My Swedish book collection
I have decided that I will make a point of buying books in my own language (Swedish). It’s not that easy anymore. When I was a child, I was given plenty of great books on birthdays and Christmas. My mum had bought me so many books, before I could even read, so I had a head start on my Swedish book collection. These days I struggle to find good books in Swedish. The ‘toplist’ is artificially made up by the big publishers. It no longer consists of the best selling books, but the ones the publishers would like to sell best. And apparently, their criteria for publishing a book is not quality, it’s saleability.
However, I’m doing my best looking for Swedish children’s and YA books, non fiction and – naturally – fantasy, science fiction and mysteries. They’re usually more expensive than books in English, naturally enough, since the editions are much smaller. I usually can’t find books of the very highest quality either. It’s sad, but true. But I really want to have a Swedish book collection so it’s going to be worth it in the end. I also want to have smaller collections of French and German books, maybe others too. Fortunately, those aren’t usually that much more expensive than English/American books. Clearly, French and German are big enough languages to produce large enough editions of every title.
My ‘policy’ when it comes to book buying is to, as far as possible, get books in the original language, and if I can’t read the original language, the one I know best. I’ll make an exception if the Swedish translation is far less expensive than the original. Some years ago, there was this Chinese book I really wanted to read. Naturally, I can’t read any Chinese language, so I looked around for an English translation (unsurprisingly there wasn’t one in Swedish), but there wasn’t one. Fortunately, there was one in French, so I bought that.
Health again
Today I got a letter from my doctor (who, unlike my former doctor is a really good one). She told me that my latest test results were good and that I don’t need to come back for more checkups for the time being (but she recommended yearly checkups instead of all these regular visits). So apparently, I’m considered completely healthy now. Yay! Of course, I need to have another go at my big project (most of my friends know what that is, but for those who don’t, here’s a little hint: it’s to do with a baby) so my health may decline temporarily due to that, if I’m successful.
About WordPress
Recently, I blogged about Gravatar, a profile page from Automattic, the owners of WordPress. I was thinking I should mention a few things about WordPress too.
When you sign up for WordPress you can get a blog if you like, but to begin with you get a username, so you can comment on WordPress blogs you follow. And speaking of following… With WordPress you get a blog reader. You can add any blog to it, including ones from Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Tumblr and Blogger. That way you get all the blogs you like to read collected in one place, a dashboard, like on Tumblr.
And as I mentioned before, you also get a Gravater profile.
The blog does display ads, occasionally (if you’re not logged in), but it’s a very good blog platform. You can also upgrade to premium and get a domain name and more space for photos etc.
If you want a blog without ads, you’ll need to upgrade or get your own personal WordPress blog/homepage. Then you’ll need a web hotel and a domain name. That can get a bit complicated unless your web hotel comes with a special service that helps you start a WordPress blog/homepage. We have one, so it wasn’t complicated at all, but I know that setting up databases can be a pain.
WordPress used to be less good at photos and other media than for instance Tumblr. Now it’s a lot better. I can’t say it’s as easy to use as Tumblr when it comes to that kind of thing, but it’s getting there.
What you don’t get on WordPress is as much of a community as Livejournal and Dreamwidth. There’s the Gravatar profile page and the comments and likes (you can even ‘like’ comments), but there aren’t any groups or communities. You can search WordPress for blogs about topics you’re interested in, but I must say it’s been difficult. The search doesn’t work that well. I have used ordinary search engines instead, and then you get all kinds of blogs, regardless of platform. But of course that doesn’t matter, you can still follow them through the blog reader, though you can’t ‘like’, reblog and comment inside the blog reader.
Gravatar
I thought I’d tell you about Gravatar, which is a really cool service from the owners of WordPress. Basically, you add your email addresses to a list and upload photos to match each one, depending on what photo or image you want to combine with each email address. Then when you sign up and get an account on any other site, you won’t have to upload a photo, one will be displayed for you. So if you never want a photo matched with one particular email address, don’t use it on Gravatar.
All this is quite useful, but that’s not all, you also get a profile page, where you can add your blogs, homepages, twitter, facebook, G+ or whatever you’re on. The websites part gives you an actual preview/thumbnail of your blog/homepage. ‘Verified services’ is exactly what it sounds like, you provide verification that it’s really you on Twitter etc. It’s very easy to do, as long as you’re logged into the service in the same web browser. You can also post a brief bio of yourself to go with the photo and the links.
There’s a similar service, not owned by Automattic, called About.me. It’s good, but I think I prefer Gravatar. If you’re on WordPress, you get that anyway. I signed up for About.me a year or so ago and forgot all about it for a long time, then rediscovered it. Basically it’s a business card. (Although it doesn’t have to have anything at all to do with your professional self. It’s up to you what you want to put on your page.) You just upload a photo that you own the rights to one way or another. That will be the background. (It’s the same on Gravatar). You also upload a photo/image of yourself (you can pick anything you like, again, it doesn’t have to be a selfie, unless you want to). Then you add links to your websites.
There’s a bit more social interaction here, since you can visit other people’s About pages and ‘Compliment’ them, and/or add them to lists – favorites or whatever you like.
Another concert
Tonight I went to another concert in Second Life. This time my mom went with me. It was a fundraising concert with Simon & Garfunkel songs. It was fun, though it took my mom ages to get online on the mini laptop. I will definitely keep going to these events.
More about my health
I thought I’d post another little fascinating update about my health.
After more trouble than I like to get into or even remember, about three weeks ago, I was finally put in touch with a doctor (on the phone, mind you, because these days we don’t get to meet doctors face to face). This is a thorough doctor who seems reliable, so that felt good. She prescribed medication for me and now I’ve been back for a checkup. I was actually doing better for the first time in quite a while.
Health wise, there’s more to do this year, but so far so good.
Soulwoven by Jeff Seymour
I recently read the fantasy novel Soulwoven by Jeff Seymour on Wattpad. It’s also available for Kindle and as a paperback from Amazon.
It was a fascinating, well written story, with a magic that I found interesting and different. The main characters were likeable and that’s very important to me. I’d love to read more by the same author. My one complaint is that I felt that there wasn’t complete closure at the end. The story left me with more questions than answers, but I understand there’s a sequel coming, that will probably take care of that problem.
Me and my avatar
Today, I was on a concert in the 3D world Metropolis. My avatar’s hair wasn’t rezzing, and I looked like a prisoner from a camp. It made me feel a bit embarrassed. A little later, I went to another concert in Second Life, and my mesh top wouldn’t rez. I felt embarrassed there too.
Funny how much you identify with your avatar. While I’m inworlds I AM my avatar.
The image is of me the way I look to myself. 🙂
The Only Gold by Tamara Allen
The Only Gold by Tamara Allen was a Kindle freebie that I downloaded last year (I think). It’s not free anymore, but it’s still only 3.74 (US dollars). I have so many books on my TBR list that I had forgotten what sort of book this was. The way it looks once I’ve started reading it, I can’t find the title or the author’s name. It took me a rather long while to figure out what this book was about. In other words, there was a bit of a slow start, but once I got into the book, I found it interesting and well written.
It’s the late 19th century. Jonah Woolner works at a bank in New York. He is content with his life until he’s passed over for a long-awaited promotion. Reid Hylliard shows up out of the blue and annoys Jonah with his charm. Eventually, Reid begins to win him over (as he’s done with everyone else at the bank). Then trouble strikes the bank and Jonah’s relationship with Reid is put under severe strain. Both their lives (and those of others) are threatened, not only the bank.
The fact that it is a slash story and a historic one as well, was a big plus for me. I don’t normally read pure romances – but in combination with historic and/or fantasy it usually works for me.
There’s quite a bit of action (and I mean action, not sex) in this story, but also, to be honest, gay sex, so if you don’t like that, don’t read. Otherwise, I can really recommend this book.
Booklikes, Libib, Leafmarks and more…
Booklikes
I was doing a little squeeing about LIbib a while back. I might as well have squeed (?) a bit about Booklikes as well, because that’s such a wonderful book community too. Everyone on my friend list probably knows about how I came to be looking for alternatives to Amazon-owned Goodreads (and likewise Amazon-owned Shelfari, and LibraryThing which isn’t owned by Amazon, as far as I know). I found several book communities but only these two feel like they’re really worth it.
Leafmarks
Actually, I’m also getting more and more fond of Leafmarks too, but it’s basically an ordinary book community, only a bit nicer than most.
Booklikes
Booklikes includes, apart from the usual, a Tumblr-like blog. At the time I signed up for Booklikes I was still on Tumblr (and on Livejournal) but shortly afterwards I was forced to leave. It was sad, because I’d been there for so many years, but I won’t compromise with my conscience so there was no question about leaving, I just had to do it.
So now at least I have my Booklikes blog (and of course Dreamwidth and WordPress, but people on my friends list must know that by now). Only a few days ago, there was a bit of uproar on the Booklikes site, because the people running the site had had to start putting ads on it. Most people were upset and were asking about adblocker (?) settings. I was just worried about the blog. After all, I can stand ads on the dashboard, but not on my own personal blog. Fortunately, I was reassured by one of the nice people who work there. They consider our blogs our personal area, and won’t use that for advertising. Naturally, they would have been well within their rights if they had, but I’m so very pleased they’ve promised they won’t put anything as ugly as an ad there.
Another thing that is nice about Booklikes is that you feel so close to the admins. If you have a problem or a suggestion, you can either chat with them, or send an offline message to them and they’ll reply to you very soon.
Libib
Libib is a bit different. You can write short comments on your books and post short messages, but my Libib account doesn’t include a blog. I don’t need another one anyway. The other day I sent in my suggestions for improvement on Libib (not that the site isn’t really great already). To my surprise only the day after, I received a polite and friendly email from one of the people behind Libib. The guy said that most of my suggestions were already on their way and that the only one that isn’t, is still being decided on and if it is approved, it will happen next year. I really hadn’t expected such a prompt reply, and it certainly doesn’t make me love Libib any less.
I must admit I love seeing my bookshelves on both sites. On my BL blog, there’s also a little shelf with my latest additions. It’s childish, I know, but I think it’s really cool.
Wattpad is another new acquaintance. Apparently, that’s where everything writing-related is happening these days. You can post both original fiction and fan fiction and you can also read lots of free books. Most people tend to publish novel-length stories, in chapters, but you can also publish shorter work. One thing that’s been stressing me out is that you need a cover for your books. Even the short stories and fan fics. It’s also a very nice feature. My stories look great with their new covers. I have decided to only post work I haven’t published anywhere else, except on my websites, so I have never needed covers for them before. So far I haven’t had any reviews or votes, but it’s fun just to know that my stories are on this site, which is visited by so many people.
It reminds me of AO3, where at least I’m getting kudos regularly, if not actual reviews.
One big advantage of all these sites except for Leafmarks (and even that, to some extent) is that you can add books in other languages than English, and post stories in other languages than English, if you should want to.
