Monthly Wrap Up: April 2009
Total Books and Current Status
Since January 1, I've read 32 books. And 32 reviews have been posted. I'm currently reading The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje as my main book. I'm listening to the first in a YA series: The Luxe by Anna Godbersen.
What Did I Read?
Here's what I read in April. Click on the link to see my review; the letter in parentheses is my rating.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (A)
Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clemment (B-)
The Killing Tree by Rachael Keener (A-)
Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson (A)
Zamora's Ultimate Challenge by M. K. Scott (B+)
A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow (B-)
Did I Complete Any Challenges? Join Any New Ones?
I managed to complete one challenge this month. Click on the challenge title to see my wrap-up post.
Audiobooks
And, yes, I did join a new challenge. Click on the title to read all about it.
Cozy Mystery
And Some Changes and Goals for May
I've decided to cut back a bit on my memes. I have committed to Tuesday Teasers/It's Tuesday Where Are You? For these memes I highlight my current print book. I love the Thursday Tea meme, and I'm using it to highlight my current audiobook. I picked these memes because they focus on the books I'm reading and allow me to write a kind of mini-review or reading in progress paragraph.
I will still participate in other memes when the mood hits, but for now I'm going to try to limit myself to just the two. Oh, but I will continue to post my Wednesday photo.
Also coming up in May is the addition of tabs (they are working on my test blog), a review policy, and complete lists of the book reviews on this site by genre, author, and title. And I plan to link all my reviews to Glue. I'm hoping to get all that done this month.
How did you do in April? Did you meet your reading goals? Did you complete a challenge? Are you caught up on your reviews? Are you making changes?
19 comments:
As I was reading, I was saying in my head "oh I hope she still does her Wordless Wednesday!!!". Thank you. I look forward to them. I only participate in two memes, and they aren't even book oriented. I truly enjoy your Tuesday memes and the Thursday tea one you're doing. I was going to start BTT, but honestly? I read about twenty of them, and I decided that the world really didn't need one more.
I think I counted 13 books this month. Not bad! I just had to get past the Gone With the Wind marathon. I'm doing pretty respectably with my challenges too. I will probably post a mid-year update on those.
Way to go Beth! Ooooh, I'm excited about the new blog look - I can't wait until the unveiling. :D
I'm impressed that you're so caught up on reviews! I've read 2 books I'm not even going to bother to review, have 5 reviews to write, and have about 5-10 unpublished reviews.
Sandy: not giving up on my photos!! As far as memes: I am trying to focus more on my reading that books in general. I have only so much time.
Nely: it will be same template, just some extras!
Jen: you read sooooo much more than I do. I read all day for work so I just can then turn around and read for 4 or 5 hours more at night. I try to write my review within 48 hours of finishing.
You and I continue to be on the same wavelength: I'm working on my reviews by author, title, genre, and location!
I've read only one more book than you but then I was a reader for the read-a-thon and you were a cheerleader. (Thanks again for that.)
I find your decision on memes interesting. In my blog reading I've been noticing that so many blogs are primarily daily memes and I find my interest waning. So I said to myself - do I have the same problem? Some memes are just plain fun to do (2 Tuesday Teasers and I love Wondrous Words). I find the Weekly Geeks question usually a good creative writing assignment. Good decision, in my opinion.
I'm in the process of figuring out header tabs myself! And I agree with you on the memes. I have slowly but surely been weeding a few of them out. As for reviews, I did fantastic at keeping them up the first 3 months of the year, and then fell off the bandwagon last month. Too much going on, I guess!
April didn´t go quite as planned as I joined an online writing course, but at least I have finished my first cozy mystery review. Only five to go now.
Looks like you did a great job keeping up with your reviews and congratulations on reading 32 books. I've been considering the question myself of limiting the memes and blogging time. Sounds like a good idea.
Looking forward to your new blog features ... always fun when you can find reviews easier. Sometimes I like to hunt for them after I've read the book myself. : )
I'm cutting back on memes as well!
You're so industrious Beth. I don't do many regular memes - just don't find the time - try to do Weekly Geeks and Sunday Salon but only manage them every 2-3 weeks now.
As I'm starting up my blog, I've been debating whether to include any of the memes and whether to take on any challenges.
I do tend to enjoy the Tuesday Teasers, so I might start that at some point. The cozy mystery challenge also sounds like fun.
For the next month, I think I'll just stick to reviews and what's up with my book clubs, then see where I'm at!
Thanks for your blog, I really enjoy it.
I've read 58 books since the beginning of the year but I've only reviewed 19 of them. :( Hopefully by posting one review a day I can eventually get caught up before the end of the year!
Looks like you had a good reading month and congrats on completing a challenge!
I'm impressed that you are caught up with your reviews. There are several books I heard this year that I really didn't know what to say about them, so I decided to skip writing a review.
Thirteen Reasons Why is one that I hope to read soon. I've heard good things about the Luxe series. May be I check it out.
Cathy: It's spooky sometimes!
Margot: I think it's too easy to fall in the habit of doing memes and not having either original content or reviews. I'm hoping this will force me to get more reading and reviewing done.
Penny: I've been fooling around with the tabs and I think I have what I want on the test blog. I try to review within 48 hours of finishing a book.
Dorte: Your writing course sounds great and it's natural it would cut into reading time.
Robin: thanks.
Jenners: I agree.
Swapna: It seems that there are tons of them now.
Benadette: Weekly Geeks and Sunday Salon are great because they generate original content.
Imbookigit: Memes are a great way to discover new blogs and to get your own blog noticed. I think almost all of started out participating in a lot of memes. Once you hit your stride and have some personal goals, the memes seem to fall to the wayside.
Tink: I joined the review every book you read challenge, so that's my motivation to stay on top of it. But I've read only half the books you have.
Shon: You won't be sorry to read either 13 Reasons or The Luxe. Completely different books, but both are great.
I'm late to the ball, but I think you handled this really well.
I usually post a "review" of books that I have not finished. I f I have read far enough in them I will post a short synopsis of what I read, since I usually don't do spoilers in that anyway. I also link to other reviews. Usually if I don't finish a book I have valid reasons because I hate not finishing books, and I think it's fair that people know why I had such trouble with it. Mine usually isn't the only opinion out there and I trust that anyone interested in reading the boo will do their own research as well to make an informed opinion.
You're doing very well, Beth! I've not completed any one of my challenges yet!
You've been a busy reader! I only participate in Mailbox Monday, and sometimes it's hard finding time for that. Congrats on completing the challenge!
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
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