Feature Friday | The TBR Pile

How fun is this?! I get to be featured at Parajunkee today for Follow Friday!

I love connecting with other readers. I hope you'll say hi while you are here so I can get to know you and follow your blog!

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read is:

Go count the number of unread books sitting on your shelf. How many?

I got a little freaked out when I read today's question. Just the thought of having to pull all of my books off the shelves to count them... My "to-read" shelf on Goodreads only has books that I actually own so I will start with that number: 151.

These are some of the books I am longing to read that were recently added to my TBR pile:

Do you have any books calling to you from your TBR shelf?

Follow Friday: Favorite Imaginary World

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read is:

It's that pesky magic book fairy again! She has another wish: What imaginary book world would you like to make a reality?

The world Mary Malone stayed in during The Amber Spyglass!  The Amber Spyglass is the last book in the His Dark Materials trilogy from Philip Pullman.  I absolutely loved that world and really wanted to stay there forever!

If you've never the His Dark Materials series, I highly recommend it.  I wish I could read it again for the first time.

Blog Hops: Winning Villian

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read is:

Have you ever wanted a villain to win at the end of a story? If so, which one?

There is an out of print book by Bentley Little called The Mailman that I just love.  If you ever see it in a used bookstore, grab it up!

It's a horror book where the new mailman in town is completely (and wonderfully) creepy.

Sometimes I can help but root for the totally creepy.  ;)

Blog Hops: Alternate Ending

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read is:

Q. If you could change the ending of any book (or series), which book would you choose? Why and to what?

First of all, if you are a fan of zombies, you really need to read The Rising. It's excellent.

The Rising is also the only book that I've thrown when I was done reading it. The ending was very abrupt and very unresolved, but it was the first book in the series and it was actually so good I still highly recommend it despite the ending!

Are you a zombie fan?

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Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks:

“What are you most looking forward to this fall/autumn season – A particular book release? Halloween? The leaves changing color? Cooler temperatures? A vacation?

Autumn is my favorite time of the year - especially October.  I LOVE Halloween.  We also go to the Texas Renaissance Festival every year in October.  I even had my wedding on Halloween weekend so now I have my anniversary to celebrate, too.

I love when the weather starts to change and you can actually smell it in the air.  It's the single best signal of the awesome things to come.

Happy September!!

Follow Me on Twitter!

Last night the awesome Jess from Romanceaholic.com informed me my twitter link was broken.  After looking at the code - it has probably been broken for a while!  My account is not actually "suspended".  I have fixed the link!

I love connecting with readers on twitter.  Come find me so I can follow you!  Book Den on twitter!

Blog Hops: Wishing for a Daemon

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read is:

Q. In books like the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series the paranormal creature in question "comes out of the closet" and makes itself known to the world. Which mythical creature do you wish would come out of the closet, for real?

I would LOVE to have a daemon like the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. It would be pretty awesome. I can't help but wonder what mine would be!

Have you read the His Dark Materials series? What do you think your daemon would be?

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Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks:

“Non-book-related this week!! Do you have pets?”

Do I ever! :) I have 7 cats and 2 dogs. Madison, Makaila, Maci, Cammie, Silas, Zeus, Mollie, Daisy, and Charlie.

Blog Hops: Casting Myself and Longest Book I Have Read

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read is:

Q. If you could write yourself a part in a book, what book would it be and what role would you play in that book?

Growing up I always wanted to be one of the Babysitters Club girls! I would probably want to be Dawn so I could have a super cool secret passage in my house.

Were you a fan of the BSC? I absolutely loved those books.

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Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks:

“What’s the LONGEST book you’ve ever read?”

Since I still haven't finished Gone with the Wind, I'll have to say Robert McCammon's Swan Song. At 956 pages, that is quite possibly the longest book I have read.

Book Hop: Turnaround Time

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View is:

Q. How many books do you read in a week? And in what format do you read them, or listen to them?

My answer varies greatly depending on circumstance.  If I'm reading short works - which I love - I can read several books in a week.  If I'm reading a longer work, it can take all week or more for me.

I read and love all formats.  I usually have an audiobook, a physical book, and an ebook going at the same time.

Are you are multi-reader or a one book at a timer? Right now I have four going which is probably my limit.

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Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks: 

"What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked? Which have you disliked?"

I'm easy going when it comes to movie adaptations.  Even when it's a loose adaptation, I'm always happy to visit my old friends.

I love the Lord of the Rings movies.

I wrote a couple of posts recently regarding The Ruins and I Am Legend and their respective movie adaptations.

I think I've liked every Stephen King adaptation.

I loved Jurassic Park.

I also love all of the Harry Potter movies.

There have been adaptations I did not like.  Most fresh in my mind is the I Am Number Four movie that was released to DVD this week.  I didn't like it.  Mostly I didn't like it as a movie (it was ridiculous), but loving the book does make it harder because I know everywhere they could have done things right.

I also did not like the adaptation of Preston and Child's The Relic.  I loved that book, and again the movie was just bad as a movie.

Are you hard on movie adaptations? Does it make it harder when the book is one of your favorites?

Blogger's GFC widget seems to be having issues.  If you want to follow someone's blog today, try the Follow link on the very top bar of their blog.

Blog Hop Friday: Happy Mother's Day!

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View is:

Q. Circle time! Time to share. What character in a book would you most like to be?

I would definitely want to be someone with a magic power or special ability. It would be pretty cool to be Hermione Granger. She's pretty powerful with all types of spells.  It's kind of like wishing for more wishes.

I'd also like to be Lisbeth Salander for a while.  Not during the books - after the books.  LOL.  She has the whole world at her disposable.

What about you guys? Who would you want to be?

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Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks: 

"Which book blogger would you most like to meet in real life?"

It would be awesome to know some book bloggers in real life!  It takes a lot of passion to do what we do.  It's great that I can feel that passion on so many blogs, though, and I can hop on twitter to get some great book buzz.

My top choices would be the fine folks who take the time to stop here, read my reviews, and comment back to me.  I love each and every one of you.  This book blogging gig is the best.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to each of you.  I ordered myself some kitchen stuff "from the hubby".  ;)  Have an awesome weekend!

Blog Hop: Music and Happy Easter!

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View is:

Q. What is on your current playlist right now?

My playlist usually consists of my running music: Metallica, Disturbed, Rob Zombie, Lacuna Coil... Anything with a great beat. I've been known to play air drums while running through the park.

I'm always looking for great running songs! Do you have any favorite workout music? 

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Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks: 

If you find a book you love, do you hunt down other books by the same author?

Yes! Definitely. I will seek out other books they have already written, and I will keep an eye out for any new releases.

Happy Easter! Do you have any special plans? We are celebrating my dad's 60th birthday and my son's 2nd birthday on Easter this weekend! :)

Blog Hop: Real Life Book Relationships

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View is:

Do you have anyone that you can discuss books with IRL? Tell us about him/her.

Yes! My closest book pals are my mom and my grandma.  They taught me to love books and introduced me to some awesome authors and genres at a young age.  Now I repay them constantly with recommendations.  They pay it forward by passing those recommendations to their bookish friends.  I love hearing when people call my mom and ask "What is your daughter recommending?".  I just love that.

I use WeRead on Facebook to chuck books at my bookish friends.  If I go too long, they will call and tell me they need some recommendations.  I could never grow tired of discussing or recommending great reads.

What about you guys? Do you have many real life folks that share your passion?

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Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks: 

Pick a character from a book you are currently reading or have just finished and tell us about him/her.

I recently read a short book by Lee Thompson called Before Leonora Wakes.  It's a really great coming of age story about a 13 year old boy named Red.  He's a naive, innocent, and introverted boy.  The perfect character for a coming of age story.

Thompson has stated Red was based on himself at that age.  That's probably why Red is such a realistic character.  (And why I'm choosing him to share with you today.)

Do you find you connect best with a certain type of character?

Blog Hop: Judging a Book by its Cover

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View is:

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Yes! I try not to, but I'll be honest - I always do. If someone is willing to sacrifice the quality of the cover, they are probably also willing to sacrifice the quality of the content as well.

Have an awesome, awesome Friday! Do you judge books based on the cover?

April Fools: Pranks and Confessions

Welcome to Book Den! Today is all about confessions! :) I hope you have a happy April Fool's Day!

Jennifer over at Crazy For Books asks: 

Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?

The best April Fool's joke I ever played on someone was to pop all the keys off of their keyboard and pop them back on in the wrong places. :) I made sure the middle line said "APRIL F0O1S".

Today's Follow Friday question over at Parajunkee's View is:

What is the book that you really don't want to admit to loving?

I admit to enjoying Twilight: New Moon.

My biggest book confession - Team Jacob.  :)

April Fools Day: Do you love to get pranked? Do you prank others? I hate to be pranked. I try to avoid people April 1.

Have a great day!