A Night's Dream of Books

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Shelf Candy Saturday No. 197: A Christmas Carol & Other Christmas Writings, by Charles Dickens

Welcome to Shelf Candy Saturday!

This is my weekly feature

showcasing beautiful covers!

It also provides information,
if available, on their
very talented creators!

Here's my choice for this week!

A Christmas Carol and Other
Christmas Writings
Charles Dickens
Hardcover, Clothbound , 325 pages
Penguin Classics
November 25,2010
Classics, Christmas Fiction, Fantasy,
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8391566-a-christmas-carol-and-other-christmas-writings

My Thoughts About This Cover

This is such a simple, yet so effective cover design! It has a very modern feel to it, while at the same time it also possesses a classic look.

The book has no dust jacket, and the design is imprinted right on the front board. There are three stylized snowflake motifs that are repeated, apparently at random, throughout the cover, the background of which is white. The overall look is just magical! It's also a perfect example of the old dictum, "Less is more".

According to the website, The Phrase Finder, this particular phrase originated with an 1855 poem by Robert Browning, titled "Andrea del Sarto". In the 20th-century, the phrase was adopted by "...the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886 - 1969), one of the founders of modern architecture and a proponent of simplicity of style".

With a minimum of design elements, this brilliant artistic creator has crafted a cover that calls to mind everything associated with Christmas, especially, of course, snow. Her name is Coralie Bickford-Smith, and she works for Penguin Books, for whom she has designed several classics as part of Penguin's Clothbound Classics series.

A British designer, she graduated from Reading University after studying Typography and Graphic Communication. Her covers have gotten worldwide attention, having been recognized by the AIGA (NY), and the D&AD (UK). They have also been featured in several international periodicals, such as The New York Times, Vogue, and The Guardian.

In August, 2015, Penguin published Bickford-Smith's book, The Fox and The Star, which she wrote and illustrated.

I will be featuring more cover creations by this highly talented designer in future "Shelf Candy Saturday" posts! She's also joining my list of favorite cover artists!

UPDATE!

I have just purchased this book on

Amazon! YAAAY!!

Online Links
Website
The Fox and The Star
Goodreads
Facebook
Interview: Design Sponge Blog
Twitter

What do you think of this week's cover?
Do you agree or disagree with
my analysis?
Please leave a comment and
let me know!

Friday, December 23, 2016

Book Blogger Hop No. 80: Reading Challenges

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 participate in reading

challenges that have you reading

for 24 hours, challenges that

have a yearly goal, challenges that

have you reading certain genres,

or do you not participate in

challenges?

(Submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

My Answer

When I first started blogging about books, I had no idea that such things as reading challenges existed. As time went on and I visited other blogs, of course I became acquainted with them. So I decided to start participating, as they looked like a fun activity.

I have valiantly made several attempts to really take on reading challenges, but have not been able to complete them, for the most part. One of the reasons for this is that I have become involved with other kinds of blog posts, and eventually lost track of the challenge, so to speak, so I also lost interest in it. The exception to this is "The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge", which is hosted every year by Michelle Miller @ Christmas Spirit. This is a very beautiful blog, dedicated totally to Christmas. Every year, right around Thanksgiving, Michelle makes the challenge announcement on her Christmas blog. Like with most challenges, there are several levels of participation.

There's another reason I stopped participating in reading challenges: a scarcity of comments on my challenge review posts.

I used to look forward to "The Christmas Spirit Reading challenge" every year, starting in 2011. The last time I participated was last year, and I won't participate again. During the time I did join in, I never got that many comments. One of my posts, a review of the novel, Comfort and Joy, by Kristin Hannah, got a grand total of FIVE comments, and three of them were my replies to the comments left, which were only two. One of those was from Michelle, the host. Of my own three comments, one was a "P.S.". What I don't understand is WHY this post had a total of 374 views, yet, only two people commented!! The post also has two Google+ recommendations. I just don't get it!

Anyway, as time went on, the situation did not improve. Also, I would leave comments on other participants' reviews, and not get comments back on my own reviews.

The exact same thing has happened with other challenges I've been part of. On some of these, not even the host has commented on my challenge reviews. And all of these challenges have had Linky lists, too, making it very easy for participants to hop over to other blogs.

I know there are bloggers who don't seem to care whether or not they get replies or comments back on their posts, but I DO care. If someone takes the time to comment on my blog, I think they deserve the courtesy of at least a comment back on their own blog. Not everyone has the time to reply to comments left on their blogs. I try to do this, as well as comment back on the commenters' blogs. However, since I know that people are very busy with their real-world lives, I don't expect them to reply to comments I leave on their blogs. But comments back on mine is a different story. I feel hurt when people whose blogs I've commented on do not comment back on mine.

I don't want to sound overwhelmingly negative or anything, but I really do NOT understand why some bloggers don't comment back. What's the whole purpose of blogging about books, if not to interact with other book bloggers? Sometimes I feel so depressed and frustrated..... When I have commented on a blog at least twice, and don't get a comment back, I will not comment on that blog again, unless that blogger comments on one of my posts, in which case I will comment back on theirs. If a blogger refuses to comment back on my blog, I must assume that said blogger does not want to establish a friendship with me. Everyone is free to choose their friends. So, I just move on to another blog whose creator WILL reciprocate when I leave a comment on their blog. I'm not going to waste my time commenting on blogs whose owners/creators ignore my existence.

Relationships on the blogosphere are built up through comments, just like, in the real world, they're built up through sharing activities together, and having reciprocal conversations. If I have a so-called 'friend' who never calls me back after I have initiated several calls, I must assume that they're not really interested in being my friend. And the same holds true for romantic relationships. The famous "I'll call you" that guys LOVE to say to a girl after a first date is over is a case in point. They say this, and then they NEVER call the girl. Or perhaps the girl has already called him first, and he then throws this line at her.

Okay, rant over, lol. I just HAD to get that out there.

Listed below are the links to some of the posts I've created for the reading challenges I've participated in since I first started blogging in 2010. If you click on any of them, you will see that most of these posts have VERY few comments. And I don't think any of the posts are boring, either. I always do my very best to make all of my posts interesting for my readers.

I refuse to participate in any more reading challenges of ANY sort whatsoever. This situation is permanent for the foreseeable future.

Past Reading Challenge Posts