Medieval Bookworm

Today’s question from Wendi: Did you know that there are 1497 authors participating in LT Authors? If you haven’t checked it out, head over for a moment and see if you can find out something new about an author! If you don’t have time to go snooping, have you ever looked at the LT Author page before? Did you know that it is for authors and readers alike? Have you ever looked up a favorite or new author on LT to see what they read and if they have left any comments or reviews themselves? Have you ever told an author about LT Authors and encouraged them to check the site out?

I have looked at the LT authors page before and I recognize a number of the top names.  I don’t recall encouraging any authors to join LT, I’m not sure I’ve been on enough of a personal level of contact for that and most of the ones that I do email are already on there.  I definitely check out their libraries and I’m always disappointed when I acquire a book by a new-to-me author who is on LT only to discover that their library contains very few or no books.  I liked it better when they had to add 50 to be recognized, but I can see why they would prefer to attract new authors by eliminating that rule.  In any case, it’s an awesome feature of LT and I hope it’s still around if I ever manage to publish a book – it will be academic and not very high up on the list, but I can dream, can’t I?

Today’s question: Holiday gift-giving. Do you give books for the holidays? Did you participate in LT’s SantaThing, either this year or last, or in other blogging gift exchanges? Were you happy with what you received?

I don’t normally give books for the holiday, but this year my friends are getting them. I can’t afford much more than that and no one in my family really likes books, so it’s a bit of a struggle.  And that’s why I didn’t join up to buy books for the holidays – no one in my family will read them even if I buy them.

I did not participate in the book bloggers’ exchange simply because of my position in the UK.  I can’t afford to send a gift to the US and since I’ve spent time at 3 different addresses this month, I wasn’t even sure where to ask for mine to be sent.  I’m hoping my life next Christmas will be more settled and that I’ll be making at least a little money.  I’ll be participating if that is the case.  I did participate in SantaThing because I knew I’d be home and I figured that I spent very little over my first term in grad school and I could treat myself.

Well, that was before I got an email informing me that my student loan payments were overdue.  I’m still in school and I thought my payments were deferred, but apparently something went wrong.  I’ve been advised to pay them and send in the deferment applications ASAP, but this has now put me out of a lot of money I didn’t expect to lose when I don’t have an income.  So, regretting that choice, but it’s a bit late now – luckily my parents have agreed to give me back $25 and count it as part of my gift.  I’m not totally destitute but I really need a part-time job when I get back!

I also participated in SantaThing last year.  I got one book I liked and wanted, but the second one I already owned, so I exchanged it at the bookstore.  I still haven’t read what I exchanged it for, unfortunately, but my Santa made good choices and I was pleased.  This year’s gift hasn’t arrived yet, but according to LT it should be here by tomorrow.  I hope I’ll be happy with what my new Santa has chosen!

Today’s question from Marie at The Boston Bibliophile: Most of us book bloggers like to write book reviews- if we don’t love to write book reviews- but here’s today’s question. When it comes to LT (and your blog), do you review every book you read? Do you just review Early Reviewers or ARCs? Do you review only if you like a book, or only if you feel like you have to? How soon after reading do you post your review? Do you post them other places- other social networking sites, Amazon, etc.?

I try to review almost every book I read. Sometimes I skip books in a series because they are very similar and don’t need their own individual review. I read quite a bit faster than I review so I sometimes leave books out in the interest of catching up before I forget what I’ve read. I’m still reviewing the books I read at the end of November, so I have to work on that! I do review all ARCs and published books for review that I read, however, even if I hate them. I generally just try to review everything I read, it’s easier that way and the purpose of this blog was originally to keep track of how I felt about them myself. This is after I reread a book, only realizing partly through that I’d already read it – I’d like to not only remember that I read the book (I keep track of that now) but whether I liked it or not.

I always post all reviews on LibraryThing when I remember to, although I currently have a large backlog that needs to go over there. I usually post the whole review, but add a link to my blog in case people like it and want to leave a comment or read my other reviews. I do publish reviews on Amazon, but I don’t really like that people say I’m not helpful when I give a book a slightly negative rating. Not all books deserve five stars. So I’m not encouraged to do so by Amazon, but I do like to put reviews of less well known books over there, especially the ARCs that I receive.

What’s your reviewing policy?

Today’s question from The Boston Bibliophile: Blog Widgets. Do you use them? Do you have them on your blog? Do you know what I’m talking about? A blog widget is that list of books “From my LibraryThing” and such, that you’ll sometimes see on someone’s sidebar. If you use it, do all of your books show up or do you have it set to only show certain books? Do you have a search widget, which would allow your blog readers to search your library? Have you ever made a photomosaic of your book covers? You can find widgets and photomosaic information on the “Tools” tab in LibraryThing.

I do have a widget and I’m very fond of it. It’s just a regular “random books from my library” one, which shows 5 books and only the ones with covers. I’ve definitely refreshed my blog just to see what comes up when I’m bored. I only exclude books that don’t have covers from it because I think they’re a bit boring, otherwise it’s all out there. I like the photomosaic widget but I think this one fits best on my narrow sidebar.

I also use the “currently reading” widget on other websites I frequent which don’t take the covers one, but I have enough space to put up more than just the books I’m reading at any given time on this blog. On Facebook, I used an application that listed my favorites, currently reading, and newest additions. I think if LT had multiple fields on their widgets, I’d use those three, but I like random books for now.

Today’s question: LT Things- t-shirts, bags, cue cats- are you into the “stuff”? Do you use a cuecat to enter your books, or do you enter them manually? What do you think of the stuff?

I had at one point two cuecats, but I don’t have any other LT stuff. I had two cuecats because I won one and then Tim sent me a second after my fiance spent hours trying to fix my widget when it was actually LT’s fault that it was broken. Since I didn’t need two, I gave one to a friend to help with her cataloging and I’ve kept one although I almost never use it. It seems more trouble than entering all the ISBNs and I’d done the majority of cataloging before I won the first one. Now I enter books when I buy them or when I finish them if they’re borrowed, so it’s not really necessary. I wouldn’t mind having other LT stuff. Probably not a bag as I wouldn’t like to carry their (or any) logo all the time, but I’d quite like a T-shirt.