Wish you had more time to read blogs? Me too! Lucky for you, all you have to do is come here to find selected posts.

Let’s start with me, shall we? This week, one of the most well-discussed topics was whether bloggers should disclose from where they get the books they review. I was actually surprised at most people’s comments.

Amy at My Friend Amy encourages you to Get LOST in a Good Book. Amy hosts the LOST Books Challenge, which she’ll be hosting again this year. Do you watch Lost? Well, if you don’t, just head on over to the LOST challenge, because Amy’s enthusiasm is infectious.

Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books reviewed Conscience Point by Erica Abeel, which she described as a modern-day Gothic mystery. Doesn’t that sound good?! And she gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars, meaning, we all must put this on our to be read list.

If you don’t have enough to read yet, Marta at Marta’s Ramblings reviewed The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker and called it an “awesome, wonderful read.” If you haven’t yet put this on your TBR pile, Marta’s review should push you over the edge!

When I clicked over to Wendi’s Book Corner, I thought her design was the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time! And then to make things better, in this post of Tuesday Thingers, she talks about the Swap This link that’s on every book for LibraryThing so you can easily see where the book is wanted…or where there’s a glut. I love learning new things!

Shelly at Write for a Reader interviewed Tony Peters, author of Kids on a Case: The Ten Grand Kidnapping. What’s not to like about author interviews?! I’ll warn you, though: you’ll want to read the book after you’ve read the interview.

Speaking of adding MORE books to your pile, I’ve been hearing all over the blogosphere about this book that Julie from Booking Mama reviewed called Beat the Reaper. Julie said, “I’d have to say that it is a suspense thriller as well as a comedy. It’s full of action and even some intrigue; however, I most enjoyed how much I laughed (and was shocked) while reading this novel.” Tell me that doesn’t sound awesome.

ForstRose at Bibliophile’s Retreat reviewed The Centurion’s Wife by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke. Janette Oke wrote Love Comes Softly, so that totally sold me on this book. But if that doesn’t sell you, then maybe this will: “I’m not sure how to balance this rave out with more sober thoughts on the book as truly I wasn’t able to find anything not to love about it. It will definitely be amongst my permanent collection for years to come and I am impatiently awaiting the subsequent books in the Acts of Faith series.” How can you not want to read something that someone said they couldn’t find anything to love about it?

Kathy over at Bermudaonion’s Weblog reviewed American Savior. Not really a mainstream book, but it certainly looks interesting! Jesus Christ is running for President of the United States, and gathers a ragtag campaign team to help him campaign. and Kathy said, “This book is humorous as well as thought provoking and I enjoyed reading it.”

Beth over at Beth Fish Reads reviewed Rebel by Bernard Cornwell. This is “the first of the four-book series The Starbuck Chronicles, covering the U.S. Civil War.” “We see how battle breaks some men but brings out the best in others, and we’re left wanting more.” Doesn’t that sound good? Beth said this book, which she experienced as an audio book, was “engrossing”.

While trying to catch up on some blog reading (which I’m totally behind on! Like over 1000 posts in my Google Reader! GAH!), I was checking out Raych’s new post (okay, maybe it’s not new when I publish this post, but it was when I read it) and if you look at the vewy vewy bottom you’ll see she says, “Also, because I totally agree with all this blogger-code-of-conduct jazz, I got this book for free from Danielle at Sourcebooks, who is rad.” So I clicked over to the “blogger code of conduct jazz” and was blown away.

I wasn’t blown away because I think the idea is novel or bad, but because I KNOW I read a comment on someone’s blog about blogging tips when I was working on this post that said something like, “Don’t tell me where you got the book. I don’t care if you got it for free, if you bought it at the local B&N, or if you checked it out from the library.” And I was all, Hmm, that person’s certainly a little anal.

But this comment has stayed in the back of my mind and for this post I want us to talk about mentioning where you got the book.

Is it important to mention where you received a book? Obviously, it *probably* doesn’t matter if you received the book from the library or it was loaned to you from a friend or you bought the book yourself. But what about ARCs/AREs? Or books we might get from Library Thing through the Early Reviewers program? Or Harper Collins? Or books offered directly from authors?

Does WHERE you received the book influence your opinion of a book?

I have to admit: there was one review that I was less than honest in my opinion. I wasn’t DISHONEST, rather, I skirted around my opinion. Why? Well, because I had not only an author interview but also a guest post from that same author, and after it was all over I promised myself I wouldn’t agree to anything like that until AFTER I’d read the book, that way if I think the book is less-than-stellar, I can say so and not feel weird that I didn’t like someone’s book but now they’re going to guest post on my blog. (It should be noted this is the ONLY review where I was less than honest, and I learned my lesson and haven’t let it happen again.)

Very savvy authors have figured out that if they stay in contact with the blogger (or newspaper reviewer, I would assume) and be personable, well, it’s hard to then go ahead and say negative things about that book. For example, have you ever said something about a situation, but then when you find out someone you know is in that situation, it’s harder to be so judgemental? If called on the carpet for your opinion, do you back pedal, saying you don’t know that  person’s situation, so you really can’t hold them to the same standards that you just uttered? It’s easy to bash on someone we don’t know or someone we’re only acquaintenances with, but a friend? SO HARD.

On the other hand, you don’t see the reviews in newspapers saying, “I got this book free from the publisher, so take my review with a grain of salt.” It’s understood the reviewer got the book for free and we EXPECT that the reviewer will be impartial. But how impartial ARE those reviews? How much more do we like a mediocre book just because we like that author in general?

Despite the comment I mentioned above, I’ve continued to mention from whence I received the book, and here’s my reason why: my blog, the way I see it, is where I have a larger audience to discuss things (as opposed to real life, where I have a handful of friends, few of whom let me discuss books ad nauseum like I do here), particularly books. However, I try to make my blog writing as similar as I can to the way I’d talk to my friend. SO, if I would mention to my friend where I received the book from, then I would mention it on my blog. And generally I would mention where I got the book from, if for no other reason that it’s usually a fairly interesting story…in my opinion. For example, right now I’m reading (at the time I’m typing this post, though I should be done with the book by the time I publish this post) Thinner  by Stephen King, which I checked out from the library. It’s SO OLD that it has the little pouch in the front with the date due stamped in the little squares. Interesting, no? Well, I thought it was, at least.

Let’s discuss this, my friends! I’ve purposefully left the question fairly open and I’ve tried to present a few different angles. Frankly, I think kimbofo does a better job of tackling this subject, but I thought it was worth another discussion. So tell me! What do you think? I love discussions.

This week’s Booking Through Thursday question is:

Since “Inspiration” is (or should) the theme this week … what is your reading inspired by?

I don’t know if I can say what my reading’s inspired by, but I’ll try.

First off, I’ve got over 200 books sitting here in my house that haven’t been read yet. So my reading is often inspired by what I’m feeling like at the moment. I happen to like alternating between mind candy and literature (or something of substance). It’s rather nice being able to pick and choose what book I’ll read next. It’s almost like having my own personal bookstore.

My reading is often inspired by my fellow bloggers, who do such a great job of keeping me wanting to read more, as if I need any help.

One of my reading goals this year is to clear out my ARC pile, so for the next few months, my reading will be inspired by my attempt at reaching a goal.

On the flip side, often it’s the actual reading that inspires me, not necessarily to another book, but it fans my love of reading. For example, The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton and The Likeness by Tana French were two books last year that reminded me of what a great book is like. There are so many books that I read that are good, even really good. But great? Ah, now those books are few and far between.

Right now I’m reading an ARC of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. THIS is a great book. I can’t stop talking about The Help and I’m devouring it every available minute. THIS is a book that inspires me. THIS is a book that spurs me to read more, in search of the next great book.

What is your reading inspired by?

All you have to do is not go to Doodlebug Designs and not enter to win the blog design as well. That will make it so that I have a better chance to win the blog design. Kthxbai.

But seriously, she’s done some super cute designs, so if’n I don’t win, I’m totally thinking about hiring her anyway. But shhh…*whispering* don’t tell her that. I don’t want her to think she’ll get my business anyway.

Because finding good blog designers? Not that easy. So if you know anyone, let me know, ’cause I’m on the hunt. That’s what you get to do when you acquire www.heylady.net and you want to look profeshunal. Though cute would do.

My friend Jessica from Both Eyes Book Blog and I thought it would be fun to finish the Twilight series around the same time (we both needed to read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn) and then discuss it on video, as opposed to typing up our thoughts. So we did!

Please please please understand this is our first attempt at doing this. We hope to do this again, and hopefully it’ll get better and your eyes won’t bleed when you watch it.

Also, there was one thing that we talked about that didn’t get recorded. And that was why we read the Twilight series in the first place, since neither one of us thought the books were very good. As avid readers, we feel an obligation to read certain books because they become a part of our culture. People who don’t read very much will read those books, and it gives us (the avid readers) a common ground in which to talk about reading with non-readers.

Well, I guess I can’t stall any longer. The video’s kinda long. It’s just over 15 minutes.

[vimeo 2892341]

And we had one outtake. Sure is fun having dogs when you’re trying to record a video.

[vimeo 2892378]