Book News – July 2013

Welcome to Create With Joy! Can you believe that we are moving into the second half of 2013 already? There’s so much happening on the book side of my blog, I wanted to kick off the month with some important news regarding book reviews, giveaways, read-a-thons, and reading challenges for all of you book lovers!

Chicken Soup For The Soul Comes To Create With Joy!

Chicken Soup For The Soul Badge

How many of you love Chicken Soup For The Soul? These days, it’s hard to find someone whose lives have not been touched by this inspirational series of books!

Motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen published the first Chicken Soup For The Soul book in 1993 based on the idea that just as chicken soup is good for the body, a book filled with inspirational stories would be good for the soul. Their idea skyrocketed – the original Chicken Soup For The Soul book was a #1 New York Times Bestseller with over 8 million copies sold!

Now – 20 years later – Chicken Soup For The Soul is one of the most recognized – most successful – and most loved book series in the world! There are over 200 titles in the series – over 100 million copies in print – and the books are published in 54 languages worldwide!

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I am thrilled to announce that Create With Joy recently joined the Chicken Soup For The Soul Blog Network!  Starting this month, I’ll be reviewing and hosting giveaways for Chicken Soup For The Soul books as soon as they roll off of the presses!

Stay tuned for my first Chicken Soup For The Soul review and giveaway as the series celebrates 20 years of success!

A Young Adult Giveaway That Adults Will Love!

OCD The Dude And Me

This week I’m hosting a Book Giveaway of OCD, The Dude And Me by Lauren Roedy Vaughn! This unique story chronicles the senior year of high school misfit name Danielle through her journals, class writings, and correspondence. The book is funny, sad, maddening and insightful! I loved this book and rated it 5 stars. Kirkus Reader called it a “must-read”!

This giveaway is open through July 11, 2013 for my US/Canadian readers. Don’t miss out on a chance to win this fabulous Young Adult book!

July Read-A-Thons

If you’d like to catch up on your reading this summer – July is the perfect time to do it! Here are not one, not two, but three events you might want to consider joining!

Summer Lovin’ Read-A-Thon – July 1st-7th

Summer Lovin Readathon Sign Up

The Summer Lovin’ Read-A-Thon is a huge event which is sponsored by Read-A-Thon Central. Running the 1st Week In July, this event features Daily Activities including Giveaways, Games, Twitter Parties, and Challenges! As if that wasn’t enough, the event culminates in a 24-hour reading marathon for those who really want to reduce their TBR piles! It’s not to late to sign up for the fun!

4th Annual Once Upon A Read-A-Thon – July 8th-10th

Once Upon A Readathon 7-8

Want to keep the momentum going? The Once-Upon-A-Read-A-Thon runs from July 8th through 10th, so you can read non-stop for the first 10 days in July! They are offering an awesome prize! The giveaway is co-hosted by three bloggers – I heard about it at Reading Angels.

The High Summer Read-A-Thon – July 22nd-28th

High Summer Readathon

The High Summer Read-A-Thon is slated for July 22nd through 28th at the Seasons Of Reading website. This should be an open-ended reading challenge. Watch for sign-ups!

Reading Challenges

At the beginning of the year I signed up for a lot of Reading Challenges – more than I’ve been actively tracking! This month, I want to start going through my lists to see which ones I’ve completed, which ones I’m still committed to, and which ones no longer seem relevant to me. In the meantime, here are my current updates!

GoodReads Reading Challenge

2013 Reading Challenge

2013 Reading Challenge
Create With Joy has
read 65 books toward a goal of 75 books.
hide

 

In 2012, I read 45 books, so setting a goal to read 75 books in my first GoodReads challenge felt really intimidating to me.

Imagine how surreal it feels to see I have surpassed my 2012 number and already read 65 books this year!

It appears I need to set a new goal. Suggestions, anyone?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2013

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2013

A new challenge that I came across this week – and have decided to sign up for – is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2023, hosted by Historical Tapestry. One of the things I like about this challenge is that it is open to all types of historical fiction! Because I’m joining the challenge at the midpoint, I’m signing up at the Victorian Reader Level (5 Books).

Around The Blogosphere

I love participating in book memes – but I rarely have time to write dedicated posts! Here are my answers to a few recent and upcoming questions!

Feature And Follow Friday

Feature & Follow

Hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.
Follow however you like!

Week #155

Question: What Is Your Preferred Reading Format?
Answer: I like reading REAL books – hardbacks, quality paperbacks – books I can touch!

Parallax View

Week #156

Question: Share Your Favorite Book With A War In It, Or The Overthrow Of The Government.
Answer: The closest thing I’ve read lately that comes to mind is Parallax View by Allan Leverone, which is a spy thriller set in 1987 involving the CIA and the US government. Once I started I could not put it down! Be sure to check out my Parallax View review! 

It’s Monday – What Are You Reading?

Hosted by Book Journey. I’m currently reading Trouble In Store by Carol Cox!

Trouble In Store

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop
June 28 – July 4

Question: Would you read a book just because of the hype?
Answer: No – I would have to be genuinely interested in the book to pick it up!

July 5 – 11

Question: Do you like or dislike Rafflecopter and why?
Answer: I have mixed feelings about Rafflecopter! As a participant, I like the ease of entries – but I dislike not being able to see all of the entries at once – and I dislike contests that have a ridiculous numbers of entries!

As a host, I have only used Rafflecopter once so I don’t have enough experience yet to give a full evaluation. I just won a year of the premium Blogger subscription service, though, so you’ll be seeing more Rafflecopter giveaways on my blog – and I’ll have a better feel for the service soon!

July 12 – 18

Question: How long have you been blogging?
Answer: Since 2009. My, how time flies!

Other Places To Visit

This post was also shared with Stacking The Shelves, The Sunday Salon and Showcase Sunday!

Stay In Touch!

Google Reader disappears on July 1, 2013 – please, stay in touch! Take a moment to subscribe or re-subscribe to Create With Joy through one of these methods!

Pinterest

Follow on Bloglovin



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25 Responses to “Book News – July 2013”

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Anne from France says:

    I’m going to ask you lots of questions! Google reader? Is that where we click on to become a follower?
    Books…so many! I don’t think I’ve read one book this year, I skimmed through one but that’s it. I’m not a great reader, never got into it as a child as I was a slow
    learner regarding reading. Any tips on how I can get into reading more?
    I read your review on praying the scriptures and this is new to me, especially as I came from a non-Christian background. So thank you for the details, it’s on my wishlist! BUT I have never heard of Chicken Soup for the Soul……are your giveaways only for the USA/Canada? Can you recommend a first Chicken Soup book to start with? Thanks!

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      Hi Anne,

      Thanks for your questions! I answered a few of them privately but wanted to follow up here as well in case others are wondering the same things!

      1) You can follow my blog through any of the options listed at the end of the post or on my sidebar. Please note that if you use Google Reader on your blog (through Feedburner), the services was discontinued on 7/1/13 and you need to find an alternative for your subscribers (as I have done for mined).

      2) The best way to start reading more is to find a few books you’d really love to read, set aside a little time each day to read some, and just start! You could set a few goals for yourself if you like if you feel that would motivate you – whatever you’re comfortable with (like a book a month). You could also check out some of the reading challenges that are offered, or consider joining a read-a-thon (they range in length from a day or a week and each one is different). Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing – just find a good book to read and delve in! Each good book you read will motivate you to pick up the next one!

      3) The Chicken Soup for the Soul Books contain short compilations of stories (a page or two at most) that are designed to inspire and encourage you! While some contain the stories of well known individuals, most books contain the stories of ordinary people like you and I. The original book is a great one to start with – but if you go to the site or to Amazon and start looking at all of the topics available – really, you could just pick the one that most speaks to your heart! I’ll be giving away 3 books for each Chicken Soup book I review in 2013 so watch for it!

      4) My readership is international, and I do my best to host giveaways that are open to all of my readers. However, you need to read the details of each giveaway carefully to determine if it is open to US, US/Canada, or Worldwide, as it is the sponsor who makes the final determination. Sometimes, they scope of where the giveaway is limited by factors such as the locale in where they do business or are able to ship their product.

      Hope this covers everything. Have a fabulous day!

  2. Cool Mom (Christine M.)
    Twitter: StanleyNKatrina
    says:

    Wow! Congratulations on winning the year of Rafflecopter Premium Blogger service. Your blog is fantastic. I enjoy it immensely! You must spend so very much time blogging. Have a happy rest of the weekend.

  3. Belle Read says:

    Thank you for all of the wonderful information. I am going to jump in on some of those read-a-thons.

  4. Jenea @ Books Live Forever
    Twitter: jeneaw0716
    says:

    I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. Happy reading.

    Jenea @ Books Live Forever

  5. Michelle @ The True Book Addict
    Twitter: truebookaddict
    says:

    I’m doing the Summer Lovin’ read-a-thon too (of course)! Hope you get a lot of reading in this week. 🙂

    I’ll be posting the sign-up for my read-a-thon this week. Thanks for posting about it.

  6. A Quiet Corner
    Twitter: IamjpJP
    says:

    Never read “Chicken Soup for the Soul” but have heard of it. I’m too much of a “mover” to sit and join in your reading groups…:)JP

  7. Deb Nance says:

    Congratulations on becoming part of the Chicken Soup network! That sounds fun!

    Here’s my It’s Monday!

  8. Reshama
    Twitter: Stackingbks
    says:

    Congrats to you! your blog is fabulous. I can’t get myself to set a reading goal with having to care for DD full time, but I try to read every night and I read aloud to DD a lot.
    -Reshama
    http://www.stackingbooks.com

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      That’s awesome, Reshama! Getting myself to commit was hard. Consistency is what is really important!
      I think it is great that you read aloud to your daughter. I read aloud to my family too!

  9. Melissa
    Twitter: RecentBooks
    says:

    Congratulations on becoming a member of the Chicken Soup for the Soul network!
    I love those books, and have several on my shelves. =)

    I hope you have a great week!

  10. I use Rafflecopter for all my giveaways. I know some blogs put way too many number of entries for their giveaways. I always try to keep mine at a low!

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      Hi Billy,

      Thanks for stopping by for the Book Blogger Hop! I’m looking forward to using Rafflecopter more now that I’ve won my subscription!

  11. Elizabeth
    Twitter: login4108
    says:

    CONGRATS!!

    I do not like Rafflecopter….too many hoops to jump through.

    You can read my full “rant” at the link below.

    Happy Hopping!!

    Elizabeth
    Silver’s Reviews
    My Blog Hop Answer

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      Hi Elizabeth,

      Left a full comment on your “rant” – lol!

      As I said, I have mixed feelings about it. I will add, however, that the co-owner of Rafflecopter – who was the one who set up my account and answered my questions – was really efficient and a pleasure to deal with – which puts me in a more positive frame about trying this out than before we interfaced!

      The other thing I will say is that the first time you set it up it is a little time consuming because you have to set up and figure out all of your entries (even though they give you a template to work from) – but since you can then recopy your previous one as your template – I suspect that once you have one set up you like – it is probably a breeze to use after that!

  12. Meredith says:

    Hello! New bloglovin follower here. I don’t mind rafflecopter, although if there are a lot of entries I tend to skip it. Keep it simple is my motto 🙂 I love a real book, but after recently getting a Kindle……I am “falling for” ebooks. They’ll never replace the real thing (especially sitting on the beach), but they are convenient and much easier to read in the dark. So much great stuff in this post. Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend.

    Meredith
    Meredith’s Musings

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      Thanks for stopping by! I have the basic Kindle but it’s dark – I think I’d find the paper white much easier to see!
      I’d still prefer the real thing – but I think, for travelling, I’d give it a try!

      Have a great weekend and thanks for joining me on Blog Lovin!

  13. Julie @ Knitting and Sundries says:

    Oh, my gosh! Such a lot of great things in this post! I’m going to participate in the High Summer Read-a-Thon! (Yay!) I’m also going to look into the Once Upon a Readathon!

    WTG on the Chicken Soup for the Soul swag! I’ve never really gotten into those titles, but I have a lot of friends and family who LOVE them!

    For the Friday Hop – I have my issues with Rafflecopter, so I’ve stopped using it on my blog. 🙂

    Have a great reading week!

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