Musing Mondays - December 2nd

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This week’s musing…  

Do you have a preference between “person” in the books you read? Do you prefer third-person to first-person? Or don’t you care? And, why?

Musing Mondays - Reviews

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This week’s musing, courtesy of Dr. Pepper Diva, asks…  

What is your favorite part of a review?




My Musing...

Musing Mondays - Review/Tour Organization

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D

My Musing...

This week, I'm going with

Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D

Like most of you out there, I have a ton of blog tours and review requests, as well as a real life to deal with too.  So, how do you all organize and keep track of what needs to be reviewed?

I've tried everything and still things fall through the cracks.  I tried a calendar, which I actually do look at each weekend, and then I try to pre-schedule tour posts for the week.  Besides tours, I also get review requests.  I've been making a list of books to review and trying to put them on my calendar as close to their release date as I can, but it never seems to work out right.

What do you do?  Do you use a calendar?  A computer program?  How do you keep all of these things straight and are you able to stick to a schedule? 

I've even made a list of books I want to read during one particular month, but something always comes up and seems to push those back a month or even longer (Unless they are scheduled for a specific date for a tour.) 

Obviously, I have to cut back on the tours and reviews, which I'm doing but I still have a long list of books I need to read.  I'm just trying to get a handle on it, catch up and then get some type of order going so this doesn't happen to me again.

Any ideas?

Musing Mondays - June 3rd

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D

My Musing...

Today a few blogs are talking about reading habits, so I thought I would too.

For years I've been keeping a notebook of what I read and then I added an Excel spreadsheet, but I always kept my notebook. It's a good thing, too, since I had a problem with the spreadsheet and it was just too time-consuming to recreate it. I still use that same notebook - which has the title, author, if it's part of a series, date read and my own personal rating. It helps me know what I've read and if I liked it. It's a huge help for future reading choices.

Now, we've come a long way since the notebook days with social media places like Goodreads, Shelfari, and Library Thing. I belong to all of them, but I mainly hang out on Goodreads and keep my books up-to-date over there. Plus, of course, I have my blog where I keep track of all that I've read as well.

Reading challenges are another good way for me to keep track of what I've read. My challenge posts lists everything I've read for a particular challenge.

The funny thing is, I sometimes think I spend more time logging in what I've read and posting it then actually reading. Before online days, I used to just read a book, log it in my notebook and move onto the next thing. No writing reviews or anything like that. Now, I write reviews for everything I read - requested or not. All this keeping track and reviewing is taking up precious reading time, but...........I must admit, I'm having fun. That's the important thing, Right?

Musing Mondays - May 20th

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D

My Musing...

I'm going to do a bit of rambling...I love books that are part of  a series.  That's why I decided to host the "Finishing the Series" reading challenge.  I love all kinds of series from the different cozy mystery series to Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove to James Patterson's Women's Murder Club to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.

I so love re-visiting books - especially ones set in small towns - and catching up with characters who have become friends, not just characters in a book.  Watching characters develop from book to book is just so much fun for me.

That's why I was so happy to find the website "FictFact".  They have almost every series, the order they should be read and gives you a chance to keep track of all your favorites.  They will tell you which is the next book that you need to read, what new releases are coming out, etc.  It's great for someone like me who prefers to read books in the order they are released.  It doesn't always happen that way for me if I get a review request along the way, but that's my preference by far.  There have been many times I've gone to this website to see what order books should be read.  More often than not, I find it difficult to find the order of some series.  It's not always in the book and it's not always on the author's website either (which I find odd). 

Anyway, I love series books and I love this website.  What a great idea.  Do any of you belong to it?  The website is FictFact.  If you check it out, look me up and friend me!  My user name over there is Yvonne473.

 

Musing Mondays - April 8th

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D

My Musing...

Okay...I'm just rambling this week....and I'm rambling about technology and books.  As many of my regular blog readers know, I'm loving my e-readers.  I never planned to get one - I thought I was a traditionalist and could only read a print book, but I was wrong about myself.  I love my e-readers.  I went from a Nook, to a Nook Color to a Nook Touch  to a Kobo to a Kindle to a Kindle Fire to a Kindle Paperwhite.  So, here I am with 6 e-readers and a ton of books (mostly freebies and review books) on each one. But, my love of technology hasn't ended there...

Now I have a Samsung Tablet and I have apps for the Kindle, Nook and Kobo on it.  So, now I can read all my e-books from all my devices in one place!  Not to mention that I can also play all those addictive games that I love and play on Facebook.

Problem is...with all the extra bells and whistles on my tablet, I get easily distracted from reading.  It's too easy for me to go from book to game to e-mail (oh, my e-mail is on the tablet too).  I have to figure out a way to concentrate on reading again.  There are just not enough hours in a day to do everything I want to do.  Before I know it, it's nighttime and I have to go to sleep.  Maybe I should just give up sleeping?

What about you? Have you been caught up in technology too? 

Musing Mondays - March 11th

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D

My Musing...

Currently I'm reading

I received this book for a review.  So far, I'm enjoying it.  It's sort of a drugs, murder, mystery and a bit of chick lit all thrown into one book.  All of my favorite genres :)

Musing Mondays - Reading and Writing Reviews

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D

My Musing...

This week I'm going to ramble about something and I'm hoping you guys will respond because I'm really curious about this and wondering what everyone else thinks.  It's about writing and reading reviews.  Some of us do both (I'm one of those), some only read reviews, others only write them...whichever category you fall into, here's what I'm wondering...

What do you prefer in your reviews?  A simple synopsis of the story, then the reviewers opinion?  Star ratings...do you like those?  Do you think it's fine to use the official publisher's synopsis of the book (whether it's a book blurb or from one of the sites like Goodreads or Amazon) or do you prefer the reviewer to summarize the book in their own words?  Do you like in depth reviews?  Spoilers?  What's your preference?

Personally, I go for short and sweet because my attention tends to wander if the reviews are too long.  For me, the official synopsis is okay since that's what the book is about.  That doesn't change if I put it into my own words, although sometimes we might tend to see things differently, I guess.  I absolutely hate spoilers.  I don't want a story to be spoiled for me.  I want to read it for myself and be surprised.  I enjoy it more that way.

Do you review all the books you read, whether they've been requested or not?  I don't necessarily review everything (unless I'm reading something that was requested, of course), but there have been books I've read for my own enjoyment and I reviewed those - especially if I'm reading them for a reading challenge.  I always feel like I need to review them, even when a challenge specifically says you don't have to.

Do you read reviews before you start reading books?  For me, it's not a hard rule but sometimes I will.  More often than not, I'll read a review by a blogger who has similar reading tastes as I do.  Sometimes I'll just read a book without a review.  Like I said, it's not a hard rule for me one way or the other.

So, what's your take on reviews - reading and/or writing them?

Musing Mondays - February 18th

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

My Musing...

• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

*NEW!* ... thanks to Caite, I'm adding a new weekly question to MM, and that is: Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

*NEW!* ... Caite also inspired me to add: Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books -- let's hear it, then! :D



My Musing...

First, thanks to Caite for coming up with the new additional questions - a great idea!

I have a bookish rant...I love series books. I love reading about characters and seeing how they grow with each book.

 Not much of a rant, right?  Wait for it, I'm getting to it :)  Here it is...What really gets me is when I begin reading a book and have no clue it's part of a series. Many times there is no indication in the book I'm reading that it's part of a series until I actually start reading the book.  Then they mention characters and previous events as if I should know about them. Very annoying!

Sometimes I'll spend time online to try and figure out which books are in a series and in what order. Even when the book you are currently reading lists the books the author has previously written, there's no guarantee those books are part of the series or if they are listed in order. I think any book that's part of a series, should say the name of the series and book 1, 2, 3, etc. There should also be a chronological listing of the series so we know what to read next. I don't think I should have to search online for the right order to read books (sometimes the author's website doesn't even have the order of the books).

Although, I must say, FictFact is a great website for tracking series.  Not only does it list the order of most series books, but it lets you keep track of the ones you are reading, where you are up to and what new releases are coming out.  A great website.  If you love series, check it out.  I use it all the time.

That's it for me this week...what's on your mind?

Musing Monday - January 7th

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

My Musing...

• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

Right now I'm reading...

 

I'm almost finished reading this one - it's a romantic suspense and soooooooooo good!  The author requested a review several months ago...grrr...I'm so behind and it's embarrassing, but I've already talked about that on my blog before.  Anyway, I'm loving it and should have a review in the next couple of days.

Musing Mondays - Finishing a Book

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This week’s musing – courtesy of http://www.kwizgiver.com - asks…

Is there a particular book that is your nemesis–the book you’re determined to one day finish?

My answer...

Yes, it would be Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  Now, don't get me wrong - I've started it several times and actually loved it.  The reason I haven't finished isn't because I DIDN'T like it, it was because it's long and I haven't had time to read a book just for my own enjoyment.  I go from review and/or tour book to the next review and/or tour book.  Since this is a big book, it just hasn't fit into my schedule and I'm sad about that.  From what I've started reading of it, I really enjoyed it.  I'm going to try and make this one of my goals for 2013 and read this book straight through!

Musing Mondays - Online Reading Friends?

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Do you have people online that you often discuss the books you read with? Not just book groups, but individual readers who share the same taste in books? If so, what do you like best about this? If not, do you wish you did?

My answer...

I have a few people online who have the same reading tastes that I do. Once in awhile we'll discuss books, but not often. Mainly because we don't necessarily read the same book at the same time. Once I finish a book, I don't really remember very much since I go right to the next one.

It is fun to share thoughts when reading the same books, though. In "real life" I just don't have many reading friends to talk to.

Musing Mondays - Reviews

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This week’s musing asks…

Do you have a system as to which books to read from your “requested review pile? What is it? What about when there are too many to read in a certain time frame? {apologies to those who don't review}

My answer...

This is a great question and I'm anxious to read everyone's answer to this one. First, I've accepted so many reviews that I'm drowning in them. Now, I'm extremely selective before accepting any reviews at least until I catch up.

My system is basically reviewing those books with deadlines by their deadline date. Usually those are blog tour reviews. After that, I try to review either on a "first come, first served" basis or I try to get as close to a publication date that I can. If it's a short book, I try to squeeze those in the middle.

Once I'm caught up, if that ever happens, I'll have to re-evaluate my system to allow myself tome to read books for pure enjoyment.

What's your system?

Musing Mondays - Series Books

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This week’s musing asks…

Do you have a favorite series? Do you have a favorite book out of that series?

My answer...

Yes! I love series books, I always have. The only problem is, with my reviewing schedule, I haven't actually had time to complete them and I'm behind on all of them. However, here are the ones that I love the most...

Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber
Women's Murder Club by James Patterson
Scumble River Mysteries by Denise Swanson
The Chocoholic Mysteries by Joanna Carl
Joe Grey Mysteries by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Mrs. Murphy series by Rita Mae Brown
Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

I don't really have any favorite book from each series, but with the Patterson and Evanovich books, I did prefer the earlier ones in the series to the more recent ones.

Musing Mondays - Other hobbies?

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This week’s musing asks…

Do you have any hobbies outside of reading?
Or do you collect anything?

My answer...

Besides reading, I like to watch TV and movies. Is that a hobby? I sometimes cross stitch, but I haven't done that in awhile.

As for collections, I collect various different cat items like statues and knick knacks. Plus, I have a collection of dolls - different Barbies and porcelain dolls, also teddy bears. I haven't added to these collections in a long time, but I do have a nice amount that I already collected over the years.

How about you? Do you have other hobbies or collections?

Musing Mondays - Note Taking

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This week’s musing asks…

This week’s musing — courtesy of http://abookandashortlatte.wordpress.com – asks…

Do you take notes while you read?


My answer...

Short and sweet...no, I don't. I haven't taken notes while I'm reading since I was in school.

Musing Mondays - Writing your own book

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This week’s musing asks…

Have you ever considered writing a book before? What genre would you write?

My answer...

Well, since you asked...yes I have and I've actually completed four manuscripts. I wrote these in the 1990's when I was mainly a romance (Harlequin and Silhouette specifically)reader. My books were targeted for romantic suspense - the Harlequin Intrigue line.

I've been a member of Romance Writers of America for years and attended a couple of writer's conferences. I've submitted my manuscripts to several different publishers and was nicely rejected several times, too :) Then, I decided that I'd stick to reading but now that I've become addicted to cozy mysteries, I'm planning to write one of those. The publishing world is different now than it was in the 1990's, so I'm thinking about self-publishing my work as e-books. We'll see. The writing bug hasn't totally gone from my world and I'm in the process of outline a book right now.

What about you? Ever write or attempt to write a book?

Musing Mondays - Rereading

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This week’s musing asks…

Have you ever reread a book and found that your opinion changed?

My answer...

Basically, I don't re-read books. I just don't have enough time with my huge TBR of books I haven't even read once yet. So, I'm going to answer this question in a different way - instead of focusing on a specific book, I'll focus on a genre.

I used to love sweet romances and could read a steady diet of them. These days, when I've tried, it would take me a long time to get through one. I'm being very general here but there are exceptions to this. These days I need my romances mixed with suspense.


Comments by ZingerBug.com

Musing Mondays - Snacking and Reading?

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This week’s musing asks…

Do you snack while you read? If so, what is your favorite reading snack?

My answer...

Short and sweet...no, I don't. I never liked to take a chance of getting crumbs in my books or dripping something on them. Even though I'm mainly using my e-readers now, I still don't want to mess them up with food smudges. Besides, since I've been on Weight Watchers, it's best for me to just concentrate on my reading and not my eating :)

Musing Mondays - Questions?

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This week’s musing asks…

What question(s) would you like to see asked in future Musing Mondays posts? I’m running out of ideas, and figured this might be the best way to get some more. ;)
The trick here will be to NOT answer anyone else’s questions just yet! LOL. You are only allowed to share questions, this week, but not answer them. ‘Kay? Go!


My answer...

Fun question...let's see...

1. Do you like blogs that feature alot of pictures, widgets, videos?

2. If you are a book reviewer, do you like a ratings system or prefer not to have one?

3. How do you manage a blog with your "real" life activities?


How about you?