Musing Mondays 11-02-2009

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about social reading…


How much of your reading do you share with others (outside of blogging?) Do you belong to a book or library club? Do you trade books with friends? Do you tell others what you’re reading?


Musing Mondays is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page. To participate please visit her blog and leave your link! (You are also welcome to leave your link for me too!)


I mainly share what I am reading right here. Occasionally I will try to get my mom or my sister interested in what I am reading, but it is usually futile. I am not quite sure where my love of reading came from! There is a lady who shares my bus stop that always asks what I am reading - and actually asked to borrow one of the books that I finished last week - so I might have found a new buddy there! I only know of one reading group in this area, and it is on a night where I already have a prior commitment.

Who do you share your reading with?

Musing Mondays

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about note taking…


Do you take notes while reading – either for your reviews or for yourself? How/where do you make these notes (on the page, post-its, scrap paper, notebooks etc)?


Musing Mondays is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page. To participate please visit her blog and leave your link! (You are also welcome to leave your link for me too!)

This is something that I keep telling myself that I really need to do - especially if I want my reviews to get better. Like right now - I have 3 books that need to be reviewed and I will probably have to skim back through them for some of the character names! I also try to keep a list of words that are new to me - but usually end up losing the piece of paper that I was writing on. I do have a ton of little notebooks that would be perfect for either of these things, but I just haven't been very disciplined in doing it. Maybe I will try harder this week!

Any note takers out there?

Musing Mondays - It's Official - I'm Doing the Read-a-Thon!

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about the read-a-thon…


Are you planning on participating in the upcoming 24 Hour Read-a-thon (either as a reader or cheerleader)? Have you made any preparations for the event? And, veterans out there, any tips you’d like to share with the newbies?

Musing Mondays is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page. To participate please visit her blog and leave your link! (You are also welcome to leave your link for me too!)

I am absolutely planning on participating in the 24 Hour Read-a-thon. I have been delaying my post about the event just due to time - but thought this would be as good a place as any to post about it. This will be my second read-a-thon and it is going to be more difficult than the first one. All 3 of my kids will be around this weekend (ages 17, 15 and 4) and they have all been advised as to what is going on. Thankfully my husband is on board with me doing this and is always a big help trying to keep the little one entertained.

On Saturday my little boy does have a Halloween Party to go to for a few hours in the afternoon - so that will get him out of the house for awhile. We are all planning to go visit a Haunted House that night though, so this will cut into my reading time. I am sure that I will be ready for a break by then though!

I have no great tips - but I know I plan on keeping better "stats" on my reading times/pages than I did in the Spring. I will probably not spend as much time trying to do the mini-challenges on line as I really need to use this time to try to get caught up on my reading.

As for some of the books I am considering, in no particular order:

1. St. John of Five Boroughs by Edward Falco
2. Walk the Talk by Danae Dobson
3. Messages to Myself by Dr. Helen McIntosh
4. Night of Flames by Douglas Jacobson
5. Pendragon's Banner by Helen Hollick
6. Mom Needs Chocolate by Debora Coty
7. Last Breath by Brandilynn and Amberly Collins
8. Hot and Irresistible by Dianne Castell
9. Jesse's Girl by Gary Morgenstein
10. The Wildest Heart by Rosemary Rogers
11. The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy by Sara Angelini
12. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I tried to throw in a whole variety - from some non-fiction, YA, Romance, etc - so that no matter my mood, I should be able to find something to read.

Musing Mondays 4-13-09

Musing Mondays is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page.

Today's Musing Monday question is about blog posts:

How do you respond to the comments on your blog? Do you try to email individually or comment on post yourself answering the comments above? What do you think is the best way to respond to comments and do you respond to all of them? Do you feel slighted if you don't receive a response back from the blog owner?

Lets break this down as this covers quite a bit of ground.

Do I respond to comments? This is something that I have just been trying to get better at - so this question is very timely for me.

Do I email individually or comment on post? I will try to email the person back if their comment comes through with an email address and not a address. If there is no email address, I will at least try to visit their blog and comment somewhere, thanking them for visiting mine. I generally don't leave answers/comments in my own comment section in response to other questions - the reason I don't is because I seldom go back and read answers if I have left a question. If it is something that I really wanted to know, then I will mark it to get emailed if there is new comments - but this is infrequent. If I have a way to contact the blog owner, and I want to ask a question - I might leave it on the blog and then also send an email.

What is the best way to respond to comments and do you respond to all of them? Again, if I am able to just shoot a reply email, then that is what I will do. If they are just commenting and I don't feel I have anything relevant to add, I leave it at that. If I want to share additional information or answer a question, then I will definitely email back. To me that is the best way - I get too many emails to have to link up to everyone's comments - that would just make it crazy!

Do I feel slighted is someone doesn't answer? Not at all. I know that I don't always have the time to answer - and most of the time my comments aren't being left to get an answer, but to just show support to the person who created the blog - to let them know that I am reading it!

So readers - I would like to hear from you? Do you like getting email responses? Do you need a response to your comments? Do you ever feel slighted? I would really like to know!

Musing Mondays 3-30-2009

Musing Mondays is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page.

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about recording your reading…Do you keep track of what and/or how many books you read? How long have you been doing this? What's your favorite tracking method, and why?If you don't keep track, why not? (question courtesy of MizB)

I have kept track of my reading very sporadically over the years. I would get into big "lists mode" - where I would have to record everything that I was reading, or every book that I owned by certain authors - or I would decide I was only going to read books off of certain lists (award winners, bestsellers, etc). Like I said-very sporadic.

Then, a few years ago I started keeping track of what I read in an excel spreadsheet - here are the results. Starting in July 2006 - read three books for that year. . . Then 2007 I read 28 books. In 2008 I read 43 books - I also started blogging in August of last year - and joined book challenges, so that increased my reading. Then, this year I have taken off - I have already read 34 books and hope to finish two more before the end of the month. This spreadsheet lists the title and author, as well as number of pages (or hours if it is audio) and the year it is published.

I also am currently keeping track of the books that I own by about 20 different authors - from Stephen King to Nora Roberts. Each author has their own spreadsheet - these lists have all the books that the authors have written - and then it is noted whether or not I have it and if it is hardbacked or paperbacked - that way I know where to find it if I need it.

Then, I have a spreadsheet that keeps tracks of all my challenges that I have joined and the books that I have read (or want to read) for each of them. When a challenge is completed (or failed, as the case may be) it is moved to a new tab of that spreadsheet.

I also have a list of all the ARCs that I have requested or received - this sheet has different tabs for books that I have found from different bloggers as well as books that I have won. I may not be as OCD as Rebecca says she is - but I appear to be well on my way!

It has been really wonderful to find a group of people that have reawakened my passion for reading, and have introduced me to so many wonderful books! Thank you blogging community!

Musing Mondays 3-23-2009

Bookstores is the subject of today's Musing Mondays.

How many bookstores do you frequent?

Do you have a favorite? If so, which one and what makes it so?

I really only frequent the nearest Borders - or there is a Borders Outlet in the mall near here. I do buy books in a lot of places though - Goodwill, Library sales, Target, Sam's, Amazon, etc.

I would love to find an independent book store - so if anyone knows of one in the northern suburbs of Chicago - please let me know!

Musing Mondays 3-9-2009

This is my first time participating in this weekly meme hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page.

Todays topic is New Authors. What is your policy when it comes to new authors? Do you feel comfortable purchasing a book or do you prefer to borrow new authors from the library? How often do you try out a new author?

I had never really thought about this in these terms before. Usually when I am going to buy a book, I look for those authors that I am familiar with (I only keep books by certain authors, so if I am going to buy it - it is usually from one of them). Not knowing the author has not stopped me from purchasing a book though, if the blurb appeals to me.

I have been reading a lot of new authors this year though - 24 so far. I have been getting a lot of ARC's and most of them are by new-to-me authors. I even joined the New Author Challenge over at Literary Escapism. I already have a couple of new favorites (Karen Rose, Ted Dekker, Lisa Dale, Cormac McCarthy) and I am sure that I will discover many more this year!

How many new authors have you read this year - and how did you like them/find them?