Thursday, April 15, 2010

Very Short Bookish and Blogging Thoughts

I am currently reading both of these books and am very excited about them. They are both for the Once Upon a Time challenge. I'm about half way through Confessions and am delighted in how unlike Cinderella it is so far. Anyone read either??

I am frustrated with blogger commenting. It is so cumbersome to respond. I even typed out a super long response and had blogger eat it. Arghh! So I've been researching add ons and have asked Husband to plug one in. He's been busy. Arghh! I might be pushing through on my own. *tremble* But when I get it going, you all are gonna see an explosion of responses. Has anyone tried Intsensedebate or Disqus??

My F2F book club is tonight. Bel Canto. Woowoo!! How much I look forward to getting out of the house! And then to talk about books? Heaven. And tonight I have reason to expect some animated epilogue bashing. Should be good fun. My other F2F book club is soon - I gotta finish that Bitter/Sweet Hotel book.

Taxes. I assume everyone else did theirs in February. Oh to be responsible and organized. What must it feel like? "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams

I have been reading Fablehaven out loud to my older kids. So Exciting! We recently finished the first one and started the second. Those books pack a lot of action and interest into each page. So so good.

I've got to drive by two libraries today/tomorrow. I renewed a handful of books online for the first time last night. It was surprisingly easy. I don't get to the library near as often as I'd like on account of the screaming horde of children, so I have a few problems when I do get there. (1) I check out WAY too many books. I can't read them all that fast. (2) I forget to return them. I gather up late fees almost as fast as dirty dishes.

I've been reading some posts lately referring to the competition among bloggers for followers and stats and stuff. Really? I'm blissfully ignorant of this. Why would there be competition? What would one win?

Memes. I've also read much bashing of memes. (I looked up how to pronounce that ridiculous word and promptly forgot. I don't know what to do with that word!) At first I thought meme bashing to be, um, harsh. Yes, that's the word. But then as I "get out" more and visit more blogs I have found some justification. When I'm visiting a blog I want to get an idea of what the blogger reads, what their style is, how they review, and mostly get a feel for their personality through their writing. When the whole page is book lists and links and mailboxes and what page are you on....I get lost. I'm no wiser for scanning my brains out. I'm finding this frustrating. Any thoughts on memes?? Too much? Too little?

Enough short thoughts. If I lay down now I can close my eyes for 30 minutes. Can you imagine?

11 comments:

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  2. Thoughts on your thoughts:
    - I haven't read either of your current books.
    - Glad to hear you are excited about book club. I hope it's fun. I look forward to your thoughts on the Bitter Sweet Hotel book too. I loved it.
    - Taxes? Blissfully ignorant.
    - Fablehaven, I'm still behind.
    - You need to work on using the libraries more! They are used to the kids there, I promise. I'm shocked you have just learned how to renew online! :)
    - The competition thing with bloggers, yes, it's there. I don't know why. People just want their blog to be "known" and liked and popular. So I guess that's what you win.
    - Memes are um, interesting. I did them a lot when I first started, but now not so much. Some are very fun and creative, some get really boring after awhile. So I pick and choose and just do whatever feels good at the moment.

    I hope you enjoyed your nap! See you in awhile.

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  3. Oh, I forgot to say that I know absolutely nothing about those commenting plug in thingys. Some of them I don't like at all and they seem so complicated. I especially dislike the ones that make you go through many steps to have follow up comments come to your email. So choose wisely!

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  4. Cool collection of thoughts.

    I don't like the commenting add-ons. They're so cumbersome for the commenter. But I feel ya doll! :) I always copy what I've typed prior to hitting publish - just in case.

    Blissfully ignorant is a nice place. That's where I try to stay ;)

    Memes. I'm with ya. I use them from time to time. But I try to keep it fresh and keep it different. The only ones I use on a regular basis are the ones that give people a feel for the book. Like Teaser Tuesday and Book Beginnings Friday or Friday 56. Do you think I do too many?

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  5. @Suey - How could you be ignorant of taxes???

    Could you, by any chance, give me a link to bloggers you know that use those plugins? I've been doing some research, but it doesn't give a great idea on how it actually works. What can we do to get blogger to update? I just want to reply. Is that so much to ask?

    @Juju - I worry the plugins will be a pain for commenters. I guess that whatever we try has to be easy to UN-try. And your blog is NOT one I thought had nothing by mailboxes. :)

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  6. I don't mind if toher people post memes, but I do notice that I usually skip them in my reader or that if I see only memes on a blog I tend to close the browser.

    I don't know either of the books you mentioned, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm still reading your blog :)

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  7. Thanx Iris. I'm glad you are still reading!

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  8. Blogging is a hobby, but can also be an addicting one. Sometimes it gets to the point that it can even take away from reading -- heaven forbid! Having a huge following would be stressful, always needing to post something. (but I appreciate those who do) I enjoy visiting and commenting sometimes more than posting, so I try to strike a balance. I enjoy the memes, but they are time-consuming.

    On that thought, I have a couple of awards for you :)

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