Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

This weeks question is:

"If you find a book you love, do you hunt down other books by the same author?"

This is a pretty simple answer- YES! If I find a book that I really love I want to read everything else by the author- thank goodness for the library so I can feed the habit without going totally broke!

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

This weeks question is:

Pick a character from a book you are currently reading or have just finished and tell us about him/her

This is a good one- I just finished 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. I could tell you about the main charecter Ginny, but instead i will tell you about her Aunt Peg. She is a free spirit who has trouble settling down in one place. She has a tendency to dissapear on those she cares about, including Ginny. Her absence doesn't mean she doesn't care though. In fact, she cares enough to send Ginny on a pretty amazing adventure (although some bits are ill advised). I wont give anything away, but through out the trip Ginny discovers a lot about the world, her aunt and of course, herself. If her Aunt hadn't taken the same journey first, we never would have had this story!

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

This weeks question is:

"Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?"

I'm not a huge prank person, but when I worked at a small office we did gang up on eachother every once in awhile to pull some small time pranks. For one person's birthday we stayed at the office LONG after she left and then encased all her small office supplies, the stapler, the mouse, the keyboard, etc. in jello. Obviously we were all really big fans of The Office!

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

Holy smokes it's been awhile since I joined in on one of these! It seems like I miss for one week because of school or work or whatever and then suddenly 3 months (eep!) have passed. Seriously- 3 months exactly. That's a whole lot of blog fail happening. At any rate- it's Spring Break, for this one week I'm free of homework and can have some fun!

Here's this weeks question:
"Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?"

I almost always have several going. Usually one that is a bit heftier and will take several sittings to get through and then I fly through lighter fair at a rate of about a book every other day- and usually I read the whole book in one sitting. I also usually have one book in the car that is something that can be picked up and put down and not get finished for months- something like a collection of essays or short stories. I think I had a book called Mountain Men in my car for 6 months before I finished it! Right now my longer read is Sherman Alexie's Face (a collection of peotry) and I have a stack of tbr's that I'm working through as well.

I really like reading more then one at a time- it allows you to get sucked in to a really great book when it comes along, but allows you to always have another book to turn to.

How about you- are you a one at a time sort of reader or do you like to multitask?

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

Here's this weeks question:
"What do you consider the most important in a story: the plot or the characters?"

This is a tough question because they really aren't mutaully exclusive. You need both. If I had to choose though, I'd say the charecters are more important. Here's my reasoning. If you have a shoddy plot, written well, but a wee bit cheese ball or unbelieveable, but the characters are so engaging and believable that you make a connection with them, you can overlook the short fall of the plot to an extent. There have been books where I'm not buying into the plot, but I like the people in the book, once I kind say "I guess I'll just go with it" and stop worrying so much about the plot, I find myself liking the book alot more. It's hard to do that in reverse. If the plot is fabulous, but the characters are dullsville, there is nothing to connect to.

I'm going to use Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall to ephasize my point. 1.) Fabulous plot- really well written. 2.) At the beginning of the book I hate Sam. No amount of wonderfully written plotline makes me want to continue this book. I just cna't connect with the characters. 3.) On the suggestion of many I keep reading because they assure me I will grow to care about Sam. 4.)true to their word, I do, and it's the character and that connection that eventually keeps me reading. The good plotline alone was not enough for me. Thank goodness I had so many book pushers insisting I continue reading because they were right- the characters in this book become more and more engaging and eventually live up to the plotline.

So there's my gigantic answer. You need both, but without good, weel written characters you may be doomed.

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

Here's this weeks question:
"If you find a book that looks interesting but is part of a series, do you always start with the first title?"

The short answer is yes. Every once in a blue moon I will pick up a book and read it and not realize it's a sequel, etc. (although that hasn't happened in awhile)- but for the most part I really like to read books in the order in which they were intended, I think you miss something if you don't. The only books that this rule is sketchy with is when the book is a companion book and not a true part of the series (in a chronological sense). Kristin Cashore's Fire and Graceling for instance, or Cassie Clare's Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series. The books deal with the same worlds and some of the same charecters, but you don't have to read one before the other to get the whole picture. I read Fire and Graceling in the correct order, but I read A Clockwork Angel before going to the Mortal Instruments books and I didn't feel like I had missed out.

So again- short answer. Series must be read in the correct order, companion books can go in any order.

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

Here's this weeks question:
"Where is your favorite place to read? Curled up on the sofa, in bed, in the garden?"

My favorite place to read is outside- not at the beach of anything, but if I can get to a nice field, or the mountains, or especially by a river I like that. A little nature, a nice view and good book. Unfortunately I live in the land of lake effect snow and nor'easters, so my opportunities for really good outdoor reading is limited! For the 7 months of winter (flanked by the few grey months of spring and fall) I like to curl up on the couch, under a blanket, with a cup of hot cider. Not quite as good as the great outdoors, but it gets the job done!

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

Here's this weeks question- which is really more of a challenge:
Post a link to a favorite post or book review that you have written in the past three months.

I had to think about this one- I have alot of books that I've loved recently, Mockingjay for one, Sisters Red as well, but what review did I want to share? I decided to go with Sea by Heidi Kling- I really enjoyed this book and I think it's one that hasn't had quite as much exposure as the others. Enjoy!

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

Here is this weeks question: Do you judge a book by its cover?

Short answer is YES! I think that it's hard not to. Of course, if a book comes on a great recommendation then a bad cover won't stop me from reading it. Still, if I have a whole stack of books sitting on my desk, or if I browsing around the library or bookstore, then a good cover will make all the difference. A great cover can grab your attention and pull you in, it can entice you to read the back cover or front flap, it can make you excited for the book before you even read a single page. So yeah- great covers can make all the difference!

Here are some blogs I found while hopping around last week:


Must Love Books


A Readers Record

Book Blogger Hop

I'm back! A very busy summer put a crimp on my meme participation, but now that things have settled down I promise to jump back in to the fray! This meme is hosted by Crazy for Books, so hop on over her way to see what she is up to!

Here is this weeks question:
Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

I actually just started using a rating system, and I pretty much follow a simple, standard 5 star system (here). I decided to start using a rating because it is a really quick and easy way to sum up how you feel about a book.

Book Blogger Hop

It's the time of the week when we blog hop! The wonderful blog site Crazy For Books hosts each week.

This week the question is: Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites!

Okay- so I'm pretty sure this post could go on for pages, beacuse there are so many great authors out there who I love for so many different reasons, but I will try to restrain myself. First I'll give you some of the authors I loved growing up and still hold a special place in my heart- I loved on Mark Twain and Jack London. They wrote about adventures I wanted to go on and places I wanted to visit, and it was such a great escape. I love Marion Zimmer Bradley and Jean M. Auel- they both wrote series that I read when I was a teen and I can still remember reading them that first time. Both series still sit on my book shelf, looking tattered and torn and completely well loved. More recently I can't help but read everything Simone Elkeles puts out there- her book are fast, fun reads that managed to still pack a punch. Add the fact that in person she is hysterical and so easy to talk to and she really is the perfect author! Suzanne Collins books are amazing and can really take you to another world.

However- my absolutely favorite authors are JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. I avoided both series like the plague at first, thinking Harry Potter was for little kids and then that Twilight was for silly teens. I'm the first to admit I was wrong on both counts! Both Rowling and Meyer created worlds I wanted to live in and characters I wanted to be friends with, and I can't help but read their books over and over again, loveing them more each time!

So...I think I'll stop there. Those are some of my favorite authors, but there are many more who I love and whose books that I love. And now, on to the hop!

Check out these blogs I found last week:

Potter, Percy & I

The Readings of a Busy Mom

Badass Bookie

Book Blogger Hop!

It's the time of the week when we blog hop! The wonderful blog site Crazy For Books hosts each week.

I've been out of the game for a few weeks as I was on vacation, but I'm ready to hop around today ;) There's also a new twist- a question to answer. This week the question is:

Tell us your NAME and WHY YOU STARTED BLOGGING

So- my name is Kate nad I started blogging as a way to talk about all the great books I was reading. Simple enough right? If I go more in depth I may be here all day- but the short version is that in March of 2009 I read the Twilight Series (cliche right?), and LOVED it. I had been so immersed in school and work for so long that I forgot that reading was supposed to be fun and exciting. I joined TwilightMOMs and their book of the month club and suddenly I was reading all these amazing books and needed an outlet beyond the BOTM discussions. So I started this blog in October 2009 and here I am. Now I'm back in school to become a librarian, reviewing and moderating at Eve's Fan Garden on their blog, moderating at TwilightMOMs on the BOTM, blogging about Syracuse University's Library Science Program and of course blogging here!

Check out some of these great websites I've found while hopping around :)

Book Sake

Emily's Reading Room

Blogger Hop

It's the time of the week when we blog hop! The wonderful blog site Crazy for Books hosts each week.

It's great to be back on the hop- I've really enjoyed finding some new blogs and revisiting one's that had fallen off my radar a bit (there are just so many good one's out there!) Last week I found a couple one's that I really enjoyed:

From the Shadows

Bookend Diaries

Book Blogger Hop

It's the time of the week when we blog hop! The wonderful blog site Crazy For Books hosts each week.

I've had a week or so away from the hop- real life decided to interfere with reading, couple that with coming off my TBF Live high, and I've done a whole lot of nothing blog wise. I did pick up a few books that I'm almost finished with though. One of which is Stolen by Lucy Christpher. Reading this book is like watching a car accident, it's horrible and scary (and gave me nightmares), but it is so well written that you can't look away- you have to keep reading. I had to put it down and take a break, but I'm already wondering what we'll find out about Gemma and Ty next.

Anywho...can't wait to spend the afternoon hopping around some new blogs :)

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Book Blogger Hop

It's the time of the week when we blog hop! The wonderful blog site Crazy For Books hosts each week. This is my third week joining in and so far I have founds some great new blogs that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found otherwise.

Book Blogger Hop

It's the time of the week when we blog hop! The wonderful blog site Crazy For Books hosts each week. This is my third week joining in and so far I have founds some great new blogs that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found otherwise.

Check out these new-to-me blogs that I found last week at the hop:

Imagination in Focus whose to read list essentially mirrors my own- I love to see what other readers thought of books that I loved (or hated depending on the book) The site also has this as a tag line, which I immediately loved and wanted to steal: "Close your eyes. Open your mind. 'You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus' - Mark Twain."

The Nook Nack which is another blog that focuses alot on YA books, but she had a lot of books that had not yet crossed my radar, as well as some great reviews of some books that I've been pushing down the list for months that I may need to find some time to pick up!

Fragments of Life who focuses on YA as well, but with a mission in life to read "all angel/fallen/nephilim books"- which is pretty awesome (if you ask me)

Book Blogger Hop

This is my first week joining in over at Crazy for Books for their weekly Book Blogger Hop! It seems like a great way to find other book blogs and see what people are reading- I love checking out other blogs and this has been an awesome way to find some I may never have stumbled on by myself. Luckily a blog I already follow, Mindful Musings, had a post about the hop and here I am. So head on over adn find some great other Book Blogs!