Bookkeeping, Challenging, Still Reading.: A TBIF special edition

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report

Book reviews posted this week:
Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, by Lizzie Skurnick

Next reviews scheduled:
Catching up on some outstanding LibraryThing Early Reviewer commitments (which are now not at all early):
The Last Bridge, by Teri Coyne
The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway

Currently reading:
Goldengrove: A Novel, by Francine Prose (for an upcoming TLC Book Tour)

New to my LibraryThing “To Read” collection:
Believe it or not, NONE – and it’s been two weeks since my last status report!

New additions to the Wishlist*:
Mistress of the Vatican, by Eleanor Herman
Sweet Life, by Mia King
Dervishes, by Beth Helms
Travel Writing, by Peter Ferry
City of Refuge, by Tom Piazza
The Accidental Bestseller, by Wendy Wax
What I Thought I Knew, by Alice Eve Cohen
Crossing Washington Square by Joanne Rendell

*Inspired by this week’s Tuesday Thinger, I have officially set up a “wishlist” collection on LibraryThing. I went back through this summer’s TBIF posts and added all the books I’d mentioned in those – you gotta start somewhere, right? And it’s probably way past the time I should have done something like this – I found a couple of books I’d listed as “new additions to the Wishlist” two or three times, based on different reviews! Clearly, I need to stay on top of this stuff better – hopefully, this will help.


News Flash: In which I join a reading challenge!

I mostly avoid reading challenges, since just trying to get the reading and reviewing done usually tends to seem challenging enough all by itself. However, I’m signing up for this one since it fits in with the only other challenge I’m doing. I still need 5 books to meet my goal for the 2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge, so I’m hoping that S. Krishna‘s Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge during October and November will help get me there!

Challenge details:

This is a challenge that is aimed at getting through those books that have been sitting on your shelves for months, even years!

Who?
Anyone who wants to sign up!

What?
Any non-review books that are on your shelves and/or review copies that have been on your shelves for over six months.
Crossover with other challenges is welcomed, even encouraged!

When?
This challenge will run from October 1, 2009 – November 30, 2009.

Where?
Here – at S. Krishna’s Books!

How?
This challenge will work a little differently than other challenges. Instead of picking a set number of books to read during this time period, you will pick a percentage. This means that a certain percentage of the books you read during these two months will have to qualify for this challenge. For example, let’s say you pick 40% and you end up reading 10 books in October and November. 4 of those books would have to qualify for this challenge in order for you to complete it. I am setting a minimum percentage of 20%.

My goal will be 25%. Since I’m not a speed reader, and I do have some review and tour commitments for the challenge period, I’m not stretching it too much.

Wish me luck, y’all!


*Still Reading and Remembering: Read-Along with Me and “Alice”*

Still Alice by Lisa Genova
A few of you expressed some interest in joining me in reading Still Alice (by Lisa Genova) next month. I’ll be reading it in connection with my participation in the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk in Thousand Oaks, California on Saturday, October 17, and I’d be more than happy to have your virtual company! (Our walking team would greatly appreciate your donation to our cause as well.)

My plan is to read the book during the week leading up to the walk and post my review on the Monday after it (October 19). If you’d like read along with me, please let me know in the comments to this post or e-mail me at 3.rsblog AT Gmail DOT com. Please post your review on the same day that I do. I’ll cross-link all of the reviews here, and post some questions to discuss in comments.

Will you read along with me, please? Let me know! And if you’ve previously read/reviewed Still Alice, I hope you’ll join in the discussion on October 19!

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8 comments

  1. I am going backwards with your posts today. 🙂 I'm so behind with my LT Early Reviewer books. They need to stop sending me books. Of course, I shouldn't really be requesting any until I get caught up . . .

    If I start using LT's wish list, maybe I can add the wish list feature to my own posts. 🙂 It would certainly help with organization, wouldn't it?

    Good luck with the challenge, Florinda. It does sound like a great challenge, and one I could definitely use. I'm being good though. No more signing up for challenges this year no matter how tempted I may be.

    I'm still thinking about the Still Alice read-a-long. I want to, but I am not sure I should commit.

    I hope you enjoy your weekend, Florinda!

  2. Heh – I've got a good few LT Early Reviewer books for which my reviews will be far from early. They're going to cut me off pretty soon. They really probably *should* cut me off pretty soon. ::hangs head in shame::

  3. Wendy (Literary Feline) – I haven't won any ER books for a couple of months, although I'm still asking. I only owe them one review now, though :-).

    I wasn't sure about using the LT wishlist at first, since I was trying to be pretty strict about only using it for books I actually have, but it was just getting too disorganized!

    I hope you'll do the read-along, Wendy. No pressure, but if it looks feasible when the time gets closer, just let me know.

    Megan – I think maybe LT did cut me off. Perhaps now they'll like me again :-).

    Beth K – I found out about it from book bloggers, of course! When the paperback came out last spring, I won a review copy from LibraryThing. I'm glad I've finally read it.

  4. Kathy (Bermudaonion) – I think mine's wimpier than yours :-). I can meet mine even if I just read 4 books in the two months, as long as one counts. I tried not to over-commit.

  5. Swapna – Thanks, I'll probably need it :-). I was thinking about finessing it by reading just a few books, but I don't think that will happen, so I clearly need to do some planning!