How (Not) to Make Roasted Red Pepper Bread

Days of Blood and Starlight Book Trailer

I made this for Laini Taylor's contest. All of the teeth are real!

Snow Sculptures, Sea Kings, and Silk Kimonos

Videos from Sapporo!

Our first stop and main attraction is the Sapporo Snow Festival, a huge event that attracts 2 million visitors worldwide, and doesn't disappoint.



The next morning we get up to see the snow sculptures demolished. This is disappointing.




The next day Chiaki pulls some strings and I get to drop in on a kimono modeling workshop. I try on an authentic silk kimono and attempt to use my runway skills. That part is at least entertaining.




Which was your favorite video? What would you like me to make my next vlog about?

Do You Suffer From World-building Disease?

This is a pretty severe case.
Also known as my childhood.



What do you think I should do with my 1996 Han Solo notebook?

I Love Reviews. I LUV THEM!!1!

I don't write reviews, but I read them. A lot. 

I rely almost entirely on reviews when picking new books. Even if I find something in a bookstore, I often go to Goodreads from my phone and read up on what people have to say about it. I'm less concerned with whether the reviews are good or bad than what the reviews are about. 

They tell me what stands out in the book, what gets people's attention. 

Folks complaining about poor grammar and technical details are pretty reliable. Reviews let me know if the ending, in general, is going to be satisfying. As a reader, I care about world details, so if I hear someone complain about how the polar ice caps have melted and created islands out of countries, and yet the story takes place in the Maldives (and not in an underwater city), then I know the world-building wasn't thought out. I do watch out for what people have to say about characters--not how much they like them, but how interested they seem to be in them. I can find out if the book had an unreliable genre-switch, or if the promise of the premise never pays. Reviews that complain about content usually tell more about the reviewer than the book, but I know it was at least bold enough to offend someone. There are a lot of things that reviewers reveal, one of which is how reliable they are. 

I usually don't read 1 or 5 star reviews, except for a laugh.

I mean, why are writers scared of someone reading a 1-star review that looks like:

"IHATEDTHISBOOKSOMUCH!!!!!1!! STAY AWAY!!!! MY COUSIN SUZIE-LOO LOVES THIS BOOK AND SHE IS SUCH A KITTY-LITTER-FACE AND I HATE ANY AUTHOR THAT WRITES ABOUT MOONCATS. I HATE MOONCATAZ SOOOOOO MUCH I COULD NOT EVEN GET PAST THE FIRST PAGE OR EVEN THE TITLE THISBOOK WAS SOOOOOO STUPIDI WAS LIKE WHUT? WHEN I READ IT. WASET OF TIME AND MONY."

Or even:
"As a practicing second-day-evango-lioness of the feminist priestesses, I was deeply wounded and saddened by the amount of sex and use of off-color words, and also the misrepresentation of the moon. I believe that I speak for my people when I say that only idiots would ever include such vulgar things in a book for 26 year olds."

Or even better:
"I am a 60 year old vintage-Harley enthusiast who gave his left arm and half his cerebellum to Vietnam. I don't like books about moons and I don't like books about cats. My ex-wife left this book on the dresser the night she left me for a good-for-nothing second-day-evango-lioness of the feminist priestesses. I read this whole book while I drowned my sorrows in a six-pack of coke zero. I was really surprised when I didn't enjoy MOONCATS RUB MARS. One star."

Or how about:
"MOAR MOONCAT SEX PLZ."

I mean, authors, really. If you get a review like this, know this: Everyone knows Mad Lady Allcaps is a bozo. Do not regard a word she says. We won't either. The only people she'll scare away from your book are other bozos. Everyone else will just step over the mess and keep on walking.

Same goes for Mr. Knew-I-Wouldn't-Like-It-And-Oh-Look-I-Didn't. 

Mad Lady Allcaps' 5-star reviews are even less convincing.  

"OMG. THIS BOOK WAS SO AMAZING. I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. I CAN'T EVEN SAY IN WORDS. I AM SO PROUD OF MY LITTLE HUNNY-DUMPLING-MOONCAT-BABY-SNIFFER. BUY THIS BOOK NOW, BECAUSE IT IS SO GREAT SHE SHE WORKED SO HARD ON IT!!!"

But the best one has to be:
"5-STARS CAUSE I LOVE EVERY JOT AND TITTLE THIS AUTHOR CREATES, AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS BOOK TO COME OUT :D :D :D"

You see, it's not really about what the review says. It's about what the review means.

The great part about Goodreads is that you can find reviewers you trust to give a thoughtful analysis, and have similar taste in books. So no, I don't think reviews are broken at all. I think they do their job just fine.

On Goodreads/Blogger I like Wendy Darling.
On Youtube I like CassJayTuck.

How do you feel about reviews?
Do you follow any book bloggers?



This post was in response to this post on Venture Galleries.
Image courtesy of [image creator name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Harajuku Adventure

Have you heard of the wild and wacky district of Harajuku?
A friend and I set out on an adventure down the famous street of Takeshita in the second episode of my new vlog series.

 

Did you identify our mystery item before we did? Or were you just as surprised?

I've Started a Vlog!

I've started my vlog series for 2013. Join me and my family in our first year of living in Japan.

This week, we take a trip through a life-size Labyrinth in Hakone.


If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?