reading hacks

Sir Terry!

jonathan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:59:45 +0000

Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series, has been awarded a knighthood.

Brilliant!

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2009 reading tip for the year - dare to be different

jonathan — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:38:49 +0000

Well, 2009 is here. I tried to get a somewhat early night but my two littlies took turns waking up crying right through to 3am. I hope you all had a fantastic night.

I don’t know how many of you tend to make new years resolutions, but if you do, how about adding this to your list:

In 2009, read one book that is different in style or genre to your usual reading.

So, if you haven’t read a kid’s or YA book since you turned 18, maybe do that. And don’t just grab an Enid Blyton because that’s what you remember reading before. Grab something new. Something you didn’t already read as a kid. Due to my job, this is what I read most of the time. I’m happy to suggest some titles, or pop over to BookBoy.net or browse my LibraryThing catalog for some suggestions.

If you’ve never read a good illustrated book, or a graphic novel, try one. Grab something by Shaun Tan, it won’t take long to read and seriously, the guy is a genius. I don’t know much about graphic novel writers, so am not much help there.

Maybe you’ve managed to avoid the piles and piles of crime novels published each month. Grab one. My reading in this area is generally restricted to Michael Connelly. If you would like some more suggestions, browse your local library or bookshop, or pop over to batgirl’s book blog. She’s been known to read a crime novel or two.

What about romance? Horror? Family saga? I think my “different” book will come from one of these genres. Maybe I’ll try Stephen King.

Get the picture? As far as a resolution goes, it won’t take long. It’s a one off and depending on what book you choose and how fast you read, it may take a few minutes or a few weeks on and off. But, and here’s the good bit, it might just open your eyes to a whole new area of literature that you would never have tried.

I’d love to hear about your plans and experiences if you decide to try this and feel free to ask for book suggestions. If I can’t think of anything, other readers may.

Other than that, I hope you have a wonderful 2009. May you meet some interesting people, read some really good books, and generally enjoy yourself. If you find that the year does start to drag on or get you down, then read two good books and call your doctor if pain persists.

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Think you know plenty about books?

jonathan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:31:37 +0000

Then try The Guardian’s 2008 book quiz.

I scored 16 out of 33 which apparently is, “Not entirely bad. You’ve clearly read a few books. Just not very many”. Not many. Bah. 57 and counting!

I must confess though, several of my answers were guesses. Some educated. Some wild.

[via bookshelves of doom]

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How books were made in 1947

Assorted linkage

jonathan — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:03:39 +0000

A few bits & pieces from around the traps…

The Book Design Review has a list of favourite book covers of 2008, including one that nearly gave me vertigo:

Book Patrol has a post about some fascinating book-related art by Marina Camargo.

The appropriately named Bookshelf blog continues to post a fascinating collection of interesting bookshelves. This one caught my eye today. Probably not quite to my taste in terms of style, but I kind of liked the function.

Last but not least, DailyWritingTips attempt to cheer up rejected authors by listing how many times some famous books were rejected.

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When to start reading to your baby

jonathan — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:47:37 +0000

In my role as a Youth Services Librarian, I am sometimes asked by new parents a question along the lines of, “When can I start reading to my baby?”.

The answer I give is simply, “now”. There is no such thing as too early to start reading to your baby.

No, they can’t understand the story. No, they can’t even understand the words. No, they probably can’t even focus on many of the pictures yet. They certainly can’t hold a book and turn pages, let alone interact with the subtle twists of plot.

What they can do is what babies are great at doing: learn, grow and develop. Like it or not our babies are learning from us all the time. They see us and hear us and when able, they mimic us.

Your child will not just wake up one morning and know how to open a book, turn pages, understand the pictures and read the words. When your child does learn to read independently it will be the latest step in a learning process that has been going on since birth. What I would like to suggest is this: if you want your child to grow up loving books, enjoying reading, and seeing it as a regular part of life, rather than just something they have to do for school, then expose them to books now. Read to them. Let them handle books. Let them look at books. Have books around your home. Let them see you reading.

Just like hearing us talk is a step on the road to learning language, hearing us read, looking at books, and seeing us handle books is a step on the road to literacy.

So if you have a baby (or a nephew, niece, grandchild, etc) and don’t read to them yet, now is the time to start.

(PS. Stay tuned for some pointers about what to look for in books for a new baby.)

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Children’s literature muffin tin meals

NaNoWriMo - the aftermath

jonathan — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:42:07 +0000

Today begins the month of December. That means last night I should have finished my 50,000 word NaNoWriMo novel. Truth is, I got about 19,000 words into my novel a couple of weeks ago but ran out of steam. Such is life.
The experience was great and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a bit of an urge to write. Now that the pressure to write so much every day has gone, I may set myself a lesser weekly target to continue my story.
Congratulations to all who finished, especially one of my “recruits”, LibrarianIdol. Congratulations also to all who gave it a shot, like Gizo.
We will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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NaNoWriMo tomorrow

jonathan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:42:25 +0000

Tomorrow is November 1st. The day I begin following through on my somewhat rash decision to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year. 1667 words. That what I need to produce tomorrow.

I am looking forward to it. I am also somewhat scared about the prospect. Gizo and Librarian Idol have also signed up for NaNo and made this public on ReadingHacks, so pop by and wish them luck too.

So those of you who love to read, this month remember those of us having a shot at seeing what it’s like on the other side of the printed page.

Wish us luck.

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A day in the life of Maureen Johnson

jonathan — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:46:06 +0000

We’ve all read writers’ descriptions of their typical day. Things like “I always write 1000 words per day”, or, “I start at 6 am and am done by 12″, but I’ve always wondered how honest they are.

At last, Maureen Johnson has told it like it really is and described a no-holds barred detailed account of a typical day in the life of a young adult author. I have no reason to doubt its honesty.

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More NaNoWriMo - get on board!

jonathan — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:58:53 +0000

My encouragement yesterday has led to Andrew of Librarian Idol signing up for NaNoWriMo.

I’m now working on getting Gizo fired up too.

Everyone else - come on, get on board. And if you won’t listen to me, maybe you’ll listen to Shirley…

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NaNoWriMo

jonathan — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:49:22 +0000

Do you think you have a novel inside you, and are looking for a way to remove it without surgery?

Is your career as a best-selling author in need of a kick start?

Can you write 1667 words on November 1st?

Can you write another 1667 words on November 2nd?

Can you write yet another 1667 words on November 3rd?

Can you keep doing this for 30 days?

Do you have nothing better to do in November?

Perhaps you should consider signing up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

The basic idea with NaNoWriMo is that you sign up and try to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. This basically means churning out 50,000 words without worrying too much about editing and proof reading. It’s more of a way to get you moving and producing something. Of course you could just do this by yourself in any 30 day period, but there’s something about knowing that thousands of other people are in the same boat. It also means you can effectively “out” yourself and let people know what you are doing so there is the fear of shame and failure if you fall behind. Also the opportunity for encouragement, of course.

If you’re interested, pop over to NaNoWriMo.org, have a look around, and maybe even sign up.

I tried last year and only managed a few thousand words, giving up by about November 10th. Barring a last minute change of heart, I’m all set to have another go this year. You can follow my progress under the user name gonty. I might even add a little widget to the sidebar here that gives my wordcount.

If you feel like joining me, go on and sign up and let me know in the comments below.

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