Since today is promising to be a busy day, I thought I’d share a few pictures I took while walking around the National Arboretum yesterday. If you celebrate Easter, a Happy Easter to you and yours. Book talk will commence later in week. 🙂
The Sunday Salon
The Sunday Salon – Books, Books, and More Books
This week I went on a book buying bender. Here’s a few of my purchases:
Soulless by Gail Carriger – I keep hearing about this one and decided to finally give it. It’s on my steampunk reading list too so obviously, a must for me to buy.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – This is the April book for the Book Hoarders Anonymous book club.
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch – I’m participating in The Lies of Locke Lamora Read Along and it’s so good there was no way I would not continue with the series.
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin – I held out as long as I could.
The Duchess by Amanda Foreman – While my husband was working Friday night I watched the movie The Duchess with Keira Knightly. I ended up googling the Duchess of Devonshire and then buying the biography the movie was based on.
The Sylph by Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire – I couldn’t help myself.
Of course, this I what I get when I keep my Nook near while sitting on the couch watching TV.
Happy Sunday.
The Sunday Salon – Self-Published Books
Over the years, I’ve read self-published books. If the author can tell me a good story, entertain me, enlightenment me, I’m along for the ride. Many bloggers don’t read or review self-published books and I understand why they have that rule. I’ve had bad experiences with self-published books too —formats don’t work, copious spelling and grammar mistakes, poor editing, and in some cases, obviously no editor at all. This post isn’t about the problems with self-published books though so I’ll stop with the examples.
Now, and this is an important point — I’m not asking to be sent self-published books. Please don’t do that! Also, I’ve stopped accepting all review copies for the time being. See my review policy here. Yes, I have rules too.
What I’m saying is, I have paid for self-published books and enjoyed them. I’ve found some through my Nook (my e-reader of choice), and some on websites and blogs of self-published authors.
Why mention this? Maybe I was feeling today should be a book blogger confession post. In fact, you’ll be seeing a review for a self-published book soon. It was a book I enjoyed and was happy to find out recently that a sequel is in the works.
I have no problem supporting authors with my reading, be it those published through traditional publishing houses and those that have taken the self-publishing route. Writing is not an easy job but I want to support the ones I find entertaining by purchasing their books and will continue to do so as long as I enjoy their writing.
I’m absolutely sure somewhere in the publishing industry an editor has screamed out loud and would hate me for saying any of this but I see no reason not to say it. I talk about books, all types of books, and read a vast array of books. I’m not going to not talk about some just because the books are self-published.
Do you read self-published books? Thoughts on self-published books — good, bad , no opinion?
The Sunday Salon: On Re-Reading
This year, I decided I would re-read several books I feel I’ve been missing for some reason or another. I even have a list to show how serious I am:
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
Actually, if you know me, I love lists but they have absolutely no bearing on how serious I am about anything at all. I just love making lists! My husband will defend this statement. I believe he secretly hates my prodigious list making skills, mostly because I tend to put them in places he can see them and they’re usually to do lists.
Right now (more like all of February), I’m working my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell as part of a read along and now that I look at the list again, I can’t wait to get to the others. The Mists of Avalon maybe coming up soon. I love me a little Arthur…
Do you re-read? Do you make crazy book lists? You know you do, just admit it. 🙂
Happy Sunday, a little on the late side.
Confessions of a Supposed Read Along Addict or Amy’s Weird Year of Reading, So Far
In the few years I’ve been a blogger, I’ve only participated in two or three read alongs. The reason for this — I like to read at my own pace and I usually only participate if it’s a book I really (really!) want to read. In most cases (for instance The Lord of the Rings and The Historian), the read alongs featured books I was planning to re-read anyway so I signed up. This year, two months into 2012, I’ve signed up for two. It’s like I can’t help myself.
Here’s how it went down.
Iris at Iris on Books said she was planning to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell this year and asked if anyone would be interested in joining her. Having already decided to re-read this one, and probably early in the year, I raised my hand, yep, I would join her. And so I did. More info here if you want to join.
Then The Little Read Reviewer goes and posts this about a Lies of Locke Lamora read along. I hesitated. Two read alongs? Yes, I would do it. And yes, I would buy this book.
Seriously, it’s like I can’t so no anymore.
So, I’m two for two on the joining this year. I’m a notoriously bad joiner. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m involuntarily pushing myself to join more this year as if it were some unknown resolution only my brain knows about and is keeping from me. Yeah, that doesn’t sound totally paranoid.
I should probably not write when tired.
Anyway, there you have it.
Happy Sunday.
The Sunday Salon – Panic over a book, or a cautionary tale of overloaded bookshelves
At least once a year, or sometimes every few months, I clean off the shelves and the books are donated to the little library we have in our building. On the last go round, close to 100 books left the house. At the time, it was liberating. We had room for new books and the ones that made the cut were now better organized. I was pleased.
Now, we come to yesterday. I got up early to go swimming with a friend and per our routine, we swim a mile and then go for coffee and scones. Yes, I know the scones defeat the purpose of the swim but it’s what we do. Anyway, I ordered a large coffee and decided that since I had a lot planned for the afternoon, caffeine would be a good thing.
Here’s where my thinking went awry. Hyped up on caffeine, I thought “Oh, I need to find my copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell for the read along.” I begin looking and then begin panicking. I couldn’t find it. Poor husband gets drug out of another room to help me in my now frantic search. I explain in what I think is a rather calm state that I’m missing a book and I must have it. He looks at me and says, “How much coffee did you drink this morning?”
Obviously, he missed the point of my panic induced state.
“What’s so important about this book?” he asks.
“I need it,” I say.
“For class?”
“No, I just need it. Just find it! I didn’t give it away did I? I wouldn’t have done that would I?” I say in what I’m sure now was an increasingly loud, and probably shrill, voice.
“It’s a big book, greenish cover with a tree on it right?”
“Yes,” I say. And I should note that I was personally astounded he knew that because as far as I know, he’s never read this book.
“Ok, here ya go,” and he hands me the book. “Please don’t drink this much coffee ever again.”
I’m pretty sure I hugged the book and not my husband but he was the one that deserved the hug.
Happy Sunday! I have to go see if I can find a channel that doesn’t have pre-game coverage of the Superbowl. I feel the need to watch some TV in a nice comfy bed. Enjoy your reading today.
The Sunday Salon – Review. Can I use that word?
I usually stay away from controversial topics because I don’t want this to turn into a personal rant space where I complain about each and every thing that bothers me. Trust me, I can so easily go there, but I won’t. This week there were a few interesting posts that caught my eye about blogging, reviews, contracts, book hoarding, and it did bother me, more so than these things usually do and I thought well, why not give in this time.
The links that got me thinking:
Chris at Chrisbookorama – Surley It’s a Review…and Don’t Call Me Shirley*
Author Maggie Stiefvater’s blog The World According to Maggie – The Only Thing I’m Going to Say About Bloggers in 2012
Ana at Things Mean A lot – The Sunday Salon – On Writing About Books (she re-posted a link on Twitter this week and she’s such a wonderful writer I wanted to re-share)
April at Good Books and Good Wine – Legitimacy, Professionalism, and Book Blogging
Insane Hussein at Insane Hussein Reviews – O RLY: A “Contact” for Book Reviews?
First, I need to say something. I don’t get paid to do this — this is a true statement for most bloggers. I make no money at all by getting up early (some days) and posting here. I take time out of my days and nights and write about books I enjoyed (and sometimes not enjoyed) and share that information with others because I know there are others out there like me that truly enjoy a great story. I buy most — I’d say 99.5% — of the books I talk about here. I have stopped requesting books from publishers not because the books don’t look interesting but because I don’t have the time to read them and don’t like to accept books I can’t review. That is not a judgment of anyone; it’s a choice for me. I even put a note up on my blog in October of 2011 explaining this. Yet, a few books have arrived at my house I did not request. I’ll read these books, oddly one was a book I really wanted to read, scary how they knew that, but in the coming months I’ll continue to kindly explain that I’m not accepting books at this time.
I like the flexibility to read and review what I want, when I want. I’ve always felt that way and continue to believe that. This year I plan to read more classics and books I already own. Not accepting new books means I’ll be able to continue reading this way.
I’ll note I do reviews for the BookReporter website and will continue to do those reviews. I choose the books I review and I truly enjoy working with the people there. I am not paid for those reviews either but it does allow me to read books I’ve been looking forward to; which was the reason I started reviewing books for them. The publisher does send me those books at the request of the editors at the BookReporter. I note that in my reviews.
NOW, the point. There was a kerfuffle on some blogs over what constitutes an actual review and should bloggers use the term review. I use the term review on my blog and I’ll continue to do so. I have a system for my reviews and while not everyone may agree it’s the best way, it’s my way and it’s my blog so that makes it perfect. Okay. Some people believe a review needs to have a certain style, be more academic, have a certain structure, and that’s fine. Reviews of that nature are helpful. They can be incredibly insightful but they aren’t the type of reviews I write and I will not be changing my style to suit that. Not that anyone needs to know it but my style is this:
1 – Short intro if I’m feeling writer-ly that day
2 – Re-cap of the book
3 – What I liked/didn’t like
4 – Final thoughts
I write the type of reviews I like to read. I want information on the book but I also want to know why someone read the book, what they thought of it, what they liked, what they didn’t like. I don’t even mind spoilers (secretly I really love them though) but I try to stay from spoilery material because I know many don’t want to read it.
There has been a few arguments/disagreements/finger pointing (call it what you want as you can see I’m not feeling any specific term) about bloggers making personal attacks on authors and calling them reviews. I agree; these aren’t reviews. I don’t find them helpful and I don’t read them. But I do think it’s fair for a reader to talk about how a book made them feel. We all experience reading and writing in different ways and to take that away makes what we do in this community (talking about books we love, like, dislike) just boring. Sometimes a little snark is needed. I shouldn’t feel that because I didn’t like a book that I can’t and shouldn’t talk about it, especially if it was something I paid money for. I can do that in a fair and balanced way even if I didn’t care for it because I know there are others out there who did and can speak to its good points. And in each review, even for books I didn’t finish or like, I try to find something good. Writing is difficult and I don’t think a writer should be belittled because I didn’t care for one of his/her books. That does not mean that every review I write is going to be happy and full of rainbows just to suit someone’s feeling that because I’m not writing for an academic journal but on a blog that my thoughts are not valid/good enough/whatever.
It’s my space and I’ll do what I want with it which means when I write about a book, I will write about how I felt, what I liked, what I didn’t like, in the most fair way I can. When I don’t like a book, I will say that knowing that simply because I did not enjoy it that others out there did.
Here’s the thing, I’m buying these books with my own cash so I feel I can talk about them the way I want. I’m not out to hurt anyone’s feelings with what I publish here, I’m looking to discuss books. Something I enjoy.
Now, this, A “Contract” For Books Review?, is crazy. Like bat-shit crazy. A CONTRACT to review a book?! Who thinks of these things?! As I said, I’m not getting paid to do this. I’m buying these books (and thusly supporting these authors and publishing houses) with my own cash so why in the world would someone say to a person who would be willing (FOR FREE) to read an author’s book and give them all the rights to the review?
Weeks back, it may have been last year, I’m fuzzy on time lately (I blame lack of sleep) about publishers getting pissy with bloggers who weren’t publishing reviews in the timeframe that publishers thought they should and that they would stop sending people books for review. K, so let me think about this. No, I’m not going to think about this because it doesn’t deserve what little my brain currently has to offer. When I’m doing something to help you out, please don’t tell me how you want it done. It doesn’t make me want to help you. It makes me want to ignore you. If you want to ignore me, I’m OK with that. I write for myself and for those people out there who read me (I thank you, I really mean that, thank you for reading.) and I talk about what I want to talk about, not what someone else prefers. I will not change my style to accommodate someone with a different viewpoint than mine.
There’s a lot of talk about the book blogging community and what it should and should not be. I’ve been doing this for, let’s go with about three years so I’m still sort of new, and the reason I started was because it was a fun place to share ideas and learn about and discuss books. I still think that’s true but there seems to be pressure from outside trying to change what the community is. My plan is to ignore that and be what I am. I’m not trying to please everyone. I can’t and won’t even try. I’m just being myself.
So, that’s all. Carry on. I’m sure you’ve all got better things to do today. 🙂 And thanks for sticking with me till the end of my rambling, really long post today. I feel I should give you a prize for that. Gold stars for all!
PS – I just wanted to thank everyone that stopped by and left a comment. They were all very thoughtful and I agreed with everyone 100%. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to answer them personally but I appreciate your thoughts and I know others do as well.
The Sunday Salon – Reading the Shelves
Every year I always say something like, “I’m going to read the books on my shelf and not buy any for a while.”
Once again I failed, epically failed, if I’m honest. I’ve bought several books already, e and real, but I feel I’m helping the economy and authors in my own way so I’m letting myself off the hook on the buying aspect. The good news is that I have accomplished part of what I stated — I’ve been reading the books of my shelf. Out of the seven books I’ve read, six were books I bought in 2011 or books that I’ve owned for years. It’s not much right now, but I’m excited by those numbers, as small as they are. Of course, this morning after finishing Frankenstein, I decided to read a book I bought the other night, American Gods, so it’s pretty much blown to hell all over again.
Quick reading re-cap:
Lady Susan by Jane Austen — I don’t know what to say about this other than how much I enjoyed it. It was really funny, witty, and in some respects mean, but oh so good.
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell — It did make me want to go to Hawaii to see everything she points out and it’s quite interesting on the history front as well. For all that Hawaii is a state, I know very little about its history.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley — This was a re-read and I was surprised by how much I didn’t remember. It was good and creepy and also very sad.
Today I’m starting American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Why it has taken me this long to get to this book I’ll never know.
This afternoon I’m attending a bridal expo with a friend and then at some point I need to find time to write 1,000 words for the class I’m taking and all before Downton Abbey starts tonight so that’s it for today. Happy Sunday.
Just Book Reading 