Weekly Link Round-Up
Here are some blogs and posts I want to highlight this week. (Some of these links are part of a link-sharing group started by Amy of My Friend Amy.)
Discussions
Citing an article in The New York Times, Bookish Ruth, discussed whether Scholastic is abusing “the privelege of marketing to schoolchildren.” Make sure to read the comments too.
There was another great discussion over at Book-a-rama. Chris wants to know if some books are getting over-exposed on blogs. She asks, “How do you feel about all the multiple posts for one book?” This one has some great comments, too.
How-To
Do you know to spot Christian fiction? My Friend Amy wrote a great post that tells you how.
Reviews
Beth Fish Reads reviewed a book that I’m looking forward to reading, The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. She listened to the audio version and said she “absolutely will be reading the second book.”
Trish of Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? is raving over The Help by Kathryn Stockett. She’s given this book a 98 out of 100! She’s even hosting a giveaway for the book and if you win, she’ll have it autographed for you if you’d like.
The Husband Project is a new book by Kathi Lipp. Wendi of Wendi’s Book Corner likes it so much she’s started another blog to keep track of her journey over the next month or so.
Marta’s Meanderings calls The Terror by Dan Simmons “stupendous.” She says it “combines sci-fi, thriller and historical fiction all in one incredible story.” If it sounds like something you’d like to read, head on over there – she’s giving away 5 copies.
Interviews
Shelly of Write For a Reader scored another great interview last week. This time, she interviewed Barbara Worton, the author of Too Tall Alice. She actually conducted this interview in a one hour phone call and she says they “laughed and shared stories.”
For an interview of Efrem Sigel, the author of The Disappearance, head over to Find Your Next Book Here. This is Jenners first author interview, and it’s a good one.
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I just love this weekly feature! This week I especially enjoyed reading Chris’s discussion of over-exposed books (although I am so new to the book blogging world that I don’t really know how to access all the book blogging tours that were referred to) — and Amy’s article on Christian Lit really resonated with me as well.
That Scholastic book discussion was great.
I’m definitely going to read Chris’ post on over-exposure. Thanks for the info – I missed it during the week! Enjoy your Sunday!
Thanks for mentioning Chris’ post. I must have missed that one. Need to go read it! Great round-up post!
I just love reading these weekly links. I am very curious about the Scholastic one — my son gets those flyers in preschool and I remember them from when I was little. I’m going to have to check that out.
The Book-A-Rama discussion sounds interesting too. There are some weeks when I feel like I do see the same book reviewed everywhere. It is nice to see different views though.
And I saw some of Wendi’s Husband Project posts and it got me very intrigued. I am going to check that out more when I have a chance.
So many good blogs and so little time!
And thank you soooooo much for linking to my interview! I truly appreciate the support. It was a really fun but somewhat stressful experience. I certainly don’t think I could handle a phone interview like Shelly!
Thanks for the great round-up, Kathy! There were some things that I missed this week…
Thanks for mentioning my post!
My almost four year old always wants the toys from the Scholastic fliers! It kinda drives me crazy!!!
The weekly link round up is a great idea. I misssed the post on over exposed books and plan to read that. I have noticed that there are a lot of the same books reviewed and I tend to read a few and then skim or ignore the rest.
Kathy, thanks for pointing me to the discussion on overexposed books. Interesting that several folks say Josh Henkin (Matrimony) is an author who overdoes the blog tours. Last year, I was on a Baltimore Book Festival panel about reviewing in print and in blogs; to prepare I asked him about the decline in newspaper book review sections. He said he missed the serendipity of newspaper reviews, which often highlight obscure books. Bloggers, he said, often seem to be reviewing the same dozen books. Including Matrimony, I guess.
Still, I feel for him and other authors, who are trying to figure out how to market books in an era when reviewing has fractured into thousands of pieces.
Great links!
I forgot to come back and comment on what a great links post this is! I’ve been off (and will continue) to read those other posts. Thank you.