Cover Art Snark & Author Self-Mockery: Woot!

Apprentice Writer appreciates people who don't take themselves too seriously. She flat out adores readers who like a genre but can recognize the over-the-top elements in it. She got a does of both from the lovely and talented Scientist Gone Wordy, who made AW snort tea at breakfast with a link to author Jim C. Hines' reflectionss on urban fantasy/scifi cover art.

He doesn't just opine. He conducts research.

That's right. He tries to recreate cover poses.

Bravo to Mrs. Hines for having a spouse with the chutzpah to post the far-from-pretty results.

"And now a pause for jocularity...."

Apprentice Writer is deep in the throes (this will shortly strike the Gentle Reader as funny) of new-and-improving her query.

A query, for those who may not live in the book world, is a brief letter an aspiring author addresses to a literary agent. It is supposed to entice the agent to read the first pages of a manuscript and then hopefully sign the writer on as a client before going on to sell that manuscript to a publisher on the writer's behalf.

New-and-improving her query currently involves working through the archives of the blog Query Shark by literary agent Janet Reid. Ms. Reid routinely eviscerates (her word) the queries voluntarily sent in by hopefuls such as AW. Witnessing the dismemberment is in equal parts terrifying and educational; AW is in awe of the hapless writers who dare present their work for the shark and all the blogosphere to see.

Tucked in among the earnest efforts is the occasional spoof. AW came across one today that made her laugh so much she wanted to share. Enjoy.

Bookish Outposts in Cyberspace, Part II

Apprentice Writer's Magical Mystery Tour of cool bookish places to hang out in cyberspace, continued:

Number One Novels - this site is devoted exclusively to interviews of authors who have just published their debut novels. AW has a special love for debut novels, so the Gentle Reader can imagine her delight when she stumbled upon this outpost. The Gentle Reader can go on to imagine her even greater delight that each author interview involves a giveaway of the featured debut. Finally, the Gentle Reader can no doubt imagine AW's Canuck dissappointment to learn that the majority of these giveaways are for American readers only. This, however, does not stop her from visiting as she is addicted to "How I Sold My First Book" stories and loves reading about authorly background stuff.

A Piece of My Mind - this lovely, high-content site is the cyberhome of AW's online amiga Julia, devoted to art of all kinds. Julia's creative interests seem to know no bounds, and a visit may result in education or opinions on paintings, novel-writing, poetry, music,dance, cinema, etc. etc. Though AW's family is most excellent in its own way, Julia's family has long caused AW to plot (so far, unsuccessfully) as to how she might get herself adopted into a Maritime family because, Holy inspirational Atlantic sea spray, Batman, ALL of Julia's relatives possess creativity of some type or another. (Not kidding. Every. Single. One). Though AW may not share Julia's views on, say, all musicians featured, or fully comprehend the symbolism of every line of poetry posted, she does look forward to having her spirits lifted each time she ventures to this site.

Popcorn & Chainmail - this excellently funny site devotes itself to affectionate snark of historical movies, conducted by cinemaphiles who have the background necessary to spot historical inaccuracy at a hundred paces. The Gentle Reader may question why AW includes this site on a list of so-called bookish outposts, to which AW would say, "Hey, I said BookISH, didn't I? And lots of those movies were based on books. Sort of. I think." She would also go on to add, "They haven't posted in a while, so rush over before the site goes dark!"
AW remembered it recently while watching "Kingdom of Heaven" (which she really liked, by the way, flaws and all) and recollected how she'd giggled at what the sporkers (they call what they do sporking a movie) had to say.

More site tours to come.

Bookish Outposts in Cyberspace: Part I

Where, the Gentle Reader may wonder, does Apprentice Writer go in the Blogiverse when she isn't here at home?

To various bookish landing spots, some well-known and some deserving a wider audience. In no specific order:

Dear Author - this reader-oriented site (as opposed to author- or publisher-oriented) was begun by Jane Litte, a reader whose training is in law. As a result some of the most interesting discussions at the site involve legal interpretation on developments in the publishing industry or legitimacy of various threats made in the kerfuffle du jour. The site is devoted mostly to genre fiction (heavily of the romance persuasion including any and all subgenres), but from that single blogger beginning it has grown to multiple reviewers of widely differing tastes. Authors comment frequently in the threads, there are many guest posts, and publishers regularly hold impressive giveaways. Jane and Sarah of 'Smart Bitches, Trashy Books' also collaborate on all sorts of bookish ventures - the annual DABWAHA tournament (AW will let you google that on your own), commentary in various conferences and workshop panels, and who knows what else. You never know what you find when you visit Dear Author, but it is interesting enough frequently enough that AW keeps checking in.

S. Krishna's Books - this single reader site records the thoughts of Swapna, reader extraordinaire. Every time AW, who considers herself a fairly heavy reader, visits she is staggered by Swapna's readerly output (or perhaps consumption is the better word), mostly in literary fiction with some memoir, women's fiction, and mystery sprinkled in. This could perhaps be rationalized by supposing that Swapna does nothing else but read, however she is also a student and has a spouse, who presumably needs some attention now and again. As if that weren't enough, she looks stunning. AW has tried to hold all of this against her but fails miserably due to curiosity about thoughts on the titles AW is thinking about checking out, and Swapna's special interest in multicultural authors.

A Life With Books - this single reader site talks about daily life and bookish topics in roughly equal measure. Since both kinds of posts, and the ones that mix it all up, are entertaining and laidback, AW enjoys her visits. Jenners has a laid-back yet thoughtful style, an easy-to-read five point book review system, and has a talent of picking up on fun memes from the blogosphere.

More sites to come.

Free Ebook

Readers of this space may recall that Apprentice Writer reviewed historical fiction author Ciji Ware's novel "Island of the Swans".

Ms. Ware has just released a new novel, A Race to Splendour, with another lovely cover. The premise sounds intriguing, being set in San Francisco with a female architect trying to rebuild a landmark building destroyed by earthquake. From April 5-11 the ebook is priced for 4.99 U.S. at a slew of ebook retailers.

To celebrate the new novel, Sourcebooks is offering a previous novel, Cottage by the Sea, for free through the same eretailers, April 5-11.

Austen Love

Thursday December 16th is Jane Austen's 235th birthday.

Well not exactly, but the rate at which Austen-inspired paranormal tales seem to be flying off the shelves these days, once can almost imagine it in a literal, undead sense in addition to the anniversary sense.

Whether the Gentle Reader prefers Jane in her original author persona, as a sleuth, or possibly a vampire slayer, every taste can be satisfied on Thursday.

For the classically inclined, Sourcebooks is offering free ebooks of Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Sense & Sensibility, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park for one day (Thursday, natch).

For the experimentally inclined,there are free ebooks of ten Austen variations, also on Thursday.

Because everyone can use a little more of Mr. Darcy.

Challenges in the New Year

We've arrived in the season.

Of cookies and snow-shoveling related back injuries, you ask?

Of 'Best Books of Read in the Past Year' and 'Best Books to Read in the New Year', Apprentice Writer answers.

In this vein, two Reading Challenges the Gentle Reader may be interested in

'The Women of Science Fiction', hosted by Dreams and Speculation, features a female-authored novel each month, with participants choosing whether to go along with one month's choice or all twelve and the end-of-month online discussion for each one. When AW checked, 115 bloggers were already signed up.

&

'The Women of Fantasy', hosted by Jawas Read Too! , likewise features a female-authored novel each month, with participants choosing whether to go along with one month's choise or up to all twelve and the end-of-month online discussion for each one. When AW checked, 96 bloggers were already signed up.

AW herself applauds the Dreamer's and Jawa's aim to stimulate interest in these authors' work but will not take part in all 12x2 dual reads/chats. This is because, no matter how stellar the grouped novels may be, trial and error has shown her that she does not do well with reading too long in any one genre. She needs to mix things up to retain her interest. She will, however, unbend enough to add a few more of the tasty-looking featured titles to her TBR.

Gentle Reader, what about you? Any interesting lists or challenges floating around your corner of cyberspace?

Blogging with Flair

The 3rd annual edition of Book Blogger Appreciation Week (bookbloggerappreciationweek.com), founded by Amy of myfriendamysblog.com, has just concluded. Apprentice Writer participated and had loads of fun in the first two years, and isn't quite sure how she missed signing up this year.

No matter; even non-signupees can make the rounds and find out such things as what one book each participant nominated as a 'Forgotten Treasure' that somehow didn't get the press it deserved when first published, reciprocal interviews introducing another participant, etc.

The part that AW is always charmed by is the creativity not only of blogpost content (and wow, are there ever a lot of smart, erudite bloggers out there*), but of the blogs themselves, so much so that AW wishes she had waited for more of an earnest effort from her own muse when setting up this blog. Here a tiny sample sprinkling of bloggers with undisputed flair:


Title Flair:
Musings of an All Purpose Monkey (Wins for best melding of unboring & self-confident)

Phantom Paragrapher (Apprentice Writer is a sucker for clever alliteration)

Perpetual Pageturner (Ditto)

Lit Snit (Short, Sweet, Fab!)

Semicolon (Exactly!)

The Lost Entwife (With excellent Tolkien quote in place of slogan)

Bermudaonion (Love it, particularly because blog has nothing to do with cooking)

The Literary Omnivore (So much more elegant than AW's usual "I read all kinds of stuff")


Slogan Flair:
Tony's Reading List: Too Lazy to be a Writer, Too Egotistical to be Quiet

Stella Matutina: Books and Stories and Musings, Oh My!


Title & Slogan Flair: Total Win!
Books, Movies and Chinese Food: The Idea for a Perfect Evening

Whimpulsive: It's Not a Word, but it Should Be


Gentle Reader: Come across any memorable Blog Titles or Slogans? Please share!


* Here one such snippet that made AW laugh:
"...It seems that very, very few people have read Guy Gavriel Kay's LORD OF EMPERORS, a book that moved me to tears with a chariot race. (Lots of books move me to tears; few do so with sporting events)." Stella Matutina

/m

Serious Side of Comedy: Online Etiquette

Social media seem to thrive on the ebb and flow of controversy. A recent cyberstorm made Apprentice Writer wonder about the nature of publicly being called to account for bad behavior, AKA shaming.

The Nutshell: A writer sent a literary agent a query. It clearly didn't follow guidelines, so a polite and even kindly form rejection was sent in reply. The writer took this rejection poorly, as expressed in two follow-up messages that were, shall we say, unfortunate on multiple levels. Whereupon the agent blogposted the correspondence, including the writer's name, resulting in a very long thread of blogcomments more or less universally deriding the writer. One commenter posted in haiku form which apparently led the agent to announce a haiku contest on Twitter, with a hashtag that included the writer's name, resulting in numerous mocking tweets and retweets. At least one author/blogger posted in a deliberately general manner (without any names or specifics that would allow identification) about discomfort with apparent misperception about a publishing hiearchy (unpublished writers below published writers below agents below publishers) and how this could cause writers to hesitate about speaking out when they see something with which they disagree. The agent posted a comment on expressed assumption that the author's post referred to her case, again specifed the name of the writer, and defended her choice to respond as she did due to (if AW has understood correctly) conviction that the writer's unprofessional responses constituted a direct attack on herself as well as her signed writers which justified counterattack.

OK, admittedly that was rather a large nut to fit in one shell. But here's the question:

What do you think of it all?

Here is what AW posted at the above-mentioned author/blogger's site:

"I'm still figuring out what I think of the whole thing, but chief among my reactions is - taken aback. There is no question that the response the writer made to the form rejection was unfortunate on multiple levels,

BUT

to me, his messages almost had something of a feel of the aspiring contestants in the audition rounds of reality shows that are not only deluded about the level of their talent, but give the impression they may have mental health issues going on as well. I have no knowledge about this particular writer, but my discomfort with how the online deluge mushroomed - haiku contest attached to a person's actual full name? - is because it feels like a colossally imbalanced situation if there is any possibility the rejected writer is dealing with health challenges. (I repeat: I have NO CLUE whether it's the case or not).

Wouldn't it be wise - or even, kind - to allow for this possibility before publishing names involved? Wouldn't the educational benefit (learning how NOT to correspond in the publishing world) have been achieved by sharing the messages without name attached?

I'm confuzzled about it all so I'd welcome thoughts."

Freshly Squeezed Drama, Second Helping

Uproar ongoing.

For those not following this modern economics/public relations/social media lesson tweet by tweet or post by post, here is the bare minimum of what took place further to events in Apprentice Writer's previous post.

The Boards of Directors of the romance writers, mystery writers, and science fiction writers groups were unanimous in making pubic their strong and swift rejection of Harlequin's decision to open an arm (variously described as self-publishing and vanity press, depending on the speaker) for writers whose work was not up to Harlequin's regular publication standards.

Some of these organizations implemented immediate consequences regarding future recognition of Harlequin authors, some extended a deadline by which they hoped to hear from Harlequin about steps it might take to modify the new venture.

Harlequin issued a statment in which it expressed surprise at the negative reaction, and subsequently announced its decision to remove the Harlequin name from the venture.

For some blogosphere commentators, this was acceptable.

For others, it was too little, too late, considering two ongoing sore spots: Harlequin's original plan to include a reference to the service in standard rejection letters, and Harlequin's original fee structure for the service which are described without exception as much higher than industry standards. As of this blogpost, Harlquin does not appear to have made further public statements regarding these aspects.

Perhaps further developments will be handled behind closed doors, now that the initial storm has passed. Or perhaps this week will see further steps and counter-steps reported in the media.

Until then, Apprentice Writer passes on the following thoughts, shared by people with a helpfully enhancing point of view:

- According to an author-friend with background in Fortune 500 companies: when a company is working on an innovation, everything is very hush-hush and it simply does not occur that input is invited as this would ruin the scoop. Rather, the company anticipates which groups might have concerns, prepares responses dealing with those concerns, and after it unveils its innovation, expects that those groups will approach them and thereby bring about a discussion to lead to mutual satisfactory solution for both. According to this business practice, Harlequin would have expected writer groups to approach and consult behind closed doors, in theory leading to a happy (or at least, tolerant) faces all around.

But the writer groups didn't play it that way. Whether or not that was a good thing is for each onlooker to decide. Apprentice Writer's highly unscientific survey says opinions seem pretty much fifty-fifty on this.

- According to a friend 'on the inside', it seems many layers of employees at Harlequin had no idea this was in the works. That may include editors, and certainly the company's published authors, of which those tied to the Harlequin Historicals line were arguably the hardest hit since their double H logo could be and was easily confused for the Harlequin Horizon one. Something they could have warned upper management about.

- According to L'esprit d'escalier, the breakdown of fees is worth a very close look. For anyone thinking of making the leap to publication and interested in specific figures of what it can take on the road to get there, this is essential reading. Really, Gentle Reader who is also an Aspiring Writer - go look at this.

- The single item EVERYONE agrees upon:

Holy jaw-dropping numbers, Batman! How did they come up with these figures???



m.

Bored? Have some Drama, Freshly Squeezed!

Apprentice Writer's endurance march on wordcount has been sidetracked in the last few days by fireworks in Romanceland.

For those unaware: Harlequin Publishing, a giant in the industry, decided to open a separate arm for those aspiring writers whose manuscripts were deemed not good enough for Harlequin but who still wanted to see their book in print. Harlequin created the 'Harlequin Horizons' brand amid somewhat confusing information about what exactly the brand affiliation and author benefits would be, announced the imminent discontinuation of it's longtime editorial service-for-hire, and announced that rejection letters would commence inclusion of a notice about the new service.

Uproar ensued.

Apprentice Writer has neither the energy nor eloquence at this moment to uncross her eyes and wax poetic. Instead, some links for a crash course on Harlequinfail as it has been described:

For a comment thread about a lightyear long, with with some participants in favor but mostly not, take a look at Smart Bitches Trashy Books.

For an amusing comment on the comment thread, take a look at The Examiner.

For comments from a Harlequin lead hand, and discussion about the difference between self-publising and vanity press, take a look at Dear Author.

For an opinion from other press, take a look at the New Yorker.

For an opinion on what this means to authors and publishing in general, take a look at author Sherry Thomas.

And, if you have time for only one link which clearly breaks the nature of concerns down:

An excellently clarifying cross-section by author Jackie Kessler.

Visualize This

Apprentice Writer is part ninja, part monkey, part stairmaster cyborg.
What on earth, you say?

AW will tell you.

Or more accurately, Chris Baty will tell you. The father of the global phenomenon of National Novel Writing Month (which outgrew the 'National' adjective many years ago) sends pep talks to the tens of thousands of participants at strategic times. The most recent such motivator urged lagging participants (that would be AW, not those credibility-challenged imbeciles whose wordcount bars changed color to signify 50k achieved on Day 2) to write in thousand word sprints, imagining a staircase of a thousand steps.

Adieu, Gentle Reader. AW has laced up her running shoes and is set for (keyboard) exercise.

Peace on Earth

Today is Blog Blast for Peace Day in the blogosphere.

Bloggers from all over the world are sending their desire for peace into the universe today. Join us by visiting the hundreds of bloggers taking part in this beautiful event.

Just CLICK on Blog Blast for Peace and you will discover
a world where hope reigns,
hands reach across the globe in friendship
and voices rise in glorious harmony.

Halloween Timetaker

Halloween Fan? A few minutes on your hands? Enjoy(ed) those little calendars sold at Christmas time when you get to open one window per day for a chocolate reward when what you really wanted to do was rip them all open at once?

Romance Junkies' Haunted House is the place for you.

A delightful house that you tour to click on all manner of objects and denizens, leading to all sorts of possibilities of prizes. Books of various nature (ebook and print, historical and contemporary, romantic and mysterious, fantastical and literary), candy, other items... There are also a few so-called wrong turns, including an invitation to compose a poem about the Haunted House ghost (who looks like the butler). Great fun.

If you compose a poem for Fred the ghost, please come back here and share it with us!

Whither Romantic Social Media?

Recently, the following rmantic fiction grogs (group blogs) gave notice of final curtain:

The Soapbox Queens (group of authors)

Romance Vagabonds (group of aspiring authors/readers)

Love is an Exploding Cigar (group of authors)

Romance Novel TV (group of reader/reviewers and guest authors)

In the blogosphere's natural course of events, blogs come and blogs go. Nothing new about that.

What struck Apprentice Writer this time was the question: what led these faithful bloggers to close shop, and more interestingly (is that a word?) - have they really departed to have more time for writing or other personal projects, or is this another sign of the rising dominance of the almighty Twitterverse? Have blogs and grogs concentrating on, say, fantasy, mystery, or litfic gone through similar changes?

*ponders*

CONTEST WINNER!

With the unbribable assistance of junior apprentice writer #3, a winner for Apprentice Writer's first ever contest has been drawn:

JULIA (of 'A Piece of My Mind')

Congratulations. Please send AW your snail mail deets so your prize can be forwarded by the lovely people at Hachette.

Thanks to all who participated!

Page 1 & Giveaway Announcement

Epigraph:
"The duke made his way out of Hyde Park with his usual loose-limbed, easy gait...Ahead waited his luxuriously appointed townhouse, a snifter of brandy, and not a woman is sight to scold him. In a word, perfection." From The Dulcet Duke"

Chapter 1:
"Sam Carson strolled out of Central Park, a long blade of grass between his teeth... (His humming) petered out on a single flat note of dread. Across the street, Veronica paced in front of his building, looking (angry) enough to vault the six lanes of streaming traffic in a ferocious leap, plant one of her red stiletto heels in his chest, and then fling him under the tires of the nearest SUV , after first, naturally, retrieving her Jimmy Choo."

from 'How to Tame a Modern Rogue' by Diana Holquist
Grand Central Publishing, August 2009


Please come back tomorrow for Apprentice Writer's review of 'How to Tame a Modern Rogue'.

Also, in honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, Apprentice Writer will hold her first ever giveaway!

And on Saturday, a Q & A with the lovely Diana Holquist in which she shares her favorite scene from the book, among other things.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week, 2nd Edition - Day 4

Today is the day that book bloggers reminisce about books they found and loved due to recommendation from other book bloggers.

Here is Apprentice Writer's triple shoutout.




To Sarah and Candy at SmartBitches, Trashy Books, whose uniquely expressed insights, snarky humor, willingnesss to engage in passionate discussion and book love resulted in a number of BBAW nominations and a win -

THANK YOU for introducing AW to Loretta Chase! Still can't believe how many years went by without discovering this peerless author on own initiative - AW suspects it may have been a simple case of book covers acting as repellant - but the fact remains, they gave a glowing review of "Mr. Impossible", AW gave it a try, and has not looked back since. Well, except for right now!

To Tiffany Clare, soon-to-be debut author and one ofthe founding members of the grog Vauxhall Vixens along with J.K. Coi (author of dark and intriuging paranormal romance), Elyssa Papa (newly agented aspiring writer of refreshing contemporary romantic comedy), and Maggie Robinson (soon-to-be author of historical romance) -

THANK YOU for introducing AW to Sarah Monette! As regular reader of this space know, AW can't stop talking about her dark fantasy 'Doctrine of Labyriths' series, beginning with the stunning 'Melusine'. AW now actively seeks out dark fantasy, and may not have done so without your help.

To Ana and Thea of The Booksmugglers (which just won the BBAW award for Best Collaborative Blog) -

THANK YOU for introducing AW to new author Kate Noble! They kindly shared a copy of Ms. Noble's debut 'Compromised' which AW thoroughly enjoyed. Meaning another auto-read author for her.

Gratitude and shiny good karma points to you all.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week, 2nd Edition - Day 3

Today is meme day. Play along or leave your preferences in the comments!

Do you snack while you read?

Absolutely. Tea and a piece of the latest baking venture.

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

Color me horrified.

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

Dog ears make me cringe and laying the book flat ruins the spine, so I bookmark with whatever is to hand - grocery receipts, overdue notices, elastic bands....

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Both, but my fiction-to-non ratio is about 4:1

Hard copy or audiobooks?
Just now venturing out into audiobooks. A friend swears it is the miracle incentive to exercising.

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?

Used to be a chapter reader, now tend to stop at the point when I suddenly wake up again after having fallen asleep, a sign I should go brush my teeth and call it a night.

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

If the computer and trusty Dictionary.com is closeby, right away. Most recent: 'matutinal', from Georgette Heyer's 'No Wind of Blame'.

What are you currently reading?

Always have a half dozen going on simultaneously:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (lit fic, for my bookclub)
No Wind of Blame (period mystery)
Seduced by a Stranger (Gothic)
Julie & Julia (memoir)
Highland Rebel (historical romance)
Wife of the Gods (contemporary multicultural mystery)
Harry Potter #2 (with my son)


What is the last book you bought?
The Flower Poet from A-Z

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
At breakfast, after everyone else is shipped off to school or work, and as last thing in the day.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
It's all good!


Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Yann Martel, Jasper Fforde, Loretta Chase, Lindsey Davis, Margaret Atwood, Lawrence Hill


How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
Any way they stack neatly under my bed, so usually by size.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week, 2nd Edition - Day 2

Today is devoted to interview exchanges between bookbloggers who likely did not know of each other before this year's BBAW event.

Apprentice Writer was twinned with Raidergirl, blogging out of the beauteous Prince Edward Island, and this was our first introduction to each other!

Here's what Raidergirl had to say in response to AW's
questions:

1. How did the name Raidergirl come about?
I liked how people online had a handle, so when I started at livejournal, I wanted a name to represent me. The high school I teach at, and graduated from, has the nickname 'raiders' so since I am a raidergirl through and through - the only high school I've been at ever, it seemed perfect. That reminds me, tomorrow is Raider Day at school - I must dress in red and white.
Explained like that, the name makes total sense. I had had visions of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and suchlike.....

2. What type of genres to you read/review?
I always enjoy mystery series, and general fiction - from around the world and from home (Canada.) I also like the prize winners, but that may be my love of lists as much as anything. I won't turn down chick lit, but I don't read it all the time. What ever books fit in the RIP Challenge are my favorite - mystery, suspense, horror, spooky.
Another RIP participant! Just got started with the gothic novel 'Seduced by a Stranger' which is seriously creepy (in a good way) and looking forward to dark fantasy 'Corambis', Book 4 in the Doctrine of Labyrinths series.


3. Which genres do you read more/less of compared to five years ago?
I never used to read classics, but I'll try them a bit more often; translated books is a whole new area; and it may not be a genre, but I read a lot more newly released books compared to five years ago. I never used to buy books at all.
Ref: Translated books - if you like reading challenges, there's another lovely one wherein readers tackle Japanese literature.

4. What are your five favorite books of all?
1. Anne of Green Gables
2. Bridget Jones
3. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
4. I Want to Go Home by Gordon Korman
5. Evening Class by Maeve Binchy
Hmm. Suspect that PEI dwellers who don't list 'Anne of Green Gables' as their #1 choice might be taken to a remote location, far away from Lucy Maud Montgomery memorabilia stores, and shot!

5. Ever read a book in a language other than your mother tongue? Which language? No, the only language I know any bit about is French, and 9 years of French in school certainly didn't make me able to read a book. Maybe a menu.
Haha!

6. Apart from your own country, is there another part of the world that you especially enjoy reading about?
It would have to be Great Britain and Ireland, from many different eras - Victorian, wartimes, modern day. I guess I'm a bit of an Anglophile.
Agreed! Of course it helps that there is such an incredibly rich literary body out of the UK. Maybe something to do with all that rain, and having to find ways to occupy oneself.

7. Which literary character do you wish you could be yourself? Do you wish could be your love? Do you wish could be your business partner?



8. A book you loved most other people hated, and vice versa?
I loved The Bone People but I understand how other people might not like it - it must have been perfect time, perfect place for me.
Two books that I did not finish: On the Road by Jack Kerouac and There Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Huston, both of which are classics and have lots of fans.
That point about perfect time, perfect place for any given reader is a good one. Probably applies even more so to movies - you have to in the right mood for certain kinds of movies or it doesn't work even a little bit.

9. Favorite book-turned-into-a-movie? Favorite movie?
Favorite movies: Braveheart, Dead Poet's Society, Mary Poppins

Favorite book turned into a movie - Bridget Jones' Diary, Harry Potter movies, and while I've only seen it once a few months ago, Fight Club might make the list in a few years. It takes time to make it onto my favorites' list.

10. How many blogs/grogs do you visit regularly? What are your three favorites?
I have a little over 100 blogs in my google reader. Three favorites? That's tough. I'm thinking if everyone updated, the first three I'd look at, even though I'd read them all eventually would be, at the risk of offending everyone, ...nope can't pick three. I could maybe pick 10.
100 regularly visited blogs ! o'O

The thing is, as I thought about this, is that my favorite blogs are more about the people, the friendships that I've made. I like getting a little update from pals, regardless of what they write. The friends you don't need to talk to every day but still fall into a conversation so easily.
Well said, Raidergirl

11. The blogosphere seems to thrive on brouhahas (I love that word). What's your philosphy: "Leap in and share your views", "Don't comment personally but lurk to see what happens", "Can't be bothered with that kind of silliness" ?
How timely! I mostly can't be bothered with that kind of silliness, but I do lurk occasionally, after the fact, and see what happened. (I can be a bit nosy.) The little area of the blogosphere I tend to inhabit is pretty drama free and I like that.

12. Do you have an IRL book club in addition to blogging? Why or why not?
Just our little Ramona book club - me, my daughter and my mother. There's a profile of us here.
I'd like to be in a book club, but it's not something I've found in real life. In some ways, blogging is easier, because it is on your own time, and you don't have to meet at the same time. Much more convenient for everyone to add their opinion when it is convenient.
Last year, a group of us friends from high school tried to have a book club, but it was so hard to meet regularly, and it evolved into dinner out and exchanging books to read, which was a pretty good book club all in all.
An intergenerational book club - what a lovely idea! And dinner plus book exchange could work well, too - especially if the discussion takes place later online.

13. Ever met another blogger?
I did! Two summers ago, Booklogged was planning a trip to the Maritimes, and I sent her some ideas of places to visit. We met and had a lovely meal before she and her husband went to watach Anne of Green Gables the Musical.I was a little nervous, but she was wonderful, and we have a great connection. I hope she'll come back to visit PEI someday.
I have not yet cybermet Booklogged, and will do so as part of the BBAW celebrations.

14. Best thing about blogging?
Making friends with like minded people, sharing good books and getting recommendations, thinking more about my reading,
Agreed!

15. Most anticipated upcoming book?
There are so many books around to read, that I hardly notice books that are coming out. I'd look forward to a new Maeve Binchy if she was writing a new book, or Sophie Kinsella. I did order Catching Fire as soon as it was released, but that was a much for my son as for me.

Thanks for stopping by, Raidergirl!

Gentle Readers - you can visit Raidergirl at
http://raidergirl3-anadventureinreading.blogspot.com/