Random Friday
I received an email from someone offering his book for review, unsolicited. I'm not a book reviewer, I'm a writer, and if I find something I like, I'll review and contact the author for an interview. And my TBR/discovery list is long enough without unsolicited submissions. I even wrote on Goodreads that I DON'T want recommendations, and luckily they stopped coming from there. I try to read as much as I can, but my priority is still writing, so don't ask me to check your book, thank you.
I've seen Goodreads Authors delete all their shelves or decide NOT to review other indie authors as it might backfire, and I understand their backing out. I won't do it, because I still want to spread some love for books I enjoy – but I'm not a book reviewer and this is not a book review blog. It's read mostly by writers, and you don't want to pitch your book to other writers. I doubt anyone has bought a book because I recommended it (but please feel free to tell me if I'm wrong).
At the moment I'm reading an old book my mum wanted to throw away, something I probably asked for when I was 10 because it's about a ballet dancer. "Irène à l'Opéra" by Lorna Hill is even illustrated, but I remember nothing of it – I probably read it only once. Of course reading it at 46 means I'm not taken by surprise by anything (I've become a cynical reader, haha!), but I get nostalgic at the setting: telegrams, anyone? And when phone calls were hard to do especially out of your hometown? I might not have been alive when you needed an operator to get through, but in the 1980s in Italy it was still very expensive to call outside of town (I still remember the ad for the "teleselezione") and my parents balked every time a long-distance phone call lasted more than two minutes.
Can you believe a YA book can be so dated by such tiny things that are no longer in use in the 21st century? And that originally it wasn't labeled YA, and was probably in the children's Bibliobus that came to our village every week (there were two, one for adults and one for children)? Oh, I can't believe the Bibliobus still exists, by the way… here's the 21st version of what we had in the mid-1970s! 
Those Swiss… 
Another thing that makes me love my Kindle while I'm reading this and another book from mum's shelves (same collection – Hachette pocket book with hard cover): the smell. My nose hates all strong scents, be them perfume, food or stinky things. The strong smell of dusty paper of these 40+ pocket hardcovers forces me to keep them away from my face to avoid sneezing or coughing my way through them. I never really liked the smell of paper books, especially old ones. I hated the smell of some glossy magazines as well. So I really welcome the odorless Kindle for my future readings. I look forward to get through those 20+ dead-tree-books I have left, and from now on I'll look for the electronic version, if available at a decent price!
AND I will still do the print version of mine, so this weekend I'll hop to Lulu for S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. 10 & Omnibus 2. I'm also studying how to format it for Kindle and Nook/iPad, but I still think comics and graphic novels are better read on paper. And then with whatever is left on my prepaid card I'll go to Amazon for a DVD shopping spree, whoot!
Hiroyuki Sanada tribute "then and now" on S.K.Y.B.A.N.D.10
I have my Bollywood list, of course, but I also want to watch more of ) and now I want to have a closer look at his evolution. I'll probably skip The Last Samurai (can't stand Tom Cruise), but I enjoyed The Twilight Samurai (and mostly his interview in the DVD extras) and I still have to watch Sunshine on a decent screen (I saw it in flight…) And of course I look forward to 47 ronin! 
Off to reading and writing again… I think I'm falling behind with blog reading, but I'll get there, eventually. Especially next week when I go back to Day Job!
