Category: On Reading
Reddit, again?
I’ve toyed around with Reddit several times over the years, but I have struggled to really get into it. I’d create an ID, look at it for two days, never really post or comment anything, and then forget my login information. My husband, once a heavy Redditor, stopped cold turkey for a while, but the seemingly endless supply of terrible jokes lured him back. He reads things off Reddit to me and it “seems” like there could be a little more there than I found before – perhaps I just needed to give it more than a couple of days?
Determined to find value in Reddit beyond terrible jokes (seriously, some of the worst jokes every known to man), I have decided to give Reddit another try. I’ll probably lurk for a while before I comment, but we’ll see. I haven’t yet looked to see which of my friends and followers are on Reddit, but if you are, please feel free to send me a message or comment with your username. (Helpful tips and advice always welcome, too!)
One of the things that intrigues me (other than the Aww Subreddit that’s full of cute baby animal pictures and videos) is the AMA (Ask Me Anything) feature. For example, The Microsoft OneNote team will be doing a AMA over in /r/iama on September 1st @ 1PM EST. If you want to ask questions of celebrities, experts, random weirdos, this is the place. They have several AMAs per day. Here’s a Google Calendar of upcoming AMAs And here is the Twitter link for AMAs.
The other thing I think I’ll investigate more this time around is customizing my subreddits so I see more of what interests me (and hopefully get less overwhelmed by that crazy noisy UX nightmare of a front page). For my writer and book junking readers, here’s a small sampling of subreddits on books, literature, and writing I’ve discovered in my first full day of being a Newbie Redditor.
Book reviews, recommendations, stories about books or book technology, etc.
A subreddit for the participants of the 52 Book Challenge (one book per week for a year) to discuss their progress and discoveries.
As one might expect, this is a place to casually discuss books!
Welcome to /r/literature, a community for deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels. Discussions of literary criticism, literary history, literary theory, and critical theory are also welcome–strongly encouraged, even.
Welcome to /r/Literatures, a community for deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels **in languages other than English, or English in translation**. This is a sister subreddit to /r/literature, focused on literatures from around the world originally written in any language other than English.
All are welcome at r/writers: fiction writers, nonfiction writers, bloggers and more! Get critique on your work, share resources, ask questions and help fellow writers.
If you see a prompt you like, simply write a short story based on it. Get comments from others, and leave commentary for other people’s works.
The home for writers. We talk about important matters for writers, news affecting writers, and the finer aspects of writing.
Welcome to the Writer_Well. Here you are free to write stories, short stories, poems, plays, song lyrics, and so forth
Jobs for writers.
This reddit is dedicated to those of us who are writing in the fantasy genre. Anything related to creating your own works of fantasy is acceptable.
A sub reddit to get ideas flowing for Artists and Writers. Where Artists can post their work to prompt ideas forWriters and Writers can post stories to prompt ideas for artists.
This is a place for the writers of Reddit to showcase the stories of other writers!
A place for young writers to learn, discuss, and generally have fun with the craft of writing.
A peer-critique community for writers from India. * English, vernacular and hybrid-language writers welcome.
A friendly community for writers for novel, short story, script and poetry writers only.
Post links to writer’s guidelines, calls for submissions, writing contests, etc. See sidebar for rules.
A corner for all female writers.
A place to discuss just about everything in the world of indie books.
A place where TV writers can ask questions about the industry, exchange and provide feedback on scripts, and discuss shows, writers, and ideas they like.
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch #amreading #bookreview
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This quick, easy read had me turning pages and staying up late to finish. Most characters are well-crafted, and while the protagonist’s mother seems overly stereotyped, a story told from a teenager’s POV makes this completely acceptable. I thought at first this novel might have ended up categorized as young adult simply because of the young protagonist (as, unfortunately, so many novels lately have tended to fall). As I read on, however, I felt myself wanting to go back and edit this book to encourage the author to rewrite it or an adult audience. The book *almost* makes there… and the places it doesn’t quite get there are SO easily identified. As a young adult novel, it ends up somewhere near a Flowers in the Attic-type of read -a bit too salacious for the teenage set, a bit under-written for more advanced readers. Not a bad read by any stretch (I couldn’t bring myself to give it 3 stars), it easily could have been better.
Book Review: Orphan Train
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I picked this up as one of my (many) audiobook selections to listen to while long-run training for a marathon. I normally have a rule that I can only listen while I’m running (to entice myself for one more mile…), but I’ll admit on this one that when it came to the last hour of listening, I just couldn’t wait until the next workout. On top of the story being simply delicious, the readers (Jessica Almasy and Suzanne Toren) blew me away.
I love the historical fiction aspect of the storytelling mixed with the contemporary story, even if the two story lines seemed a bit too neatly, conveniently, tied together. Christina Baker Kline pulled of the transitions with minimal jarring through solid establishment of her main characters (both young Niamh and old Vivian, as well as Molly) and well-placed, though somewhat stereotypical, secondary characters that help keep the reader (listener) grounded.
Book Review: Dear John
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I went back and forth for a while between three stars and four for Dear John. Certainly not meant to be high literature, it is engaging and fun. I found the character development solid and the protagonist’s journey believable – two important factors for this kind of summer beach read. Plus, a romantic novel from the man’s point of view (written by a man) is refreshing. I’ve seen claims that Sparks’ books seemed “cookie cutter” so I hadn’t picked any up since A Walk to Remember, but this one was pretty good.
Book Review: Whispers of Hope
Whispers of Hope: 10 Weeks of Devotional Prayer by Beth Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I recommend this so highly that I just bought another copy so I can do it again. Using the P.R.A.I.S.E. method, Beth gives tools to and structure to effectively combine journaling with prayer time (Praise, Repentance, Acknowledgement, Intercession, Supplication for Self, and Equipping). I think what I’ve enjoyed the most is looking back through my prayer journal all these months later and getting perspective by seeing what was “so important” to me at that time and how, with God and prayer, I was guided through an unfortunate and ugly situation unscathed.
Book Review: Paris in Love
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This author came at this memoir from an interesting angle by creating a collection of random, yet cohesive, thoughts from her social media posts. This quirky, fun, fast read was recommended by a friend of mine and I recommend it, as well. Eloisa James is a professor at Fordham who writes historical romance novels. She is married to an Italian, lives in New York, and the memoir is about her year in Paris, so there’s lots of flavors here. Having seen reviews running the gamut of love to hate, I think perhaps I might not have enjoyed it as much if I’d had different expectations. I went into it looking forward to a light summer read, however, and did not walk away disappointed.
Book Review: The Secret Life of Bees
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Secret Life of Bees has been on my “to read” list for years and years. Why I waited so long, I can’t really say. I avoided the movie so I could read the book first; however, I think I may skip the movie altogether because I so thoroughly enjoyed the book.
The well-paced story and solid character development make this a great book for writers to dig into, but I read it this first time through for the sheer pleasure of taking a little mental vacation down to the farm. And being from Columbia, SC, I got a special kick out of all the local references (Bull Street!).
I saw only a couple instances where the timing jumped or the plot thinned enough to break rhythm. This time period in South Carolina was, unfortunately, much more dangerously violent than the book portrays, although I’m not sure being more realistic on that front would have added much to the story. Some of the other “unrealistic” items/passages can easily gloss over within the innocence of the 14 year old storyteller, with the exception of what happens to May. I won’t spoil here – I’ll just note that over the course of a couple pages the book drops from 5 stars to 4 (well, 4 1/2 really, if the ratings would let me) because a carefully crafted character shifts in unbelievable ways (with a terribly forced presentation, to boot!)
Race remains as a hot topic around here, with 2015 seeing the flag over the Capitol finally come down (having flown there since 1961 – the time around this book). I’m not so sure a white girl living with a bunch of black woman wouldn’t raise some eyebrows even today. If you’re looking for a good quick read that is wildly appropriate for Black History Month, this might be your pick.
Erika for President 
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