stacking the shelves | For The Bookish

Hi, everybody!

Well, I’m in an extremely good mood at the moment. Mostly because my parents decided upon a spontaneous trip to Florida this weekend. (!!!!!) AND ’cause I’ve got eight books to take with me. (!!!!)

Since we’ll be leaving late (late) tonight, and I’ve yet to pack my bags, I’ll make this short and sweet. Lucky for us, we have friends in Florida who we’ll be staying with, and since my dad can take his work anywhere (pro’s of being a web designer!), we’re leaving today and will be back Monday. Don’t worry – pictures of my trip will be up as soon as possible, and I’ll be back on Monday like usual. (With either a review or pictures. Which would you like first? The review I was meaning to put up, I’ve just realized hasn’t actually been written!) Anyway…

As I was saying in my June Recap on Wednesday, the lovely Trisha at Forever Trisha and I were planning on doing a 4th-of-July collaboration post today. Since we were both busy with trips and whatnot, we decided this week wasn’t best for a collab, but we hope to do one together soon! (Which I’m still super excited about. On a side note, if any of you are willing to do a guest post sometime soon, that would be fabulous!)

Oh – and did I mention I went to the library today?! I’m telling you, it’s a DANGEROUS place for me!

Eight books! Five of them I’ve wanted to read for quite a while, and the other three look really good. The two books I’m planning on taking with me to Florida are Listening for Luca and The Wish. I’m not sure which I’ll read first… it depends on what mood I’m in after I finish The Phantom Tollbooth. (Which is a school-required book this year, so I’m getting a head-start. It’s a really fun book!) Which one (of the two I just mentioned) do you think I should read first?

The other three books I’ve been wanting to read are Eight Keys, Rapunzel: The One With All the Hair, and Betsy-Tacy. I’m really excited to read the first book in the Betsy-Tacy series. I’ve been meaning to read them ever since I read the last book in the Mother/Daughter Book Club series. 🙂

Oh, but there’s one thing I’m a little bummed out about – Camp Nanowrimo. I mentioned it in my last post (you can see my profile here), and I really wanted to make it this time. I’m not sure if I’m going to try to write this weekend, or power-write to catch up when I get back. We’ll see… wish me luck on that. Between all these books and writing some more posts (including book reviews – which I’m pretty behind on! Aye, aye, aye), I’m not sure which I should put first. In my last post, I said I had tons of ideas for posts… but then I’ve got to write them! 😉

So, which book should I read next? Are any of you willing to do a guest post or two? Can’t wait to hear your thoughts. (And hopefully, I can answer back. I haven’t been answering most of your comments recently, but I do read and love all of them.) 🙂

Well, it finally feels like summer.

In two ways: the heat. And glorious HOURS for reading! (WHOOP WHOOP.)

So of course, that leaves plenty of time for getting books to read! I’m so happy, because I’ve got several books you’ve all recommended to me, and one that I’ve heard A LOT about. I have to see all the hype!

Soooo first up is Cinder by Marissa Meyer, which… I’m a little iffy about, since it’s not something I’d pick out on my own. BUT I’M HOPING I LIKE IT. I mean, really hoping. So pray for me, ya’ll. I really want to like this one!

I also got The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan, which is written in verse, like Serendipity and Me, and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. Both of these were recommended to me by one of you (I’m thinking Maddy? Correct me if I’m wrong!) Anyway, thanks for recommending them! I’m really excited to read both of them. Plus, I just read a Shannon Hale book – Princess Academy – which many of you were gushing about, and I loved! So I’m hoping this one doesn’t disappoint. 😉

And last but not least, Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. I’m a big fan of Ella Enchanted by Miss Levine! I tried reading this a few years ago, but I totally DNF’d it (which I feel bad about, ’cause it’s awesome so far.) Plus Brooke said she loved it, and she only recommends the best books.

Also this little beauty, which is a loner in my e-book grabs this week.

Ana of California is, as its synopsis puts it, “A modern take on the classic coming-of-age novel, inspired by Anne of Green Gables.” It doesn’t come out until June 30th, but I’ve been lucky enough to read it as part of The Fantastic Flying Book Club blog tour. So be looking for my review on July 1st!

Oh, and I read three books this week! Not a whole lot, but I’m proud.

– The Secret Language of Girls by Frances O’Roark Dowell: 3 stars. It was okay. I think I would have liked this one a whole lot more had I read it two or three years ago. Still not sure if I want to review this one or not, since… I have very mixed feelings about it. Do I like it? Yes. Do I hate it? Meh.

– Dear Opl by Shelley Sackier: 4 stars. I got Dear Opl as an e-ARC from Netgalley, and loved it! It covers a lot of things, and is so funny! Look for it on August 4th. My review will be coming up in late June! 😉

– Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli: I haven’t rated it yet! I’m having trouble rating books here. I’d like to give every book I read 4 or 5 stars, because I don’t get books I *think* I’m going to not like. The truth is, Jake and Lily was fabulous! There were some flaws. So I’m going to write everything out before I rate it. So we’ll see!

That’s it for the stack! As for my weekly/monthly recap…

– You all took a survey last week that helped me out a lot with seeing how you liked For the Bookish. I learned a lot of things! Like:

Your favorite posts are my personal life ramblings! (I was so surprised by that! Thanks!) And in second place, discussion posts, which are my favorite, too. 🙂
Your least favorite posts are book reviews. (Hey, only three votes! A lot of you didn’t even vote for this one.) I admit, though – they’re my least favorite to write.
You also had some great advice! I need all that I can get for my book reviews (they’re tough to write. I honestly don’t even like rating books.) And you said I could give a better explanation of why I gave the number of stars I did, try out different formats, and possibly relate the book to another book.
And you had some fabulous post ideas. Most of you said “Bring Friday Ramblings back!” I’m so happy to know you liked those, but they weren’t my favorite to write. I felt like it truly was rambling, and I didn’t like how disorganized my thoughts were, when I did manage to come up with what to write. So we’ll see. I might try to brainstorm some ideas and bring it up sometime. =)

– I woke up to this the other morning.

It’s safe to say I completely DRAGGED myself out of bed. These critters got to hang out in my bed all day long. (They think I’M sleeping in THEIR bed, evidently.) And Mittens slept a good portion of the day sitting up like that. We call it his “yoga pose.”

– FTB reached thirty followers on Bloglovin! Think you can keep it going up this week/month? 😀 I’m thinking of doing a mini giveaway when we reach 50… (hint hint)

– The search engine terms always trip me up. This month, I got views from these searches:

the selection by kiera cass characters – yes, yes, yes. I can see how that might link my blog.
books they read in mdbc – I’m a huge fan of the Mother/Daughter Book Club.
me and you t cup love pics – I’m confused. What is this??
loved it – ha-ha! I say that a lot. “Overall, I LOVED it. 5 stars!” (I like making fun of myself; and, as you all know, I’m terrible at reviewing books.)
one for the murphys – well, well, well. I did love One for the Murphys.

– The post with the most views this month was my review for Princess Academy!

For The Bookish

Category Archives: stacking the shelves

spontaneous trips & early stacking the shelves

stacking the shelves & short monthly recap

that’s pretty much it for today! what books have you gotten and/or read this week? have you read any of the ones i mentioned? happy almost-june!