Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2010 - My Post for the Categories

Well, it's that time again - time for Book Blogger Appreciation Week, where all types of bookworms with access to reliable internet come together to celebrate the joy of reading. This year, registrants can nominate themselves for categories, so, similar to last year, I am nominating myself for Best Romance Book Blog in the Niche Category, and Best Written Book Blog in the Featured Category. I have to admit to being a little disappointed that there's no Funniest Book Blog Category this year - I guess because humour is so subjective? I dunno, I love reading hilarious reviews as much as I love writing them.

Anyhoo, as part of my nomination, I have to make a blog post with the five posts I'll be submitting for each category that best represents the Best Romance and the Best Written. Three have to be reviews, descriptions, or an analysis of a specific title, and the other two are up to me.

Without further ado:
Five Posts for the Best Romance Book Blog Niche Category:
1. "Dreaming of You," by Lisa Kleypas (review)
2. "In For a Penny," by Rose Lerner (review)
3. "Immortal Warrior," by Lisa Hendrix (review)
4. History Vs. Romance - "The Duchess" (commentary)
5. "Going Too Far," by Jennifer Echols (review)

Five Posts for the Best Written Book Blog Featured Category:
1. Miss Manners Vs. AnimeJune (rant)
2. AnimeJune's Guide to Exploiting the Dead For Fun and Profit (rant)
3. "A Certain Wolfish Charm," by Lydia Dare (review)
4. "The Wild Road," by Marjorie Liu (review)
5. "One Week as Lovers," by Victoria Dahl (review)

Enjoy! And wish me luck!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Day Five

What do you MEAN they haven't announced Best Romance Blog yet?? What am I supposed to do with this post?

Oh, tell people what I love best about my blog, in 50 words or less? As wordy as I usually am, I only need three:

My review format.

As regular readers know, my reviews for the last two years have a specific format. While I've tweaked it a bit over the months (adding the Alternate Title for laughs), I've generally remained the same. If you look into my older archives when I was just starting out my blog in 2004-2006, you can see that I had a really, really loose way of reviewing things (I briefly had a Crush du Jour rating which I jettisoned because it used too many images and made no sense).

But my review format really reflects myself as a reader. You'll notice I start out with a break-down of the hero and heroine and the main problems that keep them apart, then I have a funny little synopsis of the plot and the romantic conventions, and then a lengthier, in-depth review of the book as a whole.

Whenever I remember a romance I read, I always remember the characters first. Romance is generally more character-driven than plot driven - a lot of plots are really similar (I stand by my belief that Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels and Celeste Bradley's The Duke Next Door have the same plot - although Lord of Scoundrels is by far the better book), but it's always the characters who stand out to me.

There are, in fact, many romances that have silly plots but are redeemed by loveable, empathetic characters, which is why all my reviews have a silly plot breakdown but can still be favourite reads.

But I like to go in-depth about what I care about, so after my plot descriptions and romance conventions I do a detailed review as well. There's nothing I hate worse than a review that states an opinion and doesn't back it up with an explanation. Sometimes this involves plot spoilers (in my review of Teresa Medeiros' Yours Until Dawn, I needed to spoil the ending because it was the ending that ultimately decided my review grade).

So, as you can see, I love my review format because it fits the kind of reader I am, and what my priorities are when I read. As well, the break-down format also forces me to analyse a lot of what I've read in hindsight, which helps me understand the books even more after I've read them.

Now, my task for BBAW today is also to describe in 50 words or less where I'd like my blog to be next year. Hmmm, that's a tough question. I like routines and schedules. I'm not really a fond-of-change person.

I think what I'd like to be next year is a blogger who has a more regular schedule. Right now, I read whenever I can and review whenever I'm finished, so that means reviews can be anything from two days to two weeks apart, because I have a 3-romance books, 1-regular fiction book reading habit. I guess I'd like to be a faster reader so I can get you guys funny reviews faster, but how I'll accomplish that is anyone's guess.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Day Four

Okay, so for Day Four of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, my task is to talk about a favourite book of mine that I never would have found without the recommendation of another book blogger. I've frequently received comments on Gossamer Obsessions from people saying, "Wow, I have to try this book now" or "I read this and loved it, thanks" after reading my reviews, and this swells my dear bookworm's heart to uncomfortably large proportions, really it does.

But once, I was a romance newbie. The first book blog I can remember reading was Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels - this was waaaay back in 2006-2007, before they shortened their name to Smart Bitches, Trashy Novels. To this day I still can't remember how I found this blog in the first place, but the beautiful site design caught me (yes, I'm shallow and like bright colours and shiny things), and I started reading their posts.

I'd never read romances before that. I was strictly a sword-and-sorcery gal, avidly chewing my way through door-stopper fantasy trilogies by Tad Williams, Kate Elliott and Robin Hobb. I wasn't an opponent of romance - rather, I was oblivious to it. I didn't care one way or the other. Most of my favourite heroines fell in love with men who died (or fell in love with Death, as in Tanya Huff's marvellous Wizard of the Grove duology), or red-headed beanpole scullery boys who turned out to be secret kings (such as in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series), or two men at once (in Mickey Zucker Reichert's Beyond Ragnarok books our heroine's love triangle is only further complicated when she sleeps with two dudes and gives birth to BOTH of their sons AT THE SAME TIME, FO REALS).

The romance in my favourite fantasy books was the tasty french fries that came with the meaty steak-sandwich of the plot - it flavoured the story, but it wasn't the whole deal. There were evil uncles to kill and magical ships to captain and talking wolves to befriend. I couldn't understand how a plot could be interesting if it didn't have a giant monster to kill in it.

But I read the Smart Bitches' posts anyway, and they were hilarious. They fiercely defended the honour of Good Romance (Kinsale and Kleypas and Crusie), but holy crap when a romance was bad they would beat the everlovin' literary shit out of it (one of their DNFs was a Fern Michaels book - why oh why didn't I listen??). I was intrigued by some of their reviews, but, hey, none of them had dragons in them. Nothing to get too excited about.

However, thanks to their effusive and witty reviews, in 2007 when I went on a bookrun, I decided to pick up a copy of one of the books they recommended the most highly: Bet Me, by Jennifer Crusie. Since I was a university English major at the time, it went at the bottom of my TBR because I had course reading. When I finished reading all the books on my reading list, I decided that after a year of reading heavier works like Samuel Beckett's Malloy (a DNF), Mary Barton and Diamond Grill, I was eager to relax and read something fun.

So I picked up Bet Me.

Frankly, I think I'm way overdue for a re-read (and re-review!) of Bet Me because it is a fabulous book, and one that quickly got me hooked on romance. We have a heroine who is plus sized, wears terrible clothes, and has a CRAY-ZAY mother. We have a hero who is hot, dyslexic, and gets horny watching women eat good food. We have a delusional psychologist ex, a crazy cat, a cheesy Disney snowglobe, delicious chicken marsala, and great shoes. We have a delightful sex scene that involves bondage and donuts.

On top of the madcap craziness, however, we have two characters who are very sympathetic and real. We have villains with motivation who aren't necessarily bad people - just the wrong people. We have a plot that begins with a gimmick (a drunken bet) that doesn't become a contrivance for the whole novel. And I discovered that I don't need an epic quest or a magical sword to be entertained.

I discovered a similar thread in the fantasies I read as well as the romances I started to devour: I like characters. I loved Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies because the protagonist Fitz is an empathetic hero who faces real problems (self-doubt, loneliness, a need to belong) along with his psychic powers and the aforementioned evil uncle. I rooted for Simon in Tad William's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series because underneath the armour and the hasty knighthood is an uncertain 16-year-old boy who rarely has an idea of what the fuck's going on but will try to do the right thing anyway. I adored Alanna in Tamora Pierce's Lioness Rampant series because she was a strong character with realistic motivations in an unrealistic, magical world.

Similarly, I grew impatient with fantasies like Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince trilogy because the characters didn't make sense or make human decisions - the series had all the magic and bombastic special effects but the characters were propelled by the plots and didn't behave like real people.

I don't think reading Bet Me changed me as a reader. Instead, it helped me better identify what kind of a reader I was. I'm character-driven, and most romances tend to be character-driven stories. I don't think I would have found this out about myself without the help of the Smart Bitches.

Thank you, Sarah and Candy!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Day Three

So, at the time I am writing this, the Best Romance Blog has not been announced yet, but no matter! I recently found out that Online College.org's blog posted a top 100 list of Best Book Blogs and guess who's #72! Of course, the number doesn't determine the worth (all the blogs are organized by category - and the General Review Blogs are first), but still! You'll notice that Babbling About Books and the Book Smugglers also made the list.

Back to Book Blogger Appreciation Week, today we have a meme! Questions are in bold.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favourite reading snacks?
I don't snack while I read, usually. However, I always read during breakfast, sometimes during lunch, and occasionally during dinner if I'm by myself (which usually means just a sandwich or an omelette before I hop off to work a night shift).

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Oh, it horrifies me. Back when my generous mum and dad bought my books new, I'd always be very particular about taking care of them. Creased spines? Oh no! Bent covers - a tragedy! Now that I buy my own books and I'm incredibly cheap, I don't care so much as long as I can get a book for the least amount of money, so I don't mind the older books I get at library sales or used book stores, but I still don't mark pages. And when it comes right down to it - I usually don't need to. I have a selective memory, but I tend to always remember (sometimes down to the page number) what I read.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?
Bookmarks. Always bookmarks. Again, I don't dog-ear pages (book abuuuuuse!), and besides, I brought home, like, 65 bookmarks from RWA Nationals so I can use a new one every time!

Laying the book flat open?
Hardcover or trade paperback, yes (great for when I'm eating messy/sticky foods and can't touch the pages). Mass market paperback, no (creased spines! The HORROR!).

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
I pretty much read 99.9% fiction. I read some interesting non-fiction in university, but right now all I have on my TBR are fiction reads. I think if I ever do get into non-fiction it will probably be biographies of interesting people.

Hard copy or audiobooks?
Hard copy all the way. I've tried audiobooks, but I have ADD, so I can't actually pay attention to one person speaking all the way through without drifting off and then I lose my place (so to speak). Also - romance audiobooks are really, REALLY silly - I tried a Susan Elizabeth Phillips audiobook (Match Me If You Can) and the female narrator could NOT convince me she was voicing an alpha male. No she could not. I'm glad I turned it off before I got to any sex scenes. Ick.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
I can put a book down at any point, because usually I end up having to. I hate being unoccupied, at any time, be it on the bus, at the supermarket, or even brushing my teeth. I need to have a book with me (yes, even when brushing my teeth - I do it for 3 minutes) to fill up those tiny 3-, 4-, 10-minute gaps of nothing and that means I usually have to put it down suddenly when something important happens in real life.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Not usually. I'm very lazy and I can usually guess what the word means from the context of the sentence. If it shows up often and I still can't figure out what it means, then maybe I'll look it up.

What are you currently reading?
Bertrice Small's The Last Heiress.

What is the last book you bought?
Mary Balogh's Simply Perfect.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
I'm a monogamous reader. Unless I absolutely have to, I usually only read one book at a time. Even as a University English major I read like this, and I did it without too much trouble because I always was a keener and a bookworm who'd buy the entire reading list once it came out in August and read ahead.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
I can (and do) read anywhere, but my favourite places are in bed in the morning before I have to get up, and my father's armchair in the library in the afternoon.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Both! As a reader of both fantasy and romance, I'm accustomed to both grand, sweeping epic series (fantasies) and the more stand-alone books (romance).

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
YES - The Secret Pearl by Mary Balogh. I'd recommend pretty much anything written by Mary Balogh.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
By the amount of space I have. I'm not kidding. I like organizing my books when I have some spare time but more often than not I just squish my books wherever they'll fit. Right now I do have a different system for my Read books and my To Be Read books. If they're To Be Read, they get packed away in three storage boxes by my bed. Bookshelves are a luxury, if a book wants to end up on a shelf it'd better impress me with its story!

Don't forget to check out other BBAW participants to see how they answered their memes!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Day Two: Interview Swap!

Some of the awards have been given out already (congratulations Book Smugglers!) but Book Blogger Appreciation Week continues. Today, bloggers will interview other bloggers about blogging (and other things). Today, I will be interviewing Beatrice from My Kingdom for a Book. She comments and reviews on fantasy novels (which I love) and paranormal romances (which I am slowly, gradually coming to love).

*turns on HOLY CRAP BRIGHT POLICE LIGHT* BEATRICE (whose answers are in red)! YOU VILL ANSWER ZE KVESTIONS!

Quick! What's your favourite colour?
Blue, any shade!

What made you want to start book blogging?
I love reading, and I love to write. I had a friend who was encouraging my writing about a year ago, and she suggested I start reviewing books. I started out with some books I'd picked up at the library, and have taken off from there. It's been an amazing experience that has opened a lot of doors for me.

What process do you go through when you review a book? Do you take notes, or just review from memory?
I read a book without taking any notes! It's probably a bad habit. With big reviews, I try to blog some during the reading so I can get all the little details. If I haven't blogged during the reading, I try to blog as soon as possible after I finish so that nothing slips away. It's difficult to try to blog about one book after you've started reading another!

Who is your favourite author and why?
My favourite author is Peter S. Beagle (OMG - he's one of my favourites, too! Innkeeper's Song is the shizz!). I love his books about unicorns! I also had a chance to meet him at Dragon*Con recently, which moved him to the top of my list! He was wonderfully attentive to his fans, and spent several minutes talking with me about some writers that we had in common. He had gone to Stanford with them, and I had been their student during my undergraduate years studying writing.

What aspects of your life and/or childhood shaped you into the kind of reader you are today?
I watched The Last Unicorn when I was very young -- probably about four years old. I was captured by the beauty and wonder of unicorns. As soon as I was old enough, I read the book. It was so well done, and so well-adapted into the movie (I should hope so - Beagle wrote the screenplay!). I think that Beagle's book and movie were what turned me toward fantasy and science fiction in the first place. It continues to be my favorite genre even now. (If you love unicorns, I might suggest Lord of Legends by Susan Krinard - where the romantic hero is a unicorn!)

I can also remember my parents reading to me at night before bedtime. One favorite was Where the Wild Things Are! I loved Max and his wolf suit. I am really excited about the movie next month. I will always hear my dad's voice reading that book to me. I almost think I could quote it from memory because we read it so many times!

My parents really were a big influence on my reading. They always had a book around, and my mother tells me that I would sit at her feet while she was reading and tell her that I wished I could read, too. My parents and I swap books all the time now.

Given the recent controversy about paid book bloggers - what's your take?
I would love to be one of them! No, not really. I don't feel like my opinion is for sale. I don't want to feel forced to tell people that I like something when I don't really. I also think it's unethical if you do not disclose that you've been paid for your opinion.

What bloggers do you like - and what do you like about them?
I love Rip My Bodice! They are hilarious. They read a lot of books that I enjoy, so I get what they're talking about. I am really quite a bad book blogger. I drop by book review blogs, but there are so many! It's a full-time job to keep up with them all.

I also read The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. She doesn't blog about reading, but about cooking! I love her step-by-step photos, but what really keeps me coming back is what she shares about her family. I love getting a peek inside people's lives. I'm kind of a voyeur in that way, but hopefully not creepy! Oh, and Knotty Yarn! I heard her read one of her blog posts as BlogHer, and she's hilarious! I guess I like blogs that make me laugh.

Wow! Well, it was very nice to meet you and I'll definitely be checking out your blog more in the future! Hope you're enjoying Book Blogger Appreciation Week, folks - next up is my review of Tessa Dare's Goddess of the Hunt.