Sunday Post — 6/02/13

June 2, 2013 Sunday Post, Sunday Salon 16

The Sunday Post is a meme sponsored by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  It’s a chance to share news.  A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

I’ve been working hard on my indexing project, which is due Monday.  I already have another project, which is encouraging.  This one will allow me a little more breathing room, though, so hopefully I can get caught up with all the ARCs I need to read and review.

I’ve started walking every day (well, almost every day) in the morning, before it gets too blazingly hot.  I started Wednesday, and I hope I can stick to it better than I have in the past.  I need to get in better shape — I spend way too much time in front of my computer!  (Does that make me an office-chair potato?)

I also finally gave in and downloaded the Kindle reader app for my laptop.  I don’t like to read on a laptop, but there were just too many interesting-looking freebies and bargains I was missing because I didn’t have a Kindle or a Nook.  And I’ve been playing with the idea of switching to a Kindle eventually anyway, whenever my venerable Sony PRS-505 dies.  Everyone in my extended family seems to love their Kindles.  We’ll see — I’m still fairly happy with my Sony reader, but it’s a bit slow.  (That could have something to do with the fact that I have around 800 books on it, though!)

The past week on the blog: 


The coming week:

  • Top Ten Tuesday: Books Featuring Travel In Some Way
  • News & Notes
  • reviews of a few of the ARCs I’ve been reading over the past two weeks, but haven’t had time to polish and post!


Challenges:

The Clean Sweep ARC Challenge is over!  Thank you to Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Kimberly at The Windy Pages for hosting it.  So how did I do?

Well, on the one hand, not as well as I had hoped.  I only posted 2 ARC reviews in May, which is pretty dismal and a lot lower than I’d planned.  The low number is largely due to a fairly intense indexing project during much of the month, plus the fact that I didn’t post ARC reviews during Children’s Book Week.

On the other hand, even with my project, I managed to read 7 ARCs/review copies that I haven’t yet reviewed (I have drafts of some of the reviews.)  So all told, I read 9 ARCs in May, which isn’t too bad.  I plan to spend much of the coming week finishing up all those reviews!

I’m also still participating in the NetGalley Challenge sponsored by Red House Books.  The same totals above apply to this challenge, since both the books I did review were from NetGalley.

 

   

      2013 Reading Challenge
   

       

          2013 Reading Challenge
       

     

        The Bookwyrm’s Hoard has
             read 77 books toward her goal of 140 books.
     

     

       

hide

     

     

        77 of 140 (55%)
     

       

          view books
       

 

   

In the Goodreads challenge, I’ve read 77 books in 2013.  My goal is 140 books by the end of the year, so I’m 19 books ahead of schedule.  Huzzah!

New arrivals:   

For Review: 
 

Thanks to NetGalley and:  Del Rey for A Study in Silks; Starry Sky Publishing for Taking Back Forever, the second book in Karen Amanda Hooper’s Kindrily series; and Ballantine for Lisa Van Allen’s The Wishing Thread.   I’m really excited to read all three of these books!

That said… whew!  I’m swamped with ARCs.  I’ve made a vow not to request any more unless they’re books I really, really want to to read, until I get this pile under control. 

Bought or Downloaded Free for My E-reader:

Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear,  (Kindle; also available at Google)
Cold Magic, by Kate Elliott (Kindle; also available on Nook)
The Sweetest Spell, by Suzanne Selfors (Kindle) 
Dead is the New Black by  Christine DeMaio-Rice (free on Kindle)
The Haunted Fixer-Upper by Rose Pressey (Kindle)
Losing Faith by Jeremy Asher (free on Kindle).

Given the current state of my ARC pile (see above!), it will be a long time before I get to any of these.  Of course, I’ve already read Maisie Dobbs; I just wanted an e-copy, and grabbed it while it was on sale.

From the library: 

 

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16 Responses to “Sunday Post — 6/02/13”

  1. Vasilly

    I think you did great during the Clean Sweep ARC challenge! 9 ARCs?! Amazing. Good luck on the walking. I hope you’re able to keep it up.

    • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

      Thank you! Now that I’ve gotten my rush project done and turned in, I hope to have time to actually finish the reviews for all those puppies!

      I missed walking yesterday and today, but I plan to be back out there tomorrow morning!

    • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

      I think it’s a never-ending task. Even when I get my ARCs read, I’ll still have a large pile from the library… and shelves and shelves from various booksales. Oh, well, I’ll never be bored! 😉

    • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

      It’s either moderation or CAPTCHA. Some people hate one, some hate the other. I can live with either, but moderation is easier on commenters, I think.

      Headed over to check out your blog, now that I’ve finally turned in my project!

  6. George

    Ah, the Sony PRS-505 truly is venerable. It was however back in 2008 the first eReader that my wife & I got. And I don’t think the slowness is necessarily related to the number of books on it. I only had several hundred on mine at a time & my wife had several thousand on hers at a time, & they both worked slowly.

    But they were the gateway drug into eReaders & led us to purchase Kindles & we’ve never looked back. 🙂

    • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

      I’m afraid a Kindle might end up like that for me, too… I deliberately avoided Kindle when I got my Sony, because I wanted the flexibility to shop at other e-tailers. But I’m having second thoughts.

  7. Victoria Hooper

    Office Chair Potato! Haha, that’s totally me. 🙂 Would definitely recommend a kindle, love mine so much! You have some great books this week – I really want to read Cold Magic and will be interested to see what you think. Enjoy all these, and have a super week! 🙂

    • Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

      Seems like everyone who has a Kindle loves it. I just wish they still had the Touch (without the glow.)

      Yes, I’m really excited about this week’s books! Can’t wait to get started…. but I’ve got to get cracking on the reviews for all those books I read in the last few weeks!

  8. Diana Leigh

    I got The Wishing Thread too. I’m excited to read it. =) The NetGalley Challenge is a great idea. Maybe it would give me the boost I need to clean up my shelves.