Janet Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Do any of the moderators fancy having a go at fixing the quotes two posts up? Had an absolute nightmare. :lol: I've fixed it. You had one quote that wasn't closed off with the [ /quote]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 I've fixed it. You had one quote that wasn't closed off with the [ /quote]. Janet you are an absolute LIFE SAVER. I thought it might be that but for the life of me couldn't find it/fix it. Thank you very much for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 No worries. If it happens again you could try this - I flicked the thing in the tool bar that looks like a light switch to switch the BB Code offf and then copied it into Word and searched 'quote' and worked it out that way - and then got rid of the extra quotes it had put in at the bottom. Then I pasted it back in and previewed the post (in case it was still broken) to make sure it looked okay and then posted it. Alternatively, you could just ask one of us again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 No worries. If it happens again you could try this - I flicked the thing in the tool bar that looks like a light switch to switch the BB Code offf and then copied it into Word and searched 'quote' and worked it out that way - and then got rid of the extra quotes it had put in at the bottom. Then I pasted it back in and previewed the post (in case it was still broken) to make sure it looked okay and then posted it. Alternatively, you could just ask one of us again! I have one that looks like that in my thread too! I totally lost track of all the quotes, think I'd best stick to the regular quote and multi quote options as clearly I can't be trusted with anything more technical! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 I have one that looks like that in my thread too! I totally lost track of all the quotes, think I'd best stick to the regular quote and multi quote options as clearly I can't be trusted with anything more technical! :D I've done it myself - it's easily done! Very occasionally I can't work out where it went wrong (I tend to preview my long posts before I post them) and have to bail out and start again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 No worries. If it happens again you could try this - I flicked the thing in the tool bar that looks like a light switch to switch the BB Code offf and then copied it into Word and searched 'quote' and worked it out that way - and then got rid of the extra quotes it had put in at the bottom. Then I pasted it back in and previewed the post (in case it was still broken) to make sure it looked okay and then posted it. Alternatively, you could just ask one of us again! I tried this but couldn't find the right fix. What I didn't try was copy and pasting into Word and starting again. Thanks for the tip! I have one that looks like that in my thread too! I totally lost track of all the quotes, think I'd best stick to the regular quote and multi quote options as clearly I can't be trusted with anything more technical! :D I tried to be fancy - might not try again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I did indeed. Will review properly at a later date - full of man flu this week and really don't feel like writing reviews right now *laughs* - but I definitely enjoyed it. Typical witty, hilarious Pratchett. I know the wizards are beloved in the Discworld series but the witches in my eyes are definitely up there! I hope you feel better soon ! In the meantime, I've "acquired" a couple more books today, although one was an ARC so that hardly counts, right? *laughs* A Natural by Ross Raisin. Kindly sent by a good friend at my favourite publisher Vintage. Not out until March but looks like my kind of read. The Beach by Alex Garland. Spotted this at work on sale for £0.75 (for charity) and couldn't resist. So much for not acquiring many books this year. Looks like that went out of the window in well, mid-January. *In terms of my TBR, I'm just keeping my acquired books on a separate list for a while until I decide what to do with the master TBR list. I'll add them eventually, of course, but at the moment it needs a proper cull and tidy up before I make changes. I hope you enjoy your two new books . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I have one that looks like that in my thread too! I totally lost track of all the quotes, think I'd best stick to the regular quote and multi quote options as clearly I can't be trusted with anything more technical! :D I fixed it for you . I hope you don't mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I fixed it for you . I hope you don't mind. Not at all, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Three cheers for BCF's super-mods. I hope you feel better soon ! I hope you enjoy your two new books . Thanks Gaia, just one of those annoying, body-tiring colds that leave every bit of your body aching. I shall plod through. Oh and I'm sure I will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) In the meantime, while I'm waiting till I get better before I properly review David Mitchell's Slade House - which I did enjoy, but which I also feel lost something because I haven't read The Bone Clocks (my fault, didn't realise I needed to) and through its disjointed narrative - I'm going to have a go with Andrew Hurley's The Loney. It looks fab but has also had some disappointing reviews, so interested to see how I get on... Synopsis If it had another name, I never knew, but the locals called it the Loney - that strange nowhere between the Wyre and the Lune where Hanny and I went every Easter time with Mummer, Farther, Mr and Mrs Belderboss and Father Wilfred, the parish priest. It was impossible to truly know the place. It changed with each influx and retreat, and the neap tides would reveal the skeletons of those who thought they could escape its insidious currents. No one ever went near the water. No one apart from us, that is. I suppose I always knew that what happened there wouldn't stay hidden for ever, no matter how much I wanted it to. No matter how hard I tried to forget... -- Reckon I'll really like this. Edited January 18, 2017 by Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I started reading The Loney, and still want to, but wasn't in the mood for it at the time. Will be interested to see what you think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 I started reading The Loney, and still want to, but wasn't in the mood for it at the time. Will be interested to see what you think Thanks Noll, I actually thought of you when I picked it up, probably because it's so mysterious and atmospheric. Will let you know how I get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Received another ARC in the post this morning, this time from Faber. They have sent me a copy of Paul Auster's new one - 4 3 2 1 (out January 31). I've enjoyed some of his shorter, slipstream stuff before now, but this is a 850+ page sprawling exploration of family, love and all the things in between. Looks like it could be an absolute cracker - we'll have to see... Synopsis Nearly two weeks early, on March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four identical Fergusons made of the same DNA, four boys who are the same boy, go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Athletic skills and sex lives and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Each Ferguson falls under the spell of the magnificent Amy Schneiderman, yet each Amy and each Ferguson have a relationship like no other. Meanwhile, readers will take in each Ferguson’s pleasures and ache from each Ferguson’s pains, as the mortal plot of each Ferguson’s life rushes on. As inventive and dexterously constructed as anything Paul Auster has ever written, yet with a passion for realism and a great tenderness and fierce attachment to history and to life itself that readers have never seen from Auster before. 4 3 2 1 is a marvelous and unforgettably affecting tour de force... -- Sounds properly bonkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Can I ask how you've gotten on these lists for ARCs? Or, if it's via Netgalley, how you get them all to approve you? I'm forever seeing ARCs being reviewed on Goodreads and then I have to wait months to read them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Just popping in to say hello. *cough* On Beauty review *cough* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 (edited) Can I ask how you've gotten on these lists for ARCs? Or, if it's via Netgalley, how you get them all to approve you? I'm forever seeing ARCs being reviewed on Goodreads and then I have to wait months to read them In all fairness, I think you'd easily be able to get yourself on lists for ARCs. Any blogger who writes good reviews (semi-consistently) can usually snag themselves a book or two. I'm not consistent - and to be fair I don't ask for that many - but it's mostly knowing the right people. I have very good links with the likes of Vintage Books and Faber on Twitter - including good relationships with their respective publicity people... so I tend to get lucky. *shrugs* I know it's not always a nice feeling to actually ask, but the people who deal with individual releases of books are normally contactable via email. Dropping them a line saying you're a book blogger who would love to review so-and-so if possible generally does the trick at first (then you'll start getting them contacting YOU instead of having to ask). Of course with most of the major releases it's not always possible unless you have already proved yourself reliable on the review-posting front or have established good links with them, but a lot of the time publishers are more than willing to dish out copies. It's good publicity for them, too. I'm a bit rubbish with Netgalley but don't use it often (tend to find the e-books badly formatted and most of what I want is easier to find in tree form!), but honestly, if you want to get on more lists just know the right people, form the right relationships with publishers and publicists, and you should have no problem. You write great, honest reviews, and at the end of the day that's all they're usually after. Just popping in to say hello. *cough* On Beauty review *cough* Hi Claire! It's coming, I promise! I've been under the weather this week so haven't written any proper reviews, but I shall get to this one soon for you. Edited January 19, 2017 by Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 (edited) I've just remembered today that I agreed to continue the Classics Challenge over from 2016, because even though I don't think 2017 has an 'official' version as such, the girlfriend and I got through all 12 last year and thought it might be something fun to continue. (To keep us reading all those books we should have read already.) So for January (it was my choice, as we alternate) it's going to be The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I've never actually read anything from Anne Bronte, so looking forward to this one. That's if I haven't already left it a bit late. Synopsis Gilbert Markham is deeply intrigued by Helen Graham, a beautiful and secretive young widow who has moved into nearby Wildfell Hall with her young son. He is quick to offer Helen his friendship, but when her reclusive behavior becomes the subject of local gossip and speculation, Gilbert begins to wonder whether his trust in her has been misplaced. It is only when she allows Gilbert to read her diary that the truth is revealed and the shocking details of her past. Edited January 19, 2017 by Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeleine Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 You can also register with publishers to receive newsletters etc, and they might send ARCs occasionally. Waterstone's also give out Review copies (on a first come, first served basis) so if you sign up for their newsletter they usually have details of ARCs, I've received a couple from them (including Kate Mosse's last book). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 It's coming, I promise! I've been under the weather this week so haven't written any proper reviews, but I shall get to this one soon for you. No rush, really ... I was only teasing you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 You can also register with publishers to receive newsletters etc, and they might send ARCs occasionally. Waterstone's also give out Review copies (on a first come, first served basis) so if you sign up for their newsletter they usually have details of ARCs, I've received a couple from them (including Kate Mosse's last book). Didn't know you could do it that route as well, don't tend to get newsletters. It's good that there's plenty of options though. Everyone loves an early look at a new release. No rush, really ... I was only teasing you I know, but I do want to review or at least share my general thoughts on a lot of the books I read this year, On Beauty included! Just need to chuck this flu that I've got and I'll get 'round to catching up with writing reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 (edited) Okay, so just because I'm still ill and struggling with both The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Alone in Berlin, I've decided to get a THIRD book on the go. *sighs* This is not normally like me, but just by the nature of the books I'm currently reading - and the run-down feeling that is affecting my reading negatively - I'm also going to have a go with Stephen King's Pet Sematary. Have wanted to stick in to more King for a long time now, so here goes... Synopsis The house looked right, felt right to Dr Louis Creed. Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago. Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive threat. But behind the house and far away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed pets for burial. A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding. Edited January 20, 2017 by Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I have The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on my TBR, so will be interested to hear your thoughts when you finish! I often have a lighter read on the go if I've got something heavy, but three at once is beyond me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 I've been wanting to read something by Anne for a while now - and have heard great things about The Tenant. I often have a lighter read on the go if I've got something heavy, but three at once is beyond me Yeah it's not normally me, and it's likely that I won't flick between them that much (will probably finish individually) but I just want to keep reading, you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeleine Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I enjoyed "Tenant", definitely one of the better Bronte books. I don't think I could read 3 at once! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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