I slept in my own bed for the first time in three days last night and it was NICE. It was actually good just to be home, and for the most part I was home most of yesterday.
Catching up on my e mail reading I noticed that Diana Galbaldon’s Outlander was re-released in hard cover yesterday. This is a series that I have heard so much good about and have yet to read. As I am looking at this lovely book I am thinking now may be the time to do so.
I think I am having book envy. 😛
Have you read this series? Do you want to?
On a fun note – both boys were home last night for dinner. We had Honduras Lasagna, and strawberry shortcake for dessert and sat on the deck and talked for hours. It was a good time. I made sure we captured a couple of pics of Brad and I before he heads back to the Navy next week.
Two years ago you would not have caught me with an e reader.
No way.
No how.
Not a chance.
I am from the school of a book is a book. I want to touch it. Smell it. Feel its weight in my hand. Enjoy how it looks on my shelf…. or in a stack… or haphazardly tossed on the coffee table, the couch or the lawn chair. A book… is not only a book… it is home decor… it is art with reading glasses on top… or perhaps a coffee cup. A book tells you something about the owner…. they love adventure…. facts… fantasy…. knowing more about whatever…..
One year ago I was curious… but under the radar curious.
I still teased the one girl in my book club who had a Kindle. I gave her all the reasons listed above about the love of books. BOOKS. Not electronics. Yet…. I inquired at the gym when I would see people on the tread mills or ellipticals with the e reader while I had one hand holding open my book.
Did they like it? Oh yes was the consistent answer.
I stared reading up on them on-line, on blogs… pros/cons….. and then….
which one?
Obviously there was Kindle…. and then Nook… and a Sony Reader….
I made lists of what features I liked and in the end….
I asked for a NOOK for Christmas, and received the NOOK Color (as my hubby the over achiever thought that would be better even though I still have had no use really for the color…)
My final decision on wanting an e reader was mainly for travel. For years I had packed 6 – 10 books in my carry on for a vacation, lugging them both ways and usually bringing a few more home than what I left with. Heavy, bulky….. you know….
So when the NOOK arrived prettily under the tree I was quick to set it up….but not so quick to read on it. The draw of my shelves filled with books always won out over the reader.
Until…
BEA – New York, the end of May. I was going to go E Reader or bust. I allowed myself one real book for the trip…. and sNOOKie (Wha…. you don’t name your toys?) sNOOKie was loaded with a few book choices to draw me too it. And on the plane, after starting with the old stand by book…. I put it down and read Delirium in its entirety on the NOOK.
Feedback:
On the plane I loved that I could set it on the tray table and read it without holding it open. I thought I would miss that but soon discovered once into the story I was thrilled not to have to hold the book. It saved my place without a book mark. It was light weight and east to travel with. It scored high applause from me.
Now that I am in an arm cast… I love that I do not have to fight to hold a book open. LOVE IT.
Tomorrow I am road tripping to St Cloud to chat with the NOOK representative. There is a lot I still need to learn about the NOOK that I have not tried yet. I want to know more about the online access (have hardly used that). I still don’t get the color purpose although my friend Angie said it is fantastic for kids books and the pictures move.
Will I ever go 100% E Reader? No. My books are all I stated above and I need to be surrounded by them. Some people have blankets or nicknacks…. I have books. Tomato, tomahto….
My questions to you:
1. Have you gone E Reader yet? Why or why not?
2. What E Reader would you choose (or have you chosen) and why?
3. What ways would you primarily find an E Reader useful in your lifestyle?
So…. I have been M.I.A. since Saturday morning…. let me fill you in (and bear with me as I type with one hand). I was on the MS 150 bike ride this weekend in the cities. We drove Friday night to White Bear Lake, left our cars and then went to Duluth Minnesota. The ride is Duluth to Hinkley 75 miles) and then Hinkley to White bear Lake (75 miles).
On Saturday morning I got up and was on the road with my team and 4,000+ other riders for this great cause. The idea was wonderful, good weather, lots of stops every 10 – 15 miles, awesome company.
We were making awesome time and it was coming up on noon and I was about 4 miles from the finish for the day. I was following a group of guys that were averaging over 18 MPH and I was hanging with them. About that time another group was passing us on the left and I glanced up to make sure they were all past, when I looked back I was right on the guy in
shoes have clips that lock into pedals for more pedal power
front of me’s tire. It was too late to do anything… my shoes lock into my pedals and as I tried to swerve I hit and went flying…not a whole lot I remember except my arm went up to protect my head, and next thing I know I am being lifted off the road by the team that was in front of me and carried to the grass.
They helped clean me up, my face was bleeding pretty bad, a lot of cuts and my pinky would not uncurl. An ambulance was called and came to get me right on the trail. I then went to Sandstone emergency room where they ran a few x-rays… cleaned me up and came up with a broken pinky, a dislocated finger and wrist.
I asked how do you fix a broken pinky and the doctor said that he would pull it. “That gives a whole new meaning to pull my finger,” I said. He either did not get it, or did not want too… 😛
Part of my team came to the hospital to pick me up and while I waited for the doctor the nurse let them in with me. They were awesome and cheered me up. 😀
Now thats what I call support!
Belinda.... cracking me up
After my ex-ray and confirmed break, the doctor did actually pull my finger to put it back in place and turns out… that is not funny at all.
I was put in a cast to keep my fingers and wrist straight. I have a cut very close to my eye and a small lump on my head. All in all, I was very lucky.
I did not go home. I spent day two of the ride going around with the wife of one of our riders and cheering the team in from the pit stops.
So that is where I have been this weekend. Monday What Are You Reading is coming up in the morning. It is just too late tonight due to this happening. I am tired.
Oh I am just giddy with excitement!!! Today officially marks my two-year anniversary of my step into the book blogging world. Whoever thought that this day would come? I sure didn’t! When I first discovered book blogging I would never have dreamed what a life changing experience it would be… I did not know that by chatting books I would:
start having conversations with authors
be part of a Minnesota book event panel
Go to New York – not once, but twice for BEA
meet many awesome book bloggers throughout this wonderful and crazy hobby
and of course, get to chat with all of you
Life is really not as it was before I book blogged. 😀
This party is to really celebrate you, because honestly…. if I was talking to myself every day…. I know I would not do this blog, at least not to the extent and to the love that I do now. SO please, come on in!
You may drop your coat at the coat check (be sure to get a claim number), and help yourself to the beverages and snacks. Excuse me a minute while I get the music going…
*runs into other room*
*runs back*
There. Nothing like a little cheesy 80’s background music. 😛
At this party – the gifts are for you! It’s easy to participate – simply leave a comment on this post about how you arrived at the party (have fun with this) and what virtual gift or food item you brought with you, such as you rode your scooter and brought flaming shish kabobs. (I did this last year and the sheer imaginative comments had me laughing for days after…. :D)
This giveaway is open for today only – tomorrow morning I will announce the winners using random.org on my Morning Meandering post. If you have a preference (package 1,2,3, or 4) you can say that in your comment and if your name is drawn that will be yours if not already won by someone else – otherwise no need to say which as you will be eligible for all.
Ok… let’s get to the good stuff:
An advanced reader copy of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, Between by Monica Warman, Camerons Coffee (Caramel Brownie), Ghiradelli Chocolate, and a Mysterious Benedict Society puzzle
Nazareth Child by Darrell James, Ghiradelli Chocolate, Cameron’s French Vanilla coffee, The Soldiers Wife by Margaret Leroy, and Crooked Letter Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.
The Art Of Choosing (AUDIO!), Dark Legacy and Secret Legacy by Anna DeStefano, Lethal by Sandra Brown, Lindt Truffles, Cameron’s Cinnamon Sugar Cookie coffee
The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly, The Taker by Alma Katsu, The Sandalwood tree by Elle Newmark, Ghiradelli Chocolate, and Java delight Hazelnut Creme Coffee
*Personal thank you to publishers who gave me copies of these books to give away for this event.
Thank you readers of Book Journey – You make me smile with your comments, nod in understanding, and occasionally I laugh out loud. I am so appreciative of all of you!!!
Let’s get this party started!!!! I am opening the door….
Ok I know I know…. I have been trying to get through sharing with you the BEA experience with the posts I have put up this week. Honestly – I could do a few more, however, I need to wrap this up.
Next week is a HUGE week here at Book Journey. Starting tomorrow, it is AUDIO WEEK and I have many fun things lined up for that including audio reviews, discussions, an interview with a narrator that you audio lovers will most likely recognize, and a giveaway. On Thursday it is also my Blogiversary and I like to party it up big time over here. For a hint of what to expect, check out last years post. We had so much fun and the giveaways were awesome. Your comments cracked me up and really made my day – I plan to run it very similar this year as well :). I have great things lined up for this year too so please mark your calendars to be sure to stop in on Thursday.
So let’s get back to BEA.
Here is the final run down of what I have not yet chatted about….
On Monday when Reagan and I arrived in New York we hurried to Simon and Schuster as we were already late for that, and then walked what we thought would be an easy walk to the YA Teen Author Carnival. We walked a LONG time, and later in the week found out that this area of New York is quite difficult to navigate so mental high-five to us who eventually found our way 😀
While I have chatted about Tuesday at BEA (and running the info booth which was awesome!), and I chatted about Wednesday at BEA too – but did not share with you Wednesday evening. Wednesday evening was the Harper Collins Book Blogger Reception which was AWESOME! This was for me the first chance for this year to get to hang out and catch up with some of the other bloggers I chat with on-line and off. The reception was wonderful and crowded with authors, Harper Collins peeps (Hi Jennifer!!!) and bloggers. It was really fun to chat and connect.
Me and Alison (Alison's Book Marks) - I adore Alison. I met her last year at this same event and we just started chatting like old friends. It was awesoem to connect with her again.M L Malcolm and me. You always know this lovely lady by the hat. M L wrote Heart of Lies and Heart of DeceptionTalia Carner and me. Talia wrote Jerusalem Maiden, a book I am on tour for this week...The Harper Collins reception - (R) Reagan from Miss Remmers Reviews,Theresa from Shelf Love, me, and Ash from English Major's Junk Food
I really wish I would have taken more pictures – but next year I will work on that. I swear I had moments where I just…. forgot.
After the reception, Heather from 3o+ A Lifetime Of Books had gathered a group of us to go out to dinner. It was just a few doors down from the reception so we all walked to Bice.
Me and Florinda from the 3 R'sHere we all are at dinner.... it was so much fun!I had a shrimp and mushroom past that was delicious!
I think I shared with you all of Thursday and Friday…. so I will end this last of the BEA 2011 posts with a few random pictures I have not had the chance to post:
Reagan and I commented how some of the streets of new York look like the Stay Puff Marshallow Man from the movie Ghostbusters could show up arnound the corner anytime...Me and Jill from Rhapsody of Books - I ran into her more than anyone else all throughout BEA - it was funny! We never said good-bye, we said see you later. 🙂Sarah Pekkanen (Author of Skipping A Beat) and I met last year and had a chance to reconnect again this year.
I think that about covers it… for touristy type things we did this year, Reagan and I went to the Happy Potter Exhibition (I posted about this earlier today), The top of the empire state building, and to Mary Poppins on Broadway (also posted about earlier this week.)
It has been a lot of fun sharing BEA 2011 with you. If you are an attendee – that is so awesome and I hope I get to see you next year! If you are considering attending, I have to tell you if you can do this one time – DO IT. I have a hard time putting into words what a great experience this is but I hoping the oodles of posts this week gives you a hint. 😀
Hi everyone. If you have been around here lately you may have noticed the mess from BEA everywhere – books, notes, swag stuff…. I have literally been chatting BEA all week-long.
Ummm…. can you say “addict?”
This is my post for Weekend Cooking the weekly meme from Beth Fish Reads. Earlier this week I talked about a dinner at Mercer’s Kitchen in New York with the amazing Beth Hoffman. I had also mentioned the delicious spiced almonds we had while sitting at the bar and waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Since coming home… my mind has still been thinking about the almonds. 😛
With a little help from Google (my gosh… what did we do before Google?) I found a recipe that I thought would be fun to try to see if I can come close to the awesome experience I had at Mercer’s Kitchen.
Spiced Almonds
Yields 2 cups (I doubled this as I am that much in love with these!)
You will need:
2 cups raw almonds (you can use another nut…. but my fav is the majestic almond)
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar (packed)
3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ – ¾ teaspoon cayenne powder
½ teaspoon salt
Directions:
Prepare counter space or a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil to place nuts to dry. Set aside. Take the sugars and spices and mix well in a medium size bowl. In a large dry saute pan on medium heat stir in the almonds and continue stirring frequently to avoid burning. Once they are well heated, then stir in the butter. Once almonds are well coated, transfer to the bowl with the spices and coat well. Put the almonds on the prepared paraffin wax or foil. Spread them apart so they can cool, separating with a fork.
Store in an airtight jar - or freeze in a large ziploc for future use
That’s it.
Results?
It’s close. The spices did not stick as well to the nut as they had at Mercer’s Kitchen. (Any advice on what would make that happen is welcome :D)
I think these would go well with a cold beverage of choice – The Lemonade recipe here would go well.
Throughout the week I have been sharing with you moments of last weeks BEA. I probably could have bunched them up into fewer posts, but each topic I have posted on has required more of me than a few descriptive words. I think even with this being my second year attending BEA, I have trouble believing such an event exists, as this is truly what I would have envisioned Heaven to be like….. books, books everywhere :D…
That said – forgive me as I gush out even more BEA posts….
On Thursday May 26, I had a wonderful opportunity to go on the tour of Greenwich Village as invited by one of my favorite authors, Adriana Trigiani. Our event started with a taxi ride to Greenich Village (apparently called “The Village” by New Yorkers) where we met Nikki, who was our tour guide. What was super cool is this is Adrianna’s own tour – Called Adriana Trigiani Tours. The tour(s) is centered around places she mentions in her books and for a book lover and a big fan of Adriana Trigiani it is beyond AWESOME!
There were 10 of us on the tour and it was so much fun. Nikki was amazing and I soon learned she knew her stuff. As we walked we learned not only the connections of the places to the books, but also the history they held in New York, as well as the history of Greenwich Village. Our tour took us to the Church that is mentioned as a place you may have found two of Adriana’s favorite characters, Lucia Sartori and Valentine Roncalli (Lucia Lucia).
Gorgeous isn't it?
The oldest house in the village built in 1799, updated and expanded in 1836, and a third floor added in 1928 still remains at 77 Bedford Street. The skinniest home in New York (I believe it was all of New York) is also in the Village, notably 9 1/2 feet on the outside, 8 1/2 feet wide on the inside and 32 feet deep.
*groan* Where would I put my books?
We walked on and seen gorgeous homes and gardens, at one point our guide pointed out an apartment and said that we may recognize this as the outside of Monica’s apartment from the show Friends. (I LOVED Friends!!!)
Monica's Apartment from the sitcom Friends
As we walked and took in the sights and learned the facts, we stopped at McNulty’s Rare Teas which was a delight for the senses! Walking inside there were rows and rows on assorted teas with incredible names like Apple Pie, Cinnamon Stick, etc… I just INHALED.
MMMM..... smelled delicious inside and out!
Of course there is so much more to this walking tour and I know I am not doing it justice but trust me – this is an experience you will not want to miss. Check out Adriana’s Tour site and learn more AND for those of you going to Italy (I am jealous…. but that’s beside the point :D) be sure to see Adriana’s Italy tour as well which I here is just as divine!
As if that was not enough of a treat, we were then escorted into the Standard Grill which has a gorgeous floor tiled in pennies…. I kid you not. PENNIES. Check it out here. We all sat at a long table in a room all set up for us and while we chatted with our group… in walked the lady we had all come to see…. Adriana Trigiani.
“Hello Ladies!” she exclaimed and we instantly greeted her.
Adriana is always so down to earth and real. She treats us like old friends, and once I stop pinching myself, I believe I am. As the bread is passed around the table and the water glasses filled, Adriana starts sharing stories – which I LOVE to hear, from her early writing days, to how she came to live in the Village… I could listen to her for days….
When it came time to order, we had little menus placed in front of us as and we chose a soup or salad starter, a main dish, and dessert. I went with the orange squash soup, as I was intrigued that it said it had Yogurt in it. It came served chilled and it was delicious!
Then came my main dish – I chose the grilled egg plant and I was so pleased I forgot to take a picture of it. It was fantastic and I would definitely have that again and highly recommend it.
In the end came a lovely dessert, I went with the raspberry topped cheese cake that was… oh my gosh…. words can not describe but I can tell you my mouth is watering right now as I think about it….
The food and the company – SUPERB! We talked and laughed and had pictures taken. I adore my time with Adriana and this group of fantastic bloggers. I can not wait for her next book to come out!!!
Left back: Julie (Booking Mama), Candace (Beth Fish Reads),Dawn (She's Too Fond Of Books), Reagan (Miss Remmers Reviews), Me, Adrianna Trigiani, Alison (Alison's Book Marks), Nikki our wonderful tour guide, Front left: Diane (BookChickDi), Lenore (Presenting Lenore), Kathy (Bermuda Onion), and Tanya (Dog Eared Copy).
As we gathered to leave, Adriana handed each of us two of her books, signed to each one of us.
Hopefully I did not overdose on the pictures here but this was such a visual experience I had to share it. 😀
The Book Blogger Convention (BBC) for the last two years has followed the excitement of the Book Expo of America (BEA). When the expo ends on Thursday, Thursday evening has been a Book Blogger Reception and then Friday is the BBC, a day committed to Book Bloggers connecting with authors, publishing houses… it is a Book Blogger work shop and well worth attending.
After a delicious breakfast served at 7:45 am and a chance to build your own swag bag, we all settled into a large room to listen to our Keynote Speaker, Sara Wendell. Sara is a fellow book blogger and if I remember this correctly (it was early after a crazy busy week) I think an author too. Sara was funny, describing the first time she was offered a galley…
“What’s a galley?” she had asked. When they said it was a book sent to her for free to read and review she was shocked. When a large box a short time later “THUMPED” on her front step she was beside herself…. FREE BOOKS. MY PRECIOUS! (picture Gollum here). When Sara had finished reading the books she called the company and asked where to return them. They laughed at her and told her to do what she wanted with them – the lady on the phone told Sara that she burned her copies…
“Burning BOOKS?” Sara had cried out in disbelief…. no, “I will keep them.” The lady had laughed and explained that the books tend to accumulate…. (as a two-year book reviewer… *looking around reading room* I can not agree more.)
Besides being funny Sara also had great advice for taking your blog to the “next level” which means something different for each of us.
I really enjoyed listening to Sara.
Picture by Meg from "Write Meg!" as she was awesome enough to get pictures! (Click on it to go to her wonderful post about BBC)
Next up was Ask A Publisher or Publicist session and I took a lot away from this. A great panel led by Jennifer Hart (Harper Collins). We had on the panel:
Lydia Hirt (Penguin Group)
Kelly Leonard (Hatchette Book group)
Lucille Rettino (Simon and Schuster)
Allison Verost (Harper Teen)
Ksenia Winnicki (Macmillan)
Here is my take away:
You may have heard of some of the big promotions around the blog when they chose blogs to represent Districts for the release of Mockingjay by Susanne Collins and again when they chose blogs to represent courts for the release of the latest Iron King book. These promotions generate excitement and the panel encouraged us as reviewers if we have ideas to feel free to share them by emailing the publishers. (They graciously gave us lists of contact emails)
Galleys cost more than the actual books (I did not know this and this was really a wake up call for me). In respect of this new-found knowledge I have been taking all the books as they come into my home and adding their release dates to my Google calendar so I can better watch when i should be reviewing these.
We can post a review for an upcoming release at the point it is available for pre-order. We do not have to wait for release date.
Posting your review to other sources besides your blog is important. I currently always try to also put it on Amazon, but learned that when the Publishers were asked, they really would like to see it on Good Reads as well as Good reads apparently connects to other sources. (I did not know this!) I am a member of Good Reads but terrible at posting my reviews there as the time spent writing the post, adding it to Amazon… but knowing now that this is important I am going to make the time to do this.
They also said that we save them time if we also send them a link to our reviews when they are up, as they like to let the authors know.
Also – they do appreciate it is we also let them know of reviews we do to older titles as well.
5. When requesting a book for review – be polite. (I would think this is a given, but apparently it is not.) Explaining which blog you have, traffic, etc… is helpful if you do not already have a relationship with this publisher. Do not demand a book – in one case the blogger apparently said they needed the book by the weekend…. wow…. uhhh…. *delete request*. Also helpful is to include your mailing address at the time of the ask. This saves them the time of having to connect with you again and request it. *I have a separate email I use for my bookish side and I have added my address to my signature so it shows up on all emails.
I then went into the author Speed Dating event with Reagan (Miss Remmers Reviews) and Alison (Alison’s Book Marks) *waves*. I really enjoyed this session where we (bloggers) sat around tables and a different author came to our table every 15 minutes to discuss their book and we had opportunities to ask questions as well. This idea was BRILLIANT! (Yes I quote Harry Potter….) . I had a lot of fun meeting authors that were new to me, as well as a few that I had previously met and it was so fun!! Of course this also added to my “must read” list. *sigh – but a happy sigh*
The final session I went to Technology For Blogging because seriously – I need all the help I can get. I went into this blogging gig hardly knowing how to make a post. Everything else I learned by visiting blogs, seeing things I liked, emailing the blogger and asking how they did it. Another reminder that book bloggers are incredibly generous and helpful people.
What I took away from this session was:
Do NOT automatically connect your blog to Twitter and Facebook. *Guilty as charged* I think it was Anna Moore who said this (Blog Graphic design). She said that we should only connect to other social media with our “best of the best” posts. I agree and disagree… I believe I will keep my posts connected to Twitter as they are all bookish people there – the only twitter connections I have. I do however agree on the Facebook part as that is everyone from family, friends, co workers, bookish types… some of my posts do not need to go there. I have not decided at this time to open up a blog page on Facebook and do not think I will. One more thing to try to keep up with 😀
Connect connect connect… we talked about Tumblr which I know little about – but also other ways to connect with others which in turn will create relationships that in turn will (possibly) become readers of your blog.
By the end of BBC I was full of information and chalk it up as a successful and fun day. I learned a little, made many connections with bloggers and authors and publishers and say hats off to the hard-working behind the scenes bloggers who pulled off a successful event! 😀
This week, I am planning many posts on my time in New York for BEA. I will be posting about the YA Teen Carnival, Dinner with Beth Hoffman, The Expo itself, Harper Collins Party and dinner following with Bloggers, The tour of Greenwich Village, lunch with Adriana Trigiani, The Harry Potter Exhibit, and this, seeing Mary Poppins on Broadway.
Now – Mary Poppins was actually the last thing we did in New York this past week. It was Friday evening and I was hanging with Reagan from Miss Remmers Reviews and Cass from Bon Jour Cass. They wanted to do something “New Yorky” for our final evening in the big city, I just wanted to go out to eat. 😛
When they came up with the idea of Mary Poppins, it sounded interesting but I was tired and calculating when we would get back… we still had to pack… our flight left at 6:45 am…. (I know… I know… what a pain right? :razz:) I knew they were right to do something awesome, but really… Mary Poppins? Really?
Oh. Ok…..
So off we went stopping for delicious buffalo chicken sandwiches and spaghetti on our way to the show. Once seated and the curtain was drawn….
I was never the same.
Ashley Brown makes a wonderful Mary Poppins. I can not even begin to do her justice. Her voice, her moves, if ever there was a Mary Poppins – she is her.
I’m practically perfect in every way
practically perfect that’s my forte
uncanny nannies are hard to find
unique yet meek unspeakably kind
I’m practically perfect not slightly soiled
running like an engine that’s just been freshly oiled!
The special effects are phenomenal – props appear from within a seemingly empty travel bag and a bed appears under a sheet…. when Gavin Lee as Bert walks up the stage wall across the tops and down the other side – the audience goes wild! I imagine children are astounded and will not soon forget the magic of Mary Poppins …. shoot, neither will I.
I think one of the key moments for me was when they sand supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The song, the dancers, was so good! See for yourself:
I told Reagan and Cass later that I could study that dance for the rest of my life and not be able to do it!
AND how about the kids? Their roles are huge, I found it fascinating that there are actually three sets of kids who perform these songs and dances. What big roles! Hear from them yourself:
I loved the witch, errr….. the other nanny, Miss Andrew, Mr. Banks’ nanny who he had as a child. *gulp* If this actress does not play roles as a witch she certainly should… she was AWESOME!
Overall… I LOVED IT! How could you not. I think I had forgotten the story behind Mary Poppins. Deeply buried no doubt in childhood memories, entwined in stories long since abandoned in the depths of the files in my brain. It was nice to take these memories out for a refresher.
BEA is more than books… it is for me, a taste of New York and each time I go I bask in what I can experience this time.
If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend you go and see this visual treat. You will thank me.
As a lover of all things BOOKISH, I love love LOVE to read book reviews by book bloggers. Many of the books I read I have discovered by reading a review on a blog about said book. I appreciate a warm and honest review, and like to know how that book made the reviewer feel…. be it emotionally charged, angry, sad, happy, ready to do battle – whatever… books and emotions to me go hand in hand and I like to know how the reader feels when immersed in a book.
While the above is what I enjoy, I absolutely am turned off by reviews that tell me the book from start to end – the beginning, the big plot line, the solution and the ending… really, why do I need to read the book now? I do not care if the review is long (although there is clearly such a thing as too long..) as long as it is interesting, or short, as long as it gives me a feel for the book. I enjoy knowing a bit about the author, a bit about the history of the book, and really like the reviews that go the bit extra with perhaps a definition of something in the book along with a picture of that said word and its meaning.
As a reviewer, I want to write a good honest review that will cause my readers to know if this book is a good fit for them. For those of us that do review, we know this is not always as easy as gushing out “I loved it” as much as I love those reviews, there are also the ones that we have to say….. hmmmm…. not so much loving it here.
This may or may not apply to the post here... I just thought this was funny. It reminds me that we want... what we want.
Here is my question(s) today:
1. As a reader, what do you like to see in a review of a book you may be interested in? What do you not like to see in a review?
2. As a reviewer (for those of us who are), what do you like to be sure are in your own reviews you write?
I think I am having book envy. 😛
