Musing Mondays (June 8)

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Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about reading time…

Do you have a set reading time (before bed, perhaps)? Do you read more at night or during the day? Is there a day of the week, perhaps, that you set aside to catch up on reading?

I love to read in the morning with a cup of coffee. I curl up in my favorite recliner and read away! But, I can only do that on weekend morning and during summer vacation. I usually read each night on the couch for a bit, with both chocolate labs curled up on my lap (they think they are lap dogs). Then, when my eyes start to get heavy, I bring the book and the dogs upstairs and read a little bit more. During the summer I will read more during the day. I love to read on the deck in my chair. I throw toys for one of my dogs to fetch while I sit and read. That is what summer is all about!

What about you? When do you like to do your reading?

Monday Musings (May 11)

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Have you ever finished a book, then turned around and immediately re-read it? Why? What book(s)? (question courtesy of MizB)

As an adult, I have not found myself going back and rereading books. But as a child and teenager, I did many times! Three books that stick out in my  mind as immediate rereads are:

1. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
2. Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
3. Lost Moon (the story of Apollo 13) by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger

What are some favorite rereads of yours?

Monday Musings (April 20)

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Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about 2009 favourites…

Coming towards the end of April, we’re a third of the way through the way through the year. What’s the favourite book you’ve read so far in 2009? What about your least favourite? (question courtesy of MizB)

I absolutely LOVED the book Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl written by Stacey O’Brien. This amazing book just blew me away. I have always been a dog person, and understood the emotional connection humans can have with dogs. I couldn’t get over the connection between Stacey and Wesley the owl. I learned so much about owls and their intelligence and grace. I highly recommend this book.

What’s your favorite book you’ve read so far this year?

Musing Mondays (April 6)

Musing Mondays is hosted over at Just One More Page. Click on over to join in the fun! Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your to be read list…

As a follow up to last week’s question, Joseph asked how you keep track of your tbr list. Do you have a paper list or on your computer? Do you take it with you when you go shopping? How do you decide what gets added to it?

I used to keep a file folder in my desk drawer with articles and lists of books TBR. Now that I’m on GoodReads, I use that as my TBR list. I love easily clicking over there so I can quickly add a newly discovered book to my list. How do you organize your TBR list?

Musing Mondays (March 30)

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Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about recording your reading…

Do you keep track of what and/or how many books you read? How long have you been doing this? What’s your favorite tracking method, and why?If you don’t keep track, why not? (question courtesy of MizB)

I love keeping track of the books I read! I have kept track on my computer in a Word document for years. Unfortunately, I never printed it out and 2 years ago my computer went kaplooey and I lost everything! Now I keep track in a word document (that I print out at the end of each year). I also keep track on GoodReads which I joined back in October. I also now keep track on this blog. Just a tad bit obsessive. 🙂

I like to keep track to see my reading trends and to help me remember which books I’ve read. When Christmas or birthdays come around, I often go back and check out my list of books I’ve read to see which books would make good gifts for people.

I think the reading challenges that I have joined are perfect for people like us who love to keep track of what we read. It’s like a reward for keeping track!

Musing Mondays (March 16)

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Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about talking to strangers…

We were all warned as children to ‘never talk to strangers’, but how do you feel about book-talk with random people? When you see people reading, do you ask what it is? Do you talk to people in the book store or the library? Why or why not? What do you do if people talk to you? (question courtesy of Dena)

I’m such a shy person around strangers… I’m not one to usually start up a conversation. This doesn’t apply if I see someone reading a dog book. I spend so much of my free time with my dogs and being involved in dog activities (therapy work, agility, rally, trick training), so if I see someone reading a fiction or nonfiction book about dogs I will start asking them about it… and ask if they have any dogs!

I have enjoyed putting my toe in the book blogging water… it’s fun to be able to chat about books with such great readers! I guess I’m not as shy chatting with all of you. Thanks for creating such a welcoming blogging playground!

Musing Mondays (March 9)

Musing Mondays is hosted over at One More Page. This week’s question asks:

What is your policy when it comes to new authors? Do you feel comfortable purchasing a book or do you prefer to borrow new authors from the library? How often do you ‘try out’ a new author?

What a great question! I guess whether or not I buy a book by a new author depends on a couple of things. First, is it a brand new author, or just new to me? If  it’s new to me, and I’ve heard from several people that I will love it, I may buy the book. If it’s a brand new author, that has become very popular, I also might buy the book… instead of waiting on the waiting list at the library. I have learned to become much more patient with the waiting list at the library. Since I am doing a library challenge this year, I am trying to take out as many books as possible from the library. Not only does this help for the challenge… but it also helps with my wallet! 🙂

Some authors that I might want to try out, my library just doesn’t have (it’s a small library) so I do have to buy the book.

I wish I had bought the book The Art of Racing in the Rain, instead of borrowing it from a friend because I loved that book so much. I really want to own a copy of it… especially since I bought one for every member of my family for Christmas!

What about you? How do you go about trying out a new author?

Musing Mondays (March 2)

Musing Mondays is hosted over at One More Page. This week’s question asks:

When reading do you read every word? Do you ever skip chapters or skim over parts? (question curtesy of Wendy)

I usually read every word, which is why I’m a bit of a slow reader. I did go through a period of time when I was extremely metacognitive of all my thought processes while I was reading. I wanted to understand what my brain did when I came upon info I already knew about (had prior knowledge about) and how my brain would react to something that was completely knew to me.  This happened while writing my thesis and teaching a graduate level course on how to teach reading. I would get so wrapped up on trying to see what my brain was doing while I was reading, that I would sometimes forget what I was reading!

I do know that if I’m tired or more stressed out, I will find myself daydreaming and skimming. But then I usually go back and reread. I hate to think I missed anything!