Baer Books, books, authors and everything biblio

I've decided to get back to Net Galley and be more active there. I have requested and been approved for three titles, "End of Secrets" by Ryan Quinn, "Dreaming of Spies" by Laurie R. King, and "Walking on Trampolines" by Frances Whiting. Penguin First To Read approved me for "Funny Girl" by Nick Hornby. I guess I know what I'll be doing between now and mid-February! Funny Girl, takes place in the raucous 1960's and the main character, Sophie Straw is likened to Lucille Ball. I will start reading it this evening. The book is Mr. Hornby's first in five years. I have to be honest, I have not read any of his other books. I do enjoy British authors and British comedy, so I anticipate a lot of laughter. His books overall have 3-4 star ratings on Good Reads. The only one I'm really familiar with is "About a Boy" which was made into an NBC show starring Minnie Driver amongst others. I have not actually watched the show.

I love how social media has changed our access to publishers, authors and books. I saw author John Kelley's book on Facebook in November and started following him through there. He had a small picture of the cover as the profile picture for the page. It's a beautiful cover (I know, never judge a book by it's cover) and I was interested in the book, because it took place during and immediately following World War One. I enjoy reading about that time period. John was very responsive through Facebook. I ordered the book for my Nook and told him that I would suggest it to my book club. He immediately told me he had a book club guide and would be open to Skyping with my group. That was something our group had done once before. Last year "Contest Queen" (that's me, I can't resist entering contests!) entered my book club into a contest run by Goodreads. I honestly don't know what I did with my life before Goodreads! So much information there. I can lose all

Well, today I take on a new challenge. I am starting a book blog. Part of the blog will not be a challenge, reading books, because I have done that as long as I can remember. The part that will be a challenge for me, will be consistently writing about the books I read, my favorite authors, and anything that has to do with books. I have never been very good at keeping a diary, journal or log of any sort, but I think it will be a good habit for me to start and what better way to create a habit, than with something you love! At least then I will be more likely to keep it up. I have been consistently writing reviews on Good Reads for the past 2 years. Here is a link to my Good Reads profile:   https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6117137-barbara I have been organizing a book club for the past year and half and I have found that with so many online things pertaining to books, authors, and reading, I've just been more and more interested in getting a bit more serious about my passio