Thursday, November 4, 2010

Blog Hops

It's time for the weekly book blogger hops again! A great opportunity to meet new bloggers and say hi to old.

Check out the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Crazy For Books.


I'm Alison. I've been blogging for five months. I review mainly YA with a few MG books and a weekly manga feature.

New Feature: What Books?

I've decided to start a new feature called "What Books?" I have so many book memories from my childhood. Different books touched me in different ways and had came to me at important times. I plan on running this feature from time to time - maybe twice a month? - and feature books that I love(d) for different reasons.

Some topics I've thought of:
1. The first book that really turned you into a reader
2. Books you didn't like at first but now love
3. Favorite books you read in high school English
4. Favorite series from elementary school

Check out my first post: What Books? Favorite Ghost/Scary Stories

Books Reviewed This Week:

Fruits Basket vol. 10 by Natsuki Takaya
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Questions of the Week:

Blog Hop: What are your feelings on losing followers? Have you ever stopped following a blog? Naturally, I'd prefer only to gain and not to lose any followers. But attrition is natural. People like blogs for different reasons, like different kinds of books, etc. I would hope that nothing about my blog is so controversial that people would leave it in anger - I do my best to be balanced about everything, including books I don't like.
I have stopped following a blog, but never because I was upset with it. I follow tons of blogs, out of courtesy to those who follow me and because I like lots of different blogs. But if I notice a blog hasn't been updated for awhile, I'll drop it, assuming that it's inactive. Otherwise, I probably won't stop following a blog.

Follow Friday: Who are your favorite authors? That's sort of like asking who are your favorite children - well, not really, but it's hard to choose.

Here are some of the authors who I consistently love (I've excluded authors for whom I've only read one book): Maggie Stiefvater, Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, Ann Rinaldi, Lois Lowry, Richelle Mead, Suzanne Collins, Melina Marchetta, Alley Carter, Jen Calonita, Kami Garcia/Melissa Stohl, Jeff Shaara, Bill Bryson, Joseph Ellis, David McCullough, Orson Scott Card, L.M. Montgomery, Laurie Halse Anderson, Maud Hart Lovelace - I could go on...

And also check out Parajunkee's Follow My Book Blog Friday.

31 comments:

  1. Enjoy the Hop...stop by my blog if you like.

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

    Back for a visit.

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  2. When ever some stops following my blog I wish I could no why but then like you I realize not everyone has the same tastes in reading I do-It take little effort to follow a blog in a reader so I rarely drop a blog once I have started following it-I am now happy to be a follower of your blog

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  3. Happy Friday Alison! Love the idea for your feature, I think it's a fun and different way to get to know you better outside of your reviews:) Have a great weekend!

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  4. It's so true that people read different blogs for different reasons. I think it also sometimes happens that a blog people like won't necessarily speak to them in the same way 3 months from now and it's not because of anything a blogger has/hasn't done.

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  5. Happy (early) Friday! :D I love your thoughts on un-following and following blogs--and your new feature (admittedly I can't remember anything that I read in elementary school asides from Judy Blume).
    Have a great weekend! <3

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  6. Hi, Alison!

    Just hopping by. :) Old follower here.

    have a nice weekend,

    -Len of Musings of a Reader Happy

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  7. Oh, you're right. We DO have a lot of favorite authors in common! :) Ann Rinaldi is one of my favorite MG/YA authors, but I forgot to include her. She writes such great historical fiction!

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  8. Oh I like your idea sounds interesting..

    Just stopping by to say hello!

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  9. Happy HOP! I worry at first when I see someone left because I wonder what I did. It's hard not knowing the reason. Hope you get to enjoy your weekend.
    Come by to see my HOP at The Bookish Snob

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  10. Hallo hallo and happy hopping!

    I'm new follower
    Must say I love your blog
    I also enjoy JK Rowling and Richelle Mead!!!!

    Hop on by and visit me at fantasmagoriese@blogspot.com

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  11. Popping over from the Hop - Long time follower :)

    I never really stop following blogs either.. unless they are inactive like you said :)

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  12. Alison! Thanks for this heads up! I've been stopping by for a while off and on and when I landed here today it was awesome! I never knew these hops existed, so I popped over to each and signed up. Now, I'm hopping too! http://blog.juliealindsey.com/julie-lindsey/book-blogger-friday-blog-hop/
    Thank you!

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  13. Great post this week Alison...

    Check out my answers over at Sparkling Reviews :)

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  14. Thanks for visiting my blog. My husband's (and kids) eyes glaze over when I talk about medicine. I have much better luck when we talk books.
    Susan from Reading World

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  15. Happy hopping, Alison! I love your thoughts on losing followers - so true! I love your blog though, so I'll never unfollow :)

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  16. I like the sound of your new feature. The categories you mention already have me thinking.

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  17. I'm always a little bummed when I lose followers but make every effort to
    turn every lost follower into a learning experience so I can improve my
    performance.

    On the flip side, I only stop following people when they give me a reason to
    such as being totally off message or being too controversial in an negative,
    over-the-top way.

    Happy Book Blogger Hop Friday!

    Howard Sherman
    http://www.howardsherman.net

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  18. Oh, I can't believe I forgot to list Kami Garcia/Margaret Stohl! I'm new to their Beautiful series, and they are amazing - still can't get over how seamless two authors can write and have it turn out THAT brilliant.

    Thanks for hopping by!

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  19. RE: Guy Fawkes Night. I've added a link to an 'official' explanation on my post but if you look at the Post Extra on the top left of my blog I've included a link to the Petty witter version as posted last year. Hope this helps. But to answer your question we have fireworks and traditionally light fires with an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the top.

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  20. Hopping by...new follower. Lois Lowry made my list too! Ugh, love her! Hope you come by and see my answer!

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  21. Dropping by from the Friday Follow to say hi! I'm already a follower. Have a great weekend.

    Jamie @ For The Love of YA

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  22. HOP HOP HOP! Hi Alison! This is my first visit, and I love your idea of "What Books?" I look forward to your feature. I am now a new follower AND I have added you to my blogroll!

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  23. I'm an old follower hopping by to say hello. You mentioned quite a few authors I'm not familiar with. For me, one of the best things about these book blog hops is the wide variety of book reviews where I can discover so many new authors, books, series to love!

    -- Donna
    http://happy-booker.blogspot.com

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  24. Happy Blog Hop Friday!

    Love your site! I'm an old follower!

    I have too many fav authors to name...which is a good thing, I guess. :-D

    Have a great weekend!

    Lisajo85 @ Once Upon A Chapter

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  25. Hi, Just hopping by.
    The questions I hate most - what's your fav book and whats your fv author - I can never answer it - there are too many :)
    Thanks for sharing some of yours

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  26. I'm your newest follower! I can't believe I wasn't already following because I am here all the time, but I must have been clicking through from other posts or something! Thanks for stopping by today!
    You mentioned lots of great authors! It was a hard question for sure---we're book fanatics! Asking us to pick a favorite author is like asking is to pick one food for the rest of our lives LOL.

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  27. Just an old follower! Trying to choose a favourite author is hard but I like your picks :)

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  28. We chose a few of the same authors to list as our favorites. That's always such a hard question to answer. The only thing by Ally Carter I've read is Heist Society. I might have to check out her other books.

    Laura Ashlee

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  29. The Fruits Basket anime is a little different. The episodes are all based on chapters of the manga and they keep to it really well, but they're kind of mixed up and it ends earlier than the manga. I was pretty disappointed with where it ended.

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  30. Hello from the hop! I agree that losing followers is a bit disheartening, but then again not all of my followers actually read my posts.
    I like the idea of your What books? feature. It seems like it would be a great way to talk about those special books that have touched you in some way.
    Have a great weekend! :)

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  31. Just hopping by!! I hope you had a great weekend! I hate to lose followers but sometimes its just a change of heart in the readers mind. It's nothing personal. People sometimes change as well as preferences.

    Carrie
    www.just-one-more-chapter.com

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