Reading progress update: I've listened 416 out of 784 minutes.

 

 

I'm reading (listening) to this book for The Dead Will Walk space. I'm really enjoying it. Several people recommended it, but I kept putting off reading it.

Thank you Halloween Bingo!

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1610266/reading-progress-update-i-ve-listened-416-out-of-784-minutes

Bingo Call: 10/23

Reblogged from: Moonlight Reader

 

The dead will walk: basically, zombies

 

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1610263/bingo-call-10-23

This One Summer

Review:

 

Rose and Windy have been coming to the same beach every summer for years. Rose is a bit older and is starting to change into a young woman while Windy is still a girl. They have a sisterly relationship and enjoy their summers together. Rose is experiencing family strife and trying to figure out who she is as a young woman. Windy is still happy-go-lucky. 

 

This graphic novel is based in summer fun, but there are a lot of serious issues going on here. Rose's parents are dealing with infertility and loss. The young man who works at the local store may have gotten his girlfriend pregnant. The older kids curse and talk about sex. This is not a story for younger readers. I think the appropriate age depends on your individual beliefs, but I would say high school.

 

I found the hyperness of Windy a bit irritating and I didn't love the book. But I can see that it is well-written and will appeal to many teens and young adults. I read this book for my Young Adult literature class. :)

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1608696/this-one-summer

Andromeda Strain - audiobook

Review:

 

 

Wow. What can I say about this book? It was soooo boring. So much scientific jargon, military times and reports, stuff that I think I could have glossed over if I was doing the reading. But, listening to the audiobook, the narrator reads every word and I can't really skip over them. I will admit I lost focus from time to time. I really tried, but I just couldn't do it.

 

I've seen many positive reviews about this book and I purchased it on sale. I was really looking forward to a creepy, deadly, alien organism invasion story. In the end, I'm not really sure how the story ended. It was sort of a letdown. I am planning to watch the movie and see if taking all the superfluous stuff out helps.

 

Anyway, it was fairly short and I was anxious to finish it, so there's that. I read this for the Aliens square because the organism was alien in origin (at least I think it was).

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1608693/andromeda-strain-audiobook

BookLikes How to: book search tips

Reblogged from: BookLikes

 

Searching books isn't always a piece of cake, especially with a never-ending virtual bookshelf and a catalog with multiple editions. Jenn, to the rescue with some handy tips for all BookLikers! 

 

-- A guest post by Jenn, Murder by Death

 

The first and best way to find a title in the book database is to search by ISBN (or ASIN).  There are a couple of benefits to using ISBN for searching:  it will find the edition you have in your hand, and if it isn’t in the database, searching by ISBN/ASIN will kick off an import of the book, saving you all the work of having to either add it yourself, or asking a librarian to add it for you.

 

(Tip:  If you search by ISBN and multiple entries of the same title come up, let a librarian know by filing a book report.  That way they can merge the multiple records into one correct edition.)

 

Sometimes you don’t have the ISBN/ASIN handy, or the book is too old to have one.  Then it’s helpful to know a few tips about how to get the most out of BookLikes search.

 

Note: there are two search fields covered in today’s tips:  the BookLikes database, which is the field at the top right corner of the BookLikes pages, and the search field on your shelf page, which only searches the books you’ve shelved and has a different set of rules.

 

 

Searching the BookLikes book database

 

Generally, searching by title is very straightforward, especially for unusual titles, like The Maul and the Pear Tree, but the infinite variety of titles guarantees that some will work better than others without having to tweak how you search. 

 

Partial titles work. If they’re unusual enough.  So using The Maul and the Pear Tree, I can get away with searching The Maul and, although just searching The Maul is not enough: 

 

 

 

Articles A / An / The are optional:  UNLESS it’s a really common title.  So while The Wychford Poisoning Case and Wychford Poisoning Case will both return the book I’m looking for, if I try to search for A Shock to the System by Simon Brett, I’m better off including that A. 

 

 

 

 

Special characters:  The book database search is pretty forgiving overall (see note below) when it comes to &, apostrophes, commas, non-english alpha characters etc.  So searching for Mr. Pottermack’s Oversight will work as well as Mr Pottermacks Oversight, although the number of results returned might vary.    

 

 

 

Likewise, searching Jo Nesbø will return results for Jo Nesbo and vice versa.

 

(Note: there are some exceptions for non-english characters; when in doubt, try both.  This also holds true for the ampersand [&]; while I generally find it is interchangeable with ‘and’ there have been exceptions, so it’s always good to try both.)

 

 

When you’re getting too many results and none of them are the book you’re looking for.

 

Let’s say I’m looking for Ten by Gretchen McNeil. This is like searching ‘cats’ on google.  It’s too common a word and I’m going to get results that look like this:

 

 

 

Of course searching Ten Gretchen McNeil works, but generally the less typing, the better.  With that in mind, I tweak the search so that it says Ten Gretchen. Now I get:

 

 

Ten McNeil also works, but gives us two results. It’s always better to use the least common words when you have the choice to do so.  So if you’re trying to find a title that’s likely to return a lot of results, using part or all of the author’s name too will find your book faster.

 

 

Omnibuses are omnipresent

Because the BL database searches for all records that match the words you searched for, omnibus editions, if they exist, will appear in the results.  So searching for Murder on the Orient Express will return the single title edition as well as any omnibuses that include it as part of the title.   Most of the time the single edition title will appear at the top, but sometimes the omnibuses will overtake them and you’ll have to do a bit of scrolling.

 

 

PLEASE NOTE:  At the time of this writing, books that have been published under different titles in different countries and tied/combined together in the system can only be found by one of the titles (the ‘main’ one).  For example, Agatha Christie’s book Lord Edgware Dies was published in the US as Thirteen at Dinner.  As it’s the same book, they’re combined under Lord Edgware Dies.  This means that, at present, a search for Thirteen at Dinner only turns up omnibuses that contain that story.  This is a bug and it has been reported to BookLikes.  In the meantime, if you can’t find your book and you know of an alternate title, try searching by that title.

 

 

 

Searching your shelves

 

The search function for your shelves (the field that sits atop your shelves instead of at the top right of the page) is an entirely different beast from the book database search and can be summed up briefly:  This is an EXACT MATCH search function.  If a title has apostrophes, commas or any other special characters and you don’t include them, the search won’t find your books.

 

This means if I’m trying to find The Devil’s Novice by Ellis Peters on my shelves and I type in The Devils Novice (no apostrophe), it’s going to return zero results. 

 

How to get around this:  I either have to include all the punctuation in the title OR just search for a part of the title.  So searching Novice (or novice - it’s not case sensitive) will bring up my shelved book.  Other searches that will work include:  Devil (because it will search partial words), and Ellis Peters although these will return multiple results.

 

Note: you cannot use partial words combined with additional terms:  Devil Ellis or Devil Ellis Peters does NOT work; partial words must be used alone.

 

The best rule of thumb for searching your shelves is, unless you know the EXACT name of the book, stick to a few words of the title: Miss Peregrine instead of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  The shorter the search terms (while still keeping them effective) the smaller the margin of error.

 

Still not finding your book?

1. Is it spelled right? It’s always worth double checking, as BL doesn’t have “did you mean” functionality.  If the book has been published under an alternate title and you know it, try searching by that title instead and then looking under “other editions” on the book page.
2. Search by ISBN/ASIN: if it’s not in the system, it will be by the time the search finishes.
3. If there’s no ISBN/ASIN on the book, try searching by author; sometimes a record will have the wrong language setting, keeping it from appearing in the results.
4. Add the book. If it’s still nowhere to be found, please consider taking the time to add the book to the database so that it will be there when the next reader comes looking.

 

 

Have you had a particularly challenging time trying to find a book?  If so, please share it in the comments below; sometimes a title needs some special love from the librarians (bad imports leaving languages out, etc), or someone else might have a tip to make those searches work better.

 

Happy BookLiking!

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1607240/booklikes-how-to-book-search-tips

Halloween Bingo Card update 5

Now if I could only catch up on my reading, I could have a Bingo. I have so much reading for school lately, I can't keep up. :(

This weekend I may just have to withdrawal from real life to catch up on reading. :)

 

 

Called squares not yet read: Tombstone

Read squares not yet called: BOO!

Squares called & read: Both

 

 

Calls:

9/1      Ghost

9/3      Cozy Mystery (Not on my card)

9/5      In the Dark, Dark Woods

9/7      Genre: Horror

9/9      Locked Room Mystery (Not on my card)

9/11    Murder Most Foul (Not on my card)

9/13   Witches

9/15   Werewolves

9/17   Modern Masters of Horror

9/19   Terrifying Women

9/21   Diverse Voices

9/23   Haunted Houses

9/25  Serial/Spree Killer

9/27  Terror in a Small Town

9/29  Aliens

10/1  Darkest London

10/3  Gothic

10/5  80's Horror

10/7  Classic Noir (Not on my card)

10/9  Chilling Children

10/11 Magical Realism

 

 

Books read:

Free Space (Creepy Raven): Castle Hangnail

Ghost: Heart-Shaped Box

Genre: Horror: Bird Box

In the Dark, Dark Woods: Suicide Forest

Witches: Forsaken

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1607089/halloween-bingo-card-update-5

Vanishing Coin

Review:

 

I finished reading this to the students today. When I asked if they liked the book, 15 out of the 18 said yes. Their favorite part overall was the magic tricks. They liked when Mike performed the tricks, but they also liked that the book contained instructions for them to learn the tricks too. Next week we are having a magic show, discussing the book, making flyers to help promote the book, and picking our next read.

 

This book is part of a series of books revolving around Mike. He is a smart kid but has difficulty focusing and thinks he isn't good at anything. Then he discovers the White Rabbit and its proprietor, Mr. Zerlin. Mike finds out that he is good at something after all, magic.

 

This book is sure to be a winner with young readers. Many kids love magic and learning magic tricks. Also, many kids will see shades of themselves in this book. Kids often get distracted or have difficulty focusing, and this book allows them to see that it happens to other kids too. It doesn't make them stupid, they just need to find their own kind of magic.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1606849/vanishing-coin

Teal Pumpkin Project '17- Bringing Awareness and Learning about Children w/ food allergies

Reblogged from: Rane Aria

 

 

    This is my fourth year supporting this project that's close to my heart, in four years  (Wow, time sure flies!) I've seen more big stores like HEB and Michaels offer ideas and pre-made teal pumpkins ideas.

 

 It's real simple : provide non-food treats for trick-or-treaters and paint a pumpkin teal to place in front of your home with a free printable sign from FARE, to indicate you have non-food treats on hand.

 

Teal Pumpkin Project

FARE Blog

 

Making Halloween fun and safe for everyone!

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1606759/teal-pumpkin-project-17-bringing-awareness-and-learning-about-children-w-food-allergies

Bingo Call: 10/7

Reblogged from: Moonlight Reader

 

Classic noir: A subgenre of mystery that includes authors such as Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, Raymond Chandler and Cornell Woolrich. Anything that also qualifies as "hard-boiled" will work for this square.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1605935/bingo-call-10-7

Shadows of Sherwood

Review:

 

The sing on the fence said BEWARE OF DOGS.

- first sentence

 

Robyn was the sort of girl who knew not only how many teeth a bulldog had, but also exactly what to do to get a bulldog on her good side.

Chapter 2

 

Robyn had always been the sort of girl who enjoyed breaking the rules. She was almost never where she was supposed to be.

- Chapter 4

 

When Robyn's parents are taken, she is thrust into a world she didn't even know existed. People are suffering and the government is corrupt. Robyn tries to find ways to help people and to thwart the government when she can. She is a strong girl and yet terrified of what happened to her parents. She finds friends, learns how to trust people, and tries to make a difference.

 

This a reimagining of the legend of Robin Hood. Robyn lives in Nott City in her home, Loxley Manor. The counties that surround her home are Sherwood, Nottingham, Excelsior, and Block Six. Robyn and her friends form a band that steals medicine and food from the government and distributes it to the poor.

 

The story is fun, imaginative, and full of adventure. Even though Robyn is strong-willed and independent, she also has doubts about herself and the wisdom of what she is doing.  This a great book for middle readers. I am definitely going to read the sequels. :)

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1605794/shadows-of-sherwood

Reading progress update: I've read 100 out of 142 pages.

 

So, I started an after-school "book club" at the library where I volunteer. Our school has a requirement that 4th and 5th-grade students read three Sunshine State nominated books before March. Some students are reluctant readers and some have difficulties with reading. To assist these students, our club meets once a week and I read the book out loud to the students. The first book we chose was Vanishing Coin. 

 

There are 18 students participating. We met twice so far and should be able to finish this book next week. It's a fun book and the students enjoy trying out the magic tricks. :)

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1605792/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-100-out-of-142-pages

Randoms

Review:

 

This is a book written for science fiction fans, in more ways than one.

 

Zeke (the mc) is selected, along with three of Earth's most talented young people, by the Confederation of United Planets to live on their space station for a year. When the Confederation evaluates a species, they always choose four, including one Random. Zeke is Earth's Random.

 

During the journey to the station, the ship is attacked. Zeke manages to destroy the attacking vessel, saving the lives of every being on their ship. But, instead of being hailed as a hero, Zeke is treated as a war criminal by almost everyone. And he is rejected by his own group, including their chaperone, a representative of the state department. Zeke gets together with the alien Randoms, who were also rejected by their own species, and they form a loyal bond.

 

This book is filled with science fiction references that will delight fans: Captain Kirk, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Ender's Game to name a few. Zeke is a sci-fi superfan and he enjoys making connections between his current situation and various shows, movies, and books. 

 

This a great book for middle grade. Zeke faces issues of fitting in, making friends, and having feelings for an alien girl. There are also conspiracies, friendship issues, hidden secrets, and politics. For example, some influential people in the confederation are more interested in saving face than in saving lives. There are a few twists I didn't see coming and a big one that I sort of did, but it's all fun.

 

I enjoyed this one and there are two sequels that I hope to get around to eventually. 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1605788/randoms

Bingo Call: 10/5/17

Reblogged from: Obsidian Blue

Bingo Call:

 

 

80's horror: any horror published between 1980 and 1989, or which is set in that time period.

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1605554/bingo-call-10-5-17

Share your favorite quote: 50 most powerful quotes from literature

Reblogged from: Obsidian Blue

 

Thanks to quotes readers can peek into the book just like through the keyhole. Quotes are wise, touching, inspirational, they are also powerful. A quote may become a motto, a leader's pitch, a brand. Let's appreciate the words by sharing your favorite quotes.

 

If you're curious how to find quotes on your BookLikes Dashboard, make sure you choose one of the Dashboard view on the right. Choose "Quote" view and your Dash will presents quote posts from blogs you follow.

 

 

If you enjoy sharing quotes, use the Quote post -- then your writing will be published within a special quote template.

 

 

You can also add a blockquote in your text. Simply mark the words and click the quotation mark on the top border of the editor box and the quote will receive a central placing in your writing. You can switch on/off the blockquote option for the paragraph any time

 

Your Quotes

 

If you follow BookLikes blog you've noticed the Friday Follow Friday with book bloggers interviews where readers are asked to share their favorite quotes. If you've missed the reading, click here to catch up.

 

Charles William Eliot's quote picked by Jennifer's Books

 

Neil Gaiman quote picked by Momma Says to Read

 

Quote from Coraline - Neil Gaiman  picked by Silence in the library

 

Quote fromBlue Lightning by Ann Cleeves  published on Obsession with words blog.

 

C.S. Lewis' quote published on Obsidian Blue blog

 

 

The following graphics presents 50 Most Powerful Quotes From Literature prepared by Essay Writing. And what are your top book quotes?

 

Source: essaywritingserviceuk.co.uk/blog/50-most-powerful-quotes-literature

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1605552/share-your-favorite-quote-50-most-powerful-quotes-from-literature