New job = new books!

I finally have a new job!

It is pretty scary, because I'll be looking after an office of 80-90 people - my previous office had less than 20. Also, I had to by a suit. I guess I am finally an adult! The Stanton Library is just down the road (I have yet to assertain if it is in walking distance for my lunch hour) and there is a well stocked book exchange across the street! There is a Dymocks too, but that doesn't count. I've realised that my last four years my spending on books was pretty extreme, and I will have to curb that if I want to have any savings. It is kind of scary how much I was spending on books per fortnight. This time I need to be sensible. I not only need to set a sensible budget, but I need to stick with it! And ebooks need to be included in that budget *le sigh* I don't know how good my self control will be, but I have done a lot of evaluation in the last 6 months and realised I need to make some big changes in my life. And those changes need to be funded. I am cutting my dvd budget out completely, and making my cd budget to stretch a month, not a fortnight (I am addicted to music too). I don't like being an adult *sigh*

Having a new job also means I'll be able to start blogging again. Not only has my computer been fixed (although it is still in Toowoomba until my folks visit me), but I have eventual plans to buy a small laptop or netbook and at lunch I'll be able to go to a local food court that has free wifi. So I'll have less spare time, but you will see more of me!

I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but I have a second goodreads account created just to collate the books I actually own. I am slowly adding to it, and plan to keep it as a current reflection of my bookshelves. The url is http://www.goodreads.com/zjanoirhttp://www.goodreads.com/zjanoir

My other big news is about a writing project I am taking a part of. It is an online writers' festival called the Writers' Tea Party. We had a soft launch last month, but will be relaunching with a new vision shortly. If you are an author (traditional pub, epub, apps), publisher, editor, illustrator or in some other way a part of the book industry, drop me a line! We are looking for more professionals to interview, guest blog, and offer tips and suggestions to writers. The schedule is filling up, but send me an email if you are interested and I'll forward it on to the editor for consideration. Elle has offered to guest blog about the project soon, so I'll have more information then.

And lastly, I'm going through an online branding change. I'll be using my real world nickname (Zja) and writing alias (Zja Noir) for all of my non-professional networking and interests online. My professional personality is greatly different to my non-professional self, and I feel I need to make that distinction quite visible. Most of my friends know me as Zja, and all of my professional contacts know me as Jacq. I really like that distinction, and I think changing my branding online will cause less confusion at functions and conferences in the geek world. So, from now on, I'll be signing off as Zja :) I just wanted to verbally let you know why I am changing this on Book Bites so there wasn't any confusion. Anyone who follows me on twitter, is facebook friends or knows me in real life already knew of the changes of course, but I am aware that not everyone is a twitter addict like I am. The only problem is apparently this library computer has limited software so my new sig is fairly basic from now. I'll update it when I have access to better resources :)

So how has everyone been? What have you been up to? Read any good books? Discovered any new authors? Attended any events? I'd love to hear about your adventures while I have been away!

Survey XI

Hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback?
Mass market paperback. Reading hardbacks and trades hurt my hands.

Waterstones, Borders or Amazon?
None of the above. I shop at Galaxy, Abbeys, Dymocks and a second hand store in Burwood that specialises in romance novels of a variety of subgenres.

Bookmark or dog-ear?
Both *sadface* I choose to use bookmarks, but I grew up using dog-ears and sometimes I forget I shouldn't. It is one of those habbits I have spent more than a decade trying to break, but sometimes I slip up. I collect bookmarks, but I can never have enough!!

Alphabetize by author, or alphabetize by title, or random?
I sort my books by genre and then by authors.

Keep, throw away, or sell?
I hoard books. I can't seem to thin out my collection. I do have a stack of books that my great aunt gave me that I want to give away, but I can't find anyone who likes chick lit. Contact me if you are in Sydney and like chick lit and I'll give them too you :)

Keep dust jacket or toss it?
I take it off when I am reading the novel, but I replace it when I reshelve the book.

Read with dust jacket or remove it?
Remove.

Short story or novel?
Both.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Harry Potter

Buy or borrow?
Both! I have a preference of buying books, but I am skint at the moment, so I rely on my local library. It is driving me crazy though, because I've read all the books I would usually choose to read. I'm now picking books up at random and reading them even if I'm not really interested in them.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Tidy ending. Cliff hangers only work if it is something like the early Morganville Vampires books. Rachel Caine was amazing. You wanted to throw the book across the room in disgust, and at the same time, grasp the following book, even if it wasn't due to be published for months.

Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
All of the above.

Favourite series?
Too many to number.


Favourite children’s book?
Too many to number.


Favourite YA book?
This changes constantly. I would say The Hunger Games, however I haven't read it for two years and the hype is crazy at the moment. I'd have to reread it to make sure it does my memory justice.

Favourite book no one has heard of?
Merlin's Keep by Madeline Brent

Favourite books read last year?
The Flame and the Shadow by Denise Rossetti

Favourite book to re-read?
Merlin's Keep by Madeline Brent

Do you ever smell books?
Yes

What are you reading right now?
I'm at the library and plan to max out my card.

What are you reading next?
As above.

Did 'ya miss me?

This is just a quick hello. I'm still without a computer and unable to blog frequently. I will however be trying to post a little bit of something on a more regular basis using library computers. I can't promise much however! My computer will hopefully be up and working again in a few months :)

My reading style has changed a lot now I am no longer buying books. I'm relying a lot on my local library and its fantasy/science fiction and paranormal romance/urban fantasy shelves are pretty basic. I've picked up some new authors I haven't read before, but generally the shelves are full of books I have already read or don't feel like reading. Instead I have been lured to the dark side with all the romance recommendations and been exploring that genre. My local library has an extensive (I think, anyway) collection of romance, and as most of my twitter friends and some of my close friends read romance, I've been finding new authors to read. I never ever thought I would read this much romance! However, relying on library books has meant I've been able to explore without bothering to read blurbs or pay attention to genres and subgenres. It has been really interesting actually. I've found that a lot of my own thoughts on romance aren't exactly founded. I had never realised what a snob I was! I mean, a lot of the books are as you'd expect, light entertainment, but some books are bloody brilliant :) I'll have to borrow some again and write up some reviews or something. My biggest disappointment, I have to say, is the lack of erotica. I know, it is a public library and anyone can borrow books, including children and teens. I know I was punching above my weight when I was a kid myself! But at the same time, now I can't afford to buy ebooks (or have a computer to do so) I am really missing the erotica. Just don't tell my mother LOL Ah, who am I kidding. After her overhearing conversations about romance and erotica I have had with my great aunt June, I'm sure she realises my reading content, even if it is a little too spicy for her own tastes! ;)

If you are in Sydney and a romance reader (including paranormal romance), ARRA is holding a flashmob at Pyrmont Bridge at 11am on the 12th of January to celebrate Romance Reading Day as part of National Year of Reading. It will be a lot of fun and a chance to network with other readers. I hope to see any local romance readers there! You can find out more information {here}.On that note, today is the first meeting of my paranormal romance book club for the year. I can't afford to buy books as they are recommended to me any more, however, my list of books to buy when I get a new job has gone into the high double digits! Damn you Galaxy girls, tempting me with your bookish wiles...

You want to know gossip from the real world? I've just cut off my turquoise fringe, cut bettie bangs and dyed my hair garnet and hope this will make finding a job in the corporate arena easier. I'm considering doing my postgraduate diploma in musuem studies next year, and I may be organising a sharehouse with friends in a few months. We all have ridiculously large book collections, so that is going to be interesting LOL
I hope you are all well, life is great, and you have some great books in your TBR piles! I miss you guys!!!

xx

Book Bites' hiatus

Hello my lovelies! Gosh I miss you! And blogging! And ebooks! And everything about the internet that I can't do over my phone!

I need to apologise! Three months and no word from me! :o I was on holiday and had planned to be away for a mere month or so, but when I returned to Sydney, my computer died and I have been without the internet ever since. Regular readers will know that I quit my job to pursue other interests (including blogging and writing - kinda need a computer for those!) and while I am looking for a part time job (so I can do part time archaeology as well), I have a very stunted cash flow. Basically that means I can't afford to fix my computer at the moment, or any time soon *kicks motherboard* I was planning on buying a small netbook with my tax return, but I used it to buy flights to volunteer at an archaeology convention in my home town. Totally worth it, but... Well I really miss having a computer *sigh* I'm an internet addict, so this has been driving me insane.

I am currently at a library using their computers, however I usually get to the library on closing and the computers are busy. Today was pure luck! So, here I am. Explaining. And gosh I miss Book Bites! Oh, I suppose this is the perfect opportunity to say welcome to all the new faces!! :D I know quite a number of you from twitter and your own blogs, but I shall say welcome all the same! And apologise that I haven't been able to say welcome before today.

So, what have I been up to in the last three months? Well I went home to Toowoomba for a month or so - I had a blast! And had some ideas for a dystopian story clobber me over the head. I'm using them for NaNoWriMo this year, which is handy.  I'm going absolutely crazy not being able to read any book I want to, and being limited to the library's collection and my own bookshelves is hard. I can't charge my ereader, and I can't upload new books to it without my computer anyway, so that avenue has also been closed to me. So yes, I have also been seriously searching for a new job - something which is also hard without a computer LOL I've also been attending some readers and writers events in the last few months and I'll be blogging about Paula Roe's talk at the Burwood library in a few days.

So, where do I go from here? I will be attempting to upload some posts from my Android Blogger app, but I am not sure how good the formatting will be. I would like to say sorry in advance if there are any issues with typos, images, alignment, quotes, italics, bold font, and anything else that can go wrong and probably will go wrong... Murphy's Law and all that... I had some giveaways planned, and some guest bloggers lined up, but I'll be leaving those until I have my computer up and running again. And no, I have no idea when that will be. It might be in 2012, unless a nice cushy job falls in my lap today *looks up expectedly* Nope, nothing happened... So, basically I have no idea when I can get my computer fixed. I have some techy friends of friends, but I can't afford to pay them, and I don't expect them to work for free. So it may be a while before Book Bites can power forward again.

I hope you are all well, that your TBR pile is nice and beefy and that life is providing you with the time to read them!

Maria V. Snyder giveaway winner announced

The winner of the Maria V Snyder giveaway was entrant 14!
Congratulations: 

Pretty Lady!

Your prize will be posted to you shortly!

The giveaway was drawn by assigning numbers 1-38 to the 38 entrants based on the order they entered. 38 was then entered into the random.org number generator and the result was 14. The screen shots of the process are below.

Maria V Snyder is about to start a book tour of Australia. You can find out more on the publisher's facebook: http://www.facebook.com/harlequinteenaus

Ashfield Library's World Café Readers’ Evening 2011

What a brilliant night I had on Thursday! Ashfield Library had a World Café Readers’ Evening, highlighting the various special interest areas of the library. I had two friends speaking, Vassiliki the tweeting librarian, who  spoke about the romance genre and Sofia the book girl from Galaxy Bookshop who spoke about speculative fiction. It was the first time I have been to the new Ashfield library as they have spent considerable time and design dollars moving to a level of the new council building (I also lost my library card – I avoid libraries when I can’t borrow books). I was really impressed with the new layout. They have gone for a more approachable bookshop style layout, rather than the Dewey Decimal System. They have split the genres like speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror), romance, crime from the fiction shelves and put them in little cosy alcoves. The library is very spacious, has a lot of conversational space, meeting rooms, arm chairs and the layout and furnishings are dynamic. I’ll be looking for my library card and visiting more often!

The event started with a wine and cheese meet and greet, with platters of delightful food being passed around. I say delightful because if I had less manners I would have fallen upon those platters with glee! There were tandoori chicken sticks, Vietnamese spring rolls and a variety of sushi. Delicious! The entertainment was provided by Terry Serio and the strains of guitar threaded its way throughout the evening.

The sections of the evening that really stood out for me were “Planet Earth” by Melissa Sellen, “Romance” by Vassiliki and “Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror” by Sofia. This, however, may be because I have an interest in each of these topics.

Melissa is in the environmental services and knew her topic inside and out. I was talking to her before the evening started and was impressed with both her passion and knowledge. As a self-avowed greenie, I found this admirable, especially as she spoke about educating the children about how valuable and intrinsic the environment is for human beings. She was greeted with humour and agreement when she recommended The Lorax by Dr Seuss as essential reading for children.

Vassiliki has gained a bit of a name for herself as the tweeting librarian in Sydney circles. She has a special interest in the romance genre and many of us in the Twitter community count her as a good source of recommendations in the genre. She filled her speech with anecdotes from her own life and of being a reader of romance. My favourite is still the one where her parents used to watch wedding processions drive past to their local church and referring to them as funeral processions heading off to watch a hanging. It is such a droll story and perfectly illuminates the fact that readers of romance are readers of fiction. We do not think life is about happily ever afters, but about living in the real world - we just want a bit of happily ever after to lubricate its ups and downs. One of the recommendations Vassiliki gave that I will be looking up is a romantic suspense author, Suzanne Brockmann.

Sofia works for Galaxy, a specialist store for science fiction, fantasy and horror and has such knowledge and animated passion for the genre. She is my go to girl for new authors, and as far as I am concerned, she never gets it wrong (I may be biased as she is my friend LOL). She had such a dynamic presentation that the night ended on a high. She bought her lightsaber to play with when she was talking about science fiction, her Hufflepuff cloak when she was talking about fantasy, and a torch and wore her hood up to add suspense when she was talking about horror. I cannot comment on her recommendations as I have only read Terry Pratchett (read him if you haven’t - he is brilliant), but she did mention a book Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips which she has recommended to me in the past. I sat down and read the first chapter while she was talking with some other attendees and I will be reading it. It is very entertaining! Like I said, she never gets it wrong!

Sofia and I stayed back until late (she was my ride home) talking with various people and had many interesting conversations. The two that stand out are probably Sarah Barry, a psychic who spoke about the Mind and Body section earlier and Vanessa who was resident photographer of the night - both these conversations involved antics with the lightsaber! Over all, the night was a great success, and I was very impressed with the new design of the Ashfield library. I was sad to see they no longer have any Charles de Lint on the shelves, and while I think this is a great misjustice, I understand they have limited space. I also have to mention that they have an alcove for graphic novels and comics, as I plan to spend some time here in the future. I will be searching for my library card in the near future, so I can max out my card on speculative fiction, romance and graphic novels a regular basis. If you are local to the Ashfield library, I recommend you visit and check out the new location and design! If you just like libraries, are in the library industry or interior design industry, I suggest you visit just to see what a different and dynamic direction they have taken!

Why it is worth entering competitions....

The moral of the story is enter any and every competition you would like to win the books for, because you may just win them. I know, it is strange to put 'the moral of the story' at the beginning rather than the end, but I am sometimes unconventional. I had a streak a few years ago where I won a competition every day for two weeks. It wasn’t because I was entering competitions daily, but because competitions I had been entering on and off for months all happened to be drawn consecutively. I recently won 2 books in two days, and it has reminded me that I will have no income in two weeks and those books at the top of my auto buy list will have to be put on the back burner. I’ll be borrowing from the library more often, and obtaining review copies (that is right, I’ll be posting regular reviews on Book Bites!) but some times you luck out with competitions and win something you wouldn’t normally choose for yourself. The best example of this is the time I won an ARC of Peter V Brett’s The Painted Man. I was no longer actively perusing epic fantasy (I had just come off a ten year glut) and would have been unlikely to have bought the book for myself. I loved it! It was such a refreshing take on the genre, my favourite read of the year and the author became one of my favourites over night. That would never have happened if I hadn’t won a competition that I entered on a whim. So yes, the moral of the story is to enter every competition you feel a flicker of interest in. You may end up striking gold! And if you read the book and it doesn’t give you enjoyment, you can either make a gift of it to a friend, swap it on a site like book mooch, give it away as a prize on a blog (of course, stating that it has been read) or donate it to charity. I have to admit, I usually like the books and keep them ;-p

So enter competitions, and the best of luck to you!

I have to admit, I decided to write this because I won another two competitions last week, however, now would be the perfect time to plug a competition run here on Book Bites LOL So, go enter the Maria V Snyder giveaway! It is a YA dystopian series you may end up liking!