Doesn't fit? Book related? Then put it here!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

I had another immediately after I responded to Donna. If you are going to report them, do it by flagging the friend request. Then they can see what's happening. I've given up reporting as there are so many. I just block now.

[D.M.]

Brenda wrote: "Yes it's spam Donna, don't click on the links! Go to their profile and scroll to the very bottom. On the left side you'll see "block this member". Click on that and block them. Goodreads is trying ..."

I see. Thank you!

[D.M.]

Icewineanne wrote: "I’ve had 4 friend requests recently from members who have read 0 books, want to read 0 books, have 0 books on their shelves & who (of course) have 0 reviews.

Under their profile, they all supposed..."

What the...?!

[Marianne]

I've had them too...

[Sharon]

And so have I. Rather annoying, but I guess it happens on any sites these days.

[D.M.]

Marianne wrote: "I've had them too..."
Grrrrrrrrr…!

[D.M.]

Sharon wrote: "And so have I. Rather annoying, but I guess it happens on any sites these days."

You think Goodreads could do something! I am getting them on a regular basis.

[Diana]

I just had another one too. I couldn't see where to block so just ignored the request,

[D.M.]

Diana wrote: "I just had another one too. I couldn't see where to block so just ignored the request,"
Yes I can't find where to block either Diana.

[Ace]

D.M. wrote: "Diana wrote: "I just had another one too. I couldn't see where to block so just ignored the request,"
Yes I can't find where to block either Diana."

Diana wrote: "I just had another one too. I couldn't see where to block so just ignored the request,"

You cannot block the request.
What you can do is click on the users name. On their PROFILE page, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page you will see "block this member" and click on that.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

OK now that I've said that - they've changed it :) The "block this member" is in the drop down box at the top of the profile box.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Jazzy]

I wish goodreads did not try to suggest to me what my stars might mean as I have my own rating system.

My 5 star rating system.

1 star - I despised it. (Take it away, Burn it! BURN IT!)
2 star - I didn't like it (Ugh...awful. Not for me, let someone else read it.)
3 star - Didn't strike a chord with me either way (Meh. Boring. I could find something else better to do with my time.)
4 star - I liked it (A bit of okay, I think.)
5 star - I loved it (Bloody brilliant! - although there will be a cooling off period where I may decide to change that rating)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

There are something like 50 million goodreads users Jazzy - it's just a basic guideline. Everyone is different...

[Jazzy]

Brenda wrote: "There are something like 50 million goodreads users Jazzy - it's just a basic guideline. Everyone is different..."

Yeah, that's why I would like it not to suggest what to put it for. I used to work in the most awful place, taking surveys on the phone and we had to ask on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best, what would you say and weren't allowed to give any more information. It was a dire job so one day I just went off to better pastures. :)

[Icewineanne]

Jazzy wrote: "Brenda wrote: "There are something like 50 million goodreads users Jazzy - it's just a basic guideline. Everyone is different..."

Yeah, that's why I would like it not to suggest what to put it for..."

Hah hah - also worked in market research Jazzy, and like you, i conducted the dreaded phone surveys but these always included a few open ended questions, so, eager to escape the phone, i quickly moved over to coding instead......that was much more fun.
Those were the days 😉

[Jazzy]

Icewineanne wrote....."

Let's chalk it all up to experience! My favourite part working there was playing the ukulele on my lunchbreak. 3 of my workmates bought ukuleles and I was teaching them to play. Coding sounds fun. I can only do a little HTML and steal codes off a page. :D

[Wreade1872]

Hi all just passing through but hoping to find a charitable aussie with a library card. This is a long shot but i've tried every other means and i figure it won't hurt to ask :) .

I've been looking for a very old out of copyright book a penny dreadful, Broad Arrow Jack by E.Harcourt Burrage (1866) and i finally found an electronic version, unfortunately despite it being VERY public domain the only places to get it require library cards, Princeton University or National Library of Australia.

So if anyone has access to this https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/6... and can see if its a grabbable version i can send you my mail address.

As i said the book is public domain nothing untoward going on. I've just run out of other options :) .

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Wreade1872 wrote: "Hi all just passing through but hoping to find a charitable aussie with a library card. This is a long shot but i've tried every other means and i figure it won't hurt to ask :) .

I've been lookin..."

Why don't you get yourself a library card? They're free :)

[Wreade1872]

Brenda wrote: "Why don't you get yourself a library card? They're free :) ..."

I don't think that will work i live in Ireland :) .

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

OK! Fair enough :) I can't help you I'm afraid.

[Jazzy]

I couldn't stop laughing at the Monty Python sketch "All-England Summarize Proust Competition".

As you probably know, Life Is short and Proust is long.

Very long. Could you summarise Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu in 15 seconds?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwAOc...

[Jazzy]

Ryan wrote: ...

If i decide to read a book I am obligated to finish it no matter the outcome.

I've started books that went so slow and I was tired of reading them only to find out once the story picked up they were very good, but also books that I started that seemed good but were completely spoilt by the end. That's part of the fun, isn't it?

But I will say, before I actually tuck into a book I read bits of it before hand (maybe a chapter or two or 20 pages depending on the size), and if I don't like it and I don't actually read it, then it doesn't get a rating. I don't believe in rating books I haven't finished.

I might also add I NEVER read reviews of books I haven't read. It seems when I do the story is often completely spoilt and I have no need to read the book myself.

[Kerri_M]

Last week, I read a book that referred to someone suffering from "plumbism". I didn't know what that was, had never heard of it, so I googled.

It is a technical term for lead poisoning.

Then, the very next book I read also referred to plumbism! Something I have never heard of, then I read about it in two books back to back.

This kind of thing has happened to me before. It always makes me think "how many times have I just read over that word without noticing it"

There is probably a word for this phenomenon, but I haven't noticed it and googled it yet. I am probably just reading right over the top of it.

[Jazzy]

Kerri_M wrote: "There is probably a word for this phenomenon, but I haven't noticed it and googled it yet. I am probably just reading right over the top of it. "

What would life be without these sort of coincidences. I am reading two books, chosen at random and both of the main characters design clothes.

I love it when that happens! You'll think of a song, and next thing you know someone's whistling it as they pass by.

I had neighbours on either side of me and they went on holiday. Neighbour one is in Spain and queueing up for an icecream cone when they are tapped on the back by neighbour 2!

I delivered pizzas and got a call for an address, and hung up after writing it and then the second caller said, I've been trying to get through, and I want a pizza delivered here. Then I delivered them - they were next-door neighbours!

Another neighbour had two Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs, a male and a female. They were twins and both grew old and died quite soon apart. The next year she had twins - a boy and a girl.

I've often thought of writing them down. Perhaps we both should! Perhaps we all should!

[Ryan]

Jazzy wrote: ...

Your entire post describes my own reading/reviewing process. Except I've never wanted to read a book I ended up hating. One category of dislike is enough for me (one star) so the Goodreads star rating descriptions work just fine.

[Jazzy]

Ryan wrote: "Jazzy wrote: ...

Your entire post describes my own reading/reviewing process. Except I've never wanted to read a book I ended up hating. One category of dislike is enough for me (one star) so the ..."

Sometimes though I have no idea I'm going to hate it. Everything in the story is progressing right along. I'm rolling with it all and then.... it turns sour. and sometimes there is redemption. and sometimes there isn't.

Also when I did phone surveys they always went with 1, I hate it to 5 I love it with bleh at number 3. :)

[PattyMacDotComma]

Tonight's Q&A on the ABC is all Aussie authors! YIPPEE!
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/coming...

John Marsden
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Sofie Laguna
Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Trent Dalton

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

That should be worth a look. Thanks Patty

[Brooke - One Woman's Brief Book Reviews]

Last night I bought a book that the author kindly signed even though I couldn't stay for the talk. I feel like I've wasted all these years not going to author talks and getting these books signed - for me there's something special about having the author's signature addressed personally to me! In saying that, there's been some recent author talks in my area that I would have loved to go to and it starts while I'm still at work or by the time I would travel there it would be mostly over, booooooooo haha.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

It's very special Brooke :) I've been to a lot and I never get sick of it!

[Li'l Owl]

Hi all!
I haven't been keeping up with the goings on but will be catching up very soon!
I found an interesting article this morning from The Guardian Australia about a prize winning crime book, apparently by an Aussie author. Funny thing is, I can't locate either the author or the book here on GR. The Book Depository doesn't have any books by the author or title either.

Thought I'd share it and see if I'm missing something.??
I figured our fearless mods or my Aussie friends might know about it.

The book is called I Shot the Devil by Ruth McIver

https://amp.theguardian.com/culture/2...

[Andrea]

Li'l Owl wrote: "Hi all!
I haven't been keeping up with the goings on but will be catching up very soon!
I found an interesting article this morning from The Guardian Australia about a prize winning crime book, a..."

I think it’s just not published yet. What i gleaned from the article is that she has only published one volume of poetry so far (self-published). Looks to be a writer to watch out for though!

[Rita]

Good to see an Aussie author (poet) being mentioned!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Li'l Owl wrote: "Hi all!
I haven't been keeping up with the goings on but will be catching up very soon!
I found an interesting article this morning from The Guardian Australia about a prize winning crime book, a..."

She has only just won the 2018 Richell Prize for it Owl. She's won $10,000 to work with Hachette to develop it for publication, so it's not likely to appear until at least 2019.

https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au...

[Li'l Owl]

Ah, I knew there was something I was missing! Thanks Andrea and Brenda!

[Heather]

Just got back from holidays in Hanoi.
There is a café there called Xofa that has a few bookcases full of books where you are welcome to borrow, swap or add to their collection. Added bonus is that its a house on a side street with a rear courtyard so you can get away from the constant noise.

[Andrea]

Heather wrote: "Just got back from holidays in Hanoi.
There is a café there called Xofa that has a few bookcases full of books where you are welcome to borrow, swap or add to their collection. Added bonus is that ..."

That sounds lovely Heather.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Sounds great Heather!

[Diana]

Could someone explain the designations of books e.g ARC, uncorrected proof and any others please? I bought an uncorrected proof by accident at an op shop and wonder if reading this will lessen the reading experience if it's unedited.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

It shouldn't Diana. Generally when they allocate them to readers, they are at the stage of only having small errors. The content of the story would be the same. That's what I've found anyway :)

[Sharon]

I’m having an issue with “My Books” in there is the read list but the order of the books is all over the place and it never use to be. Can anyone tell me how to fix this?

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

Just wait Sharon. Goodreads are doing maintenance and I think it is messing things up.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Jonetta in LoR has locked one of her threads over 2 hours ago, but I still can't do ours. So it must be in areas or something. It's still not finished yet as I just checked the thread.

[Kerri_M]

Does anyone know if Goodreads is working on improving the iPad App?

It occurred to me in the last couple of days that there hasn't been any significant improvement in the APP since I got my iPad over 3 years ago, and lets face it, it has a lot of functional inadequacies. I usually end up closing it down and moving to the laptop, or opening up through the browser on my ipad.

Is the Android APP any better? If there is a place on Goodreads where I can lobby for improvement, let me know....

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Do you belong to the Feedback group Kerri? There are threads over there that discuss apps and their abilities :)

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

It's a handy group to be a member of..

[Kerri_M]

thanks Brenda, I joined, will find a spot to lobby :)

[Heather]

Brenda wrote: "Do you belong to the Feedback group Kerri? There are threads over there that discuss apps and their abilities :)

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

It's a handy group to be..."

Brilliant timing this is very handy for me. Thanks!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

No problems girls :)

[Sharon]

Phrynne wrote: "Just wait Sharon. Goodreads are doing maintenance and I think it is messing things up."

Thanks Phrynne. I’ll keep waiting :)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

And waiting - and waiting!!