Category Archives: Books

Jan 11 2015
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Books

Literary Quotes – A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle

“Just because we don’t understand doesn’t mean the explanation doesn’t exist.”

– Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time

That concept just wrinkled my brain!  But it’s true.  There are many things in this world we don’t understand, and yet, there is an explanation as to why said thing is the way it is.

I could probably turn to my cynical side and say this is proof-positive that there are many dumb people in the universe who have no idea what they are talking about, the Bookshelf Battler is a kinder, gentler blogger who does not say such things.

He just kind of says them round-a-boutly.

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Jan 10 2015
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Books

Nicholas Sparks Divorce

The Master of the Romance Novel is getting a divorce.  Naturally, the Twittasphere is aghast, with tasteless comments about the irony of a romance writer’s marriage falling apart.  Hell, even this jerk face felt the need to say something snarky:

Personally, I say we give the guy a break.  I hate to break it to people, but here goes:

Authors make up stuff for a living.

The real world is never as perfect as the fantasy worlds that an author can create.  In a make believe world, dudes climb up the sides of Ferris Wheels to impress their lady loves.  In the real world, yours truly would not climb up the side of a Ferris Wheel, even if the trifecta of Scarlett Johannson, Charlize Theron, and Katy Perry where waiting for me.  I’d totally climb a Merry-Go-Round for them but a Ferris Wheel?  Fahgeddabout it.

In fact, here’s an early draft of The Notebook where I was originally considered for Gosling’s part:

RACHEL MCADAMS:  Climb up this Ferris Wheel to see me, my love!

ME:  Um, no thank you.

RACHEL MCADAMS:  But it will be a great expression of your love for me!

ME:  That looks pretty high.  I can love you just as well from down here.

RACHEL MCADAMS:  If I hook up with another man, will you pine half your life away for me until I see your picture in the newspaper and find you again?

ME:  Um…Jesus, that sounds like a lot of work.  No, no, probably not.  You’re cool and all, but you know…other fish in the sea and everything.

See?  Real life is never as good as the fantasy that an author can create.  And we WANT those authors to create fantasy worlds to distract us from the drab realties of the world.

So before people gang up on Sparks, consider the following:

1)  George Lucas is not really a Jedi.

2)  Stephanie Meyer and Anne Rice are not vampires.

3)  John Grisham has never been an attorney in the wrong place at the wrong time who accidentally discovers the wrong file and now all the bad guys are chasing him.

4)  Michael Crichton never made a dinosaur.

5)  Shakespeare was never the Prince of Denmark.

6)  Suzanne Collins never fought in a futuristic, no-holds barred kid vs. kid reality show.

7)  Hugh Howey doesn’t live in an underground silo.

8) Steven King never went insane while working as the Winter caretaker of a haunted inn.

9) Charles Dickens was never visited by three Christmas ghosts.

10)  Pierce Brown has never lived on Mars.

11)  James Patterson has never been an African American Detective

12)  George RR Martin is not a knight in an enchanted land of magic and wonder

13)  Orson Scott Card has never fought an intergalactic race of bug aliens

14)  Thomas Harris is not a cannibal

15)  Ray Bradbury was not a Martian.

So honestly, folks – if writers have to limit their writing to things they have done, then we won’t have much to read, will we?

Sure, there’s plenty of irony and room to make jokes, but when I see the comments people are making like “I can’t trust his romance novels again” etc. – I mean, come on…the guy just lost his marriage, people, you don’t need to attack his career too.

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Jan 09 2015
6 Comments
Books

Self Publishing and Libraries

Awhile ago, I discussed a recent NY Times article about self publishing.  If interested in the article itself, you can read it here.

I’d like to return to it for a moment, not for its content, but one quote in particular that got me thinking:

“Your rabid romance reader who was buying $100 worth of books a week and funneling $5,200 into Amazon per year is now generating less than $120 a year,” she said. “The revenue is just lost. That doesn’t work well for Amazon or the writers.”

– Quote from Author H.M. Ward, in NY Times Article by David Streitfeld, “Amazon Offers All You Can Eat Books, Dec. 27, 2014

Question – Are there really people spending upwards of $5,000 a year on ebooks?  If there are, well, I suppose that’s great for authors, whether they be self-published or traditional.  If a reader has that kind of money to spend and the books make them happy, then God bless them for their patronage.

Many readers don’t have that kind of money to burn.  Despite claims that libraries are becoming more and more obsolete and may be going the way of the Dodo (though I hope not, wouldn’t that be sad?), I like to borrow books from my local library and find that to be a cheap (heck, free!) way to supplement my reading habit.  And after I’ve discovered an author by getting his or her book from the library, if later I have a few bucks to spare, I might see they have a new title available for digital download and will say to myself, “Oh what the hell, why wait?  Just pay the few bucks and enjoy reading it now.”

What is the role of the library when it comes to the publishing industry?  In practice, libraries do lend out copies of copyrighted works for free and people who borrow free books aren’t sending any money the author’s way.  Yet, we literary lovers tend to also be library lovers.  Heck (I feel like I’ve used that word too much in this post), most of us probably first began our love affair with the English language in a library.  So, authors, publishers, literary nerds of all kinds – we support libraries, at least, I do – I think most of us do, don’t we?

Question – Are there ways for self publishing Indie authors to get their books to libraries?  Maybe an indie author, if he or she has the money, could produce several copies and donate them to libraries.  Although, that could be a problem in and of itself.  Often times, people bring books donations to libraries and are shocked to find that the library can’t use them – for whatever reason.  Sometimes the books are old and outdated, sometimes a library just won’t have the shelf space.  Indie Authors might try to donate their books only to receive polite responses from librarians of “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Still, I wonder if this isn’t an avenue that self-publishers should look at.  People who love books but don’t have $5,000 a year to spend on them might read a self-published book through a library, get hooked, and maybe then spend a respectable $50 bucks a year on books, which, ok, no one’s going to celebrate that until we think $50 X a large segment of the book reading population.

What say you, reader?  Are traditional lending libraries an option that self publishers should look into?

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Jan 03 2015
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Books

The Alchemist – Literary Quote

“When you want something, all the world conspires in helping you achieve it.”

– Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Have you ever read, The Alchemist?  Considered Paulo Coelho’s seminal work, it is basically a guidebook for following one’s dreams.  The protagonist, Santiago, is a mere shepherd, who after dreaming about treasure buried near Egyptian pyramids, goes off an adventure to find it, or in other words, to make his dream come true.  The story isn’t so much about the treasure as it is about the journey of progressing toward dream fulfillment, and how people often abandon their dream in the name of comfort and stability.

What do you think about this quote?  When you want something, does the whole world “conspire” to help you achieve it?  Coelho talks about “omens” or signs – little slights of hand provided by the universe that we might miss if we aren’t looking, opportunities that present themselves to help us on our way toward our dreams, and thus, this is how the universe “conspires” to help us.

Personally, there are times when I feel like the universe is conspiring against all of my dreams, but that’s just the opinion of one lowly cynic.  What about you?

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Jan 01 2015
5 Comments
Books

When to Use a Pen Name?

Has anyone ever considered when to use a pen name?  Well, I suppose that’s a dumb question.  If you’re using a pen name, you’re not going to tell me that your name is a pen name.  Just as I most assuredly affirm that the name on my birth certificate reads, “Bookshelf Q. Battle.”

It’s something I’ve been thinking about, if I ever do get around to writing and/or publishing a novel.

CONS

1)  Writing a novel is a lot of work to not get some credit and name recognition out of it.  Even if it is only a little bit of recognition and credit, it is better than nothing.

2)  You pick one and then what?  You have to introduce yourself as “Dirk Hardfist” or whatever you chose as your pen name, at every gathering you go to in the writer’s world?

3)  You kind of end up losing your little impact on history.  If you write a novel that withstands the test of time, people of the future will be all like, “Wow, that Dirk Hardfist was a helluva writer!”  But no one will be talking about you.

4)  You could try to split the difference – use a pen name until you’ve established a successful and profitable writing career, then announce to your fans who you are, but really, by then, everyone will just want Dirk Hardfist.

5)  Damn it.  Now I kinda want to be Dirk Hardfist.

PROS

1)  We live in a sad, ridiculous, petty world where everyone claims to be insulted at the drop of a hat.  While I don’t intend to write anything too salacious or scandalous, there are people who can find a reason to be offended by anything.  There are people who are offended over frigging Harry Potter!

2)  Should the writing thing not pan out, I’d just assume to live out my normal, bland life in peace and not have the easily offended types hounding me in my personal life, demanding that I be strung up from the tallest yard arm because I dared express myself through the written word.  I can see it now.  “I only sold three copies of my book on Amazon (two of them were bought by my Aunt Gertrude) but everyone in town is coming at me with pitchforks because I wrote a naughty swear word on page 4!”

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Dec 31 2014
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Books

Happy New Year!

Hello Bookshelf Battlers,

Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy New Year!

One year down, and I’m at 400 blog followers, and almost 2200 twitter followers.  Let’s keep them coming!

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to discussing more books with you in 2015!

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Dec 26 2014
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Books

Banners

I hope everyone had a good holiday!

For the New Year, I’ve been thinking it would be good to get some new headline banners for my blog.  The Army Men on my bookshelf was about the best I could do with my limited artistic ability.  Who knows a good artist that would be into such a thing?

Some ideas:

  • Two cartoon books with faces and boxing gloves slugging it out.  Silly?  Yes, but that’s what bookshelfbattle is all about.
  • Various tiny soldiers, warriors, monsters, aliens, robots, etc – fantasy fighters going to war on my bookshelf.  The artist could go nuts.  The armies could meet in traditional battle on my bookshelf or they could hide behind books, jump out from between the pages like ninjas, be like guerrilla warfare dudes.
  • Or any other fun ideas an artist could come up with.
  • I could probably use some logos too – i.e. that gravatar image or whatever you call it – the image that shows up when you comment, and something I could use as a Twitter profile image too.

I doubt I could afford a hefty bill, but I could probably work out some meager compensation and provide some attribution to said artist or artists.  Obviously, the final product would have to be provided to me in digital form, ready for me to just stick up on the site, or at the very least the artist would have to be able to work with me to make that happen.

If anyone knows anyone trustworthy and reliable like that or know of resources/sites  where such artists can be found, please let me know in the comments!

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Dec 25 2014
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Books

Thank You! (Christmas Call to Action)

Hey Bookshelf Battlers,

Just a quick thank you to fellow book lovers out there for the help provided to me in just 24 hours.  Last night I was around 1900, maybe a little over, twitter followers.  After a push for 2000, I’m at 2035 as of tonight.  That wasn’t meant to be pushy.  It was meant to find more people to spread the joy of the written word to!  So thank you everyone, you’re all very cool.

Folks, I love the technologically advanced time we’re living in – a time where we’ve become the gatekeepers, a time where if you have something to say, your ability to say it does not depend on who you know.  You can just log on, blog on, and say it.  To ruin that sentiment with an Austin Powers quote, this is all “very groovy baby, yeah!”

This hopefully the beginning and the best is yet to come.  I don’t mean to brag, gloat, or show a lack of humility, because honestly, humble is my middle name.  I should just change the blog to “Bookshelf Humble Battle.”  I suppose what I’m trying to say is, if a) you all stick with me and tell your peeps to join the ride and b) I can kick my own butt to get into gear, then I think within a year to a year-and-a-half I’ll have produced some awesome reading material.  Blogging and Self-Publishing=the way of the future.

Well, heck, now that I wrote that, I have to do it, lest egg be on my face in a year to a year and a half. Someone call me out on the carpet if by mid-2016 I haven’t published something awesome please.  Thank you.

Finally, I try not to get too political on this blog because, well, come on, whoever we are, however we vote, can’t we all hold hands and come together in the spirit of promoting fantastic books?  But I have to say the whole debacle with The Interview irked me.  The idea that some tin pot dictator thinks he can tell our Hollywood Executives that they are not allowed to air their crappy movie is outrageous!  This is America!  Land of the Free and Home of the Brave Baby, where our Hollywood Executives have a god given right to produce their own crappy movies and distribute them on their own terms!

So that being said, if you have nothing better to do (and who are you kidding, you know you don’t because you’re reading this ) then do your patriotic duty and log on to You Tube to watch The Interview!  

ROGEN/FRANCO 2016!!!

In conclusion, apologies for all this philosophical babbling folks.  Bottomline:  You keep reading.  I’ll keep writing.

Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  Happy Hanukah.  Happy Kwanza.  Happy Whatever Holidays I Missed, and If You’re an Atheist, Have a Top Notch Thursday!

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Dec 24 2014
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Books

Thoughts for the New Year

This year has been a building year – all about learning how to blog.  2015 I hope will be the year to where I’ll be more productive and turn out some quality work product.

Thoughts for 2015 include:

1)  Committing to at least 1 book review a month because, you know, this is a book blog, or so I keep hearing.

2)  Starting more discussions about writing for writers and those pesky situations we always find ourselves in.

3)  I’d love to interview some Indie Authors, for the selfish reason of picking their brains on self-publishing success, but also for the non-selfish reason of paying it forward and building cosmic karma (which, if you stand on your head, cross your eyes, and think about it really hard, is selfish!)

4)  Interview some other book bloggers about their favorite books, book blogging, and other booktastic issues of a booktabulous nature.

5)  Bring more organization to the site, set up some pages at the top of the site to funnel my posts into for easier access.

6)  I am starting to think maybe less is more and I’m hoping to have a standing appointment with you all on Sundays, using them to make at least one post a week.  More if inspiration strikes.

7)  The past few months I’ve really gotten into self-publishing – listening to podcasts, doing research, etc.  I do have a goal of getting a longstanding idea I’ve had written by the end of 2015, submitting to traditional agents and if no luck, self-publishing by the end of 2016.  So hard to think about things 2 years in advance but I suppose that is the name of the game.  Anyone with advice, tips, tricks, etc on that always feel free to share!

8)  I’d be interested in what social media platforms and/or other ways in which you have found success in promoting your blogs.  Thus far, the most success I’ve had is with Twitter (shameless plug if I can just get 80 followers by the end of Christmas Eve I will have reached my goal of 2000 followers by Christmas!)

I’m on Tumblr and Facebook, but unless I’m doing it wrong, I just don’t see them as being very useful.

YOUR THOUGHTS – If you have any thoughts on how I can make this site better, please feel free to share them!  Compliments are always welcome, but harsh and brutal criticism is actually preferred.  I have thick alligator-like skin so please have at it and rip me a new one!  If you’ve been thinking, “Look, Bookshelf Battler, you insufferable doofus, it makes me go crazy when you do X, Y, or Z” now is the time to share!   Criticism is how we grow, change, and get better!

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Dec 23 2014
6 Comments
Books

Twitter Followers!

Hey Dudes,

Shameless self-promotion here. I started with a goal of 2000 twitter followers by Christmas. I’m at 1900-can we do it? Or at least by New Years? If you haven’t followed @bookshelfbattle then please do!

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