Sunday Brunch #8

Hi everyone!

I know, I know, I have made myself quite scarce these past weeks and have hardly blog and commented on other blogs and now you all hate me (I hope not!)!

I have been quite busy with work where I need to read loads of things (well, I like doing it, it's just that it needs to come before the blog reading!) so I preferred posting less rather than hastily written reviews!

So I have two (actually three with Anne McCaffrey challenge!) giveaways at the moment, but I am not turning in a giveaway machine just yet (or ever!), so don't worry :) 

I have read loads of great books these past weeks and the reviews will hopefully come up soon! I am discovering Historical Fiction with

I have also attended a bunch of truly awesome events:

• I have been to a screening + a Q&A with author of Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro and the questions were really good and the interview was fascinating!
• I went to a book slam event (my first but definitely not last!) with David Levithan and Andrea Levy. The night was really good and the venue gorgeous. David Levithan read extracts from his book The Book Lover's Dictionary and I managed to film some of it so hopefully I'll be able to upload it! I also met some amazing book lovers there so yay book geeks!
• I participated in World Book Night and went to the event in Trafalgar Square!
• And last but not least I went to an amazing event organised by Random House Children's Books, Teenage Kicks, where a group of teenagers organised a Q&A session with writers Bali Rai, Malorie Blackman and Jenny Downham. The questions from the teenagers were really interesting and the writers had very different personalities, so it was really awesome!

What happened in the bookish world this week?

Loads happened this week and I didn't follow all of it but one of the most interesting piece of news was the announcement of the fourth book in The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini.

Now I know what you are all thinking: very Lord Of The Ring etc. I hear you people, but I read the books when they came out, I was 14/15 years old and I had the fantasy literature awareness of a shrimp at the time. They might not have been the best fantasy books of all time, but I really loved the books and the characters.

Now that I am an adult (relatively speaking) and that my fantasy literature awareness has more the shape of a sea lion, I am still excited at this piece of news because Inheritance will be the last book of the series and that it will be the first book Christopher Paolini has written as an adult. So if my literature awareness has developed, his as well (and even more than mine), so I am really excited to see how this book will compare to the others. 

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There has been quite a lot of negativity in the blogosphere these past weeks. Loads of authors vs. bloggers feuds and blog posts/tweets here and there to defend each other's opinions. It also comes in the same time where articles pop out about online recommendation and reviews being less important for online shoppers (The Bookseller | March 2011) and doubts over bloggers selling/promoting books. 
I wanted to write a post about this. And I still really do. (As a matter of fact I have deleted the paragraphs I have just written!) But I refuse to let myself be drawn by generalisations over some bloggers' or authors' bad habits. I honestly think it would only fuel a debate in which I don't believe in.  I have never encountered any of the problems quoted in the various articles and I feel really happy to be part of the UK book blogging community as it really feels like being part of a family! There are 'good' and 'bad' people everywhere (yes, I am oversimplifying things) and the great thing with the internet is that you can ignore people you are not a fan of. Life's too short and there just so many books to read!

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On a less whining note :) I have found this gorgeous piece of writing on Tumblr about dating a girl who reads. I thought it was beautiful and oh boy do I recognise myself in the description!

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Mary Hoffman wrote a beautiful article about Diana Wynne Jones who passed away this weekend.

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The wonderful Authors For Japan initiative (started by Keris Stainton) raised 11,000 pounds.

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Mostly Reading YA is organising a Translation Month in April where she will be reviewing books from foreign authors translated in English! Anyone can participate and I will review an Italian book called My Brother Is An Only Child by Antonio Pennacchi and a Japanese one Out by Natsuo Kirino! Don't hesitate to take part in this month!

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That will be all for this week and I shall try to keep Sunday Brunch  going :)


Have a lovely Sunday evening people!


x Caroline