Book Blogger Hop No. 138: Happiness is sitting down with a good book!!

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

This Week's Question

Can you say this about yourself: "Nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good book"?

(Submitted  by Elizabeth @

Silver's Reviews)

My Answer

Here's the short and sweet answer: Absolutely. Positively. Without the shadow of a doubt!

You didn't think I would stop there, did you? Lol. Of course not! Because I love to write about the lovely effect that a good book has on me! Of course, what I consider "a good book" might not be what other bookworms consider a good book. And we also have the two main classifications of books to take into account: fiction and nonfiction. Each one obviously encompasses different criteria for "book goodness".

In the case of both fiction and nonfiction, genres have to be mentioned, as well. In my own case, I tend to prefer novels that contain elements of fantasy in them. So I love to read the following genres: fantasy, science fiction, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy. I also read historical romances, and, occasionally, even romances with an element of suspense. However, I will always prefer to read novels that take me out of the mundane reality that surrounds me every day. I love to be immersed -- by a skillful author, of course -- in books that will transport me to worlds and "realities" that are highly improbable in the here and now. Such books will totally absorb me, to the point that I will emerge into what everyone knows as "the real world", several hours later, wondering where the heck the time went! 

I am not interested in the following fiction genres: horror, thrillers, or crime fiction. As for women's fiction, or what is otherwise known as "chick lit", it depends. I might read such books from time to time, but I will ALWAYS prefer books that have those fantasy elements.

As for nonfiction, I find there's a similar effect, if the subject matter of the book is interesting to me.

Nonfiction books dealing with the following subjects are DEFINITELY my cup of tea: esoteric topics (to a degree), psychology, philosophy, and theology. In regards to these subjects, I have no problem reading practical books (such as self-help psychology books), as well as more academic ones.

I am also interested in art, so a book on acrylic painting techniques will definitely make me lose several hours! So will a book on the life of a famous artist, or a specific period in Art History, such as the Renaissance. As for crafts, I might get absorbed by a book on beadwork, for instance. 

In short, any book, whether fiction or nonfiction, that takes me out of the ordinary, that opens up new horizons, that stimulates me to think about things in a different way, or that will allow me to suspend disbelief while involving me in magical adventures, will count as "a good book". And yes, I feel totally blissful when reading such a book! 

What are your thoughts on

this topic?

If you're participating in this hop,

I'll go comment on your 

own BBH post.

If not, I will then comment on one 

of your blog posts!

Thanks for visiting!!!  
 

Book Blogger Hop No. 121: Eclectic vs. One-Genre Book Blogging

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

For more information, and 

to find out the topic of next week's question, click HERE.

This Week's Question

Do you prefer to blog about (a)

specific book genre(s), or

do you have an eclectic blog?

(Submitted  by Maria @ 

A Night's Dream of Books)

My Answer

This blog has actually gone through a few stages during its development. I'm sure many book bloggers can relate to this, too.

When I first started out, in 2010, I knew I wanted to feature YA Fiction. I was also very much into The Twilight Saga (and still am!), so, having written some Twilight fan fiction, I also included these stories on the blog. In fact, I wanted to feature Stephenie Meyer's paranormal world all the time, along with other YA novels. Back then, the blog's title was Twilight and Other Dreams. Well, I did get past that stage.....lol. I realized that people would think my blog was "just another Twilight fan blog", so I changed the blog's title to the present one, but continued to focus on the YA genre. I also stopped including Twilight fan fiction -- or any other type of fan fiction, for that matter -- on this blog.

I have always been an eclectic reader, however, so I gradually began to include books from other genres. These were mostly adult books. I love paranormal romance, for example, so I decided to include both YA and adult books within the PNR genre on the blog. Historical romances -- especially those dealing with the Regency period in British history -- are another weakness of mine. Most of these are adult books, and I began to include them, as well.

Then one day I suddenly decided that I wanted to go back to focusing exclusively on the YA genre, which, of course, encompasses some of the same genres adult books are categorized in: fantasy, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, mystery, urban fantasy, and science fiction. This does allow for some variety, while still featuring only YA. I figured that I might get more readers, as well as more comments, if I only featured YA. 

Well, that didn't last very long.....lol.

After trying valiantly to stick to this decision, I gradually began to waver. I just couldn't make myself focus on YA books exclusively. There were just too many other fascinating and entertaining books in adult genres that I was interested in reading and reviewing. So I slowly began to make this blog an eclectic one again. I'm still featuring YA Fiction, but not exclusively.

I've been a happily eclectic book blogger for some time now, and really haven't looked back since I finally decided to keep it that way. My love for YA won't let me abandon it altogether, though, so I will go on including it in my posts. But you can expect to see plenty of other types of books here as well! Except for nonfiction, though.

Blogging about books should be an enjoyable experience which allows us bloggers to share our views with the world regarding our favorite topic -- BOOKS. So I now feel that I should blog about pretty much any book that interests me. However, there are some limitations. Since I do feature so much YA Fiction here, I can't suddenly post a review of a book on philosophy, for example, or one on a history of the Kabbalah. No one will come by this blog to read such reviews. And if they should happen to do so, they surely won't comment on them. Therefore, I write about these types of books on my other blog, MindSpirit Book Journeys. (Which I have sadly neglected, by the way, because of time constraints.)

The purpose of my other blog is to deal with books of a more serious nature, such as classics, literary fiction, and nonfiction. In the past, I used to post at least some nonfiction reviews on A Night's Dream of Books, but have long since stopped doing so. On this blog, I will only review nonfiction if it has something to do with the YA Fiction genre.

It would be very interesting, I think, to find out just how many book bloggers stick to one genre, or perhaps two or three, and how many are totally eclectic in their reading and reviewing. I know I've seen quite a few blogs dedicated only to YA Fiction. Others stick to adult mysteries and thrillers. (Not my cup of tea, except for anything related to Sherlock Holmes!) Still others focus on literary fiction and classics. There's some variety in the blogosphere. From what I've seen, though, it looks like a lot of people prefer to blog about one or two genres. But I've also visited a few eclectic blogs.

In the end, there are obviously no hard-and-fast rules about which genre(s) to blog about. There's room for all genres on the blogosphere. (I personally avoid blogs dealing with erotica or the horror genre.) It's very interesting to see what genres interest and do not interest other book bloggers. And for me, there have been some surprises throughout the years. On more than one occasion, I've actually started reading a book recommended by a blogger whose reading tastes are completely different from mine, and yet, I've enjoyed the book!

It doesn't look like I'll ever go back to blogging about just one genre. It's too much fun to be eclectic!

  

What are your thoughts on

this topic?

If you're participating in this hop,

I'll go comment on your 

own BBH post.

If not, I will then comment on one 

of your blog posts!

Thanks for visiting!!!  
 

Book Blogger Hop No. 43: Venturing Out of your Reading Comfort Zone

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

For more information, click HERE.

What to Do

1.) Post on your blog answering this week's

question:

Have you ever ventured out of your

comfort zone in terms of reading 

a genre you have never read? 

If so, did you get

hooked on that new genre?

(submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

2.)  Enter the link to your post in the

Linky list on Billy's blog.

3.)  Visit other blogs on the list and

comment on their posts. 

4.)  Be sure to find out next week's

question when you visit

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

My Answer

Currently, I rarely venture outside my reading comfort zone, but in the past, I did so on a couple of occasions.

The first one was when I first fell madly in love. Before this happened, I had looked down my nose at romance novels, considering them silly and too sentimental. I was only into reading classics, literary fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. I also read some nonfiction from time to time. But then I fell head over heels.....and suddenly, I decided to pick up a romance novel. What a revelation! It turned out that I really enjoyed reading them -- especially historical romance. I quickly became addicted to these books! I still read this genre, although now I prefer paranormal romance, but do still occasionally read historical and contemporary romance, as well.

In my twenties, I decided, for some crazy reason, that I would read a horror novel. Alas, this was a HUGE mistake! I read The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty. I never saw the movie, but only read the book. But, just from reading the book, I was unable to sleep well for an entire week!

Years later, I also read The Forbidden Game, by L.J. Smith, which is an omnibus edition of three YA  horror novels. Again, I don't know why I decided to do this, but, this time around, I actually couldn't put down this book! It was VERY well-written, and had a lot of twists and turns. However, I have no desire to read it again, as there were some truly scary moments in it! 

I am too sensitive to read horror novels; they totally terrify me, and I do NOT like to feel terrified! 

In 2006, I became hooked on a new genre -- Young Adult Fiction. This happened because of The Twilight Saga. It might seem ironic that, since I don't like the horror genre, I would love this series, which features vampires and werewolves. But there are some differences between urban fantasy -- which is the genre these books also belong to -- and horror. Besides, these novels are also categorized as paranormal romance.

After reading The Twilight Saga (the first time, that is), I got into the Harry Potter series. And now I'm totally addicted to Young Adult Fiction! So this was a happy venture! I still read other genres, of course. But I will never stop reading YA novels. And the really great thing about this genre is that it encompasses several sub-genres, such as the ones I mentioned above, as well as fantasy, science fiction, dystopian fiction, Steampunk, and romance. Young Adult romances mostly fall into three categories: fantasy, paranormal, and contemporary. Although I do prefer the first two, I will occasionally read the third.

I'm now wondering if I should sample some cozy mysteries next. Hmmm......     
 

     

What are your thoughts?

Please leave a comment,

and I'll go check out your post!

The Book Lover's Den #18: What influences the choice of books to read?

Welcome to my Friday feature!

In each weekly post, I explore 

my thoughts on several 

book-related topics.

For the longest time now, I've been wondering just what, if anything, influences people's choices of books to read and blog about. There are book bloggers who blog only about a specific genre or type of book. For instance, I've seen a lot of blogs totally dedicated to Young Adult books. Others only cover Christian books, while still others stick with classics, or science fiction and fantasy (these two usually go together), or mostly nonfiction. Then there are others, like me, who tend to be more eclectic, but I've noticed that eclectic bloggers are not as common as those who prefer one particular genre or type of book.

In my case, I've noticed that it's one of two factors that influence what I will most likely read next: either my emotional state, or my preoccupation with certain intellectual or spiritual matters. 

The first became very apparent when I fell head over heels in love for the very first time. Not that I hadn't been in love before that, but that particular time, it was particularly strong. How did this affect my choice of books to read? Well, I completely lost interest in the types of books I had read until then -- science fiction, fantasy, classics, and nonfiction. (Hmmm, I guess I've always been a little eclectic.) Instead, I started reading romance novels. Once my appetite was whetted, I began obsessively buying and reading them! I was living in a rosy, romantic haze..... The funny thing is, I had previously looked down my nose at these books. I hate to admit that I even thought that women who read this genre were silly and shallow. How ironic, then, to find myself abandoning my loftier subject matters for this fluffy stuff! The irony hit me even then, but I still couldn't stop myself from reading the genre. I read mostly historical romances back then. I still read a lot of romance novels nowadays, but my preferred sub-genre now is paranormal romance. 

I'm now making a concerted effort to read weightier material. I don't want to stop reading romance novels, though. I came to realize that these books fulfill a need for women, a need that no other type of literature can possibly satisfy, and that it's something uniquely ours. I consider myself an intellectual person, and I still have this need, in common with all other women. it's the need to read beautiful, romantic language, to feel the sexual tension in a new relationship, to immerse myself in the plot twists that seem to separate the lovers, but that will bring them together for that all-important 'happily ever after'. These are feminine emotional needs. However, I do want all of these plot elements to be balanced by others. The female protagonist must be a strong character on her own, not 'a female in distress'. She must be willing to assert herself with the male protagonist. Furthermore, it's great when SHE rescues HIM at times!

On other occasions, I feel the need to read other things like science fiction and fantasy, or nonfiction. These are the times that I've come across something interesting on the Internet, which stimulates my mind, and therefore, I need to delve into it further. For instance, I'm currently preoccupied with certain intellectual/spiritual concerns, such as what to accept or reject from New Age philosophy, researching contradictions I have found in the Bible, and exploring the influence of culture, temperament, genetics, and upbringing on a person's individual moral code.

I'm currently reading The Psychology of Twilight, which some people might scoff at, as this is seemingly not serious reading material. This is not true at all, however. I've found that this book deals with such fascinating things as attachment theory manifesting in the way the main characters in the Twilight books relate to each other. There's also a fascinating discussion of prejudice in this book, and another section, titled "Gestalt and Twilight" goes into depth on this school of psychology, which "...tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world." (Gestalt Psychology:Wikipedia)

Interestingly, while reading this book, I've been delving briefly into other books dealing with the concerns I've mentioned above. I'm feeling torn between continuing to read The Psychology of Twilight, and these other books. There's just SO little time to read..... 

One of the books I've delved into is titled Myths of the Bible, by Gary Greenberg. Another is titled Awakening Your Inner Light, by Aeoliah. And then there's A Kabbalah for the Modern World, by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, which is the book that started me wondering about Biblical myths and contradictions. In this book, Gonzalez-Wippler claims that the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament) contains the stories of Adam, Eve, and the serpent, whereas the original Hebrew version does not. So now I'm researching this topic. In relation to this, I have yet another book somewhere in this condo, titled Biblical Nonsense, by Dr. Jason Long. And then I also want to read The Battlefield of the Mind, by Joyce Meyer, as well as Shattering Your Strongholds, by Liberty Savard. These last two are Christian authors, and they have both inserted a bit of psychology into these books.

Sometimes, I might be in the middle of some exciting novel, only to get pulled away from it because an emotional state demanding some other type of reading interrupts. If I've been having problems at work, for example, I will suddenly want to pick up a book on how to deal with bullying by either bosses or co-workers. If I have an argument with my husband, I will suddenly want to read a book on how to improve communication in marriage. If I'm feeling down, I will suddenly want to pick up a book on  dealing with the blues. And, if I'm feeling inadequate, I will suddenly want to pick up a book on bolstering one's self-esteem, or one dealing with positive affirmations.

In short, I look to books for answers to emotional issues, as well as for answers to intellectual and spiritual concerns. Of course, there are times I simply want to be entertained, to escape. Then I will turn to some type of romance. If I want to escape this planet, I will then turn  to science fiction, and if it's reality altogether, I will seek out fantasy, although paranormal romance and urban fantasy also serve the purpose quite well.

So it seems that, in my case, as well as most likely in the case of many other readers, it's really moods that drive my selection  of reading matter. I would imagine, however, that this is especially true of eclectic readers and book bloggers. We're kind of 'a breed apart', sampling here and there, like hummingbirds flitting from one flower to another. It's not always easy to balance different genres, as well as the constant battle between fiction and nonfiction.

While writing this post, I remembered a book I bought some years ago, and haven't gotten around to reading. It's titled Reading To Heal: How To Use Bibliotherapy To Improve Your Life. The author's name is Jacqueline D. Stanley. This book actually recommends certain books to read, based on emotional issues one needs to heal. Some of these books are fiction, while others are nonfiction. I'm not sure where I put this book (perhaps it's in storage), but I want to get it and discover the books recommended by the author. Unfortunately, Amazon does not offer a preview of the book.

Another such book I want to read is titled Bibliotherapy: The Girl's Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives, by Beverly West and Nancy Peske. A preview of this particular book is available on Amazon, so I was able to take a look at the Table of Contents. Some of the chapter titles are actually hilarious! Here are some samples: Chapter 3: When You Still Think You Can Change Him - Bad Boy Books, Chapter 4: When You're Ready To Make Your Own Kind of Music -- Hearing-Your-Inner-Voice Books, Chapter 5: When You're Wallowing In A Sullen Perennial Adolescence -- Coming-of-Age Books, Chapter 9: When Your Biological Alarm Clock Is Ringing and You Can't Find the Snooze Button -- Midlife Crisis Books, and so on. 

I'm feeling a very strong need to order these books from Amazon right this very minute! I have to reign in this impulse, though.....I might be able to find the first book, Reading to Heal, somewhere on my shelves, which I haven't quite managed to get organized yet (it's been a month since we moved in already......WOW!) As for the second one, I'll have to grit my teeth and get it as a Kindle edition, since I can't fill our new apartment with books....That's the reason I had to put so many in storage when we moved.

Wrapping up.....I'm feeling the need to read something right now, as of this writing (it's already 12:06 AM on Friday, April 3rd, here in Miami, Florida). And what book will I be picking up? Since it's already Good Friday, I might very well select a reading from a Lent devotional, or maybe I'll read some chapters from The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas, a great classic I've been meaning to re-read.

And then, sometime late tomorrow, I just might be able to return to The Psychology of Twilight!

NOTE: All of the books mentioned in this post are available on Amazon, and are listed by Goodreads and Shelfari.
    



 

What are your thoughts on
 this subject?
What factors influence 
your own choice of books 
to read at any given moment?

The Book Lover's Den #3: What kind of book blog do I really want to have?

Welcome to my new Friday feature!

In each bi-weekly post, I will be 

exploring my thoughts on several 

book-related topics.  

When I first began blogging about books, I debated with myself just what kind of books I wanted to blog about. My tastes are very eclectic, so I finally decided that I would simply blog about my favorite genres. So A Night's Dream of Books began as an eclectic blog, and has remained thus to this day. 

Unfortunately, from what I've seen on the blogosphere, there aren't that many eclectic blogs. I've noticed that most book blogs deal with young adult fiction, and, while I love this genre, I also love others. For instance, of the several fiction genres, I love classics, fantasy, science fiction, and Christian fiction, as well as paranormal romance and urban fantasy, along with contemporary and historical romance. As for nonfiction, I love psychology, art, literary criticism, philosophy, and even some theology, as well as other spiritual topics. I've recently become interested in conspiracy theories, too, for the purpose of critical analysis, not of blind adherence to them.

This brings me to another aspect of the book blogging world I've noticed: few blogs deal with nonfiction, with the notable exception of Babbling Books, a very interesting blog run by Brian Joseph, who covers literary fiction, as well as nonfiction. I know there are more such blogs, and I simply need to seek them out.

As for blog design, there are all kinds, from the very simple -- minimalist, I call them -- to the very elaborate, with lots of images and colors. Even from the beginning, I gravitated toward the latter group.

All of this brings me to the point of this post: what genres do I want to blog about, and what type of blog design do I prefer ?  Looking back over all of my posts, I see that a lot of them cover young adult fiction, paranormal romance, and urban  fantasy, with occasional posts dealing with other genres. I would definitely like to publish more posts on classics and literary fiction, as well as more nonfiction. However, this presents a dilemma for me: I tend to get more comments on posts covering young adult fiction, as well as paranormal romance/urban fantasy, than I do on posts covering other genres.

You might be wondering, at this point, why I'm concerned about these things.  After all, I do have more than 1,100 GFC followers, 408 Bloglovin' followers, and 111 Linky Followers. But having a lot of followers doesn't guarantee lots of comments. As everyone knows, a blog with little to no interaction between the blogger and the readers means that somehow the blog is not engaging readers.

The whole thing really has to do with demographics. Just what reader demographic is my blog intended to appeal to? Well, there's the crux of the problem. My blog design indicates it would appeal more to the YA crowd, and not to the type of reader who enjoys literary fiction and more serious topics. I could, of course, modify my design to appeal to this type of reader. However, I don't see myself doing that, and there are two reasons: first, I'm a very visual person, and second, I was an Art Major in college. I don't like simplicity and restraint in blog design. Instead, I love bold, vibrant, images and colors! For some reason, literary fiction and nonfiction seem to be  associated with more plain, even staid, blog design. Such blogs are apparently taken more seriously by 'the literati'.

I find this to be a  very curious prejudice  in the blogosphere. Why should very artistic, bold design mean that the blogger in question is not interested in important, more intellectual literature and nonfiction? Why should this even imply that their reviews  are not to be taken seriously? On the other hand, when someone who prefers young adult fiction comes to my blog and sees a review, or some other post, about literary fiction, or perhaps nonfiction, why should they then stop coming to my blog?

So I do have a dilemma..... I can either confine myself to the YA genre, and perhaps get lots of comments, thereby losing any opportunity of appealing to readers of 'serious' literature and nonfiction, or blog exclusively about these topics, thereby alienating my YA followers.

And what of my blog design? Should I change it to a simpler design, with more subdued colors,  in order to attract more readers of literary fiction and nonfiction? 

I have long pondered these issues in my mind, and I see that the basic question underlying my dilemma is whether I want to change the genres I review, as well as my blog design, in order to achieve popularity as a blogger. I do want my blog posts to have more comments, as this means more interaction with my readers. But am I willing to transform my blog dramatically in order to achieve this? In other words, am I willing to stick to one genre only, or to downplay my blog's exuberant design so that it becomes a shadow of what it is now? I have finally come to the realization that the answers to these questions are all the same: "No". This is who I am, these are the books I love to blog about. This is the type of blog design I love. I have to be myself, not only in real life, but in the blogosphere, as well.  Besides, readers can always select which posts really interest them, and comment on those.

On the other hand, maybe the problem is just a question of getting more exposure through social media. In order to help myself in that regard, I've just opened a Twitter account. Until very recently, I was relying on Facebook and Google + to get the word out about my blog. While I do plan to continue to post to Google +, I am not going to do so on Facebook any longer. The reason is that FB is now expecting those who have fan pages to pay in order for their posts to appear in FB's news feeds. Well, I can't afford to do that; boosting each post would cost a minimum of $5.00, and promoting the fan page itself is $10.00 a day. This means that I would have to pay $300.00 to promote my page for a month! 

So, now that I have a Twitter account, hopefully that will bring me readers who are interested enough in my posts that they will be more than happy to leave comments!

What kind of book blog 

do you have?

What's your opinion about 

this issue?

Let me know in the

comments section below!