Reading 1001 discussion

Make comments here that don't fit in one of the discussion threads.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

The Shipping News is the deal of the day for kindle and nook. Excellent book.

Unfortunately my reading these days consists almost entirely of deeds of trust, escrow agreements, purchase agreements, joint marketing agreements, servicing agreements, credit agreements, master lease agreements, etc. Most are pretty dull and some have the bonus feature of being really poorly written. Some don't even have a plot, or even any discernible point, though most are surrounded by a host of characters.

John wrote: "Unfortunately my reading these days consists almost entirely of deeds of trust, escrow agreements, purchase agreements, joint marketing agreements, servicing agreements, credit agreements, master l..."
Sounds horrid.

It's not so bad in reasonable doses. Unfortunately I am getting large doses these days. Very large doses. The worst is the first read and revision of an agreement. It seems like no one produces an agreement less than 50 pages these days and major agreements easily run over a hundred pages.

I have just spent the weekend at the Auckland Writers' Festival. There were so many exciting authors who were new to me: Hanya Yanagihara, Marlon James, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Petina Gappah and Omar Musa that I am bound to be reading off list for a while. Two sessions moved me to tears, John Boyne on sexual abuse and Gloria Steinem who gently managed to get a large crowd to commit to social activism. The whole event was hugely exciting.

Pip, that must have been incredible! I bet your to read list increased by a book or two. Or ten.

Pip wrote: "I have just spent the weekend at the Auckland Writers' Festival. There were so many exciting authors who were new to me: Hanya Yanagihara, Marlon James, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Petina Gappah and Omar..."
That does sound like a great time. I think there are a lot of great off list books this year. I have been doing more off list reading, too.

I've noticed that you have, but wondered if it was just because it is easier to see what others are reading on Goodreads compared to Shelfari. What I loved, when listening to authors in discussion, was that I knew nearly all the authors that they cited as influences, which would not have been so before I started the 1001 challenge. And some of these new writers will appear on our list in time, I am sure. Another interesting event was the interview with Ann Goldstein, the translator of Primo Levi, Elena Ferrante and Jhumpa Lahiri. It was the first conference she had attended and she wasn't the most compelling conversationalist but was nevertheless fascinating. She is an editor, translating as a hobby, she taught herself Italian so she could read Dante in Italian! Impressive!

Pip wrote: "I've noticed that you have, but wondered if it was just because it is easier to see what others are reading on Goodreads compared to Shelfari. What I loved, when listening to authors in discussion,..."
I think it is a number of things that has resulted in my reading other books. I am active at LibraryThing in challenges over there, I got interested in the Tournament of Books this year and the set up here at GR while it might be easy to see what people read it is harder to get a good discussion going. Oh, and I have read about 400 of the books so it is getting harder to find them or to be interested in them. I still love this group, this taking me awhile to settle in.

They give out awards for the best translators. Has she ever won one of those?

I don't know about awards for Ann Goldstein.

The Bell Jar is offered at 2.99 today as a Kindle deal.

Hi all!
I've been a little absent lately I was at bookexpo all last week then my daughter has been home sick most of the week this week (while my husband was away at a conference) so I've just gotten back to the office today.

Bookexpo is in NYC next year. I got over 150 free books. Some not my cup of tea and I'll give those away to my Little Free library but others that I long to read. i met Richard Russo, George Saunders, Jonathan Safran Foer, Colson Whitehead, and Amor Towles. And I got to meet a few bloggers and a member of one of the groups I belong to here (from Shelfari originally).

I hope to get back to 1001 reading now that the expo is over.

Jen wrote: "Hi all!
I've been a little absent lately I was at bookexpo all last week then my daughter has been home sick most of the week this week (while my husband was away at a conference) so I've just gott..."
Missed you.

Kristel wrote: "Jen wrote: "Hi all!
I've been a little absent lately I was at bookexpo all last week then my daughter has been home sick most of the week this week (while my husband was away at a conference) so I'..."

aw, thanks. I've missed you (and this group) too! 2016 has not been the best year for me in terms of overall level of work and personal life stress but I hope to be around more (once my next grant goes in -- in two weeks).

Jen wrote: "Hi all!
I've been a little absent lately I was at bookexpo all last week then my daughter has been home sick most of the week this week (while my husband was away at a conference) so I've just gott..."

I am so green with envy. I was looking at that after you mentioned you were going and was jealous because I couldn't figure out a way to squeeze it in. (Good thing I didn't try, as I've been swamped.) But next year - there's a lot of planning time between now and then.

Anyway, welcome back!!

For what it's worth, I will be attending the American Wind Energy Association Annual Conference in New Orleans next week. If there's anyone in the group who's going to be in the area, we could grab a cup of coffee.

Jen wrote: "Hi all!
I've been a little absent lately I was at bookexpo all last week then my daughter has been home sick most of the week this week (while my husband was away at a conference) so I've just gott..."

I hope you had a good time Jen. Sounds nice meeting all those authors and those free books. I hope your stress level goes down soon.

John wrote: "Jen wrote: "Hi all!
I've been a little absent lately I was at bookexpo all last week then my daughter has been home sick most of the week this week (while my husband was away at a conference) so I'..."

You should definitely try to go. I'll be going next year and NYC is so much closer for me than Chicago (so I won't have to ship back books). The only thing is you need to be industry (bookseller, blogger, publisher, etc). If you do end up wanting to go, let's talk because I can add you temporarily to the blog as a contributor that way you can list our blog as the required category on the registration. So worth it for the books. Book con is usually connected to it but that can become more about fighting crowds than getting good books.

Diane wrote: "I hope you had a good time Jen. Sounds nice meeting all those authors and those free books. I hope your stress level goes down soon.

Thanks, it was great! Alas, stress will be ongoing for this year in terms of career stress. A big part of my salary is made up of grant funding and I'm in the final year of a major grant which means constant submissions until I get a new grant funded. But, I think I'm close in getting a grant funded to fund most of what I need. so fingers crossed.

Jen wrote: "Diane wrote: "I hope you had a good time Jen. Sounds nice meeting all those authors and those free books. I hope your stress level goes down soon.

Thanks, it was great! Alas, stress will be ongoin..."

I will keep my fingers crossed for you:)

Jen wrote: "Diane wrote: "I hope you had a good time Jen. Sounds nice meeting all those authors and those free books. I hope your stress level goes down soon.

Thanks, it was great! Alas, stress will be ongoin..." Sounds very stressful and I know you have had grief too for your cat. A hard year.

Kristel wrote: "Sounds very stressful and I know you have had grief too for your cat. A hard year.

Thanks. Yes, having to put our cat to sleep was the pinnacle of a really bad month. Earlier that month two close family members were diagnosed with cancer (one of them a very aggressive type with poor prognosis) along with a close high school friend. Thankfully, one of my family members seems to be doing well with treatment and my high school friend got some positive news today.

Jen wrote: "Kristel wrote: "Sounds very stressful and I know you have had grief too for your cat. A hard year.

Thanks. Yes, having to put our cat to sleep was the pinnacle of a really bad month. Earlier that..."
Glad to hear that, one of our young nurses at work was just diagnosed with leukemia, shr is going through treatment now, just got married in January. Seems 2016 is a really hard year.

I'm gonna brag for a second: I just finished book #652 of the list. That puts me at halfway! Woohoo!

Tracy wrote: "I'm gonna brag for a second: I just finished book #652 of the list. That puts me at halfway! Woohoo!"
Woo hoo! Congrats!

Wow Tracy that is impressive! Congratulations.

Tracy wrote: "I'm gonna brag for a second: I just finished book #652 of the list. That puts me at halfway! Woohoo!"
Congratulations Tracy, that is very impressive!

Wow.

I realized I will only finish one book that I started in May. I finished Trust: The Social Virtue and the Creation of Prosperity, by Francis Fukuyama, that I started in April, started the third volume of Story of the Stone, but put it aside to read That They May Face The Rising Sun, by John McGahern. Then started Plato's The Republic, which I won't finish by the end of the month. At this rate it will take forty or fifty years to get to #652.

It's taken me about 6 years to get this far, and I just started focusing on it again when I joined this group over on Shelfari. I hope it takes less time to get through the rest! Especially since I've identified some never-reads, and some "maybe I'll read them, but I'm in no hurry books".

I just got a notification that Leafmarks are closing.

Paula wrote: "I just got a notification that Leafmarks are closing."

I did too, we made the right decision in not going to Leafmarks when we chose GR. I feel bad for those that opted for Leafmarks because now they are facing another move and so soon after the last.

Paula wrote: "I just got a notification that Leafmarks are closing."

Yes, I can't say I'm terribly surprised although I am sad for everyone who decided to stay over there and not join us here. Leafmarks was essentially run by one woman with little support and no venture capital backing. It was only a matter of time and it was one of the main reasons why I strongly advocating that we move to a platform like GoodReads. I would have been devastated by having to move again. I hope that the people who are over there feel comfortable moving over here, even if it isn't their favorite platform.

That was what swayed me as well. I guess I didn't see her flaking out, though I think you did Jen, but I remember reading one of her posts about doing multiple things including managing the website all while driving on LA freeways to commute to her real job and thinking: she could suddenly and permanently disappear.

So yes, with my ongoing love-hate of GR, very glad we made this decision.

Perhaps a good time to let our friends who went to LM know we miss them.

Absolutely, agree that we should reach out. I've seen some people say they will refuse to move to GR (and will go to library thing) because they hate Amazon but truth of it is that Amazon also owns a big chunk of Library thing.

I remember you saying the same thing about longevity concerns. I think we were all concerned about that.

LT is not like other places because it is more about cataloging that socializing. The lack of easy access to discussions actually inhibits talking about books. I did want to say that Amazon does not have a controlling interest in LT, but it does have some ownership. I found this on wiki, perhaps it is out of date but it looked up to date. LT started cataloging movies and maybe music, I find this annoying cause now it is harder yet to find the edition you are looking for. Here is what I found on Wiki...LibraryThing is majority owned by founder Tim Spalding.[9] Online bookseller AbeBooks (now owned by Amazon) bought a 40% share in LibraryThing in May 2006 for an undisclosed sum.[10] In January 2009, Cambridge Information Group acquired a minority stake in the company, and their subsidiary Bowker became the official distributor to libraries.[9] From this, it sounds like Amazon came through a back door to acquire 40% ownership through AbeBooks. Amazon's presence is hardly felt at LT, something you cannot say on GR.

Kristel wrote: "LT is not like other places because it is more about cataloging that socializing. The lack of easy access to discussions actually inhibits talking about books. I did want to say that Amazon does no..."

I agree with all the things you mention. Call me cynical but amazon's involvement may change over time. They have a history of buying up all the competition and then consolidating on their site (e.g diapers.com). They weren't all that visible on shelfari either (or good reads at the beginning). I guess time will tell.

Interestingly, Amazon bought abebooks (acquiring 40% share of LT) in August of 2008, around the same time that they also acquired shelfari. Coincidence? I think not.

Jen wrote: "Kristel wrote: "LT is not like other places because it is more about cataloging that socializing. The lack of easy access to discussions actually inhibits talking about books. I did want to say tha..."
Yes, I agree, I don't think it was was coincidence and I do think the are devious.
They had also become harder and harder to deal with. There customer service is buried father and father under on line drop downs to the point you can hardly get to a real live person. Let me tell you about my horrible experience of buying a juicer. I wish there was alternatives but Amazon has done such an effective job of running all the competition out.

Oh, and Amazon had a big presence at Shelfari until Amazon decided to abandoned it (several years before the actual shut down). The advertisements all disappeared. That was an ominous sign. I am sorry for the people that went to Leafmarks as I am suspecting that many will just give up. It has to be so frustrating.

I feel sorry for all the "I'll never to go GR" people as well. They are adamant in their belief that it is impossible to have meaningful discussions without nested replies. And yet, this group (and PBT, and others) manage to have meaningful, vibrant discussion here. Is the lay out the same as we were used to -- no. Does that stop us from having a discussion? Absolutely not.

Book Concierge wrote: "I feel sorry for all the "I'll never to go GR" people as well. They are adamant in their belief that it is impossible to have meaningful discussions without nested replies. And yet, this group (and..."
For some reason, I do feel more lost here, I lose presence, cause if I don't respond immediately GR drops me and then I don't realize that I am missing discussions. So for me, it is more isolating, more likely that I could drop off the radar all together. That is probably more a problem with me. I used to depend on the email notices that I would get hourly on Shelfari. That worked so well for me. I never got lost and forgotten.

Kristel wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: "I feel sorry for all the "I'll never to go GR" people as well. They are adamant in their belief that it is impossible to have meaningful discussions without nested replies. A..."

I think one of the reasons for getting lost is that this group has so many active threads. We have 11 threads for each botm instead of 1 as we did on Shelfari, so the 'unread' view becomes quite cluttered (especially if one doesn't want to read the book threads until after one has read the book!). I'm not sure there's anything we can do about that.

I think it's much less conducive to discussion but we will manage and work with what we have.

I find that if I don't check in at least 2-3 times a day, I get lost. The amount of discussion over here is less than the level we had at Shelfari, although I think we're still doing well considering. Paula is right in that part of the issue is our need to create so many active threads to avoid clutter and confusion. At shelfari we could use nesting to simplify things.

Eventually we will all hopefully feel more at home here. I think if we can try our best to check in daily and participate as much as is feasible for us, then it will make a big difference. I have tone better about checking in more frequently.