CLOSED

I’ve been getting notifications that people are subscribing to Diary of a Domestic Goddess, but as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m no longer using this blog. Not using it at all. There won’t be any more posts here, so there’s no point in subscribing.

Instead, why not pop along to my NEW blog, where I AM posting. Pretty much daily. Honestly, it’s a great blog, you should go visit it. And maybe subscribe to THAT one instead. You can find it here:

Kincavel Korner

Booking Through Thursday – Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

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Ever read a book you thought you could have written better yourself?

Yes. The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer. Personally I think a chimp with a typewriter could do better, so it’s not much of a challenge. I found the story unoriginal and the writing very poor. I know that flies in the face of the millions of fans the saga has, but I thought they were terrible books.

Booking Through Thursday – More!

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Which non-series book would you most like to read the sequel to?
Do you have any wishes for what might happen in it?

The Stand by Stephen King! And here’s why…

If you’ve not read this novel,
there are spoilers below this point!

Booking Through Thursday – A Different Kind of Romance

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Have you ever fallen in love with a fictional character?
Who and what about them did you love?

Yes. For many years now I have been in love with Stu Redman from The Stand by Stephen King. He is my not-so-secret love.

Whats not to love about him? I mean, he’s a regular guy – the way he’s written, you could believe he’s real. He’s gentle and kind and thoughtful – a real gentleman without being corny about it. He’s sincere, loyal and determined – you get the feeling that once Stu sets his mind on doing something, he’ll keep going till he’s done it, but he’s not horribly stubborn either. He’s a quiet, reflective kind of person – not book smart, but life smart – he’s been through the mill and come out the other side still standing and still strong. It’s not every man who would accept that the woman he loves is carrying another man’s child (from before they met, albeit, but still..) and fight to protect her and that child as well as the rest of humanity.

Stu is the kind of man we all secretly hope we’ll end up with. We might, as little girls, dream of Prince Charming sweeping us off our feet; We might, as teenagers, wish that a dark and dangerous vampire (even if, in some dire cases, he sparkles) will creep in at our window and change our lives; but what we really want, when we grow up and think about it, is someone sure and steady who will stand by us through thick and thin, always loving us and trying to do the right thing by us.

Stu Redman IS that man, and he’s the one every man should aspire to being.

Booking Through Thursday – Blogs

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What do you look for when reading a book blog?
Does the blogger have to read the same genre?
Do you like reviews? Personal posts? Memes? Giveaways?
What attracts you to a book blog?

All of the above! I read book blogs to help me discover new books I might not have ordinarily considered or even known about in the first place. As I enjoy a wide range of genres and styles, I like to see the same in others’ blogs – some I peruse are genre-specific, but the majority are by people who have eclectic tastes. Many of the books and blogs I have discovered have been through taking part in memes and I’m more likely to visit a blog multiple times if I see the blogger taking part in these as it is something we have in common and I know that on a given day of the week, there will be new book-related content.

Giveaways are all very nice, but they’re not the be all and end all for me – actually, I rarely enter them. A lot of giveaways are area specific and many are based in the US, so I wouldn’t be eligible anyway, but again, I use these as opportunities to spot new books that might interest me.

One thing that puts me off is that some Blogger blogs seem to be incompatible with WordPress when it comes to commenting. I’ve had some awful problems trying to leave comments on blogs recently and unless there is the option for posting using my name and URL, I often can’t comment at all, even if there is the Open ID WordPress option available. The problem usually occurs with the CAPTCHA code – for some reason it just will not register as correct when I enter the characters. (See my blog post about this issue HERE.) When I come across these blogs, I tend to strike them off my list as, although I don’t comment a lot, I do like the option to do so if Im’ feeling particularly inspired by an entry.

And–what are your favorite book blogs?

My favourite book blog is actually one to which I contibute. I know that sounds big-headed, but it actually has a very large team of reviewers so the books reviewed there cover every genre and you get a very wide range of opinions, often with several reviews of the same book by different people, so you get multiple perspectives. Click the link below to be whisked away to the blog:

Book Club Forum Reviews

Booking Through Thursday – Fan Fiction

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Have you every written any fan-fiction? If yes, why and for which book(s)? If no, would you like to and for which books(s)?
For that matter, do you ever READ fan-fiction?

Short answer, no and no.

I do love reworked fairytales, but I’m not really a fan of reading “what if?” stories based on other works, and never have been.

On the writing side of things, well I have written a few short stories in my time, but nothing specifically fan-fictiony. I did write a reworked version of a fairytale called The True and Completely Accurate Tale of Hansel and Gretel, which you can find HERE on my old blog.

Booking Through Thursday – Only Five

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If you had to pick only 5 books to read ever again,
what would they be and why?

I think I’d have to make sure they were all loooooooooong books to keep me busy for quite some time. I also may have to cheat just a little bit here. I know lots of people will go for something like The Complete Works of Shakespeare, but, much as I love his work, I’m not a fan of reading plays – I’d much rather watch them, so he will be conspicuous by his absence…

1. The Stand by Stephen King (complete and unabridged edition)
   This is one of my all-time favourite books; not because it’s of any particular literary merit, but for the story and the characters. When I crack open this book, it’s like visiting old friends, and despite having read it from cover to cover at least a dozen times, I always discover something new in there that I had either glossed over before or forgotten about. It’s also well over 1000 pages in hardback, so it keeps me going for quite a while when I read it.
2. The Complete Novels of Jane Austen
   I reckon this is a legitimate choice because you can buy it as a single volume. It’s a very large hardback volume, but I have seen it in shops and therefore feel I can count it as a single choice. I feel I’m growing to appreciate these novels more as time passes and would love to revisit them.
3. The Collected Works of the Brontë Sisters
   Are you sensing a theme here? I’ve read all their best known works, but there are still a few of the less well-known novels I’d like to try as well as re-reading those I’ve already tried. Anne is my favourite sister, but all three were incredibly talented.
4. The Complete Works of Charles Dickens
   I’ve only ever read A Christmas Carol, so this would be a great opportunity to rectify that situation and get to grips with the others. I just hope I would enjoy them enough that I didn’t kick myself for not choosing something else, but I feel one should always have something they’ve never read before on these lists, just to mix things up a bit.
5. The Complete Adventures of Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
   Again, available in a single volume. I’ve only ever read the first novel and I loved it for the adventure, the characters and the humour. I think I would love the other books too, so they are what I choose to fill my last spot.

So there you go. I’ve actually surprised myself by filling four of the five spots with classics, but there you go. If I could only have five books for the rest of my days, these would be the ones I chose to fill my very limited shelf space. Or I could pop them all on my Kindle and carry them with me wherever I go…

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Booking Through Thursday – Found Books

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Have you ever read a random book left in a waiting room or on a park bench, etc., and did you like it?

I did once find a BookCrossing book that had been left outside the local hospital when I went with my sister to visit her boyfriend, but we gave it to him to keep him entertained while he was in there, so I didn’t read it. I can’t even remember the title of it.

I’ve picked up books from various BookCrossing points, but I’ve never found one “in the wild” – not yet, anyway!

My sister did find a small pile of books left at a bus stop a short while ago, all copies of the same book – Dreamwords (book 1) by Paul Story. They were all in individual sealed clear plastic bags to protect them from the weather and each one contained a little little card which explained it was an “experiment in honesty”. Basically, the books were free to pick up and take away to read, but in doing so, the reader agrees to the following:

• I will read the book within one month
• I will pay for this copy if I want to read book 2
• I will otherwise send £1 anonymously to the author

I think it’s a wonderful idea and I shall be sending off my £1 very shortly (although I confess I haven’t got round to reading it just yet as I’ve been so busy and have several other books to read and review for publishers and authors). However, I’m looking forward to giving it a try.

Booking Through Thursday – Writing Or Riveting?

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What’s more important: Good writing? Or a good story?
(Of course, a book should have BOTH, but…)

Of course, a really good book has both, but if I had to sacrifice one for the other, I’d take average writing with an exciting and absorbing plot over an exquisitely written slice of dullsville.

I’ve enjoyed many competently written books where the riveting story has rattled along and kept me on the edge of my seat, but no matter how beautiful the writing is, if there is little to know plot, or if there’s a good plot but drawn out in such a way as to make it drag, then I’m afraid I’m not going to finish it, and it becomes a waste of my time and money.

Of course I’d prefer a winning combination of both elements, what reader in their right mind wouldn’t? But given the choise of only one, that’s my answer.

Booking Through Thursday – Skipping

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Do you skip ahead in a book?
Do you feel badly about it when you do?

I don’t tend to skip ahead in books unless I’m re-reading them and have come to a part of which I’m not so fond. I don’t do much rereading these days, so the skipping is reduced even further. On those rare occasions when I skip ahead, I don’t feel guilty or even remotely bad about it, because I’ve already read it at least once before. If I found myself skipping ahead on a first read, I’d be questioning whether I was actually enjoying the book. If the answer is negative, I ditch the whole book. If it’s positive, then I continue reading without skipping.