Morning! How’s your weekend going? Bloggiesta started Friday and I’ve been working my butt off. I’ve accomplished a lot and still have a few tasks left to do such as writing two more reviews and coming up with a few more blogging ideas for next month.
Tomorrow is the first day of October and there are a few events that I’m looking forward to such as:
Banned Books Week. Today is the start of Banned Books Week! Readers all over the United States will be celebrating our freedom
to read. Did you know that not only has John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men has been banned and challenged in several states throughout the country but it’s also been banned in Ireland? Or that Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen, a children’s book, has been banned because of nudity? To celebrate the week, I started re-reading The Giver by Lois Lowry, a book that is still required reading in some schools around here. I ended up staying up the rest of the night to finish it. It’s a classic for a good reason. To find discussions going on about banned books during the week, the Twitter hashtag is #bannedbooksweek
Carl (Stainless Steel Droppings) is hosting The Graveyard Book read-along as part of the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P. VII) Challenge. The read-along starts tomorrow and ends on the 21st. Everyone’s welcome to join. The Graveyard Book is a story that I’ve liked but didn’t love. There’s something about it that makes me want to read it again though so I’m participating.
Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon! October 13th, the lovely ladies over at Estella’s Society (Andi and Heather) will be hosting the latest read-a-thon. For those who don’t know, the event is one huge celebration dedicated to reading. Often, we don’t have enough time to read what we want to when we want to. The event is a day that participants dedicate to mostly reading. There are a lot of fun mini-challenges and food is often a huge topic. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve participated but I’ve only missed two read-a-thons so far. There’s still time to sign-up to participate or even work behind the scenes.
Lu (Regular Rumination) is hosting a dual read-along of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. She’s calling the read-along The Wicked Circus. The read-along goes on throughout October and wraps up the last week of the month. Twitter hashtag: #wickedcircus
Book-buying and library-borrowing ban along with The Book Monsters Review Copy Wipeout. One of the resolutions I made back in January was to read as many review copies as possible by the end of the year. I’ve been doing okay but October is pretty much here and I still have 27 review copies left on my Nook and bookshelves. 27!! I would shame myself and show you my overstuffed bookcases as proof but my camera’s batteries are dead. 18 of my review copies are from this year and the rest are from last year. I’ve already read six of them, now I just need to review them. That’s about seven books a month to read. I think it’s doable. To keep me going with this, I’ve decided to join The Book Monsters Review Copy Wipeout since they have the same goal only dedicated to their 2012 review copies.
Last event but definitely not the least, Halloween! I love Halloween. It’s one of my favorite holidays, tied only with Thanksgiving because I love to eat. This year is slightly different though. For my Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion class, my fellow classmates and I are required to wear costumes! I haven’t worn a Halloween costume in years. I have no idea what I want to dress up as. Any suggestions?
In other news: Aarti’s A More Diverse Universe blog tour was a success! More than 90 people participated and 106 reviews were posted. If you haven’t checked out the tour, I think you should. I’ve added many new bloggers to my feed reader and my tbr list has grown a lot in the past week.
Also: I have a reader survey up. I would love it if you took a minute or two to give me your thoughts on this blog and what I can do to improve it.
Whew! This is a long post. I’m off to read and continue Bloggiesta. How are you spending this weekend? What are you looking forward to in October?
It was just another weekend for me, except I did have to help out at the store some yesterday. I don’t have any big plans for October.
I wonder why there are so many bookish events scheduled for this time of year. I am doing Bloggiesta today. There’s the Readathon coming up. The Texas Book Festival is this month. And Banned Book Week. So many things!
So many fun bookish events! I always enjoy Dewey’s 24hour readathon. I know what you mean, my review list is enormous as well, and every year I swear will be the year I finally get them all read and reviewed. It seems to never happen because I keep accepting books for review
Enjoy your Sunday, I filled out your survey.
Bloggiesta sounds like a huge success – and you got a lot done. I love that feeling of accomplishment when I have things planned out ahead on the blog. Not sure I’ll be in that position for a while, though – things are too nutty right now.
I can’t understand why Of Mice and Men would be banned in Ireland – what a weird thing. I loved The Giver when I listened to it on audio – I really need to continue the series.
Hope you have a great Sunday, V!
Carrie, I don’t understand that about Of Mice and Men either. Did you know that the latest book in The Giver series is being released in a few days?
I did see that about The Giver series – that is so cool!
Wow, looks like a ton of stuff going on October. I’m looking forward to the Readathon. I only did some cheerleading for the spring one, but I’m on a good reading tear lately, so I think I’m going to read for the forthcoming one. Usually I disappoint myself by reading much less than I think I should be able to, but any reading I get done at this point in the year is a big win. I’m not doing much else exciting blogwise in October, except perhaps actually remembering to celebrate my blogiversary this year. My blog’s turning 5 – seems like one I shouldn’t let pass by without doing something exciting!
Happy blogiversary, Megan! I was looking forward to my 5th blogiversary but it ended up coming and going without me noticing it.
Fall is my favorite time of year and that includes loving all these wonderful events. Banned Books Week and The Graveyard Book read-along are on my list and I have several more books to read for R.I.P. Have a great week!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post!!! Thanks for the Read-a-thon shout out! Needless to say, I’ve had issues, so I did not post my More Diverse Universe post in time. However, I will be revisiting one of Octavia Butler’s short stories this week to take part in some capacity.
Also itching to re-read The Night Circus. I think I need something magical.
Of course, Andi! I think we all need something magical right about now.
That’s so fun that someone else connected The Night Circus and Something Wicked This Way Comes. They were strongly connected in my mind, too. It sounds like you have wonderful plans for October, and I’m hoping to join in the read-a-thon. Invariably, something comes up and interferes…
I’ve gone from not knowing about any of these blogging events to signing up for too many, so I’m trying to be restrained for October through December, when real life tends to get even busier, too. I always enjoy the Dewey Read-a-Thon posts by people who are doing it, though.
Sounds like October will be an active month for you! Good luck with all your plans! I decided to focus on YA and children’s books for Banned Books Week this year. It makes for a light reading week next week.
You should dress up as on old man talking to an empty chair. Haha.
Ha ha ha ha! I think I’ve found my costume!
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Sounds like you have a lot going on for October – so many great events coming up! I will be rereading Of Mice and Men for Banned Books Week. Steinbeck is always a favorite.
You sound like me this month. So much planned for the October reading wise, blog wise, and event wise! It’s exciting though
Such a fun month.
Yeah for all these fun events! I forgot the read-a-thon was so soon. And I’ve got to do a banned book week post too.
I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in years, either. Our unit at work is considering dressing up as related characters…I think we’re gonna go with superheroes. If so, I’m calling dibs on Mighty Mouse.
Bloggiesta sounds like another huge success
Ack, I kind of forgot that the read-a-thon was so near. I haven’t participated once yet, so maybe this time…? I’ve got The Graveyard Book loaded on my e-reader, can’t wait to get to this Neil Gaiman book.
I’m in dire need of a book buying ban… taking your example. Good luck getting through your review copies!
October is full of all kinds of bookish things! I did a little Bloggiesta but I also took time just just read.
I think taking the time to read was a smart idea. I don’t think I got any reading done during Bloggiesta. At least, not enough!
I’m super excited about the Readathon! Have missed the recent ones but making sure to join this time around. I’ll be posting food pics again, that’s for sure!
Looking forward to hearing about your Wicked Circus readalong with Lu. Both books I’d love to read, but don’t have on the shelves just yet.
Claire, I hope you join the read-a-thon! I can’t wait to see your food pictures. The Night Circus is a great book to get lost in.
P.S. Have you read the other books in The Giver series? Would you recommend them?
Claire, I haven’t read the rest of the series but I plan to do so within the next few weeks.