TBIF: Thank book/blog it’s Friday! This week in books, etc.

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

Currently Reading: see “Next Review Scheduled”

Next in Line: Certain Girls, by Jennifer Weiner (a “read-along” with My Friend Amy) (RYOB Challenge)

Teaser: “My mom’s screen saver was my most recent high school picture. In the upper right-hand corner, a dancing Thin Mint informed me that there were 243 days until Girl Scout cookies went on sale again.” (page 283)

After That: Fool by Christopher Moore (RYOB Challenge, “my husband read it before I did” division…technically, I think this is actually his book); All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle Brown (July selection for the Summer Reading Series)

Book reviews posted this week: The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff (TLC Book Tour); Escape, by Carolyn Jessop
Next review scheduled: The Unit, by Ninni Holmqvist (LibraryThing Early Reviewers)

New additions to my “to be read” collection in LibraryThing:
The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein1
What Happened to Anna K.: A Novel by Irina Reyn2
The Wednesday Sisters: A Novel by Meg Waite Clayton2
Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story by Isabel Gillies3

1 I purchased this, but now a review copy is on the way – perhaps an “extra” giveaway will be in order soon?
2 Purchased
3 Received from another blogger after I commented on her review – thank you, Darryle!

Thanks for the Reviews! Books I noticed on the blogs this week:
Last Night in Montreal, by Emily St. John Mandel
The Late, Lamented Molly Marx, by Sally Koslow
Real Life & Liars, by Kristina Riggle

After receiving another unsolicited ARC this week, I’ve edited my Book Review Policy to address them – but in summary, unsolicited books are NOT guaranteed reviews! However, if I don’t want them for myself, I will try to pass them on to someone else who’s more interested. If you’d like to review either last week’s or this week’s unsolicited ARCs, please e-mail me at 3.rsblog AT Gmail DOT com, and we’ll work out the details.

Tuesday Thingers, hosted at Wendi’s Book Corner: “Ready, Set, Start Your Collections!”

Some wonderful news from the Library Thing Blog!

You can now add books to different collections and then view just those collections! Some of the pre-designed collections include: Wishlist, Currently Reading, To Read, Read But Unowned, and Favorites. Then of course you can add your own collections too!

To begin classifying your books, go to your book shelf and you will see a little brown briefcase/box type icon on the right hand side. Simply click that and choose one of the collections!

Questions: Have you explored the new Collections feature? Do you plan to use the new Collections? Are you going to add any special collections? If so, what are they?

I think I’m going to love Collections! They remind me a bit of the “shelves” feature in GoodReads, but seem to be a bit more flexible, and it looks like they can be used in combination with LT tags. I’m looking forward to playing around with both of those features and figuring out what blend of them works best for me. I was glad to see that you can place a book in multiple collections, too.

The first thing I did with Collections was to sort all of the books I had tagged as “to be read” into the “To Read” collection; I used the power-edit function and it took just a minute. It will take much longer to sort books into the “Favorites” collection, but I’d like to work on that as I find time.

I probably won’t use the “standard” collections “Wishlist” and “Read but Unowned” much unless I change the way I use LT – I don’t list any books I don’t actually have in my possession. I have already created my first “custom” collection, though; “Wishlist Fulfilled,” which is where I’ll record books that were on my wishlist once I obtain them. I may also start a collection for “Used to Own,” since I donate or give away most books after I read them, and that will make it easier to keep up with which books I don’t have any more.

I have a feeling this is really going to enhance my use of LibraryThing.


Booking Through Thursday: “Fantasy and Sci-Fi”

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Sci-fi author Sharon Lee has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day. As she puts it:

So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

Science fiction and fantasy are both genres that I seem to prefer viewing rather than reading – I’m pretty likely to watch them on TV or at the movies, but I don’t really seek out books that fall into either category. I’ll read more literary fiction with science-fiction or fantasy elements, and I often find that I like what they add to a story. But I rarely go full-out into the genre sections of the bookstore, although this recent book purchase was an exception, and if it weren’t for the fact I read the author’s blog faithfully, I don’t know if I’d have made the leap. I used to read more of both genres, particularly fantasy, when I was younger, but eventually it just seemed to take too much of my scarce mental energy to sort out all the details of these imaginary worlds, let alone figure out how to pronounce the names!

I won’t say that I never read sci-fi or fantasy, or that I never would – I just don’t choose to read them very often. Therefore,  I doubt I’ll be doing anything special to mark Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Day. Maybe you can pick up the slack for me?


Friday Fill-ins #129

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This week’s questions are from Tamy at 3sidesofcrazy.

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting something to get broken (a plate, a lamp, an arm…).

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you a person who has had a lot of experience at not winning.

3. I don’t know what is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time (because I don’t like that kind of candy and would never do such a thing).

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy blogging and Twittering.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine sunscreen and moisturizer. (I expect to see my reflex response, “work” and “family,” in someone else’s Fill-ins, though.)

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without dessert or great company in it (well, in the case of the latter, not literally!)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to nothing but the end of the work week, tomorrow my plans include my Bloggiesta to-do list, and Sunday, I want to bake cookies with the kids to celebrate Father’s Day (and if we’re nice, maybe their dad will let us eat some of them)!

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11 comments

  1. Liked your FillIn #4.. didn't think of it that way. SO TRUE!!
    I edited my little book review policy that I used to have to simply take it freaking off!!
    I don't want any more books offered to me, I would rather go out and request them myself period. STOP wasting trees and mailing books we do not want! OYE VEY

  2. Marie B – I don't mind getting review books, but I really prefer to be asked/contacted first. Both of these came from the same publicists. And you're right – save the postage and paper by just mailing the books to people who actually WANT them!

    Kathy (Bermudaonion) – I think I'll like it a lot. I've been waiting for months to read it!

    AnthonyNorth – For some reason, I just seem to process that stuff better onscreen than on the page.

  3. I'd help you out with the SciFi/Fantasy post, but I'll be travelling that day. I'll see what I can do. 🙂
    Yes, dinner is much better with a good dessert, with company or not. 🙂

  4. Mike – Didn't you just get BACK from traveling :-)? But I'll take you up on that offer of help if you have time for it.

    And welcome back, by the way!

  5. The Art of Racing in the Rain is one of my all time favorite books! I ended up buying a copy for everyone on my Christmas list this year. I love Christopher Moore, but I haven't read a whole lot by him. My favorite book of his is Lamb. I think I laughed right out loud during the reading of that book. I can't wait to hear how Fool is!

  6. Mike – Thanks, I'd appreciate it. It's more your turf than mine :-).

    Nan – My husband is (re)-reading Lamb right now; it was the first book I gave him to read when we first started dating :-). I know so many people who loved The Art of Racing in the Rain, and I'm really looking forward to reading it myself!

  7. That line between "his" and "her" books can get rather blurry sometimes can't it? 🙂 For the most part, I think I can remember which is which, even though our collections are combined, but occasionally I come across a book and I can't remember who laid claim to it first.

    I do hope you get a chance to read Last Night in Montreal. I'd love to hear your take on it.

    I'm really excited about the collections feature in LT. I hope I can find time to play with it a bit. In the power edit function, can you change over several books at once? I would love to do what you did with all your to be read books.

    I like the idea of a "Used to Own" collection. I moved all of my "Not in Library" books over to "Read but Unowned". These were all books I owned at one time, but gave away, much like what you mean by the "Used to Own" collection.

    As much as I enjoy reading fantasy, I will probably skip out on Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Day. I have too much on my plate as it is right now. I'll enjoy seeing what other people come up with or read though!

    I hope you had a great weekend, Florinda, and enjoy the week ahead!

  8. Wendy (Literary Feline) – Yes, it's hard to tell whose books are whose sometimes, especially since I've introduced Tall Paul to some authors who have become favorites of his (Christopher Moore, Jasper Fforde).

    Yes, you can move a whole group of books into a collection at once with Power Edit. I'm looking forward to playing around with Collections a lot more! I really would like to work up a way to identify whether I actually still have the books or not.

    I'll probably be reading chick-lit on Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers' Day :-).

    Have a good week, Wendy!