Books read and reviewed (15):
Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark
The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy
Rubies in the Orchard by Lynda Resnick
The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
The Maidenstone Lighthouse by Sally Smith O'Rourke
At Risk by Patricia Cornwell
Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan
Publish or Perish by Margot Kinberg
The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy
Rubies in the Orchard by Lynda Resnick
The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
The Maidenstone Lighthouse by Sally Smith O'Rourke
At Risk by Patricia Cornwell
Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan
Publish or Perish by Margot Kinberg
Star Ratings Summary:
5 stars: 1
4-1/2 stars: 4
4 stars: 4
3-1/2 stars: 3
3 stars: 2
2 stars: 1
1-1/2 stars: 1
1-1/2 stars: 1
Clearly I had an interesting mix of books, as far as my overall reading enjoyment was concerned. :-)
March's Top PickDrumroll, please... The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins! Definitely the best book I've read so far in '09. Great story, great writing, great characters... I could go on and on, but you're better off just taking a look at my review if you haven't already. (A sneak preview into April: The Host by Stephenie Meyer is looking like another "best book I've read in '09" pick...)
March's Most Thought-Provoking Title:Definitely The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. The Hunger Games was a close second, but the heavy themes of bioethics and morality in the story about Jenna and her family's sacrifices and choices made in order to keep her "alive" kept me thinking about this book long after I had finished it.
The Birth of Mystery MondaysI apologize again if I'm stealing anyone else's idea of letting Mondays have a mystery theme, but I haven't seen anything out there yet! I've mainly stuck to reviews with Mystery Mondays, but I'm hoping to grow it into something that is more paticpatory for all of you out there reading my blog. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know! I'm currently working up several poll question ideas, among other things. I'll likely do a giveaway every once and awhile, too :-)
Blog Awards:
I truly appreciate my first two blogging awards, both received this month. It means so much to me that others out there enjoy my blog. I certainly enjoy sharing it with all of you!
Debbie from Wrighty's Reads gave me my first award, the Proximade Award!
Mishel from Mis(h)takes recently gave me the coolest award ever, the Zombie Chicken Award!
You should definitely check out both of their blogs and see why they're award-winners, too!
Blog Improvement:
I've finally settled on what I plan to keep as the look and feel of my blog! Many of the changes have just been made in the last week and I feel really happy about all that I've accomplished. There is still much I want to tweak, but I've already made most of the biggest changes I felt were necessary, including a review index, a link exchange policy, and header links for important information. I also worked hard to get myself listed in various search engines and blog directories, hoping to draw as many people to my blog as I can. I love sharing books and my thoughts on them with everyone and learning as much as I can from everyone else's blogs!! (Have you seen how long my TBR/Wish List has gotten?!) All this work has also led me to creating a grab button for Melissa's Bookshelf--check it out:
Please feel free to use it on your site, if you'd like! I'm getting ready to work on a button area for all of your site buttons, as well!
Posts
Hunger Games was a top pick for me last year when I read it. It's soo good-I can't wait for the sequel.
ReplyDeleteYou read a ton a books this month-can I have your speed reading skills?
Oh wow --- I am so impressed that you have header tabs! Maybe I need to investigate my own domain?
ReplyDeleteThis was my first monthly recap as well. Yours is GREAT and very thorough! Love the Mystery Monday idea -- and your button is as cute as a ....well, a button :)
Wow, you got lots of reading done. Even on a good month I'm not sure I could do 15, maybe if they were short. I hope April will be a good month for you!
ReplyDeleteWow! I love the look of your new blog! Did you do it yourself? If so, you're really talented! Question: Does your site arrangement work like the blogger html? I mean, I changed the html in my blog to a 3-column template that I found somewhere on another blog, but the middle column is too wide, and I don't like that. Yours looks so good, though! So I was wondering if you got your template from somewhere, and if so, if you could share that site with me? Thanks!
ReplyDelete