What Makes a Good Ebook? | Author -Carole Parkes
Ask anyone that question, and they’ll probably give you an answer based on plot, characters, flow, grammar, or presentation. Each reader will expect to read, in their view, a perfect ebook, and this is where the problem of defining whether it’s good or not, lies. The book loving population is huge. Each reader is different from another, all of them unique, and everyone with their own distinct view of what makes a good book. I believe, the perceived quality of a book depends just as much on the perceptions of the reader as on the prowess of the author.
Read more here.
William Gillette: Five ways he transformed how Sherlock Holmes looks and talks
A 1916 silent movie featuring Sherlock Holmes – long presumed lost – is due to have its premiere in Paris. It stars a man who changed the way we see Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth forever.
He was the first great Sherlock Holmes. But few will have heard of US actor William Gillette.
Read more here.
An interesting day
Yesterday was a rather interesting day. I don’t mean that the snow had melted after New Year’s Eve, which it had and which I loved. Some not so nice things had happened lately too – but fortunately not to me or my family or anywhere near here.
A relatively famous popular historian (real, academic historian, but with a big popular following) had written an editorial piece for one of our biggest (conservative) newspapers about how immigration can be an asset, not a drain on our resources. Immediately after the piece had been published, he’d been hit really hard by internet hatred. I happen to know that he has been bullied in the past, and this must have been rather traumatic for him, but he decided to post about it on his History Blog in the same newspaper, and that’s where I read about it. He claims not to be scared and will continue to stand up for what he believes in.
Since I have enjoyed numerous fantastic books by him, a tv show about history, a ‘live’ lecture by him as well as many fascinating blog posts, I decided to email him to show my support. Very soon afterwards I received an email in reply where he said that emails like mine make him realize the world is a lot better than it’s seemed lately, in his inbox. It was very nice of him to reply although I know he tends to do that, since I’ve emailed him twice before and asked for blog posts about different interesting historic topics and he’s always posted about those topics almost right away.
All this was nice enough, but also on the same day, I read a blog post by an author whose first two (fantasy) books I’ve read and enjoyed, where she talked about her writing and book related plans for the year and asked her readers for our plans. I decided to dare to reply and before the end of the evening I got a very nice reply where she thanked me for my well-wishes and in return wished me luck with my writing. I’d never imagined this woman who is sort of famous in Swedish writing circles would be so nice.
It’s not the first time though, that authors I admire have been nice and replied to my comments on their blogs.
A writer of historic romance even found my blog and commented (another blog than the one I’d posted my review on) and added it to her links list.
A science fiction writer and I even had a long conversation about his books in the comment fields on his page on Goodreads.
Another sf writer didn’t reply for nearly a year so I assumed he didn’t check that blog or had decided not to reply to any comments, but then suddenly I received a very polite reply.
A fantasy writer of two books I really loved, also replied politely and told me he had an idea for a sequel but that other projects had come up instead.
I guess that’s it, but it’s unusual for me to have such nice things happening to me. Maybe it’s a good omen for the new year.
The Castle of Otranto: The creepy tale that launched gothic fiction
Tragic tales of doomed romance and supernatural horror, often set in baroque castles, have thrilled readers for centuries. But many modern-day fans of gothic literature may not be familiar with the 18th Century novel that inspired the genre
Read more here.
Something nice and unexpected
A funny thing happened the other day. Well it wasn’t funny as in ‘laugh out loud’, but it was nice and unexpected. Apparently, it was the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day. To celebrate that, LibraryThing (a book community I had more or less left a couple of years ago, because the highest number of books you’re allowed to add is just 200, unless you want to upgrade), had arranged a treasure hunt.
There were ten treasures hidden on the LibraryThing website and if we, the enthusiastic treasure hunters, found (solved a puzzle) a certain number of them, we’d be given a free lifetime membership (upgraded). To cut to the chase, I was able to find the six (out of ten) treasures that entitled me to a free upgrade.
I kind of like LibraryThing, because, unlike many other book communities, it will allow me to add non-English books to my shelves. Which is kind of a necessity. At least it’s a very nice feature.
So now I’m back on LibraryThing, feeling quite happy about the whole thing.
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.
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.
Ten Characters I’d Want On a Desert Island With Me
I found this meme here and I thought I’d try to do it too. It won’t look as pretty here, but I’d like to have a go anyway.
Gandalf (Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkien) – it’s good to be prepared for all eventualities
Sabriel (Abhorsen series, Garth Nix) – see above
Tigger (Winnie the Pooh, A A Milne) – someone to hug
Howl (Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones) – again, it’s good to be prepared
Ged/Sparrowhawk (A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K LeGuin) – see above again
Bix (Dinotopia, James Gurney) – because I think Bix would be nice company
Serafina Florio (Serafina Florio mysteries, Susan Russo Anderson) – in case I went into labour or there was a murder to solve
Diverus (Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet, Gregory Frost) – some music would be great
Percy, The Scarlet Pimpernel (The Scarlet Pimpernel, Emmuska (Baroness) Orczy) – this guy is probably prepared for all eventualities and probably hot too, as well as well behaved and chivalrous, so nice company
Tristan Farnon (All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot) – cute guy, who can take care of my four-legged kids, if they were there with me
Book meme
I found this book/reading meme on WordPress.com and I thought I’d try it here.
You just answer these three questions on your own blog:
What are you reading right now? K D Nelson Folds of the Script – a science fiction novel from Amazon on my Kindle.
What did you just finish reading? Lady of the Moon by Mary Gillgannon (from Smashwords).
What do you think you’re going to read next? A Swedish children’s book by author Ingelin Angerborn (“Heart of Dust”)
Smashwords and ebooks
For a number of reasons, I haven’t had anything to read for weeks. One is that something seems to be wrong with all my library card numbers (and my sister’s and my mom’s). When I try to download an ebook, I get an error message, saying the number is wrong – and I know for a fact that none of them are. At the moment, I can’t afford to buy any new ones either. I prefer not to borrow any physical copies anymore. One reason is that once when I was about ten, I returned a school library book and the teacher who worked as a librarian (but most likely wasn’t) tossed that particular book into a basket to mend it and forgot about it. Then I was told I hadn’t returned the book and that if I didn’t I’d have to pay for it. In the end the book was found, but since then I’ve never really liked to check out printed books.
Then my Kindle Touch was updated (Amazon never or warned me beforehand so I wasn’t prepared for it), which was taking an extremely long time. Anyway, to finally get to the point, I have now downloaded several books from Smashwords and will start reading on both my ereaders (I also have a Cybook Odyssey). I’ll even read a few Wattpad stories on my old iPod Touch, but I must say that the first story doesn’t seem to be very good.
