The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

15.2 -- Blurb It
Many authors (or their publishers) will ask a well-known author to provide a quote for the front cover of a new book. These quotes are called blurbs. For this task, read one book that has a blurb from another author on it.
AND
Read a book by the author that provided the blurb. Example: My library's copy of I Capture the Castle has a quote on the front cover that reads: "This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met." ~ J.K.Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books. So, for this task, I could read I Capture the Castle for my first book and one of the Harry Potter books for the second book.

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I've been planning to re-read George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones -- I first read it in September 2001 (actually finishing it up on Sept. 10, 2001). Would a re-read be OK for part of this task? Thanks!

Deedee wrote: "I've been planning to re-read George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones -- I first read it in September 2001 (actually finishing it up on Sept. 10, 2001). Would a re-rea..."

As long as the book fits one of the parts of the task otherwise, there's no restrictions on whether it's a first time read or a re-read.

I read a lot of eBooks. When looking at the synopsis for Fools Rush In it showed a blurb from Virginia Smith on B&N.com which is where I get most of my books from...would that work?

Here is the site: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fool... under Editorial Reviews.

★Meghan★ wrote: "I read a lot of eBooks. When looking at the synopsis for Fools Rush In it showed a blurb from Virginia Smith on B&N.com which is where I get most of my books from...would that work? Here is the s..."

Yes, that works.

Does the blurb need to be specifically on the front cover or do the ones on the back cover or inside near the title page count too?

Riona wrote: "Does the blurb need to be specifically on the front cover or do the ones on the back cover or inside near the title page count too?"

It can be anywhere on the book - front, back, inside cover all count.

Great, thanks!

Does the blurb need to be in a book or about a book? For example, Nicole Jordan is quoted in a blurb in Lover Enshrined, but the quote is on the book Dark Lover. Do I read Dark Lover or Lover Enshrined again?

MsOPP (Julie) wrote: "Does the blurb need to be in a book or about a book? For example, Nicole Jordan is quoted in a blurb in Lover Enshrined, but the quote is on the book Dark Lover. Do I read Dark Lover or Lover Ens..."

I'm not quite sure I understand where the actual blubs are so, let me give you an example and see if this helps.

So let's say the first book I pick is Dan Brown's Deception Point (since it's sitting right here next to me). This 1st book can be any book you want to read as long as it has a blurb (or two or five) from another author(s) on/in it.

Now, on Dan's book, there are two blurbs. One says "Deception Point has enough twists and surprises to keep even the most seasoned readers guessing." ~ Vince Flynn
And another one says "Angels & Demons is one hell of a book--I had a hard time putting it down..." ~ Dale Brown
So for my 2nd book, I could read a book by either Vince Flynn or Dale Brown.

Does that help?

@Kristi - Oh! That makes sense. I was thinking that if you picked up Deception Point and saw a blurb from Dale Brown on Angels and Demons, you'd have to read Angels and Demons in order to be able to read Dale Brown..

I'm glad that it's not the case. I am going to read Lover Enshrined and a Nicole Jordan book.

UGH this task is hard! All of my books with blurbs on them are from the washington post or some other publication, not an author! Does anyone have any suggestions?

I love Jen Lancaster and really cannot wait to read her new book coming out in May (already pre-ordered), so I worked backwards. I started researching books she liked, books her friends wrote and looked for blurbs she did. I found 2:

20 Times a Lady

Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own

I am going to use Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by: Laura Hillenbrand. There is a blurb on the back by Rebecca Skloot who wrote The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I have been dying to read both books, so this task works out great for me!

Debut novels often have a blurb on them from an established famous author in the same genre. I found Elantris had a blurb from Orson Scott Card and since I wanted to read The Lost Gate, it worked out well for me.
Goodreads has several lists of debut novels on Listopia, that might be a place to start.
Books that convert from hardback to mass market paperback often pick up some blurbs in the paperback edition - another place to browse.

@ Christine US - I did the same...I had a book I wanted to read (recommended to me in another challenge), so I wandered through the romance section of the bookstore until I found a book that she had written a blurb on...lol! and its a new to me author, so i'm excited to check her out

OH my gosh! My copy of Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen has a blurb from Elizabeth Gilbert! Yay! I can read Eat, Pray, Love :)

Amanda wrote: "OH my gosh! My copy of Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen has a blurb from Elizabeth Gilbert! Yay! I can read [book:Eat, Pray, Love|1950..."

ooh! both of those are on my TBR. now if only i can find that same copy at the library....

I picked up Sh*t My Dad Says at the library today, and it has blurbs from Chelsea Handler, Christian Lander, Laurie Notaro and A.J. Jacobs.

PSA: I got Middlesex from the library for a different task originally, but I noticed it had a blurb from Jonathan Safran Foer. So I'll be moving it to this task and also reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close or possibly Everything Is Illuminated.

(strangely enough, that was the only author quoted - the rest were all newspaper and magazine review excerpts)

Riona wrote: "PSA: I got Middlesex from the library for a different task originally, but I noticed it had a blurb from Jonathan Safran Foer. So I'll be moving it to this task and also r..."

I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for the winter challenge and thought it was incredible. Hope you enjoy it!

I've been thinking about reading Think Twice for challenge 10.5 (It Takes Two). It has a blurb from James Patterson though. Can I do a crossover? As in, read Think Twice for 10.5 and the first half of this, and then read James Patterson as the second book for this challenge?

Danie wrote: "I've been thinking about reading Think Twice for challenge 10.5 (It Takes Two). It has a blurb from James Patterson though. Can I do a crossover? As in, read Think Twice for 10.5 and..."

Sorry, that won't work, Danie. You can only count a book once per challenge. A total of 3 books needs to be read to complete both tasks (1 book for 10.5 and 2 books for 15.2). For this task, the book with the blurb needs to be paired with the author who wrote the blurb for that book. So you would need to read Think Twice and a book by James Patterson for this task and a different book (with a 2 word title) for 10.5.

Alright, that's what I figured, just wanted to be sure. Thank you!

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get to this task as there is only 11 days of this challenge left. But, just in case I do, I have a problem. The book I have here in my hand The Kings of Eternity

has the following blurb on it:

"Perfect. Eric Brown has reinvented the scientific romance for a new century. Intense, elegant, moving, this is Brown's best yet." -- Stephen Baxter

However, when I look at the bookcover on goodreads or amazon, the blurb is missing. Would this still be accepted? Thanks!

Deedee wrote: "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get to this task as there is only 11 days of this challenge left. But, just in case I do, I have a problem. The book I have here in my hand [book:The Kings of..."

As long as you can see it on your copy you're fine. It'll work.