Book Junkie

Welcome to Saturday. I hope it's going well for all of you. As usual, nothing is crossed off my to-do list, but my coffee is delicious and I've spent the morning curled up with a good book, as though that justifies my smelly dishes scattered throughout the apartment.

I wonder: at what point will I need a book intervention? I'm not even kidding. I get such a high off books and reading that I'm surprised there hasn't been an intervention yet. I suppose it may not happen until I start becoming a hoarder and skipping work to read (which, ideally, is not in my future). As a hoarder, my apartment would be a complete pigsty--except for my books, neatly organized by size in my decluttered bookcase :D

I was wandering around on blogs on this site (blogspot.com), and found lots of people who blog their book reviews. Not only that, but they're sent the books by publishers and authors for an honest review. They also post the reviews on sites like amazon.com for non-bloggers to read. Sometimes, they'll also be mailed extra copies of the novel to do give-aways for the readers of their blogs. The reviewers appear ridiculously swamped, though, and several of them had postings on their sites that they are not accepting any more books to review for the next 6 months or so, until they get caught up. I'm not going to lie, I'm extremely envious of these bloggers. I want that job! Ah, if only I had the time and an opinion everyone wanted to hear...

In my wanderings, I discovered different pages I can have within my blog site, so I finally was able to create a list of my books I've read. I know I've had lots of friends beg me for my book reviews (and I'm giving them away FREE! :P), so I've posted my books I've read, along with the rating I've given them. There isn't a method to my rating system, so beware that I may have enjoyed one book I gave a score of "7" to over another book I gave a score of "7" to, but I found qualities in them that proved worthy of the same score. ANYWAY, if you scroll up the page, under the title and description of the blog, there is a label called "Book Reviews," which is where you can access that list. I'll try to keep it updated as I complete my novels. Don't forget, too, that you can vote on my 2011 page goal at the bottom of the page. I'm closing that poll December 15th.

Speaking of completing novels, I just finished probably one of the best audiobooks ever. It was long, yes, but not once was it boring. The book was Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins. In the beginning, the reader is introduced to so many characters that it's hard to keep them straight. As the story continues, we're able to see how the lives of each of these individuals is somehow connected. We learn secrets, lies, and plans for each character, all impacting the lives of the other main characters. This audiobook was so engrossing that I wasn't able to wait until Monday's drive to finish it. For the first time to date, I brought the audiobook home with me to complete it; it was THAT GOOD. For anyone looking for a suspenseful novel (not scary at all, though), this is definitely at the top of the list. Had I read it, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to put it down. Overall score: 10/10.

Also, today marks the 22nd birthday of my best friend, Jessie Mae. I love her to pieces and wish I could be there with her and a bottle of Two Buck Chuck to celebrate :P  Happy Birthday, Jessie Mae!