Celebrating 7 Years of True Book Addict!

Time sure does fly! Today marks SEVEN YEARS of my little niche in the blogosphere. Writing this blog has been such a blessing in my life. I honestly can't imagine my life without it. I have made so many friends in our book blogging community. That makes it even more worthwhile.

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My very first post was the bookish meme 32 Questions Asked and Answered. Since then, I've written 1605 posts (this will be 1606), have had 3,116,519 page views, and I have over 600 friend connect followers, over 1200 Google+ followers, almost 400 Bloglovin' and over 100 email subscribers. I'm so glad that people enjoy reading my blog. I certainly enjoy writing it.

I've also been lucky enough to carve an even larger niche with a sister (horror) blog, Castle Macabre, hosting reading communities on Goodreads (TuesBookTalk and Lit Collective), hosting seasonal read-a-thons with my Seasons of Reading blog and community on Facebook, and hosting a myriad of perpetual reading challenges. (Note: I have a new community in the works that will encompass all of my perpetual reading challenges AND I'm rolling out a new challenge. Stay tuned!)

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To commemorate the day, I'm giving away a $7.00 Amazon digital gift. This is only open to followers so be sure to leave a comment with how you follow to enter. I'll leave the giveaway open for a week...maybe two. (Be sure to leave an email address so I can contact the winner)

So, thank you so much for seven wonderful years. I'm looking forward to many, many more.

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Bout of Books Update and Oh, Yeah...I Forgot My 6 Year Blogoversary

WINNER OF MY BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY - RACHELLE!

Bout of Books update and mini-challenge below this post

Yes, that's right. My blogoversary was on August 5th. I've been at this for 6 years. Wow! The time has flown by. My very first blog post was 32 Questions Asked and Answered and my first book review the next day was The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater (how appropriate to share this during Austen in August!). Since I started this blog, I've had 2,753,986 visits and posted 1486 posts! My Cat Thursday feature is in its 5th year. Most of those posts have over 100 views daily and a couple of them had 700+ and 800+ views! There was even one from 2011 with 39,284 views since it posted. Holy cow...I mean, cat!!! And, of course, I must mention my wonderful followers/readers who have stayed loyal, even through my recent bout of a blogging stagnation. I appreciate you all more than you will ever know.

And speaking of blogoversaries...my sister blog, the horror blog Castle Macabre had its 4 year blog anniversary on August 15th. Yup, missed that one too!

In honor of both blogoversaries, I'm hosting a giveaway! This will be a dual giveaway between both blogs. Here's how it will work. If you comment here on this post and on this post at Castle Macabre (either telling me you'll be joining in for Gothic September and/or the read-a-longs, or just to tell me how much you love Poe), you will get two entries into the giveaway.

What's the prize? You will have the chance to win a $10 digital Amazon gift card OR $10 worth of books from the Bargain Bin at Better World Books (these are gently used books and let me tell you...I love the site. You can get 3 books for $10 from the bargain bin! I order from them all the time and purchases benefit literary causes around the world. Check them out!).

To enter, as I mentioned above, comment on this post AND on this post at Castle Macabre and then fill out the form below with the name you used to comment. You only have to fill out the form once so if you fill it out here, don't fill it out again at Castle Macabre. This giveaway will end on September 10, 2015 at 11:59pm CST. Open internationally.

Bout of Books Update and Mini-Challenge

My progress through Wednesday (I technically started on Tuesday).

The Snow Child - 50 pages
In The Woods - 50 pages

Sad...but I'm not giving up yet!

Kimberly Faye Reads hosted the Four Seasons in Book Covers Challenge. 

Here's my contribution...

Follow via email!

Happy Five Years to Me!!!

Winner -- Terry Martini

Well, it really did sneak up on me this year. For some reason, I was thinking the date was August 9, but I should have remembered that I started this blog five years ago the day after my mom's birthday.

I can't believe it has been five years already. I have to say that getting into this book blogging thing has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have met some wonderful people and authors...and have made a myriad of friends. Anyone who says online friendships aren't real...well, pshaw to them! I can happily say that some of my best friends are now people I met online (you know who you are).

I am a much more busy blogger than I was five years ago. I have 13 blogs on Blogger and two on Wordpress. I host several long-term reading challenges and I have a read-a-thon blog on which I host four week long read-a-thons a year. All of this on top of reading like a maniac, reviewing books for authors, being a mom of two preteen (one soon-to-be teen) boys, working at home as a virtual assistant and trying to write my own novel. The funny thing is, I have not really experienced any burn out. I even kept blogging through a serious illness in 2010, the dissolution of my marriage in 2012, and finally my divorce this past June. Whew! Never say die, right!? I always try to keep an positive and optimistic outlook and I think that has helped me to not burn out.

I'm so proud and thrilled to be the owner of The True Book Addict. I purchased my domain this year (www.truebookaddict.com) and I recently redesigned it all. I guess I will mention stats (even though I'm not overly concerned with keeping up with numbers) because I want to acknowledge the wonderful people who have appreciated my blog. So...

Number of blog posts since inception - 1351
Number of page views (all time history) - 1,140,720 (wow!)
Number of GFC followers - 702
Number of email subscribers - 111
Number of Bloglovin' followers - 329

Now, on to just a little something I would like to do in appreciation of my blog readers. I'm giving away a $10 (digital) Amazon gift card. All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know how you follow and please leave a way for me to contact you if you win. This giveaway is only open to current followers. I will draw the winner in one week (ending August 12 at 11:59pm CST). Good luck!

Thanks again for sticking with me over the years. It is much appreciated!

Sorry...I couldn't resist!

Today I celebrate four years of blogging!

I was trying to think of something clever to post in celebration of my four years of book blogging, but I'm sorry to say...I just don't have the energy. Why did the day have to fall on a Monday? HaHa!

Anyway, I am happy that I've been blogging for four years. Book blogging has become my haven and my fun. I have met so many wonderful people...people I know would be my friends in real life too. Thank you to all of my great blogging friends who follow me, read what I have to say and put up with my adoration of cats.

I have always loved books and reading and book blogging has made books an even bigger part of my life. For that, I am truly grateful so....

Happy Blog Birthday to me!

Celebrating my Three Year Blog Birthday!

Yup, that's right! It was three years ago today that my first blog post went live and I haven't looked back since.  What a fun and eventful three years it has been too.  When I started, I never dreamed that I would meet so many great bloggers.  I certainly didn't know that authors would want me to read and review their books...and I have met and worked with so many great authors, publishers, and publicists. And who would have thought that I would host four reading challenges (five, if you include my yearly Christmas reading challenge) and four seasonal read-a-thons a year! And now I'm embarking on hosting a new event, my Sit Down and Write Write-a-Thon! Blogging sure does keep me on my toes, but you know what?  I wouldn't change anything about these last three years.  My horizons have expanded, my reading tastes have become more diverse and well-rounded, and I have learned so many new things too.  Most importantly, I have met some of the most wonderful people and I've made some lifelong friends.  So...I want to thank YOU most of all.  All of you that take the time to visit my blog and to those who participate in my myriad of events.  You are the main reason that I consider my blogging experience a success.  I look forward to many more years of blogging and friendship.

So lets raise our virtual glasses in a toast and share a big virtual hug! Cheers!

Blogoversary Giveaway Reminder

My blogoversary giveaway ends tomorrow, August 31 at 11:59 pm CST so be sure to get your entry in, if you haven't already! Go HERE to enter and good luck!

Two Year Blogoversary Celebration!

I'm two today....or should I say the blog is!!! It has been a wonderful two years of discovering great books and meeting a group of awesome fellow bloggers.  I hope to continue this journey for many more years and I couldn't do it without the wonderful people who take the time to visit and read my blog...my loyal followers/subscribers.  I'm actually on vacation right now so I don't have a lot of time for this post (I was going to schedule it before I left, but alas...), but I wanted to share an exciting giveaway with you.  Also, I have something cooking in my mind that I'm hoping to bring to fruition soon.  Details will be coming up in the near future.

For the giveaway, I will be giving away a $10 BetterWorldBooks gift certificate.  They have free shipping worldwide so this will be an INTERNATIONAL giveaway! (One winner)

I also have for you today a giveaway that was donated by Nicole at Tribute Books.  I want to thank Nicole for her generous donation.  What is being given away are the following five eBooks.  This giveaway is also INTERNATIONAL and there will be five winners.

Industrial Pioneers by Patrick Brown

Read an excerpt


Buy it on Amazon

Patrick Brown was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated Magna cum Laude from Georgetown University, where he won the Morris Medal for best senior history honors thesis. He currently teaches high school social studies in the Mississippi Delta through Teach for America. 

Visit Patrick on Facebook


Pegasus at the Plow by Patrick Walker

Read an excerpt


Buy it on Amazon

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on April 9, 1958, Patrick Joseph Walker has always been a seeker of truth in all things. His earliest perceptions of life were colored by familial devotion to Irish clan and the Catholic Church. An early scholar, he attended Scranton Preparatory School and was later accepted into the Special Jesuit Liberal Arts Program at the University of Scranton. During a hiatus from formal education, he worked as a staff writer for the Legislature in Saipan. When he returned to the United States, he was awarded a Philosophy Fellowship at Fordham University. Today, he "works" as an editor and proofreader of educational materials for a local correspondence college. His "real" work, however, involves studying the works of Blaise Pascal and Friedrich Hayek. He lives in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, with his artist POSSLQ, Ginger Cody, her daughter Anna, and the family's two dogs, Lilly and Rosie.

Visit Patrick:  Blog | Facebook


The Evolution of an Identity by Diya Das

Read an excerpt


Buy it on Amazon

Diya Das was born in India on 24th September,1991. She is currently a senior at Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School at Kingston in northeast Pennsylvania. She lives in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with her parents.

A National AP Scholar and a member of Johns Hopkins University's Study of Exceptional Talent program since 2004, Diya attended the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences in the summer of 2007. She is currently the co-editor-in-chief of her school newspaper, The Opinator, and a member of her school's chorale and orchestra. In her free time, Diya figure skates and plays piano and violin.

Visit Diya on Facebook


Call Me Kate by Molly Roe

Read an excerpt


Buy it on Amazon

Molly Roe is the pen name of Mary Garrity Slaby, a veteran language arts & reading teacher at Lake-Lehman Junior Senior High School. Mary holds a Ph.D. in education from Temple University, and Pennsylvania teaching certification in six areas. She has pursued the hobby of genealogy for the past decade. Mary was born in Philadelphia, raised in Schuylkill County, and currently lives in Dallas, Pennsylvania with her husband, John. They are parents of two grown children, Melissa and John Garrett, cover illustrator of Call Me Kate. Digging into the past has given Mary newfound respect for her ancestors and a better understanding of history. Call Me Kate is the first in the author’s trilogy of historical novels loosely based on the lives of the strong women who preceded her.

Visit Molly:  Blog | Facebook


Thumbing through Thoreau by Kenny Luck, Jay Luke, and Ren Adams

Visit the book website


Hardcover
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 9780982256541
Pages: 320

Buy links:
Amazon
Kindle
Nook
Google
iPad

Kenny Luck's  Bio:Kenny Luck is a graduate student at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Political Science from the same institution. He writes for The Weekender – an arts and entertainment weekly – and The Independent. He is currently working on his second book. He enjoys recording music, book browsing and travel. 


Visit Kenny on Facebook

Jay Luke's Bio:
Jay Luke is a musician and artist from Throop, Pa. A graduate from Marywood University, Jay is very active in all things art, whether it be through painting, performing with his band, or through his day job as a graphic designer. As a project engineer of the Olyphant Coal Miner Memorial Association, he has delved deeply into the origins of the area and the forgotten histories of the towns around him.

Passionate about not letting future generations forget their local origins, he took on this project to reconnect readers to the past. As writer and poet Wendell Berry once said, “The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.”

Visit Jay:  Facebook | Twitter

Ren Adams Bio:
Ren Adams is a professional artist and writer currently living in Albuquerque, N.M. The bulk of her work is done with traditional Chinese brush painting techniques, a centuries-old practice of using ground charcoal and water to create delicate worlds on paper. An ideal brush painting captures the spirit, or “Qi,” of the subject, not just what it looks like. Ren also teaches art & Eastern philosophy courses through the University of New Mexico Continuing Education department. She has been painting and sketching for over 20 years and is a southern California native. 

Visit Ren:  Facebook | Twitter

Visit Tribute Books:  Website | Facebook | Twitter


Giveaway Guidelines:

• For this giveaway, I am trying out Rafflecopter for the first time.  If you've never filled out a Rafflecopter form before, you can check out this quick tutorial:  http://blog.rafflecopter.com/2011/07/how-to-enter-rafflecopter-giveaways/  If the form happens to not be working, please let me know in the comments and complete your entries there.
• You do not have to be a follower, but if you do follow you get five extra entries.  You must complete the first part of the form (leave a blog comment) in order for the other entries to work. 
• If the form will not let you add your daily tweet, please fill out the main entry again with “DO NOT COUNT”  in the Extra Info box. It will then let you complete the daily tweet.
• This giveaway will have six winners.  The first place winner will receive the gift certificate.  The subsequent winners will have their choice of one of the five eBooks.
• Giveaway ends on August 31, 2011

HAPPY SEPTEMBER: NEWS AND BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Happy September everyone! We only have a couple more weeks until the first day of Fall.  I just wish the Tennessee weather would cooperate.  I can't wait for the cool, crisp Autumn days, especially after the sweltering summer we had!

I have some news and then I will announce the giveaway winners.  Patience, patience! =O)

My create-a-button contest entry for Brizmus Blogs Books' Japanese Friday, or Nihon no Kinyoubi, is currently tied for FIRST PLACE! Thanks to all who have voted for me so far.  Voting is open until Sunday, 9/5, so if you haven't already, please go here and vote in the poll on Brizmus's left sidebar.  Mine is #7.  Thanks...and wish me luck!

My weekly book chat on Twitter, TuesBookTalk, is still going strong.  I needed an easier way to get in touch with all the members so I created a group on Goodreads.  You can go here to visit (or join) or access it from the widget in the left sidebar.  We are going to start discussing Labyrinth by Kate Mosse on this Tuesday, 9/7...that is, if everyone can get the book.  If not, we will postpone by a week.  Our first discussion will be on Chapters 1-10.  Tuesday chat time is 10:30pm ET.  Coming up in October, we will be having Halloween Horror Month.  There is a poll up at the group so we can vote on our reading selection for that event.  Who doesn't love a spooky read during Halloween?!  I hope you will think about joining us, Dear readers.  If you can't make the Tuesday night chat, you can go to the group and post your thoughts in the discussion thread there.  Hope to see you!

I will have the sign up post and read-a-thon info up later today for my Fall Catch-Up Read-A-Thon.  I hope you will join us.  It will be a fun week! Also, Banned Books Week starts that Saturday of my read-a-thon so I will have daily posts up starting Saturday and throughout the week in honor of it.  Banned Books Week is September 25-October 2, 2010!                            

FIRST BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!!

First Place....Brooke--3 books

Second Place....JennJ--2 books

Third Place....Juju--1 book

(winners were chosen by random.org)

Brooke gets to choose first...3 books from the following:

Cardboard--Fiona Place

The Silent Governess--Julie Klassen

Fragile--Chris Katsaropoulos

Winter's End--Jean-Claude Mourlevat

206 Bones--Kathy Reichs

Hush--Kate White

Once Brooke picks her 3, I will email JennJ with the remaining choices, of which she gets to choose 2.  Then, Juju will get the book that is left.  Brooke, if you are seeing this post, you can go ahead and email me your 3 choices at truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom (don't worry...I'm still emailing you!)  Each winner will have 48 hours to get back to me with their choices from the time I send out their email.  Congrats!

Thanks for reading about all my news and thank you to everyone who wished me a happy blogoversary and entered the contest.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

ONE YEAR BLOGOVERSARY...OR IS IT BLOGIVERSARY? OH WELL...!!!

I'm late for everything else so why not my own blogoversary!

It was one year ago today that I started this blog! I met Ryan (Wordsmithonia) on Twitter and thanks to him (thank you Ryan!), I was introduced to the wonderful world of book blogging.  I had been unofficially blogging about books over on MySpace, but I had no idea that there existed this awesome community.  So glad I found out!

Some notable events in my first year of book blogging:

• My first book review:  The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy--Maya Slater
• The first of a week long event of posts for Banned Books Week started here
• Participated in my first read-a-thon:  Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon
• Hosted my first reading challenge, the Christmas Reading challenge
• Introduced my reading challenge, The Michener Challenge
• Created a challenge blog to keep track of all my reading challenges.
• Introduced my year-round Christmas blog, The Christmas Spirit.
• My first author interview with Frank Beddor, author of the Looking Glass Wars trilogy.
• My first participation in Ryan's (Wordsmithonia) Favorite Fictional Character meme--Jo March from Little Women (I have not done this one in awhile, but will be picking back up soon).
• My top ten of books read in 2009.
• Introduced my new feature, Addicted to the Past, with a post about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (Another feature I've neglected which I will pick back up with soon).
• Took over the 101 Fantasy Reading Challenge from Bella at A Bibliophile's Bookshelf (who is now A Girl Reads a Book)
• Started a new weekly meme, Cat Thursday.
• Participated in Armchair BEA--here is my post about being true to myself in blogging.
• Put in my nominations for my blog in the Best Eclectic and Best Written blog for BBAW this year.  I did not make the long list, but it was an interesting experience and I look forward to this year's festivities.
• Introduced a new historical fiction blog, a joint venture with Marie from The Burton Review, the Historical Fiction Connection.

This has been such a wonderful first year of blogging! I love the book blogging community.  My fellow bloggers are some of the best people I have ever met! I also appreciate my followers so much (I passed 200 recently by the way...thank you!) for taking the time to stop by and for leaving such awesome comments.  A book blog is not only a deeply personal experience, but a huge social one as well.  I hope to be blogging for many years to come. =O)

And now, in honor of my blogoversary and my 200+ followers, I am hosting a giveaway!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

• Giveaway is open to USA only (I'm so sorry International followers, but my family is still in a bad financial rut!)
• This is a 6 book giveaway of gently used books and/or ARCs I have read and reviewed on this blog. 
• There will be 3 winners--1st place winner will win their choice of 3 books, 2nd place winner will win their choice of  2 books from the remaining three and 3rd place winner will win the 1 remaining book.
• You must leave a comment with your email address.
• You do not have to be a follower, but followers will get +1 bonus entry.
• Get another +1 bonus entry if you share on Twitter, Facebook OR your blog (sidebar is fine).  (Only one bonus entry will be given)
• This giveaway will end on August 31, 2010 @ 11:59 pm.  I will draw the 1st place winner on September 1st and notify the winner so they can make their choices.  Then I will go on to the 2nd place winner and third place winners in the same manner.  I will announce the winners here on September 1st.

THE GOODIES:

(Click the book title to read my review)

ARC of Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

ARC of 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs

Fragile by Chris Katsaropoulos

ARC of The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen

Cardboard by Fiona Place

Hush by Kate White

Good luck! I would like to thank you again for being my followers (or if you're just stopping by for the first time) and celebrating my blog's 1st birthday!