Category: Discussions

Teatime: Are Comp Titles Actually Useful?

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen19 Comments

Chances are you’ve picked up a new release because it was marketed “for fans of [book you loved]”, or maybe you read a review comparing it to one of your favorite books. And as you read that shiny new novel, you’re likely to have one of several possible epiphanies:

  • The comparison is accurate, and you may have found a new favorite book.
  • The comparison is not accurate, but you enjoy the book anyway.
  • The comparison is accurate, but for some reason you’re just not that into this book.
  • The comparison is not accurate, and you really don’t like this book.

Maybe you’ve had better luck in these cases than I have, in which case I am totally envious … and hope you can get something out of this post anyway. For me, I often find myself somewhere between the best and worst case scenarios, and it led me to wonder: Are these “comp titles” actually nice helpful and accurate? Or should I just disregard them?

After all, not every frontlist title can — or should! — be the next Six of Crows, despite what their blurbs say.

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Teatime: To Annotate Or Not to Annotate?

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen20 Comments

Having grown up mostly reading library books, I never really developed a habit of marking up pages while I read; the most I might do was copy down a particularly nice quote. (I still have notebooks full of these passages, a testament to the hand cramps I suffered in pursuit of the #aesthetic and need to update my Tumblr bio weekly.)

I think the first time I had to annotate my reading — because let’s face it, I don’t like change and will avoid it unless acted upon by an outside force — was for “close reading” in high school. This may have been Cyrano de Bergerac or it may have been Shakespeare, I don’t remember anymore; the point is that once I adjusted, it would not be an exaggeration to say it totally changed the way I think about and approach reading.

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[Bookending Summer] Teatime: Every Body Is A Beach Body

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen11 Comments

Hello and welcome to my first Bookending Summer prompt! I loved participating in Bookending Spring earlier this year, and I was so excited to be picked as a host this time around. (Fun fact: this was actually the last prompt I came up with, after Clo @ Book Dragons suggested something to do with body positivity.)

Swimsuit season is here, but you don’t need any special diets or workout routines to prepare. Media plays a huge role in making us think otherwise, though — discuss what constitutes body positivity in books, what you’d like to see more of, any recommendations for body-positive books, et cetera.

This post is part of Bookending Summer 2019, which is organized by Sam & Clo! Today’s prompt, “Every Body Is A Beach Body,” is hosted by yours truly — so if you do this prompt don’t forget to link back to this post!

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[Bloggers in the Attic] Teatime: Reading Slumps

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen20 Comments

Bloggers in the Attic is back again! This month we’re bringing you different takes on reading slumps: possible causes, ways to deal, personal experiences, et cetera.

Others in the chain (linked below, make sure to check their posts out!) have extensively discussed possible causes and solutions for reading slumps, so instead of repeating their points I found myself grappling with the very concept of the reading slump.

The Bloggers in the attic is a discussion chain. And what is a discussion chain? Well, it’s pretty simple.
Me and [SEVERAL] other bloggers united together to discuss a common topic and sharing our unique perspective. Camilla @ Reader in the Attic created the initiative with the wish to create a discussion space that could explore a normal topic for different parts of the world.
The rules to participate are pretty simple. So, if you ever wish to take part in future discussions, just contact camilla. Topics will be discussed bi-monthly, so the next round will be up in august. There’s plenty of time to join in, but the best option is always to enter early.

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Teatime: What to Read Next?

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen13 Comments

Before I figured out how to borrow ebooks through OverDrive, I was limited to my fairly small personal collection and sporadic trips to the local library when I could talk my parents into taking me. This was also before I actually started using my Goodreads account, so I did a lot of rereading and checking out whatever looked good (based on a glance at the cover, maybe a quick read of the first few pages). Oh, I also had the school library, but their fiction collection gets smaller as you get older and I wasn’t a fan of nonfiction.

All this to say, now that I have a pretty extensive digital library as well as a never-ending list of books to look at next, I feel like I spend as much time choosing what to read as I do actually reading.

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[Bloggers in the Attic] Teatime: Book Rating Systems

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen26 Comments

Bloggers in the Attic is back for round two!

This month we’re bringing you different takes on book-rating systems: whether they’re important and why/why not, how we do them, how well we think they work, things that should be improved, et cetera.

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Teatime: Alternate Editions

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen29 Comments

I personally believe strongly in “read and let read,” i.e., let people enjoy the books they enjoy without judgment if it doesn’t affect you and no one is being harmed; I don’t believe in shaming people if they need or prefer to consume their media in a different format than you, or that any books are inherently “better” or more valid than others. But since reading is already a very subjective experience when two people are reading the same exact book, how much more might their impressions differ when they aren’t reading the same words?

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[Bloggers in the Attic] Teatime: Required Reading

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen39 Comments

I’m super excited to finally publish my first discussion post for Bloggers in the Attic! This month we’re bringing you twelve different takes on required reading — and in my post today, I’d like to take some time and consider the teacher’s perspective.

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