Congrats to the winners of my Contest of BABEL – Margy, Cindy, Chris S, Cristina N, and Kimmy L! Since I can’t resist accumulating cheap and good books from the library withdrawn store and the thrift store, I’ll definitely do this again sometime.
If you really wanted to win Larissa Ione’s third Demonica book, Passion Unleashed, in the Contest of BABEL, head over to Morbid Romantic’s blog – she’s giving away five copies! Leave a comment by 11:59 pm EDT, July 5, for your chance to win.
Largehearted Boy’s having a Largehearted Housecleaning and is giving away a 50 book + 50 cd prize package! Leave a comment by midnight CDT, June 26, for your chance to win (and cause your mail carrier or UPS driver to hate you forever).
Quite the kerfluffle over Amazon’s mysterious DRM book download limits for Kindles. And an interesting take on Amazon and ebook DRM, which points out that Amazon’s mp3 store is DRM-free and focused on working for any device, but not so with ebooks…
Extremely link-filled and very informative article about ebookstores, readers, and more at the Know Something Project.
Dear Author has a nice article about the components (correctness, stlye, taste) that shape a reading experience.
The July 7 Berekley Crime mystery releases are posted at Darque Reviews.
BookSeer is pretty cool – you fill in the author and title of a book you just finished reading and it suggests other titles you might like.
Twenty signs that you might be reading too much romance. This was my personal favorite: “You clip the covers off your romances and make a mantitty wallpaper collage.”
Reading Update
Even Demons Get the Blues by Maree Anderson. ebook. This was a well-written and steamy novella. More detail at Fang-tastic Books.
Sins and Shadows: A Shadows Inquiries Novel by Lyn Benedict. Very powerful urban fantasy about a PI dealing in the supernatural. No vampires, CarrieK! ๐ Plenty of gods (Greek, Christian), witches, and even an ancient being of riddles… My only real complaint was that it dragged a bit near the end. Well, that and that I sort of wished it was a paranormal romance, so I could get the HEA I wanted for the ending.
Pandora’s Box by Natalie Stenzel. Totally reading these out of order – this is the first book in Stenzel’s series about the puca brothers and associates. I’m sure I would’ve picked this up sooner if the cover was as, um, enticing
as those of the sequels!
What Happens in Vegas… After Dark by Jodi Lynn Copeland, Lauren Dane, Kit Tunstall, and Anya Bast. Excellent and scorching hot collection about the paranormal side of Las Vegas. *fans self* Oh, you’ll have to click through to see the cover – bit too scorching! Review at Fang-tastic Books.
The Highwayman (Silhouette Nocturne: Wicked Games) by Michele Hauf. This title might sound familiar. ๐
Heart of the Dragon, 
Jewel of Atlantis, and 
The Nymph King (Atlantis, Books 1-3) by Gena Showalter. The Greek gods created Atlantis to house their mistakes: vampires, demons, gorgons, nymphs, harpies, humans who can turn into dragons, and more. Although the two entrances to Atlantis are protected by veils of mist, humans manage to find the mythical land and Atlanteans occasionally make brief forays into our world. This is another good series from Gena Showalter. Of the first three books, The Nymph King was definitely my least favorite (I thought it was a bit weak), although I can’t fault the cover! ๐ I also read 
The Amazon’s Curse, which is an ebook novella that takes place after the fourth book, which I haven’t read yet. Whoops. Hey, it was on my ebook reader and I’d forgotten The Nymph King at home. Be warned that The Amazon’s Curse does contain spoilers for the fourth book.
Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins. Nicely done contemporary romance. I cried a bit. In fact, my only real issue with the book (and I’m beginning to suspect this is just part of the author’s formula) is the main character’s obsession with her ticking biological clock. Also, please note that the dog on the cover in no way resembles the dog in the book, other than that they’re both dogs.
Too Hot To Handle by Robin Kaye. Another nicely done contemporary romance, featuring a male lead who’s a bit less alpha arrogant than in many romances.
Of course, what would be a bookcase flash from my place without a cat in the picture?
“Birds! Birds! Birds! There are birds out the window, Mom! Birds!” -Mayhem
Neither Amazon, “Nothing .. ” nor Library Thing, “Nada ..” had any recommendations for me! Guess knitting books don’t count, eh ๐
Could C & M secretly be unknitting your current SIP?
Books! Books! Books! There are books in that bookcase, Chris!
Now that’s a funky picture!
It never ceases to amaze me a) how quickly you read, and b) how many paranormal romance novels there are out there!
Thank you for all the awesome linkage Chris!
Nice organized bookcase there – I am in breathless awe. You ma’am are an inspiration. ๐
Have a great day.
Go get that bird Mayhem….
L
I was going to go make Julia’s lunch, but after seeing all of the ABS, I think I need to go be alone for a little while. ๐
I am fucking DYING laughing over this: รขโฌลYou clip the covers off your romances and make a mantitty wallpaper collage.รขโฌย MANTITTY COLLAGE? That is HYSTERICAL!! I’ll be laughing about that all day.
(which room is your mantitty collage in?)
Have you gone all the way to making a collage?!
:: time for an intervention ::
I have heard of using the spines of old dictionaries and encyclopedias as wallpaper, but paperback books? I have to send this to the neice who
s husband did the encyclopedias – maybe she could doo the opposite wall with the paperback idea???
it’s like an absalanche in here today
I’m relieved to know that I am not reading too much romance! That Know Something article has solidified my feeling that a dedicated reader is not for me – nope, I’m going netbook so I have a multifunction machine until the industry figures out what it is they intend to do over the long run.
I’m still miffed that nobody had taken my books on cartridge idea & run with it.
OK. I’m puzzled. Where were you standing when you took the picture of May?
รขโฌลBirds! Birds! Birds! There are birds out my window too. Birds!รขโฌย
~Ruby~
The wallpaper comment reminds me of some of my friends in college who took their common Magic (and Vampire) cards and used them to both wallpaper and write on their walls. I don’t want to think about how much fun they had removing that when they finally moved!
It looks like May is captured in mid-flight if you see the perch as paws – like I did. Is the Customize your Sony reader link working for you? It’s not for me . huh?
Hmm. Deb’s right – TeleRead seems to be down. Here’s the link from their Sony Reader customization article.
The mantitty collage is one of my fav on that list too. ๐
So glad there are birds for May to watch! I hope May understands the concept of “the window.” My parent’s cat forgot once; the cat was fine, if a bit stunned, but it was hard for her to pretend that “nothing” had happened, as cats like to do when they’ve been stupid.
Interesting post at Dear Author! Your bookcase looks far better organized than any of mine, which are bursting at the seams and in need of yet another purge.
Thanks for the Bookseer link. Teen can really use it.
(We have a/c and a 34 on the ACT! We are celebrating at our house!)
Interesting collection of books!
Yeah no. 11 in the 20 things list, is my favorite too. Speaking of which, it’s good to see you’re including abs this time.
Oh, I thought that was a giant cat and a very tiny bookcase.
Silly me…
I’d go get my scissors and start snipping covers, but alas, I think that I would have ab-overdose.
I love that What to read next site! Great shot of May May!
omg I just had to explain to RR why I was laughing so hard. You made me say ‘mantitty’. out. loud. rofl
You are hilarious getting a cat face in these photos. Love it!