Books
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Month of Books – Day 1
Last summer, a Facebook thing was going around where you were challenged to post 7 book covers over 7 days of books you liked/had an impact on you/were important to you/whatever. The point was to post a picture of the book cover only, with no explanation. I took part in that challenge twice last summer. And then this summer, I was challenged again, and again I answered. I did not repeat any books during the 3 weeks. I only repeated two authors (two of my absolute favorites) and those were limited to two mentions each. And at the end of the third week, I realized there were still a ton…
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Gratitude Journal #23
I had thought that maybe I would have a chance to write last week’s Gratitude Journal yesterday afternoon. That was when I thought the conference I was attending this weekend was going to end around 4p, and since my flight home was not until 8p, I would have a couple of hours to write. But the programming for the conference went all the way until 6:15p. I actually left an hour earlier to make sure I made it to the airport on time. But basically, it resulted in no time to write yesterday. Normally I try to make the Gratitude Journal about the little things in my life – Starbucks…
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A Review of My Side Hustle (Part 3 of 3)
Back in May I started writing book reviews as a side hustle via Online Book Club. This is a review of my experience so far. Now that I am done complaining about the scoring system (well really, about how parts of it are implemented), what else am I noticing about Online Book Club? This is a community of book lovers, and like all communities, but especially ones that are monetized in this way, it really wants you to be involved. 20 of those 46 points I mentioned you could get without writing a single review? Those come from commenting on the forums. In addition, most of us do not have…
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A Review of My Side Hustle (Part 2 of 3)
Back at the end of May, I started writing book reviews for Online Book Club. This is a review of my experience so far. My final issue with their system is with the claim that a reviewer could become a level 5 or 6 reviewer in as few as three reviews. Now, the reviewer score is out of 100 points. You need at least 85 points in order to be a level 5 reviewer. A person can get a score of 46 without ever writing a single review. You do have to have written at least one review to get any other points. 14 of those points come from popularity.…
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A Review of My Side Hustle (Part 1 of 3)
I have been doing my side hustle for a little over a month now, and naturally, I have some thoughts. Let me start by saying, I am overall happy with the process. I have gotten to read some really interesting books that I would not have noticed otherwise. There has also been one book that I could not finish. It just bugged me too much. But that is not the fault of Online Book Review. (And while it seems from the reviews that many people agreed with my issues, many others did not and enjoyed the book tremendously.) Now that I have said something positive (and honestly, my overall experience…
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New Page & Side Hustle
Nowadays, a lot of people have “side hustles”, ways to make money alongside their regular job. These used to be called “second jobs”, but that was before the gig economy. And for a lot of bloggers, their blog is their side hustle, at least until they can grow it to the point of it being their primary job. That is not me. I thought, way back in the day when I was managing four active blogs, that it might be. But then I realized that blogging was an enjoyable hobby for me, and trying to turn it into a money making device kind of sucked the fun out of it.…
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Book Review: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
I first read Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor back in late 2015 or early 2016, somewhere in the same timeframe that I read Among Others by Jo Walton (review) and Uprooted by Naomi Novik (review). I loved all three books for different reasons. Among Others is a love letter to reading and books. Uprooted has one of the strongest beginnings I have ever read and an engaging plot. The Goblin Emperor is all about the characters. I honestly could not tell you what the plot of The Goblin Emperor is, beyond it being a “year in the life” style story. Things happen. It is not a boring book with no…
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100 Word Book Review – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
A dystopian science fiction fantasy novel where the hero is an adult, an actual, middle-aged adult? Yes please. And not only is our hero a parent, she is a woman, a black woman. In fact, almost all of the characters have skin in varying shades of brown. Though to be honest, since much of The Fifth Season is written in second person, I did envision my middle-aged self in the heroine’s place. I finished the book wanting more. It is a great fantasy book with an intriguing dash of science fiction at the end. Looking forward to the second book.
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100 Word Book Review – Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
I often read books and think “I would love to hear this book read aloud”. With Brown Girl Dreaming, I read the book and thought “I would love to read this book aloud”. Maybe it is because the words on the page clearly indicate the book is a poem, or a series of poems, or maybe just because the language, the pacing, the rhythm was so perfect. I loved this book, and I really wished I had someone to read it to. It is the story of a brown girl and her dreams. Very simple, but also just about perfect.
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Book Review: Dead Man’s Debt by Elliot Kay
I just finished my second read through of Dead Man’s Debt by Elliot Kay. For the sake of full disclosure, I know the author, and the first time I read the book, it was as one of his beta readers before he published. That said, I can honestly say I enjoyed the book. This should not come as a huge surprise. It is the third book in the series, and I would not have volunteered to be a beta reader if I had not enjoyed the first two books. Dead Man’s Debt is the continuing adventures of Tanner Malone and the end of his time in the Archangel Navy. While…
