July book log

[julesjones]

My book log for July is thin, in spite of my best intentions.

Reginald Hill -- Blood Sympathy, which I didn't review because I couldn't quite get into it.

Masara Minase -- Lies and Kisses
Yaoi manga, which I read on Monday but haven't had the energy to review yet. Enjoyed this -- lovely art and I liked the characters.
http://www.librarything.com/work/698499

P D James -- Cover Her Face
The first Adam Dalgliesh book. Current lunchtime reading. Only part way through, and finding myself disinclined to finish it. I've always liked it on previous reads, but it is I think my least favourite of the Dalgliesh books, in part because it *is* the first, and the character is not so well developed as he was later on in the series. I'd probably do better with it if I were reading it straight through rather than a small section each day.
http://www.librarything.com/work/14341/


You'd think I'd be reading more, since I'm now spending at least an hour a day on the bus in the course of getting to and from my place of wage slavery, but I tend to get sick if I try to read on the bus. I have scribbled odd notes for stories on my Palm, which is less of a problem because my scribbling notes tends to involve long bouts of staring out of the window, but even that is something that can lead to feeling queasy after a while. Nevertheless, I'm contemplating joining the modern world and getting an ebook reader, of which more in a later post. I might be able to manage short stories downloaded from places like Strange Horizons.

I also found myself on the mailing list of two publicity agents looking for book bloggers to review their clients' books. The first one sent me a personalised email that made it clear up front that he wanted to offer me a free review copy, and that he had reason to think it might match my reading tastes (he was in fact off-target in this, but it was a reasonable assumption for him to make). He got a personalised reply explaining that I'm not interested in review copies right now because with the new day job I'm not in a fit state to give a review copy proper attention. He'd probably found me in the first place by putting appropriate keywords into Google, and mailmerged the book bloggers that turned up, but it was clearly a mailshot targeted at bloggers who might be interested in reviewing that specific book. If I was still getting through a book every day or two, I'd have been interested in getting the review copy even though it's outside my usual interest range.

The second one... Well, suffice it to say that I had reported it as spam before I realised that it was an offer of a review copy. That's because it *was* spam, being a mass mailshot of a press release for a book, with a small item way down at the bottom saying that review copies of this book were available on request. Since it was presumably offering me a free copy of a book, rather than just trying to get me to buy one, I used the unsubscribe link on the next offer instead of following my usual "nuke from orbit" policy. But really, expecting people to read a long ad for the book before mentioning that this is in order to offer them a review copy is likely to prove counterproductive when dealing with bloggers.

I did wonder if my name had been added to a list of book bloggers to spam, but there have been no further unsolicited offers of review copies, so perhaps not. All very odd.

(I should note for anyone who's thinking of offering me a review copy of something that a) the answer is likely to be "thanks but no", for reasons well illustrated by the first part of the post; b) I live in the UK, so there may be a postage issue for non-UK books.)

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Have you thought of listening to podcasts on your daily commute? I find them invaluable for the times when the Radio isn't offering anything I want to listen to. In my case reading isn't an option because I drive to work, but even if I travelled by bus, I still wouldn't be able to read because I'd very quickly feel queasy.

I really like EscapePod for SF and now the new PodCastle for fantasy. MP3 players are relatively cheap these days, if you don't already have one.

[julesjones]

I'm seriously thinking about it, but I'm put off because I find other people's audio gear so annoying when I'm travelling, and I don't want to be one of Those People. I know they don't have to be like that, but I need to find something by way of earpieces that is affordable but doesn't *leak*.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

Actually, as a sometimes UK blogger and otherwise non-US blogger, some authors have me on their auto-ARC list because they can use the tax break. Helps that I like their books, which means that they get a good review too, of course.

There was a publicity person from an independent press (US-based) who kept trying to send me books, and I was running out of ways to tell her that even if you send them to me for free, I'm not going to like them.

[julesjones]

It's just something I want people to be aware of, because if it really is an issue there's no point in them contacting me in the first place -- and because I have been rather visibly resident in the US until recently, it's something some people won't be aware of.

I don't mind being offered free books, but given my current reading rate I prefer a system like LibraryThing Early Reviewers, where I can put in for one that appeals to me, rather than having random books being offered. And definitely only where the person offering understands and accepts that if I don't like the book I will say so. Most of my reviews over the last couple of years have been favourable, but that's because the books have been heavily selected to have a high chance of being something I'll like.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes sense. Because I've always been visibly resident outside the US.

I think the reason why I get offered free books is because most of the reviews I give are good ones. I haven't accepted review copies that I wouldn't be hunting in bookstores in a desperate search for a copy in a long time. I don't think it's fair to review books that I've not read from cover to cover, which means that if I accept whatever's offered, it'd be a situation too painful to contemplate.

[julesjones]

The books I've reviewed have almost all been ones I bought myself, or borrowed from the library, so they are by definition ones I thought I'd probably enjoy. I go by the principle that I'm not going to finish a book if it's really bad or just not my thing -- but I'm also going to say in a review that I didn't finish it, and distinguish between "the book was bad", and "the book was not my thing".

With free books -- it may be free in terms of cash, but it is not free in terms of my time. So I'm not willing to accept something that is clearly one I'm unlikely to finish. Why waste my time and their money? The tricky bit is where it's not my usual thing, but it does sound interesting. That's a gamble on both sides.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

That's what I meant. It's the time that I'm unwilling to waste on a bad book that made me decide not to accept every book that was offered my way. So if I'm not sure, the deciding factor is whether I'll have the time to tango with it when it drops on my doorstep.

[julesjones]

I have a TBR pile which still dates back to the road trip for Boston Worldcon in 2004, so it's fairly easy for me to turn away offers of free books. :-)

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

E-book library.

Out of sight, mostly out of mind.