Look! I wrote a full review! And hopefully more will come. I figured I couldn’t depend on review notes since I don’t know WHEN I’ll be getting internet, so I might as well just carry on as best I can until then. They won’t have as fancy a format as I usually do, since I don’t have enough time to search for other reviews and whatnot, but I hope you like them anyway.

Sorry I haven’t been responding to comments, btw! Again, no time. If you ask a question, though, I’ll try to get back to you…soon-ish.

70. Lirael by Garth Nix
Publication: HarperTeen (October 6, 2009), ebook, 720pp / ISBN 0060005424
Genre: YA Fantasy

Read: April ?-26, 2012
Source: Bought

Series: Sabriel | Lirael (you’re here!) | Abhorsen

Summary from Amazon:

Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Abandoned by her mother, ignorant of her father’s identity, Lirael resembles no one else in her large extended family living in the Clayr’s Glacier. She doesn’t even have the Sight — the ability to see into the present and possible futures — that is the very birthright of the Clayr.

Nonetheless, it is Lirael in whose hands the fate of the Old Kingdom lies. She must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil — one that opposes the Royal Family, blocks the Sight of the Clay; and threatens to break the very boundary between Life and Death itself. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, to help her, Lirael must find the courage to seek her own hidden destiny.

In this sequel to the critically acclaimed Sabriel, Garth Nix draws readers deeper into the magical landscape of the Old Kingdom and weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny, and danger.

Review

It took me two tries to get through Lirael, and I blame that on its slower pace. It doesn’t really speed up until a little after halfway through, and while I enjoyed the bits before then, the lack of momentum is a real killer. Luckily this time around I liked Lirael (the character) a lot more than the first time, and so I could push through the slow bits.

Lirael’s an interesting character because’s she so, well…pathetic, really. She’s got no self-confidence, she barely talks to people, and if she wasn’t already surrounded by tons of people I think she’d be living as a hermit in the mountains. I spent most of my time wishing she’d grow a backbone, or SOMETHING. Fortunately she does start to get over her issues by the end of the book, and it’s done in such a well-thought out way that I can’t help but admire Mr Nix’s writing! Plus, it helps that Lirael’s a librarian who goes on adventures. She works in a magical library! And she has a talking dog! It’s almost easy to ignore her massive self-pity if you focus on that stuff (though of course her non-confidence is part of her character, too…it’s complicated).

I’ll admit that I had a hard time with all the different POVs. Lirael’s the main POV for a good chunk of the book, and then it switches to Sameth and Nick and random tertiary characters. The many POV changes kept throwing me off; I don’t mind multiple POVs but the way they were handled here was a little rough.

Also, I think that Lirael reads more like half of one book than a separate book on its own right. Don’t you think? It feels more like “Abhorsen, Part 1” than anything else. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing– I’m inclined to think bad, since it makes the trilogy feel more uneven, but if you stick Lirael and Abhorsen together it works out pretty well. So…I’m not sure. Thoughts?

Overall, I liked Lirael! I don’t think I like it as much as Sabriel, but I still enjoyed reading it.

Rating

Buy

Get your own copy @ Amazon or BookDepository.com and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog through the power of affiliate earnings! Or find a copy in your local library and support people other than me!

REVIEW: Lirael by Garth Nix is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

Am currently writing this while sitting outside a Starbucks, squinting at my dust computer screen. For some reason not having internet is making me want to not write reviews, either. Still, I don’t want to fall TOO behind, so here are some review notes for books I’ve read fairly recently. You’ll be seeing a few of these posts until we get internet at our house.

Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping myself occupied! I’ve been reading books (of course), staring at piles of my stuff, and writing a zine. I’ve also gotten hives again, if you can believe it. I don’t know what’s wrong with the mosquitos out here, but they’re really starting to bug me (ha).

And now, reviews:

065. Crocodile on the Sandbank – Elizabeth Peters [rating: 4] e*
[historical fiction/mystery / ebook / bought / read April 8, 2012]
- For some reason Amelia annoyed me more than she did the first time I’ve read this book. Maybe because I’m more aware of her faults than before?
- I liked whats-her-face– Amelia’s friend– much more this time around than before!
- Peabody + Emerson = TWU WUV (seriously, they’re adorable)
- I totally remembered the solution to the mystery, but it was still overall enjoyable.

066. The Making of a Trade School – Mary Schenck Woolman [rating: 3] e
[non-fiction / ebook / public domain / read April 13-17, 2012]
- I suppose this isn’t very interesting unless you’ve read the Slate article about the women who went to this school.
- Or maybe if you’re interested in women’s history?
- Reads very much like a pamphlet asking for donations, only less boring.
- The historical aspect is really neat, too.
- I probably would have gone to this school if a) I’d lived during the early 20th century and b) I lived in Manhatten!

067. Morgue Mama – C.R. Corwin [rating: 3] e
[mystery / ebook / bought / read April 17-18, 2012]
- Unfortunately it did that thing I hate where the narrator is untrustworthy but you only find out that they are at the end. It just ruins the whole story, don’t you think? If you can’t trust your narrator you should be told that from the start (or at least given hints).
- Snappy newspaper reporter! Yay! Librarian-turned-slueth! Yay!
- Mystery was actually very interesting, even though it sort of reminded me of a Law and Order episode.
- Can’t get over that annoying ending!
- I will read next book (which I’ve actually already bought) despite my hatred of the ending sequence.

068. A Spark of Death – Bernadette Pajer [rating: 2.5] e
[historical fiction/mystery / ebook / bought / read April 18-22, 2012]
- Eh. Wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it’d be, based on the synopsis. I like turn of the century things! And scientists! But this was just “eh.”
- There was something about the writing that I didn’t like. It just didn’t work for me, for whatever reason.
- Plus I’m pretty sure there was an early 20th century manic pixie dream girl character. Annoying.
- Basically I think it wasn’t as exciting as I was expecting it to be.

REVIEW NOTES: Crocodile on the Sandbank, The Making of a Trade School, Morgue Mama, A Spark of Death is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

This is just a quick update to let y’all know that I’m FINALLY and TRULY moved into my new house! We don’t have internet set up yet, so I’m dependent on free public wifi which means I probably won’t be online much for the next few weeks. I’m trying to write some posts at home and get them ready enough to publish by the time I get to a wifi connection, but I keep getting distracted by my books and my zines and my many wonderful things that I nearly forgot I owned.

I’ve dug out my Young Wizard books and I’ve decided to read them first. I’ve read the first three (I think?) but none of the rest, and since I own seven of them that’s a little sad. I’ve already finished So You Want to Be a Wizard (which I’ve read probably 10 times and still love wholeheartedly) and I’m now halfway through Deep Wizardry. It’s got talking whales and stuff! Yay!

After the Young Wizards books I’m hoping I can find my Harry Potter books so I can read them next, but there’s a LOT of boxes to dig through, y’all. I kind of don’t want to unpack them all right now, either, because I don’t have anywhere to put the stuff once I’ve unpacked it. So my reading schedule is really dependent on what I find first, haha!

So that’s what I’ve been doing and what I WILL be doing for the next week or so. What have you all read lately? Anything interesting happen since I last posted something? Is there more drama or have things been relatively quiet?

I miss you all! Hopefully I’ll have a more reliable source of internet soon. Until then, happy reading!

This is an update is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

005. A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle
Publication: Amulet Books (May 1, 2012), originally published 2011, eARC, 208pp / ISBN 1419701681
Genre: Children’s Magical Realism (could be MG, too)

Read: January 10, 1012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley (thank you!)

Summary from Amazon:

Mary O’Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can’t let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary’s street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny’s own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out.

Review

I’ve read a few other Roddy Doyle books before, all meant for adults and all of the literary fiction type. A Greyhound of a Girl is almost completely different: it’s meant for children, and it’s more magical realism than anything else. Like all of Roddy Doyle’s books, however, Greyhound is about family, and about navigating the rough waters that come with family. And that’s great! What’s not so great is basically everything else.

The author

The story in Greyhound is very interesting– I love ghosts!– and roadtrips as physical manifestations of a character’s internal journey are pretty cool. The characters were cute and, overall, it’s a very easy-to-read book. However, the voices of all the characters felt the same, which was disappointing. They didn’t feel like individual people, not like in Roddy Doyle’s other books. I had also hoped the roadtrip part would play a more prominent role in the story, but it only showed up at the end and wasn’t all that big of a deal after all.

So it’s not my favorite Roddy Doyle book ever, but I think it might be a good one for kids to read before they move on to his adult books. It’s a good sampling of the sorts of things that show up in his other books, even if it’s not the BEST sampling.

Rating

Not my favorite, but it wasn’t all that bad.

Buy

Get your own copy @ Amazon or BookDepository.com and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog through the power of affiliate earnings! Or find a copy in your local library and support people other than me!

Other reviews

Charlotte’s Library: “Doyle is absolutely brilliant at dialogue (of which there is lots). Because so much of the book is told in short, snappy conversations, and even the descriptions and reminiscences are told with beautiful simplicity, it’s easy to imagine a child loving the book, and identifying strongly with Mary. But it works pretty darn well as a book for grownups too (my husband loves it too).”

Hazel the Witch: “I loved how complex and human all the characters were. There was nothing fake about them, and with story like this it’s a crucial thing.”

Books and Other Creative Adventures: “I was taken with the book right from the first pages. Mr. Doyle has a way with language and phrasing that always draws me in. His descriptions captured me right away and he sets up a fun, mysterious start to the book. I also love how Mr. Doyle weaves the stories of the four lives together.”

Notes

Credit
The author’s photo comes from Goodreads. It’s not mine! Book cover comes from Amazon. It’s not mine, either.

REVIEW: A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

061. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Publication: Scholastic Press (August 24, 2010), ebook, 404pp / ISBN 0439023513
Genre: YA Sci-fi,

Read: March 31-April 1, 2012
Source: Bought

Series: The Hunger Games | Catching Fire | Mockingjay (you’re here!)

Summary from Amazon:

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

Review

The ending of Catching Fire was so shocking and unexpected that it actually made me NOT want to read Mockingjay, just to show the series who was the boss. So when I actually DID read Mockingjay, I was prepared for basically anything. And a good thing I was prepared, too, because Mockingjay is almost a completely different book from the rest of the series.

One of my favorite things about Mockingjayis that it continues the theme of what happens when you stick teenagers in life-or-death situations, mess with their heads so much that they go insane, and then threaten them with the annihalation of everything they love if they don’t do what you say. What happens is NOT GOOD; what happens is the teenager gets PTSD and starts blacking out and drinks themselves to an early grave and lots of other horrible things. And sometimes they also manage to get it together enough to bring down an evil empire (and the emperor-in-waiting, too!).

The author

The switch in focus from physical survival to mental survival (if you will) is abrupt, and I think it changes the tone of the series as a whole. There’s a lot more political stuff, too, and more insight into how people who rule dystopian societies think. Those things are nice to have in a dystopian series, especially since it kept Mockingjay from having just another repeat of THG/CF’s plotline, but I wish it had been spread out more throughout ALL the books, not just shoved into one big lump in Mockingjay.

Plus, there isn’t a whole lot of action in Mockingjay. Like I said, I liked that the focus wasn’t necessarily on the physical survival aspect (in the first half of the book, anyway), but not having that in there DID slow the book way down. It’s especially evident after reading the first two books, which are action-packed, immediately before this one. The last half has got all the action you could want, but it was almost too late after wading through the slog that was the first half.

On the whole, I liked Mockingjay. I liked that it depicted (mostly) realisticly what happens to people after going through something like the Hunger Games. I liked that Peeta and Katniss’ relationship sort of…evened itself out. I also liked that, though people died (people that I didn’t want to die), the ending of them and the dystopian society they lived in wasn’t the end of EVERYTHING. People lived on afterwards, maybe a bit more dented than they were beforehand, but still willing to LIVE.

And I think I just really like endings that aren’t necessarily “and they lived happily ever after.” I much more appreciate ones that are “and they (mostly) lived (pretty) happily (for a while) after, with help from their loved ones and time.” It’s less annoyingly cheerful, and since the Hunger Games trilogy is anything but cheerful, I think it’s a good ending overall.

Mockingjay isn’t my favorite Hunger Games book, and in fact I think I rated it the lowest of all three. But as a whole, I really like the Hunger Games trilogy, and if that trilogy didn’t have Mockingjay I’d like it a lot less. Yeah, it’s uneven in tone and there’s some weird writing and Katniss isn’t the best narrator you could have. But! It’s still a fun series to read, and I’m happy I finally read it.

Rating

I liked it!

Buy

Get your own copy @ Amazon or BookDepository.com and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog through the power of affiliate earnings! Or find a copy in your local library and support people other than me!

Other reviews

Dear Author: “When combined with a strong tone shift, as I considered the previous two books to be more action-adventure survival narratives whereas this is a more introspective narrative, the book becomes a bleak, grinding read. I do believe this was intentional on your part, to depict the true horrors of war. But it can be tough for a reader who comes into this book expecting something more like the previous books.”

The Infinite Shelf: “I related a lot more to Katniss this time around. Knowing in parts what was coming in the story, I was able to focus on her character and her interior battles much more. My first reaction : how can this girl still get up in the morning after all that’s happened to her? I was also pleased to see that, though she does spend a lot of time sleeping and healing, she also participates in many events. In fact, I found it refreshing to have a main character who isn’t always standing in the middle of every important scene happening in her world.”

Reading Good Books: “Everything felt rushed, especially towards the end. Things were just starting to heat up and then I noticed that there were only about 25 pages left. Told in Katniss’ POV, it was like she was merely narrating a story while in a daze. I think months pass by in the book where nothing much happened. The deaths of some of the well-loved characters were mentioned in passing. Half the time, I had nothing to go on. So and so died and we’ll just forget about him/her, okay? Then what?”

Notes

Credit
The author’s photo comes from Goodreads. It’s not mine! Book cover comes from Amazon. It’s not mine, either.

REVIEW: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

Get it?

Tip #7: Ask for help if you need it. (And know where and how to ask.)

Really, this goes for everyone, not just newbie bloggers! There will come a time in your blogging life where you’ll need help with something, whether it’s an event you’re planning or how to fix your layout when it mysteriously breaks. Or maybe you just need to know how to email a publisher correctly, or how to respond to weird review requests! Not knowing how to do something isn’t at all shameful, despite what some people may think. The key is to know when to ask for help, how to ask for it, and where to ask.

When to ask
This is kind of self-explanatory? But: ask for help when whatever it is you need help with can’t be solved through some strategic Googling. If you find yourself entering increasingly weird combinations of keywords for hours on end just so you can figure out what a publisher’s email is, that’d be a good time to find someone to ask directly.

Where to ask
Usually I just ask my questions on whatever social media site is closer– usually Twitter. Twitter’s handy because so many people are on it at various times throughout the day, and so you’ll usually always get an answer reasonably quickly. Other places you could ask: the Book Blogs Ning site, Facebook, Goodreads, or even in a post on your own blog! Emailing other bloggers directly is good, too, especially if you’ve got a book blogging-related question. I actually LOVE it when people email me for help with blogging stuff, and I know lots of other bloggers like to help, too. That’s why so many of us have Formspring accounts, haha!

Though book bloggers are very smart people who know tons about stuff you might not expect them to know about, they probably don’t know everything. If you’ve got a question about a very specific, non-book blogging-related thing you might have more success asking it on a forum dedicated to the thing you’ve got a question about. For instance, if you can’t figure out how to change the background color on your blog’s layout, the developer’s forum might have an answer ready for you.

How to ask
Wherever and whoever you ask for help, the important thing to remember is to be polite. Say please and thank you and don’t demand an answer! And don’t ask for help over and over again, even if it’s a really important question, or you desperately need volunteers. If you don’t get an answer right away, or if no one volunteers to help, either wait a little bit and ask again or try asking in a different place.

So, in conclusion: don’t be shy! Ask questions, ask people for help, and ask in lots of different places.

When was the last time you asked for help? Did you get an answer? Would you do anything differently if you needed help now?

For other newbie bloggers tips, check out the new Tips page! I also welcome questions for future Tips posts, either here in the comments, via email, or at Formspring!

Tips for newbie bloggers (7) is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

Hello, hello! It’s Saturday again and that means it’s time for links! But before that, let’s talk a bit about what we’re reading. I’m currently in the beginning of Abhorsen, the third Old Kingdom book by Garth Nix. I know there’s another book after this one (although I think it’s just short stories?) but I can’t help but feel sad that I’m at the end of the series. I’ve really come to love these books, and it makes me want to read everything else Garth Nix has written. Yay for finding new favorite authors, right?

So that’s what I’m currently reading. What are you reading?

And now for links:
A round-up of links about The Recent Unpleasantness. @ Bookshelves of Doom
Plus some other updates on the situation: Plagiarism Bingo: O – Hatemail | So Your Favourite Blogger’s A Plagiarist

Who are we and what do we do?:

But repeatedly — repeatedly — people talk about how the YA blogging community has a not-so-good reputation. That because of the drama surrounding any number of different things, this community is somehow poorly seen, poorly valued. That because issues come up and rather than talk about them, the community reacts, rather than reflects.

I don’t necessarily think that there’s a poor reputation about bloggers, specifically YA bloggers, but I do think some who do blog in this corner of the internet like to think there is. They enjoy being part of the drama and they enjoy driving it forward, rather than talking about it. There are certainly people in the blogging world who love talking about issues, who love pulling them apart and thinking about them critically before reacting. But for some, the thrill is in acting, rather than in digesting. That, in my mind, is where the problem lies.

Book Bloggers Plagiarising– What Happens Now? @ Cuddlebuggery (who first broke the story)

A Note to Authors: Choose the Names Wisely. Trendy is Not Always Cute. @ Well-Read Reviews

Skipping School @ Rookie

Recommendations: Non-European Fantasy by Women @ Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review

The Ongoing Problem of Race in Y.A. @ The Atlantic Wire

What Hath Harry Wrought? @ The Horn Book

Commonplace Post (31) is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

060. Vodnik by Bryce Moore
Publication: Tu Books (March 1, 2012), eARC, 368pp / ISBN 1600608523
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy, Action

Read: March 30-31, 2012
Source: NetGalley (thank you!)

Summary from Amazon:

When Tomas was six, someone–something–tried to drown him. And burn him to a crisp. Tomas survived, but whatever was trying to kill him freaked out his parents enough to convince them to move from Slovakia to the United States.

Now sixteen-year-old Tomas and his family are back in Slovakia, and that something still lurks somewhere. Nearby. Ready to drown him again and imprison his soul in a teacup.

Then there’s the fire víla, the water ghost, the pitchfork-happy city folk, and Death herself who are all after him.

All this sounds a bit comical, unless the one haunted by water ghosts and fire vílas or doing time in a cramped, internet-deprived teacup is you.

If Tomas wants to survive, he’ll have to embrace the meaning behind the Slovak proverb, So smrťou ešte nik zmluvu neurobil. With Death, nobody makes a pact.

Review

For some reason I had a really hard time writing this review– not because I didn’t like Vodnik, but because there’s so much stuff to talk about that I couldn’t figure out where to start! Vodnik has got almost everything I want in a YA book: it’s set in a non-US/non-England location, it stars a not-completely-white kid, it’s got exciting action stuff and fun fantasy elements and it ALSO deals with discrimination and bullying and death! And it’s not even that badly written; if I was a teenage person I’d probably love this book a lot. As an adult person, I LIKE it but I’m not overwhelmed with my love for it.

The author

I think my main problem with Vodnik is that, while I like the inclusion of realistic prejudice and bullying, and the aftermath of madness and death in families, and all the rest of the non-fantasy stuff, I think the actual execution of that stuff was a bit clunky. I didn’t really like the writing. It’s a lot better than some other books I’ve read, but there was just something about it that I didn’t enjoy. It felt like the kind of early writing you’d expect from a newbie author, like it’s about two steps away from being great. Sometimes I can handle nearly-great writing (mostof the time I can handle it, actually), but this was one of those times when I couldn’t, unfortunately.

The story was great! It’s a kind of fantasy coming-of-age story (a la Percy Jackson), which I always enjoy reading about, and I LOVED the fact that the fantasy things weren’t your usual western European/US mythological things. Plus the non-EU/US mythological things weren’t Americanized/shifted to focus on America/etc., either! Do you know how rare that is? That, almost more than anything else, made me like Vodnik. I don’t know anything about Slovakian mythology, but after reading Vodnik I definitely want to find out more.

a vodnik statue!

So I suppose my feelings towards Vodnik are all mixed up. On the one hand, I liked certain elements that were in Vodnik. I also really liked the characters! And, overall, it’s not a bad book. On the other hand, there was just something about the writing that I didn’t like. It’s not terrible, like I said! But it definitely affected my enjoyment of the book as a whole. However! I liked it enough that I’d for sure read the next book in the series. And who knows? Maybe I’ll like the writing more, too!

Rating

I liked it, despite my dislike of the writing style.

Buy

Get your own copy @ Amazon or BookDepository.com and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog through the power of affiliate earnings! Or find a copy in your local library and support people other than me!

Other reviews

Sony the Book Lover: “I thought the story was original, the setting was amazingly quaint and old world. I was introduced to Slovakian legends which I thought was cool. The pacing was ok there were moments when the story stalled for me but overall I enjoyed the experience.”

Y.A. Reads Book Reviews: “Within the first hundred pages the novel started to become rather cheesy. The story focused on a specific fairy tale, the vodnik, who drowned people to put their souls in his teacup collection. The vodnik’s teacups were his pride and joy, and I could not help but feel that that idea took away from the novel. It almost seemed as if this novel would be great for teenage boys. However, I am not sure if this book would appeal to anyone above the age of sixteen.”

Charlotte’s Library: “Tomas is a great character to spend time with–I found him to be completely convincing and very likable. He has a lot on his plate. Not only must he deal with the standard angst of teenage life (made more angsty, in his case, by his badly scarred arm from the childhood fire), and the standard middle grade/YA fantasy angst of facing down supernatural creatures, but he’s also faced with culture shock and racial prejudice for the first time. Plus his family’s return to Slovakia forces them to confront buried family history– lots secrets that were never told.”

Notes

The author’s got some interesting blog posts about the process of writing and publishing Vodnik over at his site.

The publisher, meanwhile, has got some posts up about how the cover was designed. Neat!

You’ll note that Bryce had quite a bit of input into the process here. With a smaller company, it’s easier to coordinate with the author for suggestions. While we still have to take marketing information just as much into account when planning covers, we want our authors to be happy with the end result. Their ideas help inspire the designer and I think the covers are better for it. I also show my authors concepts–once we’ve narrowed it down to the best possibilities–so they can point out things I might have missed.

And finally, here’s an interview with the author at Kimberly Pauley’s blog.

Credit
The author’s photo comes from Goodreads. It’s not mine! Book cover comes from Amazon. It’s not mine, either.

REVIEW: Vodnik by Bryce Moore is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

I nearly forgot! There was a tie (?!) for which TBR book I should read in May, and so we need to do a tie-breaker! (!!)

It’s between Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane and The Summer of Riley by Eve Bunting. Here’s what each book is about, in case you forgot:

Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane
Summary:

Set in Bismarck’s Germany, Fontane’s luminous tale of a socially suitable but emotionally disastrous match between the enchanting seventeen-year-old Effi and an austere, workaholic civil servant twice her age, is at once touching and unsettling. Fontane’s taut, ironic narrative depicts a world where sexuality and the enjoyment of life are stifled by narrow-mindedness and circumstance. Considered by many to be the pinnacle of the nineteenth-century German novel, Effi Briest is a tale of adultery that ranks with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina and brilliantly demonstrates the truth of the author’s comment and “women’s stories are generally far more interesting.”

On my TBR since: April 18, 2010
Why I added it: I’m pretty sure I saw it on one of those “you MUST read these books before you die or you’re a big fat loser” lists. I caved under the pressure.

The Summer of Riley by Eve Bunting
Summary:

Eleven-year-old William never needed a friend more than now. After his parents’ separation, his father’s new engagement, and his grandfather’s dying without any warning — adopting big, beautiful Riley is the first thing in a long time that has made him feel better. That is, until Riley innocently chases a horse.

Local law states that any animal that chases livestock must be put to sleep. Suddenly William stands to lose another thing close to him. Together with his “totally unsurpassed” friend Grace, William begins a campaign to reverse the county commissioners’ decision. But with a community divided on the issue, and the bully Ellis Porter trying to stop them at every turn, will they be able to save Riley’s life?

On my TBR since: November 30, 2010
Why I added it: I’d previously read at least one other of Eve Bunting’s works, and it’s one of my favorite set-in-a-boarding-school novels EVER. Plus, it was free.

Sooooooo, which one should I read in May? Only four days to vote! I’ll read and feature the winning book in May, so choose wisely!

Mount TBR (1.5) is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.

This doesn't have anything to do with the post, I just like it.

I feel like every six months or so I make a major(ish) change to the blog, whether it’s how frequently I write reviews or some fiddling with the layout. I like changing stuff! It keeps blogging fun and fresh for me, and so whenever I feel the need to make a change, I usually go for it.

Two weeks ago I felt the need to make a major change to how I blog. When I first started out blogging, I did a lot of memes and weekly features and that was fine– back then. Nowadays? I’m less enamored with the memes, and I want any weekly features I do to be ones that I’ve invented, like my Commonplace Post feature. At the same time, I’m tired of some of my older memes/features, like poor Thursday Tea, which has almost always been a thorn in my side.

So, two weeks ago, I decided to get rid of the stuff I didn’t like and try some new stuff instead. You may have noticed some of the changes already: I haven’t posted any Sunday Salons or Thursday Teas in a while, for instance. I also started Mount TBR, which is a new monthly thing I’m doing. Right now I’m working on thinking up new features and catching up on writing reviews, but I’m optimistic about what my blogging is going to be like in a few months.

I’m actually going to try and do the opposite of what I did about a year ago: I’m not going to have set schedules of what to post each day, and I’m going to try and think in blocks of days or months instead of weeks. Sometimes when you have a set schedule for what to post each week, you start to feel trapped and like there’s no room for stuff besides what you’ve scheduled out. I want to blog more spontaneously, and I want to have room to post things that aren’t reviews or features. Schedules worked for me in the past, but right now they just make me feel trapped, and so I’m aiming to fix that with all these Changes.

What you can expect to see around here pretty soon: more reviews! New features, which I hope are interesting. More discussion posts. The resurrection of Birdwatching and Tips for newbie bloggers. And probably some other stuff I haven’t thought of yet. Basically: many exciting things!

I hope I haven’t scared y’all too badly, and I hope that you’ll stick around to see what new stuff I come up with. Yay new things!

Changes! is a post from: Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. If you are reading this on any other blog than Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog or via my RSS Feed, it is stolen content without credit.