Is it me or has book and blogland seemed quiet lately? Is everyone off having fun in the warm summer sun? If so, could you send some my way please? It was only 62F (16C) here today, cloudy and windy. A Good evening to stay in and read.
Since I finished school I find that I have more books on the go than I have in ages. This is lots of fun. The stress around having time to read has also dissipated. And I have a long list of books on request at the library that I am in line for. I haven’t been able to to this for awhile because I never knew when a book might arrive. With my luck, it would be right in the middle of the school quarter or just as a final project was coming due. I still feel like I should be doing homework in the evenings or on the weekends and sometimes find myself at a loss when I realize there is no homework to do. After a momentary mental adjustment I can then go on with my day. Eventually the should-be-doing-homework feeling will go away and I probably won’t even notice when it is gone. I look forward to that.
I did find a somewhat interesting article at the Guardian today on ebook spam. Not spam in ebooks but ebooks as spam. Apparently there are places where people can subscribe to royalty free content databases and they use these to piece together ebooks that they then publish on Amazon and other ebook sites. Sometimes they even take public domain books and put their name on them instead of the original author’s. And some living authors have found that their books have been copied and published under another person’s name too. Supposedly the ebook sites have a system in place to catch stuff like this but it obviously isn’t working. So all you ebook readers out there, make sure you know what you are getting before you buy. Spammers just know how to wreck everything, don’t they?
I think you are right, things are quieter in cyberspace as summer takes over, with either fine or furious weather. I surf less and read more in the summer because I can’t resist lounging on the patio when it’s nice out.
As for the spammers… Gaaaaaaaahh!!
I’ve certainly been quieter, having been away for five of the last six weeks. Finding time to read has been difficult so my book reviews have been few and far between (but one is on its way now), and finding time to comment on other blogs has been hard. I’m now in catch-up phase.
But, sorry, can’t send you any sun as it is winter and chilly here.
I thought it has seemed quieter too, but I seem to be reading more than ever despite some stunning sunny days of late. Hope you get some of this nice weather soon, too…although it might interfere with your reading.
It seems like that’s the way every summer, with people opting to get out into the world a bit more and spend less time on the computer. Alas, our “summer” has yet to really materialize here, so I am right there with you. (Not that that’s unusual, as I remember spending many 4th of July celebrations as a kid huddled in my sweatshirt with a cup of cocoa, wishing the rain would stop.)
Glad you’re enjoying your newfound leisure time and library hold capacity!
So, wathca readin’???
I have definitely been quiet lately. I closed up shop on my geek blog until September, and my Main blog so far has only two posts for June. Don’t know why anyone else has been quiet, but for me it’s simply been a case of being so involved at work that I haven’t had the energy to spare for reading books the way they are meant to be read, and I hate skimming (unless I’m a book I consider hopelessly broken and just want to skip ahead to see what the author was trying unsuccessfully build up to).
The weather is finally nice and hot out here in So. Cal. I shall be putting many miles on the bike in the next couple of months.
It is quiet – the summer fall-off seems more pronounced with each year that passes – I wonder why no one ever talks about that in the media, rather than harping on as usual about how the internet is destroying our lives. Not when the sun is shining, it doesn’t. Although here the weather is very mixed with lots of heavy rainshowers – typical British summer! It’s lovely to hear that you are deep in your reading again. I feared for you when you weren’t getting to turn the pages often enough!
Sylvia, I think I need to figure out how to lounge more!
Whisperinggums, ah yes, you have been away on exciting adventures! Perhaps I will figure out some adventures of my own to have. Hmm…
Buried in Print, you are right about sunny days interfering with reading. If I had any I’d be in the garden or riding my bike or doing something outdoors. I don’t have a comfortable outdoor reading space. I’ve got to work on that!
Emily, at least you got to escape to France for a few weeks! It’s been so cool here the farm report says that the corn is 8″ below where it usually is this time of year. The fact that I live in a city where they talk about the farm report on the radio just tickles me. Anyway, bad weather means more time to read all those books that will be showing up at the library for me!
Lisa, reading lots! I have a mostly updated list in my sidebar, but Bleak House, Reality Hunger, and Cakes and Ale have been my main squeezes of late.
Cameron, sorry work has been such an energy drain for you! Hopefully soon that will change and you will be able to take all those bike rides!
Litlove, I think you may have just given some researcher a grant writing opportunity! I would imagine there is a link between weather and internet usage, at least in adults and one hopes in kids too. The nicer the weather, the less time spent in front of a computer. I am really happy to be deep in the reading again. My mental health is improving my leaps and bounds!
Stupid spammers. Transitions are really tricky, aren’t they? I can see how it would be disorienting to all the sudden have lots more free time. I hope you continue to settle into it so the should-be-doing-homework feeling goes away.
I agree with everyone else: it has been quiet recently, on blogs and even on Twitter. I know I haven’t been posting as much, because I simply haven’t been at my desk as much. But like the rest, I’m reading, and once my visiting parents depart and I have survived my daughter’s 10th birthday (imagine: 8 10 y.o. girls and the Justin Bieber movie, all coming my way on Sunday afternoon), I’ll be back in business, I hope. Litlove has a good point that if the internet were REALLY ruining everything, we would be unable to tear ourselves away from our monitors for socializing, sunning, or other summer activities. But the “everything’s fine, really” story doesn’t make such good headlines.
I think the book blogosphere has been quieting down a little bit every month for about a year now. People are moving on, it seems.
I’ve been quiet for a long time, but the current spell is because of travel – it just never seems to end. Fortunately, this hasn’t put a stop to reading – Recently finished The Tin Drum (read exclusively in planes and while waiting on airports!). I agree with Rebecca about the general trend: people are moving on from Blogs to Twitter and Facebook. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, though.
It is frustrating to read about the malpractice with ebooks, especially the part about people passing off others’ books as their own.
BTW, while we are on ebooks, I have another gripe. When will they figure out how to transcribe mathematics properly? I paid $40 for a kindle ebook from Springer recently, and found that it has errors in the formatting of equations (errors which, I verified, are not present in the print version). X( .
I’m so glad you get to have a summer of lots of reading. I sort of like the dropping off — it’s so much easier to keep up with what people are reading and thinking and still have time to do some reading myself. I’ve been using twitter and facebook a lot, but honestly, I still find blogging so satisfying. Especially when I’ve been away for a while.
Dorothy, transitions are tricky. If it were gradual it would be easier but when it happens all at once even when expected, it is a bit disorienting for a while.
Rohan, congrats on surviving the birthday party! All those girls and the Justin Bieber movie, you should get a medal or something! And you’re right about the internet, nobody cares that the majority of people are fine, it’s that small, addicted minority that gets all the attention and blows everything out of proportion.
Rebecca, hmm, you think so? Have book blogs jumped the shark already?
Polaris, I hope it has been good traveling. But you’ve done some interesting reading! That really is terrible about the maths in the ebook especially after you paid all that money for it. I have heard poetry formating is rather bad most of the time too. The pains of developing a new technology I suppose.
Bloglily, well that’s a positive spin on things! Easier to keep up with everyone, so very true. I also still find blogging quite satisfying. It fills in a nice corner of my reading life
I’ve definitely been quieter for a while now. It’s because I’m trying to read more and focus on my novel-writing. I know that if I let myself, I can easily spend hours online and get nothing else done, so I’m trying to avoid that (she says, having resorted to online reading this morning when stuck on a particular problem in the novel that she’s having difficulty solving). Facebook is seeing much less of me these days, too.
It has definitely been quieter. Work has really put a monkey wrench in the works, but that particular sky has recently cleared for me.
Emily B, reading more and working on your book is no excuse for not being on the computer more! Just kidding!
Grad, darn work! Hope the skies stay clear for awhile.
I’m glad it’s not just me who thinks it’s been awfully quiet lately. I’ve noticed a considerable drop in visitors lately, so I was just wondering if it was something I was doing…. Of course I’ve been mostly offline for the last three days or so, too, so I guess I am also part of the ‘problem’.
Spam is vile. People who do these things should be rounded up and set to a deserted island. A hot one with no computers. Or books. Cruel, aren’t I.
Eeek, I have never heard of this spam problem with eBooks. I have a Kindle that I use when I am traveling and have been careful which books I choose for download.