Category: Reviewing

Not all may have prizes … but how does funding play a part in who enters the race?

16/10/2018

With the Man Booker Prize winner announced tonight, my fingers are crossed for Washington Black, although I’d raise a cheer for either of the other contenders I’ve reviewed (The Mars Room and Milkman). Right now, my thoughts are also with those authors who not only don’t succeed in dazzling the judges, but don’t even get the chance to step onto the stage.

You’re familiar with those email scams, aren’t you? Congratulations, you’ve won a prize! Just send us a cheque to cover administration costs, and we’ll deliver it. Feels good, doesn’t it? Until you wonder whether the winnings will cover your fees. But that wouldn’t happen in the literary world, would it? Awards are dispensed purely on merit, surely? No paying for prizes there?

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Reading the world

21/9/2018

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A recent comment from Norah Colvin got me wondering (as they often do): how many countries had I visited recently in the pages of a book? Perhaps I’d set myself a reading goal for next year: around the world in eighty books! As a comparison (or perhaps as a way of avoiding knuckling down to some real work), I thought I’d check where I’d travelled so far this year. Omitting mainland UK and the USA, where I find myself all too often, I’m not even halfway to eighty, but it’s nevertheless a spread.

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Could do better? Three novels for Women in Translation month

30/8/2018

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I failed last month to meet my modest target of at least 50% of my reviews being of books by women. Speculating on the possible reasons, I noticed a preponderance of male authors among the novels in translation coming my way. If I were better orientated to time, you’d be forgiven for suspecting my lousy support of female authors was no accident, providing the perfect teaser for today’s post for women in translation month, revisiting the qualifying novels I’ve reviewed since August last year.

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Have your reading preferences changed over time? #amreading

29/6/2018

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Book groups are great because you get to read stuff you wouldn’t ordinarily choose. But groups are a pain because you feel obliged to read stuff you wouldn’t ordinarily choose. Sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise. Sometimes it confirms your prejudices. But best of all is when it takes you back to a book you thought you knew only to find you’ve completely changed your mind about it.

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Unravelling the mystery of mystery #amwriting

24/4/2018

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Discovering a new review can make an author’s day. If that review emphasises the positives in your published work, even better. If the book has extended the review’s knowledge of the world, that’s a bonus. Then, if the reviewer has analysed the book from the perspective of developing their own writing – and not in identifying the pitfalls to avoid – it’s extra special. So excuse me for revelling in Marsha Ingrao’s review of my debut novel, Sugar and Snails. Her focus on the way I’ve managed mystery in my novel has prompted me to retrieve some of my prepublication thoughts on the matter that have languished on my phone for nearly three years. (With so many articles and blog posts already published, I’m surprised there’s anything still unsaid.) This post is an attempt to integrate those early reflections with what I’ve learned from reader feedback and reviews that might be of use to other writers building mystery into a novel that sits outside the mystery genre.

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Loners: Eleanor Oliphant & Upstate

27/2/2018

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Two novels featuring women, scarred by life, who have kept themselves slightly aloof. Of the two, Eleanor Oliphant is the most damaged, but small acts of kindness, along with a crush on a self-centred musician, might bring her out of her shell. Upstate is perhaps more realistic in confronting the difficulty of change, even though, when we first meet Vanessa Querry she’s no longer lonely as she’s fallen in love. Eleanor gets the better therapist; but is either of these women completely fine?

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My reading goals for 2018

30/1/2018

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2018 Reading Challenge

Anne has read 8 books toward their goal of 100 books.

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8 of 100 (8%)

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I’ve registered for the Goodreads challenge for a fifth year and, although my totals have increased year-on-year, I’m sticking to a goal of 100 books. Even though it’s hardly a challenge to curl up with a novel most evenings, in a business that is mostly about failing, why not give myself a target I know I can beat? Besides, this isn’t a marathon. Reading is more about the experience than a numbers game. That’s why I’m setting myself some specific targets in relation to quality and diversity, building on my analysis of 150 books read in 2017.

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My twelve favourite reads of 2017 #amreading

29/12/2017

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I’ve read 150 books this year (the image shows only a selection); according to Goodreads that’s 40,927 pages, with an average rating of 3.5. That’s slightly more books, but fewer pages, than last year. All but nine of this year’s reads were fiction, of which 19 (13% – slightly down on last year) are translations. An analysis of my first 100 reads found 71% were from independent publishers. Enough with the figures, let’s take a closer look at the year’s overall favourites.

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93% novels and 71% independents: My first 100 reads of 2017

30/9/2017

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Earlier this month, I met my “challenge” of reading 100 books this year. You can see them pictured above, beginning with my most recent read. Why not join me in reviewing the balance (or otherwise) of fiction versus non-fiction, type of publisher and percentage of translations versus English-language originals?

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How to write a negative review

18/8/2017

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You’ve read the book, and now you wish you hadn’t. You begrudge the time or money you’ve given to words of little worth. You hated it and don’t care who knows it. Which you are entirely at liberty to do. But before you give vent, do give a little thought to how to go about it. Read on for the who, how, what, why, where and when from someone who’s been both author and recipient of negative reviews.

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How a one-star review is a gift to people pleasers

5/7/2017

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After being turned down by multiple publishers and agents, I was pleasantly surprised at how well my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was received, even going on to be shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. But you can’t take anything for granted in this business. Two years later, my second novel, Underneath, brought me, on the eve of publication, my first one-star review on Goodreads (and a little later on Amazon). Ouch! Someone has looked at my baby, declared it ugly and wants the world to know.

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The Messiah Narrative

13/4/2017

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Even if you’re not a fan of Baroque music, you’d probably recognise at least one of the magnificent choruses from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. If not the jolly “For Unto Us a Child Is Born”, perhaps the main justification for its popularity at Christmas, then you must know the exuberant “Hallelujah”. But there are fifty-one other choruses and solos that make up the three-hour long oratorio. This beautiful book tells the story of its composition and musical afterlife.

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Do spoilers spoil? The impact of personality style on narrative selection and enjoyment

30/1/2017

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Having written a novel with a secret at the heart, I’ve been touched by the care taken by reviewers to avoid divulging the truth behind my character Diana’s façade. In fact, I’m aware of only one review with a spoiler, and that was posted with my approval on the valid assumption/aspiration it might attract readers interested in the novel’s gender theme. But, even if bloggers were less conscientious, I wasn't worried, as research suggested that spoilers don’t spoil, and might even enhance the reading experience. However, when I blogged about this some time ago, my fellow booklovers didn’t seem convinced. Now that new evidence has come to light, it seems that they were right and I shouldn’t have been so complacent.

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More of the same, please, but with nicer politics

31/12/2016

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We approach the New Year as if we’re trading in the old one for a better model, but it’s not like replacing a car. Or if it is, it’s with the old car rusting in the garage while we’re driving around in the new one, hoping the weather won’t tarnish its shine. Alas, a change of digit won’t cancel out our bad decisions – I’m looking at you Brexit and Trumpeteers – but it can provide the impetus to strive to fail better next time. While I think it’s weird that the traditional time for taking stock and recalibrating our intentions for the future should be now – rather than synchronised with the winter solstice the first day of spring (for those of us in the northern hemisphere) – I am sufficiently obsessional to join in.

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From 146 books to my top 12 novels of 2016

29/12/2016

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It’s been a good year for fiction – and I don’t mean the lies and denial that have blighted politics on both sides of the pond. But when isn’t it rosy for readers? For every novel that leaves us baffled and bludgeoned or tempted to give up, we’ll always find another dozen that provide comfort or relaxation or, with or without prickly characters, transport us on a magical mystery tour.

My book consumption has increased since I started reviewing from around 60 a year to over 100. But I’m slightly embarrassed to have “beaten” last year’s pinnacle of 120 by, at the time of writing, 26. I know I devote a lot of time to the printed word, but 41,783 pages smacks of greed.

Just a few of the books I've read this year!

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Do you read for relaxation?

31/10/2016

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Reading, in fact produces its own forms of anxiety. Worries and preoccupations suggested by some other person’s prose start flurrying into my brain, preventing me from sleeping through the night.

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Clear destination or magical mystery tour? #amreading

30/9/2016

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at Bakewell bookshop last month

As I’ve been out and about talking about my novel, I’ve been surprised to meet – in stark contrast to the predominant aversion to spoilers – a couple of people who like to look at the ending, perhaps the last couple of paragraphs, before turning to the first page. Now, I like the ending of Sugar and Snails, although it’s been suggested that some might find the issues insufficiently resolved. (I do get asked if I’m planning to write a sequel!) Because it tells of a destination rather than the journey, I don’t think reading it in advance would constitute a spoiler (although, prattling on at one talk about how I was pleased with the ending, I did have a friend tell me afterwards she thought my ending wrapped things up too much).

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Any advice on questions for book groups?

30/8/2016

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Children’s need to belong, or the fear of exclusion, can be as intense as the need for sleep and sustenance, so they often band together in cliques and clubs. One of the weirdest fictional clubs I’ve come across, is the arson club in Jesse Ball’s novel, How to Set A Fire and Why. Memoirist, Irene Waters, is after your memories of joining a club: when did you join, why did you join and are you still a member?

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#Bookbirthday celebrations and beyond

2/8/2016

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I spent my book’s first birthday observing customer behaviour in a bookshop, and chatting to those who weren’t so adept at avoiding my gaze. One was a self-declared non-reader, hanging around while awaiting her appointment with a tattooist. Not my thing at all, but I was intrigued enough to ask to see her chosen design as well as to enquire whether the process was addictive, given that she had a couple of earlier tattoos on display.

I might have had in mind my own addiction to blog tours, given the five-week tour I embarked on last year when I launched my novel. I was slap in the middle of another, this one much more modest – in its fortnight’s duration, if not in ambition – that has now come to an end. My thanks to you if you’ve been following, or hosting; here’s my summary of how it went … and what’s still to come.

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Supporting small-press published authors

24/7/2016

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Each time I’m baffled by a heavily-hyped but mediocre novel from one of the Big Five, I’m tempted to restrict my reviewing to small-press published novels. Not that there aren’t a fair number of turkeys among them, but at least the publishers aren’t screaming at us to read them each time we walk down the high street or go online. I know so well from my own experience with Inspired Quill how hard it is for the small publishers to get readers to take notice, but I don’t want to miss out on the good stuff that the heavyweights are putting out.

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<<Previous

Not all may have prizes … but how does funding play a part in who enters the race?

Reading the world

Could do better? Three novels for Women in Translation month

Have your reading preferences changed over time? #amreading

Unravelling the mystery of mystery #amwriting

Loners: Eleanor Oliphant & Upstate

My reading goals for 2018

2018 Reading Challenge

My twelve favourite reads of 2017 #amreading

93% novels and 71% independents: My first 100 reads of 2017

How to write a negative review

How a one-star review is a gift to people pleasers

The Messiah Narrative

Do spoilers spoil? The impact of personality style on narrative selection and enjoyment

More of the same, please, but with nicer politics

From 146 books to my top 12 novels of 2016

Do you read for relaxation?

Clear destination or magical mystery tour? #amreading

Any advice on questions for book groups?

#Bookbirthday celebrations and beyond

Supporting small-press published authors

2018 Reading Challenge

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