Books!

This was my first time participating in the Books & Bloggers swap and I loved it.  The premise of the swap is you are paired with another blogger.  You send three books and receive three books.  One book is a book on your partners wish list. Another is a book you loved and think they will like.  The third is a book you are interested in, haven't read, but think they might like too.

So there are my three books I received (in front of my stash from the library I need to read or return).

The first is a book on my wish list - The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki.

Part of the blurb on the inside jacket about the book is, "...with the little-known and tumultuous love story of "Sisi", the Austro-Hungarian empress and captivating wife of Emperor Franz Joseph."  I have to admit I don't know much about the Habsburg court, so this should be a good read.

The second book is one that my swap partner, Diana, at Little Miss Drama Queen, had read and liked.   What is fun about Diana is that she is the same age as my youngest daughter and is a design major (like I pursued).  Her tastes in books flow right along with mine.

Actually, I think this got added to my wish list in the time it took for the swap to take place.  Set in India at the time of the British Empire taking over, it's the story of a warrior queen.  I can't wait!

Then, the final book, is one Diana is interested in and thought I would be too.  She could tell from my Amazon wish list I like how-to/self-help books also.

Creative Workshop by David Sherwin is right up my alley.  While it is geared toward people in the design world, it appears many of the concepts can be adapted to other things.  A quick glance at the inside on the day I got the book (they came in two shipments) had me considering 'timeboxing'.  According to the author, timeboxing is the use of short, structured sprints to achieve stated idea generation goals.  In other words, breaking that project down into doable parts and scheduling them.  I am thinking I will use the book and do one challenge a week to keep my design/creative skills flowing and not getting quite so rusty.

So my thoughts on the swap - BRING ON THE NEXT ONE!