BC Bookshelf Update: End of 1st Semester!

BC Bookshelf Updates features my latest bookish and BookCrossing (BC) activities including book trades, RABCKs, book rings/rays, challenges, and all things BookCrossing. Enjoy!

I completed my first semester of grad school!  Plus, we got our grades already and I did really well! YAY!  So it's time to celebrate.  I'm going to catch up on my leisure reading over the next month of freedom before the grind starts up again.  Here's the latest BC updates:

Manga/Graphic Novel Bookbox: I signed up for my first BC bookbox. This box is full of manga and graphic novels shipped to participants across the U.S. (sorry not an international one). Participants take as many as they want, but add the same number back to the box and then send it on it's way to the next person on the list.  Here's the forum link if anyone else is interested in joining.  I received the box in the mail yesterday and I can't believe how many volumes are in it!  It's gonna take a few days to go through and decide what to keep.

Audubon BookCrossers:  The ABXC group meets monthly at the Panera Bread in Audubon, PA and last Sunday was the largest gathering that I've attended there so far.  We had the usual BCers attend, plus Flut3girl home from college and nat4lee visiting.  It was so large, we attracted attention from a number of Panera-goers who asked about what we were doing.  We informed them about BookCrossing and several people even left with books.  What a wonderful thing!  For the first time, I brought books to the meeting and left without any.  That's a good accomplishment for me right now since my bookshelves are overflowing.  I need to release more and bring home less (or at least stuff that I will read and release).

Park House Coffee OBCZ:  Sad news from Ridley Park, PA.  The Park House Coffee (a.k.a. Park House Cafe), which is home to an Official BC Zone, has closed.  The cafe changed ownership multiple times in the last few years, but the OBCZ (run by my pal Bascula) persevered. Park House Coffee was a wonderful place to grab a hot drink and relax. I hope it reopens again.  I'll keep you updated.  A group of BCers met there in November hoping to start a new meetup group, but plans will be postponed until we find another location.

Reading Challenges:  Since I haven't reached my challenge goals yet, I'm going to hold my own little read-a-thon next week.  What else would a bookcrosser want to do on vacation!?!  I'll be away visiting family for the holidays, but will host my own 24 hour read-a-thon on Tuesday or Wednesday.  It'll come down to the wire, but I think I can pull off my "Pages Read Challenge" goal of 15,000 pages. I have about 1,700 pages to go.  I have four books to read for the "Read Ten 1001 Books Challenge."  Not sure if I'll reach that one, but I'd be satisfied with one more completed.  I'm still figuring out my challenge goals for 2011 so stay tuned.

I'll post again next week, until then...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

BC Bookshelf Update: Gotta love free books!

BC Bookshelf Updates features my latest bookish and BookCrossing (BC) activities including book trades, RABCKs, book rings/rays, challenges, and all things BookCrossing.  Enjoy!

Miraculously, I won two book giveaways recently!  This is the first time I've ever won a giveaway hosted by another book blogger...so I'd like to send out a big THANK YOU to Lizzy at Cornucopia of Reviews, where I won a copy of Deception by Lee Nichols. Paranormal YA is awesome and I'm excited to start reading the Haunting Emma series.

 

Then I won Heather's giveaway over at Fire and Ice for a copy of River Secrets by Shannon Hale.  I'm a huge fan of Shannon Hale.  I loved Goose Girl and can't wait to read all the Books of Bayern.  Thanks Heather! Check out Heather's blog for awesome jewelry giveaways. Her Little Red Reads shop on Etsy features adorable bookish inspired items.

In other news, I received three new ARCs in the mail. The King's Mistress by Emma Campion was released on July 6th and it's on the top of my TBR list. Dracula In Love by Karen Essex releases on August 10th, but I have to read Dracula first.  I own a copy and I've read the first 1/3 of it before but got sidetracked for some reason. The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart will also release on August 10th.

Last Sunday, I attended the monthly Audubon BookCrossers meeting at Panera Bread in Audubon, PA. I left the meeting with less books than I brought with me...which was my goal.  So I now have a volume from a new (well, new for me) vampires series and a handful of manga.  I've never read manga before.  My first graphic novel (The Courageous Princess by Rod Espinosa) was awesome so it'll be fun to experiment with manga. 

Hunted: A House of Night Novel by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Crescent Moon, Vol. 1  by Haruko Iida
Tokyo Mew Mew, Vol. 1  by Mia Ikumi & Reiko Yoshida
Kodocha: Sana's Stage. Vol. 1  by Miho Obana
The Prince of Tennis, Vol. 1  by Takeshi Konomi

I should finish reading Pray for Dawn this weekend and try to post the review soon.  Well, that's it for now. Happy Friday!

BC Bookshelf Update: RABCKs, Trades, and ARCs...Oh my!

My BC Bookshelf Updates will feature my latest BookCrossing (BC) activities including book trades, RABCKs, book rings/rays, challenges, and all things BookCrossing.  Enjoy!


I'm so excited...I got a bunch of awesome books over the last few days, including a trade, a RABCK (gotta love rabcks!!!), and my first ARC!

Here's the details:


I traded Holly Black's Tithe for the second book of the Dark Days series, Dayhunter by Jocelynn Drake. I came across the first book (Nightwalker) by chance from my BC pal sherrisue76.  We went to King of Prussia mall in March to wild release books and, after reading the back of the book, I decided to catch the book myself.  I'll post a review for both books later this week. The 4th and 5th books in the series will be released this summer. YAY!
Jocelynn Drake's website and blog!

RABCKs (Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness) are incredible!  Sometimes you get really lucky and an awesome BookCrosser will send you a book from your wishlist.  It's one of those things that makes BookCrossing special...a community of book lovers who grant book wishes (sometimes out of the blue).  It feels great to send and receive RABCKs.

I received a RABCK in the mail last week!
A Series of Unfortunate Events, The End by Lemony Snicket. Thank you for the RABCK OboeChica!  I'm so happy to receive this book!  The series is apart of my permanent collection, at least for now.  In the future, I'll probably organize a book box or giveaway.  I currently have books 1-7 and 13.  This summer I want to read the entire series straight through, filling in the gaps with the help of my local public library.

Last but certainly not least, I received my first Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) in the mail!  I won a copy of The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone from Crown Publishing Group's Read It Forward website.  It was released on April 13th, so it's not technically an ARC since it arrived late...but it's a still a free book.  So thrilled to read and review it.  

The monthly Audubon BookCrossers (ABXC) met on Sunday at the Panera Bread in Audubon, PA (in a shopping center on Trooper Road).  If you're a BookCrosser in the Philly area (or just want to swap books for free), please stop by!  Meetings usually take place on the first Sunday of the month at 3:00pm, but it sometimes changes due to holidays.  Check the ABXC yahoo website for more information.

At Sunday's ABXC meeting, I released four books:
The Lifted Veil by George Eliot
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
100 Best-Loved Poems Edited by Philip Smith
Caribbean by James A. Michener

I took two books home with me:
The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (It's a 2003 Newbery Honor book!  Plus, it was a unregistered book...which means a non-BookCrosser left it on the table with other wild released books)

That's it for now!  I'll post again soon.