Happily Ever After Please!

I was looking at reviews on Goodreads the other day for a book I recently read. I was really just skimming them to see what the average star ratings were, when something jumped out at me. One reviewer mentioned that they enjoyed the book, but the ending was wrapped up too neatly and was a little too happy.

That got me thinking. An ending can be too neat and happy? Granted, I realize real life isn’t that way, but from my fiction, I think I prefer happy endings. Most of my favorite books have happy endings, or at least a hint that someday it could be happy. I like having the girl end up with the right boy, the orphan finding a new family, the quest coming to a successful end. I like all the questions to be answered, all the foreshadowing to be revealed, and to get a good idea about where the characters are headed next. I don’t always need a sequel, but at least give me an idea of what will happen next.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why I like retold fairy tales so much. Even the retold ones usually have some sort of happy ending; we expect it from the genre. And on the other side, I’m not a fan of many contemporary books. Real life is hard enough for me to live, I don’t enjoy reading about all the pain and anguish everyone else is going through. Some people like those kind of books because they can relate to the experiences the characters are going through. Me, I’m more of an “escape from reality” reader.
So yeah, sometimes a happy ending isn’t realistic. But I’ll take neat and happy over heartbroken or cliffhanger any day.

All I Want for My Birthday...

... is my two front teeth.  Sorry, couldn't resist.  :)

No, actually I want a Kindle.  Or any ereader really.  But I think I like the Kindle the most.  I went to Borders for the first time in a few months a couple days ago, and they had a nice shiny display of all their different ereaders.  No Kindle, but I was able ot play around with some of the ones they had.  And I got to play with a friend's Kindle last week too when we were at a party. 

I'll never give up paper books completely, but I recntly joined Netgalley and I have a hard time concentrating on the screen for so long.  I already work at the computer all day, so I think my eyes just want a break by the time I get around to my daily reading. 

Unfortunately, money's super tight right now, so an ereader that's normally around $140 is so not even close to being in the budget.  So although I would really like one, I don't expect one to show up on my birthday in a week. 

Oh well.  Someday maybe.  A girl can dream, right?

Too Old For Picture Books?

So I have a book confession to make.  As I acquire more and more books on my bookshelf I find myself also collecting more and more picture books.  Nicer copies of books I loved as a kid, books I've been asked to review and loved, random books I come across while shopping at thrift stores, etc. 

So at which point do you become too old for picture books?  I keep telling myself that I'm saving them for when I have kids of my own.  Although right now at (almost) 24 kids are a while off still I think.  Planning for the future?  Maybe.  But as my collection grows I wonder if a have a picture book obsession. 

I'll admit it, I'm an illustration junkie.  I think it's the same reason why I gush about book covers so much. I will acquire/keep a book based purely on illustrations alone.  My mom was the same way when she was buying us books growing up.  If she liked the illustrations, she bought the book, completely ignoring what the book was about.  Although now that i think back to it, my mom and I must have different tastes in art, because although I enjoyed the stories of most of the books she brought back, some of the illustrations were, in my opinion, weird. 

My last semester of college I took a children's lit class.  It wasn't required for credit, but I had taken a young adult course the previous semester and really enjoyed it and I was curious what a class focused on younger readers might have to offer.   There was a novel assigned to each unit, but one class period in each unit was spent exploring picture books our teacher would bring in for us to look at.  Those were by far my favorite days, reading and swapping picture books with other students. 

The next class period we were always assigned to bring in our own books about the unit's topic.  As a senior college student (I had 18 credits that semester) I usually brought a picture book to class since I didn't have a lot of extra time to be reading lots of extra books.  Pawing through the (limited) collection of books my university library had looking for the perfect title for each unit was so much fun.  I literally spent hours in that section of the library, reading and flipping through countless books.  Of course, that earning me a lot of funny looks from the college kids were passing through, but I didn't worry about it really.  I was having too much fun. 

So maybe I'm weird, or maybe not.  But judging by the growing pile of picture books on my bookshelf, I think I need to find a Picture Books for Young Adults Anonymous group. 

The Electronic Book Question

One of my regular readers sent me a link to a very interesting post about the fate of electronic books.

I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with what he says. I'm one of those people who I think will never go completely over to electronic books, no matter how popular they get. I like the feel of a book in my hands, the ability to flip to favorite passages to re-read them, and the look of my books sitting on a bookshelf too much. Plus, there will always be books that don't translate well to ebook format, such as graphic novels or some picture books.

Actually, since I'm kind of an illustration junkie, I don't think I'll ever to the e-picture book thing. It's kind of like my college film teacher told us: Yes, you can watch movies on your tiny iPods and phones now, but really how much can you enjoy the artistry by watching a tiny picture? Big screens are the only way to watch movies. That's pretty much how I feel about some of my favorite picture books. Yes, you can view them on your computer, but is it the same as seeing the full-size illustrations in all their glory? Definitely not.

And yet, I still want a Kindle. And yes, I want a Kindle, not any ereader. I'm picky like that. :) Mostly because I do have some ebooks and I just don't do well with reading them on a computer screen. And I like the idea of loading up on device with lots of book to take on trips, especially with the weight limits airlines have these days.

Still, regular books are the bomb. And in my opinion, nothing's ever going to change that.

The Peril of a Large TBR pile

You ever feel like the books on your bookshelf are talking to you?



Pick me, says that little paperback in the corner. Read me!

I can't, you say. I'm reading something else right now.

But remember when you first got me? it replies. That day I came in the mail and you opened me up and there I was sitting for you, all shiny and waiting. Remember how excited you were to read me?

Yes, I remember, you admit. You reluctantly put down the book you're reading and grab the little paperback, once more reading the description on the back cover. I forgot how excited I was about reading you.

But no, you can't. You quickly put down the paperback back on the shelf.

I'm sorry, you explain to the little book. But I already have a big stack of books that I need to read and review. See there, the pile by the bed? There's at least six books there! And the review deadlines are in two weeks. I can't possible afford to be distracted at the moment.

But it will be all right, the paperback counters. I'm just a little guy. Won't take you more than a day. If that.

Yes, you agree. But one day distractions lead to more distractions and then two weeks are over and I still don't have these other books even started. I really, really can't right now.

Determined in your resolve, you turn away from the paperback and pick up the gigantic 500 page novel you've spent 2 weeks already trying to wade through. It feels almost heavier in your hands as you try to thumb through the pages looking for your bookmark.

Please? you hear the paperback plead behind you. Pretty please?

Against your better judgement you turn around to look at the book a final time... and your fate is sealed. Sighing, you pick the little paperback up once more.

I never could resist the puppy dog look.

Plot vs. Character

I know this is a subject that's been thrown around a lot in the blogging world, but I guess I've decided to throw my two cents in.

More and more lately I've noticed that there seems to be two types of trends in the books I read. This seems particularly true for young adult lit, but I'm sure goes for lots of different types of books as well. And the trend I've noticed is mainly this: when it comes to focusing on a particular aspect, books tend to focus on plot or characters.

Now this isn't to say you can't have a plot book with great characters. That's very possible. But character books (i.e. books that focus on the growth and development of their characters rather than specific events/conflicts) often don't have very strong plots.

Or at least in my opinion, because I've decided I'm a plot-driven reader. When I look back on something I've read and try to remember whether it was a like or a dislike, the thing I think about most is the plot. A book can have great characters, writing, etc. but I always think about the plot first. Likewise I tend to find character centered books very boring because I feel like they can be very episodic and as a result the book feels disjointed to me.

So how does this affect me as a reviewer, as well as a reader? One thing I see thrown around in reviews a lot, especially in the blogosphere, is comments about characters not being real, or relationships between characters not having any depth. Or complaints about the type of writing/dialogue featured in the book. Often these kind of statements lead to lower ratings for a book in that reviewer's opinion. But I find that for me personally if the book has a great plot, I can suspend disbelief in the reality of the characters (and their relationships) or overlook mediocre writing enough to thoroughly enjoy the book anyway. So the book would still get a high rating from me, even if there were flaws in other aspects of the book.

Of course, this doesn't apply across the board. There are some books with excellent plots and horrific characters that I didn't end up liking, just as there have been a few character driven books that I have liked as well. But it's an interesting subject to think about. So which do you prefer, plot or character?

And now that's enough rambling for me...

Some thoughts on the Bloomsbury Mess

First of all, I want to say that if you've been following the situation about the cover of Magic Under Glass, you'll probably be familiar with all of this already. But this is my own (scattered) thoughts on the topic, now that the whole thing is over.

First of all, if you haven't already, I strongly suggest you read this post by MotherReader on the topic. Her argument is pretty much identical to mine on the subject. While I applaud the efforts of the blogging community in getting the cover changed, there are several things that really sadden me about the whole way it was handled this time around (as opposed to Liar's cover) and you'll find out what if you read that post.

On that subject, I did want to point out one quote in particular from her post, which I think is the thing that makes me most unhappy about this whole thing:

"I don’t feel good that book bloggers were tossed in the mix of blame for not noticing or reporting on the cover earlier. That argument assumes that (a) lots of bloggers get early copies, (b) the bloggers actually read that book of all the books they get, (c) in reading that book they notice the cover, and (d) they feel like reviewing the book. Book bloggers — we’re all on the same team here."[Emphasis mine]

I think I'd like to add one more thing to that argument. First of all, while we continue to strive for greater diversity in the blogosphere and publishing industry, remember that there is another kind of diversity in play here. That is diversity of opinion. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion on any subject (including book bloggers), and there are always two sides (at least) to every situation. If everyone thought and acted the same, this world would be very, very boring. So attacking someone because they didn't bring up the cover earlier (assuming they even noticed)? That's not cool.

And here's another idea I have had on the subject. While there's been overwhelming support for the author in all this, she's also gotten a lot of criticism over the whole thing. Again, my opinion in this is pretty much summed up by MotherReader's post. However one prominent blogger (who shall remain anonymous) pointed out that the author is a grown woman and she should be able to handle the pressure. That's true, but I also want to point out that this author had the guts to feature a person of color as her main character in her very first book. Shouldn't that be something we should be celebrating?

And lastly, I'd like to respond to the Bloomsbury side of this, since they really are at fault for this whole thing. I don't know to what extent the marketing department reads the book before creating a cover, but they create what sells. You can have the best book in the whole world, that's been edited by the best editor, with story and characters greater than Harry Potter and Twilight combined, but if you can't convince the marketing department it will sell, it will never get published. And yes, it is sad that this cover got whitewashed because the publisher thought that would sell better, especially with what happened over Liar. But in my opinion, the way to change that is to encourage diversity of reading. When publishers see that that's what people will read (and hence buy) then they'll respond. Because money talks.

Which brings me to my last point, which is the boycott of Bloomsbury that has been suggested by some individuals. Now while I recognize that boycotts work, I don't think that would get the desired effect in this case. Thing about boycotting books is it's going to take a looooooong time to be effective, especially with a newly released book. So many people pre-ordered Magic Under Glass that I'm sure it's earnings didn't see that much of fluctuation.

A much more effective course of action was the letters and emails that many people wrote to Bloomsbury. In fact, considering the amount of time it took to resolve this (much less than Liar if I remember correctly) I personally think those emails had way more effect than a boycott would. The blogosphere is huge, but you have to remember that in a lot of ways we are just part of the book buying market. True, a boycott would have made sales drop off eventually, but who does that hurt more: the publisher or the author? If a book isn't making money publishers will kick both it (out of print) and the author (no longer has anywhere to publish her books) to the curb. That's why I believe the letters were definitely more effective this time around. Personally, I won't be boycotting Bloomsbury at all since they publish some of my favorite authors who I want to support and keep around including Lisa Klein, Shannon Hale, Mary Hoffman, and E.D. Baker. But again, that's just my view.

One more thing about the whole boycotting issue. If you really want to make the money talk, here's a way to do it much faster than simply swearing off all Bloomsbury books buy the UK cover instead of the whitewashed US cover. If you use sites like The Book Depository you can buy the UK cover (even if you're not in the UK) and have it shipped worldwide for free. I know that changing the cover has pretty much made this a moot point, but it's something to keep in mind for future situations of this caliber. If the book is making lots and lots of money for the UK version, but not the US version, don't you think the publisher will notice. Combine that with a polite email to Bloomsbury USA to let them know why you bought the UK version, and I think that's way more effective than a general boycott would be.

And that's pretty much all I'm going to say on the whole matter. In a lot of ways I'm glad it's over because this has been wayyyyyyy more drama than it should have been.

I want to point out that I am not pointing fingers at anyone (blogger or otherwise) by this post. I am simply stating my own opinion as it relates to this topic.

Ramblings: Currently Reading

So I've been missing again for the past couple of days, mostly because I've been using my free time to play around with my new Goodreads account. The "currently reading" feature kind of fascinates me. And it made me think of something.

I'm the kind of person who can read multiple books at a time. I think I picked up this school through my English classes for college, since I would have a lot of different school books I was reading, and then ones I was reading for fun too. But as I'm trying to fill in my library, I notice I have a LOT of books that could be marked "currently reading". Not only do I have about 7 that I'm actively reading, but I have probably that many (or more) that I started to get into and then were placed aside for the time being in favor of something else. I wonder if that counts as "currently reading" too. Obviously I'm reading it, because I'm in the middle and I haven't abandoned it completely, but I'm not actively reading it either.

So what do you all do? Are you the type of reader who reads one (or two) books straight through before picking up a new one? If you read multiple books at a time, how many do you typically read at a time? What's the biggest number you've been reading at once?

Enquiring minds want to know. ;)

Stolen Content: Why Should I Care?

In response to my plea to bloggers about stolen content, the comment came up that someone didn't really care if their work was stolen. I respect that perspective, but I do want to respond to this in a new post, hence today's addition. I've found out a lot of things as I've researched this topic, and I want to share what I've learned/think with everyone else

I also want to take a quick moment and point out that I am specifically talking about posting someone's entire post (or a great part of it) word for word without giving credit or getting permission from the author. Quoting a small bit of a post and then linking back to the owner is not stealing, and it doesn't apply in this situation.

So your blog content has been stolen. Does it really matter? That's a compliment right? That someone likes your work enough to steal it?

Wrong. Most of these sites (usually called "spam blogs" or "splogs" for short) are completely run by automated software. It's not a compliment to your hard work at all. Your blog just happened to be the one picked out of literally millions of other websites to be slurped from. In the event that the site isn't automated, the blog owner happened to find the right combination of keywords to get his/her blog higher in your post, and that's why you were chosen. It's not a compliment, it's just bad luck.

Why would someone be looking for certain keywords?

The name of the game is money. Many of these blogs use things like Google AdSense to make money. By using certain types of keywords, these sites can appear higher in search engine ratings (this is called search engine optimization, or SEO). Higher SEO = more traffic, and more traffic = more money.

So why should I care about that?

Well, maybe it's just me, but how do you feel about someone making money off of something you created instead of you? If that doesn't bother you, then I guess it's kind of a moot point. Personally, if someone's going to be making money off my writing, I want to be the person making that money. Also, the splog in question may be beating your blog in the search engine results, meaning you're getting cheated out of blog traffic you worked to create.

The money doesn't bother me, so it doesn't matter. After all, you take a risk when you post stuff on the Internet.

That is true, you do take a risk when you post stuff to the internet. You may think lightly about someone stealing your content, and that's fine. But that doesn't change the fact that it's just plain WRONG. Would you feel the same way if someone broke into your house and stole your computer/TV/iPod/etc.? So maybe that's comparing apples and oranges a little bit, but it's the idea behind the act that counts.

I once heard a quote (can't remember who from) that said "the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and do nothing". It's the same way for this. If we want it to stop someday then we need to stand up for our rights. And it is a right. The content your write for your blog is automatically protected under copyright laws. You ARE the owner of that content. It's against the law to steal your content. But if we don't stand up for our rights as protected under that law, does it matter if the law was broken? And if no one stands up for a law, then is it effective? A law that no one follows isn't a law anymore.

Let's face it. Most of us would feel awful is something like this happened to our own blog. But there are (and always will be) some who it just doesn't matter to. So if after reading this you still don't care if your content is stolen, that's fine. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, and I respect that. But I feel that I would be standing by and doing nothing if I didn't point out the reasons why I care. I am willing to fight for my rights as a blogger, even if I am alone in thinking that way.

Stolen Content: An Urgent Plea to Bloggers

It saddens me that I have to write a post like this, but unfortunately I feel I must. Today I happened to find a blog that was stealing content from other blogs, two of which I am familiar with. I'm not going to link to the blog because they don't deserve to get a hike in their numbers, but I feel I do need to speak out.

I happened to come across this because of a Google Alert I have set up with my blog name. One of the stolen blogs had written a post mentioning my blog name and so it showed up in the same Google alert as under a different website. It was obvious as soon as clicking over that this blog DID NOT write the post in question (as well as every other post there) and did not give credit to the people who had written the content.

Please, please, please if you ever notice a blog where posts appear to be stolen, contact the owner of the original blog right away. It may turn out they were reposted with permission, but it's better to play it safe than sorry.

Stealing someone's posts is WRONG. It doesn't matter if it's on the internet, that post still belongs to the person who wrote it and is protected under copyright law. The thing that really gets me mad about this blog is one of the feeds they are stealing from has a copyright notice written into each and every post to prevent this from happening. And although they didn't remove it, they did twist it around so it meant something completely different. Quoting someone and linking back to their post is fine (and I think should be encouraged) but do so with the permission of the person who wrote it. We bloggers are a pretty friendly lot (generally speaking), and a quick email just to check will suffice.

Now, if this has happened to any of you reading this, what did you do to respond? I've been looking for things all day, but I have yet to find a good, definitive source on how to take care of this sort of thing. If anyone has any links/suggestions/etc. please leave them in the comments.

We're all in this together. Let's help support our fellow bloggers and keep our eyes open for stolen content.

Okay, plea over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

When is Christmas Over?

So after typing that title I just realized that could be taken the wrong way. So let me explain myself.

I was doing some thinking today and was wondering what the "official" end of Christmas is. In my house, we never rush around taking the Christmas stuff down on December 26th, although I know some people do. In fact, I'm still reading a few Christmas books I didn't have time to get to before the holidays right now. I'm still listening to Christmas music. Our tree is still up and we still turn on the lights. We sang Christmas hymns in church today.

For me, I guess we really end Christmas on New Year's Eve. My family's not really into the whole partying on New Years thing, but we usually take down the tree on December 31st or January 1st. And that's about the time I put away most of my other Christmas things for the year. I guess that I spend so many days thinking about Christmas that the excitement just seems too big to be contained in the single December 25th day.

So how about you? When does your Christmas end?

Say WHAT?: A Random Rant

First of all I want to mention that this post is in reaction to the many blog feeds I am catching up on (I had over 400 posted during my vacation) so this may be a moot point for some of you already.

Kristi over at The Story Siren recently had a bout with "hate mail". You can read the details at her post if you want to read the whole letter. While the whole thing in general is awful (in my opinion) there is a particular section that I wanted to point out:

"Aren't you too old to read teen books. They are aimed at young people. You old bloggers need to give up and let the real teen voices be heard. How can you have the same views as a teen when you are not one."

Say WHAT? Before I spout off myself here, I want to point out this post at Worducopia that pretty much sums up a lot of how I feel about this. So let's move on.

I mean, wow. Reactions like this make me sad. Who are you to decide what books someone else has a right to read? So what if someone wants to read books that are aimed a young people?

Although I generally don't like sharing personal information on here (it is the internet after all) I will say this. I'm 22, which isn't that much younger the Kristi. And I read Young Adult lit. Apparently I'm too old?

So here's my take on the whole thing. I read YA because I enjoy it. I read a lot of children's, middle grade, and adult books too. But I don't have to read any of those just because of my age. I started reading YA when I was in high school, and I still enjoy many of those books. Just because a book has a teen protagonist doesn't mean that only teens can read it. I personally find a lot of adult books too graphic/smutty/dry for my taste. Not to say that there aren't some great adult books out there. There are. I'm just not one who enjoys searching through the adult stacks, especially when I almost always find something in the teen section right away (and I usually enjoy it more).

Now getting back to the review bit. I've always felt that people shouldn't bash others for their reviews because, hello, a review is just someone's opinion. Since I'm an "old blogger" are my reviews of YA books eclipsing real "teen voices"? I don't think so. Look at the reviews on Amazon.com. The very first opinions you will read are professional publications and they are written by, wait for it, adults! Whether or not the book is YA, kids, or whatever. But those aren't the only reviews you will find on the page. Everyone else has thrown in their two cents too.

Can you ever have too many reviews to the point where one review causes someone else to "not be heard"? I personally like to read multiple reviews of a book, because not everyone will like what I like and I won't always like what everyone else likes. No one review is more important that another (although some get more attention). I write my reviews from the perspective of being able to share my thoughts, not to bash other people's reviews. So how can I be squashing authentic "teen voices"? I have no problem with those voices being heard. Go ahead and share! Just do it in a manner that is respectful of other people's opinions.

In many ways I feel the one of the huge disadvantages of the internet is that so many people use it as an excuse to be mean. We as a society as so rude! And it's even worse when people can hide behind the anonymity of a screen name or profile. They think because we don't have face to face contact it gives them an excuse to mean/rude/whatever. This is not okay with me, which is one of the reasons why although I allow anonymous comments, I do moderate any comments that veer into personal attacks. You can disagree with someone's opinions without being nasty about it.

Anyway, that's my position. Looking back this post doesn't make a lot of sense. So disconnected rambling over now, I promise.

Book Slump

*sigh* I seem to be in a book slump.

Let me explain. This week I finished a fantastic book. It was one I had anticipated for a very long time (several years) and it was everything I would hoped it would be. For several days I had to steal every moment I spent with this book, and I went out of my way to find time to read it.

But now I've finished it. And try as I might, I can't seem to get in the mood to read anything else. I have lots (tons, piles, scads) of books I want/need to read. But I'm feeling kinda "meh" about all of them. It's almost as if I can't bring myself to read anything because it can't possibly measure up to the book I just finished. Which is really irrational, but I can't seem to shake it despite that.

Has this ever happened to you?