Book Haul: September 2017

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Book Haul Sept 2017

Book Outlet has struck again! This month I ordered a nice book haul from my favorite bargain online store. These are all books I have had my eye on for a while, mainly in the form of my wish list of books in my Book Outlet profile. After I finished reading A Darker Shade of Magic, I pulled the trigger on a batch of books so I could have the next in the Darker Magic trilogy, A Gathering of Magic. There is no point in buying books from this site unless you hit the $35 minimum threshold for free shipping, and $35 gets you pretty far here. Here is a look at the 6 books I picked up for $35. Continue reading →

Blogger Recognition Award

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I am so excited that the lovely ladies of 5171 Miles Book Blog nominated me for the Blogger Recognition Award! Thanks, ladies!! I don’t normally do these types of posts, but this one really piqued my interest.

The Rules

  1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  2. Write a post to show your award.
  3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  4. Give two pieces of advice for new bloggers.
  5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
  6. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.

How I Started My Blog

For my 30th birthday, one of my sisters gifted me a session with a Bibliotherapist from The School of Life. I had a lovely conversation with a woman via Skype, and she made some book recommendations as well as some reading approaches to help me take my reading to the next level. During this conversation, she suggested that I begin keeping a log of the books I read. I immediately went out and bought a notebook and started my log. Once I started writing down my thoughts in a notebook, anytime one of my sisters, mom, or friends asked for a book recommendation, I started referring back to my book journal. Eventually it dawned on me that it might be nice to have a version of my book journal available for my friends and family (who live all over the country) to reference themselves. Thus, I began Read It, Recommend it. I originally only wrote about books I recommended, but have since expanded it to include book reviews. I have been on this blog for nearly a year and love being part of the book blogging community!

Advice for New Bloggers

Gosh, I’m not sure that I’m in a position to give advice as I still think I am a new blogger, but here are a few thoughts. Make sure you write a blog with content you love and are proud of producing. I didn’t start this blog to gain followers, I started this blog to archive my book journey and share with those I love. If you write with this philosophy, I think you will think of blogging as less of a chore and more of a hobby that makes you happy. The second piece of advice, which I think most bloggers would give, is to become a blog fan yourself. Engage with other bloggers and see the interesting work so many are doing. They will inspire you and teach you new things. Which leads me to nominating 15 blogs that I love and think deserve this Blogger Nomination Award….

Blogger Nominations

This is a list of 15 blogs that I think are doing great work. If you have been nominated for this already or awards/tags aren’t your thing–no problem–just know that I give you two thumbs up and would encourage others to check out your blogs.

  1. Thrice Read
  2. Lost In A Story
  3. Falling Down the Book Hole
  4. The Cosy Reader
  5. Mug and Nook
  6. The Book Satchel
  7. Weaving Life
  8. Rimpy Reads
  9. Page Brekker
  10. A Book. A Thought.
  11. The Book Lagoon
  12. Layla Between the Lines
  13. In Love & Words
  14. To Live a Thousand Lives
  15. The Books Are Everywhere

List: 10 Books Underrated by Goodreads

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List_goodreads

When I hear about a new book or am trying to decide which book to read next, without fail I head to Goodreads and check out the ratings and the reviews. My book choices live and die by the Goodreads rating. I have a hard time getting motivated to read a book that has a Goodreads rating below 3.80 and my preference is for them to hover near 4.00. I have come to rely on this method because I found it to be a great predictor of my level of enjoyment of a book. History has shown me that I usually like a book as well as the Goodreads rating or a little less. Occasionally, however, a book surprises me and I actually like the book more than the Goodreads rating. These are like finding hidden gems. Like a little secret that only I was privy to know. Well I am sharing the secret today about 10 books that I believe are vastly underrated by Goodreads and could be your next hidden gem book find: Continue reading →

TBR: September 2017

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TBR September 17

Like last month, my TBR is mainly determined by the books that I have checked out from the library. It seems to me that when it rains it pours with library book availability. I can go a whole month without having any of the books I have on hold coming up for me, but then BAM! All of a sudden all of them are available and I find myself stressed out by the amount of checked out books I have to read. I needed to prioritize by what is renewable and what isn’t. Here is what I have come up with as my TBR for September:

Newly Added TBR Pick(s) (< 1 year):

  • A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: A fantasy that takes place in parallel Londons that is highly buzzed about, and my current read. So far I am enjoying it. Hoping it lives up to the hype! Date Added: July 27, 2017
  • The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness: Another fantasy story that starts the Chaos Walking series, it follows a male protagonist as he tries to hide or possibly run from (?) a secret in a town where everyone can hear your thoughts. I recently just bought this for my nephew and am super excited to read this for myself. Date Added: July 11, 2017

Long Ago Added TBR Pick(s) (> 1 year):

  • Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer: This is a contemporary chick-lit novel that follows Queenie as she heads home to her small town after losing her job…a concept I am a sucker for in stories and movies. I am hoping this will just be a breezy delight. Date Added: October 17, 2015

August 2017 Wrap Up

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August 17 Wrap

August is a great transition month for me. It is the end of summer, but it is also the beginning of the school year. I work at a University and my husband works in a primary school, so our lives and schedules revolve around the academic calendar. It has been great getting back into the swing of the ordinary day during the school year. I love reconnecting with students who have been away for the summer and sharing with them the optimism of a fresh school year with nothing but hope and plans. Also, there was an eclipse this month! I normally don’t buy into things like this, thinking they are just that…something to buy into, but the eclipse was real deal amazing. I live in an area that had only 80% totality, but even still, putting on those dorky eclipse glasses and seeing the sun in that special, crescent way was pretty mind-blowing. Really makes you realize how amazing life is. Looking forward to April 8, 2024, the next total eclipse, which should be really good in my area. Anyway, here is a list of the books I read during this month. As you can see I had my ups and downs with this lot of books (my take on each book linked):