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Friday, September 3, 2010

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

I've been meaning to post about some things going on (or that already went on) in the blogging world.  So, in order to consolidate things, here they all are together.  

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First, I wanted to mention the excellent Utah Book Blogging Social that took place last Saturday.  It was (as usual) fabulous.  While I didn't meet too many new bloggers (I really should have, though) I did get to chat with some old friends and get introduced to some new-to-me authors.  I will send you to look at Suey of It's All About Books' post with pictures.  This is very brave of me, since her photo of me is dreadful.  I'd love to list a bunch of the folks I met, but perhaps instead I will send you to look at the list that Natasha has created of us.  That will give you an glimpse at our numbers! Can't wait until February when we will hopefully be doing it again.

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Being a librarian, I couldn't help myself from signing up for Steph Su's Banned Books Reading Challenge.  Obviously, the point is to read some books that have been challenged or banned to bring attention to them or to censorship in general.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to get in at least two challenged books between now and October 15.

1. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
2. Blubber by Judy Blume
3. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume

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And I've decided to throw myself into another new challenge.  I loved Lenore's Dystopian August, though I didn't get to appreciate it as much as it deserved while I was on vacation, and so I was super thrilled when Darren announced he was hosting the YA dystopian challenge.  I'm going for a level three wherein I hope to read at least five dystopian books between October 1st and December 19th.  We'll see how that goes!

1. Matched by Ally Condie
2. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
3. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
4. Hunger by Michael Grant
5. Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

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Next up, we have another Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon coming up on October 9th.  I've kind of been in a reading slump, not taking much pleasure in what I read, but doing it anyway for the sake of accomplishing something (and not falling farther behind in my review books).  I'm hoping this will help me get excited again (and not send me over the edge of insanity).  Either way, I'm probably going to take it easy and not attempt too much.  But, I still love to participate!

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And finally, I was super excited to see that the Cybils are getting ready to start again.  Last year, I got to be a judge for the MG/Elementary sci-fi and fantasy category and I simply loved it!  I haven't signed up to be a potential judge again (yet), but I am thinking about it long and hard.  I don't know if I can stop myself!  Either way, you can head to the Cybils main page for more info on the award and on volunteering to judge.   

I think that about does it for me!  Hopefully you survived all that info and are not catatonic.  If so, quickly go read a book or a book review or something. 

And remember that at least I did not include my kitchen sink.

9 comments :

  1. Sounds like you've been busy! I'll be doing the readathon with you!

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  2. I will probably join Bart's dystopian challenge too. I can't wait for the read-a-thon!

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  3. Dang it! You just had to mention the YA dystopian challenge, didn't you? Now, I'm going to have to go right over and sign up. The last thing I need is another challenge to contend with. Ack! I should really stop reading this blog :)

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  4. Hey, the picture I took of you is just fine!

    The Cybils thing scares me so I decided not to. Maybe one of these years.

    Sad about not "taking pleasure" in what you are reading lately. I think you should just drop everything you've been doing and start something totally and completely new! Well, anyway, hopefully things will pick up.

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  5. Amused, I'm getting more excited for it, I think!

    Stephanie, I'm super excited about the dystopian challenge too!

    Susan, ah haha! My evil plan worked. JK. I'm with you on not reading blogs anymore, because my TBR pile is ridiculous. Not to mention my "oh, I should read that sometime" list.

    Suey, I was scared at first, but I was a second round judge and it wasn't too bad at all. I really ought to drop everything and pick up something I really want to read right now. I'm working on that spontaneity. I'm too much of a by the list type of person. Sigh.

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  6. Sounds as if you'll be really busy. I signed up for the Banned Books challenge as well and look forward to reading your reviews.

    Speaking of dystopian, have you checked out Beth Revis yet?

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  7. Yat-Yee, thanks. I haven't read anything of hers yet, but I hear wonderful things about Across the Universe. I read that first chapter and I'm pretty much hooked! I wonder if she's written other things before, because I thought this was her debut...

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  8. Welcome aboard! Really hope you enjoy the challenge. You've got some fantastic books listed there! Thanks for taking part. :)

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  9. Thanks, Darren, I'm very excited about it!

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