A Bit of Catching Up & I Need Your Opinion...

First, I'm sorry I've been a bit MIA again this past week! Finals week is coming up for most of my college courses, and I've also been a bit busy with Christmas shopping and other festive activities. Needless to say, blogging, reading, and reviewing has unfortunately fallen a bit low on my current priority list... I was suppose to have at least one review up this past week, The Historian, but I'm still reading the book, and the review will have to wait until next week. Sorry! I promise, I'll be better next year, it's one of my main goals. Second, I didn't receive anything in the mail this past week, so, again, no 'What Did I Receive?' post this week either. Next, a big thanks to those of you that participated in the Poll I had running these past few weeks. I asked: "Be honest: Do you think I'm too generous with my reviews/rating?" And the final tally was 5 'No', 0 'Yes' and 1 "Well.. now that you mention it, maybe...". I know, reviews (and therefore ratings) are based on a person's own personal opinions, but after looking through my past posts and seeing that more then 3/4 of my reviews on here have been 4.5 or 5 Star ratings, I had to wonder----was I being too generous, and automatically giving the book a perfect rating if I happened to like it, instead of giving it a "The Positive and The Negative" kind of review? Of course, there's no right or wrong to reviewing, it is your own opinion, but sometimes, after reading other reviews, I have to wonder if maybe I should have pointed out that I didn't like this or I wasn't fond of that, just to show that even the books I enjoyed have a few flaws (Which is almost needed, really-- who wants to read something that's absolutely "Perfect"? I mean, no one is perfect, so how can we assume that a book is?). Okay-- on to the real business behind this post! I need your opinion, everyone, so please, if you have a minute, stop and post a comment! After over a year of blogging, I find myself looking at my blog and saying "Bleh". Don't get my wrong, I love blogging, and this amazing community of fellow book loving friends I've found through the experience, but I can't help but want something more, something new out of my blog design and layout. (Although, might I say another BIG THANKS to the lovely Lea for converting my two column blog to a three column earlier this year?) So I want to know, from you, my friends, what can I do to improve my blog? Design, colors, layout-- anything, everything, I don't care! I just want to know --- what do you like about my current design, or heck, even what you don't like! Just be honest, and I would love to hear some feedback, good or bad, about what I can do. I'd like to start out this next year with a brand new blog look, but I doubt that will happen. (Despite more than a few classes in the past, I'm still no where near a computer whiz, and with Blogger, I can barely manage the basics, which is why my layout is so, well, average.) If you have any ideas, please let me know-- I myself have no idea what to do, I wish I had a creative/artistic flare, but sadly don't. I want the new look to reflect my blog, what it is, and what I'm here to do with it, but I don't know what to use to express that. I'm simply bored of seeing the same blue, blue, and oh hey, more blue, that is my blog. Especially after I look at fellow blogger's amazing designs.... Even better, if you know of someone who is good at designing these kind of things, and who would love to help me (preferably for little to no money, though I know many such sites charge for their, I'll admit beautiful, work), please let me know! I know it's been a bit rough on everyone this past year, and money is dearly needed, but I really don't have any extra to be spending on something like this, because as much as I love my blog, when it comes down to the money, well there are more important things that the cash will go towards first. If you've managed to make it through this very long, and fairly boring, post, I sincerely thank you! And I would appreciate if you could spare a moment or so to give a bit of much-needed feedback, please! I'm off to spend a few more hours studying (yeah...), hopefully work on finishing at least one book this weekend, along with writing my reviews for next week so I can get caught up.... Pretty much, my weekend is just an extension of my week, not a brief holiday like it usually is. I hope that everyone has a great weekend, have fun, spend time with family-- it's almost Christmas, so just enjoy it! Thanks for the help! Enjoy, Until Next Time,