On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
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General Bookishness
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Retired: What are you reading?
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Brina
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Oct 21, 2016 02:27PM
I am number 578 on hold for Hillbilly Elegy I hope it is as good as you all are advertising. Meanwhile I am getting News of the World next week. Definitely a tough voting decision.
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Lots of good books here, y'all! I just finished a novel called Loner that blew my socks off. The narrator is not especially nice, but since you the reader are on his shoulder, hearing his thoughts and deepest wishes, it is hard not to warn him off bad choices or point him in the right direction. It is not for everyone, but I loved it!
Brina wrote: "Five more days until the end of holiday season and then I can read and discuss more than 1 book a week again. So excited."Yippee! Ive got a (not very) nice Jewish boy to introduce you to. Loner is dark, but I think you can handle it.
I'll add it to the list. I have 4 books plus a play waiting for from library next week. Plus 3 books I already have at home. Loner might have to wait.
I hear that. Ive got three from this group I purchased but havent gotten to yet and two more from my personal list. Wish they were all audio!
Mod
Diane I know it. I knew going in that October would be a busy month. I read a biography, two Jackie Woodson middle grade books, and three Faye Kellerman mysteries. At least I read something. Excited to tackle that book pile once again.
Diane S ☔ wrote: "Loner was insidiously creepy.Finished Conclave
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Insidious indeed!! He reminded me of Dr Marc from Summer House with Swimming Pool a bit. Not in their actions but in their limited empathy. LOVED Loner!! But I do enjoy a weird narrator..
Mod
The last of my Halloween season books is Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. I haven't read enough to make up my mind but it's starting to get interesting.
I've also started The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan, by Laurence Leamer. This book promises to be both terrible and uplifting. So far it strikes me as very well researched.
I finished The German Girl: A Novel. 3.5 stars rounds up to 4 . My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... I felt this was an important story because it tells of how a ship of German Jews were turned away from asylum in Cuba and the US in 1939 and this is perhaps not known by a lot of people.
Finished Trials of the Earth: The True Story of a Pioneer Womanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Diane- I am waiting for that book from the library. Other Diane reviewed it so I added it to my list. Angela I read a middle grade book by Margarita Engle about the same topic. Sounds like a great book but I'm not in the mood for it now. Holidays over. I can read like a normal person again!
I finished The Eastern Shore. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars . My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Brina wrote: "Diane- I am waiting for that book from the library. Other Diane reviewed it so I added it to my list. Angela I read a middle grade book by Margarita Engle about the same topic. Sounds like a great ..."Think you will love it too. Brina.
I finished And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer. 5 stars . My review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finally I'm done w that Boys Life. and moving on to Joe
Best that I not comment on Boy's Life 2 stars
Read and loved News of the World. Even though it didn't win here y'all should read it. Now reading and loving The Boston Girl- once a Yankee ;). Actually with my team giving me more heart break I needed some light reading. And also reading Othello to hone my reading skills.
Mod
He should get it!!! Any book about a controversial topic is bound to have reviews all over the spectrum. What he is afraid of- that one scathing review will lower his sales? Or is he hoping that his persistence will get you to make nice? I'd love to have an author contact me about a review like this!!
He sent me his email address and asked me to write him there via my email. I felt HIGHLY uncomfortable and only responded via GR messages.
Mod
You should block him and report him to GR. His behavior is a violation of their terms of service and GR will deal with him.
Go to their profile and scroll all the way to the bottom of that page. Click on block this member. They are not notified that you have blocked them but your profile will !ook like a private profile to the blocked member.
Faith, thank you! Should I wait until he has seen my response? It is written in a businesslike tone but is not very nice. At all.
LeAnne wrote: "Faith, thank you! Should I wait until he has seen my response? It is written in a businesslike tone but is not very nice. At all."Personally I wouldn't bother responding to him. I'd just block and report him.
Mod
I've given this a little thought and I think that while an author does have the right to contact you and ask you to revise a review, he needs to abide by the rules of common courtesy. He may express disagreement with your review, politely pointing out why he considers your review inappropriate but should still acknowledge that you have the right to your opinion and refrain from scathing attacks. He should also accept your decision not to change it as final and not continue to badger you.
As the reader/reviewer, you should reread your review and decide if you still agree with what you wrote. If you do respond to his request and tell him so. Suggest that if he disagrees he may write a polite rebuttal the comments below your review. You might also consider something that I've seen some people so when leaving negative reviews. They finish their review with an acknowledgement that not all readers feel as they do and that, for a cpounterpoint, one should read the review by (insert link to a more favorable review).
In any event, if he continues to contact you against your wishes you have every right to block and report him.
On the one hand, LeAnne, it is sort of a weird compliment, as he views your review as a powerful one which might sway readers. On the other, once you have made your position clear, he should accept it an move on. Putting one's work in the public realm is always risky, and if one cannot take the relatively low heat of a Goodreads review, one is not going to like the intense heat of NY Times and its ilk. However, past a certain point, his actions move beyond common social discourse and move into cyber harassment and bullying. I would say what you need to say, and then politely disengage, block him, move on, and do not waste any more reading time on him or any more personal energy. You sound like you have more than enough on your plate as it is. Sending good thoughts and energy your way.
And LeAnne, I learned from a very negative experience with a GR troll (who was insulting everyone who wrote a positive review on his ex-girlfriend's book, ha!) and GR told me that when you report a post you can go ahead and delete it, because it saves it with the report.
Mod
Well said from start to finish.
Thank you, Tom. It is from the heart. LeAnne is one of our best voices, and a treasure.
I love y'all and so appreciate your help here and the support. I felt a little freaked out. Today turned my state of mild distress around. It being Halloween, we had 14 ladies from the neighborhood and another 4 of my gal pals do something wonderful. We drove around with card tables and chairs, setting up 18 stations in the neighborhood for Cole and his classmates to do day time trick or treating. We set up 18 baskets of all sorts of goodies for the boys.
Cole is the youngest at 16, and some are nearly 20 - but they are young forever in their hearts. They are too old, too big , and some are nonverbal so the parents do not take them out trick-or-treating. Because you do not know the boys' names or even the high school, I will confide that they are all in reduced numbers classes. The classes are for lower functioning youngsters with autism and have a very high ratio of adult to students.
The assistant principal, the special education coordinator, two teachers, and four paraprofessionals came with the boys on a school bus, and after trick-or-treating the ladies and I fed them lunch here at the house which is all creeped out with Halloween decorations. We finished with a quarter mile hike in the woods.
I will stop blathering and hijacking our book conversations here, but wanted you to know this. The women who were with me this morning left with tears of joy because of the young men who came out to trick-or-treat. The book that I reviewed described five incidences of severe and torturous bullying to children just like my boy Cole. While I am sure that many readers took the perspective of the protagonist who was the bully and not the autistic children, I will never shut up defending those who cannot speak for themselves or who cannot speak at all.
I am not a blogger or a professional reviewer like some of you are, but want to say thank you for defending me like I do for my boy. You are family. Thank you.
Now - what are you reading?? :)
I am about to read The Underground Railroad has anybody else read it ? Oh , and News of the World I have been on a. Cruise !!!!! Great escape and have not been reading anything for two whole weeks
Mod
Jane- I am starting Underground Railroad in the next day or so also :)
Jane, I read The Underground Railroad and it was 4 stars for me. It's an important book but I was a tad disappointed in one aspect of it .News of the World is one of my favorites so far this year .
Love cruises. Where did you go, Jane? I did read Underground railroad and liked it and loved News of the world.
oh now ,from Italy I went to Spain ,Portugal and Morocco it was ten days and such fun and yes I ate too much !Met lots of wonderful people too
I have just started News of the World I am hooked and blown away and I am only on page 50 yes indeed my kind of book
Jane hurry and finish it so I can compare our reviews and we can buddy read Underground Railroad together.
What a cruise!! Have you readBeautiful Ruins by Jess Walter? Half of it is set on the most amazing Lee described coastline of Italy - the cinques terres (sp?). Really excellent book but it made me want to go!
One last thing on the former topic. My son was outraged at the attitude and actions of the author. He said you should take screen shots of your conversations with him & attach them to your review if he continues to harass you. He is more adept than I in the social media world, & really dislikes people who use platforms to make life unpleasant for others. Thank you so much for sharing about your son's trick-or-treating. It is a beautiful thing.
I just finished The Risen. I am reading Keepers of the House, and the 4th Mary Crow mystery set in the mountains of North Carolina. I also finished a Tommy and Tuppence reread and shall move onto Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party. I am running behind because we traveled a lot this month. Some books do not lend themselves to airplane journeys, I try to read things which can retain my interest with noise and activity around me & which I can then pass to my husband as he never packs enough reading material. I read The Girl with All the Gifts, Terms of Use which was an exceedingly timely thriller in light of the election, The Fireman by Joe Hill, and some others which do not spring immediately to mind. I came home exhausted and am just catching up with Goodreads housekeeping.
Happy Hallowe'en, y'all!
LeAnne wrote: "I love y'all and so appreciate your help here and the support. I felt a little freaked out. Today turned my state of mild distress around. It being Halloween, we had 14 ladies from the neighborho..."
What an awesome and wonderful endeavor to make a Halloween experience that works for these young adults. Thanks for describing it for us and letting us into your world for today.
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