My Life, In Books

Stolen from Bloggin' 'bout Books. Answer each question using the title of a book you've read in the past year. I'm not tagging anyone, but let me know if you did this and I'll come visit!

Describe yourself:

How do you feel: Soon I Will Be Invincible (by Austin Grossman)

Describe where you currently live: Neverwhere (by Neil Gaiman)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Arabian Nights (And Days) (by Bill Willingham)

Your favorite form of transportation: The Road (by Cormac McCarthy)

Your best friend is: The Good Prince (by Bill Willingham)

You and your friends are: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (by Alan Moore)

What's the weather like: Storm Front (by Jim Butcher)

You fear: The Walking Dead (by Robert Kirkman)

What is the best advice you have to give?: The Rest Falls Away (by Colleen Gleason)

Thought for the day: Hurry Down Sunshine (by Michael Greenberg)

How I would like to die: I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (by Philip K. Dick)

My soul's present condition: Peace Like a River (by Leif Enger)

A Bloggy Survey

I have SO many reviews to get to, but I'm just not in the mood, so I'm stealing this survey from eva instead.

1. How long have you been blogging?
Since January 2008

2. Why did you start blogging?
I decided to start blogging because I wanted a new hobby. I had no clue what I was getting myself into - I had never heard of book blogs or anything like that. I just started a blog and it evolved into what it is today.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?
A really really long wishlist of books that I've discovered thanks to so many awesome book bloggers. Making new friends. Actually making new friends is really the best part, because when I get recommendations for books, they aren't from some book reviewer for the NY Times, they are from someone who's opinion I've come to trust.

4. How many times a week do you post an entry?
About 3 posts a week.

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?
I've got about a hundred feeds in my reader, but I check some more than others, depending on which bloggers I've gotten to know better.

6. Do you comment on other people’s blogs?
All the time!

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Is so, are you satisfied with your numbers?I occasionally check my stats, but I don't really pay tons of attention to it. I don't care very much anymore. I feel that I get a good return on the time I invest in my blog.

8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote?
Every once in a while when I post some fiction (which has been rare lately), I wonder if I am coming across as a big of an attention whore... look at meeee.... I want to be a writer!!! Lalala!!!

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?
Yes and no. I don't try to be any different online than I am in real life, but there are of course elements of me that don't come across online. Like the fact in real life I am more reserved than I think I come across online. But I am goofy, random, and I can get ranty/sarcastic, all of which I am on this blog.

10. Do you blog under your real name?
Kim is my real name and L is my last initial, so sure.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about?
Oh yeah. I don't blog about where I work because hey I just think that's a dumb idea over all. I don't think I've ever blogged on politics, since it is such a polarizing topic and I didn't get into blogging to participate in flame wars (although I have to admit I reeeeally enjoy John Scalzi's brand of sarcasm on political issues).

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog?
Hmmmm.... I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you.

13. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why?
The thought of trying to maintain more than this single blog makes me so exhausted I have to lie down now.

More Memage

Melody tagged me for this meme, which is to find your fifth photo file and pull out the fifth picture in there. This one happens to be a kind of goofy picture from when we went to an apple orchard two years ago with some friends.

Rusty is just a baby puppy in that picture. I had hardly even taken him out anywhere before, but I swear I know it is like to be a celebrity after that day, because every single person we walked past wanted to pet him. While I sat outside and waited for everyone to finish buying their apples indoors, a couple of young girls actually sat and played with him for a good twenty minutes.

No wonder he's an attention whore. He's been spoiled since puppyhood!

Loving those B's

So the wonderful Trish of Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? had a letter-themed meme going on and now I get to pass it on. It goes like this. Trish posted about 10 things she likes that start with the letter O, and then you could ask to be tagged and get an assignment for a new letter to post about. So my letter is B, which happens to be a really awesome letter to have when you are a book blogger and your blog is entitled Bold. Blue. Adventure. And, with no further ado, here are ten things I like that start with the letter B.

Bed. This is honestly the first thing that came to mind, because I luurve my comfortable bed, and I enjoy spending as much time sleeping there as possible. Somehow between writing, blogging, and my real job, I have less time there than I really like.

Books. I mean, duh that's a no-brainer.

Blogging. Because its awesome to make other bloggy friends. And ya'll are awesome. Pat yourself on the back. Yeah!

Booze. My favorites are the really sugary drinks that don't even seem alcoholic until you all of a sudden stand up and realize that you just drank three of them and they actually are alcoholic. And I sometimes tolerate beer.

Banana Bread. My hubby made banana bread muffins last weekend. Nuff said.

Blue. When naming my blog, I wanted to incorporate the color blue, because its my favorite, the world bold because it sounds strong, and adventure came to me, because embarking on blogging felt like an adventure to me.

Bethel University, my alma mater. If you would have asked me about the time I was finishing up college, I would not have included Bethel on my list. Because I hated being in college and I wanted SO BADLY to be done. But now, my hubby works there and so half of my income is derived from Bethel. So I likes it.

Bargains I'm cheap. I can't walk away from a clearance rack, even when its in my better interest.

Battlestar Galactica. Frak, that's a great show. Even though I'm really annoyed about the episode I just watched. But still, a great show.

Black Friday. This relates to the "bargains" item. I love Black Friday. The thrill of the chase... the feeling of having all the Christmas shopping done... its a big ole shoppingasm.

There, so now the rules are, if you want to be tagged, leave a comment and I'll assign you a letter.

Book Memes

I've been tagged for like... forever for a couple of memes, but I was deep into nanowrimoing at the time. So now, only two months behind, here I am! Ta da.

Stephanie tagged me for the Seven Random Bookish Things About Me meme.

The rules are:
Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
Share seven random and/or weird book facts about yourself.
Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I am a book abuser. Not because I like destroying books, but because I have the tendency to like to read while doing activities that are incompatible with reading, such as eating, blowdrying my hair, etc.
2. I lose bookmarks at an outrageous rate.
3. More than one of my books has corners chewed or pages licked thanks to my book-loving puppy.
4. My dad can still recite the opening lines of my favorite childhood book, Katy the Kitty. Because he read it over that many times.
5. I never organize my bookshelves. My husband attempts this periodically, and I support this organization system by haphazardly tossing my recent reads wherever there is room, and when there isn't, stacking them in front of the bookshelf.
6. People who get all snooty about what kinds of books should be read by all "literate adults" drive me fracking nuts
7. Mostly due to my insane reading habit as a child, I had a very large vocabulary that I did not always properly know how to use. Or pronounce. I swear, picturesque really looks like it should be pronounced picture-a-skew not picture-esk.

Anywho. Trish presented me with the Bookworm Award/Meme.

Rules:
Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following.

From The Road by Cormac McCarthy:

I should have done it a long time ago. When there were three bullets in the gun instead of two. I was stupid. We've been over all of this. I didnt bring myself to this. I was brought. And now Im done.

That is quite the bright and cheery passage, much like the rest of the novel, which continues on that delightful theme. Note: DO NOT read this before eating, immediately after eating, or right before bed.

And moving right on to Eva's Bookshelf Meme, which Nymeth thoughtfully tagged me for.

Tell me about...

The book that’s been on your shelves the longest: Digging around on my shelf, I discovered that I still have a copy of Sideways Stories From Wayside School. Do ya'll remember this one by Louis Sachar? Man I loved this book, and the sequels to it. The school was supposed to be thirty classrooms all next to each other in a row, but instead they were built one on top of each other.

And my favorite chapter, chapter 19:

"There is no Miss Zarves. There is no nineteenth story. Sorry."

A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time, etc.): Oh man, Pride and Prejudice always reminds me of staying up late to finish it late at night because once I would pick it up, I couldn't put it back down.

A book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used bookstore, prize, etc.): I got to pick up a copy of The Graveyard Book at a book-signing event with Neil Gaiman, and that was pretty darn awesome. And it was on my birthday.

The most recent addition to your shelves: My bro got me Papertowns by John Green for Christmas and I already done read it.

A book that’s been with you to the most places: 501 Spanish Conjugations has come with me to more Spanish-speaking countries than you can shake a stick at.

A bonus book that you want to talk about but doesn’t fit into the other questions:
I'm finally going to attempt Pillars of the Earth which I find to be excessively long and intimidating.

So there you have it. I'm going to be a loser and not tag anyone, but if you want to do these memes, please let me know and I'll come visit

I am Elinor Dashwood

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Take the Quiz here!

Like all personality quizzes, I think this perfectly sums up who I am in a nutshell :-)

Although of all Austen's heroines, I do like Elinor, and I especially like Emma Thompson's portrayal of her in the movie version. I may or may not have skewed the answers a little since the questions make it obvious (if you've read her books) which characters they are pointing towards.

So which heroine are you??

Memage

Normally I jump all over the memes I get tagged for, but somehow I've managed to fall seriously behind. So here ya go.

Although I was completely lame and didn't participate in Book Blogger Appreciation Week, Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness mentioned my blog as one of the blogs she loves to read. She mentioned her review of Watchmen, which I linked here (it was a really great review). Thanks Kim, and right back atcha! Kim recently moved from the Twin Cities, my hometown to Madison, Husband's hometown. But the million dollar question Kim... are you a Gopher or a Badgers fan??

Kim and Trish also tagged me with the Why I Blog Meme.

1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively
2. Link back to the person who tagged you
3. Link back to this parent post
4. Tag a few friends or five, or none at all (and inform them about it)
5. Post these rules— or just have fun breaking them.

So my answers:

1. Okay so my little blog was birthed on December 29, 2007. I've always loved reading, but it's become sort of this thing that I do. All. The. Time. Would ya'll quit giving me such great book recs? I have a tbr pile to last me for five lifetimes.
2. So I have this beast called Google Reader that I continually try to tame. It's because I've found so many dang good bloggers and I just want to follow them all.
3. Outside of work hours, you'll pretty much find me reading, writing, or blogging. Well you won't see me, on account of the fact my place is a MESS and I just cannot have any visitors over.
4. So I used to like to write, then I went to this magical place called college, filled with weeks of this form of torture called "researching". It involved hours slumped over a computer screen trying desperately not to bang my head against the desk. After four years of said torture, sadly my love of writing kind of dissapated. Blogging has helped me to rekindle said love and although I happen to be researching at the moment, I've only banged my head once or twice.
5. When I decided to start my blog, I was in a bit of a slump. For a number of reasons, I was coming home from work and just sitting around because I didn't feel like doing anything else. I finally decided that my cure was to find a hobby. After trying on a few for size, I finally settled on blogging. It wasn't long after I got the blog up and going that my husband started commenting how much happier I seemed. It seems I may have traded a TV addiction for an internet one, but I'd like to point out there is a definitive study somewhere (I know I read it online) that my brain cells are firing at a much higher rate when I blog than when I watch TV. Or something like that.
   

If you haven't done this one yet, consider yourself tagged.

Okay, now onto awards! You'll like this part, I promise, because this time I'm actually going to remember to pass them on to other people, not just brag that I received them.

Thanks to Trish from Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? for awarding me the Supercommenter Award. I just have to say, it's hard not to comment when you post such hilarious and random thoughts, interspersed with fantastic book reviews.

Okay, here are just a few of the great supercommenters on my blog:

Trish's Book Nook
Tripping Towards Lucidity
Rhinoa
Alice Teh
Deslily
Nothing of Importance

Melody also passed along the I Heart Your Blog Award and the Proximidade Award to me.

EDIT: And I completely missed that Trish of Trish's Reading Nook also gave me this award. Aw shucks!!

Thanks so much Melody! You've been a reader of my blog pretty much since I started and I love reading your comments.

Let me pass this one on to:
The Deus ex machina complex and other theories
Nymeth
Bloggin' 'Bout Books
A Striped Armchair
Becky's Book Reviews
Blue Archipelago
Reading Room

Alright, you might be wondering about what the Proximidade Award is. Here's the scoop:

To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means: "This blog invests and believes, the proximity" [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy]. They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate? Then let’s try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.

Isn't that sweet? Let me pass that one on to:
Stephanie's Confessions of a Bookaholic
Stuff as Dreams Are Made of
The Ax for the Frozen Sea
The Inside Cover
Book-a-rama
Ravenous Reader

Six Quirky Things About Me

Alice tagged me for this meme. The rules are to:

• Link to the person who tagged me
• Mention the rules
• Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself
• Tag 6 other bloggers by linking to them
• Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged

Hmmm... quirky but boring...

I like pickles. I like ice cream. Sometimes I like them one right after the other. I think when (if) I get pregnant I'll get cravings to have them at the same time.

My goal this summer is to hit up every ice cream shop on the Twin Cities Magazine Best of Summer list. Weirdest flavor tasted so far: Irish Whiskey, with a scoop of Guinness.

When in the car, I have an insatiable urge to do something besides just drive. Sometimes this urge is satisfied by listening to the radio, but when that just doesn't do it for me, I talk to myself. I'd tell you what I talk about with myself, but then I'd have to kill you.

I've never watched the entire Wizard of Oz. I somehow never managed to see the whole thing growing up. In high school, I played the Coroner of Munchkinland in our fall musical. (To my everlasting horror there was a singing line which terrified the crap out of me.) I know the entire plot having read many, many, many of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, but I just never watched the whole thing.

I can't sleep if there is the slightest noise. Ticking clocks drive me insane. Even the hum of a computer that hasn't been turned off can keep me up. So I usually sleep with a fan on to cover up any ambient noise. College dorm living was almost my undoing. Between living next to a girl with an extremely loud sound system to roommates up typing to the crack of dawn, I learned the best way to cope was to stay up later than everyone else. And consequently I didn't get much sleep for a few years.

I wrote my first story before I knew how to write. I had a particular babysitter that I adored because we would pull out a blank notebook, I would dictate my story to her, and then I'd draw the illustrations. Sometimes I'd scribble on a piece of paper in imitation of writing and then ask a grown up to please tell me what I'd written.

Okay, so there you have it. I now nominate:

Trish (Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?)
Mrs. S
Andi (Tripping Toward Lucidity)
Stephanie's Confessions of a Bookaholic
Seachanges
Gautami Tripathy

What? Another Challenge?

I have been trying hard not to get involved in more challenges than I can handle, but this one called my name. Literally. I heard it say "Kim, join this challenge!"

The challenge: Read 5 classics July 1-December 31. Recommend a 6th book that you think is a modern classic.

Okay, here's my list (completely subject to change based on my whim)

The Grapes of Wrath
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Animal Farm by George Orwell
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne

And my nominations for modern classics are:
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (okay just kidding)

And with no further ado, the Classics Meme:

1. My favorite classic is
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It just doesn't get any better.

2. The classic I had the toughest time finishing is
Wuthering Heights. Great Expectations took some extra effort, but Wuthering Heights was almost impossible. It's long, boring, and very unhappy.

3. I would recommend Animal Farm to someone who doesn't read a lot of classics or who doesn't generally like classics because its very engrossing, and even better, short.

4. To me, a classic book is a book that has been around for at least a couple of decades and is on recommended reading lists.

5. The type of relationship I have with classics is amenable. I like classics. I usually enjoy them. I always intend to read more of them and never get around to it.

We Have a Winner!

It seems so long ago, but I started a blogging tips meme a few weeks ago where nine brave individuals dared to offer their best blogging tips. I offered up a $15 Amazon giftcard. The winner is Deslily! Congratulations!!

Here is everyone's advice, by the way:

Nymeth advises bloggers to make their website easy to navigate
Melody talked about a number of great services and widgets for your site.
Andilit reminds bloggers to be themselves when they write. Personal stories can be the best part of blogging!
Aaron offered some great advice about finding a good hosting service and responding to comments.
Mrs S.' tips included promoting your feed, encouraging comments, and reminds bloggers to spell-check!
Eva talked about the importance of visiting other blogs and leaving comments for newbie bloggers to get to know people.
Deslily gave great advice for those non-tech bloggers. Backup, backup, backup! And don't make things pop up when you mouse over a link
chris' tips included how to make your blog interesting, which means widgets and an interesting header.
trish had some great advice on when to post, what to post about, and how to keep up to date on comments.
natasha at maw books had pretty much the definitive guide to book blogging. I added at least three of the tips she recommended already.

Even though I've drawn a name, please feel free to add your advice. If you let me know that you posted blogging tips, I'll link your post here. Wow, I feel much wiser already from all of these great tips!

Blogging Tips Meme

I posted the other day about some of my blogging tips, and commenters left even more advice. I am not technological, so take my advice as such:-) So, with no further ado, let me present my revised list of blogging tips:

1. Website Stats:

For Blogger users and Wordpress users who own their own domain, you can use Google Analytics, which gives you tons and tons of info on who visits your site, where they come from, what keywords bring people to your site, and how long people stay. Regular Wordpress users, I hear you already have a bunch of stats automatically (thanks Natasha and trish)

marg recommended Technorati to see who links to your post and Sitemeter to track visitors. I haven't used either of these yet, but they both look helpful.

2. Subscribe to your own blog and comments.

If you use a reader such as Google Reader, Bloglines or anything else, you already know that you can subscribe to people's blogs. Why not subscribe to your own blog? You'll be able to see what others see in their reader. For Blogger, you can subscribe to your comment feed by typing in http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default.

3. Don't be afraid to make changes to your layout!!

Go ahead and look for different templates and widgets. Just make a backup of your layout first! Then you don't have to worry about screwing it up. In Blogger, go to your layout, and make sure you click on Edit Html, then copy everything. Open up Notepad and paste the layout. I do that every time I make changes.

And lastly, if you are a non-tech-savvy person like me, don't be ashamed! Google has been my best friend as I learned how to blog.

Now I've shared a few tips here, but I know that out there in the great big blogging world, ya'll probably have tons more great advice. So I'm turning this into a meme. If you're tagged, just post your best blogging advice. It can be technical advice, you could share your favorite widgets, ideas on how to write a good post, ways to attract more people to your blog, how to keep your reading challenges organized... the list goes on. Even if you are completely new to blogging, I know there's a tip you can share.

When you write a post sharing your tip, leave a link to it via Mr. Linky and I'll enter you into a contest to win a $15 Amazon giftcard. I'll draw winners on May 25th.

So share your advice and you could win something!

I'm going to tag 10 bloggers, but feel free to tag as many or as few as you'd like.

Deslily
The Story Siren
Maw Books
Gautami Tripathy
Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic
chris
nymeth
rhinoa
Melody
eva of A Striped Armchair

6 Things You Didn't Know About Me

Andilit tagged me for this meme.

1. Every job I've had in my life has been in the social services field save one, where I built props for the fall play at my college. I worked in several group homes, as a PCA, and though I'm in the HR field now, both HR jobs I've had have been for social service agencies.
2. I'm the worst snob about what restaurants I eat at. I blame my husband, a confirmed foodie.
   
3. My new favorite TV show is 30 Rock. My old favorite TV show was Heroes. But the TV show that holds a special place in my heart that will never be replaced is Star Trek.
   
4. I really like writing forms. When I see a form that is confusing, my fingers itch to rewrite it. I will sit and draft and redraft a form all day.
5. Ever since I studied abroad in Spain, where I had to watch my money like a hawk 24/7, I have become paranoid that someone will steal my purse. I won't bring my purse into the grocery store anymore, and if I'm at Target, pushing a cart, I won't set my purse down in the cart.
6. When I was engaged to my husband, I was randomly at Joann Fabric one day and spotted a 90% off sale going on. I ended up buying about so many fake flowers, wreathes, pots and watering cans that my entire trunk, back seat and part of the front seat was full of flowers. I spent the summer before my wedding making the centerpieces and corsages for the wedding. My parents probably had the harder end of the bargain because they had to store all of those blooms and transport them for me.
   

In the vase is one of the bridesmaid's bouquets.

One of the centerpieces. We had green apples as our favor.

My brothers, modeling the corsages I made.

Negativity Meme

Does it ever seem there aren't enough hours in the day for all the things you want to do? That has been the last few weeks. And accordingly, my reading has slowed down (or maybe it just hasn't ever been very fast.) Accordingly, I'll post my answers to the negativity meme by Dewey. Thanks to Chris for tagging me.

1. When you dislike a book, do you say so in your blog? Why or why not?

I'll usually say that the book wasn't really my thing. I don't believe in decieving the readers of my blog by stating that I liked a book when I really didn't, but there's room for restraint. One of the things I like about book bloggers is that they don't tend to be mean and nasty the way some parts of blogworld can be.

2. Do you temper your feelings about books you didn't like, so as not to completely slam them? Why or why not?

Yes I temper my words, because no one likes constant negativity. My friends can tell you that I have a tendency towards snarkiness when I don't like a movie or book. Yes, I'm the one in the movie theater making the comments about The Notebook or Armageddon and other such classics. So I tone down my sarcasm on my blog, because, hey even though I might not have liked a book, I know other people may love the book, so I don't want discourage anyone from reading it. The book might be a great read, and I'm just not in the right mood for it. Besides, usually my sarcastic comments probably aren't as funny as I think they are. And there's nothing worse than unfunny sarcasm.

3. What do you think is the best way to respond when you see a negative review about a book you enjoyed?

Everyone's entitled to their opinions, and I don't mind when they aren't the same as mine. If everyone thought the same as me, the world would be a scary place. Really scary.

Depending on the post, I might leave a comment, if there was something I felt was important worth saying.

4. What is your own most common reaction when you see a negative review of a book you loved or a positive review of a book you hated?

If it's a blogger I read on a regular basis, I might make a comment based on what they said in their review. I guess I'm likely to just say I'm sorry to hear they didn't like the book or if I did like the book, I might say what I liked about it.

5. What is your own most common reaction when you get a comment that disagrees with your opinion of a book?

Hmmm... well if they left me enough to go off, I might leave a response to their comment. I'm all about diversity of opinion towards books.

6. What if you don't like a book that was a free review copy? What then?

If I get a review copy, I'm not the only person who is getting an early review copy, and I sure would hope that the author wouldn't expect everyone that reads the book is going to love it. So I'll put my honest opinion.

On the other hand, I don't want to completely slam an author, especially if they are up and coming. So I try to keep my comments friendly, and not disrespectful.

7. What do you do if you don't finish a book? Do you review it or not? If you review it, do you mention that you didn't finish it?

I wouldn't put a post about the book if I didn't finish it. If I haven't finished it, there's a chance it could have gotten better at some point. I might post in passing that I started the book but just couldn't get into it. Now that would be deception.

Six Word Memoir?

Stephanie tagged me for this meme, which is to sum up your entire life in 6 words. I overthink things. A lot. So I overthought this one. A lot. But at last, I remembered a truth about myself that is not dependent on my particular age or stage in life. So with no further ado, I present my 6 word memoir:

Finding wild amusement in the mundane

And since I'm an overthinker, I will add to that (though what else needs to be added, really?) that I have long been able to amuse myself on boring car rides with billboards. I can't explain why, but it's a talent.

Here's the rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4 .Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

I don't know who has or hasn't done this yet, so I tag these people:
Chris from Stuff as Dreams are Made on
Love from Stay Talk
Melody from Melody's Reading Corner

And right now I'm too tired to dig deeper than that. If you haven't done it and want to, go for it!

Nonfiction Meme

a) What issues/topic interests you most--non-fiction, i.e, cooking, knitting, stitching, there are infinite topics that has nothing to do with novels?

Up until the wedding, it was either wedding planning or marriage prep books. I still have a bunch on my shelf, but now its money books. I read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover recently, and got all inspired to pay off debts with "gazelle-like intensity". I also enjoy biographies and/or autobiographies. I read Three Cups of Tea not too long ago, and it pretty much blew my socks off.

b) Would you like to review books concerning those?

I will review them on my blog if I do read them.

c) Would you like to be paid or do it as interest or hobby? Tell reasons for what ever you choose.

Sure, money's nice. I doubt my blog will be much of a money-maker for me, but it is a fun hobby.

d) Would you recommend those to your friends and how?

If the book is good, I will definitely recommend it. Talk to my poor husband. Every time I finish a good book, I'm there peddling it to him, "come on honey, this is a really good book, you should read it!"

e) If you have already done something like this, link it to your post.

Ummm... I read Eat, Pray, Love recently. Going back, I think that's about the only one.

f) Please don't forget to link back here or whoever tags you.

Melody, thanks for tagging me. I see I am about the last one doing this meme, so tag yourself if you haven't done it already.