Natasha from Maw Books is hosting the 4th edition of Bloggiesta. Ole!
The Bloggiesta is scheduled for January 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. What better time then January to sit down to evaluate your blog and get things done that you have been saying you wanted to do. This has been one of my new years resolutions and I can’t wait to tackle my growing to do list.
If your new to blogging and are wondering what the heck is a Bloggiesta? Well Natasha from Maw Books came up with this idea a few years ago and it runs from 8am Friday morning (where ever you are) until 8pm Sunday night and it gives you the opportunity to get things done on your blog that you have been putting it off. Tons of bloggers take part.
I love the mascot. His name is Pedro (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize)
If you are interested or want to find out more info then head over Natasha’s blog Maw Books to get all the info.
Here is what I am hoping to accomplish this upcoming weekend:
Write reviews. Write up back up posts/reviews for a rainy day rainy. Write up some author interview questions. Work on writing a template for my reviews. Clean up my labels. Look around for a new blog look. Look into copy writing my blog and find out what to do if my content is taken. Clean up blog roll.I want to figure out how to put a slide show in a blog post. Think about bloggiversary give aways. Learn what my numbers mean. Learn how to link Twitter and facebook to my blog. Catalog my books onto Goodreads along with reviews. Organize and clean up my emails. Document book commitments into my agenda.(books that have come into my house)Inquire about guest posts or author interviews. Learn how to use and add google documents to posts. I am sure my list will change or other things will be done over the course of the weekend but I am hoping that I will be able to get alot accomplished.
Wish me luck.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
TITLE: The Water Wars AUTHOR: Cameron Stracher PUB DATE: January 2011 PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Fire PAGES: 240
SOURCE: Received this from the publisher
Synopsis from publisher’s site: Would you risk everything for someone you just met?
What if he had a secret worth killing for?
Welcome to a future where water is more precious than oil or gold…
Hundreds of millions of people have already died, and millions more will soon fall—victims of disease, hunger, and dehydration. It is a time of drought and war. The rivers have dried up, the polar caps have melted, and drinkable water is now in the hands of the powerful few. There are fines for wasting it and prison sentences for exceeding the quotas.
But Kai didn’t seem to care about any of this. He stood in the open road drinking water from a plastic cup, then spilled the remaining drops into the dirt. He didn’t go to school, and he traveled with armed guards. Kai claimed he knew a secret—something the government is keeping from us…
And then he was gone. Vanished in the middle of the night. Was he kidnapped? Did he flee? Is he alive or dead? There are no clues, only questions. And no one can guess the lengths to which they will go to keep him silent. We have to find him—and the truth—before it is too late for all of us.
MY THOUGHTS: I have to start off firstly by saying that I absolutely love the cover for this book. I think right now its my favorite cover of 2011. The people at Sourcebooks did a fantastic job with the cover.
When I first heard about this book I thought that Cameron was a debut author but he’s not. This is actually his debut YA book. This is his fourth book. The previous three books were adult books.
Over the past year I have developed a taste for YA dystopia books and honestly I haven’t read alot.
As I was reading this I wondered how far off this book could really be from the future? We all know that the environment is changing and we see it all the time from the drastic weather happening all over the world. What will the next 50 years be like? Will we have this drastic weather, what about water?
Water is something we take for granted and don’t realize how important it is until we don’t have it. This past year I actually grew to appreciate how important it was when a water main broke on our street and we were without running water for several days.
Okay back to my review. When you first open the book there is a new map of North America and its divided with new names. Canada is called the Empire of Canad, Artic Archepelago, Island of Greenland, and the United States is now divided into eight regions called California, Dakotas, Arizona, Repulic of Texas, Republic of Louisiana, The Great Coast, Republic of Illinowa and Republic of Minnesota.
The Empire of Canada is the big old bad enemy and we are apparently at war over what is left of the water along with every other nation that is left. The ice caps have all melted into the ocean and there is no more Niagra Falls.
The story takes place in the Republic of Illinowa. The people who are left are forces to drink unhealthy water that is distributed through the governments Water Board Authority (WBA). People are getting sick from desalinated water. Which is really just seawater with all kinds of chemicals.
Vera and Will attend school (if you could really call it that. It seemed like they were being brain washed) and they have to work on the water team. One day will Vera is waiting for the bus she sees Kia. Kia isn’t like the regular people of the state he is different. He doesn’t go to school because his father is a rich driller. Vera can see this because he lives with guards and drinks fresh water. I quickly realized that there was more to Kia and was curious to find out what it was.
When Kia tells Vera that he knows where fresh water is. Vera is intrigued by Kia and quickly finds ways to spend time with him. Kia goes against everything that she was taught. Then suddenly Kia and his father are kidnapped and thanks to Vera she is the one to put it together. They both decide that they need to rescue Kia and his dad.
I really enjoyed how Cameron told the story about how the water was the hottest commodity out there and just how much people in authority would go to keep what was left sacred. It was about half way when the action picked up. There were pirates, bombs, gun fire, and so much more that you had to read to find out if Vera and Will would survive and get to Kia in time or will it be too late?
I wasn’t sure at the beginning and put the book down several times with no problem but then once I got to the middle I had a hard time to put it down and managed to read it in two days. There was so much going on action wise that I had to keep reading.
I couldn’t find a website for the author but i did find this Blog Talk Radio interview. The host is Brandon and the show is called Brandon’s buzz Interview with Cameron
There is no trailer for the book but I did find this:
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila who blogs at One persons journey through books and coffee. If you haven’t checked out Sheila’s blog you really should. She is an amazing blogger.
This past week I read: -Frost Bites by Kerry Sparks -Jen and the Frosted Friends by Kerry Sparks -The Good Neighbors: Kind book 3 by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh -Trapped by Michael Northrop -The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
Started to read: –Dead Frog on the Porch by Jan Markley
Planning to Read this week: -Dead Frog on the Porch by Jan Markley -Dead Bird Through the Cat Door by Jan Markley -Cloaked by Alex Flinn
This week on the blog: I was going to post this on Monday but I have a scheduled review posting (The Water Wars). Then Wednesday I will have a special post and hopefully sometime this week I will have an author interview.
Check back this week to see what fun things are planned.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
The Library Loot encourages bloggers to share the books they have checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky that is posted on Marg at The Adventures of a Intrepid Reader and Claire at The Captive Reader any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
I have decided to take part in this on a monthly bases only. I usually don’t go to the library weekly until the summer when Michael is taking part in the summer reading program which has weekly events planned. With that being said we do go at least once a month because of a planned library event or its a ped day.
This is actually two library hauls. Michael was still on vacation last week and we had books that were due back so we brought them back and took at one set of books and this week I had to register him from spring break activities so I managed to look around.
This is what library books are in our house for January.
The first library visit: – 10 Fold Origami by Peter Engel – Paper Pandas and jumping Frogs by Florence Temko (This is what Michael wanted to take out because he loves to do origami.)
-Simple Times: Crafts for poor People by Amy Sedaris. (I actually saw her on the Joy Behar show and was laughing at the interview. Amy is so funny so I had to pick this up to check it out.)
-Amelia Rules: What Makes you Happy by Jimmy Gownley -Amelia Rules: #1 The Whole World’s Crazy -Amelia Rules: #3 Superheroes -Amulet The Stonekeeper #1 -Amulet The Stonekeeper’s Curse #2 (I was looking for some graphic novels to read as they are quick and easy reads.)
-The Good neighbors- Kind #3 by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh (I have been anxiously awaiting this one. I enjoyed the first two.)
The second haul brought this in: -Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (This has been on my wishlist and its finally come in.)
-Amelia Rules #5 The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular (This was a hold book i had to pick up)
-Blue Plate Special by Michelle D. Kwasney (Another book that was placed on hold finally came in)
-Don’t touch that Toad and Other Strange things Adults tell you by Catherine Rondina and Illustrated by Keven Sylverster (Thought Michael would enjoy this)
-Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde (Love the cover and it sounds kinda cute)
-The Christmas Journey by Donna Van Liere (was recommended that i read)
-Wii Monopoly (We love borrowing Wii games. Its a great way to play before you go out and buy)
I am probably not going to get to read them all but I really hope that I can get to some of them. Thankfully I have a little more then a month to read them. You will be able to see reviews of these books throughout the year as I have decided all library books will be saved and used at future dates.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
Taken from the inside book flaps Yeah. You read it right.
LYFAO.
It’s hip and cool.
Don’t know what it means?
Well, don’t worry. Neither did Denis. Until it was explained to him by his teenage kids and nieces and nephews. And some of the people at his production company. And most of his fellow cast members on FX’s hit show Rescue Me.
And then all of us here at the publishing company.
LAUGH YOUR FRIGGING (or Fat or that Other F Word) ASS OFF.
“Why is it abbreviated?” Denis asked.
So you can only imagine how hard it was to explain to him the idea of 140 characters or less – the basic Twitter communication formula. It turns out that Denis is not very nimble when it comes to math (he failed it twice in high school and had to blackmail a nun in order to graduate).
But one thing he can do is funny, so once we got past the fact that he can’t multiply or subtract or even basically navigate his way around the internet – he started coming up with stuff like this:
MAN ARRESTED W KILO OF COKE IN CHUNK OF BOLOGNA. MY BOLOGNA HAS A FIRST NAME AND IT WON’T SHUT THE F@%# UP. FACEBOOK FOUNDER PLEDGES 100 MILLION $ TO IMPROVE NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOLS. MAYOR PLANS TO SPEND IT ON YELLOW CRIME SCENE TAPE. BLIND MAN BOWLS PERFECT GAME. LEMME GUESS – IT WAS THE SHOES.
So we showed him how to post these comic tweets and just recently we asked him to pick some of the best from the last twelve months to place into the book you currently hold in your hands. Just remember, if you get the opportunity to have him sign it – make sure he spells your name right. And don’t ask him to do any long division.
MY THOUGHTS I was really excited when I found out from Donna at Books Bound that I won her contest. I love Denis Leary.
Funny enough the blurb about the book is actually longer then the book itself. This took me not even 10 minutes to read. The book is filled with photos and tweets written by Denis himself.
I don’t think I laughed this hard in a long time. Denis leaves no one untouched and pokes fun at politicians, lady Gaga, Lindsey, Paris, and many more. He tells it like it is.
One of the things I love about Denis is that a portion of the profits from the sale of this book is being donated to the Leary firefighter Foundation. When I read this I went out and bought a copy of this book to support Denis’s foundation.
If you are on twitter you can follow Denis at www.twitter.com/denisleary and you can also check out Denis on his website.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
Today marks the third year anniversary of that tragic accident that happened just outside of Bathurst, NB (Canada) that claimed the lives of seven young boys and a teacher from my old high school, Bathurst High School.
I am not quite sure what is planned in Bathurst for today but I know that these boys won’t be forgotten.
Gone but not forgotten: Nathan Cleland, Justin Cormier, Daniel Hains, Javier Acevedo, Codey Branch, Nickolas Quinn and Nick Kelly. Teacher Beth Lord.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They love sharing their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
Each week they post a new Top Ten subject. You can read their answers weekly. Everyone is welcome to join and all you have to do is link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND sign Mister Linky at the bottom to share with them and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don’t worry if you can’t come up with ten every time…just post what you can!
Topic this week: Top Ten Bookish/Blogging Resolutions
As a book blogger you are always thinking of ways to improve your blog or things you want to do more of and change. I am no exception to the rule as I am always trying to improve on my blog and on my reading. With that being said here is my Top Ten Bookish/Blogging Resolutions:
When I read it, I will review it. I always do good and then some how slip leaving me behind on writting reviews.
Organize. This year I really need to get into the habit of documenting any books I request, books that come in (when they come in, from who etc) into some kind of form because some books don’t come with a press release.
Accepting Requests. I really need to be more selective and not worry about hurting reps, authors etc feelings. There are too many books and just not enough time.
Commenting. This too I have become a bad blogger on, I need to start commenting on peoples blogs.
New Look. I am getting that itch and thinking about getting a new look. I love this but I want a change.
Schedule. I have been thinking about this one for awhile now and I think I need to come up with some kind of schedule for the blog, such as IMM perhaps on a Sunday, reviews 3-4 times a week etc.
Reading. I think I need to work in a little more reading time. Right now I tend to read about an hour before going to bed and usually don’t last very long. Perhaps devoting one day a week to reading in addition to the nightly reading.
Stock piling reviews. I think any book that I read that isn’t books I accepted for review (ie books I buy or borrowed books) I will leave as drafts and save them for rainy days.
Promoting my blog. I need to get out there more and advertise my blog using twitter and facebook more.
Numbers. This year I am going to make it a point to understand my numbers more and find out what it means.
So this is my list, what does yours look like?
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
