Reading | Book Chatter

Bloggers are always asking me how to get books. Well, there are a lot of ways but wouldn’t it be wonderful if bloggers could sign-up to receive books? Well, this year’s Indie Lit Awards is going to help you with that. If you are a book blogger, interested in reviewing what could potentially be the best book of 2011, then head on over to the Indie Lit Awards site, select a genre, and sign-up to receive books.

Additionally, Wallace and I have decided to open the awards up to ALL readers. Meaning, that you don’t need to be a blogger to nominate a book. When nominations open in September, you…as a reader can nominate your fave books published in 2011. I’ll post more about the process as we get closer.

On a personal note, The Boy’s school year ends in two weeks! I can’t believe it. The short year is due to mandatory furlough days for the teachers, but I will be so glad when he is done. It’s been rough keeping him on track during his first year of middle school. He’s brilliant in so many ways, charismatic, and his teachers enjoy having him around but he’s so unorganized! His backpack is a walking disaster and I am tired of getting on him about it. I can’t wait to take all of his notebooks and just toss ’em. They have to glue their assignments into a spiral binder and they always fall out, everywhere. Can’t wait to ditch ’em.

Summer basketball is about the start-up for The Boy, yet no swimming lessons this year. I miss them. I use to spend so much time at the pool, reading and listening to the splashes in the background. It just screamed summer to me but they are both swimmers now so they aren’t needed. Somehow, sitting in a hot gym doesn’t have the same appeal.

Okay, that last part wasn’t too exciting but it’s exciting to me. I love when my kids are involved with stuff. I go crazy nuts keeping track of it all, but I love for them to make new friends and have fun. The Girl will be playing volleyball in the fall so her summer will be easy (just summer day camp).

What are you doing for the weekend? I am going to the dentist. I know… sooooo fun.

Okay, so the other day I decided to change my header a bit (see it up there?). I didn’t want to change it too much, but I wanted it to be a little brighter and I wanted an image with a second Adirondack chair.

Why? Well, I am supposed to be “chatting with friends about books and life” and it occurred to me that the one chair screamed LONER. Also, it had been a particularly stressful week when I put the header up, so you might notice the “empty” wine glass. That drink was drunk!

This was the old one:

I still like the old one, but I like the new one better. At least for now. I had been wanting to change it for a long time so it feels good to check it off the list.

The other thing that I’ve been thinking about is that I haven’t been terribly wowed by my reading this year. I am not referring to quantity. Instead, I am referring to the caliber of literature that I’ve picked for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed several of the books I’ve read so far and I’ve recommend many to others but besides Safe from the Sea, I haven’t read any that have stopped me cold. You know the ones I mean. I am talking about the books that make you stop and think about life, love, the world, eternity, etc.

I need more of them.

I don’t want to come up with a formal plan to make this work because as soon as it’s a formal thing, my interest wanes. So, I am going to be inserting meatier, more substantial reads in between what I’ve already promised to review. It’s what I had planned to do all this year, but somehow loss my mojo. This may mean more classics and definitely some older titles. Don’t you get tired of seeing the same reviews over and over again anyway? I know I do.

If you’ve been thinking about changes, whether it’s a related to blog design or your reading in general, what have you been thinking about doing?

Chatting with friends about books and life…