Petra X > Recent Status Updates

I used to blog but that was before GR. I'm looking to start blogging again.Does anyone have any recommendations for a site that is easy to use and free? Not Wordpress, I found that anything but simple. It's a few years now since I've had this weird depression where I just can't communicate with people on or offline I do read reviews though I don't write them & think just blogging into the ether might work for me.

I just found a newish book recommendation site. This is their message: "Amazon's book results are mostly ads, and Goodreads does nothing for authors.There are almost no places where authors can market their books to readers without paying". All the links on the site are to Amazon.Membership $50 or $100 for authors annually, $25-$250 for readers. So it's an Amazon affilliate shop front and authors have to pay!

I'm in Auckland now, any tips on what to see? Had a marvellous time in Rotorua looking at geysers and Maori culture. One perfectly normal village, Ohinemutu, was like reading magical realism. There were cracks in the road, in the public toilet, in the church drive just about everywhere where steam came up and sometimes bubbling water from the geothermal activity below. But now we're in the city. What is there to do?

In Christchurch now going to Wellington in the morning.So far NZ is one of the 3 most beautiful countries I have visited so I'm looking forward to the long ferry ride.What is there to do in Wellington apart from the museum and (later) Rotorua where might we find Maori stuff.Ever since I was a little girl in Wales and the All Blacks came to play rugby they've really intrigued me. Thanks for all the help on Melbourne.

Going to Melbourne tomorrow. We were going to Sydney (and we still may) but were swayed by a Yayoi Kusama major exhibition finishing on 4/21. Her museum in Tokyo is closed and she is a favourite artist of ours. So we are looking for exciting things to do in Melbourne, or interesting anyway, that aren't sporty as the bf's MS precludes major physical activity. Any suggestions very welcome. Thanks.

Hello! I've been travelling since Jan, just left Shanghai for Kyoto,then Tokyo & then Sydney. Help please. We have 2 weeks in Australia what are the best places to go/things to see? Also bf is not mad keen on NZ, we both like cities, art gals, temples, cultural stuff, I like nature too, he does as well but not so much. What can I tell him to persuade him we have to go to NZ? Been reading a lot, mostly travel stuff

It finally happened! After 3 months in the UK, France & Morocco carrying books around, for the next 3 in the Far East, South Pacific & NZ I will have ebooks on my phone.Me a bookseller!My bf has MS & is a prof & has a sabbatical so we spending the year travelling. Apart from my son & staff, he's pretty much the only person I engage with. interaction with people has become so hard for me & I don't know why. I'm sorry.

I'm travelling & reading, just not Goodreading. I'm still finding it difficult to communicate although I do read your reviews. I'm in Paris, it's as cold as London but the food is a lot better.Last night in a cafe I asked for orange juice for my Campari spritz.The waiter said the juicing machine was broken but brought me a whole one.Is this the secret of French food, that everything is fresh & made from scratch?

Q70 What's the most overrated book everyone loves but you just don't get? Mine is James Joyce Ulysses. Got bored, but feel like a heathen saying that.

Happy new 2024! I've been more or less incommunicado with almost everyone on and offline, very reclusive, been in a very deep depression for 4 or 5 months. I'm slowly moving back into life again (I hope) and look forward to participating in GR again. Silver lining: loads of reviews from my friends to read. Love to everyone, I hope this year will be everyone's best year yet.

I wonder why on the New Book Page, it says how many followers a person has, but not how many friends or a total of the 2? How is that relevant to anything? Is there something special about followers on social media that I've missed? I kept seeing names on reviews followed by nothing and then checked their profiles - some of them have a lot of friends but no followers and GR is now ignoring the friends. Why?

When I hit "Compare books" about 50% of the time I get Page Unavailable. Is this happening to anyone else?

Q69 "Please don't tell me your opinion friends...say what the book taught you!" Seen on a profile. What do you think of that? I read/review non-fiction, and generally write my opinion, what it taught me, interesting snippets, one or a mixture. Do you prefer opinions or to read what the reviewer learned from the book? I prefer opinions, every time.

Q68 What is the oldest electronic device you own that you still use regularly that you access GR on? Mine is my trusty W7 laptop. Keyboard and battery gone a long time ago but it's fast, does everything I want and highly customisable, unlike my other W10 laptops & dreadful Chrome book. I use GR from it and occasionally from my phone. It's a cheap Android. I'm not cool enough for an iPhone!

Q67 Have you ever faced criticism for your taste in books or reading preferences? I ask this because yesterday in the bookshop a potential employee was apologetic that she read romances and baby momma dramas rather than the more literary books I have. I don't judge! People's literary tastes change over time, and in a bookshop a sale is a sale!

Followers not friends? I just noticed on the new book page that only followers are shown, not friends. I can't think GR would get rid of friends and only offer the follow option, too much upheaval, but it is obviously something really important but I can't think of what or why.

Q65 Do you listen/watch reviews on Booktube, TikTok, podcasts etc? If so, which would you recommend? I think I'm too invested in GR and need to expand where I read reviews.

So what did everyone do over the Great Outtage? Read books? I spent too long on BoredPanda and Reddit looking at cat pics and reading about outraged bridezillas. I wonder why GR was down for so long?

Q65 How do you find new friends? What are your criteria for top friend v non-top friend? Do you basically ignore non-top friends or what?

Q64 Do you read bits of books out loud to your family/friends not on GR when you are reading them? Or email them? Do you share your reviews with friends/fam? I occasionally read out bits to my son, but most likely will just discuss things I've read with him.

Q65 'I was not happy as a child, although from time to time I was content. I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.' Neil Gaiman. That was me, books took away the sting is not being loved, I escaped to another world What part did books play in your childhood?

I was thinking that all Brits know what a 99 is. I was wondering if there are extremely common foods in your country whose name would mystify everyone not from there? btw a 99 is a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone with a chocolate flake stuck in it. The name comes from Italian ice cream sellers. The King of Italy had an elite bodyguard of 99 men. So anything elite was called 99s by Italians

Q63. Reading is our favorite hobby, but what is your 2nd favorite? What do you do to relax when you aren't reading? Movies? Cooking? Stamp-collecting (that's going to die out). Mine is gardening. Because I live in a rainforest I have to have pots as the vines & baby trees are rampant & take over everything. I listen to books as I garden though! I also like walking, in the evenings when it's cool, listening to a book.

Q62 What is your personal rating scale for books? What does 3 star mean to you? I was reading on a site about how to write a book review & it said if you are going to post it on Amazon be careful giving any review 3 stars or less as the average on Amazon is 4.3, so anything beneath that means the book is below average. That inflation of ratings is the standard now for new books. Almost all of which are freebies.

Q61 We've all had time to become used to the New Book Page.What do you think of it.Has it changed your use of GR? I use it much less,The blurb is often just promotional quotes,once banned on GR, & there aren't enough reviews & the few shown are gushing ARC ones I miss the long list of reviews of the OBPage. I mostly go to people's profiles now & research new books through Google. I mind the NWPage less on the phone.

Q60 We all do drive-by likes on the update feed but what makes you go and read the full review? Is it the genre, the title, the first few lines or you like how that GR friend writes? It tends to be the first few lines with me but I tend to always read some people and others only sometimes.

Q59 I write these questions because I am interested in how people use GR how they relate to books and to get help with making my bookshop better. But the major thing for me has turned out to be getting to people better, closer to friends than to people-who-write-reviews I follow. My question is, why do you respond to my questions?

"Pensioner urinating on a train track is killed by a flying cow that was hit by a carriage and flung 100ft through the air". True. Google it. Very very bizarre. I'm sad for the man and the cow but it does sound a bit Monty Pythonish.

Q58 When you go to a bookshop, do you like to be left alone to browse, do you like to get help from a clerk, or do you like to discuss books with the clerks/owners/other customers? My fave customers are those that like to discuss books & then other customers are drawn in. Or they were. Now my favourite customers are those who actually buy the book rather than looking it up on Amazon and getting it from Kindle.

Q57 What do you do when you are in a reading slump and can't concentrate on a book for more than 5 minutes? Reviewing slump too, you make notes, you have ideas but can't get round to it? That's where I am now and don't know how to get out of it, it happens so rarely to me.