Armchair BEA: Blogging About Blogging

Dear Blog,

The last day of Armchair BEA (Alas). Today's the day of the Book Blogger Convention in New York, so the focus of the Armchair BEA posts today is focused on the blog part of book blog.

I thought today I would take a  few of the questions in the link-up post and answer them myself.
Note: I'm sat in an armchair today.  Whooo.

Oh, before I start: Sorry I missed out on yesterday's post.  I was kind of too busy to think about blogging yesterday, what with lots of Russian homework, various musical escapades and the fact that I was entirely engrossed in reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
So, anyway.

Create a "rule list" of things you should and shouldn't be doing on a book blog.  

• Be yourself.  That's the best thing you can do.  I'd rather read a blog where the writer sounds at ease with themselves and their audience than someone who tries to be overly uptight and takes themselves entirely seriously. Blogging is meant to be fun. 
• Don't feel like you have to post every day.  Post when you have something to say. Though it's true you should post regularly because otherwise you'll lose interest from your readers, I'm less inclined to read a blog that's updated every day when it doesn't really need to be. 
• When talking to other people in the literary and publishing worlds, be polite.  Bloggers/authors/publishers are friends. Not food. 
• As for blog design: I know I'm not the only blogger who dislikes music players on blogs.  I'm also not the only one who feels put off from things like glittery text and a black background with bright text.  Make sure your blog is easy to read in terms of layout and format as well as content.
• Be honest. Yes there is a way of being honest without being mean.
• Don't forget to be awesome.  There's no need to be shy (*cough*likeme*spluttercough*) when the blogosphere is such a fantastic place. 

What are your tips for balance life and blogging?    There are, alas, some things that take priority over blogging  for me (schoolwork, music practise, etc).  I try and do three book reviews a week, but it changes depending on what else I've got on that week and how much I've read.  One thing I would suggest, though, is to read a few books, write a review as usual and then just save it, so that you can just post at those times when you haven't read any new books.

What genre do you blog about and why? My blog's a bit of a weird mix at the moment; probably about 70% young adult fiction and 30% classics/literary fiction.  Doing the Foreign Language Friday series has really got me into some more adult books I might not have found otherwise if I hadn't been purposefully searching for some good translated fiction.

How do you keep your blog fresh and interesting to your readers & yourself? This is something I'm struggling with at the moment, actually, and I'd totally appreciate suggestions.  I don't feel bored with what I'm doing at the moment: I'm quite happy rambling on in my way talking about books as I do. After all, it's what I'm here for.  But it would be better, certainly, if my blogging life had more variety to it.

So, there you go.  What about you?  Have you got any essential blogging tips?  How do you manage to keep your blog consistently interesting? 

Armchair BEA Interview: Gwen @ Chew And Digest Books

Dear Blog,
Today's  Armchair BEA topic/event is interviewing:  I interviewed  Gwen over at  Chew And Digest Books. 
She mostly reviews nonfiction on her blog, and says that she dreams that "one day, people would stop turning up their nose at nonfiction and finally embrace the goodness that those treasured pages contain."
I've only ever interviewed one other blogger before, and that was for last year's interview, so forgive me for being slightly nervous.

What originally drew you to book blogging, and what are your favourite things about it? I started blogging about relationships in 2006 and I was already reviewing books on other more general sites and a couple of print publications. One day in 2008, it hit me, wouldn't it be nice to have just one place where I could find all of my reviews? I didn't even know there were other book bloggers out there for quite a while.
Once I found the whole book blogging community I was amazed. There were other people out there, just like me, who still read constantly and liked to talk about books! Even better, they were really involved in building a community. In my off-line life, I just never came across people that read for pleasure and I felt like I finally found my people.

What book are you reading at the moment? Thoughts so far? I am reading a biography of Fredrick Law Olmsted by Justin Martin, called Genius of Place. Most people know that Olmsted is the man that designed Central Park, but he did so much more! He was a sailor and went to China, a farmer, a reporter that chronicled life in the south before the Civil War, etc. I get excited when a biography really immerses me in the period that a person lived, not just their life in it. Justin Martin has already made me look at the pre-war South in a whole new way and I am not even halfway through yet.

If you could have dinner with any four people, living or dead, who would they be?Tough question and I am sure if you asked me tomorrow, I would give you another answer....
Edgar Allan Poe. He was the man when I was a teenager and his work and life story continues to touch me so many years later. Most likely, because we dealt with/deal with depression.
Ronald Reagan. He was the President of my childhood and later, he was suffering from Alzheimer's, the disease that took my grandfather from me. I would love to have an unscripted conversation with him. There are times that it was hard to know if he really felt what he was saying or if he just thought it was the right thing to say at the time.
Erik Larson. The author of The Devil in the White City, Issac's Storm, Thunderstruck, and now In the Garden of Beasts. I cannot think of one other non-fiction author that has the ability to tell a factual story in such a way that you lose yourself in it. Every time I read his work, I am amazed to find myself unable to put the book down because I want to know how it turns out. The thing is, since it is non-fiction, we already know how it turns out, but he has a way of making it come alive.
Frank Lloyd Wright. The architect of some of my favorite buildings. Much that I have read about him makes me seem like a great man ahead of his time or a completely unlikeable selfish person, or both. I find myself wondering if I would have had the "right stuff" to work under him as I walk around his homes and buildings. Last year, walking around Taleisin West, I pondered applying for their Masters program, but the thought of living in a tent in the Arizona heat was a bit much for me.

What are your three favourite fictional novels? Last year, I bought 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, so I have been on a classics kick as I trudge through that list. I loved the emotions I felt when I read Howard's End by E.M. Forster and Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. In both, I just wanted to shake the main characters and say take control of your lives, say what you really think!

What are your three favourite non-fiction books?
Anything by Erik Larson and I read a great memoir by Emily Plaicdo last year called Julita's Sands. Total tear-jerker about her relationship with her mother later in life. Think The Notebook, but about a mother-daughter relationship.

Pancakes or Waffles?
If I am not the cook? Waffles with strawberries and Cool Whip.

Do you read much poetry? If you do, what's your favourite poem?
I don't read current poetry, but do find solace in some of the old poems. Poe stand out with Alone.   I have often felt like an outsider.
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.

When you're not reading, what are some of your other hobbies?  Currently, I am going through a major health issue, so most of my hobbies have taken a back seat to ovarian cancer. I like to paint, garden, cook, sew, and refinish furniture when I am running at 100%. This year it has been about keeping my proverbial head above water with freelance writing assignments, school, and two blogs when I am up to it.


Well, there you go.  Thank you, Gwen! 

Armchair BEA: Best of 2011 [so far]

Dear Blog,

so, today's Armchair BEA topic is your favourite books read in 2011 so far.

A lot of the books I've read in the last few months have been pretty awesome, so this hasn't  been a very easy list to make.  I tried my best.

Oh, and another slightly-relevant note: I have access to wi-fi today, which means I am in fact spending day two of Armchair BEA sat on a sofa.  Not quite an armchair, alas, but the power lead to my laptop won't stretch to the armchair. 

 This is All by Aidan Chambers

Even though I'm not making this list in any kind of order, I believe it should go at the top.  This book.... I have no words. I love it I love it I love it.  All of you have to go and buy a copy this very instant and sit down and read it all in one go even though it's insanely long. That's why it's so good.   *flails*

After Dark or South of The Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami is turning out to be one of my favourite authors.  He just creates characters that are so real and ordinary and throws them into the surreal, and the results are absolutely fantastic. 

Anthem by Ayn Rand

Yeah, I know, Ayn Rand was pretentious and  her characters are varying degrees of hero depending on how much they comply with her beliefs, but philosophy intrigues me and dammit she does tell a good story.   I came about Anthem because it's set in a dystopian-type world à la We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, and original perceptions of the future of humankind make me a very happy bookworm.  Speaking of which; We holds a similar place on this list. 

Pink by Lili Wilkinson

There's lots of LGBTQ fiction about characters who are in the process of coming out, and while I still think it's entirely awesome that fiction with gay protagonists is more available these days, it's kind of refreshing to read a book like Pink, where the main character has a long-term girlfriend and is actually wondering whether they're not gay. This probably sounds really corny, but it's a celebration of identity and love and being yourself.  Proper review to come.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

I have much, much love for Ellen Hopkins. There are a lot of writers aspire to write books that are entirely *edgy* in a forceful way, like that's the only way a YA writer could sell. And it's entirely true that her books, of which I've read four, are entirely dark and not for the faint-hearted, she seems to write about them in such an effortless, flowing way. Impulse is no different.  It's dark and twisted but in an utterly compelling sort of way, and the voices of her characters could totally resonate with anyone.

So, there you go.  They're among the best books I've read in the last five months; We'll see about the rest of the year.



Armchair BEA: So Who Am I, Anyway?

Dear blog,*

So, like last year, for all the bloggers who can't make it to New York City for the Book Expo America and the Book Blogger Convention, Armchair BEA exists. Alas live in England, I'm entirely poor and am legally a minor, which means my chances of going to New York in the near future are as big as, uh, something very small. 

Still, that doesn't mean I can't join in the fun to be had in cyberspace. 

 The question/post theme for today is "Who are you and how do you Armchair?"   So I guess I'll tell you a bit about myself, but be warned: I find talking about myself entirely awkward.

My name's Tesni.  I live in south-west England, where I spend my days driving tractors, shouting at trespassers and talking like Samwise Gamgee. 

If that isn't a good enough explanation, if perhaps you find it too stereotyped or suspect it's possibly not true, here are ten facts about me:

1. As you might expect, I read a lot. Young Adult fiction is mostly my thing, as long as there are no vampires/werewolves/angels or anything.  But at the moment I read a lot of literary fiction, and books by people like Irène Némirovsky, Anaïs Nin, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Ayn Rand etc.
2. I play the classical guitar and double bass.  And sing.
3. I'm also a laughable attempt at a pianist.

4. I'm trying to finish a novel at the moment.  Described by someone on Inkpop as "Bookception.", id est, a story within a story O.o 

5. Я изучаю русский и также немецкий.

6. I like photography.
7. I'm so bad at maths it's not even funny.
8. I love watching films, even though I haven't seen one in English for a couple of months. Most of the films I watch are subtitled, black and white or best of all both.
9. I will love you forever if you can name all five of the Moguchaya Kuchka.
10. I have run out of interesting things to say about myself.

As for How Do You Armchair,  I'll mostly be spending Armchair BEA sat on a hard dining-table chair at a desk, alas, unless I can access wi-fi,  at which point I shall be hiding in my evil cave  bedroom. And as I blog I'll be listening to everything from Edward Elgar to Seabear to Hoven Droven.
  Let the fun begin.

*note for Armchair BEA newcomers to the blog: Yeah, I always start posts like this.  It's something I first started doing on my first ever blog a few years ago, and it's kind of stuck ever since. 

In My Mailbox 24

Dear blog,
IMM is hosted, as ever, by Kristi over at The Story Siren.
This week I got way more books than I actually needed to, because I own so many books that I haven't  actually read yet.  I really need to stop going to the library until I've gotten through some of them.

BOUGHT

Collected Poems by John Betjeman

An anthology of Yeats poetry that doesn't actually have a title...

FROM THE LIBRARY

Molloy by Samuel Beckett

Tokyo by Graham Marks

After Dark by Haruki Murakami (read.  *fangirl flail*) 

Under a Glass Bell by Anaïs Nin  (read. Really interesting, if not slightly pretentious)

So, there you go. How was your bookish wek?