Friday Memes!

Welcome to Friday!  Today, I will answer questions posed by Parajunkee, Melissa @ i swim for oceans, Ginger @ GReads, and Jennifer @ Crazy-for-Books.  Feel free to answer these questions yourself either below in the comments or on your own website by joining the memes via the linked websites!

Follow Friday (Parajunkee)

If you could "unread" a book, which one would it be?  Is it because you want to start over and experience it again for the first time or is it because it was THAT bad?

This one is rather difficult... my go-to answer is Harry Potter, because I'd love to experience reading them for the first time and sweating out what was going to happen to Harry.  But I want to throw out a different title for you, because I predict that a number of bloggers will put forth this answer as well.  I think I'd want to  unread "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer.  It's one of my very favorite books and I would love to read it again for the first time.  It's suspenseful and it makes me nervous for the characters.  

Let's Talk (i swim for oceans)

Question: Do you prefer real books or those on your e-Reader?  Why?

I don't have an e-Reader that I can hold really... my library does this thing where I can instantly check out books electronically (audio books too) and then read or listen to them on my computer, which is very neat.  I love "real" books because I like the feeling of turning pages and holding something in my hands-- feeling the weight of something there.  As for e-Reader books, I like the convenience of not having to carry fifty pounds of books everywhere I go.  Just the ten pounds, give or take, that makes up my laptop.  So, I guess I'm going with the very neutral answer of "both."  

TGIF (GReads)

Authors Are Our Celebrities: Have you even contacted an author you admired?  How did that experience go?  If not, which author would love to have a chat with?

I attempted to contact John Green at one point in time so that I could give a shot at interviewing people for this blog.  But I think there were a couple of problems...

1. I did this when I wasn't a "big name" blogger.  I'm still not a big name blogger when compared to bloggers like Parajunkee.  

2. I tried to contact a pretty well-known author who is busy with things like writing and co-running the Vlogbrothers channel on YouTube.  These are two very big undertakings on his part.  

3. I'm not so sure the email I found for him worked... I couldn't view the website very well either, so that makes me think that he's changed his email since then and has decided to keep it private (totally understandable).

If I could, I would love to talk to him in person at a Nerdfighter convention of some sort.  I would also like to talk to authors like Susan Beth Pfeffer (since she's a blogger, this might be easier) and J.K. Rowling (this will be much more difficult than contacting John Green).

The Blog Hop (Crazy-for-Books)

Blogging Question: Do you immediately write a review upon finishing a book or do you wait and write multiple reviews at once?

I try to write reviews for books I have finished immediately after finishing the book and then scheduling it, but lately, things haven't worked out this way.  I have a number of books ready to review in my drafts folder, but some of these books either haven't been finished yet or I haven't worked up the motivation to write them yet.  Seeing as I don't have to work today, I think that I will devote my early afternoon to writing a few and getting them scheduled for the next couple of weeks.  Also to reading.  I haven't read anything almost all week long... I hate that.

Feel free to leave your web address below and I will try my best to come by and visit your blog today!  

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Friday Memes!

Welcome to Friday!  I hope your weeks were fairly low-key (the best kind of week!).  Today, I'm going to answer the questions for Follow Friday, The Blog Hop, TGIF, and Let's Talk all brought to you by Parajunkee, Jennifer @ Crazy for Books, Ginger @ GReads, and Melissa @ i swim for oceans.  If you'd like to answer the questions yourself, I will leave links for you to click upon.  Let's get started!

Follow Friday

Summer Break is upon us!  What would be the perfect vacation spot for you to catch up on your reading and relax?

Somewhere like this.  In Minnesota, this is like, your basic vacation.  I feel like if I went anywhere extravagant for a vacation where I intended to catch up on reading, I would be too interested in going to see everything that is in the area to accomplish any of these things.  So I would go to a cabin where anything that I could possibly want to see is right in front of my face (with the option of walking around it to get the blood flowing).  On top of that, cabins tend to be nice and quiet.

The Blog Hop

How many books do you own?  This can include books in your TBR pile and books that you've already read that are on your keeper shelf.

Umm... well... I don't exactly have a numerical value to give you, but I'd say more than fifty less than three hundred to give a rough guesstimate.  I'm in the mood to make videos this weekend, so maybe I'll do a bookshelf and a room tour video.  Don't worry, I'll post it here as well as on YouTube.  Totally accessible!

TGIF

A Book Blogger is Born: What made you decide to start your very own book blog?

Once upon a time, when I was a wee freshman in high school, I knew I wanted to blog, but I wasn't sure about what.  So after a little bit of looking around to see what everyone else was doing, I found a number of book blogs and I thought, "Hey, I like to read.  I think I'll give this a shot!"  So I did.  Four years later, it has become this.  And they all lived Happily Ever After!

Let's Talk

What are your top book blogging goals?

List time!  Huzzah!

1. Make a greater variety of book-related posts

2. Connect to readers in a different kind of way (still have to figure this out)

3. Expand my horizons as far as reading material.

4. Go to the conventions where free or really cheap books may be acquired

5. Figure out how to obtain ARCs (advice?)

Of course there are plenty of things that I would love to do and they are definitely book-blogging goals, but I thought it would be nice to keep the list short.

I hope your weekends are just lovely!  I think mine will be comfortably busy and I'm okay with that.

As usual, feel free to leave your answers below and/or leave your web address below and I will try my best to stop by your blog!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

P.S. Just so you know, I haven't been able to leave comments on anyone's blog, let alone my own, but I can still add new blogs to my Follow list.  So just know that if you do leave a comment and do ask me to visit, I will do this, I just don't have any way to prove that I stopped by other than my following.  Also, does anyone know how to fix this?  It's been going on for quite a while and it's a little annoying not to be able to interact the way I would like.

Hello, Friday!

Welcome to Friday!  Today's memes are brought to you by Ginger @ GReads, Parajunkee, and Melissa @ i swim for oceans.  Let the questions commence!

TGIF

Literary Vacation: If you could take a trip this summer to any place within a fictional book, where would you go?  Tell us about your dream summer vacation!

Yes, the cow must be included.

One of the next places that I plan to go is England.  I'm not quite sure where in England, but it's totally happening.  When I think England, I'm not just thinking Harry Potter, but I'm thinking The Name of the Star and the whole slew of books that take place in England somewhere.  I would probably rent a house in the countryside and take day trips to neighboring towns and cities (of course I'd go to London!).  The vacation would be as low-key as I needed it to be from day to day.  

Gosh, I don't even have a ticket and I'm already really excited for this trip!

Follow Friday

What is one thing you wish you could tell your favorite author?

Thank you.

Seriously, that's it.  There's a whole mess of things that I could say, but in the end, all of those things would boil down to 'Thank You.'  I've read a number of books, but those authors that came out on top for me, they touched my heart, changed my thinking, and I'll even go so far as to say changed my life.  I can't even imagine what I would aspire to become had I not decided that Harry Potter was worth my time.  I can't imagine how I would think about life had I not read Looking for Alaska, Papertowns, An Abundance of Katherines or The Fault in Our Stars.

Thank you J.K. Rowling and thank you John Green!

Let's Talk

What are you favorite and least favorite book to film adaptations?  Why?

I've managed to sneak Harry Potter into pretty much every question so far, so let's do that again!  My favorite book to film adaption are the Harry Potter series.  Even though some liberties were, and often had to be, taken in the making of the Harry Potter films, they are relatively good adaptations of everything that I loved in the books.  Deathly Hallows was one of the better adaptions purely because they had two movies to do it.  

My least favorite book to film adaptation is Eragon.  The book was neat (I have yet to review it here), so I was really excited to see the film.  I watched it once and it was really cool, because I was watching dragons fly around the screen-- what's not to love, right?  But I watched it a second time and realized how... underwhelming it was.  It was long and nothing terribly exciting happened until the end, and even then it was very underwhelming.  I think Eragon is better in book form purely because of the language that is used and all of the description that goes into telling this particular story.  Of course, this may be because of the bad film that I'm unable to associate a good movie with Eragon.  Maybe some genius will make a remake one day when I'm old and decrepit.

Well, those are my answers to these questions!  What are yours?  Leave your web address down below and I'll try my best to return your visit!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Friday Memes

TGIF, Follow Friday, and now Let's Talk is brought to you by Ginger @ GReads, Parajunkee, and i swim for oceans.  Let's head into the questions!  Feel free to leave your own link below.

TGIF

Reading Blues: We all get them from time to time.  What helps you overcome those reading slumps when nothing seems to grab your attention?

I think I've only had this happen once in a profound way in my blogging career so far.  I moved past this horrendous time by stepping back a little.  I didn't push myself to read just because I've made it my business to read for the Internet. I tried new things on my blog so that I could begin to think in different ways rather than solely through literature.  I let myself wander until I came across a book that screamed, "READ ME!!!" in an obnoxiously good way.  It's probably not the most efficient way to do things, but it worked for me.

Follow Friday

Have you ever had a character that disappointed you?  One that you fell in love with and "broke up" with later on in either the series or stand-alone book?  Tell us about him or her.

Edward Cullen from Twilight.  He represents a perfect boyfriend in many ways, but at some point in time, he's just too perfect and he was pretty unchanging for the longest time.  I fell out of love with perfection and I was looking for a guy with some flaws.  Simple as that.

Let's Talk

What ONE underrated book do you want to share with the blogosphere - new or old?

In general, I haven't noticed very many memoirs being reviewed.  They're extremely underrated.  I'm reading one right now called 'Prozac Nation' and it's probably one of the most informative and interesting memoirs about a young woman suffering from depression.  So that's the book I would like to share with you today!

Thank you very much for reading!  Again, feel free to answer these questions for yourself and/or leave your own link below in the comments.  I will try my best to stop by your blog this weekend!

--Jude

Friday!

Welcome to Friday!  On Fridays, I try my best to answer some questions posed to us by Ginger @ Greads and Parajunkee.  Let's get right to it!

TGIF

Social Networking: Do you use Twitter or Facebook to promote your blog?  How has it benefited your book blogging experience?  If not, how do you promote your blog?  Share you twitter handle and/or Facebook link!

I do use Facebook to promote my blog!  I have a little box in the side bar to the right.  I'm not sure how much good it has done me though.  I have some followers on Facebook, but if my non-existent calculations are correct, they came through Blogger first as opposed to stumbling over my blog on Facebook.  If you have any tips or advice for making this work better, I'm all ears!  My Facebook link is: 

FACEBOOK

My hope was to have a lot of communication so that I could further improve my blog without having to create dozens of polls and questionnaires (though they are good fun!).  If you'd love to help with books suggestions, design tips, that kind of thing, I would be very appreciative!

Follow Friday

Q: What is the best book you've read in the last month? What is the worst book you’ve read in the last month?

I haven't posted a review of it just yet, but the best book I've read this month is "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein.  It was a beautiful and honest book.  I would give it to my future children as soon as they were old enough.

The worst book I've read this month would be, judging by the rating that I gave it upon review, would be "What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know" by Sonya Sones.  There were just a lot of holes that I wish had been taken care of before the book was published and distributed.  Otherwise, this would have been an excellent book!

What are your answers to these questions?  If you'd like me to stop by for a visit, leave your web address below and I'll try my best to make a visit sometime this weekend!

Have a lovely week!

--Jude

Friday!!!

Hello and welcome to Friday!  For once, I'm doing this post on time!

Follow Friday and TGIF is brought to you by Parajunkee and Ginger @ GReads.

Follow Friday

 Have you ever looked at a book's cover and thought, This is going to be horrible! but was instead pleasantly surprised?  Show us the cover and tell us about the book.

I wasn't sure about this book when I picked out this book, the synopsis sounded very intriguing but the cover only got me mildly interested.  While I was listening to it, I realized just how amazing it was and now I really think that everyone should read it sometime in their lives.  It's very relatable and it'll appeal to the young and the old.  It's about a girl that is bigger than the stereotypical girl.  she looks nothing like her parents, but she isn't adopted.  She is essentially alienated by her parents because she isn't the daughter they wanted her to be-- beautiful and trim.  She ends up being a successful English teacher, but her success is lost on her parents who tell her that she needs to grow up and get a "real job."  This book is about a woman who learns to love herself-- who she is and who she wants to be-- and to let others love her.  It's beautiful.

TGIF

Promote and Author: Is there a particular author that you wish got more recognition?  Pick one author and tell  us why we should read their work.

Mr. David Levithan!  I think he's getting a little more attention now, but not the kind of attention that J.K. Rowling and Anne Rice get.  He writes brilliant work-- "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," which he co-wrote with Rachel Cohn and "Will Grayson, Will Grayson," co-written with John Green.  He also wrote "The Lover's Dictionary," which I have reviewed here.  He writes a lot of romantic literature, but not raunchy romantic literture.  It's beautiful and it's about teens of all different backgrounds.  He's just a lovely writer!

Feel free to leave a comment below with your web address and I will try my best to stop by and pay you a visit!  Have a lovely weekend!

--Jude

Friday Memes

Welcome to Friday!  Let's get right to the questions.

TGIF and Friday Follow is brought to you by Ginger @ GReads and Parajunkee.

TGIF

Book Moments: What has been your favorite moment (scene) in a book that you've read so far in 2012?  Please be kind and not include spoilers.

I think that my favorite moment in a book is from Your Voice in my Head by Emma Forrest:

"When it happens," he asks me, "what will get you through?"

"Friends who love me."

"And if your friends weren't there?"

"Music through headphones."

"And if the music stopped?"

"A sermon by Rabbi Wolpe."

"If there was no religion?"

"The mountains and the sky."

"If you leave California?"

"Numbered streets to keep me walking."

"If New York falls into the ocean?"

Your voice in my head.

--Page 193-194

For me, it's a very hopeful place in the book.  Emma is determined to get better and this just shows that she's not going to let anything stop her.  There will always be something for her to stick around for, however complex or simplistic.

Follow Friday

What book would you love to see made into a movie or television show and do you have actors/actresses in mind to play the main characters?

I would love to see 'Elsewhere' and 'The Fault in Our Stars' made into a movie.  I think 'The Fault in Our Stars' as a prospective movie makes me more nervous than 'Elsewhere,' although those are two of my favorite books of all time so far.  I haven't really thought about who would play the main characters though.  Whenever I sit down and think about that, adequate just isn't good enough.  There's no one perfect out there. I'd be terrible at casting shows of any sort.

What are your answers to these questions?  Leave a comment with your web address below and I'll try my best to drop by for a visit this weekend!

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Joyeux Vendredi!

Hello everyone!  Welcome to the end of the week!  Let's get started on questions and then I'll move on to other things briefly.

TGIF and Follow Friday are brought to you by Ginger @ GReads and Parajunkee.

TGIF

Buy or Borrow: Where do your books that you read come from?  The bookstore?  The library?  Do you prefer to own a book or have it on loan?

It really depends.  If I read the inner cover and the description sounds interesting, I might just get the book regardless of whether I've read that book before or not.  I will do this most often at Half-Price Books because I can generally find a book that cost anywhere between $1 and $10 apiece, so it's not as bad as spending $22 on a book and hating it in the end.  If I'm iffy on a book, I will wait and borrow it from the library, since those books are the most accessible.  The only bad thing is, there is a three week limit each time you borrow a book and you can borrow a book up to three times before you have to give it back.  For a book you buy, you don't have to give it back, which I really appreciate.  So it very much depends.

Follow Friday

Which book genre do you avoid at all costs and why?

After learning my lesson after two mistakes, I will forever avoid any book that has to do with an already existing role-playing game (*COUGH* Warhammer *COUGH*) and anything that was written after the TV show aired.  It's one thing if a TV show or a movie is adapted from the other book, but it's an entirely different thing if a book is adapted from a TV show or movie.  It's just way too different and you know exactly what's going to happen when you read it any way because you've seen the episode or the movie.  Why bother?

Update Time!

Okay, so tomorrow I'm going to go dress shopping for my dance that is in a week from today (actually, this time next Friday, I'll have been done dancing for an hour).  The exciting thing is, I'm kind of doing this on my own this time.  My sister isn't going to be there to help me pick and neither is my mom.

Tomorrow, I will try and continue finishing up the videos for my LONTEM project that I haven't yet finished. The piece are there, it's the sitting down and editing part that is kind of deterring.  I will tell you that my next video is going to be entirely in French (with English subtitles).  Practicing is fun!

So there you have it!  That's all she wrote!

If you'd like me to drop by for a virtual visit, leave your web address down in the comments area and I will try my best to stop by tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Friday Memes!

Welcome to Friday!  I hope you all had peachy-keen days today!

TGIF

2012 Must Read: Which books are at the top of your list to be read this year (new or old releases)?

 A lot of these books I've started already.  a couple of them I'm currently reading, but I plan on finishing them. I started "A Million Little Pieces" last year, but it's such a hefty read (not that it's long, only that it deals with difficult topics) that I didn't finish it.

I received my copy of "The Fault in Our Stars" yesterday-- I was so excited!  I'm about half-way done right now!

 I tried to read "Pride and Prejudice" before, but I don't think I was in the right mind set to read it, so I didn't get very far.

I found an old copy of "Wuthering Heights" at a garage sale and I haven't read it yet, so I hope to finish that this summer so I can make some literary friends and impress them with my wide range of reading.

I'm currently reading "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" and it's quite good, but I've been lacking in time, and I will be until second semester starts probably.

"Mockingjay" is a book that I borrowed from my mom's co-worker who's basically my long-lost twin, but a bit older.  I haven't gotten very far in it, but I'm not quite sure why, because I thought the beginning of the series was decent.

I can't wait to read these in 2012!

Follow Friday

Many readers/bloggers are big music fans.  Tell us about a few of your favorite bands/singers that we should listen to in 2012

My Chemical Romance (I LOVE them!)

Jack's Mannequin (I LOVE him!)

KYO (They're so neat!  They're a French band)

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave you web address in the form of a comment below and I'll try my best to stop by for a visit between health assignments.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

New Year's Eve Follow Friday and TGIF!

Happy New Year's Eve and Happy Saturday!  I was preoccupied with tons of things yesterday, so the Friday memes are going to have to take place today for me.  Here we go!

Follow Friday and TGIF are brought to you by Parajunkee and Ginger @ GReads.

Follow Friday

The New Year is here-- and everyone wants to know your New Year's Blogging Resolution!  What are you going to try to revise, revamp, and redo for 2012 on your blog?

I'll keep this part particularly short, because I plan on doing a separate blog post for this (when, I'm not sure, but it will get done!).  In 2012, I plan to...

• Okay, no promises on this, but maybe try doing giveaways.  The reason why I wasn't doing this before is because I'm still living at my parent's house and it just seemed a little weird to me to do this.  So when I move out, it might be something kind of fun to do.  This being said, my next bullet point is...
• Talk to publishers so that I can get ARCs.  If you have any advice on this at all, I'm all ears.  Please tell me how to do this and there could be giveaways in the future of "Whirlwind."
• Do reading challenges!  I found those to be quite a hoot this year, so I'm going to do them again this year. I won't create a lot of my own challenges this time though.  I've found that I have trouble keeping up with my own challenges when I make them.

TGIF

First and Last: What was the first book you finished in 2011 and the last book you finished in 2011?  How do you feel about these books?  Would you recommend them to other readers?

Looking through my old book reviews, it looks like the first book that I finished reading in 2011 was 'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen.  The last book that I've finished and reviewed was 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro.  I would absolutely recommend both of these books-- I think those were two of my absolute favorite books that I've ever read, and I'm pleased that I had the opportunity to read such awesome literature this year!  Now we just have to make 2012 even better :)  If you'd like to read my opinion on these books, click the titles and you will be taken to my reviews of them.  

Have an excellent New Years!  To those in Europe and countries other than the U.S. in different time zones, tell me how the New Year is, since you'll get to experience it before me.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Follow Friday/TGIF-- December 17, 2011

Happy Friday!  Saturday!  The day that it currently is!

Follow Friday and TGIF are brought to you by Parajunkee and Ginger @ GReads!  Let's go to question time!

Follow Friday

When you've read a book, what do you do with it (Keep it, give it away, donate it, sell it, swap it?)

Typically, I borrow things from the library, so after I'm done reading and reviewing a book, I'll bring it back :)  But when I buy a book (usually from Half-Price Book-- that place has spoiled me, I swear) and I really, really like it to a certain point where I would absolutely give it to a future daughter/son of mine, I will keep it on my bookshelf forever.  This could be a problem when I go to college, but it's a welcome one, I guess.  I haven't done this yet, but I have a pile of books that I'm planning on selling because I've had them for years and I haven't been able to get past the beginning.  So when I get a decent enough pile, I'll take those over to Half-Price and sell them.  It should be an adventure!

TGIF

Most Popular: What blog post has gotten the most activity/comments on your blog this year? 

THIS ONE and THAT-A ONE.  They both have 16 comments on them and incidentally, they're both Follow Friday/Blog Hop posts (no TGIF yet!).  So... there are more questions to read, if you want.  I guess bloggers really like to meet people!

Thanks for stopping by today!  If you'd like me to stop by your blog sometime, leave a comment below with your web address and I'll try my best to come by for a visit this weekend!

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Happy Friday!

Hello and welcome to Friday!

TGIF and Follow Friday are brought to you every Friday by Ginger @ GReads and Parajunkee.

TGIF

Writing Reviews 101: What's your process for writing book reviews?  Any tips or suggestions you would recommend to other bloggers?

I'll break this down into steps to keep it relatively short (or at least to prevent a wall of words).

1. Copy the synopsis from the inner flap/back of the book into my notebook.  Continue to write down thoughts right under it (I write everything in a notebook first so that I can carry it with me and keep writing whenever I have a free moment)
2. Transcribe what I wrote on paper to a blank post on blogger (it's so inefficient, but I can't be bothered).
3. Quickly edit and add in embellishments (you know, like the bold effect or italics... maybe even underlining things-- "Oh no she didn't!")

This works for me and it's a good way to filter and edit what I want to say before I actually say it.  I can write whatever I want, but then I'll take those thoughts and feelings down a couple of notches before I actually post it for you to read.

Follow Friday

What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to books?  Maybe you don't like love triangles or thin plots?  Tell us about it!

I've found that I'm super picky about the writing style.  I hate walls of words (though, I will admit, there are one or two exceptions) or when an author decides not to capitalize letters despite the context they're in.  As a writer myself, it's very distracting and hard not to take a giant red pen and correct everything.  It's a blessing and a curse.

Overused plots are kind of annoying too.  If you haven't read a certain kind of plot for a while, it's nostalgic, but if a certain author or a group of authors use the same basic plot over and over again, it's just bad.  For example: girl falls in love with a vampire, boy ALWAYS gets the girl, two girls fight over one boy... that kind of thing.  Cliches, really.

Welp, that's it for me!  If you'd like me to stop by for a visit, feel free to leave your web address in comment form below and I'll try my best to come and visit this weekend!

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

I Almost Forgot That It's Friday!

It's been a bit of a strange week, so it didn't even register with me that today is Friday.  The beauty of Thanksgiving Break :)  Anywho, I haven't done any of the Friday question things in a while, so let's get started!

Follow Friday and TGIF are brought to you by Parajunkee and Ginger @ GReads.

TGIF

When you're not reading: What occupies your time when your nose isn't stuck in a book?

When I'm not reading, I'm in school, doing odd jobs (because I've been out of luck with getting a formal job), hanging out with my friends and/or family, or entertaining myself.  

I'm a senior in high school, so this year, a lot of my time is devoted to getting college stuff straightened out (applications are all done!  Woohoo!) and finishing.  Everything.  

I'm doing odd jobs because I'm headed to France in about four or five months and then a week after I get back, I'm heading right back out again to Washington D.C.  I'm so excited!  

My friends are quite important to me, especially since I won't get to see a lot of them on a regular basis in one year's time.  Less than one year's time, actually.

When I'm entertaining myself, I'm writing, rocking out to Phantom of the Opera (yes, of course with a sucky operatic voice), listening/playing other music, or taking pictures (you'll find a lot of my photography on this blog, actually).

Follow Friday

It's Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., so we want to know what you are thankful for-- blogging related, of course!  Who has helped you out along the way?  What books are you thankful for reading?

I'm thankful to those people that willing went on adventures with me and let me take pictures of them and let me tell stories about them.  I'm thankful to J.K. Rowling, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Gabrielle Zevin for writing some of the best books that I've ever read ever.  My list could go on, but this blog post is going to be long enough as it is...  I wrote another Thanksgiving post, so just scroll down one post.

Feel free to leave a comment with your web address and a message (if you want) in it and I'll try my best to come by and return your visit!

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Challenges and Returnable Book Series

Welcome to Friday!  Home of the best day of the week!

This week, I'm only participating in Follow Friday and TGIF from Parajunkee and Ginger @ G-Reads respectively.  Now it's time for question time!

Follow Friday

Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again?  Tell us about it and why you keep on revisiting it.

On top of Harry Potter (because I know that a number of people are going to answer this or at least make them as part of their lists as I have done) I keep going back to 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' by Lemony Snicket.  I've just now realized that I've never actually reviewed any of the books, which makes me think that I'm going to have to reread them.  In order this time.  This series follows three orphans: The Baudelaire Orphans Klaus, Sunny, and Violet.  All have special talents and all use these special talents to get themselves out of a series of sticky situations regarding their... umm... distant relative Count Olaf who goes through a series of mostly fruitless plans to obtain the Baudelaire fortune.  The reason that I keep going back to this particular series is firstly, because of the amazing story and secondly because of Lemony Snicket's hilarious, cryptic, and even sarcastic tone of writing.  His books make me wonder, they make me frustrated (mostly because of the painfully ignorant adults), they make me happy, sad, insert emotion X here.  It's an amazing series of thirteen books.  If you haven't gotten around to reading them, please do so, you will never regret it.  I recommend going in order.

TGIF

Reading Challenges: Did you sign up for any this year?  How has your progression been?

I have been doing reading challenges!  I did the 2011 audio book challenge and I completed that in... August?  I think.  It was around that time.  I've also been doing the Off-The-Shelf challenge.  I have two more books to go to complete this, but I hope to keep it up all year, because I have so many books that I need to read that are just living on my shelf.  It's ridiculous.  I created my own challenge where I try to read 50 books (or listen to audio books) in one year.  I need to recalculate how I'm doing, but I'm not doing too bad, I don't think.  I'm trying to finish my "Read This and I'll Read Harry Potter" challenge (click on the 'challenge button in the right side bar to read more about that).  This challenge is kind of a bust so far.  I also started a Goosebumps challenge.  I'm a fail at my own challenge once again.  That's right.  I turned "fail" into a noun.

I hope you all have lovely weekends!  If you would like me to visit, leave your web address in the comments below and I'll try my best to come and visit you!

Thanks for reading and visiting!

--Jude

To Do This Weekend:
--Homework and notes
--Online Health
--Make videos (for scholarships, for health, for LONTEM)
--Read (for school, for fun)

WooHoo! Friday!

Hello there!  We've made it to Friday, which means it's time for the various hops!

TGIF and the Blog Hop are brought to you by Ginger @ GReads and Jennifer @ Crazy-for-Books respectively.  

TGIF

Have you ever come across a book you were so stoked to read, but failed miserably in your eyes?

Absolutely!  Last year in my AP English class, we read a book called 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. My teacher described it before we even got to check out books from the media center.  Her description and this book were apples and oranges.  My teacher described a book of a dark adventure, and I was already sold on the title.  I mean, come on, wouldn't you pick up a book called 'Heart of Darkness' if that was all you saw?  That's what I did.  That book... I will never again read this book.  I only barely finished it, and that's only because I had to.

The Blog Hop

As a book blogger, how do you introduce yourself in your profile?

Here's the thing, I didn't really write anything on my blogger profile.  Well, maybe basic information, but nothing like I've seen other bloggers write.  Instead, I created an entire 'About Me' post so that readers old and new could come to see me as an actual person rather than text on a computer screen (which means I included interests, basic information about my blog, my friends, and other such things).  Maybe if it gets to the point where I'm accepting offers from publishers to read and review a book, I will put something there, but for now, I get my reading material through school, friends, and other such treasure-hunts, so a profile description hasn't really been necessary.

What are your answers to these questions?  Leave a comment below and I will try my best to come by and visit you this weekend!

Thanks for reading!

--Jude