Mark's Book Blog: Feeding the Beast

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Feeding the Beast

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2009/08/booksmart_ideas_for_the_frugal.html

I prefer owning most of my books--like many, I'm funny about that. I also prefer hardback books, probably because I'm likely less than 18 months from needing the dreaded bifocals.

I will borrow older (i.e. available) books from the library.

Anyway, I will read paperbacks, particularly when I'm travelling (the Kindle wasn't for me; I know plenty of people who think it's the greatest device ever).

About a year ago I read about paperbackswap.com in the Wall Street Journal. It's a book swapping site, and there are other such sites as well (discussed in the link above). To get started on paperbackswap.com, you post 10 books that you'd be willing to swap. Then, you get two credits to acquire books from other members. You also commit to send books that you have posted to other members. Each time you mail a book to another member, you get an additional credit. You pay postage to for books you send to other members; they pay postage for books you request from other members. You can also buy credits if you want. Anyway, the site works pretty well if you are looking for paperbacks.

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Mark's Book Blog

Welcome to Mark's Book Blog!

Why did I set this up? Several reasons.

1. I'm constantly asked for book recommendations. I often cannot remember what I've read recently and, consequently, struggle for a recommendation. This will keep me up to date.

2. We're all busy. Sometimes I forget what I liked and what I didn't like about a book I read a month or two ago. As a result, this blog commits me to memorialize a book shortly after reading the book.

3. I, too, want book recommendations from those I trust (so I may or may not read your recommendation). From this blog, you can see what I've liked--you may not like my taste, may never come back to the blog--that's ok. If, though, you like some or all of what I like, tell me. And, more importantly, tell me what else I'd like!

Here's my recommendation scale--I will rate all books I read (subject to my ability to rate a book that I stop reading for good reason). The recommendation scale has gone through many iterations since inception of the blog and is effective for all books recommended on or after December 29, 2009. For the recommendation scale applicable to books recommended prior to that time, go here.

This blog uses a "grading" system. In order to accomplish the blog's goal of "recommending" books, the grading scale works out like this:

A - Highly recommended

B - Recommended

C - OK, you might like it

D - A waste of time

F - A HUGE waste of time

If a book, let's say it's a sports-themed, non-fiction book, earns a recommendation in the "A" range, the blog post will note that the book is "Highly recommended for fans of [we'll just insert the sport of tonsil hockey here as a placeholder]." In other words, even an "A" recommendation may not be a book that I suggest you read. It depends on your tastes. Certainly some books in the "A" range will be recommended to all.

One other note. I am generally a stickler for grammar and punctuation (for using made-up words like "stickler," not so much). As I've stated in various posts, I am well aware that this blog does not utilize the well-established "underline book titles" convention. There are some places where book titles are in quotes. There are other places where book titles are merely capitalized. While I apologize in advance for being such a heathen as to ignore this convention, it bothers me. It really does. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up nights. Seriously. I decided, however, about 50 posts in that I would make the lack of consistency in the identification of book titles the consistency for the site. Therefore and henceforth, I will utilize whatever convention I want in any willy nilly fashion I see fit.

Mark

Mark's Book Blog

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Feeding the Beast

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