So over it

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Do you ever get to the point in your reading that if you pick up ONE MORE BOOK about [insert your most over-exposed genre here], you’ll simply run screaming into the night?

No?

Just me?

I think not.

We all have those moments, I’m pretty sure. Call it genre burn-out, plot overdose, or simply too much of a good thing — but I’d be surprised if there are any avid bookworms out there who haven’t had these moments in their bookish lives.

Some readers find a genre or subject or style that they love, and that’s all they want to read. And there’s nothing wrong with that! If you like what you like, and you’re happy reading what you like, go for it!

It just doesn’t work for me.

I guess I’m a hopper. I can’t read any one genre, any one setting, any one time period for more than a few books before I start getting a little batty. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of taking a break or switching things up. Sure, I’ll read a horror book or two, but then I’ll need to switch off with a historical novel, a contemporary love story, or a thriller or two before I’ll even consider horror again. Variety is the spice of life.

Still, there are certains types of books that I am JUST SO OVER at the moment, and I can’t imagine wanting to read more of these… is ever too strong a statement? Well, at least for a long, long time.

I am SO OVER… anything you might describe as “dystopian”. I don’t want weirdly artificial social groupings. No bizarre rituals to select careers, spouses, or social castes. No common objects or foods that are randomly illegal in a future society. No battles to the death for survival, no high-tech arenas or stages, no bizarre contests of wits or strength in order to be selected for… anything.

I am SO OVER… historical novels with a split timeline framework. A 21st century woman finds [insert <relic/artwork/journal/rare book/other old-timey-thing-of-value> here] — and then, poof! wouldn’t you know it, the very next chapter is all about the 18th or 16th or 12th or whatever-th century woman who originally owned or handled or created that MacGuffin-ish thing.*

*Carving out a very big exception here for Susanna Kearsley, because I love her books no matter what, and if she keeps writing dual timeline novels, I’ll keep reading ’em. Period.

I am SO OVER… YA novels in which a geeky/shy/not-exactly-popular ordinary boy winds up in the orbit of a mysterious, slightly damaged, unforgettable wild girl. And his life will never be the same. No more. Just no.

These are my “over it” types of books at the moment, although I’m sure if you asked me again in two months, I might come up with something completely different that I’m just so over.

What about you? What type of book are you just done with? Is there a particular storyline or plot device that you never want to see again?

Share your thoughts!

7Mar2015

Blogger Spotlight: Meet Eugenia!

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I have so many wonderful people in my life who are just as crazy about books and reading as I am! I thought I’d put together some reader and blogger spotlight posts to highlight some of the folks who I love talking books with. Getting the ball rolling…

Meet Eugenia! My friend Eugenia is someone I know from real life, an avid reader, and one smart cookie. She’s recently joined the book blogging world, and I’m thrilled to be able to chat with her about her new blog, Jewish Books Are Awesome:

Introduce yourself! Who are you, what’s your background, hobbies, interests, etc..

My name is Eugenia, coming to the web waves courtesy of Shargorod, Ukraine and Berkeley, California. I am a Jewish accountant (one of several in my family’s current generation) working for a Jewish Bay Area organization. I have absolutely no background in literature other than my abundant twenty-five years of love of reading and few dozen essays I had to write in college. I haven’t had an interest in writing books since my teenage years of poorly written poetry. I read. That’s what I do.

Why did you decide to start a blog? Why “Jewish Books Are Awesome?” How did you come up with the name, and what does it mean to you?

I started this particular blog as a bit of a joke initially. I’ve written in diaries for as long as I can remember and I have every single one I’ve written since the age of 13. I experimented with online diaries back in the ’90s and early ’00s with the help of Open Diary and LiveJournal, but those blogs had no real purpose other than spewing out my inner thoughts and experiences onto the world. They gave me an opportunity to share myself behind the anonymity of a computer screen, but eventually life got in the way and I found less and less time to talk about myself. And yet, the nagging thoughts continued. At one point about three years ago, I almost had it when I thought that I could turn my reading obsession into something tangible and started a generic book review blog…..but I got lazy and it never went past 4 entries. It may still live somewhere in the web clutches, but I can’t even find it. 🙂

Anyway, enough history (as if such thing is possible – I LOVE and LIVE history). About six months ago, I was having a silly conversation with my best friend (who is like a sister and is a rabbi!) on Facebook. Prior to this, I had started giving her Facebook community group Judaica book recommendations. She had recently self-published her first book and was telling me about an idea to promote her book. She offered bloggers a free copy of her book in exchange for a special feature on her author page complete with blogger bio and photo. So she says to me, “So it would look something like this – Example: Eugenia, Blogger at JewishBooksAreAwesome.com and provide link to their site.” I being the giant nerd, thought the name was brilliant and for some infernal reason decided to right then and there create a blog with that name before it had been taken. So really, blame my sister.

Can you tell us a bit about your blog? What’s your main focus? What types of posts might we expect to see?

Ultimately I had started a blog because I felt I had something unique to say. As a Jew I am very proud of my people and my heritage and it felt so natural to want to show the world, those who may know a little about us and those who may know a lot, that we are not just characters in news headlines and protests. Jews as a people have four thousand years of culture to offer the world. I wanted to try and offer a tiny slice of that. And what better way to share it with the world than through my love of reading? What better way to show the world that Jews are awesome than through written word?

My focus is specifically Jewish-themed books. These are books about Jewish culture, Jewish history, Jewish art, Jewish characters written by and large by Jewish authors but that is not in any way a requirement. So far I’ve done an even mix of fiction and non-fiction works and would really love to continue maintaining that mix. I noticed that I enjoy not just writing a single post about a book of choice, but often write a mid-read reflection of it as well. Occasionally I do throw in posts about my love of reading in general, I try not to be too partial to memes but sometimes they capture how I feel about reading so much that THEY MUST BE SHARED!

Has anything about blogging taken you by surprise?

I have been most surprised by the amount of work blogging takes. I used to think that I could just pick a book, sit down, read it, and then go right to talking about it. Book reviews are actual legitimate work. I found that I can do most of the above mentioned things easily (though reading a book in one sitting is a bit of a stretch) except the last. It’s rather hard to just get to talking. It’s hard to talk without any kind of a framework because without some form of structure, I feel that the reviews just become babble. No one wants to read a disorganized mess. In line with that, I was surprised by the fact that in order to have a structure in my reviews, I actually needed to take notes. Kind of like where I was in college. Notes about the characters, notes about the events I thought pivotal. And the odd curious quote.

What’s been your best experience as a blogger so far?

I am very easy to please. All it takes is the little WordPress notification at the top of my tablet toolbar and I am happy as a clam. I’m just excited people are giving it the time of day. I knew that with a niche blog like mine it would be a challenge getting people interested, but I’ve had the pleasure of knowing that people on multiple continents have dropped in on my blog. Australia, India, UK, Philippines. How cool is that? It just blows my little heart that people are interested in what I have to say.

What book that you’ve featured on your blog has meant the most to you or had the strongest effect on you, and why?

When one reads books about Jews, one can never escape the specter of the Holocaust. Three Minutes in Poland has had the most profound effect on me and my readers’ reactions to it have reassured me that I was on the right path with this blog and its purpose. I wouldn’t want to turn this particular answer into yet another discussion of the book (ok, I actually would but I don’t think we have time for that so here is a link to the review instead.) But let it suffice that reading about Glenn Kurtz’s doggedly determined search of the people featured in his grandfather’s film shows to me how relevant history still is. They always say “Never Forget” and yet, we are human so we do. Books like Three Minutes serve as more than a testament to the dead, they are reminders of our relevance as a people and how extremely important it is for people to continue to be educated about what could be. One should never ever stop learning.

Tell us about your reading habits – what do you read for fun?

FYI, I do not just read Jewish-themed books. I’d probably lose my mind a bit if that were the case. I’ve been trying to read a non-blog book while reading something for the blog. I have been known to indulge in chick lit though I have my standards. I am a big fan of Marian Keyes and Jennifer Weiner.

What’s your favorite reading spot?

I like to read in bed the most but I have been blessed with the ability and desire to read just about anywhere. In a passenger seat of a moving car, standing on a packed commuter train, walking through a hallway at work, occasionally in the bathroom…..

Do you have any requirements for when you’re reading (music, location, no talking, etc.)?

If I am really focused on a book, I can’t handle much noise. Music generally isn’t a good idea though I can handle talking around me as long as no one is expecting me to fully pay attention to the conversation. I’ve been known as a child to read in the presence of classmates while ignoring them completely.

Besides the books you feature on your blog, what’s your favorite book from the last 12 months?

I’ve really fallen in love with Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series. I think I wolfed down all 8 books in less than three months.

LOL. “Wolfed” down. Oh, that’s awesome…

What book do you find yourself recommending most often?

Other than Three Minutes in Poland? You might think I am a bit of a weirdo, but Great Mortality by John Kelly was fantastic. It’s the history of the European Black Death aka the Black Plague that took out millions in the late 1340s and beyond. I am also a huge fan of Mary Roach’s work, especially Bonk. Anything by Lisa See and Jim Butcher. Hands down.

Any books you regret reading?

I haven’t thought much of Jane Green’s and Sophie Kinsella’s last -oh I don’t know- 3 books each? Either I grew up or their story telling ability just went out the window.

What are your hopes and dreams for Jewish Books Are Awesome?

I hope people keep reading and enjoying my musings. Now is not the easiest time to be a Jew and I want to continue conveying to people how fascinating my people and our stories are. We are the People of the Book (Shout out to Geraldine Brooks!) and it’s only appropriate that through books I can share our history and culture.

Anything else curious readers should know?

I can read in two and a half languages! I am also a pretty bad-ass embroiderer and a halfway decent crocheter.

Thank you, Eugenia!

Don’t forget to check out her reviews and musings at Jewish Books Are Awesome!

Did you enjoy this post? I did! I plan to continue shining a spotlight on the readers and writers in my life, whenever inspiration strikes (and I can find willing victims). If you have suggestions for future spotlight posts, please let me know! And I’d really love it if you’d leave a comment or two on my chat with Eugenia. Thanks!

18Jan2015

The Fault in My Stars (or, why I don’t use a ratings system)

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

If you’ve read any of my book reviews — well, first of all, thank you!

But as I was saying, if you’ve read my reviews, you’ll notice something missing that seems to be almost standard on book blogs — a ratings system. And that’s a deliberate choice, not just an oversight or poor planning.

I’ve debated adding in a ratings system off and on since I started blogging. And I always come back to the same conclusion — stars or their like just don’t really work for me.

Let’s look at Goodreads: The ratings system on Goodreads does actually have an official set of definitions:

1-star: Did not like it
2-stars: It was ok
3-stars: Liked it
4-stars: Really liked it
5-stars: It was amazing

That’s kind of vague, isn’t it? How do you differentiate between “it was ok” and “liked it”? If all I can say about a book is that I liked it, then that probably means that it was okay. Hmm. *scratching head in befuddlement*

So are the stars meants to be a comparison? A 5-star book should be the best ever, a 3-star book would be average among all books read, and a 1-star book would be the bottom of the barrel. But compared to what? Here’s where I get completely mixed up.

If I read a YA novel by a new writer and I think it was really good, I’ll give it four stars. Fine.

But then what does that mean in terms of well established, truly excellent writers? Is a 4-star debut YA novel equivalent in quality to, say, The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien? Of course not. Yet by the Goodreads ratings scale definitions, I’d give The Two Towers four stars because, while I really liked it, I wouldn’t call it amazing.

And then I fall into the same-author-relativity trap. I love Stephen King, but I love some of his books more than others. My absolute favorites get 5 stars, without a doubt. But when I read a Stephen King book that doesn’t appeal to me as much, do I give it 3 stars because relative to other SK books, I only liked it? Or would I say that in the grand scheme of all books ever, any SK book should be at least 4 or 5 stars simply because even at his less-stellar, he outwrites a good percentage of other writers?

Argh. I’m overthinking things, I know. And on Goodreads, I play along and assign stars. I try to have some level of consistency, and reserve 5-stars only for books that stand out as the best of the best. But below that, it gets murky. I tend to give 4-stars to any book that I like a lot, but wouldn’t consider the very tip-top. Three stars tend to be my “fine” books — you know, the book was fine, but I wouldn’t write home about it or anything. Two-stars are already in the realm of not liking. My two-star books aren’t “okay” (as Goodreads would have us think) — they’re books that I didn’t care for. And one-star? Hated. That’s all, plain and simple. (For the sake of fairness, I don’t give any rating to DNF books, since I don’t have enough information to assess the overall quality — unless I quit because the writing was atrocious, in which case, 1-star!)

How does that relate to what I do here on my blog? It’s the same thing, really. When I read a book, I have so many feels. Did it make me laugh? Did I tear up just a bit? Maybe I gave an unladylike snort over a particularly snarky passage, or I shook my head in bewilderment over some bone-headed plot twist. Did I like the characters but thought their actions were silly? Did I think it was well-written, but something about it just didn’t really appeal to me? Was it a foray into a genre I don’t typically read, and therefore I don’t feel well-equipped to judge its success?

How do I boil all that down to a quantitative rating, whether it’s stars, happy faces, or dancing bears?

Generally speaking, I can’t. I can tell you if I enjoyed reading a book, and if so, what I especially liked about it. I can tell you when I have mixed feelings about a book, and what are the different factors that play into my reaction. If I think some people might enjoy a book, but not others, I’ll say so. And on and on and on. So much goes into reacting to a book, and for me, I need to write it all out.

On the flip side, I do sometimes appreciate it when I’m visiting other book blogs and see a review for a book I’m curious about. Especially if it’s one I still plan to read, I’d rather not know much about it ahead of time, but I do want to know if the blogger liked it or not. So seeing someone else giving a book 5-stars or 3-stars or 1-star is helpful in that case — a quick and easy summary of the person’s opinion that I can get at a glance without reading through the details.

If anything, I could see myself using a report card style of ratings. I think I know what an A+ means, relative to a C or a D-. If I graded the books I read, rather than tried to assign stars, I think I could achieve a greater level of consistency in terms of what the grade means.

Of course, there’s still the Stephen King problem. Is second-tier Stephen King (or Tolkien or Austen or whoever you consider top of the heap) still better than some other writer’s absolutely best work? Is it fair to grade everyone relative to the best? Are there different standards for different genres, different topics, different levels of comedy and tragedy?

I keep coming back to the same old conclusion: For me, as a reviewer, I need words to express my thoughts, not stars. (Or smiley faces. Or dancing bears.) I don’t seem to be capable of assigning a number — which I think of as objective, definite, and purely quantitative — to something that is essentially subjective, personal, and qualitative.

What do you think? As a reviewer, do you like using ratings or do you feel boxed in by them? When you read reviews, do you prefer the written word or to see a grade or star-rating?

Please share your thoughts!

15Jan2015

ARCs. Argh.

Posted in Blogging, The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I think I’m giving up on ARCs.

More specifically, I’ve just had it up to here with badly formatted e-ARCs.

In theory, digital review copies should make my life as a reader, reviewer, and blogger easier, but lately, I’m finding them nothing but frustrating.

My most recent DNF was an e-ARC, and while the story itself didn’t particularly grab me, there were substantial formatting issues that certainly didn’t help. This historical novel included a map at the beginning showing key story locations and landmarks. Unfortunately, whether I tried using my Kindle, IPad, or phone app, the map appeared in three separate sections and was impossible to read. Funny, but if there had been no map, I wouldn’t have missed it. But knowing that I should be able to see it, but having it be unreadable, just ticked me off.

Beyond that, it was the usual litany of digital ARC woes:

No paragraph breaks. Dialogue without line breaks. No chapter breaks built into the document — so flipping back to the beginning of a chapter to check a date or a title is impossible.

Problems like these just make the reading experience so unenjoyable. I’ve read digital ARCS where the sections breaks were missing, so from one paragraph to another, a whole week has gone by in the narrative. I’m sure that would be clearer in the printed version, but until I figured this out, I just thought it was a badly written book!

And that’s really the crux of the matter: When the formatting gets in the way of being able to follow the story, or is so clunky that I have to stop and think about whose line of dialogue I just read, then my brain is focused on the wrong thing. How can I concentrate on the narrative and enjoy it if I’m constantly having to figure out the book’s layout issues?

If I had one suggestion to make to publishers, it would be to provide Kindle-ready ARCs rather than PDF versions.

I hate to say it, but even knowing that the finished product will not have all the format flaws, they’re really hard to ignore. I know better than to criticize the formatting in my reviews, but at the same time, I do believe I feel less favorably toward books when I have to struggle with bad formatting to get through them. If I don’t enjoy the reading experience, how can I enjoy the book itself?

At this point, I think I’ve reached some sort of moment of truth when it comes to digital ARCs. Right now, I have a backload of eARCs from NetGalley, and I want to honor my commitments and work my way through them… slowly. But going forward, I’ve more or less decided to cut back on (or eliminate altogether) any new NetGalley requests.

Let’s face it. I have plenty of books to read without getting digital review copies. Plenty. Piles. Boatloads. And if I don’t read the newest new releases the second they come out, I’ll survive. Hey, that’s what libraries are for.

Meanwhile, I’m happy to read physical ARCs (hint, hint, in case anyone who cares is reading this!) — but mostly, I’ll stick to the books on my shelf, the books I borrow from the library or my kind bookish friends, and the perfectly formatted books on my Kindle.

After all…

Life’s too short to read badly formatted books.

How about you? Does bad formatting get in the way of your enjoyment of ARCs? Or do you consider it a reasonable trade-off for access to early copies of upcoming releases?

Please share your thoughts!

28Dec2014

2015: Reading on a Whim

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I know it’s time to make resolutions and set goals for 2015, and I’ll do that… soon-ish.

But for now, there’s one main goal that I have in mind, and while it should be a no-brainer, I’m finding that I actually have to say it, write it down, and carve it in stone. (Or I would, if I had a chisel and a block of marble handy.)

My goal is this:

In 2015, I’m going to concentrate on reading… whatever I feel like.

Shouldn’t that go without saying? But it’s really not that easy.

Over and over again, despite my best intentions, I find my reading life consumed by commitments and obligations. There are book groups. Challenges. Discussions I’ve agreed to take part in. And all of it means that my reading is determined ahead of time and marked on a calendar… and I end up feeling frustrated and unfulfilled.

Biggest culprit? The domineering, dictatorial spreadsheet I set up to track my ARCs. I thought it was brilliant at the time — a clear, concise way of tracking all of the review books I’d yet to read, sortable by publication date, source, and whether I’d committed to a particular blog post date or other publicity event. It is actually great for all of those purposes — but when I find myself consulting the spreadsheet to figure out what to read next in order to stay on track, well, something is wrong with the system.

I get really antsy. I start feeling like I’m being told what to do (which I do not respond to well, in reading and in life in general).

This is why I’m not a very good book club participant. I’m fine, so long as we’re reading books that I want to read anyway. But when I start feeling compelled to read something that’s not really my choice, I get resentful.

This is also why I’ve stopped doing book-related challenges. I don’t want to pick books based on a category I need to check off or what letter of the alphabet the title starts with. It’s fun to see how well my reading fits in (sometimes), but it’s not how I want to decide what I read.

The bottom line, for me, is that I’ll never have enough time to read all of the books that I want to read. And when I pick and choose, I want it to be based on what I want AT THAT MOMENT.

During the last two weeks, I put aside all my lists and just started picking up the books that I felt like reading. How ridiculous is it that this felt like a big break-through for me, a special sort of treat?

Answer: It’s completely ridiculous.But at the same time, I had the weirdest feeling of freedom. I felt like proclaiming from the rooftops, “I can read whatever I feel like reading!” Crazy, right?

And so… here I am. I find myself in the odd situation of having to remind myself, yet again, that I read for fun and because I love it. Period.

I have enough responsibilities and commitments in my life. I read for me.

How does this translate into a resolution for 2015?

In 2015, I commit to reading on a whim. I will read whatever book suits my mood or catches my eye. I will not be bound by calendars or deadlines. I commit to reading the books that I want to read, when I want, on whatever schedule I want.

In 2015, reading will be fun. And also, I hope, stimulating, inspiring, moving, educational, thought-provoking, laughter-inducing, and surprising. But overall, I want to enjoy reading 100% of the time.

Reading on a whim. Oh yes, 2015 will be a very good year!

27Dec2014

2014: My year in books

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I started working on a big end-of-year wrap-up post, with snazzy graphics and statistics… and realized that I just didn’t feel like it this year. So, skipping all the bells and whistles, here’s a quick peek at what I really loved in my bookish life in 2014:

[Note: Click on the links to see my reviews if you’re interested!]

Goodreads stats as of 12/27/2014:

Total number of books read: 145
Total number of pages read: 45,345
Star rating used most often: 4 stars (57 total)
Star rating used least often: 1 star (only 1 this year!)
Number of five-star ratings: 51

Longest book read: The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, 1443 pages (a re-read)
Shortest book read (excluding graphic novels and novellas):
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 180 pages

Bests & Other Stuff of Note

Best children’s (middle grade): Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Best young adult: Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
Best contemporary: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Best graphic novel: Serenity: Leaves on the Wind by Zack Whedon
Best sci-fi/fantasy: The Martian by Andy Weir
Best love story: Anything by Jojo Moyes! (Including One Plus One, The Ship of Brides, Me Before You, and The Last Letter From Your Lover)
Best historical fiction: I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe
Best urban fantasy: Skin Game by Jim Butcher
Best domestic drama: The Husband’s Secret and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Best new volume in an ongoing series: Big surprise — it’s gotta be Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon.

Best end to a great series: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Best book that defies categorization: Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

Around the world in a book: My reading took me to some amazing places this year…

Botswana: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Yemen: Henna House by Nomi Eve
Iceland: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Australia: Hello From the Gillespies by Monica McInerney
Spain: The Mapmaker’s Daughter by Laurel Corona
France: The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley
Syria: City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn

Journeys through time: I traveled to many different eras via terrific books; most notably…

American Revolution: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon
Civil War: I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe
World War II: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Speculation and science fiction: The medical sci-fi thrillers I enjoyed most were:

Archetype and Prototype by M. D. Waters
The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan

Oh, the horror!

Best subtle creepiness: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Best horror/love story: Horns by Joe Hill
Best horror/furniture catalog: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
Best horror involving huge insects: Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Best new obsession: The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer

Biggest let-down: I finally got around to reading The Unwritten graphic novel series by M. R. Carey… and found it increasingly incomprehensible (and unenjoyable) the farther along I went.

Best return to childhood: I reread the D’Aulaires books on Greek and Norse mythology, and loved them all over again.

Best author event: Hands down, my biggest bookish thrill this year was traveling to Phoenix, Arizona for an appearance and book signing by Diana Gabaldon.

She’s signing my book! She’s signing my book! She’s signing my book. (Um, yes, it was a bit exciting.)

Best bookish TV event of 2014: The debut of Outlander on Starz!

Claire and Jamie!

Most eye-catching covers:

Quirkiest titles:

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo
The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty

Best getting-thrown-for-a-loop: Books with twists or plots that took me by surprise:

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Girl With All the Gifts by Mike Carey

Books about bookstores…

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
The Moment of Everything by Shelly King
Goodnight June by Sarah Jio

Bookish delight, all year long:

All the many, many books which, for whatever reason, I can’t quite categorize but still really enjoyed (plus a few that are probably better off forgotten). It’s been a great year of reading. I can’t wait to see what treasures I’ll discover in 2015!

What were your favorite books of 2014? What surprised or excited you the most? Please share your top reads and recommendations in the comments!

14Dec2014

Mood Rings & Mood Reading

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Remember these from ye olden days?

Mood rings! Gah, we were obsessed with these (briefly) in my middle school days. Every girl had to have one — and we took them seriously. Blue means you’re happy! Orange was… angry, I think? Red was supposedly in love. I don’t even remember any more, except that we loved them, we teased each other over what our rings said about our moods, and then the fad faded away, as such things do.

What does this have to do with reading?

Well, I’m having one of THOSE kind of days, stuck in the reading doldrums. Perhaps it’s a result of the reading week I’ve just had. I read a highly anticipated sequel that was mostly a disappointment, and then read another book that really fell flat for me. And now I look around at all the stacks of books waiting to be read, and I just don’t know what to read next.

Nothing is particularly calling my name. Choices abound. On the tops of my piles are a history book, some YA contemporary, a few random ARCs, and a classic or two. I want to read them all… but I don’t know what I want to read right now.

I need a reading mood ring!

Wouldn’t that be awesome? Instead of starting a book and reading a few pages, then sighing and looking for something else, wouldn’t it be great to have a magical mood ring that could identify exactly what the perfect next choice would be?

Blue ring? Pick up some epic fantasy, like Mistborn or The Lies of Locke Lamora!

Red? How about something with battles and blood, like a war epic or a history book or historical fiction? Maybe even some war-themed sci-fi, like Old Man’s War by John Scalzi?

Green? I’m thinking hints of magic, like a fairy tale retelling (Bitter Greens, perhaps) or some new urban fantasy, like Nicole Peeler’s Jinn and Juice.

Yellow? Hmm, I don’t know, perhaps some contemporary dramatic novels?

Purple? I’d go with YA, anything current and fun and bestselling, of course.

Think of the possibilities! How about a Magic 8 ball that picks a genre for you? Or maybe a cootie catcher with eight different book titles inside?

For now, though, I’m kind of stuck. I have no magical devices or cheesy 70s artifacts to pick my next book for me! I guess I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way… and just dive in, start a few books, and hope something clicks in a big way.

If not, I’ll be wandering the streets looking for a palm-reader to help me figure it all out.

Should I read some Stephen King today?

22Nov2014

Adventures in Audio

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

If you’d asked me about audiobooks about three years ago, I would have said (more or less): I understand that some people enjoy them, but they’re definitely not for me.

I now officially eat my words. (Yum, yum)

Maybe it’s because I was never read to as a child… but I’ve always associated listening to stories with boredom and/or falling asleep. When I used to attend summer camp eons ago in my youth, our counselors would read to us at night after lights-out, and I never did manage to stay awake until the end of the story.

But then, as an adult, I started meeting people who swore by audiobooks, and I could see the appeal. For example, a doctor I know described listening to Lord of the Rings on his daily commutes between the two cities where he practiced. Another friend only allowed himself to listen to A Song of Ice and Fire while on the treadmill — and ended up getting in great shape as a result! Hmmm. Might work for me, perhaps?

Well, I never did follow through on my resolve to work out more with audiobooks as an incentive. But I have started listening to books in the last two years, and I’m hooked!

My first attempt was a big fail. I got a book that I’d been wanting to read and decided to listen to it while walking. Maybe it was the narrator (he was kind of drone-y), but I could not keep my attention on the book no matter how hard I tried. I’d be walking along, listening to the story, and all of a sudden — hey, seagull! Look, crack in the sidewalk! I’d realize that I had missed minutes of the narration because I just couldn’t concentrate. I was pretty amazed to discover, when I picked up the hard copy of the same book, that what felt like a massive amount of story that I’d heard only added up to about ten pages. I ended up loving the book itself, but the audiobook was a complete disaster.

Cue my Outlander obsession a short time later, and I thought I’d give audio another try. This time, I decided to see what all the fuss was about, so I decided to listen to books I’d already read, and since the community seems to be wild about Davina Porter’s narration, Outlander seemed like a good place to start.

Success! I was completely sucked into the audiobook, which I listened to during my daily drives back and forth to work and my kid’s school… and soon I found myself looking for excuses to keep driving, or even circling the block one extra time so I could finish the scene or chapter before turning it off for the day.

Since that experience, I’ve been convinced that audiobooks are the way to go, at least while in the car or while on my daily walks, but that they’d only work for me if I’d already read the books once before. That way, I wouldn’t have to worry so much about momentary distractions (like while trying to avoid suddenly swerving drivers or fighting to find a parking spot), and could just enjoy experiencing a story I already loved through a new medium.

I found that most of the time, the audiobooks enhanced the overall story for me — when presented by a talented narrator. I mostly loved Davina Porter’s version of the Outlander books (I’ve now listened to 5 of the 8 books, each one averaging about 40 hours of listening time), and she does a remarkable job (except for her American accent for one character, which is just a bit odd and flat and doesn’t sound like any American accent I know!).

I broke away from Outlander world for a bit and listened to The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and loved every minute of it. The narrator’s intonations and speech patterns made me feel like I was really in the main character’s world, and added so much to my enjoyment of the story.

But two books really epitomize the audio experience for me, and here’s why:

First, although I love the Outlander audiobooks, the truly magnificent audiobook versions of Diana Gabaldon’s works are the Lord John books, narrated by Jeff Woodman. Lord John Grey is a supporting character in the Outlander series, who then became the star of a spin-off series of books of his own. I liked him on the page, but was always anxiously awaiting the moment when I could get back to the world of Jamie and Claire. John was an interesting guy, but I didn’t quite love him… yet. In the audiobooks, Lord John simply sparkles. Jeff Woodman’s narration perfectly captures John’s intensity, his understated dry humor, and his constant attention to propriety and social nuances. If you’re an Outlander fan and you’ve been on the fence about reading the Lord John books, go straight to audio. It’s a treat, plain and simple.

My second audio experience that was really eye-opening for me happened just this past week, when I decided to break from my safe routine and give a listen to a book that I hadn’t read already. I picked up Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle when it was an Audible Daily Deal recently, but thought I’d read a hard copy first before listening to it. That never happened, and when I found myself looking for the next audiobook to start, I figured I’d give it a whirl, despite almost psyching myself out by focusing on how hard it can be for me to concentrate while listening.

Guys. Wow. I’m so glad I went ahead it with it.

To put it mildly — this book rocks. Bernadette Dunne is just brilliant as the narrator of the audiobook. She voices the book’s point-of-view character, Mary Catherine Blackwood, with a girlish voice that hides all sorts of shades of craziness and delusion, and the other characters — from the hostile villagers to decrepit Uncle Julian — are distinct, recognizable, and just completely spot-on. When I got a few chapters in, I borrowed a hard copy of the book from a friend so I could compare certain passages — and maybe it’s because I was already hooked on the audio, but I just didn’t get the same rich flavor from the words on the printed page. Bernadette Dunne does an amazing job of conveying the sing-song flavor of some the character’s lines, where key words and phrases get repeated and repeated, giving the whole thing a slightly unreal, otherworldly feel, even while describing terrible events and awful emotions. The story of We Have Always Lived in the Castle is an amazing portrayal of the intersection of madness, fantasy, and decay. If you enjoy your books with a touch of gothic creepiness, then there’s nothing better than hearing:

Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea?
Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me.
Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep?
Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!

If you’d like to hear a sample, check out the book’s Audible page, here.

What have I learned thus far from my audio adventures? One, that I love audiobooks far more than I could have imagined a few years ago. Two, that I’d rather listen to books while driving or exercising than listen to music, and that the time just zips by in the company of a good book. Three, that in the hands (or voice) of a gifted narrator, an audiobook can bring the nuances and depths of a story to life in a whole new way. And four, that I am, in fact, capable of enjoying a story entirely through the spoken word — which is a might big revelation for me!

How about you? Do you enjoy audiobooks? Are there any that really stand out for you? Please share your thoughts!

22Jun2014

Give Me Liberty!

Posted in Blogging, The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I wouldn’t say this is the most brilliant insight ever to occur to a human being… but it does feel like a breakthrough for me:

I need more freedom!

Specifically? Freedom from deadlines and commitments. Freedom from obligations. Freedom from pressure.

And what I really mean is, I’ve become too bogged down in all the “shoulds” and “musts” in my reading world, and I need to make a change!

Having just returned from an almost three week vacation, I’m taking a fresh look at how and what I read, and how I approach book blogging.

One thing I loved about my vacation was my break from blogging. I do love blogging, and I’m not quitting! But it was really nice to just read for pleasure, without worrying about posting schedules, memes, comments, and the like.

Instead, I read the books I felt like reading — the old paperbacks I’d thrown in my bag for beach days, the Kindle titles I’d been meaning to get to, and the new release I was salivating over. And I loved it!

I know it’s a common complaint for book bloggers: We spend so much time reading the books we’ve committed to, trying to make sure we read our ARCs and post our reviews, and we lose the ability to read for fun.

NO MORE!

Somehow or another, I continually find myself overcommitted to ARCs, despite my best intentions to cut back. I think it started when I was more of a blogging newbie, when I’d get turned down for more ARCs than I’d get approved for. Solution? Request A LOT. I thought I’d reduced my number of requests, but as I get approved much more regularly, I still find myself with a reading backlog that’s extremely daunting.

This year, I started using an Excel worksheet to track my review copies, color-coded, sorted by date, and with a nice check mark to show the ones I’ve finished. (Yes, I’m an Excel geek.) Seeing it all in black and white makes me realize that in order to stick to a schedule and read all review copies by their release date, I’ll never have time to read anything else. And that’s just not acceptable.

What about all those books already on my shelves? What about the older books I’ve always wanted to get around to? What about the new releases that I actually *gasp* buy for myself as a treat? What about my backload of Buffy season 9? Where’s the time for reading all of those?

And then there’s the issue of my blogging schedule. I’m not overly focused on posting every day, but I do end up posting most days of the week, between my regular features, participation in blog memes, and writing 2 – 3 book reviews each week. I blog for fun, but when it starts feeling like just one more deadline to meet, the fun factor goes way, way down.

Solutions?

I need to read what I want to read more often, and worry less about keeping up with ARCs. I do feel that I have a responsibility to read the ARCs I’ve requested, and I still intend to do so. But maybe I can relax my own expectations a bit, and worry less about the timing. If I review a book a month or two after its release date, so what? Not everything has to be done according to the calendar.

I need to request fewer review copies. That means cutting back on scouring NetGalley for new listings. Sure, I still want to read plenty of new books, and always will. But I need to differentiate between the ones I really want to read because they appeal to me and the ones I request because I think they’ll be big and I want to be in on them.

I need to read books when they strike my fancy. And if what I feel like reading has been sitting on my shelf for years, that’s okay. I need to give myself more leeway to read whatever I feel like reading, whenever I feel like reading it. Elemental, I know, but apparently I need the affirmation to give myself permission to read without obligation!

I need to cut back on my blogging commitments. Readers of my blog probably won’t notice much of a change, but I think there are certain types of post I’ll be doing less frequently. Maybe I’ll only do the Top Ten Tuesday topics that really call to me, instead of trying to participate every week whether inspired or not. Maybe I’ll rethink some of my own regular features. Maybe I’ll spend less time on other social media. I don’t know yet what this will look like, only that I need to do it.

So consider this my own little personal Declaration of Independence. I hereby declare that I embrace the freedom to read without schedules, to read whatever suits my mood, and to pick my books to suit my whims! Give me liberty, or give me… chocolate chip cookies? Just give me the liberty to read freely, and I’ll be a happy bookworm once more.

17May2014

Bookish Confessions: Vacation Obsessions

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

The serious countdown has begun to a family trip in early June, and it’s quite telling to check out each family member’s vacation obsessions:

My husband can’t stop talking about power converters and adaptors… except when he’s focused on SIM cards, calling plans, and whether our GPS will work at our destination. (Quick answer: It won’t.)

My son has asked about five times so far if he can bring his boogie board. And we have yet to get a decent answer from the airline about whether we can, in fact, check it through without spending the equivalent of a pile of gold ingots.

(Sadly, my son does not seem so worried about whether his math textbook or any other books will fit in his soon-to-be stuffed suitcase. I wonder why.)

Me? It’s obvious, isn’t it?

I’m obsessing over my reading choices.

Sure, I spent the day yesterday frantically driving to shops and malls in search of a swimsuit that fits (ugh), a decent beach cover-up, and an outfit for the family party I just heard about that should be nice, not too dressy, but reasonably able to hold up to packing. But all that is secondary.

I’ll be traveling for almost three weeks. What to do about books?

Thank heavens and the universe and the powers that be and all of nature for the advent of e-books! Remember those ancient olden days, when you had to pack enough books to last your entire trip, and then throw in another 3 or 4 “just in case”? Because the gods forbid that you run out of reading material before you get home! (This happened to me once on a plane, where I’d read a book too quickly and then had two hours to go of just staring out the windows and reading in-flight magazines. Oh, the trauma!)

On my upcoming trip, we’ll be spending a lot of daytime hours at the beach. My kid and husband and various other family members will mostly be in the water. Sure, I’ll join them… for a bit, and then go back to my beach chair and umbrella and sit down to read. Kindles and beaches are probably a bad combination, though — I don’t think my handy little e-reader will be a fan of sunscreen, sand, and salt water. So, some paper books will need to come along, too.

What to read? Well, I’ve been meaning to re-read some older favorites this year, so I think my battered old copies of Rebecca and To Kill A Mockingbird might be great for beach time. Then again, because it’ll be noisy and hectic and I’ll be constantly distracted, maybe a book of short stories might be a good choice. I still haven’t read my copy of Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things, so now might be the time.

Less planning is required for my e-reading adventures. But do I continue trying to catch up with all the ARCs and upcoming new releases that seem to be constantly forming a logjam on my device — or take a break from so-called obligations, and use my vacation time to read whatever happens to suit my mood at the time?

And then there’s the biggest bookish issue of all for me: The book I’ve been waiting for for years is coming out in June — and I’ll be away. Book #8 in the Outlander series, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, will be released on June 10th. I have it preordered for my Kindle, and assuming the wifi where we’re staying works as promised (which may be an overly optimistic assumption), I should be able to download it that morning and dig in. BUT… well, I am on a family vacation and all, and maybe should focus on family? If I allow myself to start the book I’ve been dying for, will I actually want to do anything else at all until I get through all 1,000 pages? (Correction: Amazon lists it at 848 pages — that’s practically tiny, compared to some of the others in the series!) I suppose I should at least consider holding off on reading the book until the flight home… but I think I may literally shrivel up and die (yes, literally! I swear it!) if I have to wait one more day than necessary for this book! Plus, then there’s the issue of being careful online to avoid spoilers, and that just never works out for me. What to do, what to do?

I haven’t even solved the big question of what to read on our flight on the way there in two weeks, when I’ll have about 10 or so hours to fill. (I suck at sleeping on airplanes. Good books are essential.)

I’m spending more time than is probably necessary looking over my Kindle contents, then standing in front of my bookshelves staring at all the books I haven’t read yet. What will get me through the flights? What have I been wanting to read when I have more time? What would be a fun way to spend my reading hours away from home?

I don’t have any answers yet, but hey — I still have two weeks to obsess about it!

Meanwhile, I just learned that sunscreen expires after three years, so off I go to see what’s still usable and what needs to be replaced. Vacations are exhausting… and I’m not even there yet!

How about you? Do you obsess over your vacation reading? What’s your approach toward deciding what books to bring on trips? If you have any tips for me, please share!

I’ll just be sitting here figuring out how many more books I can put in my suitcase before I start going over the weight limit…