Category: Other

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Google Wonder Wheel

Have you seen google wonder wheel?

It is an interesting new way to search through topics on the Internet and discover the terms people are searching for.

To find google wonder wheel go to www.google.com, type in the topic you’d like to search for and then click on Show Options once the search results have appeared.

In the left hand column you will find the Wonder Wheel option.

Here is the wonder wheel I obtained when I searched for ‘popular books’.

popular books

It is great to see Audrey Niffenegger appearing, although the recent release of  The Time Traveller’s Wife at the cinema and the approaching release of Her Fearful Symmetry mean that this isn’t very surprising.

It is then possible to spider web down the categories. So here is the web created when I clicked on classic books:classic books

This is a great way to brain storm new blog post ideas, discover new web sites and waste hours of your time!

Have you seen this feature before?

Do you think you will make use of it?

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RIP IV Challenge

RIPIV

After finding The Victorian Chase-Longue funny, rather than scary, I am in the mood to find a book that will really frighten me. I saw that Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting the RIP Challenge and so jumped at the opportunity to commit to reading a few.

The idea is to read as many books from the following categories as you can between now and Halloween.

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

I am going to read these books:

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
The Time Traveller’s Wife is one of my favourite books, so I have been looking forward to the release of this book all year.

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro
Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog couldn’t decide whether The Strain was better than Catching Fire (Hunger Games Trilogy) or Little Bee / The Other Hand. The dilemma was too intriguing for me to resist. I am really looking forward to finding out which is the best!

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
I found this book in a charity shop recently: Three Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto, Vathek, Frankenstein. The Castle of Otrano is said to be the most Gothic of the three. It was first published in 1765. I am really looking forward to finding out what one of the first Gothic novels is like.

I may read another one or two, if I find anything interesting that fits in, but I hope to read the three above very soon.

Have you read any of these ?

Are you planning to join the RIP Challenge?

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Other

Persephone reading week begins!

 Claire from Paperback Reader and Verity from The B Files are hosting
Persephone Reading Week.

They are encouraging people to read as many of these special grey books as possible in the next seven days. They have come up with some great quizzes and have several Persephone books to give away.

Please head over to their blogs and help them to celebrate the books from this special publisher.

I have to admit that I have never read any Peresphone books before. This event has encouraged me to take a few off the shelves and give them a try. The timing isn’t great as I am still trying to get through all the Bookers before the short list is announced, but I will do my best to squeeze a few in.

Tonight I am going to read The Victoria Chaise – Longue by Marghanita Laski. It sounds scary!

I’m really looking forward to reading it and will hopefully be able to tell you all about it tomorrow.

 

Are you a fan of Persephone books?

Which is your favourite?

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Other Weekly Geeks

Weekly Geeks: Why Haven’t I Read This Yet?

My TBR pile is currently standing at around 500 books, so there are a lot which I would love to read. There are a few which stand out as being long overdue though.

Here are the ones I am most looking forward to reading:



The Wind – Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami

I love Murakami, but for some strange reason I haven’t read his most famous book yet. I plan to read it in the next few months (but I have been saying that for about a year now!)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson

I have had a copy sitting on my shelves for about 6 months now – I really want to read it – especially when I see everyone has now moved on to the rest of the trilogy.

Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

I have no idea how this book avoided my radar for so long. It only entered my TBR pile a few months ago, but the main question should be why it failed to get there sooner.

Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
I don’t think I’ll love this book, but I hate being the only one who hasn’t read it. I’ve somehow ended up owning three copies – I should really make the time to read it soon!



The Virgin Suicides – Jeffery Eugenides
This book has been on my shelves for years. I loved Middlesex, so I really should have got round to this ages ago. I think I’ll save it until 2010 though – it is always good to have a favourite waiting to be read – I’d hate to have nothing to look forward to!

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Have you read all these books?
Which was your favourite?


Have a look what the other weekly geeks haven’t got round to reading yet.

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Other

Links I’ve stumbled across this week

Bookish Links

 
Neil Gaiman wins the Hugo Award for The Graveyard Book.

The Guardian has revealed the VERY long list for the Not the Booker Prize.

I found this article about the secrets of the Amazon best-seller list very interesting.

This list of the 50 Best sites for audio books addicts was very useful.

Book discoveries

Another Cookie Crumbles persuaded me to add The Magic Toyshop to my wish list.

I’m always on the look out for good audio books to listen to, so Beth Fish Reads review of Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan added it to the TBR list straight away!

Award

Sandy kindly awarded me the Kreativ Blogger award.

Thank you Sandy!

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If you haven’t visited Sandy’s blog yet then you really should. We have a similar taste in books, so if you enjoy reading my blog you will love hers.

Sandy is also one of the best commenters in the blogosphere. She is almost always the first person to comment on my posts and I am really hoping she wins the best commenter award (along with a few of the other categories!) at this year’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week.

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The winner is…..

The winner of Kill-Grief by Caroline Rance is…..

Melissa from  Shhh I’m Reading…

Congratulations Melissa! Caroline will contact you soon to arrange for a copy to be sent to you. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.