Announcing Sadie Hawkins Sunday

Some of you might be too young to remember the Sadie Hawkins concept, so allow me to explain. Back in the 1930s, this tradition began of occasionally hosting dances where women would ask the men! Shocking, right? Basically, the Sadie Hawkins dances turned the natural order of things (such as patriarchal society saw it) on its head.

In the same way, in this regular feature, I will be letting my blog readers choose what I review, rather than me doing so. Yes, I realize the name applies only loosely, but I like it so I really don't care.

To explain the way this will go down, I am inviting an imaginary confused reader to ask me questions.

"Why are you doing this?"
There were three motivators for this.

1. I suck at deciding what to read outside of the review queue. There are too many options and my brain explodes.
2. A while back, I posted a review of the first Hardy Boys book, which I read because I slept over at a friend's house and didn't have a book. As the first awake and bored out of my mind, I read the whole thing and wrote a silly review. Kara of Great Imaginations commented that I "should do this more often," and I got thinking about what precisely this was and devised this feature.
3. More generally, this will let me interact more with you guys. People comment on my book hauls all the time, excited that I've bought something which I know I won't get to for months/years/ever. Now, if you're excited that I just bought your favorite book, you can fill out a form and get me to read it sooner rather than later or never.

"Really? Can I tell you to read ANYTHING?"
Well, no. There are some limitations:

• Please restrict yourself to genres I have shown interest in the past, unless you have a very good reason to think I will like this book you're recommending.
• Do not recommend your own book. This is not a way to get around a review request.
• I need to be able to procure a copy of the book from my local library, my own collection, or free on an e-reader. The only exception is if I've wanted to buy the book anyway. If you REALLY want me to review, the book, you can purchase it for me, but I doubt anyone cares THAT much.
• I retain ultimate veto power, in case I simply cannot embark on a book you suggest, like Moby Dick or something.

"As long as I follow those guidelines, you'll read whatever I want?"
Pretty much! I'm willing to write snarky reviews with gifs and the like, so long as the book isn't insanely long and the author isn't liable to give me more stress than its worth. Of course, if people go too crazy making me read the worst books in YA, I may have to close that down, so be responsible.

"Hmmm, much as I like this in theory, I'm not sure what to recommend. Ideas?"
Recommend your favorite books that you can't believe I haven't read, books that you want to see my opinion on for whatever reason before you risk reading them, books you think I'll love, or books you want to see me post giffy responses too. If you're hoping for a snark review, please restrict yourself to shorter books.

To learn more about my taste, in case you don't know already, check out my Review Archive or my Goodreads shelves.

"How often will you post?"
That depends on what the current book is. If someone chooses War and Peace for me to read, there could be a month or more before I post. If the books are mostly shorter (which they probably will be, since everyone loves YA), then I'll probably be posting weekly. Best guess would be 2-3 Sadie Hawkins Sunday posts a month. Basically, I'll post one when I've finished the book.

"Great! How do I recommend a shitty errr WONDERFUL book for you to read?"
Just fill out THIS FORM. Managing comments would be ridiculous. I'll choose the winning entry each time using random.org. You can suggest as much as you want as long as you follow the rules. All valid entries will remain in the queue until I get to them; entries will go in the same list each week, so no need to rerequest. I'll be linking the form to the SHS posts and to my book haul posts. When I post a review, I will also announce what the next SHS book will be. As an incentive to get some books in my form, the first valid entry will be chosen for the first week. BE FAST LIKE THE WIND!

NOTE: If you're a blogger and would like to do this too, let me know of your interest. If there's sufficient excitement about this, I might open it up and host a linky and all of that jazz. I'm also cool with keeping it just my thing.