I found another book swapping site, and this one is international!

It's called Book Mooch (www.bookmooch.com). I just joined last night, so I don't have any experience with it yet. Credits are earned by listing and sending books, just as with Paperback Swap (www.paperbackswap.com).

I'll let you know how it goes!

I write reviews for a website called Armchair Interviews. It's been a very fun adventure thus far! You can see all the reviews I've written by clicking here.

I can't really repost my Armchair Interviews review of this book--they own the copyright, after all--but I will provide a link to the review I wrote for them when it's posted. You'll also be able to see it on Amazon.com under the Armchair Interviews name.

I'm Not Julia Roberts by Laura Ruby was also reviewed last week in People Magazine. Reviewer Joanne Kaufman had this to say: "Ruby makes hilariously, heart-wrenchingly clear that breaking up is hard to do" and gave the book three out of four stars.

I agree.

Here is an excerpt from my review in which I give the book four out of five stars for Amazon.com:
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I’m Not Julia Roberts is a collection of interwoven stories chronicling the blended family.

The title alludes to Julia Roberts’ character in the movie Stepmom. She is the unseen foil to Lu Klein, one of the stepmothers in this collection. Lu, along with her husband’s ex-wife Beatrix, and Beatrix’s husband’s ex-wife, Roxie, are just a few of the women we meet in this oddly interconnected world.

One of the strengths of the book is that each story has a different point of view. By the end of the book, we’ve seen not only the main characters’ own points of view, we’ve also seen these characters’ views of each other. This adds a touch of reality because we get to see everyone’s side of the story—wives, husbands, and children.

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I recommend the book. Check it out!

One of my very best friends in the whole world gave me a very nice book for my birthday a couple months ago.

No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog is a small but powerful book by Margaret Mason. Her blog can be found at Mighty Girl.com.

It is truly amazing what response will come out of one of these prompts. I chose to do one about a month ago (prompt #23), where I not only posted a sample of my handwriting but also a recording of my voice. I got more responses from readers out of that one blog entry than I had for the previous six months, AND I had several new subscribers sign up to my blog.

I highly recommend this book of prompts if you'd like to shake things up on your blog.

The Anglophile is written by Laurie Gwen Shapiro, and I chose it because I'd read her book The Matzo Ball Heiress and liked her style.

This novel, also from Red Dress Ink, was an interesting read. Chick-lit, definitely, but also an intelligent story with several fun, quirky characters.

I enjoy some, but not all, Red Dress Ink books. It truly depends on the writer. Some of the writers for RDI have a lot of language and sexual situations, whereas others do not. This one was probably in the middle in terms of profanity and bedroom scenes.

Have you formulated your own "to be read" list? If you have, kindly consider the challenge of the previous post:

http://dcwblogs.com/books/index.php/2006/12/05/2007_tbr_book_challenge

It's a great motivator for getting those books read!

Just a few months ago, I posted a picture of my Mt. TBR (for the uninitiated, that means Mount To Be Read, as in a huge stack of books that need to be read at my house!).

Then thanks to my friend Dana, I found this challenge at Miz B's blog: the 2007 TBR Challenge!

http://cafe-books.blogspot.com/2006/10/i-challenge-you.html

I accept this challenge, with Dana's addendum that the books must be books I already own.

Here is my list, in no particular order:

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
Girl Time by Laura Jensen Walker
Ambassador Families: Equipping Your Kids to Engage Popular Culture by Mitali Perkins
A Seahorse in the Thames by Susan Meissner
In All Deep Places by Susan Meissner
The Remedy for Regret by Susan Meissner
Potter Springs by Britta Coleman
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
Georgia on Her Mind by Rachel Hauck

I think this is a good mix of literary fiction, Christian fiction, Christian nonfiction, and grammar.

It's true. Paperback Swap is exactly what it claims to be, and it works!

Do you have books that you no longer want? Trade them online for merely the cost of media rate postage!

From the website:

What is PaperBackSwap? We are a group of real people who have formed a Club to swap paperback books with each other. No gimmicks. No spam. No advertising. No kidding. We are not a large corporation trying to sell you something. We're just a group of real folks who wanted a way of trading paperbacks with each other through the U.S. mail. Please read the testimonials and you will understand that this book club is for real.

We are sincere in our offer to make this work for every member of the club. The integrity of the club is built on honesty. So if you want to join a real book club, join us today.

I chose to add money to my account from Pay Pal so that I could add delivery confirmation. This is completely optional, but cheap. Knowing the book arrived has given me peace of mind about the process at Paperback Swap.

I invite you to check this out, and should you decide to join, tell them PattieRWR sent you!

www.paperbackswap.com