Black History Month is generally the time readers challenge themselves to read and learn with books centered around the theme of Black History Month. Books such as HIDDEN FIGURES by Margot Lee Shetterley, and the upcoming SHINE BRIGHT by Danyel Smith, shed light on the accomplishments of various black people. Graphic novels such as WAKE by Rebecca Hall, and the MARCH trilogy by John Lewis, offer us a glimpse into the various tribulations black people have encountered in their quest for true equality. More recent books such as STAMPED by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and THEY CAN’T KILL US ALL by Wesley Lowery speak more on the issues we are still tackling even today in 2022. There are quite a few splendid nonfiction books about black history, but I’d like to challenge readers to start incorporating more black fiction authors into their reading throughout the year. I recently saw a statistic which indicates that nearly 90% of people don’t have a close friend of another ethnicity or race, and perhaps reading both fictional as well as nonfiction books written by people of color may be a starting place for some. …

Howdy y’all— I couldn’t squeeze all the happenings around the blogsphere into just one post! Like I said before this is probably the best month ever in the blogsphere. Haunted Halloween: True Tales of the Paranormal (Oct 1st-31st) Hosts: Jess from Confessions of a Bookaholic and Lisa from A Life Bound by Books What Can You Expect? Last year we gave away around 150 books and featured over 65 authors. This year we are expecting it to exceed that amount by quite a few! And, that’s not all. We have added other giveaways to the mix. We have some incredible donations from a few etsy stores and other “bookish” places. But it gets better! You know how we all love authors, right? They are pretty much our celebrities? Well what if you had something unique and custom made from one of your favorite authors? Not just signed…but actually designed by them and completely one-of-a-kind. Stay tuned for more information on that! We gotta keep a few things secret 🙂 A Month of Treats (Oct. 3rd-Oct. 31st) Hosts: Julie from My 5 Monkeys and Karen from For What It’s Worth Week One: Author Stacey Kade and Ghost themed book giveaway! Week…

Howdy Y’all! It truly is the most Spooktacular Time of year in the blogsphere! Every year around this time the blogsphere explodes with ton of activities. So without further ado…. Read-A-Thons What is the 24 Hour Read-a-thon? It’s sort of a reading challenge, only everyone participates at the same time. For 24 hours, we read books, post in our blogs about our reading, and visit other readers’ blogs. We also participate in mini-challenges throughout the day and win prizes. What is the date of the next Read-a-thon? October 22, 2011, starting at Noon GMT. Here is a handy, simple-to-read time zone list. You can expect a Read-a-thon every April and October. Where can I sign up? You can sign up to be a Reader in the read-a-thon here and can sign up to be a volunteer here.   * * *   Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon October 21-23rd Hosts: Bex @ Kindle Fever, Amanda @ Letters Inside Out, April @ My Shelf Confessions This is a Halloween themed Read-a-Thon but we’re not going to restrict it to only Halloween/creepy books, so pick whatever you want to read! If you don’t know how a Read-A-Thon works, you just read as much as…

Happy September! I am having a hard time believing that we are already heading into a new school year! Of course being from Texas, I can only hope that we are heading into fall sometime soon. This time of the year the blogsphere starts gearing up for its busiest months: Oct to Dec. September doesn’t want to feel left out though so here are just a few things going on! Back to the Book Giveaway Hop Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Buried in Books September 1st to 7th What is a giveaway hop? Simple – Each participating blog hosts a giveaway and then we link up together allowing our followers to hop easily from one giveaway to another. For followers this means lots of chances to win free books. For blogs hosting a giveaway it means lots of new visitors. It’s a win-win! The Fight begins. Dark Faerie Tales and Parajunkee’s View present the biggest event of the year! Deep underground, in a super secret location…the fight begins. Your favorite characters are stepping from the pages to put their talents to the test in hopes of winning the WORLD CHAMPION SUPERNATURAL TITLE and all the…

Hi Y’all! I am so excited to see that summer has finally arrived.  The biggest reason?  Summer reading!  I think almost everyone I know uses summer as an excuse to dust off the bookshelves and grab those books that we have been putting off.  In the blogsphere world, summer is also the signal of amazing tours with giveaways, book exchanges, and reading groups.  Here are just a few of the really fun events going on in the blogsphere.  I hope to see you out there enjoying them! Secret Summer Santa Book Exchange: Hosted by: Ruby Reads Event: Summer Secret Santas Info: The Summer Book Exchange is like Summer Secret Santas. Those who sign up for the event will be both Secret Santa and Santee. That is: they will both give and receive books from a designated wishlist. Signups End: Jun 21st   Bookish Haven Summer Vacation Hosted by: Paranormal Haven and Larissa’s Bookish Life Event: Bookish Haven Summer Vacation Info: A month long event featuring interviews, guest posts and giveaways celebrating books and summer. So far we have over 30 authors participating. Runs: June 1st-30th Whirlwind Blog Tour Hosted by: Missy The Unread Reader Event: Robin DeJarnett’s Whirlwind Blog Tour…