Good Reads Shelves

I am sure if you are a book blogger you are aware of all the drama surrounding reviews on Good Reads.  I, for one, ADORE Good Reads and have never had a problem.  If I disagree with a review or the way a reviewer or author is acting, I just ignore it.  But, I am amazed at some of the shelves people create on their Good Reads account.

I have very basic ones:  books-2012; books for boys; books for girls; etc... Nothing snarky at all!

But I have seen shelves titled "could have been worse," "food for thought," "I should get a trophy for finishing," "why am I reading this shit," "why did I do this to myself."  This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Sometimes I think they are super fun and creative, sometimes I think they are just mean.  (If you want to see some interesting ones, look up City of Bones and read those, people feel very strongly about that book and it's author).  When I see one I think if kind of funny I have to check out the other books they put on that shelf--it is a good barometer of whether or not I am compatible with that person as a reader.

I guess I just don't feel that strongly about books (in the negative sense)(I do LOVE many, many books).  I either love it, like it or don't.  I cannot say I ever hated a book!

Do you have any crazy Good Reads shelves?  I would love to hear about them!

The Cookie System

I rank my books according to cookies--the normal way 1-5.

(Actually, I never use anything lower then 3 because that would probably be books I never even finish so why would I rate or review them?)

But, there is actually another system underneath the basic 1-5 cookie system.

And that is the KINDS of cookies I use to rate the  books I review.

The ultimate is normally when I rate a book:

5 warm chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk.

That is normally this highest.

But my very favorite cookies are Oatmeal Butterscotch Chip cookies.  So, if I rate a cookie:

5 oatmeal butterscotch chip cookies

then that is normally even higher than the warm chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk.

Most other cookies are ones I like so I use them interchangeably with 3, 4 and even 5 ratings:

Snickerdoodles
Peanut Butter
M&M Cookies
Brownies
Lemon Bars
Frosted Maple
Whoopie Pies
Etc...

I love to bake and my family loves to eat the cookies I bake so it's a win/win for everyone!

Tell me:

What is your favorite cookie?  What would be the cookie you would use for the highest rating for a book you loved?

4 Cookies or 5?

Sometimes I wonder why I give one book 4 cookies and one book 5.  When I really enjoy a book, why can't I just give it 5?

This week I figured it out...

I recently read The False Prince, my most recent 5 cookie book, I wanted to turn around and read the whole book again right away.  I didn't, but there were certain scenes I did go back and re-read a few times over the next few days after I was done.  And still now I find myself thinking about the book.  And put under my pillow at night. 

With a 4 cookie book I finish feeling good and satisfied and happy, but I don't necessarily want to re-read the book or any parts of it.

There's the big difference!


How do you distinguish between 3 or 4 or 5 cookie (or star) books?

Well, That's Interesting

I don't know lots about blogger templates.

Sometimes I get a wild hair and decide to upgrade mine a bit, then I will hunt down tutorials and make changes.

One change a while ago was to add "blockquotes" around my book synopsis-es. It was surprisingly easy to do.

Today I logged on and noticed that the same blockquotes are around all my comments. It looks pretty cool, I just wasn't the one to do it.

Wonder who did!

I would love to spring for a custom template, and maybe soon will. I want to just be able to use different fonts!

What do you like about your template?