Po(sey) Sessions

Just watched this and found it fascinating. I think I have more to say than this is awesome/scary but I am not processing more thoughts than that right now. Hope to find some time to ponder on this more at a later time. For now, would love to hear your thoughts!

  I have been trying to cut down on some of the books that I own.  I have A LOT of books and I would like to continue having LOTS of books, but I am trying to be realistic about how many books I can have and how many I will actually read. I have identified adult contemporary and historical fiction as being a little low on my reading totem pole.  I have decided to sort through those types of books and discard any of the ones I feel l am pretty unlikely to read ever/any time soon. Some books I know will be readily available in ebook format at the point in which I do decide to read them. Other books I know I will never read, that they were an error in judgment to get in the first place. A lot of time I am lured in more by the price of a book than by its contents.   Considering this there are still books I really feel like I want to read, but I need to get to them soon. So I have a pile of about 20 or so books that I am setting aside with the caveat that any that...

Every year as it draws closer to the next I start to reflect on what I have read and what I want to read. I always make a lot of goals but I am not very good at following through with them.  This year I am trying to make some easier goals that fall more in line with my natural reading, rather than expanding out to read something new.  In the past I have tried to read more book with characters from diverse ethnic backgrounds and while I now have used that experience to help inform future reading choices I don’t want to worry about focusing on reading a certain number of books in a year.  Also diversity is hard to find when it comes to science fiction specifically, there are very few books that really deal with race or show other cultures and it is even harder to know which ones those will be going into the reading.   This year I know I am going to be reading a few more fairytale retellings than I have in the past few years. This has been an interest of mine for a ...

    Well, I have had another bad reading week. Before this week I have been steadily reading and finishing books but I think Thanksgiving threw a wrench in everything and I haven’t quite recovered yet. As fun as it is to get together with friends and family during the holidays, it sure does cut into my reading time. We were out of town for a few days before Thanksgiving and I actually read more late at night while we were staying with family than I have since we got home. There is something about night in a quiet house that isn’t your own that makes you want to seek out comfort in a book.   When it comes to the holidays do you read different types of books? I think sometimes I am a little bah humbug about it all because I am a bit of a minimalist when it comes to holidays. I don’t want a lot of what I am reading to reflect what is going on in my real life, though  I am considering reading Let It Snow if I have time before the end of the year.  I really fe...

  The Christmas tree is one the most standard traditions of Christmas. Yet, it is interesting to think about all the variations that each family can make on a single tradition. There are age old questions like real or artificial? When and how to decorate? What is the right size? Growing up I had the opportunity to see a whole variety of traditions even within a single Christmas.     Christmas Tree Tradition One As a child we always had friends over while we decorated the tree. We would put on music and serve lots of great finger foods. For some people this may be more of a day spent with just family, but since it was just me and my mom we loved having everyone come over and visit.  My mom had about a million Christmas ornaments. Some I had made through various school projects over the years, some she had brought home from her travels in other countries, some were antiques, and other were gifts.  Every year we had a live tree. We would usually go to...

Today I am examining myself as a reader and book buyer. I was thinking about writing a Sunday Salon post today since it has been a while since I contributed. Even though I am in the middle of a few good books I wanted to post about something with a little more substance. I didn’t have any ideas so I pushed the post to the back of my mind and got on with my chores for the day. I am rearranging and reorganizing all the things in my family room. This room has become a bit of the junk collection room over the past few months. Also I have decided (for the first time EVER) that I have too many books and I need to get rid of at least SOME books. I already went through one book shelf on a surface level and boxed up some questionable purchases from my college years that were clearly not worth the time or effort any long. What inspired this book culling? Even though I have long been AGAINST reading ebooks, I am now faced with the fact that I have well over 5000 books with more I want ...

This holiday season there are so many reasons to be thankful. I am thankful for my two wonderful children who bring so much joy and have so much love to share with me. They are getting to an age when we can share more of our reading experiences with each other. My 6 year old is right on the verge of reading on her own and my 8 year old reluctant reader is helping me find the keys to unlock her joy of reading. Besides these wonderful moments we have reading together there are other moments of laughter and togetherness that could never be described in words. Moments, smiles, and hugs that mean more than words could every say. I am thankful for books which entertain and enrich me. This year I have not read as many books as I usually do but I still love the idea of reading them. Of talking about them. Of buying them. Of meeting authors. And sharing books with people I care about. Stories and books have such an amazing ability to transpor...

One of the reasons why I haven’t been reading or blogging is that I have way more to read than I could ever get around to and sometimes this overwhelms me. And other times LIFE overwhelms me.  After spending a little bit too much time sitting around and watching TV I decided it was time to get back to reading, and to my friends on Twitter .   But like I was saying, I am not lacking for books to read.  The thought of them definitely does something beyond overwhelm me, but after just a few days back visiting with my friends on Twitter, that TBR list is growing even more.   I have always been interested in Blood Red Road and even downloaded it from Galley Grab but I didn’t get to start it before it expired.  Of all the electronic books I didn’t get to review this past year, this on is probably the one I think I might have missed out on the most.  But when I heard @ReadingFever praising it on twitter the book quickly jumped back on my radar. I really ...

It is true. I have caught a case of the Ick, just a short while after getting over a stomach thing I now have a cold thing.  And for the past few days I have felt like death warmed over.  But whether I feel 100% or not my invalid time is almost over since soon I will have to pick up my girlies and do my ever important mommy time.  Which doesn’t particularly mix with invalid time. But don't feel too bad for me because the week was filled with book shopping and I have some author events coming up I don't plan on missing.     I love Scholastic book fairs.  I always have, and I hope I always will. In the  fall there is a regular priced fair that acts like a fund raiser for our school.  Now that I understand the workings of this better I can appreciate buying a few full priced books.  But it will not surprise many people that I love the buy one get one free fairs even more. This fair we got more books than we ever had before.  Unfortun...

I had never heard of author Julie Wright until LTUE 2010 (last year and my first time attending). She kept talking about this one book that I could not wait to read called Hazardous Universe .  I remember clearly even now Julie’s bubbly personality and I loved hearing what she had to say about writing. I knew I wanted to read a book by her.  But as it usually goes for me, I never did.  Now I am going to get my chance because Hazardous Universe will be here in just a few days.  There is even a launch party that I wish I could go to, but just because I can’t doesn’t mean YOU can’t!   The book launch is at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Murray UT. On the corner of 5300 S and State St on Wednesday, March 9th from 6-8 pm.   Julie and coauthor Kevin Wasden will be there to sign books and be part of other wonderful festivities.  I am super excited that the book is here.  It is the first in a series and I think it has a pretty fabulous cover. ...

I am so happy that there have been so many entries into my giveaway for Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon . Unfortunately these entries also broke my commenting system on the entry post.  But not to worry, I have email copies of all the entries.   I did want to clarify a few points of the giveaway and add some other details.   The giveaway is for 5 copies of Silver Phoenix . While I am excited for the release of Fury of the Phoenix , I do not have any copies of the book to giveaway at this time.           As long as Book Depository ships to your country this giveaway is open internationally .  While at least one copy of the book will be awarded through random drawing, other copies of the book can be awarded at any time for any reason.   Here is a list of the entrants so far, if you think you have entered but don’t see your name on the list, please go to the original post and comment again using the blogger comment s...