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May, 2010

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And we’re LIVE!

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Today marks the launch of a new community all about audiobooks! I’m so excited to have become a part of the AudioFile Magazine staff at the perfect time to help get this off the ground, and I hope that you will join us, and then share the news far and wide – tweet it, link to it on Facebook, blog about it, stumble it, digg it, send up smoke signals, just do that thing you do! (there’s even a nifty little “ShareThis” button at the bottom of this post that makes it absurdly easy… *grin*)

Joining ABC is simple, and if you’re already a member of any Ning communities (I’m also on Book Blogs), your basic profile is already there and ready to go. Come see the list of stage events at BEA as shared by APA PR Manager Kaitlin Friedmann, tell us what releases you’re particularly excited about in the New and Upcoming Titles Group, and join us for our Sync YA summer listening program, which will feature two absolutely FREE titles every week from July to September!

I think this community is going to be an amazing way to bring together industry professionals and listeners, and I hope that wherever you fall on the spectrum, from narrator to publisher to occasional listener to avid audiobookaholic, you’ll come on by and help us make this a great place to discuss and learn about everything to do with the world of audiobooks. Hope to see you there!

Booking Through Thursday

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Are your book choices influenced by friends and family? Do their recommendations carry weight for you? Or do you choose your books solely by what you want to read?

The books I buy are almost exclusively based on recommendations from family, friends, and book bloggers whose opinions I value. Rarely do I pick up a book without having heard anything about it previously, though I’ve been broadening my horizons that way with audiobooks recently.

I’ve been reading quite a bit of memoir and “creative” autobiography, as Rachel is a huge fan of Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and James Frey. We also have Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee on its way from AudioFile for us to listen to and review. Neil Gaiman’s Stardust was a recent read based on a recommendation from my roommates, and I think everything I have lined up for anytime soon was suggested by my partner, one of my closest friends, a new colleague at the magazine, or someone from the blogosphere. What on earth would I do if I had to choose my books entirely from scratch??? :)

Now it’s all you – what turns you onto the books you read?

Happy Mother’s Day!

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

To all of the bloggin’ mommas out there, and to my own mom, who encouraged and supported my passion for books and reading, may today be a day full of love and appreciation for all that you do.

Reading is something my mother and I have always had in common; my first grown-up reads, when I was still in elementary school, were her Agatha Christie novels and the occasional Dick Francis, Reader’s Digest condensed books and Janette Oke Christian fiction. One of my mom’s favorite stories to tell is of the day she discovered that I knew how to read. I was three years old and she was reading to me, and decided to ask me what some of the words were. I told her without hesitation. She thought maybe it was because I was so familiar with the book, so she pulled out one I didn’t know. Again, I was able to tell her the words she pointed out. She asked me how long I’d been able to read, and apparently I answered, “Oh mom, I’ve been reading for a long time!” Exactly how long that is in three-year-old terms shall always remain a mystery, but to this day, she gets a kick out of my response.

Do you have a fun mom story to share, reading/book-related or otherwise?

Free-form Friday

Friday, May 7th, 2010

It’s official: I am now the Social Media Editor for AudioFile magazine, the print and online resource for audiobooks! Tim Spalding, the founder of LibraryThing, let me know about the opportunity a couple of weeks ago, and it is truly a dream job for me on many levels. I’m very excited about the new community we’re launching on May 14, and will be sure to post an open invitation here once we’ve officially come out of beta. I hope you’ll join us even if you aren’t a regular audiobook listener; we’re going to have some exciting guest moderators, YA titles that you can download free from the publishing partners in our Sync teen summer listening program, and lively discussions about new and upcoming titles, technology in the publishing world, and so much more. I’m new to audiobooks myself, and have already been introduced to some great books and fabulous narrators.

That being said, what would your dream job in the bookish world be?

Booking through Thursday

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

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So … you’re halfway through a book and you’re hating it. It’s boring. It’s trite. It’s badly written. But … you’ve invested all this time to reading the first half.

What do you do? Read the second half? Just to finish out the story? Find out what happens?

Or, cut your losses and dump the second half?

I used to have such a hard time leaving a book unfinished, but in recent years, I have forced myself to abandon a book if I’m just not feeling it. There are far too many books I know I will actively enjoy, even love, and my reading time is precious. Why spend it trudging through something I’m not getting any pleasure out of reading?

This comes at an apropos time, as I’ve been struggling with my guilt around having only read part of The Mayor of Castro Street. It’s not Harvey, it’s the author. I’m just not into his journalistic style, and the attempts at making it sound more like a biography than a news article fall short of the mark; they’re clearly not his natural voice, and thus they stick out like sore thumbs. I needed a reminder that it’s okay to leave the book unfinished, and this served the purpose. Thanks, Deb!

Manic Monday

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Not much time today, but I did want to share these beautiful shelves I discovered yesterday, courtesy of Definatalie.

Aren’t they gorgeous??? I’ve already requested that Rachel build me some when the time and space are right :)

Have you seen any good accessories, furniture, or other bookish delights around the interwebs lately?