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Saturday, December 10, 2011

Sharing Beyond Books #26 December 10, 2011

Welcome to Sharing Beyond Books!  Happy Holidays- Counting down now 13 days until Christmas. 
Thank you for commenting last week.

There was a wider variety of all time favorite meals and favorite holiday dish. Sweet potatoes, in several recipes, seemed well liked for holidays. I like the sound of marybelle's mother's Port Wine Trifle! Abby has the most different holiday dish- crabmeat and veggies.

Fully decorated trees got the most votes for the favorite decoration. I can't imagine mamabunny's 500 ornaments - that must be a huge tree! I had to look up scottsgal's favorite "D56" which is collectable villages - nice.

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The Winner from SBB #25 comments is: #6 scottsgal. There are still 9 'love' books to pick from, 4 Christmas choices and 2 Summer titles below so scottsgal please choose a book from the remaining Love Books List for Giveaway or remaining Christmas Giveaway Books, the one summer book below OR pick from the ARC box and let me know your choice, your address and a choice of bookmarks by completing the WINNER FORM.

WEEK #26 Questions

Q1. This week winnie asks a book Q:  Do you prefer to read stand-alone books or books in a series and why?? 
A:  It is hard to say I prefer one to the other.  But I do really like series.  Extensive series, like the Eve Dallas series in the 30s, can be intimidating but series of three to ten I definitely like. In addition to many of the newer authors I have been reading I have some older favorites. I have enjoyed several series like this one by Mary Balogh:  

The Bedwyn Saga

six books

 



Also I loved the

eight books in The Bridgerton Series

by Julia Quinn



Q2. Are you ready for the holidays (a) cards sent (b) gifts bought (c) decorations up??

A:  I am sooo totally not ready. (a) The music CD cards I ordered in late October have not arrived - usually we mail them the week of Thanksgiving. (b) I have looked at gifts but not bought any serious ones. Fortunately my daughter has bought the gifts we agreed upon for the kids and my DH has bought some gifts on the internet. I still need to get his. (c) I have put out the table cloth, decorations and candles. Other than that we haven't done any. We are planning on celebrating at our daughter's house so she gets to decorate. :-)
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Thanks to those who are sending in Questions. DON'T BE SHY! Surely everyone has a Q or two you'd like to ask.  Input suggestions in this Suggested Question FormAt the end of each month I will draw from the suggestions I used the month before and that person will get a book choice or GC. I thank everyone for submitting questions but some of you others might want to get in a question or two as we have a few people submitting most of the questions so far.  Either way - it works for me. :-)

Your turn to share:

1. This week winnie asks a book Q: Do you prefer to read stand-alone books or books in a series??


2. Are you ready for the holidays (a) cards sent (b) gifts bought (c) decorations up??

SBB Comment Winners can choose a selection from the remaining  Valentine and "Love" books or the remaining Christmas Giveaway Books - there are still about 14 books available plus 2 left in the Summer titles to choose from. Also I have added the Review and ARC Box now.

My copy is a paperback from 2006
with a different cover.



A Summer Affair (Calhoun Chronicles)A Summer Affair (Calhoun Chronicles)
I love Susan Wigg's historicals!



SBB Rules: a) Must be a follower; 
b) Share a comment on any (or all) of the two/three questions above.
Open internationally and an international winner may get a smaller book or a $5.00 GC if I decide the mailing is too much.
I will pick a Comment winner from all comments made by Friday, December 16 at 10PM central.

14 comments:

  1. 1. I like both. Sometimes a series is nice because it gives you more time with a character or world, but standalones are nice, too, as there is less commitment.
    2. not mailing cards, 66% done shopping, 90% decorating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If books are part of a series, I would be reading them out of order anyway so it really doesn't matter to me about a series. I just read whatever looks interesting to me.

    Ready for Christmas?? My son hung the lights. I did buy one thing. I have no ideas what to get for anyone nor do I have money. Good thing I have a small family. My DIL likes to put up a tree and decorate so that is all up to them to do.

    I am a GFC follower

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. I would say that though I enjoy both stand-alone and series books, I would slightly prefer series books a bit more because I love seeing recurring characters, especially when there is character development or relationship development between them throughout a series. It's also nice to see and catch up with favourite characters again later in the series to see how they're doing and what they're up to. I also really like how there are some overarching story arcs that can span several books (or even a whole series). In genres like Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy, multiple books also allow the author to do more world-building and have characters, along with the reader, to explore the world more.

    2. Totally not ready for the holidays yet. Only sent cards and have some decorations up. Still need to go shopping for all the gifts.

    chibipooh(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. I like both, yet ... I often wish for a stand alone novel to have a sequel though. As to series, well, more often than not the quality gets worse when there are too many books and it'd be better to stop with, say, book no. 5 as the rest only seems to be written because the publishers want's to squeeze every last drop out of a successful series.

    2. Not sending any cards this year. Shopping!? Darn it. I knew there was something I have forgotten. Decoration is up, at least part of it. Tree won't be decorated before December 24th though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. A LOT of authors now seem to be doing series. I usually wait for all the books to be out before I commit to a series. Nothing worse then waiting for the next installment. I read stand alone books mostly.

    2. I am ready for Christmas. Just filling up the pantry & freezer now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like series like the Cynthia Harrod Eagles one - also series where it is not really connected but there is a common character like Adam Dalgleish in the P D James's series.

    Cards sent (foreign) but local have to be dfone, gifts not even thought of since almost everyone gets cash!!Hardly any decorating as I am not at home for C hristmas. Back to Melbourne.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. I agree with Ricki and series are great to really get to know characters and worlds. But with a huge TBR list, I am really enjoying standalone books right now.

    2. I don't mail cards. I have all shopping done except stocking stuffers. And I have 75% all wrapped. We put our tree and decorations up on Friday, so that's all done.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like both too. I like series because there tends to be more character development. edysicecreamloverr18@gmailDOTcom
    Cards are already mailed here, decorating is finished, and gifts are only about half done.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I like both - but I like the series book to be able to stand alone. Sometimes a series has too many characters to remember

    We've been decorated since before Thanksgiving and only a few more things to buy

    msboatgal at aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1. I like both :) Standalones because they are nice and quick, series you get to understand the world/characters ext better :) so both :)

    2. a) we don't do cards, but we do do a letter around now, and my mom just wrote it, and I just signed it just minuets ago :)

    b)we have a few gifts, mostly for the cousins :)

    c) just put them up today. Today was very holidayish :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. 1. I don't have a preference either way.

    2. I don't celebrate the holidays.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I actually like both but what I enjoy about series books is reading about new characters and seeing the previous ones return. It's a little like a family reunion or old friends popping in..

    I'm not even half way through but I have to hustle this week for sure. Getting the Flu sidelined me. I'm usually done by the end of the first week in December.
    Carol L.
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  13. 1. Some books are so good I don't want them to end so it's nice to read a series but stand-alones are nice because I don't have to wait for the next one to come out. That's why I like both.

    2. I'm almost ready for the holidays. My decorations are up and cards are ready to be mailed. I'm not able to buy gifts this year (just one for my mom) because I'm pooling my money together to buy a ticket to send my youngest daughter to visit my oldest daughter (not able to come home this year) in Chicago for three weeks! (We live near Virginia Beach)I'm so excited that they will be spending the holidays together! They will have so much fun and that's a wonderful present for me!

    mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I like both. Sometimes stand alone is just fine,but sometimes a series is needed!

    No I am not ready lol! I did not get cards sent out this year :( And I bought all the gifts but none are wrapped yet will be putting in many hours of wrapping in the next 24 hours!

    Merry Christmas!

    ashleylittlehandprintsdaycare(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete

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