NetGalley Genre Misfire

NetGalley is a great way to get an early look at books that might turn into the "next big thing".  For those of us who read a lot, it's also a handy way to get free access to books you might enjoy.  My initial enthusiasm for NetGalley came from the latter (free books!), but it's now overlaid with a smidge of wisdom that came from some early experiences with NetGalley that didn't go entirely to plan:

Soon after I'd joined NetGalley I got an email from them promoting requests for Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. I was still dizzy with the prospect of free books from NetGalley, and this was my first email from them. I blindly assumed they'd filter their emails according to my preferred Categories on their web site (which they clearly don't). Armed with my giddy naivety, I skimmed the book description, thought it sounded like an interesting near-future speculative fiction book, hit 'Request', and thought no more about it.

Epic genre misfire.

If you read the blurb with your eyes half closed and an expectation that it falls into NetGalley's "Sci Fi & Fantasy" category, and you may be able to kind-of see how I misinterpreted it. My excitement at being Approved was short-lived, but, being new with NetGalley, I didn't want to torpedo my own Feedback Ratio, so I dutifully read and reviewed it.

You may laugh now.

Although, in a quirk of irony, it's now my most popular Goodreads review by quite a margin.

Lampshade Hanging

I came across the term "Lampshade Hanging" or "Lampshading" as a literary device in chapter 13 of The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi.  It comes up in conversation between two characters in the story:

"It's a reverse lampshade," I said.
"I don't know what 'lampshade' means here, much less its reverse."
"It's a literary term.  It means calling attention to something improbable in the text, and the moving on." 

I'm very happy to have learnt about a new literary term, and having two characters in a book talk about lampshading is in itself slightly messing with the fourth wall - which I also love.

Blogging About My Reading

I have been recording my reading on Goodreads for a couple of years now, and have recently started reviewing every book that I read.  I like Goodreads as a platform, and I enjoy interacting with other readers about books that we're reading, or want to read - but I wanted to also record some of my thoughts on the experience of being "someone who reads".

Hence this blog.  I've copied across all of my Goodreads reviews here, and I will continue to post reviews in both places.  But in this blog my intention is to also post a bit more narrative about my experience of reading, about Goodreads, about being "someone who reads", and anything else book related.  I also intend to augment future book reviews on the blog with more personal thoughts, which won't be included in the Goodreads reviews.

At least, that's my intention.  Let's see how it goes.