BabyLit: Classics for Kids!

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

All together now: Awwwwwwww. Are these the cutest things or what?

Author Jennifer Adams and artist Alison Oliver have created the most adorable board books, sure to please every bookworm of a parent who’s just dying to share their love of literature with their little ones.

These two are the newest in their BabyLit series, and they’re totally precious. We have “Little Miss Austen” with Emma, teaching toddlers all about emotions with pages such as these:

Also featured are Emma being excited, Miss Taylor happy, and a very angry and red-faced Mr. Elton.

In the pirate world, we learn about shapes with “Little Master Louis Stevenson” and Treasure Island, with pictures of the Admiral Benbow inn, a treasure chest, Long John Silver, and a parrot, along with:

Have I used the words “adorable”, “cute”, and “precious” already? I’m running out of ways to say it. These board books are bright and colorful and are sure to catch the eyes of babies and toddlers… and meanwhile, bookloving adults can chuckle and appreciate that even if they’re too busy with diapers and bottles to sit and read, at least they can get a little flavor of the classics with the BabyLit books.

These are only two of the ADORABLE (yup, still using that word) books in the collection. Check out the BabyLit website for much, much more. Because all toddlers with taste need Moby Dick and Romeo and Juliet in board book form.

One more time: Awwwwwwww.

1Oct2015

Counting up the books: October update

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

In early September, I wrote a post called Counting Up the Books, in which I combined two things I love: BOOKS and NUMBERS.

I tallied up just how many unread books there are in my house, which gave me a rather scary number. My September book count looked like this:

$Book Math 1$

After that, I decided to do a Book Count including just the unread physical fiction books and graphic novels in my house, changing the outcome to look like this:

$Book Math 2$

Now that a month has gone by, I’m realizing that I need to stick the Kindle number back into my count. The Kindle books may not take up space on my overcrowded bookshelves, but they’re still there cluttering up my virtual shelves… besides which, they’re all books that I wanted to read in the first place, so I should really get to them.

Let’s do the math for October, adding in new acquisitions (yes, dammit, I’m still buying books!) and subtracting books that I’ve donated or otherwise given away or traded in.

So there you have it! Yes, I did read some books from my shelves during the past month, but I also kept adding books to the collection, so my numbers didn’t really go down in any significant way.

But I’ll keep moving forward!

How are your shelves doing this month?

Don’t forget to join me for Shelf Control on Wednesdays, where we highlight books from our shelves that we really want to read!

8Sep2015

Coming soon… Shelf Control!

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Thank you to one and all who voted in my poll over the weekend to help me choose a title for my new weekly feature here at Bookshelf Fantasies.

Drumroll, please…

We have a name!

I’m excited to introduce you to…

Up to now, my Wednesday posts (Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday) — inspired by Waiting on Wednesday and Wishlist Wednesday — have been focused on upcoming new releases, highlighting not-yet-published books that I want to read. And while I’ll never run out of those, I’m realizing more and more that I need to regroup and focus on the books I already have. (Want to know more? Check out my recent post, Counting up the books).

With that in mind, I’m bouncing with joy as I introduce Shelf Control. My Shelf Control feature will run each Wednesday (starting next week) — and much like my Wishing & Waiting posts, will focus on a book that I really want to read. But with a catch!

What’s the catch? Quite simple. My Shelf Control picks will be books that I already own — either physical copies from my overflowing shelves, or one of the many unread titles elbowing each other out of the way on my Kindle.

I was originally thinking of this as something I’d do myself each week, but based on some comments received, it sounds like there might be interest out there for others to join in! So, I’ll be adding in a linky tool, and would love to share the love!

I’m looking forward to highlighting some of the goodies from my shelves… and I’m hoping this will give me the added motivation to start focusing on reading books I already have!

Because some days, when I look at my shelves, I worry that I’ll end up like this:

See you next week for Shelf Control!

6Sep2015

Counting up the books

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Danger! Danger! Beware of falling books!

I have shelf overload. A few years ago, I added a bunch of shiny new bookshelves, assuming they’d be neat and organized, with room to spare, for years and years and years.

FAIL!

They’re full. They’re overflowing. They’re messy. They’re disorganized.

I won’t do anything as drastic as going on a book-buying ban, but I do want to finally take some time to acknowledge how many unread books are actually sitting here in my house.

To that end, one change I’ll be making is mostly sitting out my usual “Wishing & Waiting” posts for a while. I want to stop focusing on upcoming new releases and instead give myself time and space to concentrate on the books I already own. You know, the ones I was actually dying for when they first came out… and then never did anything with.

Step #1 in my goal of appreciating what I already have (okay, yes, this could be a much wider goal about appreciating all the good in my life… but for now, let’s focus on books, shall we?) is taking stock of all the books tucked into all the various nooks and crannies in my house. I can’t read what I already have if I don’t know what I already have!

Like the numbers and Excel geek that I am, I started by doing an inventory. Picture me, laptop in hand, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of my shelves. I decided to create a spreadsheet listing every book in my house that I haven’t read yet. Here are the basics of what I did:

Going shelf by shelf, I made a list of everything on my shelves not yet read.
I only counted the books that are actually mine — so my kids’ books don’t count. Unless they’re kid books that I want to read myself. (I’m starting to get muscle strain from tying myself into so many knots.)
As I scoured my shelves, I came across bunches that — let’s face it — I’ll probably never read. The ones that I felt “never will I ever” about got pulled from the shelves and put into to-be-donated boxes. Yippee! I’m counting and I’m cleaning!
I set up separate tabs in my worksheet (fun with Excel!) for fiction, non-fiction, and graphic novels.
When I got through all the physical books in my house, I decided to check my Kindle contents. Yikes. I have a lot of Kindle stuff that I’ve snatched up when there were price drops, but never got around to reading. So, another tab just for Kindle, but I only included books that I really intend to read. Because there are some that just aren’t going to happen, ever.
I didn’t include ARCs. Either I’ll read them or I won’t, but since I didn’t purchase them and can’t give them away (since they’re mostly on my Kindle), I’m not including them in my inventory.

So where did I end up? Let’s do the math:

$Book Math 1$

Ha. 598? That’s a bit daunting. Overwhelming. Coma-inducing.

When will I ever read them all???

Listen, I’m a realist (sometimes). It’ll take time. No pressure, no timetables, no deadlines. After all, the last thing I need in my life is one more way to feel stressed!

My entire goal here is to keep myself aware. Aware that I have plenty of awesome books sitting on my shelves, just waiting for me to show them some love.

So will I stop buying or borrowing new books? Heck, no.

But I will try to make more time for the books I already have, rather than always rushing toward the newest and shiniest. I want to read without pressure, without commitments, without timetables. Just reading what I want, when I want — isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?

And what about my book math? To keep myself on track, I’m going to be check my “book score” at the start of each new month. I know I’m unlikely to read more than a few non-fiction books in a year, and that’s okay. The Kindle books, well, I’ll get to when I get to. So, going forward, I’ll do a little Book Count update, including my physical books (fiction and graphic novels) still unread, plus any new additions, minus any I’ve read in the past month. Fun with numbers! And to keep myself on track, I’ll have a little Book Count icon in my sidebar that I’ll update too… because, what the heck – why not?

Here’s where I stand as of right now:

$Book Math 2$

Wish me luck!

4Aug2015

You know things are bad…

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

… when you can’t even enjoy a good book.

Sigh.

Dealing with some unexpected stuff in my “real” (aka, non-book-related) life that’s turned kind of icky. And the worst part is, when I try to escape into the pages of a book, I’m completely unable to concentrate.

Not fair!

When life sucks, the book cure should always work!

Tried to listen to an audiobook while driving home, as I usually do, but it was completely pointless. I kept having to hit the “back” button when I’d realize that my mind had drifted away.

I shall persevere! I refuse to let the yuck keep me from my #1 cure for everything.

If only I could get my brain to turn off the distractions…

But I’ll be brave, march forward, and go stick my nose inside my book one more time! If I try hard enough, I’m pretty sure I can make the rest of the world go away.

After all:

19Jul2015

My Year of Austen

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Quite unintentionally, 2015 has turned into the year of Jane Austen for me… and that’s a very, very good thing!

How did it happen? Two major causes, really:

1) I happened to stumble across a promo for Alexander McCall Smith’s retelling of Emma several months ago, soon after reading (finally!) The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. I’d been planning on checking out more of AMS’s books, and thought this sounded like great fun.

2) I’ve gotten hooked on audiobooks in the last year or so. I listen to them during my daily commute, and I’ve become really addicted to doing my weekend walks with a bookish soundtrack.

So, I thought I’d like to read the new Emma, but realized that I should probably re-read the original first, since it’s been many a year since I first read it. Audiobook to the rescue! I listened to Emma as narrated by Juliet Stevenson, and thought it was simply brilliant! Juliet Stevenson is a remarkable audiobook reader, giving such personality to all the characters. And the story itself! It just cracked me up. I hadn’t remembered Emma as being quite so funny, but trust me on this one — given the times I started laughing in public while plugged into my IPod listening to this book (and the number of bizarre looks I got), it’s definitely got some hilarious moments.

Moving on, I decided that I needed to know more about The Austen Project, which was conceived several years ago as a major publishing to-do. The concept? Invite contemporary fiction writers to re-write Jane Austen’s classic novels, setting them in modern times and giving them a new spin while remaining faithful to the original. I suppose the point is to show the timelessness of Austen’s works.

To date, there have been three books published as part of The Austen Project:

Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

Supposedly, the next book to be issued as part of the project is Pride and Prejudice, written by Curtis Sittenfeld, although I haven’t found a firm release date yet. Apparently, Persuasion and Mansfield Park have yet to be assigned.

(And also, apparently, The Austen Project has not been all that enthusiastically received, so perhaps the remaining books are being “shelved”, so to speak? I haven’t found anything to indicate future plans, one way or another.)

For me and my year of Austen, I haven’t quite made it to any of the re-tellings yet, although I now have the three books ready and waiting — and once I read them, I’ll be sure to share my thoughts. Meanwhile, having the modern versions on hand has definitely piqued my interest in re-reads. Hence, the audiobooks.

So far, I’ve listened to Emma and Northanger Abbey, and am now in the early chapters of Sense and Sensibility. The audiobooks are awesome, yo. I’m so completely enraptured by Juliet Stevenson’s ability to give voice to each character in a way that’s fresh and easy to identify, plus the way she infuses the lines with such snark and humor is just amazing.

Once I finish with the Austen Project books, I do believe I’ll keep going with my Austen mania. I’ve been wanting to revisit Persuasion for quite some time now. And to be honest, while I’m almost completely sure that I’ve read all of Jane Austen’s books, some niggling doubt is telling me that maybe I only think I’ve read Mansfield Park. I do have a battered old paperback on my shelf, and it certainly looks read. But then again, I know that I’ve seen the movie… no, no, I’m really 99% sure that I’ve read the book… I think.

In any case, I’ll be continuing on with Austen audiobooks all year. And meanwhile, I haven’t even scratched the surface of my Austen movie collection! First up, I think, will be Emma and then Clueless for contrast. (And – PS – it’s the 20th anniversary of the release of Clueless! Feeling old yet?)

Then onward… so many options!

And after all, there’s really never a bad time to re-watch Bride and Prejudice.

2Jul2015

Travel guidebooks: Still useful, or too old-school?

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I seem to have done a lot of travel planning this year, between a mother-daughter trip to Alaska, a fun trip with kids to Orlando, and a grown-ups only trip (coming up next week!) to Canada with my hubby.

I still use travel books, but I wonder if they’re becoming relics of ye olden days.

Because on the one hand, anything and everything can be looked up online, right? For hotels, I usually got to TripAdvisor before anywhere else. Flights? Kayak. Cars? AAA, but I shop around. In terms of attractions, museums, sightseeing, etc, going straight to Google yields a ton of links. And then there are the travel publishers themselves, all of whom seem to have some sort of online version of their printed books.

So why do I bother scooping up travel books?

For starters, I like getting a picture of the scope of my travel plans. Online, I flit from one link to another, mostly by whim, ending up in random places for brief snippets of time. When I sit down with a travel guidebook, I slow down and take my time. I look at the maps to get an overview, and check out the table of contents to see what the major areas to consider are. I use my handy-dandy post-it flags to mark off anything that catches my eye, and then flip back and forth between maps and listings to see how much I can do in a day. My first time through, I’ll usually read the intro sections, which generally talk about peak experiences, best times to visit, and give sample itineraries. Once I have a general sense of what I think I want to do, then I go back and start getting more details on the must-sees and must-dos.

I tend not to go by the books for hotel and restaurants, although I do use their recommendations as a general guidepost for what areas of a city offer what type of accommodations, what neighborhoods to aim for depending on what type of trip it is, and to get a sense of what the overall feel of a given city or area is. (For actual bookings, it’s definitely time to use the various online travel booking sites — Booking.com has really been coming through for me lately!)

What books to use? To a certain extent, they all tend to cover the same ground. I mean, no one is going to publish a travel guide to Alaska and not devote a lot of pages to Denali. But different books have slightly different flavors. Of the ones I’ve used lately:

Frommer’s: I’ve found these a bit dull. Sure, they’ve got all the basics, but the few I’ve looked at recently haven’t been particularly eye-catching, and I didn’t find them fun to use.

Fodor’s: I’d been thinking of Fodors as pretty drab, but on my recent trip to Alaska, Fodors was the only book I could get before my trip that had a 2015 revised edition. I ended up liking it a lot. Lots of maps, color pictures throughout, interesting and well-written background pieces on history, native cultures, and nature, and well thought out features such as “Quintessential Alaska”, “If You Like”, and “Great Itineraries”. The planning sections were really helpful, and we found that their restaurant and lodging recommendations were very good choices that helped us narrow down our options quite well. Two thumbs up!

Lonely Planet: Most of the time, my favorite. If there’s a new-ish Lonely Planet available for a trip I’m planning, I’ll grab it. I like their sample itineraries, color maps, detailed guides to sights and itineraries, and overall find their attitude and suggestions very much in line with my style of travel. I like to go, try, see, and do — less emphasis on shopping and tourist crowds, more emphasis on being outdoors, trying local experiences, and exploring sites and neighborhoods to get a true feel of a destination.

Moon Guides: These are fun! They have a low-budget feel, being all black and white except for the intro pages, but they also have a slightly funky, adventurous tone that I like. Their guide to Yosemite was a real favorite, especially useful for figuring out which trails would be great experiences but also appropriate for the various family members in my group and their different preferences and abilities.

DK: I haven’t used these much, and tend to see them as too photo-heavy and too light on text, but I did really like their skinny little volume that I took on a trip to Barcelona (Top 10 Barcelona). The book is organized around top 10 lists, making it super easy to use and really helpful for planning, especially with a limited number of days.

Of course, there are reasons both for and against using travel guide books:

Pros:

All in one resource
Always accessible, even without a wifi connection
Can be highlighted, dog-eared, and bookmarked to your heart’s content
Usually organized in an easy to use way
Handy sample itineraries
Generally pretty easy to carry around
I like the random factor: Flipping through the pages may happen to reveal a roadside stop or small-town attraction that you’d never hear of otherwise.

Cons:

Another book to lug around
Limited to the contents, versus the endless links online
Still need online resources to make reservations, get directions, etc
Travel books tend to be pricey
Can become outdated quickly, especially for information like museum hours, prices, restaurants, and other variables that can change from year to year

There are work-arounds to some of the cons — for example, at my library’s big sale each year, there’s always a huge table full of used travel guides. If you don’t mind one that’s 5 – 10 years old, you can scoop ’em up for a dollar or two. Or for a free option, the library itself seems to have a huge selection. My library allows an initial check-out period of 3 weeks, so for short trips, that’s plenty of time to borrow a book, use it on the trip, and return it when I’m done.

For me, the books still win out over relying on electronic resources. Besides liking the tactile experiences of flipping pages, opening at random, and using bookmarks, there are a couple of other key factors. One crucial point in favor of physical books is the constant (and free) access — no need to worry about being near a wifi hub, or running up expensive data roaming charges when you’re traveling overseas. As a secondary notion, I think there’s a potential safety factor as well, although I haven’t really dealt with this much: Would you feel safer consulting a guidebook on a street corner in a foreign city, or pulling out your tablet or smartphone to look up information? It could make a big difference if you’re traveling in an area known for opportunistic pickpockets.

I’ll continue carrying travel books in my backpack as I roam the world… and I hope I’ll have many more opportunities to travel in all the years to come!

How about you? Do you use hard-copy travel books, or do you rely on Kindles or smartphones to guide you on your way? And if you like using travel books, do you have any particular favorites? Share your thoughts and recommendations, please!

21May2015

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!