Category: Articles, Sites, & Apps

Why You Don’t Have To Wait Forever For Your Favourite Author To Publish Their Next Book

Image shows logo for NetGalley.

If you just can’t wait to get your hands on the next book from your favourite author, the good news is that you not have to…

If you sign up to NetGalley, you can access ebooks and audiobooks before their official release date. And there are loads to choose from in most genres.

All that’s asked of you in return is to submit feedback on the book to the publisher, and occasionally share your review elsewhere besides, such as on Amazon and Goodreads.

Don’t worry it doesn’t have to be an essay, just three sentences is often enough.

Everyone who signs up to review NetGalley books has their own profile, which you can use to get publishers to give you early access to their books.

This profile features a ratio shown as a percentage of the number of early releases you’ve been approved for against the number that you’ve actually reviewed.

The higher this percentage, the more likely you are to be given early access. NetGalley recommends reviewers to have a ratio of at least 80%, but if your percentage is low, that doesn’t always mean you’ll be denied access.

NetGalley also has lots of titles in its “Read Now” section, where you can download ebooks and audiobooks no questions asked.

NetGalley is fun and easy to use, and it’s where I source many of the books I review on this blog

You can find it on NetGalley.co.uk and NetGalley.com.

10 Of The Catchiest Book Titles Out There!

Here are my top 10 catchiest book titles. Several of them are a play on words from other famous book titles!

  1. How To Lose Friends And Alienate People

This is a play on the well known book title: How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. The original book is a self-help classic and focuses on how to deal with people to best effect..

The How To Lose Friends And Alienate People book by Irving Tressler is a bare-faced satire on this bestseller.  It is one of the few books that has ever been written to help people dissolve their relationships in favour of having a better life.

There is also a film by the same name, and a book tie in to the film, by a different author. 

  1. The Man Who Mistook His Job For His Life

This is a play on the well known book title: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, by Oliver Sacks.

Oliver Sacks is a renowned neurologist with several books to his name where he recounts the stories of patients struggling to adapt to often bizarre worlds of neurological disorder.

The Man Who Mistook His Job For His Life by Naomi Shragai on the other hand, is a book about how to thrive at work by leaving your emotional baggage behind, where the author asserts that  we unconsciously re-enact our personal past in our professional present – even when it holds us back.

  1. Death, Interrupted

This is a play on the well known book title: Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen.

The story of Girl, Interrupted was made famous when a film was made by the same title, starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and others. It tells of the time a girl spent a stint in a psychiatric hospital.

Death, Interrupted by Dr Blair Bigham, on the other hand, is a non-fiction book about how modern medicine is complicating the way we die, and discusses the widening grey zone between life and death.

  1. Jesus, Interrupted

Again, this is a play on the well known book title: Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, as  discussed earlier.

Jesus, Interrupted by  Bart D. Ehrman is a different sort of book again. This book reveals how books in the Bible were actually forged by later authors, and that the New Testament is riddled with contradictory claims about Jesus. Information that scholars know, but the general public does not.

  1. The Happiness Of Pursuit

This is a play on the well known book title: The Pursuit Of Happiness, by Douglas Kennedy.

The Pursuit Of Happiness is  critically acclaimed bestseller, and tells the story of a couple who get together in post-war America. It’s a tragic love story, featuring divided loyalties, decisive moral choices, and the random workings of destiny, as they discover finding love isn’t the same as finding happiness.

The Happiness Of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau on the other hand is a self-book about finding the quest that will bring purpose to your life.

  1. Sex, Bombs And Burgers

This time, not a play on words, but simply a dramatic, odd and engaging title. This book is about how war, porn and fast food created technology as we know it today.

  1. The Growth Delusion

This is a play on the well known book title: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

In The God Delusion, Dawkins presents a strong argument that belief in an all powerful God is simply a collective delusion.

The Growth Delusion by David Pilling, on the other hand, is about the wealth and well-being of nations, and that this steadfast loyalty to economic growth is informing misguided government policies.

  1. God’s Crime Scene

In God’s Crime Scene, by J. Warner Wallace, A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe. This book will be reviewed on this blog later this year.

  1. Through The Language Glass

This is a play on the well known book title: Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

Through The Looking Glass is the sequel to the well known classic tale, Alice In Wonderland, and is very much in the same vein as the first book in the series.

Through The Language Glass by Guy Deutscher on the other hand is a non-fiction title, which as the title suggests, looks into why the world looks different in other languages. 

  1. Ancient Aliens In The Bible

As if the Bible couldn’t be strange enough to some, here’s a book that argues the Bible tells tales of Ancient Aliens, much like the well known documentary series.

If you would like to see any of the books mentioned here reviewed in this blog in the future, please let me know in the comments!

Why You Should Switch To E-books

Picture shows the icon for the Kindle app.

For me, switching to e-books was a no-brainer…

I started to turn to e-books before Kindle was even a thing. You could store over a thousand books on an e-reader, and it fits in a handbag, so you need never be without something to read.

You don’t have to have messy book shelves overflowing with books of different sizes, taking up way to much space and generally making the place look untidy.

Not to mention how much cheaper they are to buy. Kindle e-books tend to cost at least 99 pence less than their paperback counterparts, and significantly less than hardbacks.

You can often get Kindle e-books for as little as £0.99 GBP once you know how to find them (more on this in later blog posts).

And you can often get e-books for free. First books in a series of books are often available dirt cheap to get readers hooked so they’ll buy the rest.

And you can often get advance copies of e-books to read in return for an honest review, through sites such as NetGalley.

Some people argue that e-books just don’t have the same smell of regular books. But I could never smell anything anyway.

You don’t even need to buy a dedicated e-reader for your e-books. You can read books on Android and iOS devices on their own platforms, or you can download the Kindle app free of charge on both platforms, or choose a different app, such as Moon+.

And these days e-readers are much better than they once were. Take the Kindle Paperwhite for example…

Whereas you might struggle to read an e-book in the sun on a regular tablet, the Kindle Paperweight features no glare whatsoever. While reading you will never be met with your reflection, and you can read away in the sun, just as you would with a paperback.

But, that doesn’t mean that you can only read it in good light. The Paperwhite lights up, and you can alter the brightness or dimness to suit your needs. And there’s even a dark mode, so you can read white lettering on a black background if you prefer to.

And that’s not all, you don’t have to worry as much about harmful blue light, because the blue light emitted by a Kindle is directed at the page itself and not at your eyes, making it easier to switch off when it’s time for bed.

The latest Kindle Paperwhites also happen to be waterproof, which is perfect for those who like to read in the bath, on the beach, or at the pool side.

And speaking of the beach and pool side, packing your books for a vacation is a breeze when you have a Kindle. A Kindle Paperwhite is lightweight, takes up hardly any space, and saves you having to agonize over which books to take with you.

You can also personalize your Kindle with a beautiful case of your own choosing which you can find readily available online on sites such as Amazon and eBay.

And there’s not exactly a shortage of e-books out there. There are e-books for every topic, theme, genre and trope. And all the latest authors ensure that their books are available as e-books.

So, in short, unless you’re more of a book collector than a book reader, then there’s no reason to stick with physical books, when e-books have so much more to offer.

Why I Don’t Have A Bookstagram

If I had a Bookstagram, all my photos would look like this because this my Kindle case, and since I switched from paperbacks to e-books many years ago I don’t have colored artwork to show off.

What’s more I don’t generally have time to take my Kindle to beautiful locations, and photos of my reading would feature as uninteresting scenes as a muted TV screen, the standard taps (faucets) of my bath, and the dashboard on my exercise bike, showing just how slow I’m cycling.

How about you folks? Where do you like to read? Feel free to drop a comment.

Some Blogs I Follow

 

Hi there, book lovers!  I thought I’d share with you a list of all the WordPress book blogs I follow, and their URLs (in no particular order):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019 Reading Challenge!

A big happy new year to all my friends and followers!

Do you aim to read more in 2019?  Why not try the Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge? click here for Goodreads

Over 260,000 people on Goodreads have set a goal of how many books they want to read in 2019.  Last year I set an easy target of one book every 2 weeks – needless to say, I’m aiming for more this year!

Happy reading!

I Heart My Kindle.

I was into e-books before Kindle was a thing, and the ultimate reason for buying my first tablet was for use as an e-book reader.  I loved that the Kindle app was free and that I could buy e-books at a fraction of the price I would pay for a paperback.

The thing was, whenever I read on my traditional tablet, either in daylight or in artificial light, I would be met with screen glare/reflection, and I’d often struggle to make out words.  I often gave up on trying, making my 1-hour commute on the train something of a drag.

That was until I invested in a Kindle – its light enough to carry anywhere, and I can enjoy clear reading whatever the lighting!  I always have a good book on me, for whatever genre takes my fancy or matches my mood.

The Kindle has loads of great features, which make it a lot more than a mere reading app.  It shows you recommendations based on what books you’ve purchased previously, which is particularly good if you want to expand your knowledge in a narrow field; or if you’re interested in a particular genre.

With my Kindle Paperwhite I can make minute adjustments to the brightness of the screen, adjust the typeface, and see how long I have left in a chapter.  Also, the battery for a Kindle lasts way longer than a traditional tablet.

If you’re considering switching to e-books I don’t blame you!  And you could do a lot worse than investing in a Kindle – highly recommended!

Book App/Site of the Fortnight – Blind Date with a Book.

Do you want your next read to be a complete surprise?  Blind Date with a Book has got it covered!  You receive a completely wrapped-up book, tagged with intriguing clues alluding to the book inside.  It makes for a great gift!  The books are hand selected great reads and are chosen from all genres including classics, thrillers, mysteries, romances, science fiction, adventure, and literary fiction.  They pick books that readers may have missed by great authors or other great books that perhaps did not receive the publicity that they deserved. I’ve taken a peek at their range of genres and clues and it looks superb!

The books come in at slightly under the usual price of paperback, and postage is circa £3.  You simply pop to their website https://blinddatewithabook.com, and select a book based on the clues provided.

If you’re after a new surprise book every month you can subscribe to their exclusive book club – details on their website.