Category Archives: Blog

Feature & Follow (#101) – Best Father Figures

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Welcome to the Feature & Follow Hop, hosted by Parajunkee’s View and Alison Can Read! Let’s all discover some new blogs and gain some new followers, shall we?

If you’re new to my blog, I’d love it if you could follow via one of my options in the sidebar (Linky, Networked Blogs, email or RSS). You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook as a bonus, but as part of the hop, following the blog itself would be great! I’ve also got a snazzy button. Feel free to grab it.

As always, if you are following, please let me know your follow method in the comments and I will follow you back!

First things first: As most of you are probably well aware, last week was the 100th week of the Feature & Follow, and to celebrate, many of us participants hosted giveaways. My giveaway was for two bookmarks signed by Amy Plum, author of Die for Me and Until I Die. My feature was Sarah from Breaking the Binding, and she and I both thank you for entering!

Without any further ado, the winner IS:

Jennifer M. from Some Like it Paranormal!

Congratulations Jennifer! Jennifer has been contacted by email, and I’ll be shipping out her bookmarks ASAP.

Now, moving on! The topic for this week is Best Father Figures in Books, in honor of Father’s Day on Sunday.

(P.S. Happy almost-Father’s Day to all the dads out there, especially my husband and my dad! *waves*)

This topic is great, but challenging. Why? Because for some reason, the dad is always dead. Seriously. Okay, maybe not dead, but the dad is always dead or absent or detached, and that isn’t great. But I did come up with a few examples of great father figures (not necessarily fathers, because, as I said, the dad is always dead) in the world of books!

Every Adult Male Character in Harry Potter Who is Not a Death Eater

Honestly, Harry Potter is chock full of awesome dads and father figures. From the actual dads of Arthur Weasley, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and yes, even Harry himself (we’ll overlook the fact that he stuck his kid with the unfortunate name “Albus Severus”); to the symbolic father figures in Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin again, and even Hagrid to an extent, the Potterverse is a celebration of strong parental figures. Heck, even Malfoy has his moments.

Hans Hubermann in The Book Thief

Raise your hand if Hans Hubermann was your favorite character in The Book Thief.
[Looks around]
[Sees everyone’s hand raised]
I thought so.

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird

Atticus has his work cut out for him. He has to teach his daughter Scout about honesty, racism, integrity, and standing up for what is right in the face of adversity, while at the same time working to keep her safe. Raising a strong-willed little girl is hard enough without having to battle lynch mobs and rampant prejudice.

Henri in I am Number Four

Henri may only have been John’s Cêpan and not his father, but he raised John like a son, taught him the best he could, and fought with all his might to protect him. Sounds pretty father-ish to me.

 

Charlie Swan in Twilight

Hey look! It’s the only decent role model in Twilight! He may be a bit awkward, but he tries so hard to do right by his infuriating daughter. He does his best to protect her, build up her sense of self-worth, encourage her to find friends, and persuade her to not plot the course of her whole life around some guy she just met.

Yeah, Bella throws all his fatherly wisdom out the window and does what she wants anyway, but dangit, at least he tried.

 

Throwback Thursday (June 14) – Christy

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Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Christy by Catherine Marshall.

I first read this book when the TV show aired in while I was in high school. It is the story of Christy Huddleston, a 19-year-old schoolteacher determined to make a difference in the lives of the children living in the rustic Appalachian village of Cutter Gap in 1912. As she struggles to educate the children, her work impacts the entire community as she battles their superstitions, primitive practices, and prejudices. Meanwhile, her heart is torn between two suitors: the dashing young preacher, and the reserved town doctor.

I have to admit, I loved this series when it aired, and when I found out it was based on a book (which, as a bit of trivia, is based on the life of Catherine Marshall’s mother), I knew I had to read it. The story is sweet, inspiring, frustrating, and romantic (it seems the love triangle was popular even in 1967). Catherine Marshall’s descriptions of Cutter Gap are vivid, and the variety of characters that inhabit the village range from humorous to heartbreaking.

While I loved reading about Christy’s attempts to bring education and civilization to Cutter Gap, my favorite part of this story was the love triangle (something that is normally my least favorite part of a book). I loved both the passionate preacher David Grantland and the solemn Dr. Neill MacNeill, and I found myself nearly as torn as Christy between them. (I won’t tell you who she chooses, but as an additional bit of trivia, in real life, Catherine Marshall’s mother chose the other guy!)

Christy is a sweet and beautiful story of faith, friendship, hope and love. I’d recommend it any time you want to feel warm, fluffy feelings.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!

Top Ten Tuesday (June 12): Beach Reads

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Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by the fabulous folks over at The Broke and the Bookish!

In celebration of summer and sun and flip-flops, this week’s topic is:

Top Ten Books I’d Recommend As Good Beach Reads

Of course, I live in a completely land-locked state, so I’m going to have to think of these as pool reads instead of beach reads, but the concept is the same. Minus the sand and the salt.

Also, please forgive me for being a bit dense, but I’ve never understood the concept of “beach reads.” I will personally just take whatever book I’m currently reading to the beach and continue reading it. My reading environment plays a very small role in my reading selection.

So, that said, I tried to think of books that I enjoyed, and that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen reading in public, in a bathing suit. Because being in a bathing suit in public…that’s enough. I also tried to pick books that wouldn’t evoke any serious freak-outs, like ugly-crying. You could possibly do a dignified single-tear-trickle with a couple of these, but that’s not so bad in public.

I’m kind of all over the place with this list, genre-wise. We’re going to assume that’s okay.

 

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Gifted by Liz Long

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Do you have books you designate as “beach reads?” And what does that mean? Please help me clear up this mystery.


Armchair BEA: Ask the Experts!

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It’s the final day of Armchair BEA, so THE MADNESS is about to end. (Are you relieved?) Maybe I’ll even be able to post a book review again! Imagine that!

Actually, the reason I haven’t posted a review this week is because I’ve been working on the same one since Monday. I’m having a hard time putting my thoughts into words. I really should just take a break from it and review a different book, since I’m holding about 5 reviews hostage in my brain right now. But it’s my Everest. I must conquer it.

(And now I definitely can’t tell you what book it is, because you’re going to expect the review to be EPIC, and it won’t be).

So today’s topic is “Ask the Experts,” where we offer advice about blogging, and also pose any questions we may have, in the hopes that someone with answers will stop by and help us out.

Since I’m a pretty new blogger, I’ll have a lot more questions than answers, but I do have some tips that have already helped me get noticed (on a very small scale, but again, everyone has to start somewhere!)

  • Twitter. Other social media too, but seriously, if you’re blogging and not utilizing Twitter, you’re missing out.
  • Participate in memes. Not a ton of them. You don’t want to be so caught up in memes that you forget to actually blog about books (she says as she winds up a week of no reviews). But they drive traffic to your site, and like-minded people will probably stay.
  • Be professional. Presenting yourself to publishers, publicists, authors, and other bloggers. No, you don’t have to call everyone on Twitter “Sir” and “Ma’am.” (actually, if you call a 25-year-old blogger “Ma’am,” she may secretly hate you). But you do need to treat others with respect and courtesy. Don’t explode all over yourself with the ALL CAPS and the MANY EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!! Oh, and please, just for my sanity, please don’t use text-speak in your blog post. K thx.
  • Comment, comment, comment. And no, commenting on someone else’s blog with “Hi! Great post! Come follow my blog?” does not count. That’s pretty much spam. But meaningful comments that facilitate discussion help make you part of the community and establish connections with other bloggers.
  • NetGalley. Fantastic resource to get advance digital copies of a lot of books.

Okay, so those are my brief words of wisdom. Now for my questions. If you’re an established blogger (or author, publisher or publicist — I’m not picky) and can shed some light on these topics, I’d love it.

  • How established do I need to be before requesting ARCs from publishers? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE NetGalley and have gotten a ton of great titles from there, and today I finally got my first approval for a book on Edelweiss. But there’s some titles that I KNOW bloggers are receiving ARCs for that I would love to be able to read, and they’re not available on those platforms. But I’m afraid I may still be a little too green to contact the publisher for a print ARC. Should I just bite the bullet? (And yes, I know if I’m dying to read it, I can always buy it upon release. But I prefer to only spend my tiny bit of money on books I love, which entails reading it first, so an ARC would be nice).
  • Speaking of publishers, can anyone say which publishers tend to be willing to send ARCs to bloggers and which ones aren’t? I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, and I can’t always find that information on their FAQ  or Contact pages.
  • Are there any great resources out there I should be utilizing that I’m not?

And that’s it from me. I am still young in the blogging world, and I know these things take time. It’s easy to want to do ALL THE THINGS right away, but honestly, I’m thrilled with how well my blog has done so far.

I’ve been incredibly blessed to have some awesome established bloggers hold my hand and help me out. I’ve been contacted by several self-published authors about reviewing their books, and I’ve enjoyed the ones I have read, and am looking forward to the ones I haven’t. I’m signed up for several upcoming book tours. And I’ve even had a publisher put some faith in my little blog and send me books already.

So I’m really excited about what the future holds for me, my blog, and my bookshelf.

Thanks so much to all the coordinators of Armchair BEA — it’s been a blast!

Feature & Follow Giveaway Hop!

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Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Feature and Follow Hop, hosted by Parajunkee’s View and Alison Can Read!

This week is a little different than usual, because this is the 100th week of Feature & Follow! Huzzah! So to celebrate, the rules have been changed up a bit. First, all the participants will be doing our own features, picking a blog that we want to highlight.

I’m featuring Sarah at Breaking the Binding, because she is awesome and we’re pretty sure we would be best friends if we ever actually met.

Sarah is new to the Feature & Follow, so she wasn’t entirely sure what she was getting into when she agreed to be featured. I decided to ask her the typical F&F questions, so that you can all get to know her a bit!

1. When did you start blogging?

I started blogging in late 2010 (but I think I lost the posts prior to starting my WordPress blog in January 2011). I was finishing up my Children’s and Young Adult lit class for my Masters degree and I had been driving my boyfriend and roommates crazy rambling on about all of the books I was reading. So, after a while of rambling to my boyfriends rather deaf ears, I decided to start a blog as a way to share my thoughts with people who may actually care! I think that boyfriend was rather relieved, as he was not a fan of fiction and didn’t really care to listen to me go on and on about the characters and the authors I adored.

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

My favorite part is simply sharing my thoughts, reactions, and emotions from the books that I read. I mean, it’s so incredible to know that there are people out there who are interested to know why I think Neville Longbottom is the true hero of Harry Potter or why I’m confused by all of the Instalove in YA. Even more so to know that have their own opinions to share on the same topic and it starts a discussion or debate! It’s also so great to know I’m not the only adult who gets lost in a YA novel and wants to gush about how fantastic the characters are.

3. What is your favorite book(s)?

Oh there are so many that it’s so hard to choose! So here are the top few that come to mind when I think of children’s or YA books. The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley has long been one of my favorite fantasy novels, I’ve read it so many times that I’ve lost count. The Harry Potter series is definitely up there as well and I’ve long been a fan of the Little House on the Prairie series. If there’s on book that defines my childhood that’s it.

4. What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

Honestly, I think the best thing has come from Armchair BEA! For the first year and a half of my blogging life I’ve been kinda hovering on the fringes and haven’t really gotten too involved. But participating in this event this really pushed me to meet more bloggers and become more active with commenting on the blogs that I do read regularly. Hopefully these connections will continue on beyond this week and ‘ll have made some new blogging buddies to keep in touch with!

So everyone wave hi to Sarah! Be sure to go check out her blog and let her know you’re following.

And last but not least, what’s a birthday without presents?

So this week is a giveaway hop! All of the feature host blogs will also be hosting giveaways. And mine is two SIGNED bookmarks from Amy Plum, author of Die For Me and Until I Die. One winner will win BOTH bookmarks, which will come in handy if you find yourself reading more than one book at once, like I always end up doing.

Just fill out the Rafflecopter below! Since this is the Feature & Follow, you will be required to follow my blog and Breaking the Binding to enter this giveaway.

Both bookmarks are signed, although for some reason I only flipped one over to show you. I’m a bit of a flake.

Giveaway will run through June 13. U.S. only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway