TBIF – Thank blog it’s Friday! This week in memes and books

Musing Mondays, hosted at Just One More Page…


Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your to be read list…

As a follow up to last week’s question, Joseph asked how you keep track of your TBR list. Do you have a paper list or on your computer? Do you take it with you when you go shopping? How do you decide what gets added to it?

By some definitions, I don’t have a “TBR” list. I don’t classify a book as “TBR” unless it’s actually in my possession, and then I tag it as “to be read” when I add it to LibraryThing.

These days, most of my prospective reading comes to my attention via other book bloggers. When a review catches my eye, I’ll link to it in the “Books that caught my eye this week” portion of my Saturday Review. Periodically, I’ll go through those links and compile them into a wish list, which is what I would term the books that this question calls “TBR.” The last time I did that, I turned it into a blog post, and it’s probably past time for me do it again. I’m not sure whether I’ll put them into another post or bite the bullet and set up an official Amazon.com wish list next time, but I do need to collect those book notes somewhere so I don’t forget that I’m wishing to read them!

How do you manage your own wish list?


Mailbox Monday, hosted at The Printed Page

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This week has been a book bonanza! I received four books in the mail for upcoming reviews. I also excused myself from my no-bookstores-for-Lent vow last weekend (which was only a week before Easter anyway) and treated myself to a post-birthday splurge at Borders.

Received for review:
The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use by Karen Burns, directly from the author
Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family, by Amy Tiemann, Ph.D. (Amy’s blog was one of the earliest occupants of my Google Reader), thanks to Jessica Chun at Penguin USA/Gotham Books
The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff, for an upcoming TLC Book Tour
Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace, by Ayelet Waldman, an ARC I actually requested myself (via a click-through ad in Shelf Awareness), which is only worth noting because I almost never do that

Birthday Dispensation Shopping Spree, It’s Almost Easter edition:
The Only True Genius in the Family, by Jennie Nash
Serendipity, by Louise Shaffer
The Doctor’s Wife, by Elizabeth Brundage

What new books have arrived at your place recently?


Tuesday Thingers: Questions for LibraryThing users, hosted at Wendi’s Book Corner

We have looked at the widgets section on Library Thing before, but it appears that Library Thing has added an all-new widget building page, with more options than ever, including the ability to customize your widget, chose colors, animate your books so they change every 5, 10, 15, etc seconds, add your Amazon Associates ID, have your widget show a portion of your review and/or your rating, and much more!!

You can visit the LT blog to learn even more with their Widgets Get a Lot Better post!! OR . . . you can run over and play with your widget now by going here!!

Questions: Do you have a LT widget on your blog? If so, what is your favorite thing about it? Have you had a chance to go see the all new widget building page, and if so, have you built a new widget? If so, what do you like about it?

My Answer: You won’t know this unless you actually go to my blog to see it, but yes, I do have a LibraryThing widget in my sidebar. I’ve had one for quite a while, but as soon as I read about the new widgets, I had to go over and check them out! I built a new one, but it’s not heavily customized – I just chose the options I liked for one of the basic widgets. The animations are cool, but I decided not to include them in my widget, since I wasn’t sure if they might slow down my page load time, and I’ve got quite a few widgets already. I like the fact that the new widget shows my tags and ratings (for the books that have them) – I think that makes it more informative. When I get a chance, I may go back and tweak the display options a little more, but I’m not sure I want to build my own…yet. I like that LT has given us so many new widget options, though!


Booking Through Thursday: “The Numbers Game” 

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This was one of the very first questions ever at Booking Through Thursday, from 2005 when Laura owned the blog, but because it was so new, it didn’t get as many responses as it does now … so, why not revisit?
Here’s the question:
Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…
  1. Are you currently reading more than one book?
  2. If so, how many books are you currently reading?
  3. Is this normal for you?
  4. Where do you keep your current reads?
Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

I could just direct you to Rebecca‘s post at The Book Lady’s Blog, because I’m going to say pretty much the same thing she did (although she said it better), but I probably really should answer this myself.

But if Deb can go back to an earlier BTT post for the question, I can return to one for my answer:

I’ve known people who have their “bedside” book, their “traveling” book, and their “waiting in line” book all going at once. I’ve tried that kind of thing, and I’m not good at it at all. It works a little better if they’re different types of books – one fiction, one non-fiction – but I can’t do more than two at once, and I always drift more toward one than the other anyway, so one book at a time really works better for me. But since I’ll usually start the next book just as soon as I finish one, I guess you could call me a “chain reader” or a “serial (book) monogamist.”

I am currently reading just one book, which is normal for me. I’m lucky I can keep up with that pace sometimes, to tell you the truth. I take whatever book I’m reading with me everywhere, since I never know when I’ll find a few minutes on my hands, and I’d rather spend them reading than staring into space. I read every night before I go to sleep, but if I had one book set aside just for reading in bed, it would take me weeks to finish it – my eyes would start closing too soon for me to get very far each time I picked it up.

Occasionally I will have two books in progress at once, but what that usually means is that I’ve put one book on hold before finishing it because I have another that I need to read for a deadline, rather than actively going back and forth between them.

Are you a reading juggler, or do you stick with one book at a time?


Friday Fill-ins #119

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Last week, Anonymous left this comment: “*sighs* The last two of these have sucked royally…I love this thing, but now I’m having to go back in the archives and find ones that aren’t totally ridiculous and moronic…“. This week, I’m dedicating #1 to Anonymous 🙂

And…here we go!

1. Anonymous…oh, never mind. I was taught not to say anything if I couldn’t say something nice. (But have the guts to leave your name next time!)

2. Every day is a winding road (or so said Sheryl Crow, at any rate)

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, and then you will kindly get the heck out of my way.

4. The few weeks of greenery before it all turns brown for the summer what I look forward to most about Spring. (Here in Southern California, summer is the dry – very dry – season.)

5. Who needs therapy when you have a blog and a few good friends?

6. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to nothing in particular (but Katie’s looking forward to a sleepover with her two best friends), tomorrow my plans include coffee with my sister, and the day’s pretty open after that and Sunday, I want to make it back home from Mom-in-law’s before dark!

Hope you’ve got some nice plans for your weekend!

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15 comments

  1. I get to work midnights all weekend. I’m so excited! 🙂

    Did you ever notice how Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups taste better in Easter egg shape? Or is it just me? 🙂

    Have a good Easter!

  2. Sherrie – Thanks for stopping by!

    Kathy (Bermudaonion) – I’m so glad I can buy books again :-). I bought one at Target this evening, actually! (Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner is just out in paperback, and she’s one of the few chick-lit writers I really like.)

    Amber – Blog therapy – it’s the new thing :-). And Reese’s are the only candy I really like, so I CAN’T forget them!

    Anna – Since it’s for a blog tour, I know exactly when you’ll see it here: June 15. I’ve seen so many good reviews of the book around the blogs that I eagerly volunteered for the tour!

    Janet – Same to you and yours!

    Kiva – Fire season: always something to look forward to, isn’t it?

    Mike – You have the worst luck with your schedule sometimes, don’t you? Bummer about the midnight shifts, but hope you have a good Easter anyway!

    And I totally agree with you; Reese’s do taste better when they’re egg-shaped, for some reason.

  3. I look forward to your thoughts on The Doctor’s Wife if/when you read it. I enjoyed Somebody Else’s Daughter quite a lot (I remember you reviewed it as well) and have been wanting to read this one as well.

  4. Amy – Reading Somebody Else’s Daughter was what made me want to go back for this one, too. Of course, since this is now one of “my own” books, there’s no telling when I’ll actually get to read it :-)!

  5. I define TBR as the same way you do–books I actually own. However, I do keep a list of them. It helps me better keep track of them since I have so many. I have a couple of different wish lists, one being Amazon. I am very bad about keeping either one updated.

    I look forward to reading your thoughts on The 19th Wife, Florinda. Looks like you will be busy reading for awhile. 🙂

    I need to go over to LT and check out the new widgets. I hadn’t known they’d been updated until I started reading people’s respenses to this week’s question.

    Like you, I prefer to read one book at a time, and whatever I am reading is the book that goes with me everywhere. I do sometimes read two at once, but not very often.

    I love your responses to the Friday Fill-Ins. 🙂 I love Reese’s Peaunut Butter cups.

    I hope you are having a great weekend, Florinda.

  6. Wendy (Literary Feline) – I use my “to be read” tag on LibraryThing for my unread books, and it’s been really helpful. I need to do something about keeping track of my wish list in one central location, though.

    Review books seem to come in spurts. Few of them grab me for a while, and then there’s a rush of them! I’m going to need to start saying “no” again soon, though. I do still have the RYOB Challenge to think of :-)!

    The new LT widgets are very cool. I hope to see one up your blog soon!

    Reese’s are the only candy I really like. I can resist almost anything else.

    I hope you’re enjoying the weekend, Wendy!

  7. Wendi – Thanks :-). I tried to think about what info I’d like to see about someone else’s books on a widget, and I think the color is a default. I’ll probably go back and tweak it some more when I get a chance. Meanwhile, I’ll be playing with my library style so I can tell you about that!