Mark's Book Blog: Feeding the Beast; and I Need Some Help!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Feeding the Beast; and I Need Some Help!

I wanted to pass on some information regarding the the Amazon/Walmart price war. I'm not sure how long it will (or can) last, but I'd take advantage of it if there's a book (like the new Stephen King book Under the Dome) that is impacted by the war. I just ordered my $35 copy of Under the Dome for $9.54 (free shipping all by itself) from Walmart (Amazon would have charged $3.99 for shipping--it lost the battle). The only pain in the butt was that Walmart would not let me ship the book to my address. I got an error that there was a "state restriction" (whatever that is). Fortunately, Cincinnati is close to the OH/KY border, and one of my most nicest partners who lives in KY was willing to accept the responsibility of receiving the package and bringing it to me. I will pass along more information on this price war as it becomes available.

On another note. . .

I need some post ideas for use when I'm in the middle of a book. Particularly when I'm in the middle of a long book--as I am now.

I am enjoying Anathem; I'm just not making the progress I would like because it is a difficult read. I'm hoping to be able to report that I've made a significant dent in the book by Monday, but I'm not certain.

My initial hope when I set up this blog was that I'd get some post ideas and guest postings from followers and others who read the blog. Of course, since nobody reads the blog, that's proved difficult.

I kind of see myself as the Jodie Foster character from the movie, Contact. Remember Contact? The Jodie Foster character basically spends all day, every day monitoring radio signals trying to find proof of extraterrestrial life. SPOILER ALERT: One day she thinks she finds evidence!

Well, one day I hope to find evidence that somebody is reading this blog. Even if nobody is, I will continue to blog--every couple of days whether I need it or not.

Remember, RIF.

1 comment:

karenOctober 18, 2009 at 11:47 AM
hi mark! I read the blog! i just read Kafka on the SHore and I really liked it. fyi. i don't even know what anathem is. I'm reading outliers now and i like it a lot. what's anathem. as a suggestion for your blog, maybe you could have a quick 5 recent suggestions somewhere easily seen? also, once there's a post (like this one) it should be seen on facebook, so people know to check your blog. 'later, k
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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

Friday, October 16, 2009

Feeding the Beast; and I Need Some Help!

1 comment:

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