Tag Archives: Booking through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday: Blurb-iotica

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btt2

On Thursday, October 29th, Booking through Thursday asked:

What words/phrases in a blurb make a book irresistible? What words/phrases will make you put the book back down immediately?

I’ve always felt that book blurbs are sort of like eye cream – a little bit goes a very long way. Beyond that, I had to do some research, and after reading the backs of several books I’ve come to the conclusion that:

  • If I’m familiar with an author’s work, I don’t much care what the blurb says, I’ll buy it if they have a history of pleasing me, skip it, if not.
  • I’m more concerned that the blurb be well-written than with specific word choices. I mean, presumably I already KNOW if a book is general fiction or fits into a specific genre, so I don’t need to look for words like “vampire” or “coffee” or “beach” although seeing those words makes me more interested.
  • I don’t like hard-sells. The blurb on the back should function as a teaser – give me a hint of what’s inside, don’t hit me over the head with it.

If those sound like vague responses, all I can say is that gauging a book by it’s blurb isn’t far off from judging it by it’s cover art. And of course I’d never do that.

Booking Through Thursday: Recent Enjoyable

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btt2

On Thursday, September 17th, Booking through Thursday asked:

What’s the most enjoyable, most fun, most just-darn-entertaining book you’ve read recently?

(Mind you, this doesn’t necessarily mean funny, since we covered that already. Just … GOOD.)

Reading voraciously may not be the best way to lose belly fat, but it certainly keeps me entertained. While I’m enjoying the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, Christopher Moore’s Fluke which I read earlier this summer is one of the books that I simply couldn’t read fast enough, because it was funny.

Buffalo Gal was an August read of mine, and I enjoyed it immensely because it’s so rare to read about a young woman of roughly my age who grew up Unitarian – it’s not a church people seem to grow up in, and that’s sad, because my experience with UU kids I’ve met, and taught in RE, is that they tend to be extraordinarily bright.

Right now, I’m trying hard not to read The Lost Symbol, the newest offering from Dan Brown, who – let’s be honest – isn’t the best author on earth, but writes entertaining stories. Why am I trying not to read it? Because I’m not quite done with this fascinating memoir called Indigo Awakening, that I’m expected to review on Friday, and as much as I’m enjoying it, I’ve been waiting for the other book.

Booking Through Thursday: Unread

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btt2

On Thursday, July 2nd, Booking through Thursday asked:

“So here today I present to you an Unread Books Challenge. Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, ‘No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!’ “

Right now on my nightstand I have too many books by Vonnegut, Murakami and Chris Moore. Too many because while I enjoy all of those writers, I don’t really like immersing myself in them, the way I immerse myself in Maeve Binchy or Anne Rivers Siddons, or Laurie R. King. Those women, I could read forever. Without a break. As long as they kept giving me new stuff.

Vonnegut, on the other hand, is weird. A writing coach I’ve worked with called him quirky, and encouraged me to embrace my own quirkyness. The problem is that Vonnegut’s quirkiness involves breaking the fourth wall of his novels. He’d have no compunctions, for example, about moving from a chapter about two guys going fishing, to explaining how insurance plans work.

(Disclaimer: As far as I know, Vonnegut has never written about fishing. Of course, I could be wrong.)

In any case my Unread books include:
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, by Christopher Moore
Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut
Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins
The Electric Michelangelo, by Sarah Hall
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, by Joshilyn Jackson

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Wait, that’s only one each from Vonnegut and Moore, and no Murakami.” That’s because this list only represents the books I can reach without waking the dogs. It’s 4:41 AM – what DO you expect?

Booking through Thursday: Kiss and Tell?

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btt2

On Thursday, July 2nd, Booking through Thursday asked:

Do you read celebrity memoirs? Which ones have you read or do you want to read? Which nonexistent celebrity memoirs would you like to see?

I don’t really read that many celebrity memoirs, unless the celebrities are politicians. For example, I read Living History by Hilary Clinton, and Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life, by Queen Noor, but when it comes to kiss-and-tell memoirs from actors and such, I’m not all that interested. Frankly, chasing down leads for insurance articles is more interesting than most hot celebrity tell-alls.

I did quite enjoy My Life in France, by Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme, and I had a blast reading Anthony Rapp’s offering Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, but the first was more a true autobiography than a celeb memoir, in the sense that there was no name dropping, and the second was so simple and sincere, that it was hard to count it among the carefully calculated, polished, publications that the folks on People‘s “most beautiful” list are giving us.

Booking through Thursday: Hot

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btt2

On Thursday, June 25th, Booking through Thursday asked:

Now that summer is here (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), what is the most “Summery” book you can think of? The one that captures the essence of summer for you?

(I’m not asking for you to list your ideal “beach reading,” you understand, but the book that you can read at any time of year but that evokes “summer.”)

For me, it’s not just one book, but the works of one author, Anne Rivers Siddons, that give me that summery feeling. I consider her a “guilty pleasure” author at times, but I love her books because she’s an excellent storyteller who writes great women characters, and blends enough detail about things like clothing, jewelry, and room decor, with plot, setting, and subtext.

While I’ve enjoyed all of Siddon’s work, my favorites are the novels that take place at the coast – either in the Carolinas (Low Country, Up Island), or New England (Colony, Off Season) that draw me most, at least in part because I miss the shore so much.

Booking Through Thursday: Niche

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btt2

On Thursday, June 11th, Booking through Thursday asked:

There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.)

But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house without electrocuting yourself. Tips on how to build a NASCAR course in your backyard. Stuff like that.

What niche books do YOU read?

I don’t think I read any niches that no one else reads. One niche I do have, however, is that I love boat stories.

I’m not referring to Horatio Hornblower adventures, or pirate-themed bodice rippers, but books like Tania Aebi’s Maiden Voyage which I first encountered soon after its release in 1989, and which tells the story of the then-eighteen-year-old author’s solo circumnavigation of the world via sailboat.

Linda Greenlaw’s books are not all boat stories, but even those that take place entirely on dry land have the same sort of feeling as those which recount her oceanic adventures.

I’m not sure why I like these tales – maybe it’s because the ocean pulses in my blood even when I’m as far inland as possible – but I love having a free block of time to spend on the high seas, even if it is only vicariously.

Booking Through Thursday: The Best?

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Each week, Booking Through Thursday asks a book related question. This week, the question is:

What were your favorite books from 2008?

I don’t usually do lists of favorites, because my taste in books changes so often, and I read so quickly, that sometimes, I don’t even remember to list or review.

But since you asked, here are a few:

  • The Eight, by Katherine Neville: I’ve loved this book for two decades. I remember working at the campus candy store at USF, and reading about it in the pink pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, and then picking it up at Printer’s Ink on the way home from school, and reading it on the train. It remains a favorite, to this day.
  • The Fire, by Katherine Neville: I loved this as much because Neville’s leading men are always so intriguing as because I’d waited twenty years for her to produce a sequel to The Eight.
  • Home from the Vinyl Cafe, by Stuart McLean: A collection short stories about a man who owns a record store, and his wife. Funny, contemporary, and full of Canadian flavor.
  • The Seduction of the Crimson Rose, by Lauren Willig: The most recent (to date) of the series that began with The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, a series that is an homage to The Scarlet Pimpernel but with a feminist sensibility.
  • The Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Charlaine Harris: I began reading this just before Halloween, and read the most recent just before Christmas. The series True Blood was not the first time I’d heard of them – many friends had recommended them – but it certainly helped make the decision.

Booking Through Thursday: Honesty

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I receive a lot of review books, but I have never once told lies about the book just because I got a free copy of it. However, some authors seem to feel that if they send you a copy of their book for free, you should give it a positive review.

Do you think reviewers are obligated to put up a good review of a book, even if they don’t like it? Have we come to a point where reviewers *need* to put up disclaimers to (hopefully) save themselves from being harassed by unhappy authors who get negative reviews?
– BTT, 20 November 2008

I review books here in my own blog, and also for the e-zine All Things Girl, where we post reviews in the blog, and in the actual zine. We try to always find something positive to say, but it we really dislike something, or felt a work was flawed, we’ll say so.

Here at Bibliotica (which was founded in 2004, but I recently purged the archives), I don’t do lengthy reviews, but if I dislike something, I’m not shy about it. Of course authors and publishers prefer positive reviews, but as readers, and many times as writers ourselves, we do them a disservice if we don’t give fair, honest reviews.

For more answers to this question, visit Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday: Gold Medal Reading

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From Booking Through Thursday:

First:

* Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general?
* Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both?

And, Second:

* Do you consider yourself a sports fan?
* Because, of course, if you’re a rabid fan and read about sports constantly, there’s a logic there; if you hate sports and never read anything sports-related, that, too … but you don’t have to love sports to enjoy a good sports story.
* (Or a good sports movie, for that matter. Feel free to expand this into a discussion about “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural” or whatever…)

I vaguely remember reading books about the first modern Olympics, but I think it may have been a movie as well.

The only sports I really follow are horse racing, figure skating and (very casually) hockey, so unless Dick Francis novels, and that one Sara Paretsky novel about the hockey player named Boom-Boom, count, I haven’t read anything about sports, either.

I do love a good skating movie, though. Like the original The Cutting Edge.

Booking through Thursday: What Do You Do?

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Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??

And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and your passport (which you fortuitously brought with you in case they asked for ID in the ethnic food aisle). This is hypothetical, remember….

While I don’t own cats, I have enough friends who do to know that being alone without a book is somewhat akin to feline friends being locked in a house without a scratching post or cat tree…not a pleasant situation.

Since I have my wallet, I’d probably hit the airport bookstore and see what was on the best-seller list, or indulge in a few girly magazines of the sort I generally only read at the salon, because it makes them special, and they seem to GO with the salon.

Failing that, I’d look around for a stray newspaper or cast-off book – airports are popular drop points for Book Crossing, after all.

(And yes, I know, yet again, I’m participating on Sunday. Guess I’m not much of a joiner these days, is all.)