Monday, January 13, 2014

Book Girls Don’t Cry – Lending Books

Posted by • 35 Comments

BGDCBannerNew1
Book Girls Don’t Cry is a feature where we will discuss/vent/advise on a bookish topic. This feature is co-hosted with the lovely Amy at Book Loving Mom.

This week on for BGDC I am talking about lending books.  What my policies are when I do and my pet peeves about the habit.  Since my New Year’s resolution was to get back into vlogging this year I have recorded a vlog for the topic.  That being said, I realize that this post is going up on a Monday and that some readers will be at work and unable to watch the vlog so I will also be typing out a quick recap of the video at the bottom.  This quick recap is also for the people who just don’t want to see/hear me, I get that.  So here we go:

*Bear with me on that break in the middle there, hubs came home with lunch and was knocking on the door and just ruined everything! That’s what men are here for though, right?*

So for the non video watchers here is a recap of my thoughts on book lending:

  1. I am much more hesitant to lend out paperback books than I am hardcover because of SPINES.  Since you can’t actually put a visible bend in a hardcover book I always try to convince anyone eyeing a paperback of mine to get a book I have in HC instead.
  2. When I do lend out paperback books I worry the entire time about the state in which my baby will return to me.  I’ll text after what I think is a good amount of time to ask how the person is liking the book and this is usually my subtle hint of letting them know it’s about time for the book to return home.
  3. When I lend out hardcover books I never let the dust jacket go with it.  I have a special spot on my bookshelf where I keep the jackets of books I have lent out or ones that I am currently reading.
  4. My biggest pet peeve about book lending are people who borrow books and then don’t return them for a long amount of time.  I’ve actually lent out books before to people who, when I asked for said book back, had had it for so long that they thought it was a book that they had bought *gasp*  I have been guilty of this once in the past so I am very conscious of the issue now.

So what about you?  Do you lend books out? If so, what are some policies/pet peeves you have when you do?

We’re looking for topic suggestions for future BGDC posts! What would YOU like to discuss (can be anything from vents to advice)?
Leave a topic suggestion via this form!
Giselle’s Stacking the Shelves

Giselle’s Stacking the Shelves

Posted by on 01/12/2014 • 36 Comments

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books we got this week, and I also mention blog news/happenings of the past week. Hi everyone! I haven’t done an STS in a while so I hope that 2014 is off to a good start so far. In case some of you have been hiding out in the real world, Jenni who was at Alluring Reads is now part of Xpresso Reads as my new co-blogger! And for STS posts we decided to each do it every other week, so next week will be Jenni’s, and the week after will be me etc. So anyways, I’ve been avoiding shopping in general – including book stores – since the holidays so despite not doing a book haul post…

Fresh Batch (New Releases January 12th – 18th)

Posted by on 01/11/2014 • 18 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Hollow City Ransom Riggs Series: Miss Peregrine #2 Publication date: January 14th 2014by Quirk Books

Goodreads Purchase

In 1940 after the first book ends, Jacob and his new Welsh island friends flee to London, the Peculiar capital of the world.

Caul, a dangerous madman, is Miss Peregrine’s brother, and can steal Peculiar abilities for himself.

The Peculiars must fight for survival, again.

Other releases this week: * In no particular order *

– It’s Not Over (The Do Over #2) by A.L. Zaun [Purchase]– Drew + Fable Forever (Drew + Fable #3.5) by Monica Murphy…

Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Posted by on 01/10/2014 • 32 Comments

Cruel Beauty is really confusing, even kind of a mess at first, but eventually the story does paint a gorgeous, dangerous picture. Still, much of it is quite mind-boggling. I’ve been mulling over what I read for days.

Retellings are always difficult for me, especially that I wasn’t big in fairy tales as a child. I’m kind of discovering them inside retellings, actually, so they can be a hit or miss. Cruel Beauty falls in-between for me. I did love the Beauty and the Beast angle, all while bringing an extremely creative story to the table. Originality is not something Cruel Beauty is lacking. It involves a world that becomes simply mind-blowing. Distorting the perception of everything you thought you knew, kind of mind-blowing. It’s not easy to grasp,…

Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Posted by on 01/09/2014 • 29 Comments

Stolen was a surprise from my 2013 holiday season.  It showed up in the mail one day, a gift from Giselle of Xpresso Reads and am I ever happy that it did.  See, Giselle knows me. When trying to find books to get me for Christmas she looked at Listopia lists titled “Books that made me cry.”  She knew just where to go to find the books that I need on my shelf.  While this one didn’t effect me as emotionally as I had hoped (which I think was due to the long stretch of time I took to read it) it was a unique reading experience that tackled Stockholm syndrome in an incredibly interesting way.

So first I’ll talk about why I think it didn’t effect me as much…

Review: Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

Review: Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

Posted by on 01/08/2014 • 39 Comments

A quick read that leads us into a dystopian society where future killers can be identified with a gene test. The last thing Davy expected was to be found positive – her perfect life as a popular, smart, future Julliard student down the drain.

What I found very interesting about this dystopian story, and also one that makes it stand out from the others, is how it doesn’t completely start out as one. We get to see the actual developments of a very scary dystopian society where people’s rights become non existent, and extreme measures are unfairly taken to control the country. It’s set in the not-so-far future where this HTS Killer gene is well-known and government control is beginning, but we experience through our protagonist’ eyes the change…

Review: No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale

Review: No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale

Posted by on 01/07/2014 • 39 Comments

There’s something scary about going into a book like No One Else Can Have you. I mean, maybe I do it to myself, but I always take a peek at the ratings (not reviews) kicking around Goodreads before I start a book and the ones for this book are incredibly polarizing.  I knew going into it that I would either love it or hate it with every bone in my body. Luckily, I fell into the former group and I had an absolute riot reading this book!

Not only is this book funny but it also features a pretty good murder mystery to boot.  The person who was responsible for the murder was someone that I did have pegged at one point in the novel, but I had moved on…

Stir Me Up Character Spotlight + Giveaway!

Stir Me Up Character Spotlight + Giveaway!

Posted by on 01/06/2014 • 24 Comments

We’ve got the Stir Me Up blog tour on the blog today where we’re spotlighting Julian as well as a chance for you to win! In case you haven’t heard of this book yet – have a look at what it’s all about:

Character Spotlight: Julian Wyatt CHARACTER: Julian Wyatt AGE: 20 HEIGHT: 6’ 0” HAIR: Brown EYES: Hazel

PARENTS: Father: U.S. Marine Sam Wyatt, died in a Jeep accident in Somalia when Julian was four.

Mother: Angela Wyatt, a researcher at a think tank in Washington, died from breast cancer when Julian was nine.

CHILDHOOD: Raised by his aunt Estella after his mother’s death. Considers her son, his cousin Brandon, to be like an older brother. Got in a fair amount of trouble after his…