Books

Dear Authors and Book Bloggers

I’m going to re-post this. I recently received a series of emails from yet another ARC amalgamation site/processor who are charging authors to share their reviews. The emails are unprofessional (purple font and just poorly written) and the website is atrocious. I would not pay to have my book on their site. I will say they are honest in what they are trying to do, so not all of this applies, but seriously people come on.

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Dear Authors and Book Bloggers

I had no plans to blog today, but after an email I received sometime in the last 48 hours I wanted to get on my soapbox and write a little PSA. I’ll get back to semi-regular blogging with Stephen King’s The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) on Monday.

I am not going to name and shame (Vlogger hotel scandal article Daily Mail link), but if you received the email you’ll know what I’m talking about. Please do not name and shame as that’s just more promotion for them. That is not the goal, this is just free advice for authors and bloggers so take it or leave it. I apologize for the length, click here for the TL;DR.

Dear Authors and Fellow Book Bloggers,

Authors, you want your books read, right? Bloggers we want our sites read, right? It’s natural—it’s why we do what we do.

Authors, you desperately want to write the next best-selling sensation and bloggers we all want to be the one to say: “I discovered that before it was big.” And we all want our names to be recognized, I get it. We’re all content creators, we’re all content consumers, we’re marketers through our books or our blogs, we’re all hustling to make an impact in the larger world. Why else would we be doing this so publicly?

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Books

Book 414: Bel Ami – Guy de Maupassant

de Maupassant, Guy - Bel AmiAfter a two month hiatus I am back with the 45th book from my Classics Club list. That’s 45% of my list done and I’m only 32 books behind schedule 😉

Going into Bel Ami I thought I knew what the book was about, but I wasn’t aware it had a subtitle, The History of a Scoundrel, which would’ve told me I was in no way correct!

If I’m honest I chose Bel Ami because it was short and accessible on my phone. (Thank you Kindle iPhone app, this isn’t the first time you’ve saved me from boredom.) I forgot the next book I wanted to read and an hour is a long time for lunch so I started this and read it pretty quickly. You’d think I would use lunch and my commute to catch up on my 10+ hours of back logged podcasts to listen to, but no why would I do that when there are more books to read!?

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Books

Book 405: Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners – Josephine Ross

Ross, Josephine - Jane Austen's Guide to Good MannersIn honor of Jane Austen’s 240th birthday this past Wednesday I went to my shelf full of Jane Austen inspired works. There are many to chose from, but I wanted something short and light and I ended up with this lovely book.

I picked it up a kindle copy back in September 2013, don’t tell past me because I raved about how I was REALLY good and didn’t buy any books. It must’ve been one of the daily deals.

It was a very quick read, I read it all yesterday in two sittings, and it was quite informative. It explained pretty much any question you could have about manners and etiquette during Jane Austen’s time. (Seriously, see the chapter titles below.) Ross takes the advice from the novels Austen wrote and letters she wrote to her sister, Cassandra Austen, and her niece Anna Austen (janeausten.co.uk links), observing manners and habits of the time.

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ARC, Books

Book 389: Emma (Manga Classics) – Stacy King, Crystal Chan and Po Tse

King, Stacy and Po Tse - Emma (Manga Classics)Having just finished reading the Marvel Illustrated version of Emma, I figured why not try the Manga Classics version! I received a copy from Udon Entertainment in return for my honest opinion with no compensation. And let me tell you, I am very glad I requested it!

The closest thing I’ve ever come to reading manga is watching Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z in high school and I never thought I would actually read one. I’m glad however, that I happened to listen to this Good Job, Brain! podcast the week before I read this! I felt so knowledgeable going in. This won’t be a side-by-side comparison of the two graphic adaptations of Jane Austen’s Emma, but I’m sure I will refer to the major differences between the two. But first, let’s start with how to read manga.

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