April ’17 Roundup & Ramblings

~ Bookstooge
04April17

Collage created at Ipiccy

April can be summed up as Bleh. I only read 10 books, which for me, is about a 50% drop from my normal 15-20.  Part of that is that I read/finished some doorstoppers. The Great Controversy, The Line of Polity and Dragonfly Falling all weighed in at around the 700 page mark. The other part is that I started the Deadhouse Gates readalong with Dragons&Zombies and that book,while also a doorstopper, is just plain dense. You can’t read it quickly and retain all that makes it so rich. I’m having to treat it like a steak that I chew each bite quite a bit to get all the savoriness out of.

Average rating was around 3.3 [10 makes it REAL easy to figure that one out] and that seems to be my usual average on an annual basis as well.

My Monthly Page count was approximately 4100. I should probably start doing that each month, as that is a much more realistic look at how much I’ve read.  Number of books can be a bit misleading, or get manipulated [like how I finished March with 3 comic books to “boost” my numbers].

Least favorite book was the Parched Sea. The beginning to the Harpers series in the Forgotten Realms. It came in at 2.5 Stars.

Top book was a tie between The Line of Polity and Dragonfly Falling. Both were 4 Stars but one was Science Fiction and the other Fantasy.

I pretty much abandoned my Manga Monday goals for the month, as I just felt burnt out from reading a manga every week and reviewing it “on schedule”. While I like order, too much scheduling makes me feel claustrophobic and like an axe is hanging over my head [hence, why I quit Netgalley. Deadlines and I are not in the same universe when it comes to “fun” stuff]. I got one volume in, so I’m going to try to get back to doing them on a regular basis, even if it is just twice a month or something. I’ve thought about trying to review a batch at a time, but I prefer one review for one book.

May is completely up in the air right now. If I get selected for Jury Duty, then I suspect I’ll have a lot more reading time and you can expect my review numbers to follow. If I don’t get selected and life just continues apace, I foresee my reading staying at about the same level. One more reason I want to start including pages read in future installments.

Question. When I [or others] include links to previous reviews, does anyone ever click them? I ask because I know that 9 times out of 10 I don’t. That 1 time is helpful but honestly, if I never re-read someone else’s reviews, I don’t feel like my life would be that much poorer 😀 I’d like some honest answers if you have an opinion.

The only cover that even halfway grabbed my attention this month was this one:

cover

bookstooge

 

34 thoughts on “April ’17 Roundup & Ramblings”

  2. I adore links to previous posts, especially if it’s fer a blogger that I only recently started following. Also me wordpress reader loves to pick and choose what appears there. Previous links show me when the dastardly thing is glitching sometimes. Of course I now get emails fer most blogs I follow but I know that I have missed some. I don’t always re-read posts but there are occasions where it be useful. But perhaps I be in the minority on this one. But who cares. I am the Captain of this ship. Aaaarrrrrrrr! Enough rambling. Back to work . . . Or readin’
    x The Captain.

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    1. And that is exactly the kind of input I am looking for. I tend to forget that not everyone started following me right away back in October ’16.

      And I hear you on the Feed picking and choosing. As well as the notification thingy. I try to eyeball my last couple of posts just to see if the notification failed for new comments…

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  4. Great post! I think a lot of people have had a slower month anyway. I do actually click on those from time to time- I know it’s an annoying answer, but it depends- if I read a review and haven’t heard a blogger talk about it before, then I’ll click on the link to find out more.

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  5. I will click on the link to one of your previous reviews if I haven’t read it before^^ I think it comes in handy for new readers. I do that a lot myself actually and I noticed some people commenting on my older reviews they wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

    I would love to finish 10 books in one month 😀 I seem to manage only 3 every month this year. Doesn’t even matter if they are long or short.. it’s always 3!!

    Almost done with Deadhouse Gates, I have 10% left.

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    1. Good to know. Thanks for letting me know 🙂

      I’m at the 70% mark. I was hoping to read more today, but I found a Russian thriller tv series on amazon, so I’ve been watching that 😀

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        1. It is called Two Legends. It is only in russian with english subs. Which is probably good, because whenever there is “english”, which is “translated” into russian by a narrator, then back to subs in english, the actual speaking is very stilted.

          The music reminds me of a mix between Leverage and Covert Affairs.

          It is a great background show for while I’m online 😀

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  6. I click on links impeded in new posts all the time. Not every single one but if I missed a post and am interested or if a topic is expanded on, etc. I rarely go look for things mentioned if there’s no link… great question!

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  7. At first glance, I was going to say wow, you read a lot of sci-fi, but then when I looked closer, it seems actually quite balanced between SF and fantasy. And 3.3 rating average for the month isn’t too bad!

    By the way, Dragonfly Falling has got such a badass cover.

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  8. I appreciate the links. There are a few others who are good about providing these as well. I normally use (click) them. Keep them, I say!

    As far as Manga Mondays, I never did participate, but am also burnt out with my manga at the moment. Which is a shame since I just expanded my collection.

    Good luck on possible jury duty!

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  9. Keeping track of the page count is a great idea, esp with how much epic fantasy you read XD And I agree with the others, I like links to back posts, particularly on blogs new to me.

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    1. Thanks for the input. I think the majority of those who comment seem to like at least having the option of the links. Since almost all my links are WP related, it’s super easy to add them…

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  12. If you ask me, 10 books is HELLLLAA lot in just one month. Unless 7 of them are comics. 😀 I like the idea of keeping track of page count. After picking up books that collect multiple books, I find myself “behind” in number of books read cause I don’t like to “cheat” and split that book in three or whatever (for Goodreads, for example). As for links to previous reviews… In all honesty, I RARELY do. However, I do like to see them in case I’m super curious about a series. I don’t think there’s any reason to NOT put them though, unless the person is too lazy to put the links up or is avoiding them for aesthetic reasons or something. Personally, I directly refer to past books within my review and hyperlink the title in case someone’s curious enough to check it out though. So far, I’ve rarely ever seen someone click on those, like that post and comment on that post.

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  13. Pingback: May ’17 Roundup & Ramblings | Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road
  14. Pingback: May ’17 Roundup & Ramblings – Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road

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