Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile (7) Rhiannon Hart

Rhiannon's blog focuses on YA fantasy, dystopia and paranormal and she's been reviewing some old school dystopian fiction that I must get my hands on soon (makes up most of my upcoming amazon order). I love reading her insightful reviews and entertaining posts. Today's she here - answering my burning questions...

If someone were to blurb your blog in 25 word or less, what would he or she say?
On her eponymous blog, Rhiannon Hart discusses YA fantasy, dystopian and paranormal books (mostly) from a writer's/reader's POV, and tracks her efforts to get published.

What kinds of books do you read and review on your blog?
Books that I loved, and that I think I have something to say about. I usually don't finish books I'm not enjoying, and if I can't think of something exciting/quirky/new to say about a book, I won't post about it. Because most of my books come from the library I'm not on the cutting edge of reviewing, but there are too many wonderful books published in the last 200 years to just ignore them. And that's not even counting Shakespeare or Homer. Often the books I love have a strong female protagonist, so you'll see a gender bias amongst my reviews! And Lud save us from insipid heroines.

What were a couple of your favorite books recently and which ones are you most looking forward to reading soon?

Recently I loved Life as We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer, The Death of Grass, John Christopher, Obernewtyn, Isobelle Carmody (reread). I'm looking forward to The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness, Graceling, Kristen Cashore and Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder. They're all sitting in a pile on my floor, with a dozen or so more books that I can't wait to get to.

What are some of your favorite posts or reviews in your blog archive and why?
The Dystopia Challenge post. It outlines the books I will try to read for my current challenge, and all sorts of people have dropped by to add to my list or tell me their thoughts (including Lenore!)

My review of Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. This isn't his best book but its an interesting read as far as gender roles in the event of an apocalypse are concerned, much like The Death of Grass by John Christopher.

Finally, Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody. I compare/contrast this book with The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. Obernewtyn is one of the most perfect books I have ever read. <Lenore's note: I am buying this one for sure!>

What are some posts or reviews on other blogs that have caught your attention as being well worth reading?
Sadako's Baby Sitters Club reviews on Dibbly Fresh. She's just so snarky and has a lethal quantity of pop-culture references up her sleeve! I particularly enjoyed her recap of Dawn and the Older Boy. <Lenore's note: Yep - that was an awesome recap!>

Anything at Underage Reading. Emily and Elizabeth don't just post reviews, but also whimsical analyses of books, like their Books I felt I ought to have liked but really didn’t: The Phantom Tollbooth post.

Anything at Angieville. Angie reviews lots and lots of fantasy books, especially ones she feels are under-appreciated by the fantasy community. I especially enjoyed the post which put Megan Whalen Turner on my To Read list (and lots of other people's lists too).

Complete this sentence: “If I didn't have my blog...”
...I'd be boring my friends to death talking about the fantastic books they should read!

Thanks Rhiannon!

The Well Worth Watching Award was created and designed by Joanne of The Book Zombie. I'm just passing it along to other bloggers!

Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile (6) Linus's Blanket

Happy July 4th! To celebrate, I bring you another installment of the Well Watching Blog Award Profile, this month with a fabulous blogger you need to be reading: Nicole of Linus's Blanket. Now, I'd been to Nicole's blog before BEA and enjoyed it, but after meeting Nicole and getting to hang out with her (though not enough, never enough), I became a rabid fan of her, her taste in restaurants and her blog.

If someone were to blurb your blog in 25 word or less, what would he or she say?

Expect the unexpected. Eclectic book reviews and disorganized thoughts.

What kinds of books do you read and review on your blog?

My blog is becoming pretty varied as far as reviews go. I think it's pretty common among book bloggers that we started blogging for one reason and then happen to mention a book and it takes on a life of it's own. I think since I didn't start it for bookish reasons or to write about a book topics that it's pretty eclectic, as is my reading. I love to read non-fiction and literary fiction and as I have been going along I have found that I read a lot of historical fiction as well. But I also love to go back and explore the roots of my reading and the books that I loved growing up. I finally had to make sections for my fiction and non-fiction, to keep it organized and help people find what they might specifically be looking for; and I'm about to add a section on YA/Children as well.

What were a couple of your favorite books recently and which ones are you most looking forward to reading soon?

I've recently read Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, which I really enjoyed and then I just finished reading the sequel, Catching Fire (thanks to a special someone I was able to snag a copy!), this morning. I have to say that the cliffhangers on those books just get better and better. I'm glad I was able to read the first two virtually back-to-back. And now I have to wait with everyone else for the last one. :- (

I read Sweethearts by Sara Zarr, and that one stayed with me for a few days. It was a good book. I know quite a few people have been fooled by the cover, but I've been trying to warn that it's not a light read. Neither is Hate List, by Jennifer Brown. But I guess the title makes that pretty obvious. I just finished reading it and I was impressed.

The Turnaround, by George Pelecanos and Either You're in or You're in The Way, by Logan and Noah Miller were a few others that I enjoyed last month.

As for what's coming up, I am looking forward to Impossible by Nancy Werlin. I have no clear idea about what it's about- some kind of fantasy suspense- but I'm kind of glad about that. I'm looking forward to being totally surprised and having the book unfold. I had been looking forward to reading The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, Syrie James. It's out this month and I just started on it and I love it. It has such authentic voice and I am loving getting to see how the Bronte sisters interacted with each other and the secret romances in Charlotte's life.

What are some of your favorite posts or reviews in your blog archive and why?

I was skimming through a book called Spent and it inspired me to write a post on Book Addiction, which I think is very real, and it was a lot of fun to compare book weaknesses with other readers. I love asking questions; recently we had a conversation about disclaimers- and if bloggers should/do put them in their reviews and my latest giveaway I am asking people to list 3 things they hated about high school. It's fun to see the answers and to now I wasn't the only one who didn't like gym class and waking up early.

As far as reviews go, it's the children's books I 've read that have really gotten me excited because they were so much fin to read when I was a child and equally fun as an adult. The Wednesday Witch and The Boxcar Children are two of my favorite books of all time. Let's not think about what that says about me, ok?

What are some posts or reviews on other blogs that have caught your attention as being well worth reading?

That's such a tough question because I am constantly reading great stuff. I feel like I need to take notes on my blog reading. Jackie from Farm Lane Books just in general has a blog that I really enjoy reading. I love the questions that she asks in her posts. Last month she asked the people who don't blog to give their book suggestions. You know I was all over that. Like I need any more book recommendations.

J.T. over at Bibliofreak has a great review up of The Book Thief. I had no idea that it started off as an adult book in Australia and was marketed as a YA Book here. That's one I still have to read.

Nymeth at Things Mean A Lot review a book called Virgin: The Untouched History and she had a lot of interesting information and commentary based on other research she did and books that she had read. Like I said, so much good stuff out there.

Complete this sentence: “If I didn't have my blog...”

Ironically, I'd probably read more!

The Well Worth Watching Award was created and designed by Joanne of The Book Zombie. I'm just passing it along to other bloggers!

Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile (5) In Search of Giants

This month, I'd like to introduce you to Aerin of In Search of Giants blog. If you don't already know her, you need to rush over, check out her blog, and say "hi" now! I love the format of her book reviews, she is always so enthusiastic and supportive (she's always telling me how she wants to be me when she grows up), and I always look forward to what she's going to post next. And now she answers my questions:

If someone were to blurb your blog in 25 word or less, what would he or she say?
This gorgeous blog has bits of everything: creative writing tips and support, contests, book reviews, interviews, and news from the publishing business.

(I can call it gorgeous because I’ve not created the artwork myself; I’ve licensed it from Vlad Studios)

What kinds of books do you read and review on your blog?
I try to focus on children’s and YA books, although I’ve done a number of ARCs for mainstream and classic fiction as well as non-fiction. Particularly, I’m interested in using my blog to support the publishing industry. Books make great gifts, and my secret ambition is to be a sort of personal shopper for people who are buying them.

What were a couple of your favorite books recently and which ones are you most looking forward to reading soon?
I just finished Lament by Maggie Stievater. Also, Exodus by Julie Bertagna. I highly recommend both.

I’m holding my breath for Fire by Kristen Cashore and Ash by Malinda Lo (literally – so, um, if anyone has a copy of either one, to save my life, I’d appreciate it.)

I still haven’t cracked Silver Phoenix by my online buddy Cindy Pon, because I’m waiting for an afternoon to read it all in one go. And I’m supposed to be reading Middlemarch for my Fill-in-the-Gaps list.

What are some of your favorite posts or reviews in your blog archive and why?
Authors With Heart: recognizing authors who reach out to book bloggers

My Interview Process: a quick, fun way to get to know authors and other interesting people

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing a dialogue into the issues of race facing Americans as part of their past and in the current political climate


What are some posts or reviews on other blogs that have caught your attention as being well worth reading?
Sara's post "On A Serious Note" about how Edward Cullen is not really the kind of boyfriend we should encourage girls to have.

Charlotte’s post Five Favorite Books, which is about her youngest child’s last day of being five years old, since my oldest just turned five. We often forget about the wonder of children’s books until we have children ourselves, but you’re never too old for a good picture book.

At Weekly Geeks, they try once or twice a year to remind us to follow Dewey’s initiative to link to one another’s reviews. I love the community building that happens as a result.

Complete this sentence: “If I didn't have my blog...”
My children would get a lot more attention, my house would might be clean, and I'd be woefully less well-read.

Thanks Aerin!

The Well Worth Watching Award was created and designed by Joanne of The Book Zombie. I'm just passing it along to other bloggers!

Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile (4) Underage Reading

I first discovered Underage Reading through my reciprical comment challenge. Elizabeth left a comment on my blog, I checked out her blog (which she runs with Emily), and I was hooked. I love reading their book commentaries because they are intelligent, insightful AND fun. So please do yourself a favor and check them out if you haven't already.

If someone were to blurb your blog in 25 word or less, what would he or she say?
Elizabeth and Emily review, discuss, debate, mock, and enthuse about kids’/teen books... with forays into classic teen television and whatever else occurs to them.

What kinds of books do you read and review on your blog?
All kinds, from board books through teens -- and from new releases to old favorites (in an inclusive sense that makes room for the trash we read as kids). We do some proper reviews, but mostly we tend to have Thoughts to Share. We pretty much operate on the principle that we should post about whatever we feel like as long as its at least somewhat, tangentially related to kid/teen lit.

What were a couple of your favorite books recently and which ones are you most looking forward to reading soon?
Emily: I tend to re-read books I already love, because hey, its a sure thing. But a recent discovery that I absolutely loved was The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stuart. I've been recommending it to everyone and their mother. And my mother (no really - my mom loved it!). I'm trying to find this new picture book about urban planning, Where Things Are From Near To Far, by Tim Halbur, Chris Steins, and David Ryan, which I heard about maybe a month ago but have had trouble finding (wouldn't you think you'd be able to find a book like that pretty easily in New York City?)

Elizabeth: Octavian Nothing rocked my world; The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was another recent favorite. I'm very much looking forward to reading some Maureen Johnson -- not necessarily new books, but new to me.

What are some of your favorite posts or reviews in your blog archive and why?
Emily: My favorite post of Elizabeth's is "Book vs. Book: Battle of the kids battling racist humiliation and not quite winning." I just think its a really insightful comparison, and gave me some new ideas about Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, which I've read a million times. I think my favorite post that I wrote is "I do not like it, Emily I am." It was fun and exceptionally satisfying to write, and I think its quite Emilyish.

Elizabeth: My favorite of Emily's is "Teach Your Children Well" (about Frog and Toad), because it makes me laugh and laugh. And I love her new series "Books I felt I ought to have liked, but really didn't."

My own favorites tend to be clustered in the "Flawed Does Not Preclude Interesting" category, like my reviews of An Abundance of Katherines and A Great and Terrible Beauty. I suppose because the books I feel the most deeply ambivalent about make me think the hardest.

I'm also ridiculously proud of our "Shades of My So-Called Life" series, which began with "When your crush seems somehow more important than the Holocaust."

Emily: Yeah, that "Shades of My So-Called Life" series was a stroke of genius on Elizabeth's part, like the kind of genius where afterwards you see it was so obvious and perfect and pretty much inevitable that it had to happen. I say that because probably the two biggest features of our friendship back in high school were reading kids' books and watching My So-Called Life.

Ooh! You picked out ones I loved as well! What are some posts or reviews on other blogs that have caught your attention as being well worth reading?
Emily: I enjoy all of Sadako's posts on Dibbly Fresh, but I found her review of Whatever Happened to Janie particularly snarkily delightful.

Elizabeth: Yes. I also loved your post, Lenore, on Frankie Landau-Banks -- the review and the poem you included. And I love the "Unfortunate Covers" series at 100 Scope Notes -- especially this one.

Thanks! And I love Sadako's posts too. Complete this sentence: "If I didn't have my blog..."
Emily: I would have to find some other way to amuse myself at work. And I'd watch even more bad tv than I already do (which is a lot).

Elizabeth: I'd discover far fewer great books, and wouldn't have nearly so much fun!

The Well Worth Watching Award was created and designed by Joanne of The Book Zombie. I'm just passing it along to other bloggers!

Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile (3) Persnickety Snark

For my third Well Worth Watching profile, I chose the amazing Adele of Persnickety Snark. Adele is also the brains behind the Read Carpet podcast for YA books, The Aussie YA Alliance to promote Australian authors, and the Sarah Dessen Diarist. She's a busy, busy blogging bee and I am always excited to see what she'll take on next!

If someone were to blurb your blog in 25 words or less, what would he or she say?
Persnickety Snark is the cornea melting, green blog of all things YA related, especially anything Australian. It is infused with a special combination of snark, humour and a sprinkling of the ridiculous.

What kinds of books do you read and review on your blog?
I review anything that gets thrown at me. Even though I am self-confessed sci fi snob I will read them (and am learning they aren't all bad.) I focus on YA novels from all genres and all countries. I am working to spotlight on Australian YA authors that foreign audiences might not be familiar with. I am definitely flying the Aussie flag, although there is no complimentary Vegemite toast upon entry .

What were a couple of your favorite books recently and which ones are you most looking forward to reading soon?
I absolutely adored Jennifer Echols Going Too Far, it really built upon what I liked about her style and become much more emotionally resonant. I really enjoyed Boofheads, a novel by Scottish/Australian Mo Johnson who's story was told from an Australian teen male's perspective. I am really looking forward to getting my hands on all these books on my wishlist!

What are some of your favorite posts or reviews in your blog archive and why?
I run an Author's Spotlight feature where I post author's reading habits, an interview on their newest release and a guest blog. I think they are always great posts, I try and ask meaningful questions related to the text and I think I get great answers because of it. Melina Marchetta's guest blog about processing her Printz win was great fun because she was still in the buzz stage where it didn't seem real.

In terms of reviews, any time I write about Jennifer Echols it is bound to get gushy. My favourite line of any review is calling her the "YA equivalent of crack", she seemed to appreciate that too :)

My favourite interview hasn't been posted yet. It's with Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay, it is also what I consider to be my best review. Reviewing can be difficult at times, I try to be constructive but that proves difficult if it's a tough read or simply wonderful.

I have If I Stay coming up and I'm super excited. What are some posts or reviews on other blogs that have caught your attention as being well worth reading?
Reviewer X's review of Kiss My Blog was an absolute doozy and I loved it. I had suffered through that piece of rubbish as well and I laughed as I read her snarky take as I completely agreed with everything she said. Except, you know, I finished it.

I thought Jocelyn's review of Going Too Far was really well written. I think she writes the best reviews bar none and it made me want to read the book more (if that was possible).

I have a few blogs that I haunt religiously - Teen Book Reviews, Reviewer X, Presenting Lenore (snerk), The Chick Manifesto, Pop Culture Junkie, Story Siren and a whole host of others. I read everything that pops up on my blogroll but if I need to prioritise, the previous list is my go-to gang.

In terms of author blogs I always hit Sarah Dessen, Alexa Young, Karen Mahoney, Gayle Forman, Melissa Walker, Meg Cabot, John Green, Margo Lanagan, Simmone Howell and this list could go on forever.

Aww...Glad to be on your shortlist! Complete this sentence: "If I didn't have my blog..."...I would be procrastinating on marking my year eight's assignments for larger slices of time.

On a serious note though, I would have never encountered great individuals (and authors) like Gayle Forman, Alexa Young, Melina Marchetta or Beth Fantaskey or the multitude of bloggers that I have become friends with.

Thanks for playing along, Adele!

The Well Worth Watching Award was created and designed by Joanne of The Book Zombie. I'm just passing it along to other bloggers!

Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile (2) The Chick Manifesto

For my second Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile, I chose Taren of The Chick Manifesto. I watch Taren's blog like a hawk, because you just don't know what will come next, but you know it's likely to be very entertaining. She's the co-host of the VC Andrews Challenge (along with Steph, one of my all time favorite bloggers) and she rocks the new Read Carpet Podcast.

And now she answers my questions!

If someone were to blurb your blog in 25 words or less, what would he or she say?
Aaaah I have no idea! Hopefully they'd say that it's a fun, random place to read about old favorites, new releases, and things they might not know about.

What kinds of books do you read and review on your blog?
I try to do all kinds, from current YA and chick-lit to biographies, historical fiction, and older books, both classics and plain old favorites. Lately, I've been re-reading a lot of V.C. Andrews books for the challenge I'm co-hosting. Basically, I like a wide variety of things and sticking to just one genre would kill me. So hopefully I have or will cover something for any book lover.

What were a couple of your favorite books recently and which ones are you most looking forward to reading soon?
A couple of books come to mind right away. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell I love love loved! It's a non-fiction look at successful people and how they were helped by outside factors and weren't just "self made men". It's so down to Earth (and in no way a self help book or anything cheesy like that!) and has stuck with me since I read it. Another, that I know a lot of people love, is Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. I have the attention span of a fruit fly and I could not put that book down. It's great if you like romance, science fiction, or adventure. I'm so excited about the sequel that's going to be released this fall. As for other upcoming reads, look no further than the pictures of my bookshelves I just posted. There are a few hundred I haven't read yet that once I stop procrastinating I'll get around to.

I'm all about The Hunger Games. What are some of your favorite posts or reviews in your blog archive and why?
I'm strangely proud of my three part V.C. Andrews Primer (1, 2, 3) because people seemed to like it (I had no idea there were so many VCA fan out there!) and it was fun to look at these trashy fun books from sort of a literary standpoint. I like my Outliers and American Wife reviews just because it's so fun to write passionately about something if you really love it or really hate it and those two were definitely at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Those are exactly the posts I would have picked! What are some posts or reviews on other blogs that have caught your attention as being well worth reading?
That's a really, really hard one and so hard to pinpoint. Just recently I loved your post about dystopias, the transcript of your Read Carpet podcast segment. I envy Steph, Reviewer X's ability to write negative reviews since I'm generally so chicken about critiquing books and she's so…not! Alea at Pop Culture Junkie does this great round up with pictures of the books she got that week that are always so creative.

Ahh..Thanks! Complete this sentence: "If I didn't have my blog..."
If I didn't have my blog I wouldn't know about some of the great authors I've discovered or the awesome bloggers who are so much fun to talk to and read!

We are so thrilled you do have your blog, Taren. Thanks for playing along.

The Well Worth Watching Award was created and designed by Joanne of The Book Zombie. I'm just passing it along to other bloggers!

Well Worth Watching Blogger Profile (1) The Book Zombie

What better way to honor the creator of the Well Worth Watching Blog Award than with my first Well Worth Watching blogger profile?

I first met Joanne of The Book Zombie through LibraryThing and the Tuesday Thingers meme. Usually after I comment on someone's Tuesday Thinger, I also check to see what else is new on their blog. I noticed Joanne read a lot of quirky/interesting books (including YA) and had great reviews so I started coming back regularly. She is also hilarious and makes me proud to be on TEAM ZOMBIE! Check her out if you haven't yet. And enjoy the interview.

If someone were to blurb your blog in 25 word or less, what would he or she say?

Holy crap, way to start off with an easy question there Lenore ;) Okay here goes: The Book Zombie Blog is a collection of personal thoughts about everything book-related, including informative and honest opinions on a wide range of reading genres. (Hah! 25 words exactly!)

What kinds of books do you read and review on your blog?

I've reviewed books from just about every genre. My reading taste has always been all-over the place so there's not really much I won't read. Although I do tend to shy away from romances in the Harlequin style and mushy chick-lit. Horror/fantasy has always been my guilty pleasure, along with indies. I'm also very fond of contemporary family dramas, anything with quirky characters and books that make you think about or re-consider your normal way of thinking.

Graphic novels and Young Adult are like candy coated cocaine for me - extremely addictive. Non-fiction is something I find myself reading alot of, especially if a certain subject interests me, then I try to read every book I can find about it. Oh and memoirs - love them - all kinds, personal, celebrity and themed (lately I've been reading a bunch of humorous memoirs written by librarians. Okay, I guess I could sum it up by saying, you're likely to never know what will be on my blog next :)

What were a couple of your favorite books recently and which ones are you most looking forward to reading soon?

Well my favorite read of 2008 was Andrew Davidson's first novel The Gargoyle - wow it completely blew me away. Superb writing, fascinating characters, and it was written in such a way that there were numerous stories within the main story - which I think takes immense talent to pull off well.

So far in 2009 my most enjoyable read was Cracked Up To Be a Young Adult novel by Courtney Summers. Normally I enjoy YA because they are quick, easy and fun reading. However Summers novel pulled me in and didn't let go, even now the story is still with me. I really cared about the main character, to the point that I was left wondering okay what's next. It's not that the book ended in a unsatisfactory way, it's more that I didn't want to say good-bye.

What I'm most looking forward to reading next is Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree and doing a re-read of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Both of these are books I added to my TBRpile because of other bloggers (Nymeth and Chris) One of the biggest dangers I've discovered since starting my blog is that your TBR pile becomes exponentially larger. Since you (Lenore) are being awesome enough to interview me I will not mention the books (tons) that you've inspired me to read. :P

What are some of your favorite posts or reviews in your blog archive and why?

The Weekly Geeks posts where we teamed up with other geeks to interview one another about books we'd read. I interviewed Maree about Space and she interviewed me about The Gargoyle. These were so much fun to do and I loved that I got to know Maree better.Posting reviews about Fables Volumes Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 was great because I found a whole group of bloggers who were also reading the Fables series. It was interesting to see everyone's opinions on this series since we were all reading the same things at about the same time (even though I fell pathetically behind).

And lastly, I've been doing some coverage on the Canada Reads 2009 event. The first was an introduction to the event and the second was a spotlight on the first of 5 books featured during the upcoming debate. I really enjoyed doing these posts because it involved not only reading a book, but also researching the event and trying to present lots of interesting information to my readers.

What are some posts or reviews on other blogs that have caught your attention as being well worth reading?

Something I've been seeing alot of lately is bloggers doing video posts and one I really enjoyed was from Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin' where Trish and Jessica discussed the Twilight series. Another blog I always look forward to is the Estella's Revenge Book Zine - no particular post, I love them all. For my own selfish book-lusting reasons I adore Chris's Mailbox Monday/Bad Blogger posts. Three terrific posts I came across after signing up for the VC Andrews challenge are Taren's VC Andrews Primers - Part 1: The Pattern, Part 2: The Female Characters and Part 3: The Male Characters

Complete this sentence: "If I didn't have my blog..."

If I didn't have my blog I would have lots more time to read and likely my house would be more tidy, but I would terribly miss all the wonderful people that make the book blogging community the amazing thing that it is.

Thanks for playing along, Joanne!