Random Musings.. Showing 501-550 of 1,161

[Dara]

I have all of my reviews saved to a flash drive in case something happens with Goodreads.

Rob I'm also a fan of your reviews.

I've gotten lazy and don't really write as in depth as I used to. *shrug*

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

My tendency is to write longer reviews for books I like and shorter reviews for those I don't. There are definitely times when I get to "good enough", especially when I get busy and write like 4 or 5 reviews in a row.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Oh and you export your data (which includes your reviews) to CSV, and I do that at least once a year when I'm doing my year end statistics, but I should maybe just store stuff in Google Docs or something too.

[Justine]

It's got to be a lot of work and expense running a decent blog properly too. We just lost two really fantastic ones this month with SF Signal and My Bookish Ways both closing down.

[Kat]

Oh, I hate it when good book blogs close.

[Justine]

Me too...especially those ones because I relied on them a lot.

[Kat]

Although I can understand it a little. Today I have cancelled my domain for a gardening website I ran for 16 years. It was time, I don't enjoy it anymore, I haven't worked as a horticulturist for the last 8 years, I'm no longer involved in gardening projects, and the main site has been offline for 5 years (I only kept the herbs one alive).

Sometimes it's just time to move on.

[Richard]

I have said this before, I like this group as it closely represents my reading habits - especially as you are now reading some historical fiction.
Part of the reasons I like it is the reviews people write. I do and have allowed people's reviews to influence me with a book choice. I try to write a short review, but this purely for me - describes what I enjoyed or didn't, without giving away any of the plot.
I have a small blog that I use for personal stuff - mainly board games. Was thing about setting up a small UK centric audiobook blog - as that is my main consumption media.
Love the idea of book summaries. Shame I am so terrible at making notes - basically I don't make any.
Keep up the good work.

[Kat]

I liked the idea of keeping plot summaries somewhere, so I made a little section on my blog.

I will have to go back and skim through books I have already read in order to make my list clickable, but I'll try to add new summaries as I read the next book(s) in my ongoing stuff.

If anyone wants to send me plot summaries of things I haven't started to read yet while it is still fresh in your mind (Wheel of Time for example), please do.

Here is a link to what I thought it could look like. (Like I said, titles are not clickable yet, as I need to either read the next in line, or do re-reads for previous ones before it's all written up.)

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Nice Kat.

[Suzanne]

Nice Kat. Good idea!

[Sky]

Sweet!

[Kat]

Beethoven just climbed into the running shower with me, and was disappointed when I put him outside to wash my hair. He spent the entire 15 minutes pressing his nose to the door, trying to get back in. I have an odd cat.

[Suzanne]

I thought cats hate water!!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I was wondering what a long dead composer was doing in your shower..until you said it was your cat. :)

[Kat]

Suzanne wrote: "I thought cats hate water!!"

He sometimes climbs into the empty shower and complains loudly until I come and turn the water on a little, so he can watch it swirl into the drain. He then dozes off in the puddle he's making.

[Kat]

Rob wrote: "I was wondering what a long dead composer was doing in your shower..until you said it was your cat. :)"

I see dead people.

(I should lay off the special cookies...)

[Dara]

Some cats are fond of water. I had a cat that liked to sit in the bathtub after I showered and watch the water go down the drain.

[Ctgt]

Mmmmm.....special cookies

[Kat]

Today at the post office.

Sending a box of books to my friend in the UK.

Clerk: "This is too big for a medium parcel, this will be 17.50 Euros."

Me: *GASP*

Clerk: "Let me measure that again. Oh well, *almost* a medium parcel. 9 Euros."

Sometimes you gotta love small towns :)

[Suzanne]

Aw that is sweet - perfect small town story!

[Sky]

Now that i use the new beta view that shows people's status updates instead of the groups view as my default view, I saw a bunch of updates from Alex. Does this mean he's taking a break from being an adult?

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I saw some complaints about the new view showing really old status updates. The best way to be sure is to visit Alex's profile page and see if there are recent updates.

It does appear that he's got recent updates, at least for book status.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

*A wild Alex appears..*

[Dara]

Rob wrote: "*A wild Alex appears..*"

Shhhh, we must tread carefully to not startle him...

[Kat]

ALEEEEEEEEEX !!!!!!!!!

I missed you!!!!

*breaks open the very special cookie jar*

[Suzanne]

Oooh - Alex gets the SPECIAL cookies! Celebration time!

[Kat]

Everyone gets special cookies today!

*puts a special cookie in front of everyone*

But Alex gets three.

[Lee]

'Puts hand up for a cookie'

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Is it coming out of the woodwork day or something?

[Lee]

Lol I just knew you were going to say that.

[Kat]

*gives Lee a cookie*

Welcome home.

[Sky]

Alex wrote: "Well, thanks. :)

Can't say how many reads I'll join in on, since I'm determined to finish up a lot of the unread books already sitting on my shelves (150+), but maybe it'll coincide perfectly!

Al..."

So what changed in the quest for adulthood that has freed up more reading time, if we may inquire?

[Sky]

Kat wrote: "Everyone gets special cookies today!

*puts a special cookie in front of everyone*

But Alex gets three."

Woah....these special cookies...I'm starting to see funny colors and feel a little weird. I have the sudden urge to go hug myself in the corner. Alex, did you eat all 3? I can talk you down, man.

[Bill]

Welocome back Alex!

[Linette]

I like cookies too.
Hi Lee, Hi Alex :)
Going back into the woodwork now.

[Lee]

Hi Linette.

Kind of looking forward to getting back into some book discussions. Bit of a break. Woodwork. Etc

I think the last year was disappointing in the books that were out there and I wanted a rest. I was spoilt with the previous 2 years with series like; Gentleman bastards, raven shadow, expanse, ryria, stormlight, steelhaven, Kety Jay and about 4 other series I could mention.

I feel we went through a people patch for fantastic stories and then a bit of a slump. Of course, but not being on Good reads I probably missed out on hearing about new exciting stuff.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work. I read the occassional buzz novel, but mostly I balance between new books in existing series and various group reads. The ones I read usually come through people I know on goodreads.

Ive always thought ARCs to be a mixed blessing. I like having people to discuss a book with.

Hopefully you can find a good balance that fits your life now.

[Lee]

I think I just hit a string of books that didn't sit right with me.


Yup. Exactly.

[Reinoud]

Alex wrote: "I think I just hit a string of books that didn't sit right with me.

I'd pick them up, get 50 pages in, and then put them down. When this happened over and over and over again, I started re-reading..."

I'm having the exact same thing. After binge-reading the red rising trilogy i've not been able to get in to anything. I tried The Traitor Son Cycle, the Fifth Season and Ancilrarry Justice. Nothing worked :(.

[Dara]

Alex wrote: "I think I just hit a string of books that didn't sit right with me.

I'd pick them up, get 50 pages in, and then put them down. When this happened over and over and over again, I started re-reading to basically start fresh."

I'm very much in that place with my reading right now. I'm forcing myself to pick my kindle up and read. Few things have excited me.

[Kat]

I had that last year. I think I didn't read anything between August and December.

But it wasn't wasted time, it was a break that I needed to fall in love with reading all over again.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I think most people go through those slumps. I know I have too as have many of my book reading friends.

[Sky]

I've been in a slump...not due to lack of interesting things to read, but due to lack of any contiguous amount of time to devote to reading. Plus having been home-bound for the last 10 weeks (6 weeks since baby was born) is kind of getting me down. Granted we make a concerted effort to walk for a few miles a day with the baby around the lake or around the neighborhood, but I am thinking I really miss the gym (and going to work, shockingly). It skews what I want to read. Normally I am all for grimdark but these days i find myself drawn towards manga due to its easier to read and lighter nature. Only June, July, and then August till I go back to work! I love my little dude, but I've also realized I love routine, and sleep - neither of which I've had any of for the last 6 weeks.

[Suzanne]

When you don't get enough sleep, it is really hard to care about stuff like books - or to focus!

[Bill]

Just noticed that Brandon Sanderson has his White Sand comic up for preorder Amazon and it has his name on the cover twice. Trying to figure out why one is bigger than the other, is he trying to be upstage himself?

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Haha. I haven't seen it. Not sure if I'll order it.

I know he's got a cosmere short story collection coming out too. But I think I own/have read most of them already. I need to look into that further.

[Geoff]

Yeah, the Cosmere collection is mostly made up of already released short fiction. But there is a brand new Stormlight Archive novella that follows Lift (an interlude character from Words of Radiance). Unfortunately, I doubt that the novella will be available on its own from release. May have to wait for that.

I've read the version of White Sand you can get by contacting Brandon. I'm excited to see how that transforms into a graphic novel.

[Kat]

A few weeks ago I signed up on a German website where people swap English books. It's very straightforward - you list your books, someone requests one, you send it to them and receive a token. With the token you can then request a book from someone.

Sending books by post is very cheap in Germany, as there is a special cheap rate for them.

This morning was the second time that I received not one (The Last Gospel), but 3 books for my single token. I also got The Winter Ghosts and The Vanishing Point from the same person.

Hooray!

*stacks TBR pile a little higher again*

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Yay for bonus books, even if you are already buried under your current books. :-P