LANCR AGM presentation

It was a lot of fun presenting last night at the LANCR AGM. For those of you interested in clicking through the presentation, here it is!

Readers' advisory resources

View more presentations from Alexandra Yarrow.

BBAW: Unexpected treasure

That is today's topic, and we must share a book or genre we explored thanks to the influence of another blogger.

Again with the bad memory: I often reserve things I have read about online, and then when they come in, I look at them in bafflement and conclude, "Oh, well, must have read about it on a blog..."

Nevertheless, a few instances stand out: I was turned on to Jonathan Coe's The rain before it falls by Maylin from the Dewey Divas. To be clear, though, I heard her review in the flesh (it is also online here), but then the Divas blog kept reminding me about it (Maylin put the book on her favourites list for 2008, and mentioned it a few other times), so eventually I was spurred into action, and I loved it. Maylin often spurs me into action, though, so she has a good track record, as far as I'm concerned! The rain before it falls, in case you were wondering, follows an elderly woman who has recorded a family secret onto a tape - the tape is later listened to by her niece and great-niece, with momentous repercussions..... Check out the Independent review as well.

Sometimes I read award-winners in time, and sometimes I can be stubbornly behind, and oddly, it took a short but interesting review by dovegreyreader to get me to finally pick up the brick that is Wolf Hall. Hype about a book makes me contrary occasionally, which is rather judgmental of me, I suppose.... Thank goodness you bloggers are out there recommending!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2010

Hey everyone! I'm participating in BBAW 2010! The theme this year, as you can see from the above logo, is " A Treasure Chest of Infinite Books and Infinite Blogs Daily Blogging Topics."

Today's topic is "First treasure," and we are supposed to tell you, dear readers, about the very first book blog we discovered. Oh crap - here's where I remind you that I have The Worst Memory Ever. I'm going to have to guess, I think.

[ponders]

I think it would have to be a tie between Bookninja (an amazing source for all book news, plus an irreverent tone that I enjoy very much) and the Guardian, actually (because I am heavily into British literature and homesick for somewhere I never really lived).

I started following several blogs at the same time, so it's a bit of a blur (and, to be fair, it's also six years ago, so...). I can tell you, also, rather tangentially, that I was an early follower (and still a follower) of Book2book, a British publishing industry website (not a blog), that has also been a constant source of info for me - Book2book runs some stories I miss in other British news sources, and also often runs international book news that isn't covered anywhere else. They also frequently run stories first - I sometimes see them later, elsewhere.

Back in the day, I also paid for access to a blogreader, sucker that I was. Now I'm all Google Reader. I was never a Bloglines person, although I have seen that many people are atwitter recently about it shutting down.

C'est tout!

Litblogs vs. book blogs

So, according to this interesting post, and this follow-up after ensuing debate, a litblog would be a blog "cited most often in mainstream media," with "a journalistic feel to many of the posts," and "a sense that the blogs were, and still are, a jumping-off point to professional writing." A book blog would be a community blog, with emphasis on the discussion of books by passionate (if not numerous) followers. Speaking of blogs, some rankings put Canada's own Bookninja 7th - hooray! And The Guardian Book Blog at 13. Hmmm... is it their ugly logo?