The Weekly Update: 4/9/17

 
 

I only posted three posts this week and didn’t do a ton of blog hopping because I’ve felt kinda meh and my tennis elbow has gotten bad again. I keep rubbing arnica cream onto it. I have no idea if it’s helping. It’s a lot easier than soaking in epsom salt though. Honestly I think they both do help some, it’s just that I still keep using my arm and making it hurt more.

In other random news, I changed my phone background again! (Yes, that’s exciting for me lol.) For a while, I had this picture of Robot IV from Saga:

Phone Background - Robot IV

Then, for a while I had this picture of Dorian and Noah from The Immortal Coil:

Phone Background - Dorian & Noah

But after reading Saga Vol. 7 the other week, I’ve ended up with this as my latest background:

Phone Background - Robot IV Shirtless

I told you guys before, this comic is doing weird things to my brain. I shouldn’t be attracted to a character with a TV for a head, but I am. So I’ve embraced it. Clearly.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save


Blog/Bookish Updates:

I played around with some stuff on my blog for a while last Sunday, wanted to change my design a bit (nothing drastic), but after trying a whole bunch of things, all I ended up doing was changing the shade of pink I use for link hovers and changing how the blockquotes look -_- I’m such a risk-taker, guys. I had to mention it though because, if I didn’t, it would drive Lola crazy trying to figure out what was different because she is super observant and always notices when I change even the slightest design thing 😛

I also tried to come up with a header image, but all I came up with was this:

And eh. The colors don’t match the moonlight in the title and I feel like it looks too cutesy for the title too. I suppose it might look better sticking with the black and white, but then I might as well not bother with the stars and moon at all. I’ve considered changing the blog colors, even though red is my favorite, but I can’t find anything that looks good and fits.

Also, just a note so no one gets confused, right now I have one category for “Discussions” and one called “Bookish Musings,” but I’m going to start calling them all “Bookish Musings.” I’m also changing the schedule a bit so that Mondays and Wednesdays will just be non-review posts (i.e. I used to always post discussions on Wed, but now they might be on Mon, or other post types might be on Wed).

Lastly, I started reading webcomics! Well I started one and found numerous others that I want to read. I don’t know how I should count them toward my annual goal though. Like, individual chapters are usually pretty short, but the one I started reading isn’t even complete yet and is only listed on GR in chapters right now. So should I count each chapter as a book, or should I only count the entire webcomic as a book? Should I review each chapter separately? Should I decide based on how it’s sold on Amazon (if it’s sold there at all)? Does any of this even matter? This is such a first world problem, isn’t it?

One other question about comics… what is a good umbrella term to use? Like, do webcomics and manga fall under the umbrella of graphic novels? I feel like a graphic novel is a collection of comic issues or a longer comic, but can it just kind of cover everything?

 

Books I Received for Review:

Synthesis: Weave by Deane Saunders-Stowe
Glass Faerie by Rachel Morgan
 

A sci-fi book with disability! (There’s actually a guy climbing the cliff with a wheelchair, it’s just hard to see on the small cover.) And the next book in the Creepy Hollow series!

Books I Finished:

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Starfighter Ch. 4 by Hamlet Machine
Starfighter Ch. 4 by Hamlet Machine
 

Warm Bodies was so creative and even poignant at times, but it was slow and easy to put down, which was why I didn’t get much reading done. Starfighters, honestly, is not a very good story, it’s mostly just about sex and an abusive sociopath. This is my first time reading yaoi. Is that just what it’s all like? But the art is pretty, and I find comics a lot easier to concentrate on and a better distraction than regular novels when I’m not feeling well. Oh, and it’s free since it’s a webcomic.

 

Song of the Week:

“I Can’t Help Falling in Love (Cover)” by Twenty One Pilots – This is just such a great cover!

 
 

In Case You Missed It:

– I explained how to use Gmail filters to keep author newsletters (or any type of email) from cluttering up your inbox.
– I reviewed Nightingale Girl by M. R. Pritchard, a paranormal/urban fantasy with complex, likeable characters and a unique premise.
– I reviewed Fallocaust by Quil Carter, a super dark and disturbing M/M post-apoc.

 

The Sunday Post Link-Up:

Once again, I’m linking up to The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer 🙂

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Have you found any great books, music, or videos recently?
Do you ever use arnica cream?
Do you also think Robot IV is hot?
How should I count webcomics?
Does "graphic novel" work as an umbrella term?

 
 
[shared_counts]
 
 
 

Your Thoughts

 

74 thoughts on “The Weekly Update: 4/9/17

I'd love if you'd share your thoughts, too!

 

Leave a Reply to Lola Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 
  1. Greg

    Okay so the guy has a TV for a head?!? I clearly need to be reading Saga at some point lol. And yes the first world problems we have to deal with. 🙂 I actually don’t like the term graphic novel, I tend to use the term trade paperback to refer to collected editions of comics. The two terms are sorta used interchangeably. It’s a preference thing I guess. Most bloggers seem to use GN. And… I’m not sure webcomics or manga would fit under TPB, so there is that.

    There’s no right or wrong way I guess? I think manga can fall under GN but someone who knows manga better than me may know. Webcomics – I read Order of the Stick and he collects those into TPB/ GN’s so if I was going to review them I might review those collections? But I could just as easily review each weekly installment. Good luck figuring it out. 🙂

    Synthesis Weave And Glass faerie- love both those covers!

    Yes Robot 4 is hot lololo

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yep, the robots have TV heads lol. And you should definitely read Saga if you can get it!

      Huh, I wouldn’t have known what a trade paperback was, like, I would’ve just assumed it was some sort of normal paperback, not a comic or GN. But yeah, idk if webcomics and manga fit under that. But sometimes webcomics are collected and sold all together, which to me would then be considered a GN. Idk, I just need something to use in my post titles and I already have “Book Review” and “Graphic Novel Review” and really don’t want to have to add even more categories lol. I want a way to group all the comics. Suppose I could use “Comic” but that doesn’t sound good either.

      They are nice covers! And hey, he may not have a face, but he still has a nice body, haha.

  2. Di @ Book Reviews by Di

    Oh no Kristen. I’m sorry your tennis elbow got bad again. I hope that it was better this week and I’m awaiting your next update.

    Oi – graphics, especially for ourselves, are so hard!!! I do like what you have already though!

    Glass Faerie looks cool. I might have to go and check that series out! See you later today with THIS week’s post!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks <3

      Ugh, seriously! I mean, I like what I have to? But it's just black and white text, and everyone else has this big pretty headers, and I kinda want something with some sort of image or something?

      You should definitely check out the Creepy Hollow series, I think you might like it! But this is this week's post, unless I'm misunderstanding? Maybe you're more caught up than you thought 😛

      1. Di @ Book Reviews by Di

        Bahaha. So, I’m TOTALLY not confused AT ALL.

        I’m definitely not more caught up than I thought, but I guess I am far less on top of dates than I should be ;p I blame the backwards m.d.y thing you guys have going on!

        1. Kristen Burns

          Haha so not caught up, just confused, got it 😉 No worries, I get confused when dates are written in a different order than I’m used to too, though I think you’re the backwards ones 😛

  3. Annemieke

    Tennis elbows are the worst. My had had them on both sides and they developed into more and he had to get surgery ._. I hope your will get better with more rest though.

    Graphics suck. I have given up. I can’t graphic to save my life so I just stick with my butterfly haha. I don’t know even how to edit the basic lay out I got from wordpress, lol.

      1. Kristen Burns

        Don’t worry, I’m even worse because I thought you said you had tennis elbow before I saw this comment and then went back and looked at the first one again lol.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thank you <3 It doesn't seem to be a problem that's going to go away though. Hopefully I can at least keep it from getting really bad.

      I've got the website coding down pat enough to make my site look how I want it to lol, I just can't figure out what to do for a darn header!

  4. Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

    That’s a lot of questions this week, Kristen!! And I don’t really have any answers for you. I read webcomics every now and then, too… I love Cyanid and Happiness, because they are SO sarcastic and rather dark 😀
    I want to change things with the blog a little, too, but at the same time, I don’t. I have found shades of pink/ purple that are light enough that it’s easy to read… and there aren’t that many other things to change.
    Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      I know, I almost added another question just to ask why I was asking so many questions this week, haha. Cyanide and Happiness are just short little things though, right? I would really have no idea how to count that. The one I’m reading is like one long story split into “chapters,” but Ch 1 was 40-something “pages,” Ch 2 was 60-something, Ch 3 was 89… so I don’t know since those are still short compared to books.

      Yeah, I sometimes want to change things on the blog but then just never do. *shrugs* Thanks, you have a great week too!

  5. Evelina

    Aww, sorry about your elbow. I’ve had an insane working week as well, did NO posts ;_; apart from the Sunday post just now. Jesus was it busy.

    You should just try something more serious for your elbow… I use Diclac, but I don’t know if you guys have it. Based on diclofenac, it makes the inflammation go a way. One week of threatment is usually enough to make it go away for a long time.

    Haha, I’m not one of those people who change phone backgrounds at all xD Saga seems interesting though, a lot of people are raving about it now.

    My friend has promised to help me on my blog design (cause I can’t do anyt WP stuff myself), but my blog is basically weeping right now. I hate everything about it, especially how I need to wrestle divs and spans all the time to make ANYTHIGN work at all. So totally meh. I hope he can help me soon.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I haven’t taken NSAIDs for like ten years ever since an allergic reaction to ibuprofen left half my body covered in hives for like a week, so trying something like that wouldn’t be worth the risk for me :-/

      I feel like changing my phone background is a simple way to just mix things up a bit 😛 But yes, you should totally read Saga!

      I mean, I’m pretty happy with my blog design, but then I also just kind of want it to have more color or something? I don’t really know, that’s why I never end up changing anything lol. I’m sorry you’re unhappy with yours though! If you know how to wrestle divs and spans, you must have some understanding of code, right? Maybe you can learn and do the design yourself!

      1. Evelina

        WOOOOOOOW. Well that’s scary 😀 yeah, but it might be fine.. Since it’s not ibuprofen maybe? Meh. Is it better now anyway..? Also, you can try just soaking it in a very strong saline solution. Salt never hurt anyone, and it helps immensely with joint pain. It’s the kind of home remedy that I’m sure won’t give you any allergies 🙂 my mom used to use it on her thumb a lot. She has this little cute tall shot glass, so she’d stick her thumb into that with really really salty water, and walked around with it 😀 it was hilarious.

        And yeah, I had a little background in coding (I graduated electronics engineering), but I already don’t have time for LIFE as it is, self-employed, only working person in the family currently, and also blogging 😀 even that aside… I hate any kind of programming so much. I took a webdesign course around 2005, actually, and it has left me scarred ever since 😀

        1. Kristen Burns

          They’re all NSAIDS though, and apparently if you’re allergic to one, there’s a chance you’re allergic to others. Saline wouldn’t hurt, but I’m not sure it’d help with muscle pain? I’ve been soaking in epsom salt soaks. Unfortunately soaking your entire forearm all the way above your elbow is not nearly as simple as soaking a finger and requires a big ass two-foot long container lol.

          Wow, you sound like a very busy person! But haha, why did it scar you?! I really enjoy webdesign, but not to the point that I want to do a whole bunch of research and figure out how to code entire themes or unique plugins from scratch or something. I love messing around with my own site and stuff though.

          1. Evelina

            Seriously? Wow. That’s pretty bad though, being allergic to that :/ haha, yeah, soaking your entire arm must be annoying. We don’t have Epsom salts here, but I suppose it’s at least half the same..?
            I remember my mom used to also heat up normal salt on the pan and then wrap her arm into stuff with the salt in there. It keeps the heat for a long time, she would sort of… use it as a heating agent, I guess. What can I say. My mom loves salt 😀
            Oh, I… Was very good at the web design theory. So much so that I won this contest… It was like a trivia thing. But the second part of the contest was “make a website in an hour” and I suffered incredible embarrassment. It was terrible, we only ever studied theory, I didn’t know how to actually make one, didn’t make it in time (cause I had never practiced it) and it was all around awful. Then we had to do a project for ‘graduation’ and I also didn’t know what to start with. And it wasn’t that I couldn’t make the website technically, I could – the problem was the design. I had no idea what I want it to look like or how big or small things should be, and WHY it looks so ugly, lol. I didn’t even finish and have been disgusted with it ever since. Just brings back too many bad memories. Also, I don’t have enough patience with messing with things when they don’t work 😀 wish I did… I could make my blog look like… a blog. Cause a friend has promised to sort out my theme ages ago, but he has never been able to get to it.

            1. Kristen Burns

              I guess it is because all I can take for cramps or injuries or whatever is Tylenol, but I’m kinda used to it? Saves me the confusion of having to figure out whether I should take aspirin or ibuprofen or whatever since for me it’s always just Tylenol lol. Epsom salt is kinda a misleading name since it’s not the same as salt. It’s actually magnesium sulfate, which sounds scary but it’s not and you just buy it at the drugstore or grocery store lol. Really helpful for lots of things though, including stress since stress depletes your body of magnesium, and magnesium is able to be absorbed through the skin when you dissolve the epsom salt into water.

              I guess we all have our go-to things!

              Lol I shouldn’t be laughing. I’m sorry for your traumatizing web design experience. I find the messing with things part to be fun. Honestly, I just love the feeling of being like, “Ok, I want *this* to happen,” and then actually making that thing happen. But your blog looks like a blog! Idk what you have against it? Could you just get a new theme if you don’t like your current one? Sorry, I keep asking questions and making you feel obligated to keep answering when you probably have other things to do!

              1. Evelina

                Tylenol helps as a pain relief? I thought that was only for like… fever and stuff. Tylenol is majorly unpopular here though, just a brand thing I guess. We even treat our fevers with iboprofen here xD aspirin isn’t very popular either, somehow. Possibly because we were in the Soviet Union during its golden era and had different medicine.
                Ha, interesting, we don’t have anything like Epsom salt here at all, either. It’s a western thing I’ve only heard of in books 😀 that’s pretty cool though, cause magnesium deficiency problems are annoying, and show me a person who is not suffering from that 😀 #21stcenturyproblems

                As for my blog, I was just so unhappy with the lack of freedom you get with a theme, unless you’re into programming! If you have 2 hours for your blog per week, AND do not know how to CSS and stuff, you will honestly never get your blog to look ANYTHING like you want it. Most themes won’t even let you change the color of the links, which is just so annoying. My problem with it is that it wastes screen space horribly, and I can’t put things I want on it. Some sidebar widgets won’t work, and right now my sidebar is pretty much useless. I should put a search bar on it, but if I do, that takes like HALF THE SCREEN. And then it’s useless to have any other widgets… Then there’s no way to just put nice looking category widgets there.. Just plain old text, no filtering.. It’s all so very limiting if you don’t know web design or programming, and even if I did, I would have no time to mess around with it. I’m also unhappy with my color scheme… I COULD pick another theme, but I’m afraid to switch without someone to help out, because I just know I will have so many switching problems, like some things not showing up, some things looking awful.. Then there’s that whole alignment thing. Like how my blog won’t let me use pictures and banner buttons underneath. I have to wrestle with divs and then it will not even aling them all alright. No, it has to like… Aling them in these stairs..? Like if I want pictures to be underneath pictures, there is no way to make it align by top, it will always take a step down so it’s just… messed up. Basically I can’t align buy links under my book images. Goddamn annoying is what it is, spent hours on it and now I just include text links because my blog just won’t let me do it, no matter what I try. Hate it -.- especially because I don’t have time for that. Busy enough with work, life and everything else… basically, it’s all those little things. Very tiny things for which you’d have to learn SO MUCH you’d have to basically take a college class for it. And I would love to use that time for ACTUAL reading 😀 not messing with my blog, which is not enjoyable at all…
                You’re totally right about the new theme, but like I said. There are no good ones… I’d have to customize.. It’s something I can’t do. And migrating to a new theme is BOUND to give me hell, because so many things will be off. I don’t even know what my old blog posts would look like. You should know that migrating always makes a lot of problems, and if you don’t really know your stuff in coding, and don’t have time for it, you’re up for some real trouble.

                1. Kristen Burns

                  Yep, I take Tylenol for headaches and cramps, and it helps. It’s not anti-inflammatory though. That sucks that you don’t have epsom salt though, it’s so useful!

                  I mean, I know there are tons of free themes out there, and some of them offer more customization than others. But no, you’ll never get it *exactly* how you want without coding, which is why I started to learn. I’m not really sure what you mean about the image aligning. You mean like, a book cover image, an image underneath that, then another book cover lined up with the first one, and an image underneath that, etc.? You’d have to use a table for that or do something all convoluted with css and html like I do to get my book covers lined up perfectly or maybe just use percentages for width, so that would be a pain with any theme. But just changing themes isn’t risky like changing hosts. You can even test how different ones will look when you go to the appearance >> themes section. But yeah, if you’ve added html and stuff into your posts, then changing themes might screw up the look of some posts. And I recommend saving any text you have in your sidebar if you do switch because once when I switched themes it randomly removed some of my widgets from the sidebar, but that was the only weird thing that happened to me. I understand what you’re saying though that if you’re busy, then yeah, you just don’t have the time to learn code AND get blog posts done AND read.

                  But for the categories, you could always just use a text widget and add the category links yourself. That’s what I did since I also just wanted some really simple links 🙂

                2. Evelina

                  Yeah, my blog doesn’t even have tables. Wish it did. But it just… Doesn’t have it in the panel at all! Maybe I could just HTML code it, that’s an idea, but I wrestled with the DIVs so much that I just thought, to hell with it. I will just not include links 😀

                  Convoluted CSS is bad though. Cause screens and phones? So what if it looks good on my screen? Means nothing…

                  But yeah, I bet a table would help. Can I just HTML put it in there? Cause there’s no such option on my WP normal post creation panel.

                  Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll keep that in mind 🙂

                  And the reply button is gone so I’m replying my comment 😀

                  1. Kristen Burns

                    The panel is the back end is the same for every theme, so yeah you’d have to add it with HTML regardless of what theme you use. I never use tables though, so idk how they work with mobile screens or anything.

                    Well by convoluted I meant that, for my blog, each cover in those rows of books covers I have uses like five divs, each with their own css rules in order to kind of cheat and get the divs to use percentages. Maybe not the best thing to do, but I did it that way specifically because I wanted it to still be perfect no matter the screen size or the cover size.

                    Yeah, sorry, it’s set to a certain amount of replies because each comment scoots over and it looks too squished if it goes too far lol.

                3. Evelina

                  Oh no, the panel is not the same for all WP blogs 🙂 I have access to a few marketing blogs I ghost write for. They are totally different. I haven’t seen one panel that looked the same 🙂 so I guess it does depend on the theme..? Or god knows what.

                  I’ve also tried wrestling with CSS to make divs work that way, but I guess there’s something in my theme that doesn’t allow it, because no matter what, if you put two pics in a div, or divs in a div, it will make the next div make these “stairs”. It aligns by something weird. Not the middle, the top maybe, and you can try whatever you want with CSS and you won’t override it. I guess that’s what you get with black boxes – must be something in the theme that’s just got a higher say in this.

                  ONE DAY I will have a simple theme that will not have these problems, because it will be SIMPLE AND EASY xD let me dream 😀

                  1. Kristen Burns

                    Are you talking about the meta box where you actually type the post content? I’ve tried different themes, and I thought it was the same for all of them. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention since I usually just type any code I need myself.

                    Without actually seeing your code and your theme and all that though, I really don’t know how to help with the image problem :-/

                4. Evelina

                  Maybe it was the same for you 🙂 maybe it’s also about different WP versions? I have seen three blogs where it was night and day 😀

                  Yeah, I have pretty much given up with the div problem. Still hoping my friend can fix up a new theme for me, cause he said he knows how to deal with that xD here’s to hoping for the best…

  6. Cee Arr

    OMG I just left a comment talking about Starfighter on your Fallocaust review! XD So we both read it this week…? Spoopy! And I’ve been counting Starfighter as separate books per chapter, because it does wonders for the GR total 😉

    Like I said in my last comment, I can’t actually recommend it in good conscience b/c abuse – but the story def. picks up in Chaps 3 & 4 (but there’s a creepy pervy Navigator commander in… 4, I think it was.) (But Encke and Keeler are freaking adorable.)

    1. Kristen Burns

      Do you by any chance also subscribe to C.S. Pacat’s newsletter? Because that’s where I heard about Starfighter. And yeah, I cracked up when I saw you mention Starfighter because what were the odds, and I already responded 😀 Yeah, so far I’ve been counting chapters as separate books. I feel like I’m cheating though since they’re so short! Lol.

      But yeah, I’ve been posting little mini reviews as I go for each chapter on GR, mostly complaining about the abusive relationship and lack of story lol. But I did think it picked up some in Ch 3! Haven’t started Ch. 4 yet. I’m kind of dreading it though for the sole reason that once I finish Ch. 4, I’m gonna have to wait forever for Ch. 5 to be finished! And I’d rather wait for the whole thing than read week by week.

      1. Cee Arr

        I don’t actually subscribe to that newsletter – I just have an unhealthy obsession with Goodreads lists! Lol.

        Is that the author who wrote Captive Prince? I’ve heard that’s abusive too, so that kind of fits!

        1. Kristen Burns

          Yes she is that author, but I actually loved Captive Prince! It started with one character as a slave so I was worried it’d be like a Stockholm Syndrome thing but in the end I thought it was done well and loved their relationship.

  7. Geybie's Book Blog

    Sorry to hear about your elbow, Kristen. I haven’t been feeling well myself but I’m getting better. I know it sucker to be sick. Anyway, the new header looks great… CUTE. Hehe.. 😀
    I’m watching the cover while typing now and you’re right, wow.. He is awesome. It needs more love. 😀
    Have a great week. Enjoy your books this week. 😀

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks, and sorry you aren’t feeling well, glad you’re getting better though 🙂 And thanks about the header idea!

      It is a great cover, right?!

      Thanks, same to you 🙂

  8. sjhigbee

    I love your phone background – I’m so terribly boring in that I’ve just got one of the generic wallpapers:). I’m really sorry that your elbow is playing up – I’m guessing that using the computer aggravates it… Have you got a really good keyboard? I was getting wrist and finger joint issues until my son bought me a gaming keyboard which has a lovely touch and rubber pads under each key and the pain simply disappeared. They are more expensive than the usual run of keyboards, but given it heavy use it gets it’s been worth it – that was 4 years ago and it’s still going strong. I also swear by a wrist rest and a mousemat with a rest… Hope your elbow calms down soon:(. Have a good week, Kristen. My Sunday Post – https://sjhigbee.wordpress.com/2017/04/09/sunday-post-9th-april-2017/

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! I look at my phone so much that I like having something as my background that makes me happy. And books I love make me happy! I made some adjustments to my desk area and do have a wrist rest which I thought was helping… When I move in a few months, I’m gonna try and get some better stuff, including a new desk that’s a better height. Thanks, you have a good week too 🙂

  9. chucklesthescot

    I have a bookshelf on Goodreads called graphic-cartoon, and this is where I put books that are more picture than text-kids picture books, graphic novels, adult cartoons, Walking Dead, manga etc. It makes it all easy to find. I don’t read comics or webcomics so I can’t really add any thoughts to the discussion. Generally I don’t read chapters at a time, only complete books but if I did I’d personally review and rate each as they appeared on GR but not count a chapter as a book for the Goodreads reading challenge.

    I found Warm Bodies too slow and didn’t finish it!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I do include graphic novels in my book count since those are at least 140+ pages, even though they are significantly quicker than regular books. It’s just the webcomics that I’m not sure what to do with. The chapters do seem super short though, I feel like I’m cheating, not that it actually matters lol.

      Yeah, Warm Bodies was definitely slow. I’m pondering whether to try the second book, but eh. I probably won’t.

  10. Michelle @Because Reading

    Sorry your elbow is still giving you problems, you really need to rest it!
    I have Link on my phone screen and my start screen is a picture of me and the kids in minecraft (our skins) it’s the best picture I have of the three of us and it isn’t even us. lol

    I never read a webcomic! I now want to read one. I think I know of one but I can’t think of the name of it. It’s steampunk. Oh this is gonna drive me crazy now…..I’ll remember it later at some point or I could google what I remember.

    anyway! I hope you have an awesome week, Kristen! Happy Reading! ox

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks, but ugh, I need my arm/wrist/fingers to do everything, I’d be bored out of my mind trying to rest it!

      Hahaha, I’m cracking up about how that’s the best picture of the three of you.

      Well, if I find any particularly good webcomics, I’ll let you know! I’m not much into steampunk though.

      Thanks, same to you!

  11. Samantha

    Wait… how does a guy with a TV for a head kiss? How can you crush on a guy who can’t kiss? (but the rest of that body is looking good!).
    Enjoy your reads!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I have no idea. Kissing would be a problem. In Vol. 7 one character mentioned something about always wanting to see how the robots drink lol. But yes, I can still enjoy looking at his body, haha. Thanks!

  12. Mareli Thalwitzer

    Phone Backgrounds…. I took a photo of a stack of books about a year ago and that photo is just the background of well, everything. LOL!!!! I am terrible with things like that. I love your blog just the way it is. But you know that!!! I always go on and on about it. But I do like the stars and moon graphic as well.

    Hope you will have a good week and that your tennis elbow is better…..

    1. Kristen Burns

      A photo of books is good! Mine is just a specific character from a book lol. And thank you about the blog design <3 But idk, I probably won't even end up using the stars and moon graphic lol.

      Thanks 🙂

  13. Lola

    Sorry to hear you’ve been feeling meh and your tennis elbow is playing up again :(. I only posted three post these week as well as I am hoping I can actually reply and maybe comment back in time then, but I’ve been so busy this week I am not sure how far I’ll get.

    I still have an old phone with one of the standard backgrounds, lol. Why does that character with a tv as his head? That’s so random.

    Thanks for mentioning what you changed ;). I hadn’t noticed the changes yet, but I am glad you mentioned it as I know I would probably else keep trying to figure out what had changed.

    I recently got an e-m ail from an author that she wrote a webcomic, that I’ve been meaning to read. That would be difficult to decide how to review them. Maybe just dow hat makes sense? Like if you have enough to say about each volume you can do that or even bundle multiple reviews in one post so you can still share some thoughts about each one? And else just group them together and review them that way if that makes sense.

    I didn’t notice the guy int he wheelchair on that sci-fi cover, even after you mentioned it I could only barely make out the shape. I only read one book this week, so you did better than me. I hope you”ll have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks. Sounds like we’re both a bit slow with blogging lately. I don’t think I’ve even visited you all week, so I’ll have to do that soon.

      Lol all the robots have TV heads. You get used to it after looking at it enough, I guess!

      Hehe I had to mention, for you 😛

      Yeah, I probably will just base how I count it and review on how it’s grouped on the site or how it’s listed on GR/Amazon. I have been posting thoughts on GR for each chapter so far, and I was thinking of maybe doing a review when the series is finished that can have my mini review for each chapter and then an overall review or something.

      Yeah, I didn’t even notice the guy and wheelchair until I clicked on the Amazon preview thing and saw the cover big. And don’t worry, I didn’t do much better since the Starfighter chapters were so short! Thanks, you too 🙂

  14. Laura Thomas

    I’m no risk taker either. I toy with different things but then don’t really change much. Mostly just delete some things I know longer want on the blog and move things around a bit. I know just enough to get things all messed up so, nope. LOL

  15. Lampshade Reader

    Lol on your attraction to Robot IV, I get it but wouldn’t you get zapped kissing him? LOL OH! and can you change his channel *eyebrow wiggling* 😉

    I wanted to see the Warm Bodies movie. Have you seen it?

    Hope you have a great week! ~Aleen

    1. Kristen Burns

      I don’t know if I can change his channel, but I can try 😉 Lmao I’m dying at your comment. Kissing would definitely be an issue though…

      I haven’t seen the movie, so I have no idea if it’s good.

      Thanks, you too!

  16. Let's Get Beyond Tolerance

    Graphic novels TEND to put manga under the title, so I don’t see why you couldn’t. It’s basically a long comic as well. That’s cool you’re reading some webcomics. I’ve never read one, so I might have too. I still need to read Vol 6 and 7 of Saga. At least I’ve gotten the first five read. hah Hopefully I can get those read sometime soon though! I’ve always gotten them from the library, so I’m sure they are checked out a lot. I really need to own my own copies.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I probably will just use Graphic Novel as the main term for all the types since I don’t want to have seven million blog categories lol. I don’t own any of the Saga comics, I read them via Hoopla. But I wouldn’t mind owning them. To be honest I found Vol. 6 and 7 both a little disappointing, but still enjoyable, so you should definitely read them!

  17. Jane @ Raincity Librarian

    I am constantly fiddling with my blog and changing things here and there – I’m still never quite satisfied, but I guess that’s part of the fun of blogging! I just wish I was more skilled in the design department – it’s never been my strong suit, unfortunately, and being a poor hobby blogger I can’t really justify the cost of hiring a designer! Maybe one day!

  18. Olivia Roach

    It sounds like a nice, relaxing week aside from your elbow acting up :/ I’m also like that when I have an injury – I hate to admit I have one, so I just keep on using it. I personally view comics and graphic novels as different things, so I wouldn’t personally it as an umbrella term. But I could be wrong?

    1. Kristen Burns

      I just hate to actually stop doing things in order to rest. Rest is boring and unproductive lol. Actually yeah I did some research and it seems like comic is actually the right umbrella term? Like, all graphic novels are comics since comic is like the medium or whatever, but not all comics are graphic novels.

  19. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    I love that cover. It’s such a classic song. I like the new header if you decide to use it. I would leave the color out of the stars though. I’m sorry your elbow is still giving you fits. I’ve been having some trouble with mine and don’t know if that’s the problem or not. I tend to avoid doctor’s like the plague unless absolutely necessary. Hope you have an awesome reading week and I think the new phone screen rocks.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, it’d fit the blog better and look better without the color, but then half the reason I wanted to change the header was to add some color, so it kinda defeats the purpose, haha. I don’t like going to doctors either, but it’s really obvious that what I have it tennis elbow from where the pain is. Check google, maybe you can figure out yours. Thanks, you too, and glad you like my phone screen 😀

  20. Literary Feline (Wendy)

    I hope your arm is feeling better soon, Kristen. I kind of like the image of the guy with the TV for a face. LOL My background is a picture of my daughter. I need to update it, but I just can’t bring myself to. Rachel Morgan’s book looks good. And someday I hope to read Warm Bodies. Have you seen the movie?

    Take care, Kristen! Rest that elbow!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol I like the image of him too 😉 But aww, that’s sweet that your background is your daughter! The Rachel Morgan series is a good 🙂 I haven’t seen the Warm Bodies movie, no. And I probably won’t since I don’t tend to see the movies of books I read.

      Thanks!

  21. Laurie @ Bark's Book Nonsense

    Sorry to hear about your tennis elbow 🙁 I hope you’re feeling a little better today. That’s so funny about your blog tweaks, when I start fiddling I go all out and lose hours of my life! I really like your header design but I am partial to moons and stars. I have zero talents in this arena which is why I have no pretty designs on my blog. I envy those of you with that talent.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks, I’m not good at resting injuries -_- Yeah, blog design fiddling also causes me to lose hours of my life lol. I’m decent with the coding part, it’s just the header design kinda stuff and the making decisions part I struggle with!

  22. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    sorry to hear about your tennis elbow 🙁 heat and cold may be the answer and [even I don’t like to use conventional medicine] motrim.
    HAHA! you are such a Taurus with your risk taking 😉 and I’m sure Lola is a Virgo! and I have to say that header image is most suited for a Pisces 😉 [yes, it looks too cutesy for you!] and yes red is such a Taurus color 🙂
    I love how “Bookish Musings.” sounds so you got my blessing [which I’m sure you were waiting for ;-)] and I SO SO SO got the answer to your question or ANY question you may have, little grasshopper, [because I’m a Leo and our egos are bigger than life] of course you have to go with “graphic novels”!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, maybe I should try more heat/cold. Allergic to NSAIDs though, so can’t take any meds for it. Lol you and your zodiac stuff. How do you know so much about all the signs?! You know, red wasn’t always my fave color. Until I was about 15, my fave was yellow.

      Actually, I am glad you gave me your blessing, haha, because no one else commented on that and I was feeling insecure about changing it 😛 Although I’m still not sure about the graphic novel thing…

  23. S. J. Pajonas

    I’m sorry to hear that your arm is still bothering you! I wish there was more that could be done for it. 🙁 I hope you’ve been having a good week!

  24. Cassidy @ Quartzfeather

    Ouch, I hope your arm’s feeling better! I totally feel your pain, my dominant arm is currently imprisoned in a cast, and my poor, underused left wrist is constantly sore because I’ve been using it for everything!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! And ugh, yeah, that always happens. You injure one arm/leg, and then the other just starts hurting and ends up with problems because you end up favoring that one!

  25. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    I can’t believe I am so behind on blog commenting! It’s almost time for you post about this week. Anyway, sorry to hear things are playing up for you. It’s good to take a break sometimes. It may not be because you’ve chosen to but still resting up is good. And trust me, I know how you feel about trying to change things up on the blog. I end up changing nothing in my blog design because nothing looks right. I’d pay someone to do it for me but I don’t really have the cash to spare.

    Also, love that cover. I love Twenty One Pilots so I don’t know how I missed it but I know what I’ll be listening to now.