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BBAW: Interview With a Book Blogger

Sep15

Gayle blogs at Every Day I Write the Book, and even though her blog is new to me, she has lots of fans. In fact, Every Day I Write the Book was nominated in five categories for Book Blogger Appreciation Awards: Best Literary Fiction Blog, Best General Review Blog, Best Reviews, Best Writing, and Best Book Club Blog, and it’s shortlisted in that last category, Best Book Club Blog.

The first thing I discovered in perusing Gayle’s blog is that we don’t read the same books. I only found two titles that she’s reviewed that I have read, too. This lack of congruence is a great thing as far as I’m concerned because it means I can find lots of books that Gayle’s recommended that I might want to read. I did find several titles that I want to read after reading Gayle’s reviews and teasers, including:

Factory Girls by Leslie Chang.

The English Teacher by Lily King.

Beginner’s Greek by James Collins.

Hello Goodbye by Emily Chenoweth.

Here’s what Gayle has to say about reading and blogging:

How did you start blogging, and why do you blog? Why about books?
When I was in my early 20s, I started keeping track of reviews of books that I wanted to read, mostly from traditional media sources like newspapers and magazines. I was always the one in my book club to make suggestions for our next read. I now work in social media and spend a lot of time reading blogs. One day in 2006, I started thinking about launching a blog to recommend books that my friends maybe hadn’t heard about, and to post my own reviews of books I’ve read. Once I got the idea in my head, I was so excited about it that I couldn’t wait to launch it. I blog now because I love the community of authors, readers and publishers that I have come to know, and I love the fact that so many people tell me that they visit my blog regularly for recommendations.
Why books? I have a very strong sense of what I like to read, and I thought I had something to offer in to other readers. Plus, I love to read – always have – and despite the amount of time it takes to keep up the book blog, it has encouraged me to read more. My reviews tend to focus less on characters and more on writing – I am fascinated by the process of writing fiction, and am in awe of people who do it well.

You’ve been shortlisted for an award at Book Blogger Appreciation Awards: Best Book Club Blog. Tell me about your book club. How does it work? How are the books chosen? How many participants do you have? How did you get started?
The book club component of my blog is probably the part I spend the least amount of time on, but I do enjoy it. It started in December 2007, when the publisher of Kelly Corrigan’s The Middle Place approached me to see if I wanted to host a discussion of that book on my site. Since then, I’ve hosted eight book club discussions on EDIWTB. Either I will select a book I’ve wanted to read, and will contact the publisher to see if they would like to participate, or I will be approached by a publisher with a particular book as a club suggestion. EDIWTB readers who sign up get a free copy of the book from the publisher, and on a pre-selected date, I open the discussion with a post on EDIWTB. The discussion continues in the comments. Usually, the author participates in a Q&A post the week after the book club discussion, answering questions that have come up in the comments.
I usually get somewhere between 20-30 participants. I always look forward to book club days, when the comments start rolling in.
It’s funny, I don’t think of my blog as a “book club blog”, except to the extent that people tell me they get ideas for books for their own book club to read.

What’s your favorite book blog (besides your own, of course)?
I have a few favorites – Stephanie’s Written Word, Booking Mama, Literary License, and Books for Breakfast.

You often blog about books you would like to read, future reads. Do you have a list? How do you decide what’s next up? Do you read more than one book at a time?
Yes, unfortunately, with a fulltime job and 5 year-old twins, I don’t have nearly as much time to read as I’d like. So I end up posting about future reads more often than I post my own reviews. I’d love for that ratio to be reversed… maybe someday. I don’t have a list – it’s basically a large pile of books on the floor of my bedroom. (Actually, it’s three piles and two bookshelves of books piled on their sides). The blog, in many ways, represents my TBR list.
I never read more than one book at a time.
Picking my next read is one of my favorite activities. It’s a rather unscientific process that involves thinking about what I am in the mood for, considering whether I want something very different from what I just read, and reading the first page or two of a few books to see what grabs me at that moment. I don’t participate in many challenges or book tours, mostly because I don’t want to feel constrained when choosing what to read next.

What has blogging done for you, and how do you try to serve your readers? What should a reader expect to get out of a visit to Everyday I Write the Book?
I try to serve my readers by offering honest reviews of what I’ve read, and sharing titles of books that they may not come across in their own travels. I am honest to a fault – even if I am writing about a review copy or participating in the EDIWTB book club, I will say exactly what I think of a book, even if it’s negative. I don’t think sugarcoating or focusing only on the positive is helpful to anyone (except maybe the author). People trust my opinion, and that’s the best I have to offer, so I offer my whole, unedited opinion.
A reader visiting EDIWTB can hopefully expect to learn about a book that may be a bit off the beaten path (but not always – I have read some pretty popular books), and can expect honest and hopefully well-written reviews of the book I’ve read. I also do some author Q&As and guest posts, and attend frequent author readings, which I always write up for the blog.

When do you do your blogging? How much time do you spend on blogging every day?
I do most of my blogging late at night, between 11-12 PM. I usually post 3-4 times a week, and posts usually take me about 45 minutes each.
 
What is the best book you’ve read this year?
The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. I was late to the party on this one, but it has stayed with me.
 
What are your passions outside of reading?
I used to be a huge TV watcher, but with fewer hours to devote to it, and the everpresent temptation of the laptop, I am a much less engaged viewer than I used to be. I love my 5 year old girls, my basenji, and music, and I am somewhat obsessed with social media.
 
Where do you learn about new books?
I used to learn about new books from traditional book reviews and magazines, but I am getting my recommendations more often now from book bloggers and Twitter. I also get a lot of review copies in the mail, so I learn about new books that way too. One of my favorite activities is browsing the fiction shelves of bookstores I love, on the prowl for new books I haven’t heard of before.

Thanks, Gayle. You can see my answers to some of these same interview questions at Every Day I Write the Book Blog.

BBAW: My Favorite Book Blogs

Sep14

There are an awful lot of book blog and book bloggers out there, folks. I’m enjoying discovering new ones by means of Book Blogger Appreciation Week. However, the song we used to sing in Brownies said, “Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other’s gold.”

The following are some of my favorites that were, for some odd reason, NOT shortlisted for a Book Blogger Appreciation Week Award:

Brandywine Books: Phil and Lars are the best at finding interesting book news and recommending good books and just generally writing good stuff.

Mental Multivitamin. Madame M-MV has been a favorite ever since I discovered her blog, not long after I started this one. She’s insightful, opinionated, intelligent, and agrees with me just enough of the time, but not too much. Iron sharpening iron. Oh, and M-MV is my tutor in Bardolatry.

Camille’s blog Book Moot makes me remember why I became a school librarian many, many years ago, and why I miss the job sometimes. Her love of children’s books is contagious.

Mindy Withrow is an author and a great reviewer. She’s the one who told me about Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski, one of my favorite reads this year so far.

Brenda hosts Sunday Afternoon Tea at Coffee, Tea, Books and Me each Sunday, and during the week she’s always a source of calm, frugality, and good book recommendations.

Mitali’s Fire Escape is the best author blog I know. YA and children’s author Mitali Perkins blogs about life and books between cultures, and she asks thought-provoking questions and hosts the discussions that ensue.

There are more, but these are the ones I keep coming back to read —old friends even though we’ve never met in person.

BBAW: Best Series or Feature

Sep12

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

451 Fridays at As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves 451 Fridays is based on the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Each Friday Elizabeth asks a blogger or an author, “What 5 books do you believe are important enough to be saved, and why?” and then, “What book would you become?”

Author Recipes at Maw Books Blog Natasha: “I ask every single author that I interview . . . to share a recipe with us, particularly if it’s talked about in the book. I later make the recipe and blog about it.” Here are a couple from two of my favorite authors: Whoopie Pies from Cynthia Lord, author of Rules and Zucchini Soup from Shannon Hale.

Scene of the Blog at Kittling: Books Cathy’s feature called Scene of the Blog which show us pictures of where those bloggers we know and love actually blog.

Spotlight on Bookstores at She Is Too Fond of Books Dawn visits bookstores, my favorite places, in her Spotlight on Bookstores. Her guest writers also visit bookstores, and since I see that she hasn’t made it to Houston or had a guest post form Houston, I’ll have to volunteer.

What a Girl Wants at Chasing Ray Collen’s series is a bit more serious as she explores YA books for girls: “‘ll be posting a single question and then their answers as we talk about what a girl wants – and what she gets – when it comes to reading.”

All good, again, but I’ll vote for 451 Fridays at As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves.

BBAW: Best New Blog

Sep12

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

Beth Fish Reads Beth Fish is “a book lover and freelance book professional blogging incognito.” Her blog dates back to August 2008. Here’s a list of her reviews so far. BF has posted links at the Saturday Review, and I’ve enjoyed her reviews.

Books and Bards Nicole says of her blog, “This is a watering hole where readers and writers can share their love of stories, words, and the music of language. I feature reviews, bookish news, writer resources, author interviews, and literary discussions.” Nicole began her blog in June of this year with this post that I wish I’d written —except I’m not writing novel and verbal acrobatics are something I only aspire to do.

Galleysmith is the blog home of Michelle who started out blogging by going on the road: she sponsors The Literary Road Trip Project, a project I’ve joined but have yet to contribute towards. (I do have a Texas Project in mind that I think will mesh well with the Literary Road Trip.) Michelle’s blog began in May 2009 with a review of Nora Roberts’ Vision in White.

Scifiguy.ca I already took a look at SciFiGuy out of Canada and gave my vote to his blog for Best Speculative Fiction Blog. As I said SciFiGuy, aka Doug, runs a good blog

Steph Su Reads
Steph Su Read mostly YA, and she has a good handle on the genre, see this pst on Race and Ethnicity in YA. Steph also has a regular feature called Waiting on Wednesday in which she tells us all about the books she’s waiting for the publishers to release so that she can read them. Don’t we all have some of those?

All five of these New Blogs are great, and I wish them all the best with their continued blogging endeavors. However, my vote goes to GalleysmithGalleysmith, a blog that I’m also going to add to my feedreader, as soon as I figure out to do that on my new computer. (I used to have a thingie I could click on that said “Add to Bloglines”, but I don’t remember where I got it.)

BBAW: Best Blog Post

Sep12

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

This Blogging Thing Reminds Me of High School (Hey Lady, Whatcha’ Readin’?) : “I can only compare myself to me. Is my writing getting better? Are my insights into books getting more thoughtful? Is the traffic to my blog, which is tangible, growing each month?”

On Fantasy and Why I Read It (Things Mean a Lot): “I’ve been told that fantasy is meaningless because it’s not about real people or real situations. And I ask, what else could it possibly be about? No, Middle-Earth, Narnia, Prydain, Earthsea and Discworld do not exist, but is anything that happens there really unheard of? What are their inhabitants doing, if not dealing with very human situations and dilemmas? “

Write the Words of My Heart (My Friend Amy): “. . . the words, the metaphors, the symbols, and the examples that resonated with me…like someone had come along and plucked the words out of my heart that I couldn’t put together myself and wrote a book that reflected my thoughts right back at me.”

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker (Maw Books Blog): “It’s very rare for my husband and I to read the same book but he finished reading The Little Giant of Aberdeen County before I even started. He was thoroughly engrossed with this book and quickly finished it.” Then, Natasha proceeds to transcribe a hilariously typical husband/wife exchange about the book.

I really liked Natasha’s review best. The the book discussion she and her husband have is so perfect. They really do have some insight into the book, but the conversation is punctuated with “we’re not getting very deep” and “this is boring” and “Wait! Don’t put that in there!” Husbands and wives should read together more often; the marriage that reads together . . . doesn’t get boring?

BBAW: Most Eclectic Taste

Sep11

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

I thought this one was an interesting award category because my taste is rather eclectic (or electric as Z-baby would say), too. Everything except the kitchen sink, sometimes that. So I’m going to be looking for eclectic here —and sinks.

Books on the Nightstand No sinks, but they’ve got a post on bathroom books. Also Greek Gods for Grown-ups (what do you read when you think you’re too old for The Lightning Thief?) and On the Road to Dystopia. Enough eclecticism.

Ms. Bookish Ms Bookish has categories in the sidebar for Children’s Books, Crime Thrillers, Chick Lit, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction and Paranormal, among others. I don’t DO graphic novels, so she’s more broad-minded than I am.

My Friend Amy presents the following review as examples of her eclectic taste in books:
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen
Christmas Wedding by Tracy Wolff
Passion of Mary Margaret by Lisa Samson (again)
The Ruins by Scott Smith
Pop Culture Junkie Alea says, “I like to read (anything from memoirs to short stories to graphic novels to YA and fiction and most things in between), watch movies/tv, listen to music, hence pop culture junkie!” You can’t throw in much more than that.

Presenting Lenore Lenore says she reads humor, short stories and nonfiction, children’s picture books, YA paranormal, YA realistic fiction, and more.

My choice for Most Eclectic Taste: Ms. Bookish, where the generous and open-minded blogger even rounds up an eclectic list of book giveaways from other blogs.

BBAW: Best Design

Sep11

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

A Novel Menagerie Lots of cool lady pictures and badges (is that what those button-things are called?), and everything’s accessible.

Becky’s Book Reviews I love Becky’s new, or maybe not so very new, design. She’s got a lot going on at her blog(s), but you can find everything easily. And it’s all bright and welcoming.

Book Blather Nice and clean with a beautiful background.

Booking Mama Lots of pink, and I’m not too much of a pinky fan. Nice blog, though. I liked the Mother Daughter Book Club feature.

The Story Siren. Kristi obviously knows how to manipulate Blogger and make it do what she wants it to do. Here’s a post where she shares some basic tips on using Blogger tools to make you blogging life easier. (I’m in WordPress, but if you use Blogger, check it out.)

I’m not an expert on blog design, but I know what I like, as they say in the art museum. I’m voting for Becky’s Book Reviews because I remember when she changed her design, and I liked it then and like it now.

BBAW: Best Spiritual/Inspirational or Religious Book Review Blog

Sep11

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews Holly at 2 Kids and Tired is a member of FIRST blog alliance, a group of reviewers who tour Christian books (from Christian publishers). In addition to the books from FIRST, Holly reads and reviews lots of other mostly fiction titles from Christian publishers. Her reviews are short, sweet, and to the point.

A Novel Menagerie has been nominated for Most Prolific Blogger and Best Design in addition to a nomination in this category. Sheri at A Novel Menagerie reviews all sort of books including Christian inspirational reading, Mother-Approved books for youong adults, and Guaranteed Good Books. The design IS lovely.

Callapidder Days Katrina at Callapidder Days sponsors the Fall Into Reading Challenge, a fine way to jump-start or share your fall reading list if that’s what you’re looking to do. (There’s also a Spring Reading Thing.) I would call these challenges low pressure, gentle reading encouragers–just like the blog Callapidder Days itself.

My Friend Amy Amy is, well, everyone’s friend and the brains behind BBAW. For the latter role alone, she should probably get all the votes in whatever category she nominated. After all, she’s worked extra hard to make all this BBAW stuff happen. However, Amy not only organizes BBAW; she also blogs about LOST, hosts her own book challenge, and reads and review lots of books of all kinds. “Faith ‘n Fiction Saturday is a weekly meme for Christians to get together and talk about fiction published from a Christian worldview, hosted at My Friend Amy. Amy’s blog was also nominated for most eclectic taste, most prolific blogger, most altruistic blogger, Best Community Builder, and Best Blog Post.

Semicolon Then, there’s little old me.

For obvious reasons, this is a hard one. You all can vote for Semicolon in this category, and I may vote for Semicolon, too, just to give myself a pat on the back because I do enjoy blogging here. I blog about my faith in Jesus Christ, my love of books, homeschooling, hymns, LOST, church and even politics sometimes and how all of those things and more relate to one another because all of them (plus the kitchen sink) make up ME. I am pleased to have been nominated for a book blogger award in this category, aand I will be pleased whether I win or not.

However, if I don’t vote for Semicolon, I’ll probably choose My Friend Amy as my selection for Best Spiritual/Inspirational or Religious Book Review Blog, mostly because of her Faith ‘n Fiction Saturday feature, something I plan to participate in as soon as all this BBAW hullaballoo is over.

BBAW: Best Nonfiction Review BLog

Sep10

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

A Striped Armchair This blog is one I’ve heard of somewhere, but I don’t think I’ve ever visited. The blogger is Eva, a 20-something passionate and eclectic reader, who in addition to reviewing nonfiction also reads and writes about mysteries, historical fiction, classics, fantasy, and literary fiction, a little of everything. Here you can read about some of her favorite authors, and here’s another post about the special books in Eva’s life. Lovely blog.

Citizen Reader reads like a highly opinionated, and entertaining, look at the world through the lens of (mostly) nonfiction books. I’m going to add this book about the founding of Facebook to my TBR list to reinforce my antipathy to that “social networking site” on the strength of Citizen Reader’s review. Citizen Reader has, in addition to blogging, been working with Librarian/Author Nancy Pearl on a book called Now Read This III: A Guide to Mainstream Fiction, a fact which impresses the heck out of me. I’ll have to make time to read all of the Citizen Reader reviews, and the book, because I can never have enough suggestions of books to read. 🙂

Nonfiction Book Reviews Havilah is a part-time librarian who writes about nonfiction books exclusively. The front page of her blog is heavy on the astronomy titles, but it looks as if she just moved into this particular blog space back in April. Her old blog was NonFiction Lover, and it has a list of her Top Ten Favorite NonFiction Titles. Nice variety. Of the ten I’ve read, and enjoyed, five, and a couple more look good.

Sophisticated Dorkiness “Kim is a busy journalism master’s student at UW-Madison who blogs about books, school, and other dorky topics.” An aspiring journalist blogging about nonfiction? Sounds like a good fit. I’m going to have to take a look at this book, reviewed by Kim: Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It’s Becoming, and Why It Matters by Scott Rosenberg.

Welcome to the Hinterlands: A Narrative Nonfiction Blog Caroline Kettlewell’s blog looks a little more newsy than the others nominated in this category. She informed me that there’s a name for those “year of” books (an annualist book) and that Elizabeth Gilbert has a sequel to Eat Pray Love in which, after her sojourn in free spirit land, she embraces Marriage. Caroline’s Hinterlands Manifesto is worth a look for its lament for the undiscovered joys of nonfiction reading—and the book recommendations, too.

I loved all five of these blogs, and I’ll be visiting all of them again because I really like nonfiction that tells a good story or introduces me to a new subculture or world that I hadn’t know about before. However, I think I’ll cast my one vote in this category for Welcome to the Hinterlands. The manifesto pushed me over the edge.

BBAW: Best YA Blog

Sep9

Voting is now open at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards.

I read Young Adult fiction. I like Young Adult fiction. An yet, I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never visited any of the blogs on this list. Time to remedy that little shortcoming.

Green Bean Teen Queen is a teen/tween librarian. She likes Emma-Jean Lazarus! (I just finished Emma Jean Lazarus Falls in Love, and it was just as good as the first Emma Jean book.) She’s in library school, and she’s reading all the latest YA stuff plus the classics for her classes. Lots of crazy reading!

Mrs. Magoo Reads Mrs. Magoo runs a first line contest each month featuring the first lines of all the books she’s read that month. I like that idea. Saturday’s Scribe is Mrs. Magoo’s feature for author interviews; she’s interviewed some great YA authors such as Mary E. Pearson, Lisa Graff, and Sarah Beth Durst.

My Favorite Author is a YA blog for adults, written by three co-bloggers whose nicknames are Speed Reader, Page Turner, and Aubrey. These three between them read A LOT of books, and they review them all for the benefit of those adults who enjoy young adult themes and characters and for the teens who drop in, too. The blog is on hiatus while Speed Reader deals with some health issues, but there are enough back reviews to keep anyone reading for a long while.

Pop Culture Junkie Alea has already read and reviewed 103 books this year, so if she spends time on other forms of “pop culture” I don’t know when she sleeps. I’m sure I could find several books in there to add to my TBR list, but I’m resisting temptation.

The Story Siren (also nominated for Best Design and Most Extravagant Giveaways) is the blogging home of Kristi who hosts In My Mailbox, where she posts about the books she’s acquired that week, and other bloggers can also link to “posts about what books we have received that week (via your mailbox/library/store bought)!” And she has a page that lists forthcoming YA and adult titles. That’s information that I’m always interested in knowing.

So I’m torn between two blogs for my vote in this category, but I choose . . . Green Bean Teen Queen. Because she shares my Emma Jean love. And because library school students are special; I know because I wuz one once upon a time.