Annette's Book Spot: BEA

Showing posts with label BEA. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Armchair BEA -- Let me Introduce Myself!

Design Credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room

Today during Armchair BEA, we are supposed to tell you a bit about ourselves. So, here goes...

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

Hi! I'm Annette, and I'm a high school librarian. I've been blogging for about three years. I started blogging for a couple of reasons. I wanted to remember the books I read a bit better. I read fast, and I read a lot. Sometimes I can't remember what a book was about. And my job is all about recommending books to teens. So I thought if I wrote something about the books I've read, it would help me remember them. And it has. Also, I can't possible read EVERY book that my students might be interested in. So, I read a lot of reviews and I feel like I can get a good impression of some of the books I don't have time to read.

Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures.

I live in Illinois, close to St. Louis, Missouri. It's a very rural, small town, but in 30 minutes I can be in a big metropolitan area. I love that part about living where I do. As far as my current location, I'm going to leave that for another question below...

What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013?

2013 has been a great year for second books in a series! I've loved Dark Triumph, Days of Blood and Starlight, Fragments, and Rebel Heart to name just a few.

Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.

Armchair BEA always seems to take place while I'm on vacation. Last year I was in Florida. This year, tomorrow I will be leaving for a 17-day cross country camping trip. So, I hope to be posting some pictures of my "Armchair" in all the spots we are camping. You can follow my journey here and on the Instagram Challenge.

What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

I really want to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I know, that might not be considered very "literary" but I need to go! I want to drink ButterBeer and buy myself a wand. Maybe a magic broom too. My husband has NEVER been to Disney World, so I think we need to go there too. I'm just not sure where to go first, or if we can go to both in one trip. Such dilemmas...

I hope you enjoy visiting all the blogs participating in Armchair BEA. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you come back soon.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Armchair BEA - The Future

Armchair BEA, Day 5 -- The End, The Future....

My only question:

As I mentioned in my interview, I really need some help sprucing up my blog. I'm ready for something different and more professional. Give me some suggestions for people who can help. I want a modern, minimalist, art deco style.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I've not had any problem with reading or blogging slumps, *knocks on wood* so I can't really speak to that. I love this; I'm always enthused. At least so far....

This has been a fun week. Thanks for your participation. Please come back soon!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Armchair BEA - Writing Beyond the Blog

Armchair BEA, Day 4.

Another topic that I really don't have much to say about. I'm looking forward to what others have to say.

I do review books for Library Media Connection Magazine and I love doing it. It's a different kind of reviewing, for my peers. I simply applied according to their information in the magazine. I had to send in a sample of my writing and I was accepted.

I don't make money from my blog, and don't really have much interest in doing so. I've signed up to "monetize" but I've not made anything, and that's OK.

Your suggestions?

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Armchair BEA - Networking

Welcome to Day 3 of Armchair BEA. Today's topic is about networking outside of your blog.

I don't really have much to say. I'd love to go to more book signings, but the few I hear about it seems I always have a conflict.

I network with my fellow school librarians all the time. We have a great listserve in Illinois and I'm on the board of our state-wide organization (Illinois School Library Media Association.) We put on a great conference every fall that I always attend. For the past several years I have given book talks to local school librarians on our book award nominated titles. The Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award and Illinois Read for a Lifetime.

I network a lot with my high school students. I love to get them talking about books. I run a book club at my high school.

How about you? Give me some ideas.....

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Armchair BEA - Best of 2012!

Welcome to Armchair BEA, Day 2. Here's some of my favorites of 2012, so far.

Breaking Beautiful
The Dovekeepers
Drowning Instinct
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
The Immortal Rules
Legend
Partials
Pandemonium
The Probability of Miracles
Under the Never Sky
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Shadow & Bone

That seems like a lot of favorites, but I've read 80 books so far this year.

What am I looking forward to?

Timepiece, by Myra McEntire

Crown of Embers, by Rae Carson

Prodigy, by Marie Lu

Girl of Nightmares, by Kendare Blake

Rebel Heart, by Moira Young

A Want so Wicked, by Suzanne Young

I guess I need to stop. There are so many great books coming out. These are all "the next in the series," but there are so many other new books I'm waiting for. I think at least one of these doesn't come out until January of '13, but still. Stellar year....

Leave a link to your list so I can check it out! Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Reading!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Armchair BEA - Day 1 - Interview Questions

Welcome to Armchair BEA. Go sign up if you haven't. I wish I could be at BEA, but this is the next best thing!

Today, the first day, we are to get to know each other a little better, so here's some of my answers to the interview questions:

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? Howlong have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

I've been blogging almost two years about books. I have another blog I started a year before that where I blogged about books and other things, so maybe you could say almost three years. I'm a high school librarian and love to read YA. I also read some adult books, but mostly ones that I think teens might be interested in. I just wanted a way to talk about books, to become more critical of what I read, and to hear about the latest and greatest books coming out. Blogging has done all that and more for me. I just LOVE IT! Can't stand a day without my blog....

Whatare you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so farin 2012?

Well, you can check my side bar to see what I'm currently reading. I think it will probably be Lies Beneath by the time this posts....

My favorite book has probably been The Immortal Rules. I'm so happy about that because I really didn't like The Iron Fey series very much.

Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone readingyour blog may not know about you.

I love to cook and sew. We go camping a lot over the summer in our Fifth Wheel RV. Oh, and while BEA is going on, I'm on vacation! But I plan to have lots of time to visit all of you and comment!

What is your favorite feature on your blog (i.e. author interviews,memes, something specific to your blog)?

I feel I'm in the minority here, but I love book reviews. I love to write them and read them. I usually skim over other kinds of posts and just concentrate on the book reviews. I also like In My Mailbox, or Stacking the Shelves, or those kinds of memes because I love finding out about new books!

I'm also hosting a fun challenge: Books You Can Read In a Day! There's a link in the sidebar, if you are interested.

Where do you see your blog in five years?

Honestly? I hope it's much the same. I concentrate on book reviews. Lots of new books, but I have a huge TBR of older releases too. I review every book I read. Sure, I'd take some more followers, but that's not what it's about for me.

I know I need some design help. I just haven't found the time to concentrate on finding someone to help me with this. Maybe over the summer, since I'm off work I can concentrate on that. But summer seems to go so fast and I have so many other projects, I'm not making any guarantees.

I haven't had any problems with the Blogger platform *knocks on wood* but I suppose a jump to Wordpress is always a possibility. And getting my own domain....

So many possibilities, but who knows?

Thanks for stopping by. Leave me your link, so I can visit. I'm looking forward to spending the week with you!