Fun Fab Facts (ABEA)

Today's Armchair BEA topic is going beyond your blog; taking your writing elsewhere and possibly making some moolah from it. Or maybe just doing some freelance.

I have written outside of this blog, but nothing all that wow-worthy. I wrote an article for a parenting magazine once, freelance. I was asked to do it, I did it, not much more to tell. If asked, I'd do it again. If asked to write regularly, I would expect compensation, but the occasional article? I'm not worried about it.

I've written for other blogs, I've written poetry and stories and I technically have the start to a novel, but I've not made a penny and in all probability, won't. 

I blog because I want to. I want to talk about books and let people in on what books are must reads. If someone offered a partnership, I'd be okay with that. But my goal isn't money. I don't even email authors or publishers really. I have, once in particular, emailed an author and received an ARC for review. But I don't typically do that. I'm content reviewing the books I buy, find at the library, or books that other lovely people choose to give me. That's not to say I will never in the future email an author or a publisher and request something, but it's not my standard practice. I have no problem with the folks that do that, I just don't enjoy the blogger envy that can result, and I really don't enjoy flaunting my good fortune in others' faces. *shrug*

I'll go ahead and answer the second part of today's topic -Share a fun aspect about your blog or life that may be completely separate from books. 

Seeing as how this blog is all about books... I'll have to go with my life. ;-) Something fun- I have been going bonkers with LivingSocial lately. They have so many great deals in my area! (I promise, this isn't a LivingSocial ad!) I am SUPER excited about the gift I bought my hubby for his birthday and for the gift I bought myself. Hubs gets to try this crazy cool thing called a JetLev. Basically, he'll go to this resort place and they will teach him how to use this JetLev thing and he will wear a water jet pack on his back that will propel him 30 feet off the water. Is that cool or what? 

Credit: Splash News

Credit: Mobile Magazine

My gift to myself includes three visits to a SPA. *grin* Each visit will include a massage, a luminous facial, a hydra-derma fusion treatment, and a tanning session. Can we say heck yea? 

Credit: Planet Beach Contempo Spa

I also got tickets for the family to go to the Florida Aquarium. We love going to zoos and aquariums and things of that nature, so we are all pretty excited about that. 

Credit: Floridatrend.com

I would say that all of those things are FUN. And none of them have anything at all to do with books or blogging! ;-) 

*ABEA graphic designed by Nina of Nina Reads.

Now Needing Noggins (ABEA)

Today's Armchair BEA writing topic is: Share a "real life" book experience. The theme is connecting with bloggers and your community, and what kind of things you've done in real life as a result of book blogging.

Er, well, the thing is... I really have no good thing to write about! I'm an introvert! A hermit! A cave-dwelling fish with white eyes! I mean, sure, I go out. I have to. And I'm capable of small talk and polite talk and smiling and being friendly to passersby and the nice folks in line at the grocery store. But beyond that? PANIC. HEART PALPITATIONS. SWEATY PALMS. We're talking a seventh-grade-crush kind of reaction. The OMG I CAN'T EVEN SPEAK IN HIS PRESENCE OR I WILL SURELY DIE kind of deal. I am truly grateful for the people in real life that have gotten through to me and are in my life. They've worked hard to get there and I am ever grateful for their perseverance. Because I really, honestly suck at reaching out. Which brings me to the point- I've gone in to local bookstores on many occasions with a wonderful plan to chat them up and see what they might think of a scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours kind of arrangement, but I just end up buying a book or two, smiling, and leaving. The really pathetic part is that some of the lads and lasses behind the counter are chatty and we discuss books and I have many perfecto openings that I am too chicken to take. I admit it. I'm a chicken. Bwaaakkk.

How do YOU do it? Do you have any kind of partnerships? Do you have any advice for a socially awkward chicken? I think part of my problem is I'm terrible at self-promotion. So many times other peoples' self-promo has turned me off from their blog/book/etc. I guess there's a classy way and an un-classy way and I typically see the latter. I really kind of hate it.

Another problem I have is that I don't even know what a partnership would do to help me or them. I have a very vague idea, but it's not enough to take to a bookstore owner or a publisher or even my cat to present. I know my cat would yawn and lick her paws, and I'm pretty sure the bookstore owners and publishers would do the same.

Any and all help is appreciated!

I have met some bloggers, yes, but not because of my book blog. I've met them through fansites. And they are fantastic people who also happen to be book bloggers. But I'd really love to expand and meet new bloggers and form  partnerships.

Hope you are having a fantastic ABEA!!

Boasting Bookish Bounty (ABEA)

Good day! Welcome to Literati's Literary Library! Today is GIVEAWAY DAY for Armchair BEA and I am hosting TWO giveaways right here on LLL. You do not have to be a registered participant of Armchair BEA to enter my giveaways, everyone is welcome!

Giveaway 1:

The goods:
~Going Bovine, by Libba Bray (paperback)
~Beautiful Darkness, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Signed paperback)
~Across the Universe, by Beth Revis (paperback)
~Looking for Alaska, by John Green

The deets:
~US and Canada only.
~Giveaway winner will be chosen Friday, June 8th. You've got all week to enter!
~Please fill out this FORM. You are only entered if you fill it out.



Giveaway 2:

The goods:
~A $20 gift certificate from The Book Depository

The deets:
~ Must NOT reside in the United States or Canada.
~ Please check and see if The Book Depository ships to your country prior to entering, as I would be very sad to give you a certificate that you couldn't use. THIS is the list, check it peeps!
~Winner will be chosen Friday, June 8th.
~ Please fill out this FORM. You are only entered if you fill it out.

*Graphic designed by Sarah of Puss Reboots.

Artfully Arranged Armchair (ABEA)

Hello! Welcome to Literati's Literary Library! This week is all about Book Expo America... or for those of us unable to attend- Armchair BEA! To kick things off, everyone is doing a self-interview. Here's mine!

The folks in the Armchair Throne have given us all a list of questions and instructed us to answer five of them. My five:

1. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?
I'll answer both parts of that. I'm currently reading The Serpent's Shadow, by Rick Riordan, third book in the Kane Chronicles. Love Riordan! My favorite book so far this year? That's a tie between Black Heart, by Holly Black, or Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins.

2. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?
I have a gargantuan list, but topping that list is the world of The Edge. The Broken, The Weird, The Edge, and all the places within. I adore the series (book one is The Edge) and the authors, Ilona and Gordon (Ilona Andrews is the name they write under).

Why? It's beyond weird and beyond fantastic. The agents from The Hand are super freaky alterations of people. They've got extra body parts that do unheard of things; they are modification personified. It's very detailed and there is so much thought and imagination that went into the creation of the world. You really, truly feel like you are a part of it. I could say that for any of Ilona and Gordon's books though.

3. Have your reading tasted changed since you started blogging? How?
Changed? Hm. I don't think they've made any dramatic change. Content and genre-wise, my tastes are the same.  A change I have noticed, however, is that I definitely am a more critical reader and I no longer have a problem putting a book down. When I started blogging I read every book I picked up, cover to cover, even if I wasn't loving it. I know better now. Time is precious and if that book doesn't work for me, maybe the next one will.

4. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?
Easy peasy. Edgar Allen Poe. I'd like to imagine that it would be wildly creepy and morbid and not lack for entertainment. Or else I, the dinner guest would be ignored, or only politely included. But I'd rather we go with the first scenario. ;-)

5. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?
Who am I? I am the Literati that lives in the Literary Library. I like alliterations. I enjoy going on walks with no time limit and my camera. I am a wife and mother and an avid popcorn consumer. I am an impulsive shopper and I've recently discovered that I find weeding to be a good outlet for frustration.

How long have I been blogging? Two years on this blog I think. Something like that. But blogging in general? Eleven years.

Why blogging? For this blog, it's because I love books. I love books like kids love bubbles. Like fish love water. Like aliens love probing. Like moths love flame. Well, hopefully with a better end result than those last two... but you get this gist. They help me cope with my life, with the people in my life, and with myself. They help me to understand others and see things from other points of view. They open my world. Through books I've learned that it's okay to feel how I do, to think as I do. I know that I'm not alone with my problems. They ground me and yet let me float high above and look down on the universe from astounding, shocking heights.

I've loved reading since I was not yet able to do it by myself. I remember begging my parents for just one more Berenstein Bears book at bedtime. Begging my dad for another chapter of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Waiting after class so I could test into reading college level fiction in the fourth grade - a fact I was not to disclose to my peers upon pain of removal of the privilege. I remember getting a tongue lashing from my mother after my brother tipped her off to me reading The Secret Garden in church. I remember getting extra chores when I'd promise to stop at the end of the chapter... only to read another couple of chapters of Redwall, Treasure Island, Kneeknock Rise, The Odyssey, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Island of the Blue Dolphins. Books have done so much for me. And I think it's only fair that I share that with everyone I possibly can, so that they too may benefit.

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Holy moly. I sort of got going there, but hey, that's it! I'm done now, promise. ;-) I hope you enjoyed my interview with myself. I'm off to read some of yours!

Wonderfully Wacky Winner!

Well folks, the results are in! Over the past few months I've had a trivia game/giveaway and as per the last few posts about it, it's over. Thank you to all of you who played my game! It's been fun!

Now, the winner!

Her loyalty paid off... Aine, you win the Big Box of Books! Congratulations!!

Really Ravishing Review (Lola and the Boy Next Door)

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins

From the cover flap:
Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion... she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -more sparkly, more fun, more wild- the better. But even though Lola's style is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -a gifted inventor- steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.


If I had more time and a chair, I would probably have written my own synopsis, because that doesn't even begin to cover to awesomeness of this book.

I'll be honest with you, I didn't love Perkins' first book, Anna and the French Kiss. I liked it. But I wasn't grinning ear to ear at the end. I was expecting the same reaction from Lola and the Boy Next Door. Boy howdy, I did NOT have the same reaction. (Click the link and scroll to see my mini review of AatFK)

This is without a doubt the best love story I've read in a long, long time. I knew from the very first page what the bottom line ending of the book was going to be. You probably have already guessed it, simply from the title. And you're probably right. So why read the book, if you know the ending and can probably guess the general plot? The journey, and the emotions, and the joy you'll get from both. It's the story, not the bottom line ending that's important here. It's going back in time to your own first love and remembering the heartache and that inexplicable but totally real electric energy flowing between you and that special someone.

It's simple and it's beautiful and I adored it.

I loved the setting (San Fransisco in an old Victorian house on a street of Victorian houses) and the characters and the dialogue. It all just fell together and blended together into a sweet, hopeful story about love. I sympathized with Lola and her journey to find love, I've been there. We all have. And that's the beauty of it. It's not just Lola's story, but us as humans. Who doesn't remember those days as a teen, trying to fit into your own skin, trying to be comfortable and confident with who you are? And of course, trying to muddle through all those steeping emotions and figure out the truth of how you feel.

Let me also just say, at the risk of sounding like a parent, that I loved seeing a story where the teen respects and seeks the approval and trust of her parents. It was nice to see that. Honestly, I think most teens are like this. They just don't show up all that often in fiction.

5 of 5 stars.

Tricky Trivia Tuesday (#?)

Well, as I stated in my last post, I've totally been falling short when it comes to blogging. Even at blogging my own giveaway trivia game. Talk about failtastic. So to cut myself some slack, I'm just going to do one big trivia ka-bang and call it done. I'm going to post a handful of trivia questions to make up for these past few weeks when I was supposed to post one and didn't. All you have to do it answer one of them correctly to get your name in the pot. Another reason I'm going to cut this game short, is that I originally said it would end in June. That's all well and good, but we will have just moved and probably won't have any of our stuff from the movers yet. So that plan died. How can I expect myself to mail books if I don't even have them? Yeah. I dunno either.

To keep it clear:
~ First person to get the answer on any one question gets their name in the pot.
~It goes without saying that if you are the second or third person to guess correctly, your name does not go in the pot.
~There are many questions, you may answer just one, or take a stab at all of them. Just make sure to make it clear which one you are answering. ;-)
~All of you that have been fantastic and have been playing my game already, your names are still entered, of course.

Now, for the questions!

1. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry accepts students from what countries?

2. What is Melissa Marr's middle name?

3. What is the best selling nonfiction book of all time?

4. What author has sold more children's books than any other author?

5. Who is the world's best selling fiction writer?

6. What is the Caldecott award given for?

7. In the book The Wizard of Oz, what was the Munchkin's favorite color?

8. What was Stephen King's first published novel?

9. What popular YA author said, "The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive."?

10. Where was Twilight character Esme Cullen originally from?

That's all folks! Remember, no search engines! Winners will be drawn next Tuesday, May 8th!

An Apologetic Apple

I do declare. I owe you all an apology. Despite my excuses and promises to do better at blogging, I have failed you. As it turns out, I really have a lot on my plate. That, and I have no chair at my computer. And it's not all that much fun to spend an hour on my feet typing away. It's just the truth of it. I've not been all that inspired to blog lately, my energy is just sapped.

Life has gotten very busy and chaotic and stressful these past few months. We are living in a tiny apartment with no furniture to speak of, and my only "office" area is a corner of the counter in the kitchen, where my computer sits. It's really not conducive to well written reviews. Or anything really. It's only temporary, while my husband goes to school to change his job in the Coast Guard. We'll only be here a few more weeks, then we'll be moving to Clearwater, Florida.

And therein lies a lot of my current stress. We are not only moving, we are buying a house. (picture me PANICKING) Not only are we buying a flipping house, we are buying a flipping house without ever seeing it! Egads. We are insane. I mean, who does that?? We do, apparently. A lot of my time lately has been spent doing paperwork and errands and panicking. My poor husband has been going bonkers trying to balance kids and school and sleep and all the details of buying a house, not to mention the incredible amount of time he's spent on the phone lately. Our lender and realtor are very nice and helpful and they deserve an award for their prompt return calls.

Add to that, my kids. The Goob is four and his imagination has gone wild. And The Bean is so very, very two. He never stops moving, never stops getting into trouble. It's all I can do just to make sure I feed everyone most days. I have to do a bedtime limb count to make sure nobody lost anything during the course of our day. If tummies are full and all limbs are accounted for, I consider it a good day. Anything else -baths, brushed teeth, using the bathroom by myself... it's all just a perk if it happens.

I also just finished up school. I spent the last year doing a certificate program to help me on my way to being a pharmacy technician. I just finished everything up a week or so ago. Hallelujah! Next up is taking the PTCB, a national exam to get me my certification. I won't be doing that until after we've moved and are somewhat settled though.

All that said- It's been pretty busy. This hectic limbo-period won't last forever though, and I do hope to get back into blogging for real. I miss it. I miss YOU. I want to blog about books and be all awesome-nerdy with you guys. I really do! I'm hoping to be closer to some good book events in Florida so I can bring you exciting news and giveaways.

Until then, all I have to offer is sporadic reviews, my one big giveaway that is still going on (despite my lack of participation, expect a post about that soon), and maybe some more personal updates.

I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to getting back in to blogging soon! :)

-Literati