What's your reading goal?

Here we are in January of 2011 and I'm looking to set my reading goal. I have never done this in years past but I know several people who do. I've always just read what I could read and didn't give it a second thought. After reading, hearing and speaking with others about their reading goals I've decided that books were important to me and so I should have a goal to do better in what I love.
So lets do it! Anyone can join at any time!

1. There are five levels to this challenge...Pick your poison:

--The Mini – Read 15

--"Fun" Size – Read 30
--Jumbo Size – Read 50
--Mega Size – Read 75

--Wowzer Size -- Read 125 books

2. Post your name (first name only is ok), city, and your reading goal for 2011 level in the comment section of this post below.

3. Check in at our website's message board and look for your Name, city and goal to show up as a topic (If you don't see it up within 3 days after commenting please email us as you will not be considered entered until that appears).

4. When you complete a book, click on your name and add a comment on the message board with the Title, author and a short review on it. Books read prior to January 1, 2011 do NOT count.

5. Feel free to browse the message boards of other challengers. You can view others goals and reviews, get ideas for books that may interest you and share your hits & misses. See how everyone is doing to acheive their goal and help encourage them!

6. Most importantly, besides the reward of fulfilling a goal for 2011 by doing what you love..there will be a prize in each level! At the end of 2011 everyone who completed and/or succeeded their goal will be entered in a drawing. Winners will be announced in the first week of January 2012!

Good Luck to everyone, I can't wait to see what you are all reading!

CHOCOLATE and WORDS! Two of my favorite things..are they yours?

Downtown has come together to create a unique draw for those of you who call the Berkshires home and others who travel to this cold place in the mountains for pleasure, although I will say, I am grateful to be living in the Berkshires all of my life, it's beautiful! HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!

Chocolate Berkshires is a month-long festival of our favorite February treat – Chocolate! You know that in the wintry Berkshires nothing works better to brighten the day than a bit of indulgence…. So we’re all coming together to create a county-wide celebration of all things Chocolate.  Join your friends, neighbors, local businesses, winter visitors and likely some chocolate-loving skiiers as we dip these Berkshire hills into a fragrant concoction! Chapters will be offering a FREE Bubble Chocolate bar with your purchase of $30 or more during the month of February! Check out the link to see what all of our friends around town will be offering and be sure to take advantage so that we can keep downtown moving onwards and upwards! 

I wanted to mention an upcoming writing workshop we will be hosting that I am really excited about. For those of you who visit our calendar of events and noticed a blank page, it's because the calendar is boycotting changing over to 2011, it apparently just wants to stay 2010! Keep checking back as we are in the process of fixing it. We will be posting on our facebook page as well as an email that will be going out next week to notify you of our happenings!

On Wednesday January 27, From 6-8PM

The Berkshire Writer's Room Presents :Working Towards Publication, A Workshop for Writers.

Conducted by: Michelle Gillett and Nina Ryan

We are so pleased that these two, very talented woman will be offering this workshop at Chapters. For those unfamiliar with them, Michelle Gillett is a regular op ed columnist for the Berkshire Eagle, a contributing editor to The Women's Times, an award winning poet and writing instructor. Nina Ryan is an independent literary agent and editor who has worked for the Cowles-Ryan Agency in Boston and is an associate editor at Random House. They come with loads of experience and great tips for those in the writing field or looking to be. :)
There will be time to ask questions concerning your writing. Seating is limited to 30 participants. Reservations required. Cost is $10. Free to members of The Berkshire Writer's Room. Reserve your place by contacting Diana Gomez, President at: dgomez1@nycap.rr.com, or write to The Berkshire Writer's Room, PO Box 243, Pittsfield, MA 01202

Chapters is currently in the process of creating a 4-6 week writing workshop for youth and another for adults. I'm looking for your input - best day? best time? Who's interested?

Top 25 in 2010

With the new year upon us I've been looking at our online presence and realize..geez, what a slacker! I admit that I have been totally neglectful of the blog that I started for Chapters and when I went to post a new one and I had to go to myspace to access, well, it was then that it truly hit..gotta start fresh! So here goes..HAPPY NEW YEAR! NEW BLOG! Pretty much I plan to share what we are doing at Chapters for events, what interactions we have with authors and publishers and what we and our customers are reading and what they think. We have a wonderful following of loyal customers who love reading as much as we do and you may even see some blog posts from them too. There's a couple book blogs which we love and we get great book recommendations from that I will share with you as well as fun facts and info about books we know and love and new ones that are on deck. I want to hear from you so pretty please comment and interact with me as it will keep it (and me) going and may prompt new blog posts and/or interesting and of course, friendly banter. :)   Anything you want to see on here, let me know! We are always open to our readers.
For this post I wanted to start by sharing the top 25 books of 2010 according to our distributor - Do you agree? Are you surprised at what did or didn't make the top 25? How many have you read? or maybe will you now pick up one of these titles and give it a shot? Here goes...and in order:
1. Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1, By: Mark Twain - pub. University of California Press
2. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, By: Stieg Larsson - pub. Knopf Publishing Group
3. Life, By: Keith Richards - pub. Little Brown & Company
4. Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3), By: Suzanne Collins - pub. Scholastic Press
5. House Rules, By: Jodi Picoult - pub. Washington Square Press
6. The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1), By: Rick Riordan - pub. Rick Riordan
7. Decision Points, By: George W. Bush - pub. Crown Publishing Group
8. Cleopatra: A Life, By: Stacy Schiff - pub. Little Brown and Company
9. Obama's Wars, By: Bob Woodward - pub. Simon and Schuster
10. Freedom, By: Jonathan Franzen - pub. Farrar Straus Giroux
11. The Ugly Truth (Diary of a Whimpy Kid #5), By: Jeff Kinney - pub. Amulet Books
12. Full Dark, No Stars, By: Stephen King - pub. Scribner Book Company
13. Spoken from the Heart, By: Laura Bush - pub. Scribner Book Company
14. Little Bee, By: Chris Cleave - pub. Simon and Schuster
15. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, By: Laura Hillenbrand - pub. Random House
16. Colonel Roosevelt, By: Edmund Morris - pub. Random House
17. Decoded, By: Jay-Z - pub. Spiegel and Grau
18. At Home: A Short History of Private Life, By: Bill Bryson - pub. Doubleday Books
19. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, By: Michael Lewis - pub. W.W. Norton and Company
20. Lord of Misrule, By: Jaimy Gordon - pub. McPherson
21. The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1), By: Rick Riordan - pub. Hyperion Books
22. The Rembrandt Affair, By: Daniel Silva - pub. Putnam Adult
23. Just Kids, By: Patti Smith - pub. Ecco
24. I Still Dream about You, By: Fannie Flagg - pub. Random House
25. Innocent, By: Scott Turow - pub. Grand Central Publishing

So, there you have it! I admit I have only completely read 6 out of these top 25 but I've read snip-its of pretty much all of them. What's your take?