Tomorrow morning I’m travelling up to Edinburgh for the festival. I’ve got a few comedy nights booked and will hopefully manage to catch a few book events too.
I’m taking a laptop, so hopefully will be able to keep blogging as usual, but just in case the Wi-Fi doesn’t work I thought I’d let you know where I’ve gone!
Have you ever been to the Edinburgh festival?
Do you like seeing live comedy?
Who would you rather see – your favourite author or your favourite comedian?
If you weren’t on Twitter yesterday you may have missed the debate which is currently occurring on my Wolf Hall post. I have been accused of not:
…being honest (or rather fair) about the book at all.
My critic goes on to say that:
…to go and write a review about a work after getting only a fifth of the way through is not only ridiculous, but degrading to the responsibility of the critic.
Several other people were subjected to more abusive comments on their negative reviews yesterday – all by different people. I’m not sure what was happening yesterday, but there was a lot of bad feeling flying around.
I stand by my decision to write negative reviews for books. The quotes I pulled from the book may not be representative of the text overall, but do explain exactly why I did not enjoy reading it.
I should perhaps make it clearer that my ratings are no indication of the quality of the book, but are purely based on how much I enjoyed reading it. There are lots of people who love reading Wolf Hall, and they in turn probably don’t enjoy reading the same books as me. There are millions of books out there, so it is great that we all enjoy reading different ones.
The blogging community has emerged so that like minded people can join together and discuss the books we’ve read. I think it is a shame that more people don’t write negative reviews, as I find it much easier to determine whether my taste in books matches someone elses if the complete range of books they’ve read is on display. As long as the review is not abusive or an attack on the author, then it can only help people to discover books they enjoy, therefore encourage more reading. I know that since I have found people whose recommendations I trust, the quality and therefore quantity of books I’ve read had increased massively.
I really hope that the abusive comments that were flying around yesterday do not prevent people from giving honest opinions on the books they’ve read.
How do you feel about negative reviews?
Do you think there is anything important to mention when writing negative reviews?
Were you put off writing negative reviews after reading the abusive comments others received yesterday?
Over the past few months I have noticed that the percentage of UK visitors to my blog has increased to 45%, from about 20-30% when I first started blogging. While I love and appreciate every single visitor to my blog I want to encourage people from around the world to read and comment.
The proportion of people from outside the UK and America is tiny.
| 1. | United Kingdom | 44.84% |
| 2. | United States | 34.72% |
| 3. | Canada | 4.90% |
| 4. | Australia | 4.80% |
| 5. | Ireland | 1.46% |
| 6. | Singapore | 1.04% |
| 7. | New Zealand | 0.94% |
| 8. | Belgium | 0.63% |
| 9. | India | 0.63% |
| 10. | Italy | 0.52% |
I’d love to encourage more overseas visitors to my site, but think that having a co.uk web address is contributing to this bias. Does having a .com address just mean you get more American traffic?
Have you written any posts which have generated interest from other countries?
Do the majority of visitors to your blog come from your home country?
Would you like to encourage people from other places to visit?
Have you had any success in cultivating overseas visitors?
All ideas gratefully received!
In the last week I have had contact with three authors. This is something I never expected when I started blogging, and has really added to the experience.
The first was when Caroline Rance commented on my review of her debut novel, Kill-Grief. This was the first time an author has ever commented on my review of their book. Caroline then went on to answer my questions about her research technique and then to blog about me!
It was so nice to meet an author who was so willing to answer my questions and join in the blogging experience.
Remember: There is still time to enter my competition to win a copy of Kill-Grief.
The next time I encountered an author was when Sam Taylor commented on my Who is going to be on the Man Booker Longlist 2009? post. I had predicted that his book, The Island at the End of the World, would make the Booker long list this year. Unfortunately it didn’t make it onto the list, but he appreciated my prediction and offered to send me a signed copy of his book. I’m really looking forward to reading it and am so happy to have had contact with him.
Have you had any encounters with authors?
Which author has impressed you the most in their interactions with bloggers?
The amount of time I spend reading seems to be increasing – I managed to read and review 15 books and 1 audio book in July. I have also completed another 5 books and have their reviews waiting to be published in the next few days. I put this down to having a few spare weekends in July to read, so getting through a few extra books during this time.
I like having a few reviews/other posts under my belt, as it means I don’t have to worry about ensuring I have time to write a blog post each day. This isn’t something I’ve really done in the past, but planning posts several days in advance is something I recommend.
Do you write write your posts in advance? How many days ahead are you?
Favourites of the month
Books reviewed during July
Flu – Gina Kolata 
Blackmoor – Edward Hogan 
Lanterns on Their Horns – Radhika Jha
Fathers and Sons – Richard Madeley
The House at Riverton – Kate Morton 
Sugar Cage – Connie May Fowler
The Late, Lamented Molly Marx – Sally Koslow
The Lost Book of Salem – Katherine Howe
Reading in the Dark – Seamus Deane 
Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel 
(DNF)
Audio Book
Rhett Butler’s People – Donald McCaig
I also wrote this review for a favourite from my pre-blogging days:
The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean Auel
I’m going to focus on the Booker long list in August, maybe adding a few Japanese books for variation.
I’ll try to add a few other books as well, just so you don’t get sick of reading about Booker books!
Did you find any great books in July?
Are you planning to read any thing from the Booker long list in August?
I have been think a lot about rating systems recently, and wondered how other people’s rating system work. The scientist in me likes to use diagrams to demonstrate this – so please bare with me as I try to explain!
My rating system is shaped a bit like this:
I would rate almost all the books in the world as one star (blue). They have no interest to me, and with any luck I won’t even start to read one of these books. Occasionally I am unlucky enough to read one, but most of those books on car engines, knitting, the benefits of plastic etc. will remain on the shelves, unread by me.
The majority of the books on my blog will be 3 or 3.5 stars (orange). These are average books. Reasonable reads, but nothing outstanding about them. If I had my time again, I probably wouldn’t read them – I like to try to find the rarer 4 star (yellow) or almost impossible to find 5 star (red) books.
I think of 5 star books as being masterpieces. They are the ones which grip you from beginning to end, alter your thinking on an issue and stay with you forever. I don’t find many of these books and they account for only a very tiny percentage of all the books ever published.
What does your rating system look like?
Are you ratings evenly spread like this?
or a less severe version of mine?
….or a different shape entirely?!
I’d love to hear what you think about this!
