Bea's DNF Reviews

I've been reading a lot since being home while laid off from teaching. Mostly I've been doing well picking books to read the last few weeks but there were a few that were duds. Some were just meh, but two I actually DNFed. One I picked mainly due to the author and the title; I barely looked at the blurb. The other was an author I've been wanting to try and a short story seemed like a good way to start. Sadly, neither one worked.

What's Bea Reading?

I was having trouble coming up with an idea for a blog post and asked for help on Twitter. I got a bunch of good ideas and some I'll do at another time. A couple people suggested talking about what I'll be reading next and I will address that, but thought maybe talking about the many books I've read but not reviewed might, hopefully, be of interest.

So here's what I've been reading and what's coming up next.

August Balancing the Books

Inspired by the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun and by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $40 real money each month to spend on books for myself, $40 for professional books - classroom use, teaching, and editing, $30 a month for books that are gifts, and $10 a month for blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired. Personal funds not spent will be added to the next month and any overages will be deducted from the next month; gift and blog cash however will reset each month.

July Balancing the Books

Inspired by the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun and by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $40 real money each month to spend on books for myself, $40 for professional books - classroom use, teaching, and editing, $30 a month for books that are gifts, and $10 a month for blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired. Personal funds not spent will be added to the next month and any overages will be deducted from the next month; gift and blog cash however will reset each month.

June Balancing the Books

Inspired by the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun and by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $40 real money each month to spend on books for myself, $40 for professional books - classroom use, teaching, and editing, $30 a month for books that are gifts, and $10 a month for blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired. Personal funds not spent will be added to the next month and any overages will be deducted from the next month; gift and blog cash however will reset each month.

May Balancing the Books

Inspired by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, and the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $40 real money each month to spend on books for myself, $40 for professional books - classroom use, professional growth, and editing, $30 a month for books that are gifts, and $10 a month for blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired. Personal funds not spent will be added to the next month and any overages will be deducted from the next month; gift and blog cash however will reset each month.

Libraries Around the World! This Month, Iza and the Faidherbe, Paris France Library!

Today's library post is courtesy of Iza, a former book blogger and a librarian in Paris, France. You can find her on Goodreads.

******

Hi, I’m a librarian in Paris.

There are more than 60 libraries in Paris where you can borrow documents with only one card. They are funded by the local taxes.

Our website is here : https://bibliotheques.paris.fr/ . There is a monthly newsletter to keep our readers informed of everything that is happening – it includes a playlist based upon our newest CDs. This is the library I work in : http://equipement.paris.fr/bibliotheq...

Libraries Around the World! This Month, Angel's Guilty Pleasures & Millbrae, CA

Hello and Good Day!

My name is Angela, owner and blogger at Angel’s Guilty Pleasures. I’ve been blogging for 4 years now, mainly about books, and have had the pleasure of hosting the Library Love Challenge for 2 years.

March Balancing the Books

Inspired by the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun and by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $10 real money each month to spend on books, whether for myself or as gifts, and blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits; the money will not roll over each month. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired.

March Challenge Wrap Up

This year I'm participating in 5 year-long challenges, and may do some short-term challenges throughout the year. Let's see how I did and you can share your accomplishments in the comments.

February Balancing the Books

Inspired by the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun and by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $10 real money each month to spend on books, whether for myself or as gifts, and blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired.

January Balancing the Books

Inspired by the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun and by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $10 real money each month to spend on books, whether for myself or as gifts, and blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired.

Libraries Around the World! This Month, Massachusetts in the United States of America

Welcome to a brand new feature on the blog! I love libraries, always have, and use them far in excess of the taxes I pay each year that support my local library. Recently, NetGalley made changes to how they handle international egalleys for bloggers outside of the US. Basically, they no longer have access to ARCs on NetGalley. What does this have to do with libraries? Well, many US bloggers responded by telling the international bloggers to "Just get it from the library". First of all, that's incredibly rude and entitled. Second, it's not that simple. Libraries work differently around the world. Some charge fees for checking out books or to use the facility. Not all have genre books or even books in English for those readers who want to read in English. And it got me thinking. I wondered about libraries in other countries. So I contacted some bloggers and sent out calls on Twitter and Goodreads. The result is this semi-regular series on libraries around the world, the books and services they offer, and how they work. I'm kicking it off with my library system here in my corner of the United States. Each month for the next few months I'll have a blogger from the US or another country visit and talk about their library. After that, well, I'm hoping my bloggers or readers will be willing to share about their library. Those will go up as they're available.

The 2017 Edition of The TBR Book Tag - How Many Books Are In My TBR Pile?

Image from author Mary Balogh on facebook

So this TBR pile meme has sort of become my yearly wrap up post. It's late this year; I usually post it during the last week of the year to which it applies. That didn't happen, so here's last year's post. :D

What's On My Book Shelves, A Brief Tour

It's been ages since I did a discussion post and I thought it was about time I did. I know many us like to talk about the books we have waiting for us and heaven knows I have enough of them to talk about, lol.

While I don't have all of my books logged, according to what I do have logged, I have over 1600 books unread floating around my condo and on my Kindle. However, as I said, not all of my books are logged; that's an ongoing project. I have books on shelves, in piles on the floor, on my couch, on my coffee table, and even on my bed. Mind you, I have 11 bookcases of varying sizes and every room except the bathroom has at least one book case. It would be fair to say that books are my main decorating scheme and accessory. :D Sorry, no pictures, the condo is a mess right now.

2016 Edition of The TBR Book Tag - How Many Books Are In My TBR Pile?

I did this a couple years ago, missed it last year, and decided to do it again this year, even though I was nervous to compare facts and see how I've done since then. The short answer? Poorly. :D I am a book hoarder, there's no doubt. Books are my addiction. Luckily, it's not an expensive one as I've gotten good at acquiring books at a bargain price or for free.

First, a couple of housekeeping tasks. My definitions of a TBR, or To Be Read, pile differs from many other bloggers. For me, the TBR pile consists of books actually in my possession; I own them or have borrowed them, whether from the library or a friend. If it's a book I want to read but don't have in my possession, then it's a wish list book. My wish list is a mix of books I want to review, books I want to own, and books I want to read. I use it for "shopping" the library and for requesting books as well as for my personal shopping list.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite...Books! My Favorite Books of 2016

I wasn't going to do a top books or best of books post this year but, on a whim, I changed my mind. These aren't necessarily the best books I read this year but they are the ones I liked the best. They made me happy when I read them and they make me happy re-reading them; they call to me, stay in mind and I think about them from time to time. I've recommended and talked about them until people run and hide when they see me coming.  😁 Most, but not all, were released this year.

The links go to my reviews, some on the blog and some on goodreads.

Bookish Things I'm Wondering About

I was on Facebook earlier and several posts got me thinking, wondering really, and I decided I didn't want to be alone in my musings. Maybe you all will be able to offer enlightenment. If not, I'll happily accept coffee and chocolate in place of enlightenment. :P

The first was a comment that an author casually threw out in a FB group. She stated, as if it were obvious to anyone with half a brain, that putting the table of contents at the back of ebooks is aesthetically pleasing. I must have half a brain or less because I don't get that. At all. First of all, I utterly fail to see what is aesthetically pleasing about putting it in the back. I just don't see it.

The Kindness of Readers

I belong to several author street teams and a couple of author fan groups on FB. Author street teams get a bad rap, and there are some that are quite horrendous in their behavior, but I researched the groups before joining. And may I say that some of them are just freaking awesome?

One such street team is the Beast Claws, the team for urban fantasy author Faith Hunter. I've read all of her Jane Yellowrock books, via my library or via review copies from her publisher, so I have not needed help acquiring copies. She has another book releasing next month, and I have a review copy. Over the weekend, some members contacted the group admin and offered to donate copies to members who needed them. It wasn't long before more members stepped and there are now over 30 copies being offered, some to members in the US and some to members outside of the US. That just blows me away. Here's the current offering, as of 2 hours before I wrote this:

Just a quick note: I have 24 copies for American distribution. I have 6 available for those not stateside. And 2 copies for Canada. I'll be going through names tomorrow night. If you are from outside the US or in Canada (this sounds weird, but hey, it's me) please contact me. I have one person from redacted for privacy reasons.

Now, I don't know how many people are donating, but I do know some people are offering multiple copies. Way to go Claws! That's a street team I'm proud to be part of.

There's a fan group, not a street team, I belong to for romantic suspense and historical romance author Pamela Clare. Pamela's had about 3 or 4 books release since I joined, and with every release, members stepped and offered copies of the books to members who couldn't afford to those who couldn't afford to buy their own copy. The donating members were generous, offering Kindle books and print books, even to other countries. During the year I was not employed, I was the fortunate recipient of several of Pamela's books. Since I've been working full-time, I purchased some of her backlist and I look forward to offering copies of one of her books in the future.

Do you have any examples of fan groups or street teams who have done something generous or kind?

December and Year-end Balancing the Books

Inspired by Fantasy Is More Fun and The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided to start tracking my book expenses this year. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $10 real money each month to spend on books whether for myself, as gifts, or blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. I am counting money spent to ship giveaways and Paperbackswap.com books. Books from my personal shelves, borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases.