New Year, A New Tradition?

Maybe. 

I read 48 books in 2020 and I set the same goal for me in 2021, but as in the last few years, I'm taking it very flexibly with potential adjustments as the year progresses. 

Nevertheless, I am very much in the reading mood right now, so much so I want to read ALL the books at once. 

Usually, when that happens, I can't decide which one to read, so I procrastinate and then choose a completely different one from those I initially crave and forget about them.

Hence, I though why not make a list? And why not make a list in a blog post on my book blog? Isn't it why it's here, even if little used in recent years? (Which would also take care of said little use.)

Therefore, this is not a January TBR, because that kind of pressure is usually counter-productive for me I'm posting a list of books I want to read, like, right now, but with no obligation or deadline of actually doing it, more like a checklist for myself. As if in a journal. Except that it's public. (For those 5 people that may still stalk this blog?)

I have The Star of Lancaster (Plantagenet Saga #11) by Jean Plaidy to finish.

Then there is the unholy trinity of smutty holiday novellas:

• My Dad's Best Friend (A Touch of Taboo #3) by Katee Robert
• A Winter Symphony by Tiffany Reisz
• When She Was Naughty by Tessa Dare

I want to do some rereads:

• Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) by Deborah Harkness, which I planned to do before S2 of the TV show and then got distracted and the show is returning within the week, but I think I should be able to manage 1/8 a week to keep in step
• I've been wanting to do an IAD series reread for a while now and what better time than a new year to start with A Hunger Like No Other (IAD #1) by Kresley Cole, although The Warlord Wants Forever is technically/chronologically the first, but I'll read that afterwards because it worked great in this order the first time around. 
• Angel's Blood (Guild Hunter #1) by Nalini Singh because after years of my incessant nagging my bestie is finally starting it (and I hope it lives up to my hyping it up) and I could use a refresher (not that it's any hardship ;))

I have two nonfiction/self-help books I want to slowly go through and hopefully find something useful for my depressed & anxious brain:

• Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life by Gary John Bishop
• Learn To Live: The Book That Can Change Your Life by Mats and Susan Billmark

And I also stumbled upon The Idea of You by Robinne Lee on New Year's Eve (because what else would I be doing then than adding new books to my TBR?) and it sounds so intriguing I want to start it right away.

I'll be crossing out the ones I finish (as you can see, I've already already done one since I started writing this post yesterday) and I might do more of this kind of posts when the need arises.

Less Reviewing, More Reading

What the title says. AKA my new-ish policy.

Because, honestly, does anyone even read my reviews? *shrugs*

And yes, I have said that the purpose of this blog is mostly as my personal notebook, so I don’t forget all about what I read. But in that case I may just as well jot down some notes in a Word doc I keep and keep it to myself.

With Goodreads having improved their features a lot since I started this blog, posting my thoughts there can serve for self-reminding and cataloguing purpose just as well. And takes far less time and effort, since it requires less styling both visually and content-wise. 

In particularly, time is the key word here.

I think reviewing has been one of the reasons for not reading much for the past two years. I have read a lot more this year when I stopped reviewing every single book. But I have come to a stall in the last two weeks again, and today here I am, having finished another book, contemplating how to review it – and the one that came before that… and I feel done.

In the time it takes to craft a review I could be reading (because that is the point, after all) or writing or doing any number of other things. So, that is what I will do from now on.

I don’t intend to abandon this blog, because it is a valuable archive of the past reads and reviews (not all of which are cross-posted elsewhere) and because I am sure there will come occasions when I will feel like writing a long thought-out review. But I will no longer feel guilty about not having reviewed whichever latest read and, therefore, postpone picking up the next one until I do so.

I will simply, rate it and/or put a few thoughts on GR and move on to the next bookish adventure. To many more of which I am looking forward.

Five for Five: Change

Change is good. Change brings progress. I know that. But –

I do not like change. Many people I know do not either.

Change means the unknown. If I do not know something, I have no control over it. Not knowing, not being in control signals vulnerability. Change means a risk of getting hurt. Nobody wants to get hurt. The possibly of it happening scares us. So, we fear changes.

Change does not have to be big to be scary. Just think about it. It can be something small, such as reading a book outside your comfort zone.

I read a wide variety of genres, but there are a few I prefer to the rest. Reading within my comfort zone is reassuring because I know what to expect and how to feel about it. Reading a new genre means I have to open my mind to accepting new concepts, readjusting my opinion, exploring my emotions, and testing my beliefs. All of it belongs to the area of the unknown. Hence, I need to be at my best to try reading outside my preferred genres.

Naturally, we can not and should not avoid all changes. We have to face some changes and let them make us better. The same goes for reading. Therefore, I pick up a new kind of read from time to time and let it teach me, change me, and improve me.

How about you? Would you agree that the fear of being hurt is the reason why people reject change? Are you afraid of change or do you welcome it as a chance of improvement? As for the reading part: do you find it hard to try reading outside your comfort zone? Does it matter how you feel when deciding to try something new or not?

Please, feel free to sound off your thoughts in the comments.

*****

Five for Five is a community event for bloggers hosted by Jen and Sarah at Momalom from April 23–27. As this is primarily a book blog, I will include bookish themes is some of my Five for Five posts this week. So, if you are my regular reader, please do not get scared away by the change (pun intended), I am not turning this blog upside down. And if you are new to Beyond Strange New Words, take a look around and feel welcome to visit again if you like what you see.

Learn more about Five for Five HERE and visit other participants’ posts HERE. 

Mood and Criticism

I have not been at my best lately, as you might already know if you follow my tweets. I am having some health problems in addition to the usual chronic health conditions, so my mood is swinging from not-so-good to very bad most of the time. But that’s not what I wanted to write about.

I have come to notice that when I read something in a bad mood I am much more critical than otherwise. I am more likely to notice mistakes and they seem less tolerable to me. I pay more attention to character flaws and/or plot holes. I am bothered by things that would not bother me (so much) otherwise. I do not laugh at things I would if I were in my normal or good mood.

So, you what do you think? Do you think a reader’s mood and criticism towards a certain book are connected? Have you noticed anything similar in your reading? Do you enjoy some books less when you fell unwell than you would otherwise?

I am very curious about your opinion. Feel welcome to sound off in the comments!

Just Some Thoughts

There are just some miscellaneous books and blogging related things that I want to share with you but they do not really belong in any other post, so here they are:

a)     Today I’m a guest at Library Mosaic: I’m playing the devil’s Damon’s advocate in Carla’s cool feature called Team Smackdown. She features a different team duel every week, this one is the third and there are plenty more on the list plus she is giving away some goodies. She could also use some help in defending different teams. So go check it out!

b)     I started The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by J. R. R. Tolkien yesterday. I skipped the foreword and introductory notes and went straight to the poetry, but I’m going to read those later on. I am making this the fourth book for the LOTR Read-Along hosted by Loren at The Story Girl instead of The Silmarillion. Though, I might still reread The Silmarillion as I love the book, but at the moment I just don’t feel like rereading it.

c)     I read Phantom, the eighth book in The Vampire Diaries series, on Sunday. I have the review ready for tomorrow, but there are two things I want to say about it that don’t belong into a review, so I’m saying them here.

Firstly, there is quite a campaign against this book as it is not written by L. J. Smith but by a ghost-writer. I had expressed my sympathies with L. J. Smith situation before and I stand by what I said (the unfairness and all). However, as Mrs. Smith herself said not to boycott the ghost-writer and as I wanted more of the story and characters, I read the book and I am glad I did (more in the actual review tomorrow).

Secondly, related to the issue above, I have seen lots of hate toward this book from the people who have not read it and only presume it would be bad. I’m happy I did not cave in under such opinions and checked out the book by myself. The lesson to be learned from this (considering any book): keep an open mind and check it out by yourself if you feel like it. You can still hate it later. But at least it will be your opinion, not someone else’s.

This is it. Enough of rambling. And thank you for reading! You are welcome to express any related or unrelated thoughts in the comments.

Bookie Brunch: Fantasy vs. Realism

Welcome to Bookie Brunch!
Founder: Sasha Soren (Random Magic)

Come join the discussion!

*Every Sunday*

Today’s host: Beyond Strange New Words (@StrangeNewWords)

Next week’s host: Story Wings (@StoryWings)

This week’s discussion is open through: July 31 - August 3

Your host this week:

Pepca at Beyond Strange New Words (@StrangeNewWords)

Her guests this week:

Christina at The Book Addict (@Christina_622)

Jodie at Books for Company (@BooksForCompany)

Sarah at Sarah Says Read (@SarahSaysRead)

Lorren at The Story Girl (Twitter: N/A)

The question under discussion: 

(suggested by your host)

People often tackle the issue of characters or plot being unrealistic or not possible in real life. Are you on
the-book-must-be-believable/realistic side or not? Why or why not?

Related topics to consider:

Do you prefer books with fantasy elements or books which stick to the world we know? Do you think it is important that contemporary literature remains true to life or do you welcome deviations from what would normally happen?

***

Christina, having Tazo passion tea lemonade, says:

***

Jodie, taking a sip of banana milkshake, says:

This is a tough question because l think it depends on a few things :

1 - My Mood : Sometimes l could literally read anything and it can be quite unrealistic but l still love it and other times any little thing which doesn't seem real can put me off a book. For example, l recently read The Iron King which l enjoyed but l did feel if l would have read it at the wrong time l probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much or at all. It totally depends!

2 - How It's Written - I think if the unrealistic side of the book is put across with realistic things then the parts which are unrealistic can become more realistic. For example if the plot of the book is very 'far fetched' but has strong characters alongside then plot then the characters can make everything feel much more real.

3 - A Mix - This kinda goes alongside the 'My Mood' category. I like both fantasy and also 'down to earth' books and if l read too much of one then l kinda get bored and fed up of it. I like to mainly read books which have a little bit of fantasy mixed with normal YA but sometimes l can read books where you really have to open up your mind to believe what your reading but l have to be in the right mood for this and not have read too many books like this recently. 

Overall l enjoy both sort of books and wouldn't be without them. The world would be rather boring if everything was like how it is now with nothing new from what we know. I like to be able to be taken into a new world where the author has used their imagination. But like l said, l like to limit myself to these sort of books and also read 'normal' books.

***

Sarah, sipping on a caramel iced cappuccino and enjoying a glazed donut with chocolate icing, says:

I don't think necessarily that books or plots need to be realistic. I love fantasy, sci-fi, and anything with a magical (or paranormal) twist to it. I can accept pretty much anything that happens along those lines because it's instantly explained by "Hey, it's magic." (Although trying to convince people that vampires sparkle is stretching it a little, but who am I to argue with an author's imagination?)

I DO think that characters need to be realistic. There are some books that I've heard such great things about, but I just find the main character to fake to concentrate. Besides the characters needing to be realistic, they need to behave realistically. I can totally accept magical happenings, paranormal creatures, and anything along those fantasy lines. I cannot accept when characters make decisions that I don't think are believable or realistic. A well-fleshed out character has a distinct personality about them - we as readers come to feel that we know a well-written character pretty well. So when they do something that seems to go completely against their nature and is in conflict with what we already know about them, it bugs me. Big time.

All that being said, I completely embrace the fantasy genre, and I welcome deviations from the "real world". It's interesting, imaginative, and there's SO much to explore and create once you've put magic into the equation. Anything can happen, and that's really exciting. Plus, I see a lot of the real world every day - we see it every time we take a walk, watch the news, go to work or school. I think that fantasy lets us imagine things differently - it gets our creative juices flowing, opens our minds to other possibilities, and allows us to escape the real world for a little while.

***

Lorren, taking a sip of double-strength herbal peach iced tea with a tiny bit of sugar, says:

I think for me, the importance of believability depends on which part of the story we are talking about. I love magical realism, where we are dealing with our present-day world but things behave in a magical or whimsical way. I love a hint of fantasy in a contemporary book. I also have always enjoyed fantasy and science fiction, although I read much less of it than I did in high school. However, if the characters are behaving in a way that is unrealistic, I am bothered, whether it occurs in a more realistic book or a fantasy book. I'm not talking about irrational behavior or quirkiness in a character - I think that might be much more true to life than a "normal" character. What bothers me is when characters don't act human (unless, of course, they aren't human, which is a completely different set of rules) or when events play out in a way that makes the story seem fake. I think this can happen in "realistic" or "fantasy" fiction.

***

Your host, Pepca, sipping sweet green tea with a splash of milk, says:

I am annoyed when someone complains that they do not like a book because it is not realistic. People, it is called fiction. It is supposed to differ from real life. I have enough reality around me all the time. I read to escape the reality for a while. Therefore, I like new and unexpected things in books. Fantasy and paranormal fiction is among my favourite genres. I am totally for the unrealistic side.

That being said, I do think a book must be believable within its own paradigm. Its setting, plot and characters have to be consistent with one another. The characters and the plot have to correspond to the rules by which the world set in a particular book operates. If trolls turn to stone in the sunlight, then there cannot be any trolls walking around during the day, right? Right.

The same goes for contemporary fiction. I like it when things turn out differently than expected, but they have to be likely to happen. I do not like too farfetched circumstances, such as a poor girl exploited as a mafia prostitute getting away with loads of dirty money, killing a few mobsters, and living happily every after. This kind of outcome is not much plausible. Such impossible contradictions to reality are not to my liking.

On the whole, I enjoy novelties and surprises and discovering new worlds entwined with fantasy and paranormal, provided that they function accordingly to their concept.

***

You’re invited! Visitors: Please share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section, so they can be included in the discussion. This is an active discussion through Wednesday, so feel free to stop by again later on.

About Bookie Brunch

Bookie Brunch is a weekly meet-up, held every Sunday, where book bloggers can have a cup of tea and chat about a particular bookie question of interest. The discussion is open from Sunday through Wednesday, and you’re welcome to drop by any time to add your opinion or read what other people have to say. This discussion is open as well to general readers or bloggers in a different field, authors, publishers and publicists.

Courtesy guidelines: Thank you for coming! All thoughtful comments will be considered and probably get a response from fellow bloggers. In fact, you’re encouraged to talk about it and share viewpoints or include links to relevant materials. We’d like everyone to have a nice time. Differing viewpoints are just fine, even if strongly expressed, but inflammatory or off-topic comments will be removed.

Find Bookie Brunch

This week (Today): Beyond Strange New Words (@StrangeNewWords

Next week (Upcoming Sunday): Story Wings (@StoryWings)

Contact Bookie Brunch

If you’d like to be a host/guest for an upcoming brunch: @StoryWings

If you’d like to bring goodies for a giveaway: @StoryWings

If you’d like to suggest a question: @LiederMadchen
If you’d like to browse all Bookie Brunch discussions (Archive): The Fluidity of Time

What do you think? Please feel free to join the discussion on this week’s question by commenting below.

What Makes a Poorly Written Book?

This weekend’s Book Blogger Hop question asked us what makes us keep reading a book or stop us from reading it. One of the reasons bloggers, including me, often mentioned was poor writing.

In comments to my answer Lisa of Lisa Loves Literature asked me this question: “What do you feel makes a poorly written book?” 

Now, Lisa mentions Twilight as one of the books people often consider poorly written. Like her, I must disagree with that. Just like her, I get sucked into the Twilight books every time I read them and find myself unable to put them down.

Therefore, I started thinking about how to answer Lisa’s question. Since it would make much too long a comment, I decided to dedicate it a post.

Now, bear in mind, even though I graduated in English, I do not consider myself being of any authority in the field, so this is just my personal opinion as an avid reader of what makes a poorly written book.

1)     Grammatical and spelling errors

This is self-explanatory. It is understandable if there is a typo or two. We are all humans and mishaps happen. However, when grammatical and spelling mistakes recur so often that they interfere with the reading process they cannot be overlooked.

2)     Confusing use of vocabulary and awkward sentences

It really makes it difficult to read when there are obviously misused words and the sentences are formed in such a way that you must read them twice to get the meaning. This has especially to do with the use of pronouns. It is very disturbing when you have to flip back and forth to figure who or what was meant by a particular pronoun.

For example: “He liked her sister but she didn’t know about it.” All right, I made up this sentence, but I read plenty of similar material, which takes you a page to figure which one was clueless – “she” or “her sister.”

3)     Incoherent transitions between P. O. V.-s and topics.

I love different P. O. V. -s and multiple topics/themes in a book if they are well organised and the transitions are natural. Jumping between P. O. V.-s and topics can be irritating.

For example: In the middle of a heated discussion between the policemen on the crime scene, there is a paragraph on the lead detective’s breakfast, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the discussion. Even if it is somehow important for the characterisation, there must be some better place to fit it in.

Considering all of the above, I would say that a poorly written book is a book where writing gets in the way of enjoying reading. I enjoy reading when I can read a book smoothly. Do not confuse it with the difficulty or quality of writing. I think both “easy” and “difficult" books can be equally enjoyed if the writing is good.

Let me give some examples. While many readers would agree Sookie Stackhouse series is an easy read with one main story arch, it is not easy when you have to flip back a page or two to figure out who said what or where something happened (see number two above – pronouns). Though I love the series, the writing is a little off at times (but this is a very mild case of writing problems).

Conversly, Random Magic by Sasha Soren (see my review) is an instance of a well-written book. It is a book with numerous topics, elaborate sentencing, countless references (they require quite some worldliness to appreciate them all), and beautiful language; and is a really enjoyable, smooth read you do not feel like putting down.

In the end, I will return to The Twilight Saga (see my review). Examining its writing, I cannot find anything of what I mentioned to make poor writing in it. Its grammar and spelling are good, the wording is not only appropriate but also rich, the text is coherent and transitions graceful; all of which make reading unforced and engaging.  

To conclude, I think good writing is such which enables the reader to enter the world it describes. If you imagine a book as a garden, the writing is the entrance door. If writing is good, you pass the door effortlessly, perhaps marvelling its intricate design, but then you take a stroll in the garden and enjoy it. In case of bad writing, the door to the garden is a plain iron framework; it is closed and you must strain to peek at the garden through the bars. 

How Twilight (Almost) Ruined Twilight for Me

Last week, the dark, cold winter made me want to read something dark and mysterious, and as I had been planning to do this for some time I decided to reread The Twilight Saga. Unexpectedly, although I should have been prepared for this, upon starting reading I was shocked by two things. Firstly, I was amazed to (re)discover how much the book is better than the films. And secondly, I was rather devastated by how seeing the films has ruined my reading experience.

Naturally, as an avid reader, I have always preferred book to film, because I have always gained much more from reading a book than watching a film. Considering The Twilight Saga, I somehow managed to forget that, so it was a surprise to me how much more the book offers. I read the books a few years ago and later I saw the three films. Nevertheless, rereading was almost as reading the books for the first time, (re)discovering details as well as the big picture. So, in this aspect, rereading surprised me in a positive way.

However, seeing the films I find it difficult rereading the books. I am the kind of a reader who can imagine what I read about very vividly and I sort of create my own film in my head while reading a book. This worked beautifully the first time I read The Twilight Saga. Now, after seeing the films, it literally saddened me that I am unable to recall my vision which was substituted by cinematic visualisation which is very difficult to block out.

Therefore, rereading The Twilight Saga for me is a struggle in which I’m trying to revive my previous experience. Yet, no matter how hard I try, success is only partial, that is why this rereading feels to me like mourning for the images which have been lost forever. At the same time, to my relief, it also feels like an adventure of hunting for forgotten treasures.

As I mentioned before I hadn’t expected seeing the films would have such a disturbing impact on my reading experience, because this rarely happens to me. This is why I started thinking about the reasons behind it. I believe the discrepancy of such proportions between reading the books and seeing the films occurs because of mis-targeting the films. The marketing has been launching the films as romance intended for teenage audience. But, in my opinion, the themes examined in The Twilight Saga demand viewers mature enough to comprehend the basic existential issues the Saga deals with.

All the same, I am still enjoying rereading The Twilight Saga. Rereading it, makes me remember again all the things it can be appreciated for (I wrote about that in The Twilight Saga and The Host by Stephenie Meyer). Despite everything, I’m still looking forward to the Breaking Dawn films; hopefully, they will bring a good conclusion to the Saga as far as cinematic adaptation is concerned. 

Snail Speed Reading

Lately, I have become very slow at reading; it drags and drags before I finish a book. So, I started thinking about how my reading habits have changed.

In my school days, not so long ago, and well trough university I used to read really fast. I usually read a book in one sitting. But, then I used to have three or four hours time a day I could afford to do nothing else but read.

At present, however, due to a lot of commitments and other interests besides reading, I am not able to read for hours. Naturally, I could read just a couple of pages a day for a quarter or half an hour, but I hate to start and stop reading somewhere in the middle. I like to “fall” into the book. I dislike reading little by little. One or two sittings are what I prefer or three or four if a book is very thick, and on consecutive days. I am really bothered if I cannot read a meaningful unit of a book, which means at least a chapter. Therefore, if I do not have enough time to read 50 or 60 pages, or to finish a chapter, I feel reluctant to even start. So, sometimes I do not read a page for days and my reading is progressing very slowly these days.

What about you? Do you like to read all at once and as fast as you can, or just little bits day by day?

Books and Moods

I am a person who reads a lot. I read a lot of different genres, too. But not any book is good for any mood. This is how it works for me.

If I am sad, I really must read romance. It just makes me feel better right away. This is also because when I am sad, I am also tired and my brain just cannot gather the strength to read a “difficult” text either in style or in topic. Besides, if I am sad I need some reassurance and what could be better than an almost prefect little world with a happy ending. An exception from the said is poetry. Some very deep, sad or existential poetry makes me cry and consoles me at the same time.

Next, when I am angry I like to read anything to do with history, from historical romance to non-fictional documentary texts about history. This includes reading about war, especially the Second World War. This kind of reading helps me channel my anger and frustration into the past, I guess, and helps me stop being angry at whatever upsets me in the present.

I read science-fiction and fantasy when I am full of energy or when I feel adventurous. I think it is because science fiction and fantasy actually make me travel into a whole other world and people tend to need energy for long-distance travels, don’t we?

Finally, I have to be in a really good mood and in a peaceful state of mind to read some “heavy” literature, such as classics, biographies or some profession-related literature. I believe the reason why I need to be happy and emotionally strong to read such a book is that one needs to be focused when reading such literature. Also, some content in this kind of literature can be very irritating and it is best that one is calm when reading it.

Naturally, I make exceptions occasionally. I read a war novel when I am sad or a romance when I feel adventurous, etc., but generally I read according to what is written above. So, what about you? Does your reading of a particular genre depend on your mood or not?