The Printed Page » The State of The Bookcase http://printedpage.us Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:01:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 The State of the Bookcase | June ‘10 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2010/06/30/the-state-of-the-bookcase-june-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2010/06/30/the-state-of-the-bookcase-june-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:44:15 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=7294 Read: 15 books (8 eBooks)
DNF’d: 5
Pages read: 5,802

Very good

Favorite author

Good/solid debut

DNF @ pg. 58

Favorite author, book #1

Favorite author, book #2

Favorite author, book #3

Very good

Good

Very good

DNF @ pg. 69

DNF @ pg. 92

Excellent

Good/solid debut

Good/very good

DNF @ pg. 105, book #4

Good/very good

DNF @ pg. 135

Very good/excellent

Very good/excellent

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2010/06/30/the-state-of-the-bookcase-june-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/feed/ 3 The State of the Bookcase | May ‘10 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2010/06/01/the-state-of-the-bookcase-may-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2010/06/01/the-state-of-the-bookcase-may-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:54:57 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=7005 Read: 14 books (8 eBooks)
DNF’d: 3
Pages read: 3,838

Excellent

Good

Good

Good

DNF @ pg. 82

Very good

Excellent

DNF @ pg. 62

Excellent

DNF @ pg. 27

Very good

Excellent

Very good

Good

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Good/very good

Good

Good

Good

OK

OK

OK

OK

Good

DNF @ pg. 58

OK

Very good

Favorite author

DNF @ pg. 60

Good

DNF @ pg. 140

Favorite author

Excellent

Good

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2010/05/21/the-state-of-the-bookcase-april-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/feed/ 2 The State of the Bookcase | March ‘10 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2010/05/21/the-state-of-the-bookcase-march-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2010/05/21/the-state-of-the-bookcase-march-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 03:26:22 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=6999

Good

OK

Very good

Excellent

Very good

Favorite author

DNF @ pg. 182

Excellent

DNF @ pg. 113

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good/excellent

Good/very good

DNF @ pg. 216

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2010/05/21/the-state-of-the-bookcase-march-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/feed/ 1 The State of the Bookcase | February ‘10 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2010/05/21/the-state-of-the-bookcase-february-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2010/05/21/the-state-of-the-bookcase-february-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 03:12:51 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=6996

Very good/excellent

Good

Very good/excellent

Very good

Very good/excellent

OK

OK

DNF @ pg. 129

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2010/05/21/the-state-of-the-bookcase-february-%e2%80%9810-reading-wrap-up/feed/ 1 The State of the Bookcase | January ’10 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2010/02/03/the-state-of-the-bookcase-january-10-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2010/02/03/the-state-of-the-bookcase-january-10-reading-wrap-up/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:46 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=6247

Clicking on a book cover will take you to its Amazon link

Very good

Very good

Good

Good

OK

DNF @ pg. 102

Very good

Very good

Good

DNF @ pg. 131

A favorite

DNF @ pg. 148

Good

VG/Excellent

Very good

A favorite

A favorite

Good

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2010/02/03/the-state-of-the-bookcase-january-10-reading-wrap-up/feed/ 4 The State of the Bookcase | November ’09 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2009/12/05/the-state-of-the-bookcase-november-09-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2009/12/05/the-state-of-the-bookcase-november-09-reading-wrap-up/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:59:51 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=5525 atozbookends

DNF @ pg. 260

DNF @ pg. 260

Fav author

Fav author

DNF @ pg. 180

DNF @ pg. 180

Good

Good

Very good

Very good

Loved it

Loved it

Fav author

Fav author

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2009/12/05/the-state-of-the-bookcase-november-09-reading-wrap-up/feed/ 0 The State of the Bookcase | October ‘09 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2009/11/05/the-state-of-the-bookshelf-october-%e2%80%9809-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2009/11/05/the-state-of-the-bookshelf-october-%e2%80%9809-reading-wrap-up/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:08:19 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=5301 atozbookends
October was an average reading month. I read 11 books, DNFd 3 totaling 4,059 pages. Review books are listed first followed by personal selections. Clicking on a book cover will take you to Amazon US.

Review books for October ’09. My thoughts about these books can be found at Pondering the pages

LightofthedesertNibbleandkuhnCult InsanityStainedglassLootthemoonAcrosstheendlessriverVeraandtheambassadorevenmoneyLiftTopproducerTodesireadevil

I did manage to sneak in three personal reading selections this month.
ThememoristkindleGravewriterPursuitofhonorkindle

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2009/11/05/the-state-of-the-bookshelf-october-%e2%80%9809-reading-wrap-up/feed/ 3 September’s Bookation is come and almost gone http://printedpage.us/2009/09/26/septembers-bookation-is-come-and-almost-gone/ http://printedpage.us/2009/09/26/septembers-bookation-is-come-and-almost-gone/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:53:11 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=4787 summerreading1
We’re in the dog days of summer with fall right around the corner and my bookation is coming to a end during these last days of September. I dedicated this month to taking a bookation – a month of guilt-free, self-indulgent, pure pleasure reading. A couple of ARCs and review books did sneak their way in as they kept whispering to me from the stacks. I also used it as a time to catch up on those nagging blogging and virtual library tasks that had fallen by the wayside. My bookation was a huge success and I had a wonderful time.

Blogging/virtual library tasks checked off:
Created a favorite authors page
Created a favorite books over the years page (this is very much a continuing project)
Updated my series reading page
Updated my About me & Contact Marcia page
Installed a new blog theme
Updated my Librarything library

The magazine stacks are no more. Well at least not for me. They’ve move to my hubby’s end table. We’ll see how long they gather dust over there.

And reading…

The main reason I took a bookation. My reading was suffering a serious case of the blahs. For every book I was finishing I was DNFing an equal number. So I was in need of comfort reading for my book soul.  I’ve also decided to go back to reading books that fall into genres that really call to me. My September reading list should give you a good idea of what those genres might be.

And sadly there were once again some DNFs.

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
The Summer Kitchen by Karen Weinreb
The Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

I’ll be kicking off the new year in January with another bookation.

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]]> http://printedpage.us/2009/09/26/septembers-bookation-is-come-and-almost-gone/feed/ 2 The State of the Bookcase | August ’09 reading wrap-up http://printedpage.us/2009/09/01/the-state-of-the-bookcase-august-09-reading-wrap-up/ http://printedpage.us/2009/09/01/the-state-of-the-bookcase-august-09-reading-wrap-up/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:37:37 +0000 Marcia http://printedpage.us/?p=4043 August was a very interesting reading month. I DNF’d more books, six, than I have in any other month in years. Even books that would usually hold my interest I found going by the wayside. I’ve had other readers ask me if DNFing a book bothers me and the simple answer is no. There are so many books I want to read that why would I stick with one that I’m not enjoying. By the time I DNF a book I have pretty good idea of whether or not I think my interest level will pick up and rarely, if ever, do I go back if I’ve put it down. Down is done. Here’s the DNF rule I use: subtract your age from 100; if your current book doesn’t interest you by then move on. That puts me somewhere around pages 60-65 when decision time comes. Though I’ve been known to read much farther than this if I think it’s a book I really would enjoy such as an author I’ve read before and liked or a genre that is of particular interest to me. But I most certainly don’t debate the DNF issue with myself. Not every book is for every reader.

In the last couple of years I’ve drifted away from the books that have completely captured my imagination in the interest of attempting to expand my reading horizons. Unfortunately it hasn’t always paid the dividends I was hoping for. Its never been my intention to become a niche reader, and now blog, but you will start see more of the genres I love. Let’s face it I’ll take fast-paced, pulse-racing action to slow, introspective stories any day but that’s just me. And the new blog look, coming soon, is part of this getting back to my reading roots. I wanted something that gave the allure of mystery, suspense and maybe just a hint of the unknown. The header picture is one I came across last night surfing images at Bing and it instantly held my attention. I just knew I needed to do something with it. It captured the reading mood I’ve been in for a while. Her eyes spoke to me. It will be interesting to see your reactions to this new design.

readingrobot
That said August was a more than decent reading month. Some of you might think I overachieved and maybe I did. After the month was done I bore some resembalance to the little guy on the left. So let’s get the bad news over with first: 6 DNFs. There I’ve written it and now the pain is over. I read (finished) 15 books totaling 5,979 (includes the pages from the DNFs). Six of those books I finished were from  indie authors discovered by reading sample chapters for my Kindle. If you’d like to see some more of what I sampled throughout the month of August check out Marcia’s Kindle Corner. And now for those I read and those I didn’t. I’m trying something new this month with the Amazon widgets if its too slow let me know. You can find my thoughts about these books at Pondering the pages.

I read ‘em and they’re anywhere from excellent to decent:

Ugh! I just couldn’t bring myself to finish for whatever reason.

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