BBAW Day 4: Reading and Blogging

BBAW Topic #4

We have no blogs without books! Today’s topic explores that even more!
Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!

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I am very new to blogging...both reading blogs and doing my own blog, but I have quickly grown to LOVE both.

Before I joined the blogging community, I read mostly adult classics, children's classics, and historical fiction.  Those genres are still my favorites but my eyes have been opened to so many great books, and I now see what I've been missing by being such a book snob.

I do a blog post called "Ten Books I Thought I'd Never Read", and that was totally inspired by the realization that I've been missing out on some great books because I thought they just weren't for me.  I came to that realization through reading other people's blogs and through doing research for my own blog.

Another way my reading has changed is that I read with a purpose now.  I'm reading with a book review in mind.  I try to be aware of wonderful quotes from a book, or interesting places or people to research from a book.  I  look for anything new or different that I might be able to blog about.  So in that way, I feel I'm getting more out of my reading now.

Books To Return And Desperate For More

My sister and I took the kiddos to the library after school yesterday.  My daughter had books to return and was desperate for more, so we went to the library where she loaded up her red library book bag with new books while I looked for more "Southern Belle Challenge" books.


I still have Fried Green Tomatoes (I will finish it tonight!) and Hissy Fit, so I only checked out two.

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

While I was there I picked up a copy of Book Page where I found lots of great information on lots of books.

Source:  http://www.bookpage.com/

Book Page also has an online edition that you can visit by clicking HERE.  I think the most interesting book I found inside is The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta.  I'm very interested in this one.

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Goodreads Summary
What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished?  Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down?
That’s what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children. 
Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin’s own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne.  Only Kevin’s teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she’s definitely not the sweet “A” student she used to be.  Kevin wants to help her, but he’s distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start.
With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.

Book Fair Purchases Part 2

So....My daughter sang in a gospel concert Saturday, we had church Sunday morning and Sunday night, and I volunteered at school Monday.  It's been very busy around here lately, and I haven't been able to read as much as I'd like.  I'm still reading Fried Green Tomatoes  (loving it), but I'm hoping to finish it today.

My daughter did get some more books from the book fair on Monday, and I thought I'd share what she bought...

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Book Bloggers Appreciation Week: Community

Book Blogger Appreciation Week kicks off today!  It runs from September 12 thru September 16.  You can find out more about BBAW by clicking HERE.

Today's topic is Community, and I'm going to take this opportunity to highlight a blogger whose blog I love and who has encouraged me.

The blogger I'd like to talk about is Susie at Susie's Blog.  I found her blog by accident not long after I decided to start blogging myself.  I was looking around at all kinds of blogs trying to decide what I liked and didn't like to see what direction I wanted to go with my own blog.


The first thing I noticed about her blog was the beautiful picture of a flower garden at the top of her blog, and then I read her "About Me" section, and I knew that I was interested in what she had to say.  I immediately came across a book on her blog that I was very interested in reading, and it was one I would never have read other wise.  Reading it opened my eyes to all the great books I've been missing.  It was The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Susie was the fourth subsciber to my blog (and the first besides my husband, my daughter, and my sister), and I was so excited.  I didn't know if anyone would be interested in what I had to say.  I am a wife, a mom, and a high school graduate.  The only qualifications I have to be a book blogger is that I fill my life and my daughter's life with books, I am a Mom of a bookworm, and I have loved books my entire life.  I knew from the beginning that mine would not be a scholarly approach...I share stories from my life, my opinions, and my passion for books.  The fact that someone as smart and educated as Susie would take the time to look at my blog and even comment was so encouraging as I struggled to start my blog.  Susie isn't just a great blogger.  She is smart, fair, compassionate, and just an all around awesome person.  I always learn so much from her.

Susie was interested in what I had to say, and that has meant so much to me.

Thanks Susie!

Check out Susie's blog by clicking HERE.

A Day to Remember

I found this on YouTube and thought it was appropriate for today...I love this song by Randy Travis.

God Bless the families affected by 9/11 and God Bless those who protect us today...Firemen, Police, our Military and all the others across our country who serve!

Two Sisters Talk Books

My sister came over last night, and we were looking around for some new books to read.  We looked through all the blogs I follow, and we did a lot of looking on Goodreads.  We both came up with a decent sized list.  Here are a few that we found and are looking forward to reading in the  near future.

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak seems to be on everyone's list.  I think my sister will be reading this one soon.

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Goodreads Summary...
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can't resist- books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.
With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

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Jennifer Donnelly books seem to be popping up everywhere as well, and these really interest me.  I think the covers are absolutely beautiful!

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

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This last book, The Cellist of Sarajevo, I learned about over at Curling Up With a Good Book.  She did a great review and it sounds like something I'd really like to read.

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Goodreads Summary...
In a city ravaged by war, a musician plays his cello for twenty-two days at the site of a mortar attack, in memory of the fallen. Among the strangers drawn into the orbit of his music are a young father in search of water for his family, an older man in search of the humanity he once knew, and a young woman, a sniper, who will decide the fate of the cellist—and the kind of person she wants to be.

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Hope you enjoyed this list and maybe found something you'd like to read as well!  Have you read any of these books?  What did you think?

Granny Visits the Book Fair

Today was Grandparent's Day at my daughter's school.  This means that Granny came to eat lunch with her today, and since the book fair is also going on right now, Granny bought her some books.  Here's what she got...

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Pretty awesome bunch of books if I do say so myself! 

When my daughter came home from school today she was so excited to show me her purchases, and she said...

"Mama, I feel such a connection to my books! I love to read so much!"

I know exactly how she feels, and I am one proud Mom!