Let’s Talk (5): Books

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses. This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let’s Talk!

Today’s Question:

How many books do you own (keepers) and how many are in your to-be-read pile?
Feel free to include pictures!

I own over 600 books!  I tell people I have a book buying sickness and I buy faster than I can read them.  Plus, I borrow from the library, too, so it seems my at home TBR shelves don’t go down near as fast as they should.  I still have all my childhood books like Goosebumps and Animorphs, too.  Since I just recently bought my own house, I am still trying to get my office/library area set up.  I am also bad about buying books that I see for good prices that I eventually want to read, so I buy them, even if it may be 10 years before I finally do read it.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many books are in my TBR stack!  Even some of my must-have-right-now books are still unread (bad me).  And once I do read them, even if I hated them, I just can’t bring myself to get rid of them, unless I am doing a giveaway.  I do giveaway all of my ARCs after I read them pretty much, but the books I have already had for a while I can’t.  I would really love to have my own personal library one day and I’d say 600+ books is a pretty good start!

Here are a couple of pics of the mess that currently is my office area.  There are also at least 3 more boxes of books that you can’t see in the corner.  All these books and only 1 lonely bookshelf.  After Christmas I will definitely be getting more (I want the walls lined with shelves).

So what does everybody else’s piles of books look like?

Let’s Talk (4): Recycling

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses. This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let’s Talk!

Today’s Question:

Do you use “green” products? Do you recycle?  Please share your thoughts and resources on helping our planet live for future generations.

Sometimes I do use green products.  I’ll get the bottles with less plastic or the chip bags that are more biodegradable, and I try to recycle as much as possible.  It feels kind of wrong if I don’t.  Before I bought my house, I would get on my roommates’ nerves hoarding plastic bottles and cereal boxes and such to take to the recycle center.  I wouldn’t get to go often because of my work hours so when I finally made it, I had quite a load of recyclables.  Now that I have my own house, I am wanting to get trash and recycle pick up.  I went to a load fill for the first time ever recently, and they are so ugly and I try my best not to add to it.  Are you a recycler?

Let’s Talk (3): Blogging Time

 

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses. This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let’s Talk!

Today’s Question:

How much time do you think you spend on blogging each week, including commenting on other blogs, participating in events, Twitter/Facebook blog talk, etc? Do you have a time management system that works well for you? We’d love to know!

I don’t get to spend near as much time as I would like to on the blogosphere.  I try to spend a couple hours a day (in sporadic bits and pieces) if I can during the week, and I aim for much longer during the weekend (though I usually don’t get a chance for it to be much longer).  It is really hard!  I work 8-5 M-F, so during peak commenting hours, I’m stuck at work.  I try to get in time when I can if I take a quick break here or there to make comments.  I have to have the majority of my work done by 2 pm, so I don’t get a lot of time to do that early morning commenting before then.  I also usually spend my lunch hour when I can doing blogger stuff.  Even though I don’t get as much time as I would like, I still make sure to reply to comments and visit others’ links.  I don’t have a time management system.  I don’t think I have any kind of management system, I’m on of those organized chaos types.  This month has been on the slower side with comments and such because of NaNo, and even though I didn’t finish, it was a fun learning experience for my first NaNo!

Check it out I made a blog signature finally!

Let’s Talk (2): Hobbies

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses. This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let’s Talk!

Today’s Question:

Do you have any hobbies other than blogging/reading? How do you balance them along with all of life’s other responsibilities? Feel free to share pictures.

I do have other hobbies, a few actually.  One of my major hobbies is writing.  I know not every reader wants to be a writer, but I am definitely one who does.  I can remember wanting to be a writer even when I was in elementary school.  I don’t get as much time to write as I would like, but I try to write as often as life allows me to.

Another of my bigger project hobbies is genealogy.  I have been working on my family tree since 2007 and I have a binder that is 2 inches thick full of pedigree charts and notes.  It’s quite fascinating what you find, and even who you find (Geoffrey Chaucer is in my tree!).  Photography is another major hobby for me and I love all the different images that can be created.  Black and white is a favorite and I really want to try hand-coloring b&w images.  I even have a couple of ribbons for local photography contests.

Some other hobbies I have a writing penpals (yes, read letters), cross-stitching, scrapbooking and learning tarot.  It is hard to have time for hobbies when work and life take up so much of it.  My major hobbies are the ones I try to find the most time for and my minor ones I tend to when I can spare just a few extra minutes.  I answer my letters as soon as I can so I don’t fall behind or neglect any of me penpals.  There just isn’t enough time in the day!  What kind of hobbies do you have?

Let’s Talk (1): Series

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses. This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let’s Talk!

Today’s Question:

What are your thoughts on series? How many books in a series is too many? What authors do you think handle longer series well, as opposed to ones who seem to stretch it out less successfully?

Well, sometimes I like series and sometimes a like stand alones.  If it is a good series, bring it on!  But I do like to take a break between series with a great stand alone.  Lately, books have been coming in trilogies, and I think a trilogy is a good length for most series, even the 4 book series can be great.  Not too short, not too long.  Certain series, however, I can never get enough of (Harry Potter anyone?)  where some have worn out there welcome.  I however have not read any series yet that I have tired of to the point I wish it would come to an end.  The longest series I have read aside from Harry Potter is James Patteson’s Women’s Murder Club series.  Around book 8 it started to slow down for me, but then it started to redeem itself.

One reason I do like series is because I get so attached to the characters and I am really disappointed when it ends if it is a series I am really enjoying, where with stand alones, that is all you get of the characters and sometimes it just isn’t enough.  The authors that write series well are those who make every book really different and keep adding new things in like new issues and surprises and twists.  J.K. Rowling just kept adding to Harry Potter’s character and he became a much different person than he started out.  The books evolved and became darker, she didn’t beat anything into the ground over and over, and none of it felt like filler writing, everything was important.  Overall, I can’t say I prefer one over the other, it sometimes depends on my mood and how attached to the characters I am.