Maureen’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Maureen’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

Adrian wrote: "God, look at the moderators! It appears to be an Internet rogues gallery.

I think the moderators should have to wear outrageous costumes and fight each other in an arena.

"

well i just made you a moderator so we can be the first in the arena. i want to be spock, and you be kirk! :)

Martyn wrote: "I don't like the layout of Goodreads for groups.

Have a nice day!

"

what don't you like about it? more info would be helpful. :)

Lara wrote: "And I may have to read it again after all this. "

i think that's a fine idea -- might get your reading energy flowing again -- i often find a re-read of a book i have really enjoyed does the trick. :)

michael: i see from the poll that you've been nominated to lead the discussion on this book. when do you think you wanna start? i'm hoping you will say in a week or two, preferably two... let us know, hmmm?

i don't need to change my vote! she said cryptically.

i'm going to be so lonely tomorrow. :P

Jonathan wrote: " . . .i'm jonathan . . . i like rabbits . . . but not as much as i like the people in this group . . . i blog here with a few of my friends, as of today:

http://threeguysonebook.blogspot.com/"

jonathan is also being extremely modest. i will let you know that he is the founder of the original fiction files and the heart and energy behind all this -- i suspect the energizer bunny campaign may have been inspired by this guy. :) he also wrote the book All About Lulu which i recommend to all (and i can do that since i'm not pimping *my* book :)

well well, my lovely audi is here to join us!
hurray and welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slowrabbit wrote: "i have no business really adding suggestions considering i have yet to dive in on any of the group reads. but i am a faithful/passionate lurker. anyway. here are some i've had either lingering ..."

patrick, you are a silly rabbit in addition to being a slow one. :) you are a member of this group, and unless you're saying that if we did read one of these you wouldn't actually say anything, and even then, i think you have the right to make suggestions. i'm just the type that'd want to spank you for that.

Following Discussions with eMail Notifications

goodreads is a little different because you don't need to check the group to see if new posts have arrived, though you can if you want to. instead, in our profile settings, there is a notifications tab. we have the option to receive email notifications which can be daily or weekly. here's a link to the page i mean.

http://www.goodreads.com/user/edit?ta...

once you're there, you can choose the rate at which you can get your friends' book reviews, or how often you'll get an email that lists out the many things your pals have been doing while you haven't been signed on. there are a lot of little boxes there.

in addition you'll see at the bottom of each thread like this one, a line of text that says "You are following this discussion" or something to that effect. if you click the edit button beside it you can change the notification rate for that particular thread.

i like this feature because i don't think i'll ever write a post and anxiously refresh the page a million times to see if anybody has responded. also, i used to keep my fiction files page open all day which ate up too much memory. :)

hope this helps!

Populating your Book Shelves

i truly think the easiest thing to do to start building your shelves is to pick one of the people who has a lot of books in their collection that has similar tastes to you, and go to their profile. choose to look at the books they've read, and you'll see a column for your rating, or add to shelf. i did this when i first joined. i went through ben's list, and pulled stuff from his shelf onto mine. then i started to fill out the edges. once you've got as many "read" books as you feel you need (i'm using good reads as an inventory so these are all books i own -- i'm using the private notes to keep track of books i've loaned out) you can start figuring out if you want to add subcategories.

thanks you guys! but my birthday isn't until tomorrow! it's only my birthday on pluto! :)

i'm just going to post some of the book titles that i have in my to-read which means they're here in my house in case anybody wants to read 'em :)

Wittgenstein's Mistress

The House of the Spirits

Voices from the Street

Song of Kali

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Dr Bloodmoney

Flying to America 45 More Stories

The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

The Rings of Saturn

Between Life and Death

HTML Tags in Posts (Advanced -- for easy linking and adding author/books, see shel's post #4 - Makin' da linky links below)

thought it might be handy if we had a quick reference to these:

please note that i removed the opening brackets on all these tags and replaced them with a capital X so i could show you the format without having the html actually work. you'll have to REPLACE the X with < or [ in the appropriate places. confused? just leave a comment. :)

to embed a:

* link: Xa href="http://www.goodreads.com">my link text
* link to book: Xbook:[book:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone|]]
* link to author: Xauthor:J.K. Rowling]
* image: Ximg src="http://www.goodreads.com/image..." width="40" height="100" alt="description"/> (Width must be 0-400, Height must be 0-1000, alt is a description of the image. All three are optional, but recommended.)
* bold text: Xb>...
* italic text: Xi>...
* underline text: Xu>...
* strike text: Xs>...
* indent text: Xpre>...
* blockquote: Xblockquote>...
* paragraph: Xp>...
* Note: tags must be properly nested, example:
OK XiX>b>test
Not OK i>b>test

Hey kids:

I've added this folder because sometimes we want to share links to useful information, or links. For example, a lot of us found out about goodreads in the myspace group. :)

so stuff about book binding or the ins and out of book marketing, self-publishing, finding an agent. stuff like that here okay?

would also be nice if you'd write something in the introductions thread. :)

Ben wrote: "what is there for me to do? i kinda want to rewrite our group credo, or whatever. am i allowed to do that? i find it messy.
"

i don't see why not. i'm sure jonathan won't mind since it's a new iteration of the group. also, it's just funny that you're uneasy with this position of power that requires you to do nothing. that's probably why michael thought you needed somebody to hold your hand. ;)

i too have sent out invitations, and talked us up. i also started an introduction thread where we should all pony up some intel about us for when people we don't know show up.

michael: i think it's clear from my status that i also voted bacon, though i will probably change my vote at the 11th hour to something a little more practical. :)

and now without further ado: i have some welcoming to do.

adrian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(i love you, but you already know that. i appreciate you coming back to goodreads after the fangirls chased you away)
lara !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(i think you know how much i love you, my kindred girl)
jennie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my sweet kentucky rose:)
james!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! another one of the great writers who keep us on our toes. you still reading dystopian fiction?? :)

and then we have jen! danielle! alex! luke! and charlaralotte! i suspect some of you are former members but i know alex is not! please feel free to introduce yourselves in the new introduction thread. :)

welcome to all!

pavel, i think you're absolutely right about this -- i guess that's why i still thought it was funny when all was said and done -- i felt like chapter 17 was him yanking my chain. :)

i'm going to come back with some more thoughts on this book in a bit -- i still have it on my mind. for example: even though environment and reality seem fluid in this book, i feel the characters stay consistent, and intentionally. i think this is how he grounds the reader: you may not trust runciter but his attitudes and loyalties don't change. neither do joe chip's. thanks heavens for that, or we'd all be way more messed up right now. :)

you know i'm keen on this, and i will do anything to promote short story reading! i also have a few favourites i can rustle up that are non-americans a little later on for you.. just let me know when. for example, katherine mansfield is a peach. :)