Tag: bookish question

Which author would you like to invite to dinner?

Bookish Question #188 | Which author would you like to invite to dinner?

Tough question.

I could say one of the writers of the Bible, like Moses or David or Paul or John. But I won’t, because I figure we’ll have time in eternity to debate what Moses really thought about Pharaoh, or what John really saw in that cave in Patmos and would he describe it differently if he knew about modern technology.

I could say any one of many of my favourite Christian authors, alive with us or alive with Jesus. But again, I figure there will be time in eternity to discuss books with booklovers (because surely all authors are also booklovers?).

I could say Arthur Randsome or Enid Blyton or Anne Digby or one of many favourite authors from my childhood.

Or I could say any of the wonderful authors I’ve met at the conferences I’ve attended in New Zealand and Australia (although I actually have had the opportunity to share a meal with many of them).

So how do I choose? Who would I like to invite to dinner?

I’d like to invite the not-yet-published author who doesn’t know if their story is good enough. If their writing is good enough. If they are good enough.

I’d like to encourage them that while we should all pursue excellence in our writing, its not about being good enough. As Christian writers, it’s about about being obedient to God’s call on our writing life. It’s about writing and publishing what he’s called us to. And it’s about being part of a community of writers—Christian or not—to learn from and share with, to receive encouragement from and to encourage.

So that’s who I’d want to invite to dinner: the writer or author who needs a little encouragement.

What about you? Which author would you like to invite for dinner, and why?

Do you read an excerpt or sample before buying a book?

Bookish Question #169 | Do you read an excerpt or sample before buying a book?

Do I read an excerpt or sample before buying a book?

Before agreeing to review a book?

No.

Before buying a book?

Maybe.

I will often preorder the kindle version of books from authors I’ve read before, especially if the book is part of a series. In those cases, I already know the author and their writing (and often the characters and their stories).

But I will rarely buy a book from a new-to-me author without reading the sample first. In general, if I read the sample in one sitting and the price is right, I’ll buy the book.

So what’s the right price?

I’ll almost always buy a book if it’s 99 cents. I’ll often buy a $1.99 ebook (especially if it’s on sale and is usually $7.99 or more). I’ll never buy a book if it’s $9.99. I don’t usually pay more than $5.99 for an ebook. Instead, I’ll wait for it to come on sale.

After all, I have more than 200 unread ebooks on my Kindle. I can wait.

What about you? Do you read an excerpt or sample before buying a book?

Bookish Question #157 | What’s your favourite novel featuring a royal family?

Do you read novels featuring a real or made-up royal family?

My first thought was that I’m not a big fan of stories with royal families. And that’s half true. I’m not a fan of contemporary stories with made-up royal families. Many of the stories are written by American authors which seems weird, given they fought two wars to assert their independence from England … and the British Royal Family.

It could also be that I’m not a fan of billionaire books either. I guess I can see the attraction of life with no financial worries, but I’m not convinced that marrying a billionaire is the answer. Be real. With all the negative press around Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, would you really want to be married to any of them?

Historical fiction is a different story.

I have been through phases of reading novels set in various times in British history, and a lot of those featured the royal family. I’ve read a lot about the Tudors (probably too much), but I’ve also read several Sharon Penman novels centred on earlier periods in history.

What I haven’t read and would like to read is novels (especially historical fiction) featuring royal families from other countries.

Do you know of any stories featuring non-British royal families?

What about you? What’s your favourite novel featuring a real or made-up royal family?

 

Which is more important in an audiobook—the story, the author, or the narrator?

Bookish Question #139 | Which is more important in an audiobook—the story, the author, or the narrator?

The narrator.

As I said last week, I’m not a big audiobook listener. But when I have listened to audiobooks, the thing that’s make-or-break for me is the narrator.

Why?

Because a bad or boring narrator can ruin a good story.

Sure, I’ll pick out a book to listen to based on the author and the book description—the story. But what makes the story worth listening to—or not—is the quality of the narrator. A great narrator can make an average story sound exciting. A less-good narrator can send me to sleep with even the most exciting scene (and that’s A Bad Thing, given I tend to listen to audiobooks while I’m driving).

The most important thing I listen for in an audiobook is the narrator’s accent and tone.

My very British grandmother would only listen to audiobooks with British narrators. I’m not so fussy, but I do like the accent to match the characters and setting. Books set in England and featuring British characters should probably have a British narrator—unless the main character in the book is American.

Even more important is tone.

The best narrators can play multiple characters—male or female, British or American. They can give each point of view character a distinctive voice, so listening to the audiobook is more like listening to a radio play.

But I’ve started audiobooks where the narrator spoke in a monotone, to the point I couldn’t tell the difference between the point of view characters, or even between the male and female characters. There was such a complete lack of expression, even when the point of view character thought they’d come upon a mass murder scene, that I thought I was listening to a computer read. I wasn’t—I checked.

So if I was going to start listening to audiobooks, I’d make sure I checked the audio sample first. Because the narrator is definitely the most important thing to me.

What about you? Which do you think is more important in an audiobook—the story, the author, or the narrator?

Do you listen to audiobooks? Why or why not?

Bookish Question #138 | Do you listen to audiobooks? Why or why not?

I’m not a big audiobook listener, for two reasons:

1. I’m a fast reader, so find it’s quicker to read than to listen.

If I’m enjoying a story, I want to get on with it … which means reading faster and faster, not waiting for the audio to catch up with my thoughts. Yes, I know audiobooks (well, some audiobooks) can be played at 1.5 times or 2 times speed, but then they can end up sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks …

2. I don’t spend a lot of time in my car or doing tasks that would make listening an option.

Where I do have car time, I tend to listen to podcasts—they’re shorter, and it doesn’t matter if you miss a couple of details (the really important content, like the links, will be in the show notes). With a novel, it’s important to be able to see/hear and retain all the details because missing an important detail might affect your overall enjoyment or appreciation of the book.

Also, audiobooks are long—usually eight to ten hours, and sometimes longer.

I can see the appeal of audiobooks for someone who has an hour or more a day of otherwise dead time e.g., driving or waiting for children, or even exercising (assuming they’re going for a quiet walk, not taking a class or exercising in a gym pumping loud music out of the speakers).

If you’ve got a good chunk of time each day and can get through an audiobook in a week or two, then I can see them as a great way to pep up otherwise useless driving or waiting time. But they are less good for someone like me who would only be listening in ten or fifteen-minute slots two or three times a week. It would take forever to get into the story, and would be too easy to forget the details between sessions.

But that’s me. What about you? Do you listen to audiobooks? Why, or why not?

Which books are you most looking forward to reading in 2020?

Bookish Question #137 | Which books are you most looking forward to reading in 2020?

Tough question! But at least it says “books” not “book”. Book would be impossible.

Here are some of the review copies already on my Kindle:

Other books I’m looking forward to reading:

  • Kara Isaac‘s next book (expected in July 2020).
  • The next book in Christine Dillon‘s Grace series, which should get published in August or September.
  • I’m also hoping Adam Collings will release the third instalment in his space opera series.

(If you want to know more, I suggest you click on the above links and sign up to their newsletters.)

I’ll also be on the lookout for whatever is new from some of my favourite romance and women’s fiction authors, such as Caroline Miller, Courtney Walsh, Elizabeth Musser, and Catherine West.

What about you? Which books are you most looking forward to reading in 2020?

Have you set a reading challenge for 2020?

Bookish Question #136 | Have you set a reading challenge for 2020?

I’ve done the Goodreads challenge every year since 2011, and I’ll be doing it again in 2020. It’s a simple challenge—just how many books you plan to read during the year.

Over the years, my target has ranged from 150 to 200 books, and I’ll be aiming for 150 books again in 2020.

I will supplement that with some personal targets, similar to last year. I want to keep expanding my reading, which means proactively deciding to read debut and new-to-me authors. I set a target of 50 last year, and hit it (just!). Some of those authors I probably won’t read again, but there are many I want to add to my ongoing reading list.

Another 2019 target was to read 50 or more self-published or indie-published books.

There are some great self-published books out there, many from authors who initially published through a big-name publisher but who have now moved to self-publishing. As an added bonus, self-published books are often a fraction of the price of traditionally published books (yet the author earns as much or more per copy). So that’s another great reason to support self-published authors!

My final personal target for 2019 was to read at least one book on writing craft and one book on marketing each month. I didn’t do so well on these challenges, but think they’re important, so will try again in 2020.

So my personal reading challenges for 2020 are:

  • 150+ books read in total (which does include novellas).
  • 30+ books from debut or new-to-me authors.
  • 50+ self-published books.
  • 60+ books off my to-read piles (ebook and paperback).
  • 12+ marketing books.
  • 12+ books on writing craft.

Obviously, some books will count for more than one challenge—a self-published book on writing craft from a new-to-me author will count four times 🙂

What about you? Have you set a reading challenge for 2020? If so, what is it?

Bookish Question #121 | What’s your favourite point of view?

What’s your favourite point of view? First person, third person, or doesn’t point of view matter to you?

Let’s start with a couple of definitions:

First person point of view is when the story is narrated by the viewpoint character, and uses the “I” personal pronoun. For example, here’s the opening of Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass by Heather Day Gilbert:

"The first time I saw Stone Carrington the fifth, I had a snake wrapped around my neck."

We soon find out (if we hadn’t worked it out from the title) that our narrator (“I”) is pet sitter Belinda Blake.

Third person uses “she” and “he” (although there will be the occasional “I” in the dialogue). It’s much more common. Here’s an example from An Agent for Kitty by Nerys Leigh:

First Line from An Agent for Kitty: She'd lost her mind. That was the only explanation.

We soon find out that the narrator is Kitty Denton, who wants to become an agent with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

I know some publishers—and some readers—don’t like first person.

Personally, I love it. I love the sense of immediacy first person gives, the way it takes me straight into the mind of the main character.

Having said that, third person can do the same—if it’s done well.

Third person can range from a distant point of view to a very close (aka deep perspective) point of view. I’m a definite fan of close third person. It allows me to get inside the heads of the main characters (as in An Agent for Kitty), to see what they’re seeing and feel what they’re feeling.

What's your favourite point of view? First person, third person, or doesn't point of view matter to you? #ChristianFiction #BookishQuestion Click To Tweet

What I don’t like is badly written omniscient point of view. Done well (e.g. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), it’s fun. But for every Douglas Adams, there are dozens or hundreds of writers who are writing bad omniscient which reads more like third person with headhopping in every other paragraph.

So while I like third person, I love first person. What about you? What’s your favourite point of view? And why?

What social media sites do you use to find books to read?

Bookish Question #120 | What social media sites do you use to find books to read?

I’m a reviewer, so I mostly find books to read from NetGalley (which is hardly a social media site), or from other reviewers (e.g. through the weekly First Line Friday posts).

But I do occasionally find books to read through social media—although those posts are often links back to a review blog.

My favourite social media site for personal use is Facebook, but I rarely find books to read there in my general feed. That’s partly a function of the people I follow. I use Facebook to connect with real-life friends and writing friends.

However, I often see great recommendations in the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction Facebook group. If you’re on Facebook and looking for Christian novels to read, then Avid Readers is the place to go. You can post a request for what seems like an oddball book and dozens of recommendations. (I don’t post requests because there are too many books and too little time.

More often, I find books on Instagram (as I tend to follow readers and reviewers there), or on Goodreads. I guess that’s not surprising: that I’d find books to read on a social network dedicated to booklovers. I’m also a member of Litsy, but follow a combination of people there (i.e. not just Christian fiction readers). That means they’re often recommending books I’m not interested in.

So, overall, I’d have to say I mostly use Goodreads or the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction Facebook group to find books to read.

What about you? What social media sites do you use to find books to read?

What's the one genre you can never read enough of?

Bookish Question #109 | What’s the one genre you can never read enough of?

Christian romance 🙂

On one hand, I love Christian romance and I’m always looking for my next great read, there are times when the stories can all start to feel a little samey, a little to formulaic.

Also, Christian romance is a broad genre—more than half of the Christian fiction published is romance in one from of another, from Biblical romance to Regency romance, from Amish romance to contemporary romantic suspense.

If I had to choose one subgenre, I’d have to say contemporary Christian romance.

Why? Because it’s always changing as the world around us changes. Twenty years ago, characters were just getting mobile phones and learning to text. Ten years ago, they got phones with cameras. Now everyone has a smartphone, complete with email and social media.

Online connection means a lot of the plots that used to work and that I used to enjoy (like the secret baby trope I mentioned last week) have fallen out of favour because they don’t work any more. Instead, we have dozens of billionaire romances (because apparently any guy with a six-pack can earn a cool billion by developing some cool new app. No matter that there are so many free apps that I’ve yet to pay for one).

What I like about a great contemporary Christian romance is that it reinforces the importance of real-life connection—with other people, and with God. Great contemporary Christian romance also features flawed Christian characters doing their best to live a godly life in an ungodly world.

And, of course, there’s the romance.

Christian romance is (or should be) focused on the meeting of minds and the development of a three-strand relationship, not on the physical attraction that categorises so many general market (and real-life) relationships. Finally, contemporary Christian romance models romantic relationships built on a firm foundation, and built to last.

And that’s a few reasons why I can never read enough Christian romance.

What about you? What’s the one genre (or subgenre) you can never read enough of?