Category: Everything Else

Categories
Blogging Other

Nationality of visitors to your blog

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.

 visit

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!

Categories
Blogging Other

Contact with authors

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.

The final encounter was very different. I noticed that Emma Darwin’s blog had linked to me, so went to investigate. I discovered that she had seen my not-so-positive review of her book, A Secret Alchemy, and written a post about the difficulties of voicing historical fiction characters. I was very impressed by her response and wish that all authors displayed the humility that she did. It is a timely reminder that authors may well read your reviews, good or bad, so it is important that you write all reviews with this in mind.

Have you had any encounters with authors?

Which author has impressed you the most in their interactions with bloggers?

Categories
Other

July Reading Summary and Plans for August

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

The Other Hand – Chris Cleave  stars51

Flu – Gina Kolata stars4h

Blackmoor – Edward Hogan  stars41

Kill-Grief – Caroline Rance stars41

Lanterns on Their Horns – Radhika Jha stars41

Fathers and Sons – Richard Madeley stars41

The House at Riverton – Kate Morton stars3h

Six Suspects – Vikas Swarup stars3h

Sugar Cage – Connie May Fowler stars3h

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx – Sally Koslow stars3h

Tragedy At Law – Cyril Hare stars3h

The Lost Book of Salem – Katherine Howe stars3h

Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh stars3

Reading in the Dark – Seamus Deane stars3

Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel stars1 (DNF)

Audio Book 

Rhett Butler’s People – Donald McCaig  stars3

I also wrote this review for a favourite from my pre-blogging days:

The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean Auel stars51

Plans for August

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?

Categories
Blogging Other

What shape is your rating system?

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:

rating

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?

rating2

or a less severe version of mine?

 rating3

 

….or a different shape entirely?!

I’d love to hear what you think about this!

Categories
Other

The Japanese Literature Challenge 3!

mail

I have been looking forward to the start of Dolce Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge for a while. I have loved every Japanese book that I have read and this challenge is a great way to discover new books, which are otherwise quite hard to find reviews for.

I have saved up a few Japanese books ready for the start of this challenge, so in the next 6 months I plan to read as many of these as possible:

.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

I love Murakami, but have somehow managed to miss his most popular book.


 

The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak

Nymeth’s review was so powerful, that I ordered a copy straight away.  I’ll probably read this one first.

The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby

I’m currently reading The Tale of Genji, so plan to read this biography of it’s author before finishing this marathon read.

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

I have been reading this classic for a few weeks now. I hope to finish it at some point during this challenge.

Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace

I love the sound of this book, but don’t know whether the repetitive noises in this book will wind me up too much!

There are a few other Japanese books that I really want to read including The Housekeeper and the Professor and Grotesque, but as I don’t own copies of these they’ll have to wait!

Do you love Japanese literature?

Are you planning to take part in this challenge?

What is your favourite Japanese book?

 

Categories
Other

Win a copy of Kill-Grief by Caroline Rance

A few days ago I reviewed the brilliant, but disgustingly realistic Kill-Grief by Caroline Rance. I am now pleased to announce that I have a copy to give away, so you can experience the gore and smells for yourself!

To enter, just leave a comment below before midnight GMT on 12th August.

The competition is open to EVERYONE, no matter where in the world you live.

I have never read a book which captures the squalor of 18th century England so realistically, so I asked Caroline a few questions about her research in the comments section of the review. Some of you may have missed them, so I’ve copied them here:

Do you enjoy reading about the medical procedures of this time period?

I loved doing the research. The starting point was the actual records of Chester Infirmary in the 1750s – these showed how the hospital was run, and I used some of the names of real-life staff. For the more gruesome aspects, I read 18th-century surgical textbooks and visited medical history museums to see things like the instruments used. I find all that stuff really interesting.

How did you manage to capture the smells so realistically?

I think I must have an unusually strong sense of smell, as that’s often what I notice first about a place. I find modern life quite smelly too, so it was fairly easy to imagine the smells in all the new situations Mary finds herself in.

Did you visit any sick people to observe their pus? LOL!!!

I have seen a fair bit of blood and pus while looking after horses for the past 20 years, so had some first-hand experience of that!

Thank you Caroline! I am impressed by your sense of smell, and look forward to reading your next book about a Victorian freak show.