MotherReader

I’m still recovering from the 48 Hour Book Challenge, with emails to write, packages to prepare, and books to clean off of my living room floor. I seem to have attacked the challenge with the organization of a teen getting ready for a big date — tossing books like T-shirts all over the room in search of the right one. I did well, in that I hit a run of eight great books. Amazing! But now I have to put everything back in order. Wah.

I do have a post up at PBS Booklights on books about bedtime. They aren’t the newest titles, and maybe not my absolute, all-time favorites, but some strong choices. Head over and add your suggestions to the comments.

This weekend I’ll be spending some time on Bloggiesta — writing up reviews (yes, of all those 48HBC books) and posts and presentations. If you need some time for blog housekeeping, head over to Maw Books to sign up.

Branding has come up again as a blogosphere topic. I saw it first with Maureen Johnson’s post — excuse me, manifesto — and I can just hear her whisper of “I am not a brand.” Important reading. Chasing Ray is taking up the topic, and wondering about the idea of blogger and author branding — like we can all be labeled like breakfast cereals. I’ll say that there are aspects of branding that are easy and helpful. My blog name, commenting name, and Twitter name are all MotherReader. No one has to think too hard about who I am in any of those places. But where I start to push back — or at least would ask us all to step back and think — is when I see that it is to publishers’ advantage that we be nicely, neatly branded. It certainly makes it easier for them to promote authors and to evaluate bloggers. And I’m not saying that it’s an absolute wrong. But is it good for the bloggers?