Good morning, readers. Hope everyone had a great Halloween! I'm posting again on this weekly bookish meme hosted by Sheila at Bookjourney.
Last week I posted reviews of these books:
The Book of Strange New Things is Michel Faber's new novel, just released last week. It's a really interesting, genre-bending mashup of literary and science fiction. You can see my review here. And Stone Mattress: Nine Tales is Margaret Atwood's new collection of short stories, published earlier this fall. Check out my review here.
Also last week, I posted my October 2014 Reading Wrap-Up. And I also posted some discussion questions on the novel Ghost Horse by Thomas H. McNeely, which I recently reviewed on this blog; you can read those discussion questions here.
Currently, I am reading this book . . .
I'm enjoying David Nicholls' new novel Us, the story of a man trying to keep his family together as they embark on a Grand Tour of Europe the summer after his son graduates from high school. It's very interesting, and somewhat different from what I expected . . . the jury's still out, but I'm glad I selected this as my next read.
Over the weekend, I started playing around with Edelweiss. I've been a bit intimidated by this site, but I knew that it was time for me to start using it, so I finally bit the bullet and registered. I've been learning how to browse the catalogues, tag books I'm interested in, and request review copies. I got help, thank goodness, from tutorials posted by Shannon at River City Reading and Monika at A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall. I'm still learning the ropes, but I can see what a great resource Edelweiss can be for learning about upcoming titles. So, I'm just curious--are you registered on Edelweiss, and if so, do you find it helpful? Do you use it for information or requesting digital ARCs, or both?
Well, here is something kinda funny . . . I realized that I have passed a couple of milestones as a blogger: my 100th post and 6 months of blogging. I was so busy reading and blogging that I didn't really notice those milestones go by; I think I was supposed to celebrate them! Well, um . . . Hooray! I am still learning as I go, and I know that I have so much I can still improve upon . . . but it's been a lot of fun, and I'll keep plugging away. I love the community of fellow book lovers I've discovered, and I'm becoming aware of so many wonderful books through blogging (more, now, than I can possibly read!). I really appreciate all the support I've received from others in the blogging community. As always, thanks so much for reading this blog and for your comments!
What's on your reading agenda for this week?
It seems like Us is getting a lot of buzz lately, but I haven't added it to my wish list... yet. I have not signed up for Edelweiss and try to limit the time spent on Netgalley, too. I really enjoy reading an author's backlist and classics and have found it's too easy for me to get wrapped up in new releases. Congratulations on your 100th post!
ReplyDeleteOH, I totally get wrapped up in new releases--it's like an addiction for me! So of course, I have been a nut about NetGalley, and I'm starting to feel a little obsessed with Edelweiss. But Edelweiss is not as user-friendly--I'm working on it!!
DeleteBut sometimes it's good to take a deep breath, slow down, and focus on some backlist titles . . . I hope to do that in December!
Congratulations on your 100th post and I can't believe you've only been blogging for 6 months - wow! It seems longer than that! Us is the next fiction on my TBR list (after nonfiction november) and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts...I'm intrigued that it's not what you expected.
ReplyDeleteEdelwiess - I registered a few months ago and have requested exactly 1 book through it! It's so HARD to navigate. I can't figure out how to leave my feedback and the "request download" button has stopped appearing next to every book I find in the Review Copies catalog. I've sort of given up. Shannon's tutorial was really helpful, but doesn't help with why my "request download" button has disappeared!
Oh, man . . . why is Edelweiss so hard to navigate!? It so complicated compared to NetGalley . . . and yet I really, really want to figure it out because it has more information, and review copies of more of the books I want to read.
DeleteHmm, ok, I don't know why the request download button isn't there for you . . . It does come up for me. I have had trouble leaving feedback, too--I can write a review for a book, but my reviews don't come up in the "Reviews" section (I can see them when I click on the actual book title, but they are supposed to all be there under Reviews!). Sigh!!!!
Congratulations on your blogging milestones! I really like your blog and the books you feature. I've got Us and The Book of Strange New Things in my reading queue and hope to get to them soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm registered on Edelweiss and Net Galley, but don't get to them very often because of all the physical ARCs I get from publishers. They are great resources.
http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2014/11/weekly-book-recap-87.html
I don't get a lot of physical ARCs from publishers yet, although I'd like to. I'm happy enough with digital review copies for now because I do like reading my on e-reader. It seems like I can get most of what I'd like to read from Edelweiss, once I get more practiced on using the system--and of course, if I have success at requesting them. NetGalley has been great, but sometimes the new titles I most want to read are not available there.
DeleteThanks for stopping by this morning!
Good week for you. I have decided to look for The Book of Strange New Things after reading your review and one on another blog. Congrats on your milestones! I enjoy reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rita! The Faber book is interesting and different . . . I sincerely hope it is not, in fact, his last novel. I'm very anxious to read The Crimson Petal and the White now. I need a month where I only focus on backlist titles!
DeleteCongrats on the milestones. :) Here's my It's Monday! What are you Reading? post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by!
DeleteCongrats on those two big milestones! That's so great.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kim! My belated and not very celebratory celebration . . . :). I was probably supposed to do a giveaway or something, right? I don't know the etiquette!!
DeleteI have the Atwood and the Faber on my radar,so I'll go check out your reviews now ...:-)
ReplyDeleteBoth were good reads for me! I truly enjoyed reading Atwood again, even though I am not usually a huge fan of short stories.
DeleteI don't use Edelweiss a lot, it's too easy to go overboard :) Congrats on your milestones!
ReplyDeleteRead On,
Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out
Ah, yes, I can see how Edelweiss could make you go overboard. There are just SO MANY BOOKS!!
Delete