Listful Mondays: Reasons to Step Out of Your Bookish Comfort Zone

Listful Mondays!! Hopefully everything will be back to the regularly scheduled program.

Saturday was the Utah Book Bloggers Summer Social. It is the fourth one, but the first that I have been to. My husband stayed home with the kids and I caught a ride with Suey (It's All About Books). Nervous to meet a park full of strangers? Yes.

Reasons to Step Out of Your Bookish Comfort Zone...

1.  Book Bloggers are really nice and rather sedate.
2. Cool new and not-so-new local authors to see.
3. Getting to put my name in the new author's ARC so I can be on the blog tour.
4. Bringing home 2 new books from the book swap, one from a different new local author.
5. Getting out of the house without children. (A phenomenon so exciting is eclipsed the nerves. Mostly.)
6. Putting faces with names and sites.
7. Actually talking to some of the bloggers, and not just the ones I already knew.
8. Having one blogger pause while passing me and my name tag (which we write out blog names on) and exclaim, "Ooh, I love your blog!"
9. Not having anyone spoil Mockingjay.
10. Listening to the conversations. Yes, listening. For a while I had an author conversation going on one side, and a book conversation going on the other. My attention swiveled from one side to the other.
11. Comfy camp chairs and fresh air. (Ha! There was so much wind we almost blew away. I had to shower all the grit off when we got home. But it was fresh!)
12. Knowing that the next time I will feel more comfortable and might even speak up a bit. (At least among book people, they don't look at you too strangely for your shyness/anti-social tendencies. They either empathize or are used to it.)

I have sat on this posts for weeks because I couldn't find the time or organization skills to put up all the links to all the bloggers who attended. I can't sit anymore, so I'm cheating. Please click over to It's All About Books (Linked you twice - ha Ha!) and see more (better) pictures and links to the awesome attendees. Phew. Now I can move on.

Black Hole Reviews 5/21

Here is this weeks edition of Black Hole Reviews. Some are from new to me blogs! I'm itching something fierce to read all of them - and they are all very different. *Rubbing hands together in mad excitment* If you have tastes anything like mine, I encourage you to check our these "sucky" reviews.

 

• Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran reviewed by In the Hammock
• Mistwood by Leah Cyress reviewed by Bloggin' 'Bout Books
• Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor reviewed by Brenda Loves Books
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman reviewed by Erika Breathes Books
• Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff reviewed by The Book Blog
• The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols reviewed by Smitten With Books

Black Hole Reviews: Sucked in by YOUR Reviews

I thought it would be fun to put up a weekly (or whatever) list of the books that I read about - on all of the wonderful book blogs I know - that most sucked me in. These are the books that I immediately added to my Goodreads list so I wouldn't forget their names. These are the books that I've been thinking about this last week and wondering when I'd be able to get my hands on them.

(And thanx to my husband for another mind-blowing button whipped up on the fly!)

Check out these books and awesome reviews by some awesome reviewers!

• The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson reviewed by Bookish in a Box
• Ondine: The Summer of Shambles by Ebony McKenna reviewed by In the Hammock
• The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany reviewed by things mean a lot
• The Passage by Justin Cronin reviewed by Book-a-rama
• The Survivor's Club - The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood reviewed by Reading Thru the Night
• The Handbook for Lightning Strke Survivors: A Novel by Michele Young-Stone reviewed by A Novel Source
• Alchemy and Meggy Swan by Karen Cushman reviewed by One Librarian's Book Reviews

What Do You Think About BAD YA Romance and Rape Culture??

 A few weeks ago I ran into a bunch of fascinating links and started mad clicking and reading with my mouth open and my head nodding. Call me sheltered, call me naive, call me uneducated...but I was not actively aware of certain cultural flaws, or of many of the books discussed below. But Wow. Just wow. I'm not saying every article and view point contains unadulterated "truth," but a lot struck a resonating chord within me.

I know there are quite a few links below, and many cross-reference each other and there is some overlap within the articles, but I think it would be worth your while to check them out.

Jessica Day George's review  of Hush Hush
why ya romance needs to change by In Which A Girl Reads
Another Post About Rape
Bad Romance (or, YA & Rape Culture)
And THIS one at University of Fantasy

For the record, I have not read Hush Hush and offer no personal opinion on it. I have read positive reviews as well as these negative ones. (I wanted to read it before I put up these links, but I don't think I'll get my hands on it anytime in the near future.)

What do I think? Well, the short of it...I  need to (1) be more aware of the romantic relationship dynamics of what I read (2) be mindful to NOT financially support BAD romance (3) be watchful of what my daughters read and (4) teach my daughters to stand up for themselves - always - and that includes screaming. It has also cast a new light on a few episodes from my first year in college and allowed me to judge my reactions a little less harshly than I have in the past. Behaving the way you are supposed to behave does not ensure that others will behave the way they are supposed to.

Now, I really really really want to know what you think!

I Got Gutsy and Put My Name on the Book Blogger Hop

There is a way cool thing over at Crazy-For-Books where you can check out new book bloggers, and hopefully get a few to check out you! Go check it out! Now I'm off to read the 10 I picked to check out today...

(If anyone came here from there, would you comment and let me know, please?)

The is SUNSHINE in my soul today!

Suey gave me an award!! How totally amazingly awesome is that!?!?!

I've been thinking about who to pass this one on to...

and I've decided that my reasons,

though possibly silly,

are as good as any other reasons.

If it makes me smile - that is Sunshine!

Diary of a Quilter because she makes me come back and read even though I'm not a quilter. Not even a sew-er. She is fabulous.

Typing with My Toes because she is obsessed with Fablehaven. And if there were box seats to obsession, I'd be sitting next to her.

Reading Thru the Night because she was (somehow) right there and leaving great comments when I began blogging again.
One Librarian's Book Reviews because her blog always makes me feel calm and "mature romantic garbage" makes me smile every time.
Candles and a Cup of Tea because she gets my Jane Austen thing and we reviewed the same silly book on the same day once.

Have a bright and lovely Spring day!!

I Haven't Finished Another Book Yet!!

My current read is troubling me, so I've decided I will not start anything else until I've finished it. Must. Finish. That. Book.  I am now on page 350 out of 550. Progress.

So this is a post just to link to a great bog!

I clicked over to Farm Lane Books the other day and found a wealth of information. If you scroll down and scan the rightest column you will find the list entitled "Most Useful Posts." Admittedly, many of the posts would be 'most useful' for beginners like me, but there is probably something there for everyone. Very cool place!