The Year of Reading Whatever the Hell I Want 2016

2016 is going to herald a new change in my reading habits.

As I was putting together my review for We Were Liars last week, I had cause to tally up how many contemporary YA novels I'd read since I started keeping track of my books on Library Thing, nine years ago. I noticed then when I flicked through my lists of books read in and before 2013, I got a much happier feeling than when I looked at the lists from more recent years.

This time period coincides perfectly with the years that my incoming books started to increase and my TBR pile got slightly out of control. In consequence, I started doing TBR challenges until they were coming out of my ears in an attempt to ensure I read the books I needed to.

That was a stupid idea. I ended up feeling guilty every time I reread a book or read a book that I'd only bought the previous month, which meant that I wasn't reading the books I knew I loved or that I actually, you know, wanted to read. Don't get me wrong, I found some wonderful books using this method - Miss Buncle's Book, for example, or The Woman in White, but I still picked them up for the wrong reasons.

This had the knock-on effect that I was reading less than I had in previous years because it felt more like a chore, and I was less interested in talking about them so my blog suffered as well.

You know what? *@!x that. This year, in 2016, I am going to read exactly what I damn well please. I'm not going to sign up to any challenges (especially no TBR ones) and I'm not even going to concentrate on my unread books if I don't want to. I'm still going to make an effort not to buy many new books (although that's partly because I'm saving up for a house deposit), but my TBR can still as it as for the rest of the year and I do not care a button. I don't care how many male/female authors I read, and I don't care when or where they were published.

I feel oddly liberated. I've read three books this year: one of them would have counted for a bloody TBR challenge anyway, one was a reread and the other I hadn't read since I was a small child. I've talked about Scarlet already and I fully intend to talk about Peter Pan and Persuasion as well. I'm actually excited about doing so.

Maybe I'll go back to my usual way of doing things in 2017, maybe not. It depends how I feel at the end of the year and if I need to get myself back in track to control the incoming books! Either way, wish me luck for this slightly inane plan!

 Do you plan to monitor your reading this year? If so, how?

My '300 Before January 2015' Challenge

I really need a snappier name for this, but hey ho.

For those of you that haven't noticed, there's been a box with my TBR statistics in the sidebar for about a year. Every month I have a little arrow that tells me how much my TBR pile has decreased (or, more likely, increased) during the previous weeks. I originally put it there to shame myself into having a downwards arrow at the end of the month... except it didn't work. Not one tiny little bit.

It started to get ridiculous actually. I had 327 books waiting to be read and even if I didn't buy a single book, it would take me three years to finish all those.

But now THERE IS A PLAN.

My aim is to get my TBR pile down to 300 books by January 1st 2015 by either actually reading the damn things or just getting rid of them. If I haven't, then New Year's Day will be spent throwing out enough books to force me to get to that number.

I actually began doing this halfway through September, but never took the time to explain it to anybody. I didn't have high hopes as every other TBR-lessening scheme I've ever dreamt up as failed miserably. That arrow pointed up every single damn month... until September. It had a down arrow, can you believe it!?

It's literally the first time ever that I've read more books than I've obtained. Now we're in October and I'm ↓9 books! Alright, so that includes a read-a-thon but I also bought three books. If I finish another book before November, that leaves me with seven books to read per month before the end of the year. 

I can do this! Don't you love when you finally find a strategy that works for you?

How do you keep your TBR pile under control?

2012.5 at Booking in Heels

Wow. A whole half-year gone already, can you believe it? I thought I'd just use a post to see where I am right now, both with books and with life. Because you know, occasionally I have a life away from books. Okay, just kidding.

Offline

(incidentally I took this photo to demonstrate the crazy blue lighting in public bathrooms to a friend - I do not make a habit of taking bathroom photos of myself, believe it or not.)

On the surface it seems like nothing has changed - same lifestyle, same boyfriend, same house.

On the inside though, I feel a lot better. Mentally I wasn't in an amazing place back in January, but now (due to both therapy and medication) I feel much happier with myself. Physically I still have ill days, but I feel more able to cope with them.

The latter means that I've actually taken a step towards productivity and I now work one afternoon a week in the British Heart Foundation charity shop. It's not a whole lot, but it's difficult for me physically and I really enjoy it. The people are great, it's nice to be working in a shop again and hey, they sell books :)

On an employment note, the last six months also featured my acceptance into BPP Law School Leeds, where I'll be doing my BPTC in September. Well, assuming I eventually get accepted into Middle Temple Inn as I haven't heard back yet and I'm starting to panic. Hmm, I might poke them tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm doing well. We've started leaving the house more - even if it's just a walk round Leeds or Sheffield. We also caught the bus to a little tourist town where I wandered into Ellie's lovely bookshop!

Online

God I love my blog. I mean, that's hardly a new development, but Booking in Heels has become such an ingrained part of my life that I can hardly imagine life without it!

It's become slightly more successful over the last six months. Previously I was barely scraping a hundred page visits a day, but the other day I hit my first 300+ day! And yes, I was very, very excited.

I'm also a lot closer to several other bloggers than I was before. There are two I text regularly, one I've actually met in person and two others that know me better than most of my offline friends! I swear, if it wasn't for the wonderful blogging community, I'm positive Booking in Heels wouldn't still be going. 

I've also added a nice little TBR tracker to the sidebar on the right. It's getting out of control, so I've decided to monitor it on a monthly basis. For the month of June, my TBR pile went up by 14! Appalling, no? 

This year I'm running my very first challenge - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Challenge! At first I was worried nobody would sign up (but they did), and then I was worried nobody would bother to read the books (but they did). For a while I was worried that nobody would complete the challenge (but they did). All in all, a successful experience, I'd say!

As for the challenges I'm participating in, here's how I'm doing. And yes, I'm behind on most of them, but I can catch up. Click the title for a list of books.

Mixing it Up Challenge - 9/16 books read.

Just over half. I have to admit, I've done this without really trying. It's nice to know I read a reasonably wide selection of books! The only one I'm going to struggle with is the Poetry one, I think.

What's in a Name Challenge - 4/6 books read.

Again, just over half. I love this challenge - it's probably my favourite. The categories are quite tight as well,  which makes it even more fun. I'll probably read One Day for the 'things you'd find on a calendar' prompt, but I'm not so sure about the last one.

Terry Pratchett Challenge - 1/7 books read.

... and here's where it all falls down. Poor Terry Pratchett challenge. *strokes gently* I can catch up though. It's just that I've read all but one of his books before, so they don't really spring to mind when choosing something to read. Still, he has two new books out this year, so that will spring me up a little.

Telling Tales Challenge - 3/10 books read.

Behind again! In my defence, I know exactly what I'm going to read for the remaining seven slots and thankfully it involves one of my favourite authors.

TBR Challenge - 19/50 books read.  

Haha, a lot of people seem to be behind with this one! I should be up to 25 books by now, but I'm only at 19. Still, six books behind isn't too bad - I can catch up. My TBR bookshelf is arranged chronologically by date obtained, and I'm very, very aware that books earlier than The Complete Edgar Allen Poe Collection would fit into this challenge, and I find myself scanning them constantly. This is definitely the challenge I keep most in mind!

Project Fill in the Gaps - 10/100 books read. 

This is actually on track, although I know it doesn't look like it. The goal is to read 100 books over 5 years, which is ten books every six months *points upwards* Again, I seem to have done this without really trying, but I'm sure it will get much, much harder in a year or so!

All in all, not terribly, irretrievably bad, I think. Wish me luck for the rest of 2012! 

A Case of the Lazy-itis

I am all kinds of awful at actually getting round to signing up for challenges. I've known about the Telling Tales Challenge since about December but hey, I'm signing up for it in February. Sorry Bex...

Anyway, the challenge is to read books or graphic novels about mythology, fairytales etc.

I'm going for Level 2 which is to read ten fairytale related books, and I've chosen to read a mix-and-match of all the different categories.

Wish me luck!


So far I've read 3 out of 10 books.

1) Reserved for the Cat by Mercedes Lackey (Puss in Boots)
2) Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright (Guess.)
3) The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines (Cinderella)

What's in a Name 2012 Reading Challenge

A little late but not too late!

I meant to sign up for this way back in December (and where has January gone, seriously?) because it looks like so much fun, but then I forgot, as you do.

So Beth Fish's challenge is to read one book in each of the following categories in 2012:

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
   The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
2. A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
   Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
   
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
   Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4. A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House
   Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
   
5. A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
6. A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking. 11.22.63 by Stephen King

 So far I've read 5 out of 6 books.

Project Fill In The Gaps

The point of this project is to (shockingly) fill in the gaps in your reading. So you take a hundred or so books that you've always meant to read or that illustrate a gap in your well-read-ness, and ideally get them read within the next five years. Click here to sign up.

Splitting them up, that's only twenty books a year and I figure I should easily manage that. Some of these I've been dying to read but just haven't got round to them yet, so it's not like I'll resent having to read them!

Here's my list, in no particular order:

I've read 35 out of 100 books.

1) Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
2) Tristam Shandy by Lawrence Sterne
3) The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
5) The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
6) Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
7) Dracula by Bram Stoker
8) King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
9) Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

10) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

11) Minority Report by Philip K. Dick

12) 1984 by George Orwell

13) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
14) The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
15) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
16) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

17) Louise de la Valliere by Alexandre Dumas
18) The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

19) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
20) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
21) Sophie's Choice by William Styron
22) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
23) The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
24) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
25) The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
26) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
27) The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
28) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
29) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
30) Hamlet by William Shakespeare
31) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
32) Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
33) The Giver by Lois Lowry
34) Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
35) The Collector by John Fowles
36) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
37) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
38) The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov 
39) The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
40) The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
41) I Will Repay by Baroness Orczy
42) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
43) The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
44) The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
45) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
46) Don't Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford
47) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
48) SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
49) The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights by John Steinbeck
50) Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
51) Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
52) Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
53) The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho
54) The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley 
55) The Time Machine by H.G.Wells
56) Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
57) Salome by Oscar Wilde
58) Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 
59) The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
60) The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
61) Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson 
62) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
63) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
64) Middlemarch by George Eliot
65) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 
66) Kafka on the Shore by Murakami
67) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
68) A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
69) The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
70) The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
71) Lord Tony's Wife by Baroness Orczy
72) El Dorado by Baroness Orczy
73) Tess of the d'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
74) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
75) Lady Susan - Jane Austen
76) The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer (retelling acceptable)
77) Atonement by Ian McEwan
78) Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
79) Agatha Christie: An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
80) Modern Baptists by James Wilcox
81) Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung
82) Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson
83) Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
84) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
85) Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
86) The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith
87) Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
88) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez 
89) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
90) Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
91) Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
92) We'll Always Have Paris by Ray Bradbury
93) Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury

94) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

95) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
96) The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 
97) The Trial by Franz Kafka 
98) A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
99) Like Water For Chocolate by Lauren Esquivel
100) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Mixing It Up Challenge 2012

I stumbled across this great idea for a challenge yesterday at Musings of a Bookshop Girl and just had to sign up. You can do so too by clicking here because who doesn't want to get our of their reading comfort zone in 2012? Plus Ellie is one of the friendliest, funniest bloggers I've ever come across so it'd be great if everybody could join in.

The basic idea is to read one book from each of the following categories - 

1. CLASSICS

This can be any classic work, from Alcott to Zola.  Always fancied trying Great Expectations, or finally feel like tackling Jane Eyre?  Now's your chance!  From the fun to the frightening, the gentle satire to the all-out swashbuckling epic, there are hundreds of years' worth of books to choose from.

 Completed! Daughters of the Vicar by D.H. Lawrence.

2. BIOGRAPHY
This can be modern or historical, biography or autobiography.  From the latest celebrity autobiography to an academic biography of Henry VIII - it all counts!  Perhaps you fancy a book on your favourite classic movie star, athlete or musician?

3. COOKERY, FOOD AND WINE
Ideas for this one range from a delectable cookery book to a food memoir (like Nigel Slater's Toast or Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential), a book on wine to the history of marmalade.
  
Completed! Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

4. HISTORY
More scope to indulge a whole range of interests here, including local history, military history or world history.  It might be a biography of Anne Boleyn, a book on World War II aircraft, a study of the American civil war, or something with a much smaller focus, like Bill Bryson's At Home or Mark Kurlansky's Salt: A World History.  Whatever floats your boat!

Completed!  An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain by John O'Farrell

5. MODERN FICTION
This covers literary and popular fiction, so you can't really go wrong with this one.  From Sophie Kinsella to Haruki Murakami, Wilbur Smith to Isabel Allende, Jenny Colgan to Kate Mosse, you should be able to find something to fit your tastes! 
 

Completed! Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

6. GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA
This will be an entirely new genre for me, but I'm looking forward to hitting the library to see what all the fuss is about!  First on my 'to check out' list will be Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes and Alan Moore's V for Vendetta.

Completed! The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 2 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

7.  CRIME AND MYSTERY
This category will cover everything from the genteel Agatha Christie and the scrummy Hannah Swensen Mysteries by Joanne Fluke, through Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, to the gruesome forensics of Martina Cole and Val McDermid.

Completed! Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie

8. HORROR
One for Hallowe'en, perhaps!  Maybe a modern writer like Stephen King or James Herbert, or you could turn to the classics with Edgar Allen Poe or the ghostly writings of M.R. James?  Some YA novels would also fit into this category - Darren Shan, or Lindsey Barraclough's Long Lankin - but no paranormal romance!

Completed! Dracula by Bram Stoker
 

9. ROMANCE
I'd say the cheesier the better for this one, but it's up to you!  Mills and Boon, paranormal romance, chick lit fluff, whatever.  Personally I'll be browsing our Mills and Boon shelf at the shop and pulling out the trashiest title I can find!  :)

Completed! Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

10. SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
Again, plenty of scope here.  From the hilarious characters of Terry Pratchett's Discworld to Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings, Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries to Frank Herbert's Dune, you can go modern or classic, and pick from any number of sub-genres.

Completed! Reserved for the Cat by Mercedes Lackey

11. TRAVEL
The world is your oyster, as it were!  Maybe you're going somewhere interesting on holiday and want to read up on it first?  Rough Guides, Lonely Planet guides, that kind of thing.  You could pick a Bill Bryson (always popular) or choose a book on a particular city, country or continent, like Francesco da Mosto's Venice or one of Michael Palin's books.  Then there are all the delectable memoirs by people who've moved abroad and opened a taverna/olive farm/vineyard!

12. POETRY
This could be a book of love poems, a collection by a particular poet, a novelty book of limericks, or if that sounds a bit daunting, a single, longer narrative poem.  How about 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Hiawatha' or 'The Waste Land'?  My particular favourite is probably Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market', which is more like a simple fairytale that just happens to rhyme.

13. JOURNALISM AND HUMOUR
This one might take a little more thinking about, but it should be a bit of fun!  Journalism collections can range from Nick Hornby's Shakespeare Wrote for Money to Marian Keyes's Under the Duvet, Jeremy Clarkson's The World According to Clarkson to Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country.  Anything that's been published in a newspaper or magazine first!  Humour could be a book of cartoons, a novelty joke book or The Wicked Wit of Oscar Wilde!  

Completed! Moranthology by Caitlin Moran


14. SCIENCE AND NATURAL HISTORY
Again, this one throws the doors wide open for you to follow your interests.  Always fancied learning more about space?  Are you curious about the life of Charles Darwin?  Or got a lifelong love for a particular animal?  There are some wonderful 'popular science' books around too, including things like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, David Attenborough's natural history books, and the entire works of the brilliantly funny Mary Roach.

15. CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT
This leaves the way open for pretty much anything, whether it's reading The Hungry Caterpillar or The Magical Faraway Tree to your kids, revisiting the joys of The Secret Garden or Treasure Island, or devouring something from the modern tide of YA.  Lots of dystopian fiction, coming-of-age novels and supernatural shenanigans to choose from!

Completed! Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

16. SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PHILOSOPHY
Another wide area!  Books on society and women (Female Chauvinist Pigs, Living Dolls), books on society and children (Toxic Childhood, Nurtureshock), books on how television and the internet are affecting our lives, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, books on Freud or Marx...

Completed! The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

I'm going to aim for the full 16, although I'm going to leave off thinking about which particular books until much, much later. Knowing me, I'd probably forget and read them this December or just lose interest in them by 2012!

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book Challenge 2012

Welcome to the first ever book challenge hosted by Booking In Heels!

Post your entries in the linky here.

This is a challenge I've not seen anywhere else and was something I was planning to do on my own next year anyway, so I figured the more the merrier!

For those who don't know, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a film released in 2003 based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore (of Watchmen fame). The movie features various classic book characters who all form a League to stop various classic villians from taking over the world. 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read the original book featuring each of the main characters and post a review of each between 1st January 2012 and the 31st December.

Every single one of these books is out of copyright (which is how they could be used in the first place) and so are free for download on most e-book readers. 

Even if you don't complete the challenge, it's great fun watching the film and knowing a little more about the characters!

The main characters and their books are:

Allan Quatermain from King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

Allan Quatermain actually features in a number of books by this author, but King Solomon's Mines is the first. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party. 

Quite obviously, he's played by Sean Connery in the film.

Mina Harker from Dracula by Bram Stoker

  Mrs. Harker is the only woman in the League. As the widow of Jonathon Harker, she is left with vampiric abilities that come in useful when dealing with nefarious plots to take over the world.

She's played by Peta Wilson.

Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

Nemo is the enigmatic Captain of the Nautilus, the technologically advanced submarine that provides transport for the League.

I read this book earlier this year (looks like I'll be rereading it next year...) and loved it.

Tom Sawyer from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Sawyer is my least favourite member of the League and the last member to join. As a young American go-getter, is adopted as a kind of protege by Quatermain.

He's played by Shane West, I believe.

Dorian Gray from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Excuse me while I run off to drool... If I could nuzzle and lick this man, trust me I would. Anyway, this is Dorian Gray and his Picture.

In the film, Mr. Gray is played by Stuart Townsend and is a snide, suave, sophisticated cad who is only roped into the League to get closer to Mina.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is probably the most famous book used in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but it's an excellent one. Dr. Jekyll (right) is an innocuous, moral Doctor until he takes a formula of his own invention which transforms him into the violent, brutal Mr. Hyde (right).

His/their services are offered to the League in return for a pardon for their crimes committed in London.

Played by Jason Flemyng in the film. 

Rodney Skinner from The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (kind of)

 Skinner is the only member of the League not to be taken directly from the pages of a book. The Invisible Man is still copyrighted so the characters from that book couldn't be used directly. Instead, Skinner claims to have stolen the Invisibility Formula from the character in the book, which makes it all nice and legal.


The Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

And now we're onto the villains. Yay villains!

I love how they've done the Phantom in the film - it's a step away from the traditional white mask and black cape combo. It just works so well.

James Moriarty from The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The ultimate baddie, the mastermind behind it all, the 'Napoleon of Crime!'

No photo for this one, but if you've seen the film, you'll know who I mean.



Right then. That's nine books to read in twelve months.

To sign up, just fill in the linky below and link back to this page on your blog. You can join in at any time, but reviews must be posted by the last day of 2012 to qualify for the challenge. On the day before the challenge begins, I'll post a seperate linky for each character so you can easily add your review for the relevant one.

You do not need a blog to join. Reviews on Amazon/GoodReads/whatever are just fine and dandy.


Obviously rereads are more than okay, as I've read a few of these before. 

Monster Review-a-Thon Mini Challenge #1

The Book Monsters are hosting a week-long event that revolves around your reviews - how you do them, what you like to write about and why you do so. There are great prizes to win, to boot! I accidentally stumbled across their blog on the very first day, so I'm taking it as a sign and joining up.

This is today's mini-challenge: 

Are you happy with your review format currently?

I was about to reply with how I don't really have a set review format, but thinking about it, I guess I do. I tend to post a picture of the book cover on the left and then a few lines as an introduction. Maybe something about what I've been up to, what made me pick up that book... you know, something personal.

Then I'll post the synopsis from Amazon (or somewhere similar) in italics, which is usually followed by my own version as they invariably get it wrong.

After that, it's on to the review! I'm terrible at writing unbiased reviews - they turn into rants more often than I'd like, even after I've gone back and edited. See my reviews of Cinderella Ate My Daughter and So Many Books, So Little Time to see what I mean.

That's usually with non-fiction though. I can find something nice to say about most fiction I read. I don't often get stuck with what to say, but it does happen. I read Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book last week though, and was completely blank even though I enjoyed reading it.

2. Scrutinize it a little more, maybe compare it to other blogs you like, anything you think you might change?

I do want to change the layout. Well, no, not the layout, but maybe implement some shinier graphics. I was actually downloading the photoshop trial before I started writing this, so I should begin doing that either tonight or tomorrow. I used to be fairly decent photoshop-wise, so I'll give it a go.

I know that the majority of blogs use some sort of rating system and I started my blog by doing that too. But you know what? I loathe marking things out of ten. It got to the point where I was giving everything three stars and it makes the whole concept redundant. I appreciate how it can be helpful to readers so I'm considering starting again, but.... ugh.

3. Implement some basic changes and tell us what you think. Or, you can tell us one or two aspects of your reviews that you like.

Haha, come back in a few days and see my new header! Or, more likely, come back in a few days and remind me to make one...

I do like how my reviews are quite personal (aside from the ranty ones, anyway). I often write about how I could relate to a book or why a book particularly affected me, or how reading the book in a particular place/time made a difference. I think my Making History review (by Stephen Fry) would be a good example. I didn't want to read it until I ended up sat on the doorstep with nothing else to read, and then I loved it.