Friday Friends - Week One

Okay, so I am apparently on 'Operation: Find Ways to Avoid Reviews'. That is not surprising, huh? Anyway, I was thinking how far behind I get in blog-reading. I spend a lot of time attempting to catch-up, but people still manage to get ahead of me! So, I decided that on Friday I am going to talk about five to ten blogs that I read. It might not be every Friday, but we will see what happens! It is just a chance to give these blogs some recognition, introduce people to other blogs, and show that I do, in fact, enjoy your blog even if I can vanish off the commenting sphere!

I am going in order of my Bloglines feeds... Well, to start. It could change!

1330v - Vasilly (Natasha) is one of my 'blogging friends'. Meaning, we supposedly read books together (man, I suck at that project) and we talk off-blog. So, I can safely say that she is one of the nicest people I know! I have a hard time actually up-dating my blog; while she somehow manages to read, go to school, raise her children, AND update her blog! She reads a wide-range of books. What really annoys me about her is that she keeps posting book reviews of books that I cannot find copies of! Yes, terrible, I know! She is of course doing it on purpose! ha ha! The best thing about her is that her library pile usually resembles mine, so I don't feel so alone! In all seriousness, if you are not reading her blog, you are missing out!

1morechapter.com - Michelle has a blog that I feel like I have been reading forever! I couldn't even tell you when it all began, but I am sure that she could. According to the top commenter section, I apparently comment a lot. That makes me feel like there is at least one blog I manage to visit regularly! Anyway, Michelle talks about a wide-range of books. I trust her for book recommendations because the books she recommends, if I have read them, I consider them a favourite, too! Her blog is also very organized. There is lots to see besides the reviews. I was just looking at the 'Recent Visitors' portion and shaking my head over that programs inability to figure out where I live. They have the province right, but you wouldn't believe the range in the more specific places! Anyway, I got off-topic... Michelle's blog is one, I think, I have been following since the very beginning and I am not disappointed! If you aren't reading it, you should remedy that!

a Fair Substitute for Heaven - Okay, Rachel, even though you actually blog more regularly at another blog, I still think of this as your 'home' blog. So, I am going to talk about this one, okay? What can I say about Rachel! She is the one that I randomly message and say: 'What should I read?' and she gives me back awesome recommendations! She is also the ghost commenter on my blog that never logs in, but offers helpful opinions anyway! Rachel is who led me to Jolted by Arthur Slade and Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy! What is not to love when she reads such great books? (Yes, Rachel, I am over my jealousy that you have an ARC of the new Landy book. ha ha!) She is also a fellow Canadian, so that just makes her cool in general!

A Fondness for Reading: Robin's blog. I think I only started regularly reading Robin's blog because she is one of the co-hosts for the Dewey reading challenge. This is another thing I should write down... Anyway, it is has been a short time, but a great time, reading her blog. I mean, you go to her blog and see her header, which is pretty flowers, and her quote: 'A fondness for reading must be an education in itself' (Jane Austen), and you know that you have came to the right place! Robin is feeling the crunch from it being the end of semester, so be sure to go over and show her some love!

A Garden Carried in the Pocket - First up, is that not a great title for a blog? I really enjoy it! This blog is so great! If I was a more-organized person, I would want to be her. She has all these projects on the go that are for her betterment, and she is actually successfully completing them! If I set project goals, I am lucky I accomplish half of them! Jen also reads fantasy novels, so I think that is why I started paying attention to her blog. She read a series that looked really good by an author that I have never read before, and I stuck around. Where I heard of the blog is the first place is anyones guest. (Did I mention I was disorganized?) Another blog that is very worthwhile reading. It will give you hope that you can be organized, too!

A High and Hidden Place - I can safely say that I have been reading Heather's blog since I started blogging. You were blogging first, right, Heather? Okay, so I guess I cannot safely say... Anyway, Heather is great! Do you know why? She is the one that inspired me to read Fables! Yes, that is the only reason! Okay, so not really, but I do quite like the series... I consider Heather one of my reading twins because if you go through her archives, you will find many books that I have read and enjoyed, too. We seem to have a similar taste in reading, so I know that when she loves a book it has to go on my TBR list. It is just that simple! And, did I mention she is the reason I read Fables?

A Journey Through my Music Collection - Vanessa is actually one of my friends in real life. We have known each other since junior high, so I suppose I have to be really nice in what I say because she can hurt me? (Kidding!) Anyway, I was very happy to see Vanessa started a blog. It makes so much sense that it is about music, because really, you cannot think of her without music! While there are crossovers, of course, it is safe to say that she is the music fanatic and her roommate is the movie fanatic. Then, there is me with my books! It's weird how that worked out. I have to admit I have many times not even heard of the CDs that she posted about on her blog, but that's nothing new. She does inspire me to listen to different stuff once in a while. Even if I am usually behind in the times... It's the actually listening that counts, right? Vanessa will be guest-blogging on my blog on Monday, so be sure and tune in!

A Life in Books - Lesley's blog is another blog that I have been reading since she started it. (She started blogging a month after me, actually.) Lesley writes really good reviews that almost always end up with more books being added to my wish list. I think it Bad Bloggers I have credited her with Castle Waiting, but she easily has added more to the list over the years. I just don't write things down... It is nothing against her! She is also another fellow Canadian. I have this thing with supporting Canadians. It shows up in my author choices, movie choices, and music choices... and bloggers, of course. Another blog that you should be reading!

A Patchwork of Books - Amanda is a blogger that I met back when I hosted a reading challenge. I read her blog everyday, but I think I am pretty quiet on the blogging front! She reads young adult books that always look really good. She has added plenty of books to my wish list. The quiet commenting stems from her posts on younger-readers books. I know it is common for adults to read books for the single-digit age, but not me! And, I don't have any young children. So, I read the posts, and log the information in my mind for future reference, but I don't really have anything to say. I still really enjoy reading her posts, though. You should read them, too!

A Piece of My Mind - I think I stumbled across Julia's blog quite by accident, and then I stuck around because she lives an hour away from me! I have definately seen Julia's blog evolve just in the last year. It is fantastic! She covers a wide-range of subjects and is so organized! She also showcases the talents of both her and her family, which I think it is a great touch! While I enjoy reading her because there is a local feel to her posts that I can relate to, she is also great to read wherever you live. If you are looking for some variety, than this is the blog for you!

Okay, that's it for this week! I should point out that as it stands now... I supposedly read 265 blogs. This is why I suck at commenting... It is also why I show-cased ten today. If I only did five we would never get anywhere! As it stands right now, I am not even out of the 'A's'.