Book Blogger Hop #11 and Follow Friday #8

Wow, the past week has been really busy, haven't had time to blog. I hate that! And, kind of busy today and tomorrow. Today my sister leaves to move to New York. Sad, I'll miss her, but kind of exciting because it's something she's always wanted to do, and I can't wait to go visit her! Then tomorrrow, well, I'm thinking of getting a new puppy. I still have my dachshund that you can see an image of on the top of my blog, but she's getting older, and everyone seems to think a puppy will kind of give her a little bit of life back. I'm just worried about her being jealous or sad. But I think I'm going to try it. But I decided to go ahead and jump into my normal Friday hops to get back in and meet some new people. I'm guessing a new puppy will also take away from blogging time, as well as school starting again in a couple weeks, but I'm dedicated to this blog, so I'll do my best to not let it. Let's get on with Book Blogger Hop.

Book Blogger Hop is a place for readers and bloggers to connect over the weekend and chat about books. It is sponsored by Crazy for Books. This week's question is:
What is the one ARC you would love to get your hands on right now?
This is hard because there are so many. But I think there are 3 main ones, Fever, the sequel to Wither by Lauren DeStefano; Crossed, the sequel to Matched by Ally Condie; and The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. The first two are books that I read as ARCs in the first place. And so when you do that, (and LOVE them), you have to wait even longer for the sequels to come out because you read them early in the first place. And those two books were so awesome, I just can't wait to read on! The third, well, I love Maureen Johnson, and I've been hearing about this book for so long that I just can't wait to read it either!

And now for Follow Friday.

This is hosted by two blogs, Parajunkee.com and Alisoncanread.com. This week's question is:

Talk about the book that most changed or influenced your life (was it a book that turned you from an average to avid reader, did it help you deal with a particularly difficult sitation, does it bring you comfort every time you read it?).

I choose to talk about Twilight. I had been reading YA books for awhile, few and far between, mostly to read my state's award nominees so I could help promote them to my students. This was suggested to me by my librarian at the time. And when I picked it up, I was sucked in, couldn't put it down. Had to get New Moon the very next day because I'd swept through it so quick. And at the time, New Moon was only available in hardcover, so I gave my copy of the paperback to someone else and bought Twilight in hardcover as well. And that was it. I was sucked back into the world of teen books, in my 30's. I also love these books because I feel that they also really connected me and my sister who I mentioned at the beginning of this blog that is moving to New York. We'd become friends since she'd graduated college and come back home, but even though for her, it took seeing the first movie to really get her reading and sucked in, this series really connected us. We both can read them over and over, and our love of them lead us to both get tattoos based on the books, my first tattoo. And now, it may be the first excuse to get me to save money and go visit her in New York, as I'm planning to go visit her the week Breaking Dawn part 1 comes out, since we have been to all the midnight premieres together, but I'll have to go there, because she probably can't come home that week before Thanksgiving, and then come home again for Thanksgiving.

Those are my answers. Can't wait to hop over to other people's blogs and check our their answers as well.

Book Blogger Hop #3 and Follow Friday #1

Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word. It is sponsored by Crazy for Books. This week's question is:

If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?

This is a hard one. I almost feel like I would like to be in the world in the book Delirium by Lauren Oliver or the world in Matched by Ally Condie. You may ask why, as these are both dystopian books. However both have something that I think I might like. In the first one, all humans are "cured" of the disease of love. I think, since I'm alone and single and getting pretty old, that if I didn't feel I needed love, then my life might be easier. Also, in both books you are usually set up with someone else that is your "match". And in that case, instead of not minding being alone, I wouldn't have to be alone. Kinda depressing reason, I know, but that's what I first thought of with this question. On a sillier note, I would like to be Bella in Twilight for a day, but when she's enjoying Edward, like their honeymoon in Breaking Dawn, as opposed to one of the battles or dangerous scenes. :-)

New this week! I keep seeing everyone who does the Blogger Hop tend to do Follow Fridays, so I thought I'd join as well. I'd like to find more book blogs, as well as get some more followers. I know because I have under 100 followers, that sometimes the Net Galley publishers won't let me have their books, so I thought I'd work on getting my followers up through this. So here goes.


Feature and Follow Friday is a blog hop that expands your blog following by a joint effort between bloggers, they also have a feature blogger chosen randomly, and to participate you must follow them as well. This is sponsored by Parajunkee. They also have a question to answer, and here is this week's question.

It's circle time. Time for us to open up and share. Can you tell us FIVE quirky habits or things about you? We all have them...

1. I keep a journal where I keep track of all the books I've read, and when I started them and when I finished them. Even if it's a book that I've read before, if it takes up reading time, it goes in the book. I like to keep track of how many books I read in a year, and I started it before I found Goodreads.com.

2. I prefer to use the bathroom at home as much as possible, because I feel like if I can't read during that time, it's such a waste of time. Silly, and weird, I know. But I hate to give up any minute that I could spend reading, when it seems sometimes I have so little time to read.

3. I have to have the light switches in certain positions. There is a light switch panel in my downstairs living room that has a switch for the light, the ceiling fan, and the stairway light to go upstairs. During the day, I need the stairway light switch to be down if the light is not on. I have a similar preference for the light switches at the top and bottom of the basement stairs. Don't know why, just prefer it that way.

4. I like to write, or at least start stories, but I never seem to finish them. I always want to put my daydreams down on paper, if not to publish, just so I could read them again when I want to enjoy them.

5. I talk to my dog and pretend she's talking back. I live alone, give me a break. :-)

Welcome to any new followers I get from this! Leave me a message and I'll come follow you as well!

Matched by Ally Condie

This is another of the Penguin teen advance reader books I had to read. And I loved it! It's set in the future. Our main character is Cassia. We first meet Cassia on her way to her Match Banquet. In this future society, everyone is matched sometime during their 17th year. They get to wear a really fancy dress for the night instead of their normal basic clothes that are the same as everyone else. They get to have really fancy food, instead of the normal just what is needed food rations each person gets. At the banquet they call each girl, and then the screen shows the match live from all around the different boroughs. Only in Cassia's case, something that has never happened before, or at least not in a very long time happens. She is matched with her best friend, someone from the same borough, Xander (I just love that name!). When they're matched they're given a little data card to look through and learn about their match, since usually they don't know them. Cassia waits to check hers, but when she does, just for the fun of it, after Xander's face pops up, it goes blank. Then, another face appears, another boy she knows, Ky. Because she's played the card in the house computer, it's no secret. An Official shows up and collects the card and tells her it was a mistake. She now learns that Ky is an Aberration. He is not ever supposed to be matched.

This of course has intrigued and made Cassia wonder who she is really supposed to be matched with.

This futuristic world, or Utopia in a way you might say, is just incredible to read and think about. To save Society, they have gotten rid of all but 100 paintings, 100 poems, 100 books, etc. When you reach the age of 80, you will die. You live a very healthy, full life until then. But we get to experience Cassia's grandfather's final banquet. Every person carries a container with pills, 1 when they're really young, 2 when they get to be teens, and a 3rd, red pill when they become adults. WE find out later in the later part of the book what the red pill is for. We find just how far this Society will go to make sure their rules and ideas are followed.

This was a really good book. I don't know that they definitely left it open for a sequel. It could have one. Or it could just leave off the way it did. Either way would probably be fine. In fact, I sometimes think it is okay to just end instead of having to continue all stories. This is supposed to come out at the end of November, and I may put it as one of my staff recs at the bookstore at that time.