Book Blogger Appreciation Week: The Week in Review

Share a highlight of this year’s BBAW. Whether it’s a blog you discovered or a book you’re going to read or a way you felt refreshed, this is the day to celebrate the week!

I wish I had been a bit more active this week, but school, work, and rehearsal scheme against me, as they often do; it’s the reason I always schedule posts in advance! I have been enjoying myself and enjoying finding new blogs to read, though, even if it’ll take me a while to get around to giving them the attention they deserve.

But I think the highlight of this week, besides the love and support pouring from every corner of the wonderful book blogging community, was this quote from Teresa’s Wednesday post:

Another thing I love about book blogging is that it’s open to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. To be a book blogger, you don’t need a literature degree, you don’t need to provide a list of qualifications, and you don’t have to be part of the New York literary scene. All you need is an opinion and a willingness to write it down. Maybe not everyone will like what you write, but with time, perseverance, and a little good luck, you’ll probably find at least a few people who are interested. I love that in the book blogging world you can find academics taking reading suggestions from high school students and accountants sharing literary insights with attorneys. That kind of level playing field is all too rare.

I apply critical theory wherever I go, over the cries of people saying “it’s just a movie!” or “don’t worry about it” or “not everything has to mean something” (someone actually said that to me, that is not a generic example). For me, it’s a way of life, and one that is accessible to everyone, not just academics. What Teresa has wrote above is brilliantly and blindingly true; here, in this space, we can examine books freely, sinking our teeth where we will, handing them off to each other, and having discussions where (le gasp!) we might not agree with each other but we respect each other’s points of view.

That’s not only the highlight of my week, I think it’s the highlight of my blogging experience. Shine on, you crazy diamonds.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Underappreciated

One of the best parts about book blogging is the exposure to books and authors you might never have heard of before. Pimp the book you think needs more recognition on this day. Get creative! Maybe share snippets from other bloggers who have reviewed it or make some fun art to get your message across.

When I’m pressed to recommend amazing books, I have two go-tos: the first, The Magician’s Book, is pretty well-loved in the book blogging community. The second boasts four reviews when plugged into the book blogger search engine, and three of those are mine or my fault. The winner is clear: ladies and gentlemen, I give you Banewreaker.

Jacqueline Carey is one of my favorite writers, but jumping into her Kushiel novels can be a bit daunting—while they’re split up into trilogies, there’s nine of them, not to mention their high page count. There’s also her Santa Olivia series, which I haven’t read yet, but they’re her foray into science fiction and Carey, from my limited experience, is best with a world she can fully manipulate. There’s a lot of reasons to start with Banewreaker when approaching Carey, but the biggest one is that you have to respect a woman who takes on The Lord of the Rings.

As you may have guessed, I am a huge The Lord of the Rings freak. (A distant relative once teased me for the fact that my blog’s tag cloud features Tolkien’s name more prominently than Austen; I cannot imagine why she thought the reverse would be true.) I’m also a huge fan of fantasy deconstructions, as it’s a genre whose formulas are ripe for the taking—think Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and Mike Carey’s brilliant comic The Unwritten. Bringing the two together was music to my ears. So I was already up for what Carey was dishing out before I picked up the book.

Banewreaker is actually part of the duet The Sundering; essentially, a novel in two parts, Banewreaker and Godslayer. Even put together, the page count barely touches one of her Kushiel novels, but it’s deceptively slim. By taking the world of The Lord of the Rings (deconstructions require similar conditions in order to go about their business) and giving it a moral depth I’ve only seen in A Song of Ice and Fire, Carey comes up with a human and heartbreaking deconstruction of Tolkien’s novel, focused on individual agency and the tragedy of it all.

I do recommend having read The Lord of the Rings beforehand in order to fully appreciate what Carey does here, but other than that, get thee to the library and introduce yourself to the wonderful writing of Jacqueline Carey.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Meaning

What does book blogging mean to you?

I don’t have a good memory. I’m not sure why, although I’ve a sneaking suspicion it’s something I developed out of pure spite as a child, because I was a pretty awful kid. (Thankfully, my involvement on my high school’s Debate team was a two year long punch in the face that I thoroughly deserved.) I also think it’s related to the art of compartmentalization; in The Magician’s Book, Laura Miller argues that a reading child, which I barely qualified as (I read the same books over and over again, like a nervous tick), ends up being very good at compartmentalization. If it’s not immediately relevant, the logic goes, I don’t need to worry about it. While that does wonders for my stress level, it’s not that great for my memory.

I joined my high school’s book club after my involvement with Debate ended, partially because The Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favorite novels, was one of the options that month. Sitting in on the discussion, however, I realized that I couldn’t remember that much about a novel I had honestly loved. Between that and the stagnation of my fannish presence online, I began to write movie and book reviews and post them there. And then… everything sort of opened up. By writing about the books I’d read, I was enjoying them more. Part of the reason my online handle is The Literary Omnivore (Nicki calls me “Omni”, which I think is super-cute) is because I tend to think in food metaphors, and being able to pick clean the bones of the books I read is something that I can’t do without now.

Over the summer, I kept wandering into Book Nook, a used media store in Atlanta. (It’s very good; my only complaint is that they don’t sell individual bag and board for their comics.) They’ve got gorgeous shelves upon shelves of used books, which I wander not only to look, but also to rest myself; I find nothing more rejuvenating than wandering bookshelves. Anyway, while digging through a box of old Asimovs, I ended up making small talk with a woman picking through the shelves. She picked a book off the shelf, and started wondering if she’d read it before or it was an author she wanted to read. I wanted desperately to preach the virtues of book blogging, but I instead just told her that she might want to make a list so it doesn’t happen again.

Book blogging is both of those things; keeping a record of what I read and being a better and more engaged reader. And it’s the second that requires the book blogging community. Without other bloggers to gauge myself against, I might never have pushed myself to read more nonfiction or, horror of horrors, never read The Magician’s Book and fallen in love with Laura Miller’s writing. Even in just the act of reviewing books and being our own readers, we push and challenge each other in constructive ways. And that’s what book blogging means to me.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Interview

In case you didn’t have a chance to sign up for an interview swap or your partner fell through, please feel free to answer these questions in place of an interview!

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Oh, I’m almost always reading while I eat. (There was a great piece about this in The New York Times Magazine many years ago, but I’ve since lost it.) If I’m alone, there’s a book in front of me. Perhaps it’s bad for digestion, but I’m already lactose-intolerant, so what’s the worst that can happen? But perhaps my favorite reading snack is an apple—a big, conventional red apple the size of my head, to the eternal dismay of my parents, who like to buy organic fruit. Otherwise, food in general. Food in general is my reading snack.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

As a kid, I would regularly go on rampages through my brother’s beautiful and imported copies of Asterix with a crayon and my tiny, furious fists. (I also ate LEGOs.) I was rightfully punished, to such a degree that I cannot bring myself to write in any books. Also, most of my books come from the public library; leave it better for the next person, as my father says.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

Bookmark; usually a four by six notecard, but I’m out at the moment, so I’m making due with a three by five.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

BOTH! Always both!

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hard copy. I’m not an aural learner, so I can’t get as much meat off the bone with an audiobook as I can with the actual text in front of me. Plus, I like to write down quotes and occasionally review what I’ve read. With an audiobook, I can zone out and never recover.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

At any point. I’m always cramming reading into my weird schedule, so I need to be flexible.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

I usually write it on the back of said five by six notecard to look up later, but I’ve been woefully behind lately.

What are you currently reading?

I just had to return everything on my desk to the public library, so it’s A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. I love and adore Brideshead Revisited, but Waugh didn’t, so we’re going to see how this goes.

What is the last book you bought?

Probably a school book. But the last book I bought of my own free will was a gloriously old-school paperback of Mary Renault’s The King Must Die at a Unitarian rummage sale; the pages have antiqued green, it’s gorgeous.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

I can read more than one, as long as they’re in different formats; a hard copy, an audiobook, and a digital book on my computer, for instance, which is the usual balancing act.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

I read at any time and in any place. But I do like reading straight through twilight, curled up on a sofa and pretending its a chaise lounge. Pity I haven’t a sofa at the moment.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

Stand alones, because I feel like a well-written series is incredibly rare, because no one understands proper series structure anymore. (Pro-tip: it’s a series of novels, not one novel serially released. The Lord of the Rings is a single novel. You’ve been working off of a lie!)

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

The Magician’s Book, Laura Miller. Don’t even ask; just get your hands on a copy.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

Fiction by author’s last name, and nonfiction by Dewey Decimal. If I go to grad school, it’ll be for library science. I need to start on those applications, by the by…

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Appreciation

Appreciation! There are no awards this year, but it can still be hard to navigate the huge universe of book blogging. Share with your readers some of the blogs you enjoy reading daily and why.

Oh, gosh.

I actually kind of dread this question every year. I’m the kind of person who just wants everybody to get along, man, and when I’m asked to single someone out of a crowd of favorites, even for something awesome, I get uncomfortable. What to do? Well, what would Wonder Woman do? Avoid it entirely by pointing out how awesome everyone on my reading list is, of course. (Not that I’m saying Princess Diana avoids stuff. I am saying she loves everybody pretty much equally.)

A Dribble of Ink: Aidan’s writing is thoughtful, measured, and casual, and it’s nice to get news from the world of speculative fiction with a personality.

A Striped Armchair: Eva’s enthusiasm for multicultural literature is absolutely infectious and radiates through her writing. Although chronic illness keeps her from blogging regularly, she still keeps at it—which is good, because I love to see her posts!

Active Voice: The book blogging home of Jessica Plummer and Becky Allen, two good friends who are also just awesome. They focus on children’s and young adult literature, but never give it a pass for its audience, holding it up to exacting standards. While they don’t blog regularly, I still perk up every time I see an Active Voice review on my feed.

Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog: Anastasia, like me, is omnivorous when it comes to books, which feels rarer than it should. Her reviews are concise and fun, especially her bonbon-sized mini-reviews.

Bonjour Cass: One time Cass and I tweeted several puns based on the names of American Presidents to each other. I think that’s really all you need to know about how cool Cass is.

Fyrefly’s Book Blog: I featured Nicki last year during Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and everything I said still applies.

Jenny’s Books: Jenny took the summer off, and I missed her funny, warm, and snarky reviews—I’m so glad she’s back.

lady business: The blog’s subtitle is “THIS IS FEMINISM X IT IS NOT SCARY PET THE PRETTY FEMINIST PONY XX”. Bloggers Ana, Jodie, and Renay aim a feminist lens at pop culture and media, including novels, and what they dig up is always fascinating. Some book blogs are records; this book blog is a call to action. Love it.

Regular Rumination: I am not a poetry person. Lu is. The fact that I can understand her passion for poetry through her writing is, I think, a testament to her writing skills.

Laura Miller @ Salon.com: Technically, it’s not a book blog, but Laura Miller’s writing on books is so clear, considered, and just generally amazing that I can’t let her go without a mention. Her book, The Magician’s Book, is genius. Try the blog or the book, you won’t be disappointed.

Shelf Love: Friends Teresa and Jenny share their reviews with each other and the world, covering an impressive breadth of books with thoughtful but distinctive writing styles.

Stella Matutina: Fun fact: I always say “Stella Matutina” to the tune of Frere Jacques. Ding dang dong, people. Anyway, Memory is an omnivore with a taste for fantasy, a passionate blogger, and she turned me onto writing people actual letters, on paper and everything, so she’s pretty cool.

The Feminist Texan [Reads]: Melissa likes feminism, donuts, and Junot Diaz. She is a winner. Plus, she tends to read books that I wouldn’t ordinarily pick up, so her blog is a great way for me to keep an eye on books outside of my comfort zone.

things mean a lot: Ana, who also blogs at lady business, just took a blogging break in order to relocate, so I’m going to be missing her thoughtful and academic reviews until she gets back. Plus, she also sharpens her critical teeth on cult television, which I think we should do more as a community.

And that’s the lot of them! These are the blogs that are actually on my RSS feed, that I actually look forward to reading, and that, at least in my head, make up my book blogging community. I hope to meet more this week!

BBAW 2011: Blogging

The world of blogging is continually changing. Share 3 things you are essential tried and true practices for every blogger and 1-3 new trends or tools you’ve adapted recently or would like to in the future.

I recently wrote a Sunday Salon on this very topic; I’ll cover some of it here, but if you’re interested in what I think is the essential toolkit for the aspiring blogger, take a look.

The three tried and true things you’re going to need is a basic knowledge of HTML, an RSS Feed Reader, and patience. Can’t stress that last one enough. A basic knowledge of HTML is just good manners, quite frankly; nothing makes me hit the back button faster than finding naked links scattered haphazardly around the page. I’d compare it to the basics of grooming; it’s not a bad faux pas, of course, but it’s akin to not brushing your hair or sleeping in your make-up. You’ll be able to go places, but you’ll look messy and like you don’t care, you know? An RSS Feed Reader is essential for keeping up with the blogs you follow, even beyond the book blogosphere. Google Reader is a popular option for an in-browser reader. Brief is a Firefox add-on that I quite liked a while back. If you want a free application for your computer, FeedDemon is a popular choice for PC users, and Mac users will probably like NetNewsWire, which I myself use. It truly makes keeping on top of blogs you want to read easier. And patience is essential, especially when you get negative comments. Getting angry will only make you look like a lunatic; a thoughtful comment that treats your negative commentator like an adult makes you look beyond classy. Kill ‘em with kindness, you know what I mean?

I’ve recently added to my toolkit comment trackers, which I talked a bit about on Tuesday. These are websites like CoComment and co.mments that will track comments on any post on any blogging platform, which allows you to keep up with the discussion. While searching for a way to track my comic books (which I ultimately found in StashMyComics), I discovered a Mac application that’s essentially iTunes for your physical books called Book Hunter; it’s a nice way to keep track of your library, especially if you’re parted from it a lot like I am, and there’s also a mobile app for your phone so you can double check if you already have a book, which has happened to me once or twice. But the biggest discovery I’ve made between last year and now is Fluid. It’s Mac-only, of course, but it’s amazing; it will turn any website into an application on your computer. These applications are essentially itty-bitty web browsers that will only go to, say, Google Calendar. I use this for my comment tracker and my to-do list (TeuxDeux, for the curious), and it’s beyond useful. If you use a Mac, I’d check it out.

BBAW 2011: Readers

Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!

Oh, wow, that’s a lot of prompts. I suppose I’ll go with book acquisition habits, since I’ve talked about how book blogging changed the way I read last year for my anniversary, which is at the end of this month.

Book blogging has made me both pickier about how I acquire books and more omnivorous. Because you rarely know if you’re going to love a book, I usually purchase books from thrift stores; my love for mass market paperbacks, especially old, yellow ones, makes that all the sweeter. I love coming back to my home town after a long time away and sifting through the thrift stores. That’s how I got my copies of A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings, which are wonderfully dated. If only I could make the entire series match in paperback! But that’s another topic for another time. But even then, I’m pretty picky, mostly because a dollar can go towards part of another costume piece if I don’t spend it on a book. (My life, ladies and gents, my life.)

But it’s also made me incredibly bolder when it comes to libraries. I’m not shy about the fact that I’m occasionally the reason books don’t get shelved at the library; that’s how I picked up Hard Times by Studs Terkel, which I’d never heard of before and would have never picked up in a million years, but I’m incredibly glad I took it home and read it. I can take books home and return them without reading them without feeling guilty at all. The three libraries I have access to in Georgia have incredible selection. I never tire of finding a book that has only one copy in the public library in the entire state of Georgia, and then putting it on hold. The sheer access I have, all with a free library card! It boggles my mind that some people who profess to love books don’t even think about using their local libraries. I recently cancelled my Netflix subscription, and I’ve been relying on public libraries for films ever since. It’s been working out great. Give your local library a shot, or at the very least support it. (Oh, there’s an idea for a community fundraiser! Hmm…)

BBAW 2011: Community Part II

The world of book blogging has grown enormously and sometimes it can be hard to find a place. Share your tips for finding and keeping community in book blogging despite the hectic demands made on your time and the overwhelming number of blogs out there. If you’re struggling with finding a community, share your concerns and explain what you’re looking for–this is the week to connect!

I think maintaining community in the world of book blogging comes down to one thing—participation. I only follow book blogs that I actively read, and I do my best to add meaningful comments to posts. “I read this book too!” comments are nice and all, but discussion—the lifeblood of bookish communities—doesn’t grow from that. (Oh, man, did I ever tell y’all about the time I was talking about Malinda Lo’s Ash in class, making a point about the nebulous and marketing-based divide between young adult fiction and adult fiction, and a girl just went “Oh, I read that book!” very loudly—to me—while I was talking to the entire class? That’s not discussion, that’s an interruption.) Personally, I use co.mments to track responses to my comments, wherever I leave them, which allows me to pick up the discussion more. And discussion makes the world go round, builds better relationships between people, so on and so forth. I also recommend Twitter, if you don’t already use it, to talk with your fellow book bloggers—I know Cass makes me crack up on a nearly weekly basis when we have conversations.

But I will admit that I would love to meet and follow more book bloggers that come from fandom. (Incidentally, They Came from Fandom is my next science fiction film.) I try and keep my fandom life and real life very separate, so I never have to worry about what I say, but being a fan is still a very large part of who I am and fandom was what first trained me to look critically at texts, especially back during the first wave of Harry Potter fandom. The fannish view towards texts encourages interacting with, criticizing, and even changing the text, even as you love the text; after the release of 2009’s Star Trek, fanfiction and other fan media began cropping up examining the true consequences of a supposedly diverse world where white American men are still mostly in power or at least the most visible. The Book Smugglers approached this sort of viewpoint when reviewing Sisters Red, whose abominable victim-blaming I used in a paper last year. Obviously, thinking critically about texts is common (or should be common!) among book bloggers, but I would really love to meet some more fellow fannish book bloggers.

BBAW 2011: Community

Wow. Just like last year, Book Blogger Appreciation Week blindsides me (I did this last week, while shaking my head at the fact A Discovery of Witches made it onto a short list for anything. A Discovery of Witches, people! I thought we were better than that) and rescues me from the last few reviews in the buffer I built up over the summer. I’m getting the feeling that this is going to be an annual thing… anyway, this year’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week is focused on the community of book blogging, so let’s get started.

While the awards are a fun part of BBAW, they can never accurately represent the depth and breadth of diversity in the book blogging community. Today you are encouraged to highlight a couple of bloggers that have made book blogging a unique experience for you. They can be your mentors, a blogger that encouraged you to try a different kind of book, opened your eyes to a new issue, made you laugh when you needed it, or left the first comment you ever got on your blog. Stay positive and give back to the people who make the community work for you!

Oh, man, you can imagine what fear a question like this strikes into the heart of me. I’m pretty ruthless when it comes to organization, including book blogs I follow—you see that blog roll over there? Those are blogs I’m excited to read every morning. But because of that, I feel like I can’t have a list without leaving off someone I really, really do like! But there is a compromise, and it’s featuring one book blogger, because the implication is that next year I’ll feature someone else I love to pieces, which I will! I get to focus on one person and give them all the attention they deserve. See? It’s a win-win scenario.

So this year, I’m featuring Fyrefly’s Book Blog, which was one of the first blogs I followed back in the day and remains a delight to read. (Two years ago. Man, that feels like forever ago!)

Simplicity is a huge thing for me, and simple is a great way to describe Nicki’s particular neck of the woods. The layout is straight-forward and soothing, she only does memes she cares about, and it’s easy to navigate. (You’d think this would be the least I could ask of a book blog, but you’d be surprised.) This places the focus on her content, and that’s where Nicki shines.

Like me, Nicki is an enormously eclectic reader—unlike me, she is also a biologist. Most of the bloggers I follow in the book blogosphere are writers, librarians (or aspiring librarians), or working in the publishing industry. You know, humanities people. Nicki’s background as a biologist gives her writing and general outlook on books a different flare; when reading popular science books, she’s happy to point out the holes in their thinking (if they’ve any, of course) with the authority invested in her as a scientist. It’s great to see someone take that knowledge to everything, not just nonfiction.

She’s also remarkably adept at making things both succinct and deep. I usually don’t care for short reviews; I make sure my own run between seven hundred and a thousand words, because I feel that’s enough to cover what I want to cover without boring the reader. But Nicki starts off every review with a haiku—often hilarious—and covers a lot of ground in short order. Not that she can’t also write a fabulous long review. She makes reread reviews into something beyond just another review by revisiting her original review and seeing how the two reading experiences differ, such as her reread of A Song of Ice and Fire.

On top of everything else, she ends every year with a fancy spreadsheet full of statistics about her reading for the year, which I think is just fantastic. And she’s also the creator of the Book Blogger Search Engine, which makes it easy for anyone to find book blogger reviews of books and, personally, makes writing my Literary Horizon posts every week much, much easier.

In short, go follow her blog now.

Review: Tigana

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Well, this is it—the last update for Memory’s Tigana Read-Along. I’ve really enjoyed slowing down and looking at the text semi-academically; it’s helped me get more out of the text than, perhaps, I would have on my own, considering my last experience with Kay, The Summer Tree. (I enjoyed it, but I could definitely tell Kay is a devotee of Tolkien.) I was always going to give Kay another shot, and I’m quite glad I ultimately did with Tigana; I’ll be definitely be reading more. (But maybe just not The Fionavar Tapestry.)