Booklover Book Reviews

 Do you enjoy literary doorstops?

When I say doorstop I make reference only to a book’s size/length, not it’s quality. I do not often embark on a novel greater than say 500 pages in length, but whenever I find the time to do so (normally while on a holiday from work) I end up enjoying it immensely. Some of my favourite chunky titles include The Street Sweeper, The Book Thief, the Stieg Larsson Millenium Trilogy, Gillespie and I, The Historian, Cloud Atlas, Anna Karenina and Wild Swans. 

So, with that in mind Flavorwire’s 10 Notorious Literary Slogs That Are Worth The Effort caught my interest. I have not read any of the titles listed – have you?

Their inclusion of Mason & Dixon in the list has sparked my interest in Thomas Pynchon’s work.

For those who have read Pynchon, which of his titles would you recommend?

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 I am not the only one that loved Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter and in particular the audiobook version – watch this short interview with narrator Edoardo Ballerini where he explains beautifully what is so special about this book and why it will be considered a modern day classic.

 Authors and publishers should read ‘Book Titles and Search Engine Optimisation’ . It highlights an issue with the use of articles and punctuation within book titles that I come across quite often these days when trying to optimise my reviews for the search engines.

While SEO should not necessarily over-ride creative intent when deciding upon a book title, if I were publishing a novel these days I would give it strong consideration. Also, when you remove articles (‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’) and punctuation like apostrophes and exclamation marks from titles, it often makes their artistic impact stronger.

For example, author Bernadette Pajer recently asked me what I thought about the ‘A’ at the start of her next book title, initially scheduled for publication as A Capacity For Murder. My recommendation was to lose the ‘A’.

 What kind of book reader are you? The Atlantic Wire poses that question and suggests different reading styles one might exhibit – Promiscuous Reader, Hate Reader, Chronological Reader, Book Buster, Delayed Onset Reader, Bookophile, Anti-Reader, The Cross-Under, The Multi-Tasker and many more…

I would say I am a combination of Chronological Reader (I barely abandon a book) and Bookophile (I treat books as precious objects), and because I always have at least one ‘reading’ book and one ‘listening’ book on the go, perhaps a touch of the Multi-Tasker. What about you?

What are your favourite thrillers with strong female leads?

Book Riot asked readers this question recently and collated this reading list. I have only read two on this list, The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (well this is actually three books) and The Informationist by Taylor Stevens, but would wholeheartedly agree with their inclusion.

I would add the Mak Vanderwall Series by Tara Moss to this list of thrillers with kick-arse leading ladies. Right now I am listening to the sixth and final title in the series, Assassin, which has just been released and enjoying every minute of it. After a long hiatus Mak is definitely back!

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It is Book Blogger Appreciation Week and I have really enjoyed finding new book blogs to follow and reading everyone’s interviews.

Today’s topic for discussion is

What Does Book Blogging Mean To You?

Booklover Book Reviews is my creative outlet. While my profession and career is very fulfilling, it is quite the opposite of artistic – it involves lots of numbers and dollar signs – so reading and more particularly writing about what I read allows me to flex the muscles in the arty side of me that many would not realise exists.

During my childhood I was exposed to European languages other than my first language English and studied Mandarin Chinese during my secondary and tertiary education. I was brought up to appreciate the power of mastering language and to respect those that had. (more…)

For those living in Brisbane, Australia that are artistically inclined you are in luck because the 16th annual Queensland Poetry Festival: spoken in one strange word is being held at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts this weekend.

I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the festival last night and was extremely impressed by the talent on display.

Particular mention must go to Chloe Wilson from Victoria, who won the Arts Queensland Val Vallis Award for Unpublished Poetry for her poetry suite “The Heads of Holofernes”. Chloe is definitely a talent to watch out for – her reading was extremely powerful and had the audience captivated.

Congratulations also to the previous winner of the Val Vallis Award, Brisbane-based Rachael Briggs, for winning this years Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for her manuscript “Cryptids of the Interior”. Another very impressive reading, with a quirky sense of humour that really appealed to me.

For anyone like me that has appreciated poetry in the written form but never had the opportunity to experience works being performed by their authors, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

There is an impressive local and international line up with most sessions free to attend. Checkout the Queensland Poetry Festival Program at this link.

  I adore the artistic use of language, and sometimes on this blog wax lyrical about, what I term, ‘when words become art’. So when people take that theme and run with it, like Evan Robertson has with his Literature-inspired Fine Art Illustrations, I am a captive audience. One of my favourites is the illustration based on Vladimir Nabokov’s quote, ‘Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form’.

Which piece in this collection speaks to you?

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  I have always been hesitant to watch the movie versions of books I have read and loved because:

- I am worried the movie will not live up to my expectations.

- That the casting will not align with the characters as seen in my mind while reading.

- That they will change the focus of the story to enhance visuals or cut out some of my favourite content entirely.

A novel’s interpretation can be such a personal thing!

I adored the novel One Day by David Nicholls but I still have not watched the movie starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. Now a copy has found its way into my home – should I watch it? (more…)