I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, so didn’t read a lot of Christian books as a child except for the illustrated Children’s Bible my aunt bought me when I was around eight. I didn’t read a lot for pleasure during university, even though I lived relatively close to an excellent Christian bookshop. In …
What’s your view on detailed character descriptions in fiction? Personally, I’m not a fan of detailed descriptions–whether that’s descriptions or character, setting, or anything else. I’d rather get on with the story. A brief description is fine, but please don’t spend pages and pages telling me things I don’t need to know. (I don’t need …
One of the downsides of being an avid reader is there are So. Many Books. And it’s impossible to remember all the details. This means I only remember the very best … or the very worst. (But I’m not going to mention them.) There is also this little issue called age which means I’m more …
I tend to buy ebooks (or get review copies from NetGalley). I haven’t signed up for Kindle Unlimited as a reader because I already have so many unread books that I’ve bought. I really feel I need to read them first! (I also should read the books I have before buying more, but that’s a …
This is easy, and it should also be a no-brainer. After all, authors should also be readers, and it shouldn’t be difficult to switch between reader brain and writer brain. I wish authors would remember that not all books are for all readers. We all have favourite genres, tropes, and writing styles, and it’s not …
Yes. The two main newsletters I subscribe to are BookBub and FaithBooks. BookBub is the granddaddy of all email newsletters. Authors pay for the advertisements, and it offers one or two free or on-sale books each day for each genre the reader selects. I use it to follow Christian fiction and nonfiction. I have found …
I don’t listen to audiobooks on YouTube for a few reasons: I’m not a big audiobook listener. When I do listen to audiobooks, I tend to be out of wifi range. I didn’t actually realise until recently that listening to audiobooks on YouTube was an option. Do you listen to audiobooks on YouTube? If so, …
As I said last week, I’m not a big Pinterest user. I’ll often look at a new-to-me author’s Pinterest account to see if I want to follow it. If it’s posting bookish information such as character portraits or pictures of the book’s setting, then I might follow. I might follow if they’re posting about their …
Like most social media networks, Pinterest is driven by an algorithm, which means it shows you the content you regularly engage with. I tend not to visit Pinterest to look for bookish information, so I rarely find it. Instead, my Pinterest feed tends to be filled with recipes (sometimes useful), home renovation ideas (rarely useful), …
Have you enjoyed a book you discovered after reading a critical review? I’m sure I have, but I can’t remember any off the top of my head! Have you? If so, can you remember which book, and what about the critical review attracted you to the novel?
