Sunday Post -- 6/02/13

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: 

• Tues. 5/28: Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite SF/Fantasy Worlds
• Thurs: 5/30: Review: Changing the World, an anthology of Valdemar stories edited by Mercedes Lackey
• Sat. 6/01: News & Notes - 6/01/13: The B&N-S&C dispute impacts authors; Tor still has no bookstore; how to send books to the troops; a pair of really wonderful pieces about fairy tales; SYNC free audiobook downloads begin; and the new cover for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

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
   

       

         
       

     

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

     

       

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        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: