Maw Books

Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

Want to know what I’ve been doing for the last two hours when I should be sleeping instead? Organizing all of the comments for my 100 posts giveaway!

Seriously, if you are hurting for comments on your blog, I think I’ve found the magic formula! When I decided that I would give away two books to ten different people, I thought that would mean that most everybody who left a comment would probably win. I mean ten people? That’s about how many people I thought would leave a comment. Guess how many different people have left comments in the last week and a half? NINETY-FIVE! Today logged into my email to find I had 78 new comments. I kid you not, I am so deliriously happy with how successful this giveaway is that I can hardly contain myself! I am rolling around on the floor, giddy with excitement. So thank you, thank you!

So I just wanted to remind everybody that this contest closes at midnight (MST) on April 30th. THREE DAYS LEFT! Everything you need to know on how to enter is here and the list of books I’m giving away is here. I thought I would also mention that the person with the most entries, has 94, with 34 being a distant second! Crazy, yes! Most have have an average of 1-5 entries with a range of numbers beyond that. So don’t be shy!

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If you are part of the blogging community and have a blog, you may want to check out Weekly Geeks from Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf who has created a weekly blogging challenge.

This is how it works:

Every week there’ll be a different theme. One week might be “catch up on your library books” week and the next might be “redecorate your blog week” or “organize your challenges” week or “catch up on your reviews” week. It’ll be fairly bookblogcentric, but not exclusively.

2. Everyone who joins agrees that they will try to check each week to see what the theme is, although they DO NOT have to participate each week, only when they feel like it.

3. Everyone who joins is welcome (encouraged, begged!) to send me ideas for weekly themes via email, comments, whatever. The more ideas, the better.

4. Weekly theme posted each Saturday, but you can check in any time it’s convenient to find out what the theme is.

5. If you post about your progress with that week’s theme in your blog (whether you were wildly successful or didn’t get around to any of it) then you can come back and leave a link to that post in the comments for that theme.

6. The next week, when I announce the new theme, I will also post a mini-carnival-like blurb, with links to everyone’s progress posts. Either way, you’ll have a link to your blog every week you participate, which will hopefully help other participants find their way to your posts.

This week’s theme is up and it’s to discover at least five new blogs, particularly the ones who are participating in Weekly Geeks.

Now anybody who’s been reading my blog knows how many blogs I have in my Google Reader. As of right now, I have 479 blogs, mostly all book blogs. The most common question I get is how do I manage to read that many blogs?! Well, to tell you the truth I do have a folder where I place all the blogs that leave a comment here, that way they don’t get lost in the crowd. Organization by folders is the way to go.

But why that many? Well, this is my bit of shameless promotion – I have created a database of Book Bloggers Book Reviews. I’ve been collecting links to book reviews from all over the blogosphere. So while I have been to many of these blogs, most don’t know me from Adam. I do try to leave comments when I see something that interests me, but I simply don’t have the time to comment on all of them. If you haven’t been to the database, I recommend that you check it out. It’s fairly new and I’m always adding new authors and books, so check back often or let me know who you’d like to see added.

Anyways, back to Weekly Geeks. Here are some blogs that I found and hope to get to know better.

Liz at First the Food. This is a new to me blog. She blogged live while reading Sense and Sensibility. That’s cool.

Em at Em’s Bookshelf. I have to admit, I have had this one in my reader for a while now and she’s listed in my book review database, but she probably doesn’t know that (why should she, I’ve just been lurking!) . Em reads mostly YA and as I’ve challenged myself to read at least 52 YA titles this year, I’m hoping to get some great recommendations. So I shall now lurk no more! And she says, she likes her feet. I have to admit that people tell me all the time how cute and small my feet are too. So I’m right there with you! Plus, she likes country music. Double bonus.

Myrthe at The Armenian Odar. Okay, I admit that I just discovered this one a few days ago. I added Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian, about the Armenian genocide to my TBR list after reading her wonderful review.

Aaron from That’s the Book. Aaron has read a lot of books this year that sound really interesting. Plus, he’s read What is the What. Gold star in my book!

To tell you the truth I kinda feel guilty about highlighting new blogs when I want to give a huge shout-out to all the blogs I already frequent! Love ya!!

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And a question – I have at least two individuals who are not getting the follow up emails when they subscribe to comments on my posts. Is this a problem across the board? Are you receiving the emails, not receiving the emails? Help! I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me know.

And another thing – Thanks to everybody who has left so many wonderful comments on my blog, I hope to be able to repay the favor and visit each of your blogs in depth if you have one! As it’s now two in the morning and as I’ve got kiddo’s who don’t let me sleep in, I should hit the sack.

Hey you! Yes. You! I've noticed that you've stopped by to visit a few times! But I don't know who you are. Why don't you take a moment and introduce yourself. Don't be scared. I try not to bite. I know you're a lurker but I'd love to hear your thoughts about what's been bringing you here. And if you haven't done so already, don't forget to never miss a post by subscribing to my feed or receiving updates by email. Thanks for visiting!