May 2010

That's a Wrap - May 2010

I thought that I would send the blog hoppers to my monthly "That's a Wrap" post - just to kill two birds with one stone. If you are interested in joining in the Book Blogger Hop, check out Crazy for Books.

I have been struggling this week because of the surgery on my eyes, so I apologise for the lack of comments on other people's blogs. 

One big change here at Page Turners during May and that is the new design of Page Turners. It is the fourth time that I have made major changes to my design, and this time I think that I have really hit the spot. I love it. I am not responsible for the changes, so if you are interested in learning more about the design changes then click here. 

I of course had my usual memes; Lights Camera Blog Action (each Thursday) and Book Beginnings on Friday. If you haven't participated in this meme before, join in by clicking on this link.

May is one of my favourite months of the year because it is the Sydney Writers Festival! Make sure you click on the link and read all about my wonderful weekend at the Festival.

I reviewed 8 books this month, and a lot of them got very high ratings, it was a good reading month:

• A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif (7 / 8)
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (8 / 8, Australian)
• Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville (6 / 8, Australian)
• The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (7 / 8)
• The Man with Two Left Feet and Other Stories by PG Wodehouse (5 / 8)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (7.5 / 8)
• Silk by Alessandro Baricco (7.5 / 8)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (8 / 8)

Not as many Australian books as I would have liked, but I will try and make up for that in June. One Australian book that I had delayed writing a review of is The Book Thief, but the review is finally complete! I am quite surprised at the number of books that got a 7 / 8 or above, and 2 books got 8 / 8 - that is almost unheard of. 

If you are interested in learning more about me, I had a range of fun posts with the aim of sharing little tid bits about me and my reading habits. Some of them are Q & A's that you can participate in too:

• 25 things about me
• Fun Q&A for everyone about reading habits, and
• My book rating trends

I also had a post about my confusion in relation to all the different types of genres that are out there, and how exactly we determine what genre a book actually is. This post generated a lot of conversation and suggestions, so if it something that confuses/interests you too, make sure you take the time to see what other people have to say about this.

I ran a couple of polls about sidebars and book purchasing habits which had interesting results.

Lastly, it is coming up to my 1-year blogoversary and I had a quick post about what I am considering doing to celebrate. I am hoping to get 200 followers by then - which means I needs just over 20 followers to join up y 22 June. So, if you are not a follower yet, and you like the look of Page Turners, feel free to join in the fun and become a follower! You might win something in my blogoversary giveaways!

And that is Page Turners in May. I know there might be a little bit too much for you to have a look everything, but I would recommend checking out some of my reviews this month, I really read some wonderful books and hope that June is better again!

I would love to see how you went this May. If you have a monthly wrap up post, please leave a link to it in the comments. My eyes are quite painful at the moment, so I can't promise I will read them all immediately, but I will have a look at them as soon as I can!