I’m going to be community minded again tonight (for which read: it’s too late for me to write a proper book review) and point you in the direction of the latest episode of The Readers (click zee link). For those not in the know, it’s a podcast run by Simon S and Gav, covering all manner of bookish topics – always including plenty of recommendations for reading.
This week’s podcast features lovely Kim as a guest, and equally lovely Polly also pops up with her five favourite books (and a mention of me!) The chief topic of discussion is book blogging – a subject dear to all our hearts, of course. I am in love with their discussion! It covers so many areas – why they started; how long they take to write reviews; positive vs. negative posts, and so on. All stuff I find fascinating – some people don’t care much for blogging-about-blogging, but I’m all about the meta-conversations. And all the way through I wished I were there to join with the chatter… (They also talk about book-culling, and it’s lovely to hear a tbr pile of 450 considered ‘not bad’ – my real-life-in-the-flesh friends consider half a dozen unread books as somewhat pressing.)
So, pop over and have a listen to the whole thing, but especially the first half. And I’ll be back tomorrow with another strange little book… (which is my vague way of saying that I haven’t decided between two strange little books waiting for review. Would you rather hear about the well-known author or the utterly obscure author?)
utterly obscure of course
I listened to the whole thing! I agree, it was a fascinating discussion. I've taken off work this week to do some de-cluttering and to get the Christmas decorations out and up. I'm looking at stacks of books right now that I must go through and cull. I was very heartened to hear that a 450 TBR list is quite reasonable.
I also loved the idea of having a "fire shelf." It would be a good exercise to see what books really matter to me — I'll have to put one together.
I just about jumped out of my chair at, "have you read Cold Comfort Farm? no, have you read it? have you read it? I wanted to jump in the conversation and say "good grief, read it, it is hilarious."
So many other thoughts about the podcast…but I'll close with this idea… You and Claire would make a great team to do this sort of conversation. I liked the email exchange you posted a few days ago. How 'bout making future conversations a podcast??
Obscure would be more in keeping with your normal. :) Off to listen to the Readers…
utterly obscure goes without saying!
Do the obscure one! I love getting to know new and interesting authors through your posts.
Book lovers check out the fun new radio show called The Book Report – with interesting author interviews, book reviews and more. Readers can go to http://bookreportradio.com to see if they fall in a broadcast area or can listen to the show on the site itself.
Give us the book you enjoyed most!
Ruth – I didn't really need to ask, did I?!
Margaret – I'm so glad you enjoyed it too – I think I'm going to go and have another listen later! Like you, I wanted to jump into the computer and tell them all how wonderful Cold Comfort Farm is – they must all read it! And what a lovely idea about Claire and me doing a podcast – definitely something we should consider, although I don't want to step into Simon and Gav's territory… hmm…
Susan – very true! This one is even more obscure than usual, although I have done a scout around and there are secondhand copies available. More in the US than the UK, actually, despite it being a British book.
Mystica – of course! Although I do doubt there will be any copies in Sri Lanka…
BookClub – thank you :) And thank you for the link, I shall check out your podcasts later – I think I've been converted to the merits of audible blogging!
Peter – hmm, good question. I think I enjoyed the obscure one more, but the well-known title is better.
I hope they will invite you to do the feature on my 5 best books. I'd quite like to hear about a strange little book by a well-known author — sounds intriguing. No doubt you'll done both in the fullness of time.
Harriet – they actually have, Harriet, and I spent last night recording it! Haven't heard back from Simon S whether or not I passed muster, cut mustard, etc… I did waffle on a bit!
Look forward to hearing your 5 simon, though I think I can guess what some of them might be already…
Oh for goodness sake, I swore I left a comment on here saying a big thank you for the lovely post and sending people our way and for the fact you have sent your top five books as an mp3 we are really chuffed so a big thank you. Again.
Hayley – yes, you should have no trouble guessing at least two of them, if not more! I did try to make it a *little* unpredictable, though…
Simon – sorry my blog keeps swallowing comments! Thank you so much for asking me to contribute, I was very excited to do so :)