Reviews:
The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau
The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
Mandatory Release by Jess Riley
Read:
I read a lot this week. It was too bleeping hot to do anything else!
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Tampa by Alissa Nutting
The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell by William Klaber
Zinsky the Obscure by Ilan Mochari
Currently Reading:
Here We Are & There We Go by Jill Dobbe
Upcoming:
Pilgrim’s Wilderness by Tom Kizzia
Bloggish/Bookish Business:
The Summer Mini-Bloggiesta was this weekend. While I didn’t officially participate I did check out a few of the challenges:
Thanks to Monika’s Challenge I finally figured out how to actually use the domain name I purchased almost a year ago. I’m feeling all legit now. No more blogspot in my name, yahoo!
Tanya posted a great article about leaving engaging and valuable comments. <~~Wonderful tips, check it out!
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| Isn’t this fantastic?? |
Can I quickly say that I HATE CAPTCHA? I spend as much time typing in those ridiculous things as I do commenting. There are other options that don’t require your readers to jump through hoops. (Don’t allow anonymous comments, boom!)
I’m going to host an ASS KICKING giveaway soon. You won’t want to miss it. If I were you? I’d totally follow The Relentless Reader by clicking on the following icon:
Did you have a great week? Read something amazing? Tell me about it!
The Relentless Reader 
I realized the same thing about flying through my books this week when I noticed I had FOUR books I had to write reviews for this weekend. Pilgrim's Wilderness! Get ready to have the heebees! I loveeee the comment vomit badge more than I can say.
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Thanks for the tip about leaving engaging comments. I am going to check that out as well as your reviews. Have a great week!
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All I could do this week was read. It was too hot to do much more than breathe 😉 I can't wait to get to Pilgrim!! Thanks for the rec 🙂
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It's a great article, I hope you like it 🙂 Thanks Pat!
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Love the gif. Hate hate hate captchas. Ugh, like whyyyyyy? And they totally prevent commenting. Unless I LOVE your blog, I totally unfollow most blogs with captcha because it just adds an annoyance to me commenting. Don't you WANT my comments? And you know, I'm jealous jealous jealous of you getting Tampa. It's like the only book on my mind at the moment, I am dying to read it!
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Blogger's commenting system is LAME enough without Captcha! They add a lot of time and annoyance to something that should be easy and breezy. Let's go on a mission to stop people from using it!! :DI really hope that Ecco sends you a copy darn it!!
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It was sooo hot here this past week, too. I'm not a fan of Captcha either. It used to not bother me all that much, but now I have to agree with those who urge users to get rid of the darn thing.
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It finally cooled down and I am SO GLAD! When I first started blogging Captcha didn't bother me nearly as much as it does now 😉 It's probably because I follow so many blogs now? I LIKE to comment and interact with people and Captcha makes that difficult. Boo.
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I'm finishing up my Sunday Salon post and was stunned to see how much I read. It's definitely because of the heat, absolutely. July is usually one of my best reading months for that reason. Same here with the dislike for Captcha. I also feel that way with Disqus. I find that cumbersome, and so I find myself not commenting on blogs that have that. Which is a shame. If they have a FB page, I'll sometimes meander over there, but it's definitely a hinderance.
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Another thing I don't like is not being able to post my own name and link instead of Google profile, so other people have to search for my blog. 🙂 Hint, hint, hint. I have a WordPress.ORG blog and isn't covered by your commenting options. BUT like Melissa, I sometimes comment elsewhere: Facebook, Twitter…if I have to and I care to take the time.
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I hear you 🙂 All I did was read and nap. I didn't accomplish much but oh well! :DI'm ok with disqus. It's not my favorite but anything other than a captcha comment system makes me happy!
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I know Bryan! I know!! 🙂 I wish that Blogger had a better option! Their commenting system is ultra-lame. I've been thinking about making a switch to WP for that very reason. Maybe one of these days.
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Bring on the ass kicking! Giveaway, that is. Congrats on figuring out your domain biz! I need to get on that myself.
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It's gonna be a good one, yahoo! I'm so happy to have figured it out. I bought the name so long ago and then didn't know WHAT to do, lol.
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Thanks for sharing my commenting post and spreading the word on \”comment vomit\” and banning Captcha. Glad you had a great reading week. mine has been slooowww and I gotta see how Devil in the White City ends. Hope you enjoy your current read, I got it too and need to get to it!!
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Oh Owen. I can't wait to read your review, I know it is going to be amazing, you are such a skilled and talented reviewer. 🙂
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Thanks for the review of Light in the Ruins, been hearing a lot about that one. Sounds very good. And the comment article was great, thanks for that link. And yes down with CAPTCHA!
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It seems like fewer and fewer bloggers use Captcha so when I hit on one it seems even more annoying than before. Will check out the article you mention!
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I need some of your reading and reviewing mojo! You read a lot! How hot is it out there? It's currently in the 60s here (luv).
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You had a kickass reading week! It's been way hot here too, but my response has been to watch tv and eat ice cream 🙂 I think I'm going to start Pilgrim's Wilderness this week too.
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I agree. My personal blog is Blogger and my book blog is WordPress, and the longer I'm on WordPress, the more annoyed I get with Blogger. Not that WordPress is perfect, but I think if I were to list everything that bugs me about either platform, Blogger's comments would be at the top of the list.
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Absolutely Tanya~ I seriously loved that post! I hope you end up liking Devil in the White City, I was fascinated by that book 🙂
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Thank you!! It's written and scheduled for this week 🙂 Prepare for a GUSH-FEST!
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You're welcome Greg 🙂 Captcha is PURE EVIL and I WILL STAND FOR IT NO LONGER! Ha ha! Seriously though, I want to rid the world of it!
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I think I'm going to make it my mission to let bloggers know when they are using it. I don't think people even know that they have it enabled on their blogs!
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The heat is totally what did it to me this week. All I could do was read and sweat 😉 It was in the 90's and super humid..gag. It cooled down today, thank goodness!
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LOL!! TV and ice cream sound great too!! I started Pilgrim this afternoon. I'm 30% in or so and really liking it so far. Hope you do too!
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I'm reading Tampa right now. There is a dark and twisted side of me that is really enjoying it. I really want to get my hands on a copy of The Silent Wife. I tried and my not-so-local B&N didn't have a copy (of all the horrors). Welcome to the world of no blogspot.com. Isn't it a great feeling to see that up there? Captcha doesn't bother me as much as it does others, perhaps because almost everyone I follow and for whom I leave comments doesn't use it. I really dislike Captcha when it comes to blogging events like the readathon or Armchair BEA. Just turn it off for a few days, people!!
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Wow, you had a great week of reading!! I'm impressed. Captcha is a pain. Sometimes I just can't figure out what the letters are and give up.
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Tampa..whew. I honestly don't know if I'll be able to review it. The story is still spinning through my mind though!I feel like a REAL blogger now, lol.I've run into a ton of Captchas lately which is probably why I'm up in arms over it. A lot of people don't know they have it or don't realize that there are other options to stop spam comments. I WILL INFORM THEM ALL! Lol 😉
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Thanks 😀 Even though I HATED the hot weather it sure did boost my weekly reading time. Isn't it though?? I hear you. If I have to refresh it half a dozen times just to make out the letters? I'm outta there.
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I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about the Jill Dobbe book! Yay on the domain!!!
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Here in the Netherlands it is also very hot (over 30 degrees centigrade) and I am also reading quite a lot! I am looking forward to your review on Owen Meany (you haven't posted it yet, have you? I did not miss it?)Have a great (although warm) week & kind regards,
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I HATE CAPCHA. Unless I absolutely adore you, I will probably just skip commenting on your blog even if I read it. And of course, most of the blogs that I adore don't have Capcha, which is WHY I adore them 😉
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I can't thank you enough for the help on that!!! 😀
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When it's that hot there's not much more to do is there? 😉 I posted my Owen review early this morning, you didn't miss it!I hope you have a great week too Bettina!
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Yes, yes and yes, lol. I'm starting to gently inform people if they are using it. I think a lot of folks are unaware because it's the default setting on Blogger!
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I had the exact opposite reading problem: I read almost nothing last week. I dislike CAPCHA greatly, unless it has funny words.
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Oh noes! I hope you're able to get in some serious reading time this week! Captcha, ugh. 😉 I'm going to do my part to make it disappear!
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Ugh, Captcha. I think that most of the bloggers these days don't realize that it's on and never think to check it. During readathons I literally beg everyone on Twitter to double-check their comment settings, just in case.And I love that comment vomit image, that is too cute! Hope you're staying cool 🙂 (Although maybe not, because you are a reading machine in the heat!!)
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I think you're right about that! It's the default setting (DUMB) so I think a lot of folks are unaware that they are using it. Whenever I run into it now I gently tell people that it's a pain in the ass, ha ha. It finally cooled down here yesterday. I was SO THANKFUL!
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Argh, captcha, yes. Every now and then I'll have a patient day, but if I can't get it right the first time (especially when you know you typed in what you can see) I leave. I've only so much time to comment. I've read a lot this week, too, due to the weather, and as much as I'd like to say I haven't commented much because of my holiday, it was just as much to do with the heat. Can't complain though, here at least it's about time!
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That's a lot of reading! I'm envious; I didn't get nearly that much done. Though I suppose I got some other things done, so I shouldn't complain. Good for you for putting your domain name to use! I bought one about 4 months ago, and I still haven't figured out how use it. Unfortunately, I bought it through another service (GoDaddy), so I'm not sure I can get it to work with a blog that is still hosted on Blogger. Have a great week, and enjoy your new books!
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I detest the word verification thingie. I'm always getting it wrong too, and I hate how it does the double-loading thing too: you hit publish, it reloads, and I think I'm done but I check anyway, scroll back down and BOOM there it is! Verify you're not spam, then hit publish AGAIN! Drives me bonkas. I dislike Blogger's comment set-up overall, though it's good to see people changing their settings these days so it's more user-friendly (what I'd like to see next is a way to know that someone has replied to your comment so you can go back and continue the conversation – as it is I always forget where I've been etc. so often don't even see someone's reply).You really know how to get me ranting Jennifer! 😉 I have a friend who blogs at Hello From Tassie and she didn't even know hers was on, and she doesn't know how to turn it off – and I can't advise her as I've never used Blogger. (and she's got baby #2 now so it's not a high priority)You got so much reading done, I'm very impressed! It was painfully hot here last week too, but humidity slows me down big time.
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Meaningful comments are lovely, but I don't mind \”quickies\” either. If someone takes the time to say \”hey,\” I'm thrilled!!! I have to say that I *love, love, love* the comment system on the free WordPress blogs. Quite an improvement over Blogger's.P.S. I'm intrigued by Pilgrim's Wilderness. I have a thing for Alaska.
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The worst is during a readathon or some other event. That captcha slows you down like molasses in January!Heat is disgusting, it makes me feel like a total slug!
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The heat did it for me. When it's in the high 90's I don't want to do ANYTHING else 😉 That's where I bought my domain as well. It wasn't fun but after a lot of googling and searching through GoDaddy's help section I got it figured out. You can do it, it's just kinda a pain in the butt, lol.Thanks Lark, same to you!
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Bloggers comment system is lame. I really wish they'd change it. It doesn't work well for bloggers who are on WordPress from what I hear 😦 I wanted to ask you a question here and give you some advice for your friend but I'm guessing you won't see it, LOL. Damn.
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I love me some comments, no matter what they are. Well, unless they are spam or just HEY I FOLLOWED YOU WILL YOU FOLLOW ME? 😉 I finished Pilgrim's Wilderness this evening, it was so good!! SO good.
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I'm here, I remembered!! By all means give me some simple steps I can pass on to her, I think she'd appreciate it (she's pretty new to blogging in general and I don't think she has much interest in learning the nitty-gritty of using the internet – not that I could help much on that anyway, I didn't know what I was doing when I set up mine and I still don't!). I know I would appreciate not having to use Captcha every time!I've always thought WordPress is easy for Blogspot-users to leave comments on – would you say so? I mean it seems simple to me, you just type in your name and email, and you can tick the box to get notifications of replies… A lot of blogspot blogs, I had to create a Google account just so I could leave comments (hmm actually yours is like that – I don't have the option of going by my url. But at least I don't have to run through hoops!).
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