Bookworm Boulevard

Guysguysguys I have some really exciting news.

So, remember how I said I really wanted to make a book site? (Or, at least, I mentioned the possibility. I may not have let my enthusiasm and excitement creep through onto the internet.)

Well, it's here. And it's called Bookworm Boulevard.

The URL: http://bookwormboulevard.blogspot.com. It's still somewhat under construction; I'll be adding sidebar links and stuff like that over the next couple of days, and I hope to post the first review later on tonight. You should check it out! And if you like it, become a follower.

I hope you guys like it. I realize there's not much there to like just yet, but there will be. Soon. Promise.

Love,
Bex

P.S. Don't worry! The fact that Bookworm Boulevard is now officially in operation does not mean that I'll stop posting here. It just means that this is going to be more of a personal blog, while BB is all about books and a  lot less about me.

Some Stuff

Hello all!

I hope all of my readers in America had a great Independence Day - picnics, cookouts, fireworks, pools, all that jazz. And to my international readers (*coughcoughCHcoughcough*), I hope you had a lovely non-holiday mid-summer Sunday!

I spent most of today working on two things:

1. AP Spanish summer work. I've now done four of the requisite twelve grammar tests through StudySpanish.com. I think. Unless I did it wrong. Given the lack of precise instructions, that's entirely possible.

2. Blog design. I think I may have possibly mentioned (or not mentioned; I honestly don't remember) a blog/website thing dedicated solely to books. Reviews, interviews, etc. I'll still keep up with the Word Nerd over here as my personal blog and I'll probably post book recs here too, but once I get the other site up, it'll be a not-so-personal YA Books site.

And speaking of books, I reread Gayle Forman's IF I STAY last night. It is so, so, so good. It made me cry, it made me smile, it's just...fantastic. Basically, the premise is that Mia's family gets into a car wreck. Mia's parents are killed instantly, and a comatose Mia has a sort of out-of-body experience, watching her friends and family -- and herself -- in the hospital as she tries to decide whether or not to go on living. Such a sweet book. Definitely, definitely read it. (I especially love that Mia's relationship with her boyfriend is not perfect - it's nice but unfortunately rare to have a touch of realism in the romances anymore.)

That's it for tonight, folks. Much love,
Bex

Mini-Mini-Blog: Contest Link

Hey guys --

Alexa over at Hooked on YA Books is having a book-giveaway contest. Head over to her blog to enter and maybe win some really cool books! Click here for details.

--Bex

P.S. This doesn't count as an extra July 2 post, but I'm also not entirely sure it's going to count as the July 3 post. Depends how much I get done tomorrow. Er, today.

This Greenhouse Grows Humans

More reading material for you folks out there. A little while ago (I would've blogged sooner, but I lacked the time to write a coherent review), I read THE GARDENER by S.A. Bodeen. Science fiction + global warming + eco-cyborgs = a pretty intense mix of stuff.

The only connection Mason has ever had to is father is a DVD of the man, shoulders-down, reading The Runaway Bunny. So when a comatose girl at the hospital where his mother works suddenly wakes up when she hears the story on the DVD and begs to leave, Mason - who has a bit of a hero complex - rescues her.

The girl only remembers bits and pieces of who she is and what has happened to her, but Mason can tell that she's anything but normal. The circular scars covering her legs only add to the mystery of the girl's past. Add in that there's a tattoo on her arm that matches the one on Mason's father on the DVD and the fact that the least official police force Mason has ever encountered is chasing the girl he rescued. There's mystery and adventure brewing, and Mason may not like what he discovers.

This novel takes a real, present-day scientific crisis and gives it an impossible solution with just enough scientific backing that it just might happen. Add in two teenagers who are trying to figure out the truth behind the science and the mystery of the girl's past, and you've got THE GARDENER. I will say that I figured out the end well before I got there, but it was one of those books that was worth reading anyway. Not the best book I've ever read, but still definitely worth my time. I'm glad I read it. You should check it out too.

Love,
Bex

Happy July

As it is now July 1 (and I've been slacking on blogging again, I'm sorry), I have composed a list of exciting things that happen in July:

-July 4th celebrations. Fireworks and picnics. Yay!

-The release of LINGER, the sequel to SHIVER, by Maggie Stiefvater. I had the good fortune to get an ARC and I can tell you that it is totally amazing and you should definitely get a copy ASAP.

-Harry Potter's birthday is July 31. (Relevant because of the somewhat Harry Potter-themed sleepover I'm going to tonight. (Why yes, my friends and I are nerds, why do you ask?))

-Family vacation! Not really sure where my family is going yet, but we're going somewhere and it should be fun.

-More birthdays: two of my cousins, JR and KA, as well as my dear friend RF. 

Of course, there's also the thesis monster. But that doesn't count. Because that's not a YAY thing, that's an eekscary thing.

Anyway, I must go. Happy July, internetpeople!

Love,

Bex

Radio Silence

I would like to apologize for the unexplained, unexpected, and entirely unintentional several-day lack-of-posting. I've been busy. VBS has started at my church (and it's a lot of fun - I love working with kids - but keeping up with ten hyper second- and third-graders can be rather exhausting), so Sunday and today were both spent working VBS and catching up on sleep.

And then there's thesis. Which I'm so behind on it's not funny. I've been a lot busier than I expected and stuff has just come up - and, okay, I've been reading. Which makes it my own fault that I'm not where I'd like to be on thesis.

Oh, and there's college. Still researching all sorts of different schools. Still haven't found anywhere that really screams "come here!" But I'm looking. So we'll see.

And I know this has been a very brief post after several days of posts-so-brief-they're-really-not-there-at-all, but I do not have the energy (or the concentration) to write more right now. So, more later.

Also, I just finished watching the last episode of Firefly. It's an amazing show, you guys, everyone should watch it. Not kidding. It's spectacular. You'll love it.

Love,
Bex

Technology. Sigh.

You guys all know I'm a total bookworm. Well, that extends to the internet. I blog about books all the time, probably more often than I blog about something other than books. I follow lots of authors' blogs. I have Barnes & Noble's website bookmarked, I have Amazon bookmarked, I have my library website bookmarked...

I also have Shelfari bookmarked. Shelfari is a wonderful website that lets you create a log of what books you own, what books you've read and enjoyed, your favorite books, and a book wishlist; it lets you discuss your favorite books, share book reviews, and just in general form a community of bookworms. I love Shelfari. I spend probably way too much time on the website. It's fantastic. If you enjoy reading at all, I suggest setting up an account. It's great.

Today, I discovered LibraryThing. It's a similar sort of setup: you can catalog your books, share reviews, discuss books, and it has the added bonus of having an Early Reviewers program, which means that you can get free books as long as you write reviews about them. It seemed like a very cool thing. I signed up, started cataloging my books, and signed up for the Early Reviewers program.

I was adding books alphabetically, not by title or preference (so I hadn't gotten anywhere close to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings; I hadn't even made it to the Chronicles of Narnia) and all of a sudden a little message pops up that says "Free accounts have a maximum of 200 books. To add more, you must upgrade to a paid account."

I don't want to pay to tell the internet what books I have and what books I like. I already have a Shelfari account that lets me list all of my books, free of charge. I deleted enough books to make room for some of my favorites, left a few spaces to spare in case I get any through the ER program that I have to add and review, and quickly switched back to Shelfari. But you know, I could have saved a lot of time if LT had told me that they capped at 200 books before I started adding stuff. It would have helped.

I have heard people rant and rave about how wonderful LibraryThing is, and I do not doubt that had I not spent a lot of time adding books only to be required go back and remove them, I would enjoy it too. But really, why do I need to pay money to keep a list of books? I've been keeping lists of books for years at no cost. It just seems a little bit pointless to pay LT to do it for me, when I'd still have to go through and manually add each and every book.

So, meaning no disrespect to LibraryThing (if you like it/have a paid account/are willing to pay for an account/don't mind the 200-book limit, I really am very happy for you), here's to Shelfari.

G'night, everybody. Love,
Bex