Communal Bookshelf

Does your house have a communal bookshelf? If not, is your bookshelf centrally located so everyone has access to it?
I do not have a communal bookshelf other than the few books that sit on the coffee table in the living room. Living in a city condo doesn’t afford to show off all my books in [...]

Last Call for Reading: Help Me Decide

Have you fulfilled (if any) your reading goals this year? As the days of 2009 are numbered, and that the holiday seasons imply considerable disruption to reading routine, do you have an immediate list of books that you’d like to finish before year-end? Willful abstinence from joining reading challenge affords a flexibility to peruse books [...]

Social Reading

How much of your reading do you share with others (outside of blogging?) Do you belong to a book or library club? Do you trade books with friends? Do you tell others what you’re reading?
Reading used to be a private enterprise because my attachment to books and tireless perusal were such bewilderment to friends. Books [...]

Blurbs and Praises

This week’s Booking Through Thursday concerns with blurbs. Honestly I do not pay attention to blurbs . I usually turn to the first chapter and start reading to get a feel of a book. In light of this blurb issue, that is pertinent to the book that I current peruse, I do want to say [...]

Taking Notes

Do you take notes while reading – either for your reviews or for yourself? How/where do you make these notes (on the page, post-its, scrap paper, notebooks etc)?

I take my reading notes very seriously because it is the act of conversing and interacting with the authors and their words. Notes are testimony to my personal [...]

Belated Report on Read-a-thon

Everyone must be recovering from the 24-hour read-a-thon as the blogsphere is awfully quiet. Yesterday morning at 5, the aroma of the pot of dark-roast coffee kicked off my read-a-thon. I finished the second half of Fixer Chao, a brilliant debut by Han Ong, and wrote a review of it. That was an encouraging beginning [...]

It’s a Gay 24 Hour Read-a-Thon!

Are you planning on participating in the upcoming 24 Hour Read-a-thon (either as a reader or cheerleader)? Have you made any preparations for the event? And, veterans out there, any tips you’d like to share with the newbies?
I’m a newbie myself since I couldn’t make any of the previous read-a-thons. All I know is [...]

What is a Book Review?

Valerie from Life is a Patch Work Quilt pondered at the meaning of a book review. What defines a book review? She is trying to achieve the balance in review content between discussions, impressions, and thoughts. In my opinion, all three are conducive to an objective review. Some bloggers are not keen on summarizing the [...]

Weeding Out Books

When’s the last time you weeded out your library?
I haven’t been weeding out books from my collection as much as I have wanted. I have been accumulating books I have read all summer, after the last weeding during spring break. I tend to let books sit around until they have gravitated in me. By gravitation [...]

How to Approach Book Lists, a Monday Musing

This past week, Borders re-released it’s 100 Favourite Books of All Times. Do you vote in these kinds of polls when they arise? Do you look through the list, or seek out books featured?
I’m not aware of such a poll, at least not Borders in the United States. Although any list of favorite titles [...]