Tag Archives: Weekly Geeks

Weekly Geeks 2010-27: Covers

Posted on August 11, 2010 | 10 Comments

There have been lots of posts that revolve around the question of judging books by its cover. But when Weekly Geeks posted a question about covers this week, I couldn’t help but write down my thoughts on book covers.

I hate to be shallow, but I find it hard to deny that I sometimes judge a book by its cover. If only just a little. When I come across a beautiful cover at a book sale (somehow, prize does matter in how much I let a cover influence my choices) I am halfway to being convinced to pick up a book. And I always skim over covers that look like they are thrillers, mysteries or Dan Brown related plots. Luckily for me, these covers often look a lot alike and it is easy to be confident that you’re only skipping past books that I would not enjoy anyway.

When it comes to covers I consider ugly, I do think it influences me in that I have to be tempted enough to pick up the book and see what the premise is. I am likely to buy a book with an ugly cover of which I like the premise or if people recommended it, but it will always bug me a little. I do like to look at my collection of books and think to myself that I like the way they look and so an ugly-looking cover will get on my nerves occasionally. At the same time, good-looking covers might make me want to buy all books in a series with these covers. For example, now that I own three Peirene Press titles, I think it unlikely that I won’t want to have their other titles once they are published. I simply love the look of these covers on my shelves.
If I Stay - Gayle Forman If I Stay (Hardcover) - Gayle Forman If I Stay (Dutch) - Gayle Forman
I often wonder at the considerations that go into the creating covers. Take If I Stay by Gayle Forman for example. I hate to admit this, but I disliked the cover of the edition I read so much. I do not get the colour scheme and the “woman at the beach” look it has. It reminded me of a romance novel instead of a YA book. (That could, of course, also have to do with the fact that it isn’t a standard YA cover). The cover for the hardcover edition by Dutton Juvenile looks a lot better in my opinion. I even like the Dutch cover better than the one on the edition I read, even if it looks more like a cover from a Paranormal YA series.

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Weekly Geeks 2010-22: Hoarding Behavior, or “Yes”, I Have a Problem.

Posted on June 24, 2010 | 35 Comments

The week, Weekly Geeks asks whether we have a “gigantic” TBR pile waiting for us at home, and if and how we intend to resolve it or if we are happy to hoard books.

Librarything says I have 172 titles on my TBR pile.  I’m afraid you will have to make do with a link to my virtual To Be Read pile, since I don’t keep my TBR pile separate from my read books, because quite frankly, any kind of system except for the simple system of putting them in alphabetical order takes up too much room. Room that I don’t have, since I own too many books for the tiny apartment in which I live as it is.

So why is it that I still feel the need to go out and buy books, even though I have 172 books waiting for me at home? I don’t know. There is something really comforting in finding a book that you know you will love and buying it. I usually browse bookstores if I come across one, I don’t always buy though. Bookstores aren’t all that cheap around here and sadly ordering online will save me half the money. That all changes however when a bookstore is having a sale. I often feel a compulsory need to browse the sale shelves in bookstores. And I have to look at every single book, because I’m always afraid I will miss out on the little corner that usually hides the English books that are on sale. And if I find a book that looks even the slightest bit interesting for 3-4 euro’s or less, I have a hard time not picking it up.

When I discovered online websites that sell books and charge no shipping money, it felt like I was browsing a continual book sale. And so I went crazy, for a while. I tried to change all that since I started blogging. I have a huge wish list that contains books I want to read after reading the review on one of your blogs. And I try to more consciously choose the books I want to buy and read. I even tried to buy no books during May and June (I almost succeeded, since I bought 4 books a couple of days ago). But I have to admit that I like the spontaneity of picking up books that simply look appealing at the time. As much as I would love to say that I am very meticulous when it comes to choosing the exact books that I know I’ll love, I really am not. Yes, I act like that when I have a gift certificate to spend. But when it is my own money, I often buy on impulse.

Do I want to slim down my TBR pile? Yes. Do I want to give up buying books completely? No. So where does this leave me? Honestly, I don’t know. I admire all of those bloggers who have instigated a book buying ban. I have talked about it a lot on twitter, but in the end I can never make myself write down my own set of rules. The prospect of not being able to buy that really cheap book that you know you’ll love when it is staring at you on the bookseller’s shelves, the idea that Peirene Press is releasing a new book later this year and I won’t be able to pre-order it, the notion that I could acquire bookmooch points, but not mooch books myself, is frankly all a little bit too disturbing to me.

And so yes, I have a problem. My biggest problem however, is that I can’t seem to find the motivation to resolve it. My dream, ever since I was a little girl, has been to have a huge library of books when I grew up. And since I started living on my own, I seem to have made an effort to fulfil that dream. I am not quite ready to give it up.

Note: all of this does not mean I intend to just buy and buy and buy. I am after all a student, living on no income whatsoever.

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Weekly Geeks – 2010-14: Reading Globally

Posted on April 28, 2010 | 16 Comments

I have a small confession to make, and this week’s Weekly Geeks made me come out and say it: I didn’t read globally until I started blogging. I used to pick up any book that struck my fancy, which meant I mostly read books by English or American authors. I’m not saying that that’s because I enjoy reading US or English books better than I do books from other countries, but admittedly, global titles are a lot harder to find. I never used to think about what nationality my authors were from, although I have to admit that I looked for anything non-Dutch. And I used to pride myself on that: I don’t follow national best-seller hits, but I’m consciously exploring literature outside my own country, never mind that it was mostly still “western” literature.

In all honesty, I don’t think I read globally right now. I have been trying to remedy the situation, mostly through book titles I’ve picked up on Eva’s, Amy’s or Kinna’s blog, but when I went through my list of reviews yesterday I noticed that the majority of the authors could still be considered “Western”. I’m going to try to put more of an effort into reading globally, but I can’t say I’ll be more likely to overlook a book just because it was written by an English or American author.

For now, I’m left with a few questions I’ve been thinking about when it comes to this idea of “reading globally”:

  1. I have a suspicion that what is considered “global” has a lot to do with where you come from and what your reading habits were before you started thinking about exploring “global authors”. For example, even though I mostly read books from authors outside my own country, I’d never classify it as global, because it’s what I’m used to. Also, I think European authors might be considered as authors that fall into the “global category” for US-residents, because it’s so obviously another continent. To me reading globally mostly indicates books from outside (western)-Europe or the US, because books from inside these categories are the books I’m used to reading.
  2. How do you classify an author that is born in an African country (for example), but has moved to either the US or Europe and written a book about his home country there? What do you do with people who’re from “the West” but have lived in Asia (for example) these last 20 years, and write a book in an Asian setting?

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Weekly Geeks – 2010-08: What Is It About “THAT” Author

Posted on March 9, 2010 | 19 Comments

This week’s Weekly Geeks is about your favourite author. I know what I automatically answer when someone asks me who my favourite author is. Without a question I would tell them Jane Austen. I wouldn’t even need to blink or pause. However, depending on the person who asks the question, I sometimes do pause or cast a sideways glance and answer with downcast eyes that it’s “um.. Jane Austen” and then go into a rapid explanation of how it isn’t only for the fact that her stories are romantic, but that there are so many other qualities to her work as well. That actually, those are the qualities I enjoy most. I am clearly not the fanatic Austen fan that you often meet online. I don’t go around quoting her work or dressing up in period costume attending special meetings where you can dance the way Jane Austen would’ve done when she was young. I am not saying that that isn’t the right way to go, I just don’t think I could be that kind of girl. Even though I’d love to be able to dress up and pretend like that, I think I’d feel embarrassed. Anyway, I do not go around proclaiming my undying love for the works of Jane Austen to anyone around. The fact that I don’t made me wonder why.

My love of Jane Austen has been stable ever since I first read Pride and Prejudice in high school. My then long-term (say, 2 years) and altogether not-that-good-for-me boyfriend had broken up with me and I really needed to escape to somewhere where I could still feel loved. Even though my situation has changed a lot since then, the stories by Jane Austen are still my favourite and safest form of escape. No matter how down or out of touch I feel, her stories always (sort-of) bring me back to life. Whether it be in the form of her actually novels, or by watching one of the movie-adaptations (sometimes, that’s just a quicker way of escape). For example, no matter how often I have read the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy I still get these warm and tingly feelings during the first rejection scene and their subsequent reconciliation.

I think it might be this association with safety and romanticism that makes me ashamed to admit to my liking of Austen to everyone. I am afraid people will be able to read it in my face that I am in fact that much of a dreamer and as my high school teacher would say, living proof that some people in the modern world still celebrate the escapism of the Romantic Era. However, over time I have found out that there is more to Austen’s books than simple escapism or the love between romantic heroes. My enjoyment of her other qualities must’ve been there the very first time I read her work. Otherwise, I should’ve enjoyed the other types of romantic novels catered to women just as much, and I didn’t and still don’t most of the time. Jane Austen works have a realism to them that hardly any other writer captures as she does. I think I love her best for her subtle silliness and the way she pokes fun at certain conventions of her time. I believe she broadcasts a belief in the abilities of women without the often shouting obviousness of feminism. Getting over my more disappointed hopes in the area of boyfriends, as I am currently living together with my boyfriend of 4 years, I think I began to enjoy those qualities of her work more and more. I do believe I will continue to do so in the upcoming years. And even though it is this list of qualities that I usually name when I tell people that Jane Austen is to be considered my favourite author, I cannot help but escape from the fact that the function of a safety net that her work holds for me will always remain part of the appeal.

To be brutally honest at the end of this entry, I have to shamefully admit that I do not enjoy all works by Austen as much as some of her more ardent admirers do. My favourite is unquestionably Persuasion (I will, I promise, bore you all with my defence of this novel as her best sometime), followed by Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey. Somehow Emma never appealed as much to me and Sense and Sensibility.. I don’t know why, but I could never get through the book without feeling that the story moves along a little slowly from time to time.

Do you have an almost automatic question to the question which author you enjoy most? Do you feel confident in your reasons for loving that author or are you left feeling ashamed sometimes, as I am?

I think what this Weekly Geeks has made me realise most of all, is that I’m not a very intellectual expert on why I do or do not enjoy a certain type of literature. My feelings and my ability to relate to the story and its characters have a strong hold on my judgement.

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By the way, this is the first time I’m participating in Weekly Geeks. I enjoyed it a lot, although I feel a bit shy in posting this entry. I hope I did okay and that it’s alright to give your own spin to the questions as I did.

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