She Is Too Fond Of Books ... » LT Author Challenge

Wrapping up the LibraryThing Author Challenge

sheistoofondofbooks — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:37:53 +0000

The LibraryThing Author Challenge asked us to read and review at least five books by LibraryThing authors.

How did I do? I completed the challenge with 10 books read:

Drawers & Booths by Ara 13
Love or Something Like It by Deirdre Shaw
Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel
31 Hours by Masha Hamilton
Shapeshifter: The Demo Tapes Year 1 by Susan Helene Gottfried
The Puzzle King by Betsy Carter
The Center of the Universe by Nancy Bachrach
Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo
The Crypto-Capers by Renee Hand
The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks

But, here’s the thing – I hosted this challenge and didn’t work very hard to nurture the challenge and build interest in it … I basically dropped the ball!

I think there were four people who signed up for the LT Author Challenge. If you’ve completed it, leave a note below, and I’ll put the names in a hat to draw for prizes.

I’m really a fun hostess, just ask the house guests who are here this week! So, if I host another reading challenge, I hope you take Elly May Clampett’s advice: y’all come back now, ya hear?!

LT Author Challenge results

sheistoofondofbooks — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:57:27 +0000

My LT Author Challenge ended last Sunday, and the results are in!

We had fewer participants than I had hoped, only 4 including myself But, we still had fun

Lenore at Presenting Lenore read and reviewed Guernica and Paper Towns.

Sandra at Fresh Ink Books read and reviewed In Hovering Flight, Months and Seasons , Midwife of the Blue Ridge, and Guernica.

Avis at She Reads and Reads read and reviewed The 19th Wife and Love Walked In.

I read and reviewed Guernica and In Hovering Flight.

I gave each participant one entry for each book, with a bonus of five entries to Lenore, as the promised “thank you” for Daniel’s adorable logo. I loaded all the entries into random.org and (drum roll, please), it came up with Sandra’s name for the winner of the $20 book store gift card! Congratulations, Sandra! Please contact me with you mailing address and bookstore choice (amazon, Barnes & Noble or IndieBound).

Thanks for playing, everyone! And for those who didn’t play along … what can I do to entice you next time? I’m thinking of running this again in the spring.

LT Author Challenge … my list (so far) and a graphic!

Dawn — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:04:34 +0000

Many thanks to Lenore at Presenting Lenore and her husband, Daniel! Daniel is a published illustrator who agreed to create a graphic for her (and me! and all of us!) for the LT Author Challenge. Is that Emmy reading a book written by a LibraryThing Author?!

Here’s the list of books I hope to read and review for the challenge:

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Transported by Tim Jones
Guernica: A Novel by Dave Bolin
Janeology by Karen Harrington
The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea by Christopher Meeks

That’s two LT Author books a month, in addition to my “regular” schedule for reviewing, book groups, etc. I think I’m up for the challenge!

Tuesday Thingers: Members with similar libraries

Dawn — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:06:53 +0000

Today’s question from the Boston Bibliophile: Members who have your books. Do you ever look at this feature? Do you use it to make LT friends, or compare notes? There are three tabs- weighted, raw, and recent. “Weighted,” which means “weighted by book obscurity and library size” is probably the least self-explanatory of the three, whereas “raw” and “recent” are more so. Do you get any kind of use out of this feature?

Do I look at it? Yes, but probably more because it’s the top box on my profile page than because I seek the information out (honesty is the best policy, right?!).

“Weighted” is the view I take most notice of, again, because it’s the default. In my opinion it’s more telling than “raw”. I recognize many of the user names in the “weighted” results as being fellow book bloggers or people I’ve seen active on the same LT discussion boards that I participate in . I had never clicked the “recent” tab until today; again, I learned something new this week, Marie!

I haven’t friended anyone due to them showing up on my “similar libraries” list, although I have clicked over to see what else is in their libraries.

(And now, a word from our sponsor) … Last week’s question about LibraryThing Authors inspired me to start an LT Author Challenge (with a gift card for a prize!), check out the details and join me here. I’m still looking for a button/graphic for the Challenge; the more-tech-savvy-than-me person who can help me with this will get an extra 5 entries into the drawing for the gift card!

I won Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif!

Dawn — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:01:49 +0000

Many thanks to Karen Harrington at Scobberlotch (and author of Janeology!). Karen recently posted a review and giveaway of the book Whale Song, here’s an excerpt:

Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif begins as a coming of age story told through the eyes of Sarah Richardson, a kind spirited young girl whose father is a biology professor who also studies killer whales.

After the family uproots from Montana and moves to Vancouver Island, Sarah learns a great deal more about the voices of whales from her father; and also from the myths and beliefs of the Native Americans who embrace her like family. I won’t give away the two-hanky plot (which asks ethical questions about euthanasia and love) but I will say that these connections and beliefs help Sarah as she is forced to make that universal shift from idealistic adolescent to knowing young woman.

A “two-hanky plot”? That got my attention; there’s nothing like a good end-of-summer cry inspired by a great book! Click over here to read our winning entry to the giveaway, and to browse Karen’s blog.

An added bonus for me, Cheryl Kaye Tardif is a LibraryThing Author; so, after I’ve read and reviewed her book I’ll be one more along in my LT Author Challenge! Thanks, Karen! My older kids and I are looking forward to reading Whale Song!

The Week Ahead: September 1 – 7, 2008

Dawn — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:00:07 +0000

Monday 9/1 – September 1st! Happy Labor Day! Today I begin the LT Author Challenge, inspired by the Boston Bibliophile’s question last week, “who are your LibraryThing authors?” A full explanation of the challenge is here; I’m still working on my list of books for the challenge, and will post it within the next few days. What’s on your list?

Tuesday 9/2 – I learn more about LibraryThing in answering Marie’s weekly questions; what will it be today?

During the week I plan to post reviews for Debra Dean’s The Madonnas of Leningrad and Michael Greenberg’s Hurry Down Sunshine; perhaps a children’s book or two, as well.

Wednesday 9/3 - This week’s guest post for the Spotlight on Bookstores series is written by Lisa Roe, online book publicist. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is priceless; you’ve got to see the video clip that goes along with this post!

Thursday 9/4 - I’m the “baby” in the family, and still carry the weight of that nickname today. The three sisters in Ellen Meister’s The Smart One were also given labels that they carried into adulthood. Today is the last day to enter my giveaway for a gift package appealing to the pretty one, the smart one and the wild one in all of us!

Friday 9/5 - Today is the last day to enter my giveaway for two copies of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler; the winners will recieve the book personally inscribed by the author!