Book Loving Kiwis discussion

If you have a question or query about Book Loving Kiwis, please ask away here...

I have a question that someone may be able to answer for me. At the top of the profiles of other members it shows a row of books (a category), usually 'favourites'. When I look at my own profile, this isn't there. Just wondering if it only shows up for other people?

I can see mine. I can't remember for sure now how this went down, but it was something like this: initially it just picked top rated books off the person's shelves, and there was a bit of a fuss, so they changed it to pick books from a shelf called favorites (or favourites, when those of us who spell it properly made a fuss), and then they made it a customisable, because not everyone wanted to feature their favourites (or indeed anything). so if you go into your books, and edit bookshelves, the first column is called "featured" and that's where you choose what shelf you want on your profile page. I've got one called "now and next" - to show my current reads, and what I intend reading next or soon.
Does that make sense?

Makes perfect sense. I'll try it when I'm next on my computer.

In another group I belong to, each month we sign up to take part in a Buddy Read. Our moderators then assign us a buddy and we get in contact with the person via inbox messaging. Together, we then decide on a book to read over the course of the month and discuss it with one another. This month I am reading Sarah's Key with another group member. We are going to read five or so chapters at a time, and then discuss them together.
Does this idea interest anyone in this group? We can obviously set our own time periods. Maybe two months would work best for some people.

Sounds good to me. I'm happy as long as the moderators don't choose an expensive book. I only like reading on kindle as my eyes aren't that great and I love the big font choices. But I need to keep to the cheaper e-books. I found some good (and cheap) Indie books on the "Awesome Indies" blog. Reading one now.

Any ideas why the book covers now line up one under each other instead of in a horizontal line? They take up so much room now!

e.g.

Yep, it's a known bug. I think it's being worked on. However, someone discovered a way to make it stop - you need to have a bit of html code on the line above. So I have the code to start italics: < i > but without the spaces on the line above my book covers


Ta dah!
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

Darkpool wrote: "Yep, it's a known bug. I think it's being worked on. However, someone discovered a way to make it stop - you need to have a bit of html code on the line above. So I have the code to start italics: ..."

Thanks, Darkpool. Going to give it a whirl now.

I am supposed to be opening the December/January NZ Nominations at the moment, but wondered if we should delay them until January/February and make December a 'catch up' month. We all have books we want to read before the end of the year, maybe even books we never got around to reading from the group bookshelf.
Would anyone object to this happening?
Any feedback welcome...

I would have no objection... (she said, looking at the stack of books she still had to read...)

Since December is a busy month for most with school & work breakup functions, Christmas prep, shopping etc etc it is a good idea to give it a miss.

Hi, Im pretty new to the whole goodreads group thing and had a question. I have just read Paul Callaghan: Luminous Moments and seeing as I added the book to goodreads I don't think many people know it has been published. This seems like the sort of group that might be interested as he is an inspirational kiwi who talks a lot about New Zealand in this series of essays. Where would be the best place for something like this?

Hi Caitlin. There are some categories in the Monthly Category Ideas thread in the Administration folder that would cover this book if the category was to come up for our monthly group read. You can always add more ideas to this thread too which would cover the book. Hope this helps!

Not BLK specific but

QUESTION: I have a copy of that doesnt match this cover. Mine is green with the eyes that look over the island. This cover isn't on goodreads but its the same ISBN number. Do I add another edition or just use this one listed?

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Kaita... See cover image here

Sharlene wrote: "Not BLK specific but

QUESTION: I have a copy of that doesnt match this cover. Mine is green with the eyes that look over the island. This cover isn't on good..."

You're right Sharlene. The cover that was there is the 2010 edition where as the data on GR refers to the 2005 edition and should have the cover you've got. I've changed the cover now I'll add the 2010 movie tie-in edition shortly.
~Lesley

Sharlene wrote: "Not BLK specific but

QUESTION: I have a copy of that doesnt match this cover. Mine is green with the eyes that look over the island. This cover isn't on good..."

You're right Sharlene. The cover that was there is the 2010 edition where as the data on GR refers to the 2005 edition and should have the cover you've got. I've changed the cover now I'll add the 2010 movie tie-in edition shortly.
~Lesley

I'm shifting classrooms at the end of this term. I'll be saying goodbye to my 28 gorgeous Year 3 and 4 students, and inheriting a great bunch of Year 6 and 7 students (10-12 year olds).
Please help me choose a super novel that I can read to these bigger kids….

ooh when I was a kid I loved reading the adventure stories by Willard Price. I loved animals and these stories taught me heaps of stuff.

Angie wrote: "I'm shifting classrooms at the end of this term. I'll be saying goodbye to my 28 gorgeous Year 3 and 4 students, and inheriting a great bunch of Year 6 and 7 students (10-12 year olds).
Please hel..."

The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head by Sue Copsey

Red Rocks by Rachael King

The Tunnels of Tarcoola by Jennifer Walsh
and also by this author
Crooked Leg Road
These are a bit like the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons stories.

These caught the imagination of my grandson who is in this age group - got him off focusing just on The Diary of ... and How to Train Your Dragon etc.

Turning the clock back a bit, my son liked the Paul Jennings books, and my daughter couldn't get enough of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden!

Here's a couple more ideas

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens book 1 in the Books of Beginning series

Michael Morpurgo
Kensuke's Kingdom
Shadow (but I think we needed tissues here)
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
Out of the Ashes
Escape from Shangri-La

Thanks!! I think I'll read them The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head for starters. Must reserve it from the public library, and ask the school librarian to buy it in for the school.

The Hatchet was another book our teacher read us and all the kids enjoyed.

Erica wrote: "ooh when I was a kid I loved reading the adventure stories by Willard Price. I loved animals and these stories taught me heaps of stuff."

Yep, my brother and I got a book each birthday. He got a Willard Price and I got Famous Five or secret Seven and then we'd swap. At school holiday time we'd play out versions of their adventures with our friends. I used to write my Mother notes in invisible ink - lemon juice and written with a seagull feather - lol

Kathleen wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "Erica wrote: "ooh when I was a kid I loved reading the adventure stories by Willard Price. I loved animals and these stories taught me heaps of stuff."

Yep, my ..."

Aaah, them were the days eh Kathleen - imagination.

We even acted out adventures we saw at the movies, on the odd occasions we went. One I recall vividly was where we had a chap further down the road who would lead his horse up the road until he got to a mound of dirt opposite our house. After a particular trip to the movies, we dug a hole in the top of said mound carefully replacing the turf on the top. We then sat ourselves on the fence and waited for the messages from the strategically placed 'sentries' that Mr M was coming. He arrived, we chorused Hello Mr M. to which he replied with his usual grunt, positioned his horse, climbed the mound and promptly disappeared. We scarpered to the safety of our fort and fell about laughing. We also wore our collective Mother's handprints on our behinds too.

We had another movie enacted adventure when my brother and his friends set fire to the pine tree covered hill in an endeavour to send smoke signals to the other indians waiting in the fort using a good woolen bed blanket. Not just handprints on behinds, but an all afternoon clean and polish of the local fire engine.
As my brother always says, that was a science lesson - he learned that pine needles are highly combustible,and fanning a fire causes it to really take off!

oh dear, I rolled about reading of your adventures, Lesley. You little horror!

I don't think I can beat those though my friend and sister and I came pretty close.

Angie. Try Margaret Mahy. Those YA books of hers are great to read aloud.
There's also Maurice Gee's The Fireraiser and The Half Men of O which are great and Kiwi. Made into films and TV series too which might induce children to listen and then watch.

Still laughing here, Ella's Gran. I have a cartoon brain, and it drew every second of Mr. M's Misadventure in living colour. Thanks for the fun. :-)

Lol Ella's Gran, great story.

My Miss 11yo is currently reading Tomorrow When the War began. Inspired to read after watching the movie apparently.

She mainly just reads horsey books but recently enjoyed Under the Mountain and Inkheart

Gracie wrote: "Still laughing here, Ella's Gran. I have a cartoon brain, and it drew every second of Mr. M's Misadventure in living colour. Thanks for the fun. :-)"

Mr. M was very short, hence the need for a mound to mount his horse. He was also a grumpy old ....
I reckon p.d.r. could have had fun with some of the stories featuring Mr M in her book of short stories about blokes. :) Could tell lots about him and other happenings that happened in the early settlement of my growing up area post WWII.

Sweetp-1 wrote: "Lol Ella's Gran, great story.

My Miss 11yo is currently reading Tomorrow When the War began. Inspired to read after watching the movie apparently.

She mainly just reads horsey books but recently ..."

Ahh Sweetp that was the title that was eluding me last night - Tomorrow When the War Began. Both my son and daughter liked that. The night that Under the Mountain played on TV the chores got done really quickly too - no chores done, no TV - and they loved that programme. Mind you so did I.

Under the Mountain is available as a DVD. I want to send it to my grandson when I've got some money!

He needs his Kiwi background and it's a great film/series whatever.

Nice man! We do have some great Kiwi children's books.

My children have been too convinced by me, current research and their scientific backgrounds (research scientists) that the planet is stuffed and it's not fair to bring more children into a world we've ruined. My one grandson is an accident, but a much loved and welcomed one!

Angie wrote: "Thanks!! I think I'll read them The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head for starters. Must reserve it from the public library, and ask the school librarian to buy it in for the school."

Angie, I've just downloaded this book at Booktrack where authors can enhance the reading experience by adding mood music and sound effects. If you could down load to a laptop or iPad it would make a wonderful class read.You would still have to read the story to them but accompanied by all the sound effects - raging storm, feet running uostairs, dog barking, thunder ....

Here's the link to read all about it. It works best if you download Google Chrome to use as your browser for this and to get the apps.

http://www.booktrack.com/
Lesley

Yes, it sounds great. I am hoping to do my stories that way.

Ella's Gran wrote: "Angie wrote: "Thanks!! I think I'll read them The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head for starters. Must reserve it from the public library, and ask the school librarian to buy it in for th..."

Great minds think alike! I did just what you suggested a few days ago. Interestingly, I was at a workshop yesterday morning run by the Otago Literacy Association, and one of the speakers talked about digital literacies and mentioned booktrack. All the teachers were hurriedly scribbling down the name, whilst I sat there looking smug!
Bonus: I won a Michael Morpurgo book as a spot prize.
It may (or may not) be of interest to some of you - the 2014 NZ Literacy Association conference is being held in Tauranga from 28 September until 1 October. I'm going to see if my school will pay the conference fee, if I pay the rest.

Angie wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "Angie wrote: "Thanks!! I think I'll read them The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head for starters. Must reserve it from the public library, and ask the school librarian..."

It's great isn't it. I couldn't help thinking of class reads. I also downloaded The Selfish Giant (just to see) and the sound effects were exactly as I remember them being when we listened to the Sunday morning children's request session on the radio - The Selfish Giant, Little Flick, The Happy Prince ... just excuse me while I slip quietly back into the past ♥

Wow what an interesting article, PDR! Thank you so much for sharing. I urge everyone to have a read. :-) However, I do think you misunderstood my intention when I first posted in this forum.

Is it just me, or does the author in that article come across as a complete psycho (and proud of it)? And given that she's apparently written it herself (i.e. it is not the result of investigative journalism), how reliable is her narration of the events?

To be honest, I read around this story enough when it broke to know there are claims (and possibly even evidence - from twitter, for instance) that Hale's version of the sequence of events is at best inaccurate. I'd trust it about as much as I'd trust the story of a kid I picked up in the playground for fighting... if he knew I wasn't going to be able to hear the other kid's side of the story.

The Guardian article? Did I post that here? Can't find it. Has someone removed my post?

Yes, she does sound a peckle in a pickle doesn't she?

Unfortunately I do know that one of my American writer pals has had a simliar experience with the same person/non-person.

And the major writers' boards all have someone telling a simliar story about others who are being or have been catfished.

Why is it called catfishing? It is an American term I do not know

Yep, was deffo here. very odd. And IIRC we'd gone onto the 2nd page, so there are a few other posts that have been removed (like 6 of them in total.)

Hi.
I deleted some posts from this thread last night. I obviously missed some (weird because I definitely couldn't see them, but now I can?)

The Questions/Suggestions thread isn't the appropriate area to ask for reviews - I have asked Joanne to set up a thread for her book in the author corner folder instead, which she has done.
Nor is this thread the place to be "guessing" at GR policies and after discussion with another mod we felt it was best to remove the next few posts in case it was confusing to new authors stumbling on to this group. This is why I also did a post in the Mod Announcement thread re authors/reviews just to clarify what was acceptable in this group (and where is best to promote books and ask for reviews etc).

The thread is really meant to be Questions/Suggestions about BLK and how we work and what we're reading - not about GR itself. There are other groups where these kinds of issues might be better discussed like the Goodreads feedback group or the Goodreads Author Feedback Group. This group is about sharing the love of reading and connecting NZ readers with books, and readers with NZ books. I am not sure how discussions about psycho reviewers really fits in with that to be honest - certainly not really appropriate to this thread anyway.

This is the first time in almost a year of moderating this group I have deleted comments so it wasn't done lightly or without consultation with another mod. But in hindsight I should have put a comment here that I had removed some posts, I apologize.

If you want to repost the link in your own author thread pdr you can take the conversation there, or as above, perhaps another group would be better.

Before this conversation ends, could I also ask that we keep discussions appropriate to the thread they are in. If a discussion begins in one folder and evolves into something entirely different from that thread, please feel free to open another thread in the appropriate folder to continue. It just serves to keep discussions on topic and makes the threads less wieldy.

Ah, well I followed the reviews comment, with the link as a humorous semi-warning about reviews.

It would have been nice if the comments could have been sent back to us to reissue rather than disappear them without leaving an explanation. People do chat and wander off topic. I haven't got a copy of that link to re post or of th eother chatty bits!

May I suggest we have a chat thread? One where we can just natter about things.

The board has been very quiet for a while and it's hard trying to get things going and get other people interested and joining in without being able to just chat.

P.d.r. wrote: "May I suggest we have a chat thread? One where we can just natter about things.

The board has been very quiet for a while and it's hard trying to get things going and get other people interested ..."

There are a couple of Boards already in existence where you could create a thread to chat about other than books read. Have a look at Not Just Books - Other Media and What Do You Think?

If you don't think either of these will fit the bill I've created another folder for chatting.

Thank you. That sounds fun.

Hi team, I have a question. I'm writing my blurb, which is the most dire part of this whole author lark. I'm on draft #410 (it feels like it). Is there someone here who would be happy to run their eye over it for me?
Its the blurb for a horror novel, so quite different to my normal historical fiction. I can promise that there isn't a sparkly (or otherwise) vampire in sight, nor are there love triangles or ancient curses. Its more a psychological horror, very little blood & guts.
Thank you

Kirsten wrote: "Hi team, I have a question. I'm writing my blurb, which is the most dire part of this whole author lark. I'm on draft #410 (it feels like it). Is there someone here who would be happy to run their ..."

Hi Kirsten - I didn't see this! I would have been happy to take a look! Next time flick me a message. :)

Now for the 2 reasons I entered this thread.

Could the moderators look at getting authors to use the Authors' Corner folder for promoting their work?

& also the currently reading books have been up since February. If you change their status from currently-reading to read they should disappear. :)

If you've got any questions or suggestions to make this group even better, please leave them here

I wonder if any of the authors would do a Q&A for us after a group read? I loved This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman and really enjoyed The Unreliable People by Rosetta Allen and it would be great to have the opportunity to ask questions.