Book Blogger Appreciation : Day 5 finale!

Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week!
Today's treasure: Future Treasures.

We want to hear all about your FUTURE treasures. We’ve been visiting each other and getting to know each other better…now is your chance to share what you enjoyed about BBAW and also what your blogging goals are for the next year!

So this is it, folks - the final day! I'm so sad. I feel like this week absolutely flew by. I don't want it to be over yet.

Anyhow, one of my favorite things about Book Blogger Appreciation Week is that it reminds me that I do deserve to be appreciated. Not just me, but all bloggers. We are doing something awesome here, and we devote a ton of time and energy and love and heart to it, and well, we deserve to be appreciated! Sometimes I feel that, with trying to balance a book blog with the rush and craziness of daily life, it's easy to forget that.

Of course, I've also loved browsing through and APPRECIATING so many of your awesome blogs.

Right, so my future blog goals - I DON'T HAVE ANY! I've been blogging for a little over a year now, and I absolutely love it! And one thing I've discovered is that, with me, goals can't be forced. If I plan to do something, chances are it won't happen. If I realize that something needs to be done and then just start doing it, it happens.

So maybe that should be my blog goal: let the motivation take me where it may. And try to make Brizmus Blogs Books the best for me and for my readers.

And now I'm off to read about your goals! :-)

Happy weekend!

Book Blogger Appreciation : Day 4

Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week Day 4!
Today's treasure: Forgotten Treasures.

Sure we’ve all read about Freedom and Mockingjay but we likely have a book we wish would get more attention by book bloggers, whether it’s a forgotten classic or under marketed contemporary fiction. This is your chance to tell the community why they should consider reading this book!

This is very hard for me. Because there are so many books that I LOVE that I have just never seen around in the blogosphere.
One of these books that has really been on my mind lately is Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. This is one of my favorite books of all time, and there was recently a great review of it on the Bookette that has had me thinking about it and remembering how much I love it. It's about a girl in boarding school who is, basically, me. When I was in boarding school. And as such, I am sure she is also every other teenage girl in high school going through an awkward phase and feeling super shy.
And really, the Bookette review is the only time I have ever seen this book talked about in the blogosphere. Why? I couldn't tell you. Because it is absolutely AMAZING, and everyone should read it!

I read it a long time before I started the blog, otherwise there would be a link to my review of it as well.

Summary: Curtis Sittenfeld’s debut novel, Prep, is an insightful, achingly funny coming-of-age story as well as a brilliant dissection of class, race, and gender in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ambition.

Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.

As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of–and, ultimately, a participant in–their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she’s a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.

Ultimately, Lee’s experiences–complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescence universal to us all.

What are you waiting for? Go get your hands on a copy now!

Book Blogger Appreciation : Day 3

Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week Day 3!
Today's treasure: Unexpected Treasures.

For this treasure, I share with you a book or genre I tried due to the influence of another blogger.

This one is really hard for me, as there are SO many books I have read over the past year based on recommendations from tons of different bloggers.

I think for today, though, I am going to have to go with a book that I read only recently: Soulless by Gail Carriger. I absolutely ADORED this book (I haven't posted my review for it yet, but it's written, and it's coming soon), and I don't think I would have ever even thought about it had it not been for bloggers.

It's hard to pinpoint just one blogger, though, that recommended this book. Fabulous reviews for it started showing up in so many blogs that I just had to find out what it was about for myself.

I think, though, that it was vvb32 Reads that finally pushed me over the edge. Velvet blogs regularly about steampunk, which seemed like such an exciting genre to me. And Soulless just kept showing up in her blog. Finally, I needed to see what this steampunk was all about, and I decided that Soulless would be my introduction. So, thanks vvb32 reads for pushing me over the edge and turning me on to such a fabulous book!

Look out for my review soon, and if you haven't checked out Velvet's blog, what are you waiting for?!?

And now I'm dying to hear what you tried!

Book Blogger Appreciation : Day 2

Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week Day 2!
Today's treasure is a New Treasure - the Interview Swap!

I had the great pleasure of interviewing MamaKitty from Mama Kitty Reviews! Her answers were so much fun!

Brizmus Blogs Books: Tell us a little bit about your blog, MamaKitty Reviews. It's new to me, so it's probably new to my readers as well.

Mamma Kitty: I started MamaKitty Reviews last year because I'd had so many book reviews and "OMG I WANT THIS BOOK!" posts on my personal blog that I figured it was time to devote one special blog just for all things books. I still have a personal blog, but I don't update it nearly as often as I do MKR. Funny how that works, isn't it? On MKR, I review whatever books I've just finished, talk about books I want to read (I need to do that again... haven't posted one of those in a while), have a weekly HottiePants post, occasionally I have guest bloggers, interview authors, and give books away (because I love to share the love).

BBB:It seems to me from your site that you blog with 3 other people. How is that? Do you guys collaborate and talk about things going on in the blog, or is it more of a to each his own thing?

MK: When I started school again, I realized that I wouldn't have nearly as much time as before to read and review, so I asked my cousin MamaDee to review the book she was reading. Then, my goddaughter BabyK asked if she could review a book for me. She's only 13, so I don't allow her to come onto the site (since it's Rated R), but she's working on 2 YA books for me. Recently, I found out that my boss's daughter likes to read almost as much as I do, so I started giving her assignments too. She's almost 15, so she's not allowed on the site either, but she just turned in her first review. I have to type it up and post it.

I basically run the site as though I'm the sole reviewer, but if I have a back log or they have a book they're particularly excited about, I ask them to review for me. They're all in school too (MamaDee is pre-law, BabyK just started 7th grade, and BabyChica is in 9th grade), so we all have a lot on our plates.

BBB: Do you listen to music while you read? If so, what's your favorite reading music? If no, why not?

MK: Sometimes I listen to music while I read... mostly when I do, it's my "chill" playlist, which includes music by Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, Erykah Badu, Duffy, Adele, Ben Taylor, Leona Lewis, Melody Gardot, Anthony Hamilton, James Morrison... There's a lot more, but I could go on forever. I like music almost as much as I like books. :)

BBB: Now, I know that you mostly read romance, but what is your favorite out of genre book?

MK: Is Chick Lit out of genre? LOL I mostly stick to romance and all its sub-genres (PNR, UF, HR, & Contemp). I've recently started to like YA again, but mostly of the Romance variety. What can I say? I stick to what I know... I think the furthest out of the Romance genre I've truly enjoyed in the past decade or so was a non-fiction book I had to read for my history class. I'm a big history buff.

BBB: Since you started blogging, have your found yourself wanting to read more books out of your normal comfort zone?

MK: I've ventured pretty far out of my comfort zone in reading BDSM and M/M books... I'm actually doing a M/M reading challenge where I have to read 5 books by the year's end. I've read 3, and am working on the 4th. I already have the 5th as well (a signed copy by the author that I won in a fellow book blogger's birthday contest), and will likely read more.

BBB: What's your favorite color combination?

MK: I love pink and chocolate brown. I also love teal and chocolate brown (my bathroom color scheme). And light green and chocolate brown (my bedroom color scheme). The funniest part? I'm not a big fan of chocolate brown on its own.

BBB: That Cat in the Hat story on your blog is the cutest story ever! Do you remember some of the books that you read to your Twin?

MK: I can't remember any of the other books I read to him in the hospital, but when we were in... uh.... 6th or 7th grade, I had to read The Giver by Lois Lowry and I made him sit down so I could read it to him. That's the only book I actually finished for my Pre-AP reading class that year (I still have no idea how I managed to pass that class). I didn't hate reading at that time, I just hated the books we were being forced to read. Anyway, we both cried at the end of the book. Just don't tell him I told you that.

BBB: If you were stranded on a desert island for a year and only allowed to bring 3 books with you (which you would of course read over and over again), what would they be?

MK: OMG, only 3 books for a year?? Um... The first book would have to be Dirty by Megan Hart. My favorite author in the entire world and I luff her so. Then i'd have to bring Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between by J.A. Saare because I have to have my Disco fix. And finally, Remember When by Nora Roberts/JD Robb. Ok, I cheated on that last one, because it's technically 2 books in one. But it was my first introduction to the In Death series and the love of my life: Roarke. (lol!)

BBB: You're allowed 3 other items on your desert island. What are they?

MK: A notebook, a pen (that never runs out of ink, of course), and my hair straightener.

BBB:And that's it! Unless there's anything that you'd like to add that you think readers reading about your blog from my blog would like to know about.

MK: Um... I'm not very funny when I try to be, so the idea of saying something witty just went out the window. LOL.

BBB: Now, that was fun! And now I've got a few after interview comments I'd like to add. First, I'm sort of dying to check out this HottiePants feature! Second, me, too, I like music almost as much as I like books! And last, my favorite color combination is super pinky marroon with creamy mint green (sort of like the colors on my blog), and at first I didn't actually like creamy mint green by itself that much, but now I love it. So maybe you will soon love chocolate brown! :-)

Anyhow, thanks SO much for stopping by Mama Kitty, and readers, if you haven't checked out her blog yet, and you like romance, be sure to stop by Mama Kitty's Reviews!!!!

Book Blogger Appreciation : Day 1

It is finally upon us: BOOK BLOGGER APPRECIATION WEEK!
I say finally, but I have to admit - I had actually FORGOTTEN about BBAW this year until, well, until I saw people blogging about it today. Horrifying, I know.

But still, that's in no way going to stop me from participating.
And so, without further ado

Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week!
This year's theme is A Treasure Chest of Infinite Books and Infinite Blogs.

Today's treasure is: For those of you who participated in BBAW last year, what’s a great new book blog you’ve discovered since last year’s BBAW?

I have discovered SO MANY amazing blogs since I participated last year, when I was fairly new to book blogging, that it would be impossible to choose. I mean, there's Cleverly Inked and YA Vampire Books and SO many others that the list could go on forever.

Today, though, I'm going to showcase THREE (I couldn't pick just one!) of my favorite blogs that I have discovered since last year's BBAW.


The Book on the Hill
Charlotte is a French book blogger, and she always has the most interesting reviews and fun things going on at her blog. While she mostly reviews YA, occasionally other things sneak in. I love Charlotte and her blog! So much fun!


The Bookette
This is another YA blog. Becky is a UK blogger and a librarian, and when it comes to books, she totally knows her stuff. I have read and ADORED so many books based on Becky recommendations. Her reviews are clear and concise and really give you the best and worst of the book without telling you too much.

SFF Chat
Simcha blogs from Israel, and her blog is, well, awesome! She blogs mostly SF and fantasy, and every week she keeps us updated on some of the best sci-fi/fantasy releases. Her reviews are serious and well-written, and even if she doesn't like a book herself, I know I can count on her reviews to be balances and let me know if *I* would like the book.

One of my favorite thing about all three of these bloggers, I would say, is that, while they are a major part of the (or at least my) blogging world, they don't get caught up in blogging fads, and they blog about what they want when they want how they want. And it is awesome.
Not to mention, SO MANY GREAT BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS!

I look forward to hearing about the awesome blogs that you guys have discovered!