Cool New Blog & Site

I’ve just been made aware of a really great blog and site for book lovers that I thought I’d share with you all. It’s called Gone Reading and they sell some really nice products for us book-a-holics while donating… well, they tell it better than I can, so I’ll quote from their site!

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Our Cause

Gone Reading Int’l founder Brad Wirz and his wife Eileen (bottom left) meet READ Global’s team in Kathmandu, Nepal.

 

Dear Fellow Book Lovers:

If you’re like me, you just can’t imagine living in a world without reading. Unfortunately, for almost a billion people today, that’s exactly where they find themselves. There are countless villages, towns and vast regions of this planet where the power of reading has yet to shine its light.

Gone Reading International, LLC was founded to bring the magic effect of reading to places where it doesn’t exist.  We believe that when people have open access to great reading materials, life always changes for the better.  By turning non-readers into book lovers, entire villages, communities and their citizens achieve unprecedented levels of self-sufficiency.

That’s why Gone Reading International uses all year-end profits to fund new reading libraries and other literacy projects in the developing world.  By purchasing our gifts for readers and book lovers, you’re changing the world while treating yourself and the bibliophiles in your life to a great gift.

We’re working with great non-profits such as READ Global and Ethiopia Reads, amazing organizations with proven models, long track records, and dedicated teams on the ground.  Such groups partner with local villages and communities in the most underdeveloped parts of the world to effect real change.  Our goal is to provide significant financial assistance to such organizations, allowing them to achieve greater scale and impact.

We invite you to join the GoneReading family by making a purchase of our gifts for readers, and equally important, sharing our story with the book lovers, bibliophiles and readers in your life!

To follow our story I encourage you to subscribe to The Gone Reading Blog.

Happy Reading!

Bradley S. Wirz
Founder & CEO
Gone Reading International, LLC”

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

 

SVR – New Reviewer

 Woo Hoo! I’m adding my first new reviewer to the blog and thought I’d do a quick interview with her so that you all could get to know Tori a bit. (She says that she doesn’t have a pic of herself to share with us, so this little vampy goth girl will be her avatar on SVR from now on.) 🙂 (I’ll keep trying to talk her into sending me one even though I know she’s kinda shy). So without further adieu, here’s our interview.

1) Hi Tori, welcome to my virtual lair! We’ll start off with why you’re interested in joining the blog-o-sphere to write reviews?  I’ve always been interested in sharing my love of books with other people and by writing reviews I will be able to do that.

2) So you’re a bookaholic just like me, this is great! What are your favorite genres to read?  I am definitely a bookaholic like you Sidhe.  I love spending hours just reading books. and I love being taken to other places and being introduced to different characters.  I also own so many books right now. My favorite genres include: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult and Fantasy.

3) Do you have one favorite author, or a whole bunch of them like me? Can you tell us a few? It’s really hard to pick just one favorite author because there are so many wonderful authors out there.  I have more than one favorite and I am always interested in reading new author’s books. I love Stephenie Meyer, Penny Jordan, Maggie Stiefvater, Ted Dekker, Becca Fitzpatrick and Lauren Kate.

4) I started blogging & reviewing the books I love to read because I don’t really have anyone here in the city I live in to discuss them with, is it the same for you? Yes it is pretty much the same for me to. I really don’t have anyone around here who understands my love for books and reading.

5) Tell us a bit about yourself. Likes? Dislikes? Hobbies? I have been a legal secretary for 16 years.  I’ve been married for 11 years and have a 6-year-old son.  I am quiet and shy.  I don’t like to be around a lot of people.  I love reading, going to the movies and bowling.  I also enjoy going on cruises.  They are a lot of fun.  I also enjoy going to Myrtle Beach. I also love listening to music and going to concerts.

6) If you could be any one supernatural creature, what would you be? If you could have any one power, what would it be?  I love vampires so I would want to be one of them.  I wish I could have the power to heal people.

7) If you were stranded on an island, what five books would you need to have there with you to keep you from going insane?  I would have to say the whole Twilight series.  I am a big Twilight fan.

8) If you met someone who was just getting into reading our genres of choice, which one book from each genre would you recommend? Urban Fantasy? Paranormal Romance? Young Adult? Fantasy?

Urban Fantasy – The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen, Paranormal Romance – The Restorer by Amanda Stevens, Young Adult – Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, Fantasy – The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

9) What’s your favorite movie that was done as a book adaptation? IE: Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief, Lord Of The Rings, etc  My favorite movies are the Twilight saga. I think they did a good job with the movies.  There are differences, but the movies never are the same as the books.

10) If you could sit down and have a coffee with any author of your choice, living or dead, who would you choose?  I would choose Stephenie Meyer.

Well, there you have it boys and girls. Our new reviewer, Tori Vicious! (Yes, I am making this “made of awesome” lady an honorary member of the “Vicious” clan). 😀 Please give her a warm welcome and if you have any questions for her feel free to ask away in the comments.

BBAW

All week long, BBAW has been going on with so many awesome blogs participating. I didn’t take part officially, but I’d like to dedicate a post to all the amazing bloggers that I’ve been following for a long time and a shout out to some awesome new ones that I’ve come across. (I have a serious case of blog envy going on because some of them have the most gorgeous layouts! I wish I had the talent to make mine look half as good).

So, in no particular order, here are some of the blogs that I enjoy. (And if you’re not on this list or in my sidebar, forgive me. I could be here for a week posting links and still not get everyone listed).

Dark Faerie Tales

Literary Escapism

Book Chic City

Reading Teen

All Things Urban Fantasy

Parajunkee’s View

Wicked Lil Pixie

Book Faery

Dirty Sexy Books

Fiction Vixen

Paperback Dolls

Vampire Book Club

Paranormal Haven

Fang-Tastic Books

Not-Really-Southern Vamp Chick

Teens Read & Write

Wonderous Reads

YA Reads

Blog With Bite

Sophistikatied Reviews

Tynga’s Reviews

Among The Muses

Spellbound By Books

Bitten By Paranormal Romance

Darkly Reading

Yep, serious blog layout envy going on here, lol. 😀