Discovery of the Week: Goodreads

I finally have an account on Goodreads, this week’s Discovery of the Week!

I know I’m really behind the times on this week’s topic but hey, it’s better to show up to the party late rather than never, right? Goodreads has been around for seven years and I’ve been seeing Facebook notifications pretty much ever since. For any who don’t know, Goodreads is a social network for readers. I’m kind of on a books kick right now, actually, I’m always on one. You can review things you’ve already read, select books you want to read, and even highlight what you’re currently reading.

You can also “friend” people on the site, just like Facebook, and read their reviews on things they’ve read. It’s a really cool way to keep all of your reading lists together in one place, and it’s great that you can suggest things to people you know, or get suggestions from them on what to read.

This is another great source of information on new books to discover and I can easily see this being very dangerous. I already have a reading pile at least 50 books high at home, a Pinterest board of things I want to read that has around 85 titles on it, and no time in my schedule to read any of them. Still, I’m excited to explore Goodreads and see what books other people are talking about.

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Discovery of the Week: Problems of a Book Nerd

Last week I mentioned how great Tumblr is for new discoveries. Well Buzzfeed is another great source for finding cool new corners of the internet.

This week’s discovery actually involves both of those sites. I’d like to introduce you to Problems of a Book Nerd.

Thanks to this Buzzfeed post, I learned about Problems of a Book Nerd, a tumblr devoted to posts about issues book lovers face.

People submit “book nerd problems” and the creator of the blog goes through them and decides which ones to share, then numbers them, and posts them (at the time of this post there were over 650 “problems).

This is an example of some of the many posts. They’re funny little situations that many readers have either experienced, or heard stories of. I’ve seen a lot of these pinned on Pinterest and posted on Facebook. I never knew where they came from and I’m so glad I found this tumblr. I’m currently working my throw the archives. My favorite so far is this one below.

I love the note at the bottom. I think that’s a beautiful thought.

In addition to these posts, the girl who runs the blog answers questions her followers have messaged her. Most of them have to do with favorite books and book experiences but occasionally there are some other, non-book related questions topics.

I’m still figuring out this whole Tumblr thing and I like that I’m finding new blogs to follow. I love reading and I never have enough time in my schedule to do so as much as I’d like. So, I have to live vicariously through Pinterest book boards and now Tumblr blogs like this one.

Discovery of the Week: Art in My Coffee

Tumblr is great for new discoveries (although I think I actually found this through Story by ModCloth) because there are endless blogs on every single topic you could think of. Practically anyone can go on there and find a blog devoted to their favorite things.

This week I’d like to share with you Art in My Coffee.

Art in My Coffee is pretty much exactly what it sounds like …

It’s just a bunch of photos people have taken of the foam designs in their lattes and cappuccinos. It’s pretty awesome for people like me who like coffee and love looking at pictures of it. The only issue with such a blog is that I always want to go sit in a cafe and read a book while I have a nice hot cup of coffee after looking at these pictures, rather than do my work.

Discovery of the Week: Story by ModCloth

It’s been a while, I know but Christmas kind of snuck up me and in all the chaos of holiday prep, I got busy, and sick. I’m still recovering from my stupid cold and I’ve even started back at work so I thought this would be a perfect time to pick up the blog again. It is one of my New Year’s resolutions to be more consistent with “Discovery of the Week.” We’ll see how that goes …

On to the new discovery of the week: Story by ModCloth. ModCloth has a blog!

Photo courtesy of http://blog.modcloth.com/

For those of you who don’t know, ModCloth is a vintage-inspired clothing website. They sell women’s clothes, shoes, accessories, and knickknacks. I absolutely love their products but they do tend to fall on the more expensive side of things. Luckily, ModCloth has a bunch of sales throughout the year, and you can even “like” an item and ask to be notified when it is on sale or back in stock.

Being a member of the site, and signed up for the email list, I wasn’t very surprised to see an email from ModCloth in my inbox recently, advertising new skirts. What did intrigue me was the little icon at the bottom that advertised the ModCloth blog. I immediately had to check it out.

They have several different categories, including but not limited to Fashion, Beauty, and Lifestyle. Each of these has their own subcategories and features. I’m not sure how long they have been up and running but they have a pretty hefty backlog I’m going to be working through so I would guess at least a year, probably two (can’t believe I’ve been missing out that long!). The creative team behind the blog seems to be built from like-minded designers and writers from around the internet. Several even have their own fashion blogs (more stuff for me to discover!).

Courtesy of http://blog.modcloth.com/about-us/

It is adorable, as all ModCloth things are and it is on WordPress! How wonderful is it that they are right here on WordPress? I love discovering new blogs, and it is even more excellent that it is on a platform I’m already utilizing. This will make it easier for me to stay on top of new posts and such.

Discovery of the Week: “Emma Approved”

A little over a year ago I discovered this charming little web series titled, “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.”

In case you didn’t pick up on the reference in the title, the series is a modern take on Jane Austen’s beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice. Presented as a grad school new media project, Lizzie (Elizabeth) Bennet shares her life, and that of her sisters, with the internet. It is well executed and cleverly updated for this day and age.

It was co-created by Bernie Su, and Hank Green, who gained fame with his project “Brotherhood 2.0,” where he and his brother communicated almost solely through vlogs for a year. I haven’t yet seen the series of videos but I loved “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” so I’m interested to see where Green got his start.

With Lizzie’s success came a Kickstarter campaign, an Emmy, and the creation of a few spin offs, including one of Austen’s short stories, Sanditon.

Most recently (my newest discovery) “Emma Approved,” which is a modern version of Austen’s Emma, has turned up on the internet. And I LOVE it! I’m a huge fan of Austen’s work and I’ve always eagerly sought out new adaptations. So when I heard the creators of “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” were taking on Emma, I was thrilled. In the series Emma is a kind of life counselor and match maker. She works with Mr. Knightley, who is also a family friend, and Harriet Smith, who is her eager, although slightly awkward assistant.

I think they got the essence of Emma perfect and I like the interpretations of the other characters. I really like their Mr. Knightley and I love the actress they got to play Emma. I’m still catching up on episodes as I only realized a week ago that they had started uploading videos but so far it’s good.

The success of “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” and this new series make me wonder if they’ll tackled any other Austen works. My personal favorite is Persuasion and I would be very interested to see how they would update that story.