Monday 23 March 2015

It's Monday

Another It's Monday; another week begins.

The weather has now taken a definite turn towards the cooler side of things on the east coast of Australia.
It's nice not to be so hot & sweaty all the time, but I do not like the long, dark, cold winters (& Sydney doesn't even get that cold!!)

I dislike wearing layers of clothes. I hate wearing jeans or stockings every day (but I do love scarves!) I miss my summer dresses already - not being able to wear them again until November is a sad thing indeed!

To cheer me up I've decided to read a biography about an amazing woman.

One Life by Kate Grenville

Nance was a week short of her sixth birthday when she and Frank were roused out of bed in the dark and lifted into the buggy, squashed in with bedding, the cooking pots rattling around in the back, and her mother shouting back towards the house: Goodbye, Rothsay, I hope I never see you again!
When Kate Grenville’s mother died she left behind many fragments of memoir. These were the starting point for One Life, the story of a woman whose life spanned a century of tumult and change.

In many ways Nance’s story echoes that of many mothers and grandmothers, for whom the spectacular shifts of the twentieth century offered a path to new freedoms and choices.

 In other ways Nance was exceptional. In an era when women were expected to have no ambitions beyond the domestic, she ran successful businesses as a registered pharmacist, laid the bricks for the family home, and discovered her husband’s secret life as a revolutionary.
One Life is an act of great imaginative sympathy, a daughter’s intimate account of the patterns in her mother’s life. It is a deeply moving homage by one of Australia’s finest writers.

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One of the great ideas I spotted on my It's Monday travels last week was a fellow blogger (so sorry I've forgotten who already!) giving shout-outs for interesting reviews they had read during the week.

I often read a fascinating review but then forget who, where & when, so I've decided to add the shout-out feature to my It's Monday posts.

This week I have spotted some tempting reviews for books already on my radar but not on my shelf!

*The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide @ +Wensend - I love the idea of a book that continues to improve weeks after you finished it.

*The Death Fugue by Sheng Keyi reviewed by Lisa @ANZ LitLovers LitBlog - I enjoy Chinese literature, although it sounds like one I will need to be in the right mood for this one.

And sadly, a favourite series of mine has lost its way according to this review of the latest Maisie Dobbs book by Jacqueline Winspear @ Dolce Belleza.

There were also reviews for books that are waiting patiently for me to get to them, get back to them or finish them!

*Goodbye Sweetheart by Marion Halligan @Debbishdotcom - another book on my TBR pile from one of my favourite authors of old. Debbish compares her writing style to Anita Brookner.

*Carrie by Stephen King - a satisfying reread for Christine @Bride of the Book God of this truly frightening teen story.

*Ellen van Neerven's Heat and Light, reviewed by Whispering Gums. This is one of the Stella shortlisted books that I've been savouring slowly over the past few weeks. It was lovely to spot another satisfied reader.

*I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to fit this in, but I'm so very, very tempted to reread Gone With the Wind along with Corinne @The Pursuit of Happiness & her very easy, relaxed readalong starting May 1.

One of the many advantages of living in Australia is being one of the first countries to experience the new day, the new month & the new year before the rest of the majority of the world.

This helps me a lot in the blogging world. I often miss the lead up to many readathon's, readalongs and other special blogging events & so I often feel like I'm jumping on board late. But thanks to the time difference it turns out I'm just in time.

This week I'm just in time for Bloggiesta!

With the week ahead of me anything more than a basic commitment is beyond me but I do have things I want to do to improve my blogging life & this seems like as good as time to say 'yes, I'm in'.

But for those interested in getting more involved please click on the link above for the week's highlights including twitter chats, mini-challenges and to see what other bloggers are doing to improve/update/refresh their blogs.

The thing I've struggled with ever since losing the blogger reader is how to keep track of my fellow bloggers reviews & posts.

This week I will work out a system to manage this.

*I will explore & master the new goggle+ reader (does anyone know how to make the posts appear in chronological order?)

*I will check my wordpress notifications for new comments & replies (I just found out how I can do this on my phone - do'h! Late to the party in oh so many ways!)

*I will use twitter to find reviews & posts of interest (is there an easy filtering app or system to do this?)

How do other bloggers keep track of & find new reviews?

Until next Monday,

Happy Reading!
And Happy Blogging!

22 comments:

  1. I like that idea of highlighting reviews that caught your eye. I never get comments on my reviews, so I dont think theyre catching anybody's eyes!
    That's interesting about people thinking the Maisie books have gone downhill. They have definitely changed, but I see it as Maisie, Billy and the gang changing over the span of years. The books arent as dark and brooding as they used to be. The way Maisie takes everything so seriously is still there, even as she is falling in love and building a successful business.

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  2. I am with you, I hate bundling up! Minnesota is chilly right now too but hopefully soon I will feel the sun!

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  3. I've been using blogluvin and didn't even know there is a new google plus reader... must look into that.
    And I love scarves, too!

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    1. If you have a google+ account, click on your button/tab/link. On the left sidebar it usually says 'profile'. Run your mouse over the drop down arrow and click on 'home'. It will bring up the post feed for all the people you follow.

      You can filter your followers into categories - so I now have separate categories for my family, book bloggers, travel blogs etc. Which makes it much easier to browse the blogs you want. Bloggiesta has so far been great for getting me to tidying up stuff like this :-)

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  4. I have a lot to learn about Twitter....I tweet things, but haven't yet figured out how to follow conversations. Enjoy the week, and here's my BLOGGIESTA POST

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    1. Master the # - it's how twitter categories/separates conversations.
      Click on #bloggiesta (or type it into the search box) and you'll go to a page dedicated to everyone using that #.

      You can then filter these comments by 'most popular' or 'all'.

      I prefer 'all' as it puts them in chronological order from most recent to oldest.
      My first twitter readathon showed me how much fun it can be being a part of a chat (& also very distracting from the actual reading of the book!)

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  5. We've had some wild storms in QLD, cooling things down a little the last few days. In 7 years of blogging I've only done the one Bloggiesta, not sure why, it's fun and you learn heaps ... I'm probably just slack lol. I like the idea of shout outs for reviews that catch your eye. Have a great week and happy reading :)

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  6. Good luck with Bloggiesta! Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  7. One of these days I'll find the time to join in with Bloggiesta!

    Good luck,
    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

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  8. One Life sounds really interesting. One for the list! Emma

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  9. I'm glad you're hoping to join us, Brona!! It's going to be excellent! :D

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    1. I'm attemptin my first mini-challenge right now!
      I've just opened an account with IFTTT and created my first recipe - fingers crossed for success!!

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  10. Hm Google+ has a reader? I didn't realize that.... I am using Bloglovin. I think it is ok but I do miss the blogger one :(

    Wishing you luck on all your tasks. Happy Bloggiesta!

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    1. Like most readers it seems to allow you to sort your followers into categories (like Andi's wonderful suggestions on her bloggiesta post about organising your readers).
      I haven't checked to see how it's worlking on my phone now that I've done the tidy up on my PC, but so far so good...if only more people were using google+......

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  11. I hope you have a great Bloggiesta!

    I'm so ready for spring here in the US. We got the tease of a few warm days, but now it is back to mittens and hats for us. Stay warm!

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  12. Since Google Reader died, I've mostly been keeping track of blogs in the ways you mentioned -- all a bit more haphazard than my previous method, though.

    Andi has a feed reader mini-challenge up at Estella's Revenge. I used that to motivate me to get Feedly running on my under-used Tablet. I hope to develop a habit to look at the updates of at least a few blogs every morning at breakfast.

    Joy's Book Blog

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    1. I'll be curious about yoiur feedly experience - I'm wondering if that would be an easier way to keep track of everything. Does it allow you to bring in blogs & followers from all sources?

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    2. I'm not sure. I decided to start from scratch since my problem with RSS readers in the past has been putting way too many things in them.

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    3. I bit the bullet Joy & joined freely too. Now I understand what you mean about taking time to select which blogs to include. I can't wait for tonight so I can sit down & play with properly:-)

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  13. I'm glad that you've decided to join in on Bloggiesta! When Google Reader died, I moved to Bloglovin and Feedly. I like Feedly a lot better. It works a lot like the old Google Reader. So, if you want to check it out. And, it's free. :D Good luck with your other goals.

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    1. I did it - I've joined feedly and will hopefully have time tonight to play with it :-)

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  14. This is a great list. I was going to suggest Feedly but I see you've already hopped on that bandwagon! Good luck in accomplishing your goals this week!

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