INTRODUCTIONS - 2015

[Sarah]

Welcome Cassandra! We do indeed have a variety of challenges - we have a year long series challenge on the go plus we have smaller monthly challenges. Then every two months we have a toppler which is basically a read-a-thon. Plus we have two books each month (chosen by the group members) as group reads. And badges are great! We get badges for completing/participating in the various activities. So there is plenty for you to get your teeth in to! I have to say that getting a kindle combined with joining Goodreads really upped the amount of books I read in a year.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Welcome Cassandra! Great to have you join us. There seems to be a lot of (r)Adelaide people joining us at the moment. Love it!!

[Sandra, Moderator]

Welcome Cassandra!

[Danny]

Welcome Cassandra and I'm sure you'll thoroughly enjoy yourself here. I joined recently and it's already been a blast! :)

[Janice, Moderator]

Welcome Cassandra. We'll help you fix that reading slump. Pretty soon, you'll be wondering how your wishlist grew so big.

[jaxnsmom]

Hi Cassandra, welcome to YLTO! Ask any questions you have, it can take a little while to get the hang of some of our activities.

[Cassandra]

Thanks for the welcome. I'm sure I'm going to love being in this group.

[Missy]

Hi everyone I am Missy and I have loved reading for as long as I can remember. I am so looking forward to completing challenges and interacting with everyone.

[Danny]

Howdy Missy, I have no doubt that you're going to have a ton of fun with our group and of course the challenges are wicked awesome!

[Sandra, Moderator]

You are in the right place, Missy, YLTO always has many things going on. Right now everyone is busy reading for the toppler, a kind of readathon that will last until Saturday.
Hope you feel at home here!

[Berit]

Welcome Missy! I just joined this group a few weeks ago and I have found a definite home here. We are all in the middle of this thing called a Toppler, I have not read so many books and so little time in my life ;-) Jump right in the water is warm and very welcome Maine!

[Jessica]

Hello I'm Jessica from Texas. I love to read but recently got a job and don't feel like I read as much anymore...tips?? Mostly read YA but I'll read anything really. Hope to join a challenge someday.

[Berit]

Welcome Jessica! Just joining this group will help you read more and more and more :-) I enjoy young adult books as well, everyone here has a little bit of different tastes. So you will be exposed to all different kinds of things :-) ;-)my TBR list has definitely grown!

[Stephanie]

Welcome to all the new members!!!! This is a very fun group!! My TBR has grown so much from being a part of it :-)

[Janice, Moderator]

Hi Missy and Jessica! Welcome to our group.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Welcome Jessica! The reading tastes are very diverse in this group. This made me move from my comfort zone, and that's good. I'm reading fantasy again, a genre I've neglected for more than a decade!

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Welcome Missy and Jessica! A everyone has mentioned, we're buzzing with activity at the moment. Hope that all our activities get you guys reading heaps and providing you with heaps of ideas for your reading lists.

Jessica - I find talking to people who are loving what they are reading makes me want to pick up my own books more. Also, the challenges, Topplers or Group reads I find started pushing me more to read. One book a month, or just one book that week. It can snowball though, so be prepared for that ;)

[Bella]

Hi,
I'm a stay at home mom of three- the oldest just started college. I homeschool the other two. I used to teach elementary and middle school, but my kids needed me home.

I'm an aspiring writer; I finished a novel a few months ago (middle grades) and am working on a YA novel. I hope this isn't spam- I have no books to promote. I'm at least six months out from trying to get an agent.

I love books so much that I don't have any more space in the house for bookshelves; I have about 12,000 physical books. At this point im my life, I read about 400 books a year. So I'm always looking for recommendations and love adding to my TBR list.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Welcome Bella! We have an adding-to-TBR-list problem here, so I'm sure you'll feel at home.
I'm a stay at home mom too. I have 8 beautiful kids from 5 month to 16 years old, but I don't homeschool them. I'm not a aspiring writer, but I really aspire to read 400 books a year! Tell me your secret!

[Janice, Moderator]

Hi Bella, welcome. We're happy to have authors, aspiring or published, join our group and discuss all sorts of books. It's when authors join our group with the sole purpose of pushing their books that ruffles out feathers a bit. So far, you haven't fallen into that category.

I admire people who can homeschool their children. I think it takes a special person to do that.

[Bella]

Sandra, I'd rather have eight kids than read 400 books a year. So I envy you. I hope that my kids will have a bunch of kids and fill the house with grandchildren.

How do I read so much? I think most of it is that I read quickly- I can read a 300-400 page paperback in about 2-3 hours. And I wake up before the kids and stay up later, so I usually have a few hours to myself to read. Plus, when they read for school, we all sit down with a book and read for an hour. Also, I don't do Facebook, we don't have cable.

Janice, a lot of whether someone can homeschool is luck. I've seen teachers do it and fail. I think it comes down to personalities. Can the parents and children separate the teacher-pupil relationship from the parent-child relationship? I've seen a lot of good parents and children who can't do that.

[Berit]

I could not homeschool that is for sure. Anytime my kids say they want to stay home from school I say "okay we can start homeschooling"and then they go to school :-) Sandra, if I had eight kids I would read zero books a year, I don't know how you can do it, I am impressed.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I would have loved to homeschool my kids, but is not for me. I did some research 3 or 4 years ago, and my husband and I discussed the issue for weeks, but I felt it wouldn't work. Having such a big family was one of the factors that scared me. I thought it would be too much. But it's something I would have liked to do. The families we know that homeschool are doing a great job.
I love my kids, and I love my huge family, but I know my limits. :)

[jaxnsmom]

Welcome Bella! It sounds like your house could be the community library. I think we can help you find a few more to add :)

[Lisa]

A big welcome to all the new members! I hope you all enjoy being part of this group :)

[[deleted user]]

Hi, I am Antonie and I am 16, from Czech Republic. I have always loved reading, because I find the feeling of escaping to another world so amazing and also addictive. I didn´t really have people to discuss books with me (maybe except my teachers), so I hoped maybe joining this group would give me a chance to get to know some people, who would like to do so, because that would be great.

[Sarah]

Welcome to all the new members.

[Janice, Moderator]

Hi Antonie and welcome to our group. You'll find lots of opportunities to discuss books here, and to get to know people.

[jaxnsmom]

Welcome Antonie! The best way to get to know us is by participating in some of the activities - we like to chat a lot and have fun :)

[Joco]

Hi everyone! I'm Josephine and I live in Paris.
I LOVE BOOKS. BOOKS ARE PART OF MY SOUL. I DO NOT THINK I COULD LIVE WITHOUT BOOKS.
I joined this group because I wanted to have some fun fangirl-ing about books!^^
I also want to meet new people on GR and I think that sharing our opinions on a book is very important! :)

[Lisa]

Welcome Antonie and Josephine! *waves*

I'm sure you will both enjoy being part of this group. Josephine, you will find plenty of bookish fangirling going on here ;)

[Janice, Moderator]

Hi Josephine. Welcome to the group. I'm glad you're wanting to discuss your passion for books with us.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Welcome Josephine!

[Stephanie]

Hello to all the new members :)

[Berit]

Welcome to this amazing group! I'm sure you'll love it here as much as I do :-)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Welcome! Or should I say Bienvenue!

[Sarah]

Welcome Josephine. You'll find loads of people here to talk about books with.

[jaxnsmom]

Hi Josephine! It sounds like you'll fit right in with the group.

[Janice, Moderator]

Authors - please READ our policies before you post your links to your author page. Any self-promotion is deleted.

[ceeeeg]

okok i give already!...lol..

i checked in to goodreads this morning to drop a recommendation on a friend and found mail from Connie, urging me to get in here....spent several hours touring around your group, looking up books all of you have been reading and discussing lately...

my to read list now looks very busy if i want to catch up and read along!...ack!...

i am a middle aged housewife, i read ALOT, i love just about every selection i have seen here over the last two months and i am ready to jump in...i've made a list and gathered copy so i will be looking forward to discussing with y'all...

[Berit]

Welcome to the group! Glad Connie sent you this way :-) you will love it here!

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Welcome Ceeeeg! Hope you enjoy yourself in here and look forward to reading along with you :D

[Janice, Moderator]

Hi Ceeeeg! Welcome to the group. Thanks to Connie for giving you the nudge to join.

[Tejas Janet]

Hi Ceeeeg and welcome to a fun group for reading and chatting. Looks like YLTO might be a good fit for you. Look forward to getting to know you here : )

[Sandra, Moderator]

Welcome Ceeeeg! This group is VERY special!

[jaxnsmom]

Welcome Ceeeeg! Your tbr list will only get longer, but we're a lot of fun :)

[Kristi]

Hi! I'm Kristi Jefferson. I'm an author of Self-Help Books. I love to read self-Help and self-improvement books. Nice to know you all.

[Amanda (Mandy)]

Hi, my name is Mandy and I live in Georgia, US. I am married with 3 kids ages 6,8, & 9. I love reading, but have not got to do much over the last couple of years due to grad school. I finished in Decenber and now am ready to play catch up and attack my TBR pile. I welcome any book recommendations.

[Cherie]

Amanda wrote: "Hi, my name is Mandy and I live in Georgia, US. I am married with 3 kids ages 6,8, & 9. I love reading, but have not got to do much over the last couple of years due to grad school. I finished i..."

Oh, just hang around here for a while and you will see lots of books being read that you will be adding to your TBR, Mandy. Welcome to the group! We have lots of challenges, group reads, and buddy reads to get you back into your leisure reading life. Oh, and congratulations for finishing grad school! I am sure that was not easy to do with your young children.

[Janice, Moderator]

Welcome Mandy. Three youngsters and grad school is guaranteed to keep you busy! I hope we can entice you to find a good book or two (or 100) now that you've got a bit more free time.