Long overdue: Recognizing awards I’ve received and updating tabs, sidebar

I’ve hashed and rehashed, “vised” and revised my views on blog awards and memes so many times that it isn’t funny. However, I think what I have finally decided at least with awards is that I will recognize them on a separate page, mainly to give the credit back to the bloggers who sent them to me. As for tagging/nominating others, though, I won’t be participating in that, because I’ll be honest

1. it takes too much time choosing bloggers and setting up links for a whole awards post, when I could be spending time catching up on reviews and my other four blogs,
2. it clutters up my sidebar with look at me, look at me, instead of putting the focus on the books I’m reading, and
3. I truly believe the blogosphere is overloaded with book bloggers who deserve recognition. That’s why I don’t have a blogroll, but instead have a link to my del.icio.us list of book bloggers and refer you to That Book Addiction’s list of the Book Blogger Appreciation Week participants, some (if not many) which have yet to be added to my list.

Here are the awards I’ve received, mostly within the last month:

Starting with Gautami Tripathy @ Reading Room who presented me with one of these:

Then I received from Margaret @ BooksPlease this one:

and finally just last week from Bethany @ B&B Ex Libris I received this one:

Thank you, all three of you. I appreciate it.

Other administrative news

In addition to the awards sidebar, I’ve added or reconfigured a few others at the top of the blog. Check them out at your convenience, and I’ve cleaned up my sidebar, while also adding what I’m reading now, just finished and what’s in the queue. This week, it’s continuing with my Personal Banned Books Week Challenge. Tonight I finished and read The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. If I can get to the review tonight, I will, but I’ve been reading either the book or on the screen here, so I might be giving myself a break.

A review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone also is still forthcoming, but I would guess that most of you have read that already and I’m not probably not going to tell you a lot more than what you already know. Needless to say, yes, I liked it– and better than the movie. When I do get to the review, though, it won’t be very long.

Tomorrow, I’m reading The Giver by Lois Lowry and on Thursday, Black Boy by Richard Wright.