Kittling Books has a weekly feature in which she reveals photos of where specific blogs are created.
I’m being featured on Scene of the Blog today, so if you are interested in what my blogging space looks like – head over there!
Sorry if you received this in your feed yesterday – I accidentally scheduled my post in the past instead of the future!
Top 10 gaffes on Facebook, Twitter and Google
Don’t judge a book by its cover, particularly in France.
I was amazed to discover that these books were orginally self published.
These social media statistics are fascinating – it is amazing how fast social media is growing!
This week I passed a couple of milestones:
I managed to get my 1000th follower on Twitter.Thank you to everyone who has followed me @farmlanebooks. I love discussing books over there and look forward to many more bookish chats in the future.
I also recieved my 1000th positive feedback on Amazon. My book-selling business is dwindling now that my boys are too big to go book scouting with me, but it is nice to know that my customer service is continuing to be of a high standard and hopefully I will be able to grow my sales again once my oldest son starts school in September.
I was amazed by the 2010 Optical Illusion of the Year competition. The winner is in the video below, but I highly recommend looking at the others – especially the one with the waves of moving dots.
Sorry for my unannounced disappearance and the guest post from my husband. I expected to be able to continue blogging as normal, but we didn’t even have mobile phone reception, let alone WI-FI or 3G coverage in our holiday home.
Anglesey is a beautiful island off the north coast of Wales. I had a good week there with my extended family, but it was exhausting so I’m pleased to be back home with my husband. Here are a few photos to show what I got up to.
I didn’t manage to get much reading done as I was too tired to concentrate on anything too complex, but I did manage to finish Acts of Violence and 
Yesterday I had a lovely evening with many UK bloggers. It was good to meet the people behind the blogs and to be able to talk about books all night. My wish-list is even longer now – that passion for books is even more powerful face-to-face! Thank you to Simon for organising it – I hope we can do it again some time.
For the rest of the day I plan to relax and enjoy the last few pages of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet
Book of the Month
The Kindly Ones – Jonathan Littell 
I Do Not Come To You By Chance – Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani 
Hurting Distance – Sophie Hannah 
The Rehearsal – Eleanor Catton
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley
Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter 
Angelology – Danielle Trussoni
The Temple-goers – Aatish Taseer
Seeing – Jose Saramago 
(DNF)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet – David Mitchell
Good to a Fault – Marina Endicott
The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
I Know This Much is True – Wally Lamb
A Life Apart – Neel Murkherjee
Our Tragic Universe – Scarlett Thomas
The Hiding Place – Trezza Azzopardi
The Surrendered – Chang-Rae Lee
Marcelo in the Real World – Francisco Stork
The Birth of Love – Joanna Kavenna
Beside the Sea – Veronique – Olmi
The White Bone – Barbara Gowdy
I tried really hard to read most of the Orange short list before it was announced, reading 9/20 of the long list. I concentrated on those others had said were good, but unfortunately my efforts failed to pay off and the short list was a big surprise. Even simple chance was against me and with the exception of my failed attempt at Wolf Hall I hadn’t read any of the short list.
I had wanted to read the entire short list before the winner was announced on 6th June, but my failure to predict the 6 finalists has left me a bit disheartened. I had hoped to only have one or two Oranges left to read in May, but having 5 is a bit much. I will read them all at some point, but am not sure I want to read all five in May.
Black Water Rising – Attica Locke
The Lacuna – Barbara Kingsolver
A Gate at the Stairs – Lorrie Moore
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle – Monique Roffey
The Very Thought of You – Rosie Alison
Which books from my list should I ensure I read?
Do you plan to read any of the same ones?
I hope you have a fantastic May!
I recently noticed that three of my favourite films are German.
If I was able to force people to watch one film then it would be The Lives Of Others
Goodbye Lenin!
Do you know any other great German films?
I tried to think of my favourite German books, but was shocked to discover that I couldn’t actually remember reading anything translated from the German. I have read lots of books set in Germany (ie WWII books) but none actually written by a German. I seem to share the German’s sense of humor, so would particularly like to read something that combines serious issues with lighter moments in a similar way to the films above.
Can you recommend any books which have been translated from the German?
If so, there are still a few weeks left for you to fill in my short survey. Thank you to everyone who has already answered my questions – I hope to compile the results soon.
David Mitchell explains why he likes anonymity and talks about his new novel.
The secret of savage book reviews on Amazon – the wife did it!
Penguin books make a costly typo.
Will a blog ever win the Pulitzer prize for journalism?
Do you know who the wealthiest fictional characters are?
Are book covers an endangered art?
46% of Amazon Marketplace sellers are considering quitting
This has nothing to do with books, but I was amazed by this new train design from China. This bullet train will never stop, saving lots of time on each journey. My two little boys watched this over and over again, so if you don’t enjoy it you can always use it to entertain some small children!
