Book Chatter

Let me just say that this has been a week of discovery. In honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I have been visiting a lot of new blogs and I am so impressed with what is out there. There are just so many wonderful blogs and not enough time in the day for me to read them all. Trust me, I try!

However, I have some favorites that I visit regularly and here they are (in no particular order):

Fizzy Thoughts – Jill is a hoot. She has a wonderful sense of humor and she always makes me laugh. She provides her readers with honest, yet thoughtful reviews and she keeps it fresh by mixing it up a bit. There is never a dull moment!

Book Club Girl – Jennifer’s site is a wealth of information for book clubs everywhere. Her radio blog is a lot of fun and I enjoy participating in her discussions. She is probably sick of all my comments but I just keep coming back.

Books on the Brain – I just love the way Lisa’s site is structured. It’s so easy to read and she too writes reviews that are honest, yet respectful to the author. Her “In Praise of Book Groups” series was a lot of fun to be a part of.

Everyday I Write The Book Blog – I think Gayle’s site is one of the first book blogs I visited. I LOVE her online book club and participate as much as a I can. She too, is probably tired of hearing from me but as long as her site is up…I will be around to read it.

Age 30+ A Lifetime of Books – Heather was one of the first people to post comments on my blog. I was new at blogging and when you are new, you get so excited about those first comments! I love her site. I love the idea behind it and I love hearing stories about Kiddo.

She Is Too Fond Of Books – I am thoroughly enjoying Dawn’s site. Her “Spotlight on Bookstores” is a great series. If you have not heard of it, then be sure to check her site out. I also enjoy her reviews quite a bit.

I could go on and on but I will force myself to stop here. Since starting my blog in Feb ’08, I have made so many new blogger friends and my TBR list is completely out of control but I am enjoying every minute of it.

Thanks to all that read my blog. If you have not checked out the blogs above, please do so and thanks to Amy over at My Friend Amy for organizing BBAW. What an undertaking! Bravo!

I recieved this ARC of Greasy Rider, by Greg Melville as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. Thank you Library Thing!

Here’s my review:

Two guys decide to make a cross-country trip in a converted Mercedes that runs on used vegetable oil…basically french fry grease. Written as a travel narrative of sorts, we get to go along for the ride as they cruise across the country.

We learn early on that Greg Melville is not a “car” man. He knows how to drive ’em, but doesn’t know too much about fixing them. Well aware of his shortcomings, he decides to bring along a friend from college, Iggy. Iggy is very practical and can take a look at something and usually figure it out. This comes in handy quite a bit as they make their trek across the country.

As you can imagine. There are a lot of funny pit stops along the way. For one, they need to find grease. Good, clean, grease. Not all grease is created equal. Some restaurants have grease that contains large food particles and water. Water is not good for an engine so there are some funny moments as they attempt to get good, quality grease.

In addition to their constant quest for grease, they also make several side trips, “errands” as they call them to places like Al Gore’s home, Google headquarters, etc. The Google trip was fascinating. If I worked there, I would never leave!

Interspersed throughout are facts about carbon offsets and wind technology and how turbines work. I didn’t know anything about carbon offsets prior to reading this and I found these sections to be quite informative. Did you know that you can buy carbon offsets to lower your own carbon footprint? I didn’t know that.

Overall, this was a really fun book riddled with interesting facts about the environment. I enjoyed the travel narrative format as well. It allowed for a quick read. I would have liked to have seen more interaction between Greg and Iggy. Two guys cannot be in the same car for that length of time and not have stuff to say about it. I will say though that I am a bit more aware now on the impact that I have on the environment. With that said…would you like to be more aware too??

Now for the GIVEAWAY. In honor of BBAW, I am giving away my ARC copy of Greasy Rider to one lucky reader! Here’s what you need to do:

EMAIL me the answer to this question: Are you doing anything right now to go green? If so, what? Please put Greasy Rider Giveaway in the subject line.
This giveaway is open to all US residents.
Giveaway will close by 9/21, 7pm PST and the winner will be announced on this blog on Monday, 9/22. I will contact the winner for their mailing address.

Good luck!

Chatting with friends about books and life…