Tuesday, May 30, 2017

#30DayBookBinge Printables!

As I mentioned a few days ago, I want to undertake a bit of a challenge to myself, to discover a bunch of new worlds, and rediscover why I loved books so much in the first place. To do this, I've decided to challenge myself to read every day in June -- and I invited you guys to join me!

And you -- you lovely, sweet, amazing bookish people, you -- were so on board. So many of you were not only game, but were eager and enthusiastic about the whole idea, and I love you for it. That level of enthusiasm is definitely going to come in handy around the 20-day mark, when it's almost midnight and we realize we haven't read anything for the day, and dammit, it's gonna happen!

You were also enthusiastic about the idea of printables, which frankly, meant I had to make some printables. Couldn't shrug this one off and say, 'next time, guys!'...
Which I'm glad of, because even though they're a little bit of a pain, I also really dug the process of making them! (And look, here they are, two days early!)


They feature hand-lettering (as you might expect from me) in a loose (hopefully) fun, (hopefully) legible style, to keep things light and cazh this month, and right now, there are seven of them.  You're free to use them or not as you see fit. Save them, print them, use only the pages you think you need, make your own -- it's totally up to you.

For now, you'll find a calendar (which you can use to check off days, track what you read, reward yourself with stickers, keep track of when you'll be busy and will have to work to fit in reading time... You know, calendar stuff.); 5 weekly pages (because of those pesky half-weeks), where you can again, track what you read or notes you want to make, plus some fave quotes!; and a wrap-up sheet, to tally up your month of book bingeing and reflect on the awesomeness.

But in the works are some other fun things that will be coming throughout the month, because I've decided (because I'm apparently a glutton for punishment) I want to give you some hand-sketched, and maaaaybe watercolored ones as well.
So keep an eye out for that.
You can download the complete set, to save and/or to print (your choice!) here.

Now, because so many of you were enthusiastic, and because I think buddy reading is a big helper and push, I'd like to do a few activities, like reading sprints and mini-challenges, peppered throughout the month. But my internetting is very limited these days, so I'll need your help!
If anyone would like to host a mini-challenge or run a reading sprint spree on Twitter (or anything else!), please email me and let me know! We can chat ideas and figure out what works and all that jazz, but really, nothing needs to be too complicated. You're readers of the internet, you know the drill.
[As for the emailing itself, I'll get back to you as soon as I'm able (again, limited internetting. Should help with the reading, though, in theory...)]

But whether you just want to casually read and communicate with no one, or you want to jump in with both feet and become a Book Binge slave err... helper, I hope you all have a wonderful month of reading, however much you can, whenever you can, and that it's all page-turning amazing.

The book binge starts in one day, people, so get your book stacks ready!

Monday, May 29, 2017

The #30DayBookBinge Challenge -- Join Me!

I'm going to read every damn day in June. I'M DETERMINED.
Join me! #30BookBinge

I was inspired by Dylan's video from late last year (others have done this, too, of course!)

The blog post (with printables, if you're into that sort of thing) goes live on the 1st, can be found here!



Friday, May 26, 2017

The "CBR" Pile

Because who needs a TBR when you can't seem to get through what you're already reading?

Help me break my funk! What do you do to get yourself back into a happy reading habit, or to make yourself fall in love with books again when you've sort of fallen out?

Also, recommend me things! What one book, hyped or not, should I add to my list for the "fated books" video/series?



BOOKS MENTIONED:
A Face Like Glass
Words in Deep Blue
Wolf, vol 2
Yes Please
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
S-Town
Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Beautiful Broken Girls



Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Warm Days & Determination | An #AudibleAmbassadors Discussion [spon]

After talking about it for months, I've finally begun listening to Amy Poehler's Yes Please. I'm not sure what it is, because with everything that's going on in the world, you'd think I'd want a fantastical distraction, but I'm really craving non-fiction at the moment. Especially memoirs. (And also, the S-Town podcast. My god, is that ever addicting!) Maybe it's just a desire to be in someone else's head, someone real, and see that it's not a bad place, that the whole world isn't a bad place right now.

(To be fair, I've also been sampling some other audiobooks that are in the humorous range, like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so maybe I do need some humor in my life.)

(Also, funny side note, though: I held a poll on Twitter recently to let people choose what type of book I'd read next. The choices were fantasy (which won (of course); I'm reading this), a random ARC, something specifically recommended to me, and non-fiction. Non-fiction got not one single vote. Not one, you guys. Look, non-fic isn't all dry, doom and gloom books about war or the economy. There's a lot of good, fascinating non-fic of all types out there, truly something for everybody. Expand your reading horizons, y'all!)

((Parentheses on parentheses on parentheses. I am a parentheses wizard.))

ANYWAY, I've been listening to Yes Please, which I'd talked about a million times, and put off a million more. I think I've touched on my out of sight, out of mind relationship with books -- no matter how good it is, if it's not a physical book that can be looking me in the face, getting in my way, clamoring to be read, I will forget I'm reading it. Oh, I'll remember eventually, and go back to that ebook or audiobook or web comic, or what have you. But days will pass without me reading anything, and I'll even find myself searching for something new to read before it'll hit me, 'oh yeah...I'm totally in the middle of another book that I was actually liking, I should go finish that...'  *insert unimpressed with self emoji*

Partly, I think this is habit. I have a lot of physical books (as you know), and for so long, I'd used audiobooks and ebooks so infrequently that I forget they're there. But as I'm getting more in the habit of taking in stories in new ways, I'm falling more and more in love with the fact that we have things like audiobooks and ebooks to round out our reading habits. I've been reading comics on my phone at night (thank you, hoopla), and I've been listening to audio of one form or another during the day ( as mentioned, Yes Please, S-Town, Hitchhiker's Guide...the format may change, but my sudden bookish ADD is showing no signs of abating...).

But what I've always known, but am starting to really realize* is that, yes, audiobooks are really great to have around when you're ~doing things~. I know they say that multi-taskers actually get less done, but what do they know, anyway? When I'm not procrastinating, I'm a tried and true multi-tasker (...maybe the procrastination has something to do with the multi-tasking. I dunno.), but I've never really multi-tasked when it comes to books. And sometimes that has kept me from reading: I want to read this, but I need to do that.  And though I've said that audiobooks are great for listening AND doing, and that my first time listening to a story, I was actually looking for house chores to do. LOOKING FOR THEM. I almost shudder at the memory, but the book made the dishes downright pleasant.

So I know these things. I know that audiobooks make work pass faster, and I know they help me to 'read' when I don't otherwise have time to...but I know it in the way that we know we should go to the gym and floss more -- doesn't mean I'm gonna always take my own advice.

And look, my harvesting hands have already been busy!
But I was in the garden a couple weeks ago, doing to backbreaking early work of prepping the soil, and it hit me: why the hell am I not listening to an audiobook right now? WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN LISTENING TO AUDIOBOOKS THIS WHOLE TIME? Come the warm months, I spend half my life in the garden, happily picking yummy things, and less-happily weeding, and some telling a story into my ears at the same time would make the whole experience even better.

So. That is my goal this year: see how many pounds of YUM I can pull out of my garden, and how my pages (or hours) of AWESOME I can "read" at the same time.

It makes my multi-tasking heart very happy.

So recommend me some of your favorite listenables! And if you want to try your hand at the can't-stop-won't-stop-(reading) multi-tasker's life, you can get your hands on your very own FREE audiobook of your choice with a FREE 30-day trial from Audible! It can be anything, anything at all; they have it all.**



*Kylie was wrong, y'all. 20seventeen is the year of realizing, not 20sixteen. So close, Kylie!

**I mean, they have it most. "All" is not a legally-binding statement on the behalf of Audible. But I'm telling you guys -- they have it all. ;)


This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Audible. The opinions and text are all mine.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Recent Comic Reads | Review

There was a little more of a delay on this video than I had hoped, but hey: that means more books! Here are some of the comics and graphic novels I've read recently, and my thoughts on them. I've had a few more that were such duds, I didn't even bother finishing them, so... I need all your best comic/graphic novel recommendations, please!

And let me know your requests and ideas for the next/future BOOK CHAT videos!



THE BOOKS:
Spill Zone
NewsPrints
Saga, vol 7
Bitch Planet
Kindred
Wolf, vol 1
The Discipline

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Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video; none of these books were PR samples except for SPILL ZONE, which was sent to me for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are honest, and my own. (Clearly, since there was a fair amount of negative here...)

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

APRIL BOOK HAUL 2017 (of course)

Because I can't stop myself, apparently...




THE BOOKS:
Mary Barton
The Book Without Words
Hush
Seven Deadlies
The Heartless Troll
The Name of the Blade
The Castle Behind Thorns
Mortal Heart
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club
Longbourn
Spill Zone
A Face Like Glass
Noteworthy
Prisoner of War
Dark Breaks the Dawn
and some baking & gardening books, and a random Reader's Digest condensed book, because it's pretty, and I want to make something out of it.



Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though some of these books were sent to me for review consideration purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.