited to be visiting here today.  A little about myself, I’m a SAHM with four awesome kids, three boys and a baby girl. I love reading and often find myself in the YA section. Aren’t some of the best stories those where characters are coming of age, figuring out who they want to be and finding their first love?                                                                                                                                    
My other passion is writing, which is what brings me here today. As I was finishing edits on a YA manuscript, I ran across an article talking about a new imprint from Macmillan Books, Swoon Reads. What caught my attention is that it utilizes crowdsourcing to find manuscripts to publish. So writers upload their finished works and readers come and read, rate and comment on them. The highly ranked manuscripts will get read by the editorial staff and could be chosen for publication. It’s the American Idol of the YA publishing world.                                                                                                                                                                                                 As a writer, I am so excited for this because it breaks down so many barriers that lay in front of an unpublished author. In a conversation I had with Jean Feiwel, the Publisher of Swoon Reads, she said she wanted to tear down the barriers so deserving manuscripts can more easily be found and it gives them a better pulse on what readers want to read.                                                                                                                                Have you ever wanted a say in what books get published? Now’s your chance! It was recently announced the first book selection will be made in February so head over there and let your voice be heard before February 1st. After an easy sign up (literally only 5 spaces to fill out) you can read as many manuscripts as you want, absolutely for free.                                                                                                                                                  Yay for free good reads! So come take a look, let your voice be heard, for good and bad, and help an unpublished author realized his/her dream. Like yours truly, my manuscript, A Flutter of Butterfly Wings, is up there right now. (http://www.swoonreads.com/m/a-flutter-of-butterfly-wings)                                                                                                                        To sign up and start reading today, go to: http://www.swoonreads.com/sign-up.                                                                                                                                                                 Thanks for having me, Susan, and for creating such a great blog that brings all of us bookaholics together. 
 Cool, right?

3.  Remember back in the summer when I was bragging telling you all about my new bookshelves?  Remember how I promised to post a picture and then didn't?  Yeah.  Better late than never, right?


Obviously, this isn't the best picture, but trust me, my bookshelf is a beaut!  It's 9 feet high and 12 feet wide.  It holds lots of review books as well as others from my personal library.  I'm not going to tell you what percentage of the books on the shelf are review books because that would just be embarrassing!  And, yes, I'm well aware of the irony of displaying a sign (it's on the top, center shelf) that says "Simplify" on a bookshelf that holds 1000 books or more.  Yeah.

So, what bookish things are you loving lately?  
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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
End of Story by A.J. Finn

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
My Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows



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