Monthly Wrap Up: February 2010
Total Books and Current Status
Since January 1, I've finished 18 books, and abandoned 1. In February, I posted 11 full reviews and no mini-reviews. I also posted 1 movie review and 5 recipes. I am totally caught up on my reviews! I am currently reading Little Bee by Chris Cleave and Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham and finishing listening to An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor.
What Did I Read and Review?
Here's what I reviewed in February. Click on the link to see my review; the letter in parentheses is my rating.
Full Reviews / Readalongs
- Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (B+)
- Cocktail Time by Sandra Lee (B-)
- The Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas (C-)
- Double Eagle by Sneed B. Collard III (B+)
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. Tolkien (discussion post #1, #2, #3)
- The Night Is for Hunting by John Marsden (B+)
- Rose by Jeff Smith (B)
- So Easy by Ellie Krieger (B+)
- Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (B+)
- Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (B)
- Where's Catkin? by Janet Lord & Julie Paschkis (B+)
- American Rust by Philipp Meyer
- The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger
- Don't Miss Books for February
- The Help by Kathyrn Stockett
- An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor
- The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming
- Life's That Way by Jim Beaver
- The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond
- I'm Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph
Recipes
I thought I had a great reading month; I posted a ton (for me) of reviews and spotlights and enjoyed every book I featured. My favorite of the month is probably my old friend The Fellowship of the Rings.
Literary Road Trip, Author Interviews, Guest Posts
- I was pleased to conduct a interview with Jillian Cantor as part of the Literary Road Trip series.
- I hope you didn't miss the guest post by Sneed B. Collard III on his transition from biologist to author.
- I loved the guest post by Philipp Meyer on being a full-time writer.
- Did you give Judith Moffett her Pennsylvania credentials after reading her wonderful guest post for the Literary Road trip?
- Thanks to Johanna Moran for her guest post telling us the story behind The Wifes of Henry Oades.
Yes, sigh, I joined one more challenge: the Ireland Reading Challenge hosted by Carrie from Books and Movies.
It is never to late to join The Amy Einhorn Books challenge, which I am hosting.
I am also hosting What's in a Name? 3, which started January 1. We have 226 participants and 111 reviews. Visit the challenge blog for more information, to sign up, and to find links to the reviews. I'm thrilled with the progress challenge participants are making.
A Few More Activities
I posted my top-ten tips for those attending Book Expo of America (BEA) in May.
I am still participating in the Lord of the Rings Readalong. The book for February was the The Fellowship of the Ring and the discussion was hosted by Clare from The Literary Omnivore.
I am excited to have been asked to be a SheKnows Book Club Blogger for the new SheKnows book club.
I announced the unique and exciting book tour for C. J. West (New England readers, be sure to take a look).
I announced the new editions of one of my favorite books from 2009: Willow by Julia Hoban.
I participated in Harper Teen's 28 Days of Winter, posting an interview with Carrie Vaughn.
Oh yes! The results of the BLOB game: Amy from My Friend Amy, squeezed by me at the last minute (dang those time zones!) and so I am the BLOB loser! In truth, I did not buy a single book in February. I acquired 10 books (pitches, giveaways, library) and gave away 35. My final score was -36. I am totally satisfied with my score and my results; anyone who ended up with negative points (all of us) was a winner. We were supposed to convert any positive scores into dollars to give to a charity. I have decided to give $36 to my library anyway.
What's New and What's Coming in March
I have about four guest posts and Literary Road Trip posts coming up. As well as a couple of blog tours.
I changed my commenting system to Intense Debate, which allows for threaded comments. I had one glitch (for a few hours no one could comment) and I'm still working on getting my top commenter's widget to update. But I am basically pleased with the system. I hope you are too.
March is my busiest month of the year. I will be posting and I'll be on Twitter, but I may not be commenting very much. By the second week in April, I'll be back to normal work hours, and you'll see comments from me all over the place!
And Now for You
- How was your February?
- Did you meet your reading goals?
- Are you caught up on your reviews?
- Are you making changes?
13 comments:
Oh my, you have had a busy month! Glad to hear you are up to date on your reviews, I am about three behind. Aarrgh
My February was pathetic, but you have been a busy girl! March isn't going to be much better I am afraid. The bathroom is done, but I've got a retreat and the book fair, which is a huge use of my time. I'm waiting for things to get back to normal. (When they do, I'm installing Intense Debate!)
My February reading was pathetic as well, ending up watching mostly movies instead of books. But oh my, you had a very productive month, and it's not even leap year!
Wow! You have been busy. I am behind schedule but have had alot of personal drama going on in my life. Are you setting goals in advance for the month? You have such a variety of posts that it seems you are planning ahead.
You have had such a productive month - I love the variety of posts here!
I'm adding some of these to my wish list!!! Great month !
You had a busy month! I haven't read any of the same books as you this month and hadn't even heard of most of them. I hope that you manage to find an A grade book in March!
You had an excellent February! I joined 2 more challenges, just could not resist! LOL
So far, I like your comment thingy. Anything is better than embedded comments with word verification (not that you had that)! I'm just saying.
Wow, what a fabulous month you had! And it was a short month, too. Congrats on completing BLOB with a nice negative score!
I'll be thinking of you this month and hope your busy time won't be anywhere near as crazy as mine was over Christmas and New Years. I've been on Twitter lately like clockwork so it will be nice to be able to catch up with you there :)
Envious that you are caught up with reviews ... I have several sitting here that I'll do quickies for (some day!).
That book tour of CJ West looks fantastic - wine and cheese night, espcially.
I didn't join the Ireland challenge, but I read/reviewed 2 children's books set in Ireland ... both part of our permanent home library now, and recommended.
Congrats on being caught up with reviews! I'm only a few behind, but they're co-reviews, so that makes me feel less bad. lol
I'm joining the Ireland Challenge too I think. And maybe a couple others...I cannot resist them.
You've got a lot of interesting bookish stuff going on in February. Well done, Beth! I can't wait to get started with AMERICAN RUST because of all the good things said about it. I'm glad I won a copy of the book at Wendy of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. Here's to a fantastic March!
I do like your commenting system .. it seems better than the Disqus thing I tried. Maybe I'll give it a try. My biggest complaint with Blogger is that it doesn't have threaded commenting. Have you had any complaints about it? I know a lot of people hated Disqus!
And you always have so much going on .... I don't know how you do it!
Post a Comment