Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion
General Chit Chat
Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "The Bench is still there, all 6 copies.If it were me I wouldn't listen to sale reps saying its the next big thing and order heaps without even reading it or looking at it first. I t..."
Some publishers give booksellers the right of return (within 3 months) if a book hasn't sold others say it's a firm sale and you get stuck with it. (then you need to discount them to clear them - my boss just boxed them up when he couldn't return them as he doesn't discount them enough IMHO)
The publishers would then on-sell their books as stock lots and discount them or they end up pulping them if nobody buys them.
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If it were me I wouldn't listen to sale reps saying its the next big thing and order heaps without even reading it or looking at..."
Interesting!
Today's non-seller, tomorrow's toilet paper.
Karin wrote: "But please be careful since it's not unusual to find a book entered twice or three times and then if the author is done wrong, it is a huge mess to clean up."You don't have to worry about that with me! I check, double-check and triple-check.
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It's ok Koren. You have a right as a reader to not review a book.
I don't review books I don't really care for as I think it's wiser if you don't have anything nice to say to not say anything at all..
Well I am getting through all my library books now! I've read ALL the ones I've borrowed and now only have about 9 or so left on my bookshelf still to read...we are in quarantine STILL.
I'm going to do some armchair travelling with this Paul Theroux book I found called Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads I normally love to hate Paul Theroux and endless travel books but I think right now I need an escape. lol
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I'm not a big fan of travel books but once in a while they are a nice change.
I don't take books from people just wanting reviews if they are self-published because most of them are not well written OR just not well edited. There are some exceptions, of course. Andy Weir's The Martian was initially self published. Another self-published author might not be an Andy Weir, but who writes well and has some fun books I have enjoyed (found for a reading game) is Gina LaManna. Plus, if I agree to write a review and don't like it, I am going to give it a low rating and write the review, plus I can't get that reading time back.
BUT for autobiographies, biographies and memoirs I don't know any good self-published ones off hand, and I would really hate to give a low rating to someone's heartfelt but poorly written memoir.
I had a friend self-publish a book but it won't be found on goodreads (it is on amazon) and she sort of was self-promoting it everywhere and asking people to buy it, I bought a copy for half price only if I could donate the rest to Bookathon.Then she kept nagging me to post about it on Facebook. I did one post to say I bought the book but I didn't write a review, I mean yea she wrote her life story but I personally couldn't really relate to it as it seemed she had everything handed to her on a silver platter. Her parents gave her the best of everything and she never wanted for anything, and she was thankful, but it actually came across as boastful in the memoir. Then the one time she wrote she got a divorce but gave absolutely no details on why or how that came about. I had no idea she was divorced.
This is because she constantly plays up on how positive and wonderful her life is. I just thought well maybe I am not the kind of reader her memoir is written for. Sometimes I think memoirs are written for parents or (grand)children to read and not really for the general public. The other thing was she can be quite evangelical and yes some people are like that but a lot of the time that's hard to take for a lot of people, if you constantly talk about Jesus and refer to scriptures, readers that aren't already believers or church goers just get overwhelmed.
The good thing I will say about the book is that I now know a bit more about my friend...!
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Dang. I'm not sure how many books I read a month but I got out my limit of 35 library books (I remember they used to have a limit of 50 in one lockdown! ) this month to read over the holidays.I am supposed to track my reading on the library's online summer reading program but I haven't been on it since I started as been so busy working.
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I a..."
Do you keep track of your books on GR? How many have you read this year?
Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Dang. I'm not sure how many books I read a month but I got out my limit of 35 library books (I remember they used to have a limit of 50 in one lockdown! ) this month to read over the..."no. I used to do it on Shelfari.
I know I read over 30 in June because I was doing Bookathon. If averaging around 15 a month I'd say around 180 books.. I could probably look at my public library record and count all the books I borrowed this year...but I may not have read all of them.
Do you log books as read on your GR account when you have finished them? That is what tells me the # I have read for the year.
Kit wrote: "Do you log books as read on your GR account when you have finished them? That is what tells me the # I have read for the year."No. I gave up doing that. I did an estimate of the items I borrowed in my public library record for the year it came to 269 items (some would have included dvds). So on average 22 books a month.
But I might have only read in full 15. I suppose I could start doing that next year...but I generally don't keep track. It would be like keeping track of every single song or tv show you ever listened to or watched. Ain't got time to do that!
I'd do it if reading 7 you could have pizza afterward or I won a prize. Do Goodreads do prizes for the most number of books logged/read in a year? I suppose for beginner readers its useful but I'm a librarian I read heaps anyway.
Oh ok, fair enough. I think GR just gives a message something like it looks like you’re really good at reading, and probably loads of other stuff too! If that’s not enough incentive for you and it’s a bother to log books then makes sense to leave it.
Most of the books I read, around 250 pages I can finish in one or two days. If it's a big fat book (over 300 pages) it might take me longer, maybe a week or so to read. Picture books etc don't take me long to read. And non -fiction/reference I may skim if its mostly illustrated or got sections I'd go to the section I need.
I've always got a book on the go though I suppose its like food/fuel for me, if I run out I may get a bit desperate and have to resort to e-books. But when the library opened up again I ditched the e-books in favour of real ones.
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Picture books etc don't ta..."
When I discovered Shelfari I thought it was so cool to record every book I had read in my entire life. I might have missed a few but I think I have most of them. Goodreads doesn't seem to be as easy to just browse.
I miss Shelfari. It was the coolest book site ever.This is all Goodreads gives me...
https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_i...
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This is all Goodreads gives me...
https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_i..."
I'm not sure what you are trying to access. If it is my profile then just click where it has my name or actually anywhere you see my name.
Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "I miss Shelfari. It was the coolest book site ever.This is all Goodreads gives me...
https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_i..."
I'm not sure what you are..."
Tells me the number of books I read this year...which is 0 according to Goodreads lol.
Koren according to your profile you've read 140 out of 125 books. How is that possible??
Oh my bad it just means you surpassed your own reading challenge. Well done!I didn't set my own yearly reading challenge though I did do bookathon in June so, I think minus 30 books of mine ends up being roughly the same as you. It's because I usually read one book after another. Like I will finish one and then start another one. Also I read nearly every day.
Some people don't do this they just read sporadically.
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I didn't set my own yearly reading challenge though I did do bookathon in June so, I think minus 30 books of mine ends ..."
Someone once asked the question How to you get out of a reading slump and I replied I didn't know because I've never been in one. I think I could have read more this year but I did a few crochet projects, my two passions.
Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Oh my bad it just means you surpassed your own reading challenge. Well done!I didn't set my own yearly reading challenge though I did do bookathon in June so, I think minus 30 book..."
Have you got through all your TBR shelf yet? I think one book just leads to another. There is so much to read out there unless you are one of those people that only read one kind of genre or just stick to one author.
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I didn't set my own yearly reading challenge though I did do bookathon in June so, I think..."
Do you mean my TBR shelf here on Goodreads? I rarely look at it and I see now it is terribly out of date. It was transferred here from Shelfari in 2016 and that's probably the last time I looked at it. I tried to edit it just now and Goodreads won't let me do a batch delete so it will have to be my new year's resolution to catch up on editing my shelves.
Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Oh my bad it just means you surpassed your own reading challenge. Well done!I didn't set my own yearly reading challenge though I did do bookathon in J..."
Oh no I thought you had a shelf (or several) at home that was laden with TBR that you hadn't got to yet.
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I didn't set my own yearly reading challenge though I did do ..."
Ohhhh! Sorry for the misunderstanding. Yes I still have at least 200 books on my real life shelf. Seems like whenever I start to make a dent I find a used book sale to stock up again.
Happy Christmas everyone, whatever you are doing🎄🎄🎄
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Cleaning and cooking and getting ready for company tomorrow. Merry Christmas everyone!
Enjoy..and the day after...I know there will be Boxing Day sales!
Reading a book called The Sacred to Santa: A History of Christmas by Tara MooreEveryone wants to cash in on Christmas...even the authors lol.
Hope everyone has a nice New Year! Take care of yourselves and try to stay healthy!
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Huh, I give out summer reading packs and invitations to write back to me about books everyone reads in at the end of school term. NOBODY has written back so far.
The only mail I have received is a postcard from a librarian colleague I worked with 20 years ago.
And he is not even doing the challenge. Do I give him a prize?
One boy came back and he got a prize and his sister who went to on to the intermediate school. I don't know if any of the others did their summer reading. Oh well, they miss out on the prizes....!
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I don't know if any of the others did their summer reading. Oh well, they miss out on the prizes....!"
We had an adult reading challenge at our library. It wasn't really even a challenge. It was a little too easy. It was like a bingo card but you didn't even have to get a bingo. Just read 5 books that were listed and I picked the easy ones. Read a book by a female author, a male author, a biography, and a nonfiction book. I don't remember what the 5th one was. I won a box of colored pencils!
Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "One boy came back and he got a prize and his sister who went to on to the intermediate school. I don't know if any of the others did their summer reading. Oh well, they miss out on..."
haha how about a challenge for the literacy-challenged
You already a pro, there's no need to challenge you
my public library didn't even put on anything for their adult readers over summer. I also got coloured pencils and a library bag to give to my children from them but I had already given them sunglasses and supermarket voucher...and a free library pass golden ticket. That means can they can visit the school library anytime they like and I won't tell them to go back to class
Koren wrote: "Someone in another group sent me a book. I didn't care for it very much but managed to finish it. I skimmed through the last 100 pages. Now I don't want to post a review because I don't want her to..."You have a perfect right not to like a book! I remember once you read a book I liked while we were still at Shelfari, gave it 1 star (meaning "I hated it") and gave it a dreadful review! Let 'er rip!
Selina wrote: "I miss Shelfari. It was the coolest book site ever."You said a mouthful.
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I wonder what that book was!
I might start a thread called Worst Book Ever.What was the worst book you ever read.
It would be kind of like the IgNoble prize, the Darwin Awards, or the Golden Raspberries of the book world. Let's pool those stinkers together.
Koren wrote: "Fishface wrote: "Koren wrote: I wonder what that book was!"It was Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland.
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It was Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland."
Oh yeah! I remember that now. Maybe I should try it again.
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Koren wrote: "Wow! I got a notification that Kathy Garver 'liked' my review of Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood. I see that there are 7 'likes'. How do you see a list of eve..."I have no idea.
Koren wrote: "Wow! I got a notification that Kathy Garver 'liked' my review of Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood. I see that there are 7 'likes'. How do you see a list of eve..."You can click on the likes at the bottom of your review--here is the link that will show you the people who have liked it so far.
ETA https://www.goodreads.com/rating/vote...
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
Books mentioned in this topic
Small Fry: A Memoir (other topics)The Watergate: Inside America's Most Infamous Address (other topics)
Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood (other topics)
Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood (other topics)
Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Gina LaManna (other topics)Christian Picciolini (other topics)
If it were me I wouldn't listen to sale reps saying its the next big thing and order heaps without even reading it or looking at it first. I think they just ..."
I didn't know that's what they did with unsold books. I thought they just kept marking them down until someone bought them.