Beth Fish Reads: BLOB Game

Total Books and Current Status

Since January 1, I've finished 18 books, and abandoned 1. In February, I posted 11 full reviews and no mini-reviews. I also posted 1 movie review and 5 recipes. I am totally caught up on my reviews! I am currently reading Little Bee by Chris Cleave and Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham and finishing listening to An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor.

What Did I Read and Review?

Here's what I reviewed in February. Click on the link to see my review; the letter in parentheses is my rating.

Full Reviews / Readalongs

Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (B+)
Cocktail Time by Sandra Lee (B-)
The Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas (C-)
Double Eagle by Sneed B. Collard III (B+)
The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. Tolkien (discussion post #1, #2, #3)
The Night Is for Hunting by John Marsden (B+)
Rose by Jeff Smith (B)
So Easy by Ellie Krieger (B+)
Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (B+)
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (B)
Where's Catkin? by Janet Lord & Julie Paschkis (B+)

Spotlights / Teasers

American Rust by Philipp Meyer
The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger
Don't Miss Books for February
The Help by Kathyrn Stockett
An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor
The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming
Life's That Way by Jim Beaver
The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond
I'm Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph

Movie Reviews

Babette's Feast

Recipes

I thought I had a great reading month; I posted a ton (for me) of reviews and spotlights and enjoyed every book I featured. My favorite of the month is probably my old friend The Fellowship of the Rings.

Literary Road Trip, Author Interviews, Guest Posts

I was pleased to conduct a interview with Jillian Cantor as part of the Literary Road Trip series.
I hope you didn't miss the guest post by Sneed B. Collard III on his transition from biologist to author.
I loved the guest post by Philipp Meyer on being a full-time writer.
Did you give Judith Moffett her Pennsylvania credentials after reading her wonderful guest post for the Literary Road trip?
Thanks to Johanna Moran for her guest post telling us the story behind The Wifes of Henry Oades.

Did I Complete Any Challenges? Join Any New Ones?

Yes, sigh, I joined one more challenge: the Ireland Reading Challenge hosted by Carrie from Books and Movies.

It is never to late to join The Amy Einhorn Books challenge, which I am hosting.

I am also hosting What's in a Name? 3, which started January 1. We have 226 participants and 111 reviews. Visit the challenge blog for more information, to sign up, and to find links to the reviews. I'm thrilled with the progress challenge participants are making.

A Few More Activities

I posted my top-ten tips for those attending Book Expo of America (BEA) in May.

I am still participating in the Lord of the Rings Readalong. The book for February was the The Fellowship of the Ring and the discussion was hosted by Clare from The Literary Omnivore.

I am excited to have been asked to be a SheKnows Book Club Blogger for the new SheKnows book club.

I announced the unique and exciting book tour for C. J. West (New England readers, be sure to take a look).

I announced the new editions of one of my favorite books from 2009: Willow by Julia Hoban.

I participated in Harper Teen's 28 Days of Winter, posting an interview with Carrie Vaughn.

Oh yes! The results of the BLOB game: Amy from My Friend Amy, squeezed by me at the last minute (dang those time zones!) and so I am the BLOB loser! In truth, I did not buy a single book in February. I acquired 10 books (pitches, giveaways, library) and gave away 35. My final score was -36. I am totally satisfied with my score and my results; anyone who ended up with negative points (all of us) was a winner. We were supposed to convert any positive scores into dollars to give to a charity. I have decided to give $36 to my library anyway.

What's New and What's Coming in March

I have about four guest posts and Literary Road Trip posts coming up. As well as a couple of blog tours.

I changed my commenting system to Intense Debate, which allows for threaded comments. I had one glitch (for a few hours no one could comment) and I'm still working on getting my top commenter's widget to update. But I am basically pleased with the system. I hope you are too.

March is my busiest month of the year. I will be posting and I'll be on Twitter, but I may not be commenting very much. By the second week in April, I'll be back to normal work hours, and you'll see comments from me all over the place!

And Now for You

How was your February?
Did you meet your reading goals?
Are you caught up on your reviews?
Are you making changes?

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Ah, Twitter, friend or foe? I haven't figured that out yet.

But one of the most fun and coolest ideas I've been privileged to egg on is the Biggest Loser of Books—otherwise known as the BLOB Game.

Was Amy (My Friend Amy) feeling at a loss because the Game On Diet was ending? Was Dawn (She Is Too Fond of Books) looking for a clever new hashtag (#BLOB)? Was Nicole (Linus's Blanket) feeling the effects of living upstairs from bookstore? Perhaps Jen (Devourer of Books) was thinking about the boxes of books she'll have to move later this year. I think Natasha (Vasilly at 1330v) was feeling sorry for her poor neglected TBR pile. Me? I just needed to get a grip.

Thus Amy proposed the BLOB Game; the rest of us pitched in with the fine tuning

The timing: The month of February.

The object: Read through the books already in your house; don't let new books through the door.

The scoring: The following points are earned for each new book in February.

Impulse buy: 10 points
Coercing someone into buying you gift / buying book for someone else (not): 10 points
Snagging a book on a swap site: 5 points
Requesting a review copy (including Shelf Awareness): 5 points
Considered buy: 5 points
Saying yes to a review copy (pitched): 3 points
Checking a book out from the library (any medium): 3 points
Winning a giveaway or contest: 3 points
Entering a giveaway or contest: 1 point
Unsolicited review copy and genuine gift: 0 points

There is only one way to neutralize a book acquisition:

Give a book a permanent new home (gift it, donate it, send it packing): -2 points

So what happens at the end of the month? Who wins? What does she get?

Donating to charity: Each point is worth $1. At the end of the month, the player is to add up her points and then donate the equivalent money to the charity/organization of her choice. I will be giving my check (assuming I have accumulated points!) to my local library.

Who wins? She with the lowest score wins!

The prize: The losers pledge to buy the winner a drink or meal or something foodie at BEA. We'll need to give our arms and backs a break from carrying around all those new books. (I see a June BLOB Game in our future.)

Let the BLOB Game begin!

⇒ ⇒ She with the lowest score wins! ⇐ ⇐

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