Wednesday, April 23, 2008

What does a book blogger love more than anything?

Today I received my first two review copies of books! I can't even begin to tell you how super excited I am about this. There really isn't anything a book blogger loves more than free books. The only bad news is, now I have even more reading to do, and I should probably get it done sooner than later, considering the two books are coming out soon.

In case you're wondering, the two books are first, He Loves Me, He loves Me Not by Trish Ryan. I won this book from her blog, which you can read here. The book will be released for sale on April 30. I'll certainly try my best to get the review done by then. I think I'll take it with me on my plane ride to Utah. That should make the time pass quickly. Oh, and here's a short description of the book from Publisher's Weekly: "Ryan’s winsome memoir and writing debut traces her desperate search for a man — specifically a husband — and for a spirituality that works for her… Ryan is eminently likeable and vulnerable, and her sharp writing will appeal to faithful and irreverent readers alike."

The second book I received is Why the Wind Blows: A History of Weather and Global Warming by Matthys Levy. I think the title does a pretty good job of describing what this book is about. One thing I already like about the book is the graphs and pictures I saw as I was flipping through the book. Too often I get these nonfiction books with tons of scientific references that go WAY over my head without any graphics for me to reference and help me better understand what the heck they're talking about. I'm definitely looking forward to this one.

Oh, and the best news of all is I might finally do my first author interviews as a book blogger! I'm so excited that this is all really starting to come together ... Now if I could just get more people interested in my online book club I'd be totally stoked (Ahem!).

9 comments:

LisaMM said...

I love free books!! I get a lot of them. I'm reading one right now that was sent by a publisher and it's terrible!! They want the review by May 1st. I'm not sure what to do--tell them all the ways in which it was really really bad? Or tell them that they probably don't want me to review it after all because they won't like what I have to say? It's a dilemma.

Becca said...

Lisa: That's a tough one. However, I think we can't all like every book AND the reason people read book review blogs (at least the reason I read them) is because I can expect an honest review of the book. One of my friends worked as a reviewer at a big newspaper and they weren't allowed to write anything really negative about the books. After she told me that I never trusted print reviews again.

Let me know what you decide to do, and how it works out. I'd love to know how you solve this one.

Anonymous said...

Hi ladies! I just had to chime in on this one! I know that I always expect honesty from my reviewers. That being said, I think the best reviews are those that balance what worked 'for you' with what didn't. It's the 'for you' part that is important. Anyone who cares about books knows that we all go into reading with our own personal tastes and experiences and that should absolutely be reflected in your review. If you really do not feel you can write that type of review, don't be afraid to tell the publisher! You can just tell them that 'you are happy to write the review per your agreement, but it will not be positive, would they like you to proceed?' I know I appreciate the feedback from reviewers if they change their mind. It helps me do my job better if I know what works for you, what doesn't, and helps me determine where to pitch the book in the future!

Sorry, I ramble! :-)
~Lisa Roe

LisaMM said...

Good advice, Lisa. And for the record, I'm not talking about the book you sent to me :-) The one I am referring to has THE dumbest dialogue ever, characters that are mere sketches and total stereotypes.. it's just so poorly written I don't know what I'd say worked "for me".

Becca, that surprises me. I guess I thought reviewers in print would be allowed and expected to voice their honest opinions.

LisaMM said...

Hi again, Becca.. just a quick question.. the "book club" link in the body of this post and in your sidebar links to a book called, "I Don't Want To Join A Book Club". I assume that's intentional since it's that way in two places! I expected it to link to information about your online book club. Where can I find out about your online book club? (Info about how it works, how books are selected, when discussions take place, etc.) Thanks!

Becca said...

LisaMM: Holy cow! I didn't put that link in there. I guess I had an option checked that automatically picked out key words and linked to ads for it. I took it out now.

You can read my sidebar about the online book club. Essentially we pick a book each month. I write a review on it and everyone chimes in on the comment section. Also, I hold a meeting each month here in Sacramento, but so far we're pretty small. :-)

LisaMM said...

LOL I thought that was a little weird!

HOw and when do you select books to read?

Becca said...

Hi Lisa,

You can send book suggestions to my email (bexadler at yahoo dot com) or leave suggestions on the comment board. I pick a new book on the first of the month and do the review on the last day of the month. I thought it would be fun to have a bunch of people reading the same book so we can all give our opinions about it. My first post about it is here: http://www.theinsidecover.com/2008/02/introducing-februarys-book-of-month.html

I don't know if that helps, but I hope it does. I'll try to figure out how to make an extra page on here and try to link to a special "book club" page. :-)

And thanks for your comments. They really help me to think this stuff out more.

Kim L said...

I love getting free books! I think I jumped in a little fast because I've got more books that I can possibly read now.