Tagged: discussion
Discussion: Why do you blog?
Basically, this discussion is for my fellow bloggers who read this site. ‘Why do you blog?’ is actually a question I get quite a bit in real life when I mention that I blog. Most people wonder what the point is, what benefit I get out of writing for free.
The truth is I blog because a) I like sharing what I have to say with a like-minded audience and b) I like the benefits of being a book blogger with a fairly decent following (714 at the time of writing). In regards to my first point, being in an extremely rural community with very few bookish people gets lonely. That’s partly why I took to blogging: to connect with like-minded people, share recommendations and discuss books we have in common. As for the second point, there are certain benefits to having a following over 500, mainly in regards to how many ARCs I get accepted for. I haven’t had much time to actually request print ARCs from many publishers but pretty much all the ones I’ve requested I’ve been accepted for recently. Basically, blogging fuels my reading habit.
What I want to know now is this: If you’re a blogger, why do you blog? If you’re not a blogger do you think you would ever consider starting up your own blog? Why?
Discussion: Your Favourite Zombie Version
This one is a little bit of an unusually specific discussion for me, but I think we’ve pretty much all been exposed to zombies in popular culture, including through fiction. I was personally terrified of zombies until I actually began reading zombie fiction and while they still have that ‘uck’ factor I don’t have nightmares any longer. There is no standard type of zombie, though. The portrayals vary from author to author and when you read a lot of zombie fiction it’s interesting to see the sheer variety.
Mira Grant’s zombies, for example, are similar to the slow-moving ones of popular culture. They have one important aspect, though: they have a hive mind. One or two zombies aren’t a danger to any physically fit human, but as Shaun and Georgia find out a pack of zombies can display hunting tactics from ambushes to cutting off all available routes of escape. This is in contrast to humans, who seem to utterly lose all common sense when in large crowds. (Yes, I know, I’ve studied way too much psychology.)
Another fascinating zombie type for me are the ones in V. M. Zito’s The Return Man. Marco, the main character, lives in the Evacuated States and hunts zombies for a living. People pay him to put down their relatives so they know they’re not suffering as a zombie. How the heck do you find one zombie in an area that makes up most of the US? Well, emotional geography is how you do it. Zombies in Zito’s world have some trickle down from the neocortex into the reptilian brain that controls them and this trickle down mainly consists of powerful memories. Zombies will go to where they spent a lot of time in their lives such as at work or at home. Maybe they’ll hang around the restaurant where they met their beloved wife or the hospital where their first child was born. But either way, if you know enough about a person you can be sure to find their corpse wandering around somewhere.
These are my favourite zombie versions. What I want to know now is this: What’s your favourite version of zombies? Do you like the traditional George Romero style ones or the fast-moving zombies? Does a particular author portray zombies in a way you like? (Please, no major spoilers if the truth about the zombies is main plot point, as in the case of The Scourge by A. G. Henley.)
Discussion: Your All-Time Favourite Book
For people who read a lot of books it’s almost impossible to pick just one favourite. Anyone who asks me what my favourite book is will usually get a blank stare followed by an explanation of how much I actually read in a year. It’s nearly impossible to pick a favourite book, especially if you’re put on the spot.
All-time favourite books are slightly different from just ‘favourite books’ for me. An all-time favourite is one that had the largest effect on me at the time, the one that I read over and over again, etc. All-time favourite books have staying power, whereas favourite books can change in a couple of months if you read a lot.
I can pretty much guarantee that I’ve read more than 1,000 books at this point in my life. Out of all of these books I’d have to say that my absolute favourite is Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. I read it as a pre-teen and it taught me a lot about love, life, self-esteem and the beauty of losing yourself in a magical world. Harry Potter is definitely my all-time favourite series, but on an individual basis Inkspell (the second book in the Inkworld trilogy) will always hold a special place in my heart.
I still have my old beat up copy of Inkspell and even though the binding has almost totally fallen apart and the pages are yellowed from being out in the sun so much, I refuse to throw it out and get a new version. Memories live on in the pages of books and there are so many good memories for me in Inkspell.
What I want to know is this: If you had to pick an all-time favourite book, what book would it be? Why?
Discussion: Your Favourite Type of eReader
I’ve never claimed to be a huge tech fan so it took me a long time to get an ereader for myself. And I’ve honestly never looked back since. It’s so much more convenient than reading on a computer and it stores a great deal of books for all those times when I’m stuck in waiting rooms or airports.
I asked my readers for ereader suggestions and they were overwhelmingly for Kindles. I had a modest budget (preferably under $150) so I got a Kindle Paperwhite. It’s nothing fancy, there’s no colour or anything but it works for my purposes: reading ebooks authors send me. Well, and adding the odd free book on Amazon to it. I love how the screen doesn’t look so much like a screen (it actually looks like the page of a book) and I can read on my Kindle for hours without straining my eyes. The battery doesn’t last as long as advertised because I use it a lot, but I was surprised at how long it actually does last. Overall I’d say I’m pretty happy with my little Kindle Paperwhite.
What I want to know now is this: Do you have an ereader? If so, what type? What are some things you like about it? Is there anything you don’t like about it? Let me know in the comments below!
Discussion: Do Historical Inaccuracies in Fiction Bother You?
What I want to discuss here are not times when the author has deliberately manipulated history and provides justification for it (either within the story or as a note at the end). I do want to discuss when authors just plain get it wrong and if it bothers you.
The other day I was reading a novel that featured a little bit about ancient Egypt in it. It was going pretty well until I came across the place where the author started perpetuating the myth that the pyramids were places where pharaohs “would even bury servants alive in there” (Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike, Page 219). This is just totally wrong on two points. The first of which is that pharaohs were buried alongside their retainers. They were, but only until King Djet of the First Dynasty. (For a grand total of four kings.) Secondly, the first pyramid was built for King Netjerikhet (Djoser) and it was built in the Third Dynasty. Hundreds of years after the human sacrifice stopped!
After that I had a hard time getting back into the story. I can definitely understand manipulating the facts to get a better story. But what I can’t understand is stating something as fact and just getting it wrong. Not even a little bit wrong but totally, utterly and completely wrong. It bugs me because a) the author should have done even a little bit of research and b) her editor should have caught that mistake in the fact-checking process.
What I want to know now is this: Does it bug you when authors writing historical fiction just get something completely wrong? If so, does it colour your opinion of the rest of the novel?