Plants and Books in Print?!

I had an interesting conversation with one of the students at the university I work for today. She was telling me about how she was talking to some guy she knows that reviews movies for a newspaper (I'm not sure which) and that they were looking for someone to review books for the paper. The student mentioned my name and give him my email address; so she told me I should be expecting an email in the near future. It was pretty exciting, but I wonder if my reading interests will jive with what the paper is looking to review; since, shamefully, fantasy/science fiction isn't as mainstream as we all know it should be.

On a side note, I think I just broke the 20,000 page mark for total pages read since January 1. A few stats:

• 59 books read (or are in the process of reading);
• Average book size: 355 pages;
• Average duration of time to complete a book: 5.95 days;
• Average pages read per day: 69.45; and,
• Percentage of reviews requested (either by Amazon Vine or publisher/author request): 44.07%

Maybe I'll see you in the papers!

Good reading,

Plants and Books

Getting Famous?

For the few of you that follow my blog, you may have noticed that I have been on a little hiatus recently. My wife and I adopted a dog about a month ago and instead of reading I have been monitoring his every move. Regardless, because of this cool blog statistic/tracking site, GetClicky, I just checked to see how many people are checking in on my blog (not many) and how they are finding my site (search engines or links from other sites). I found some neat things.

First, Brent Weeks has linked my site on his website with blurbs from my reviews of his NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY:

Plants and Books says “THE WAY OF SHADOWS is one of the best recent fantasy books I have read, if not one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. There are many strengths to this engaging book; but, one of the strongest is definitely the characters and their moral/ethical dilemmas. THE WAY OF SHADOWS is an emotional ride of vengeance, mercy, justice, terror, and humor.”

Plants and Books posted, “It has been a long time since I have read a book that has so easily charged me emotionally, which if for no other reason, is a reason to read SHADOW’S EDGE.”

In an otherwise tepid review, Plants and Books says “THE NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY is one of the best additions to the fantasy genre in recent times.”

I had to laugh a little at the last comment on his review page because I did not realize that my review was so "luke warm" since I absolutely loved the book and the entire series.

I was also linked on an eBay listing for the entire Brent Weeks THE NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY. Since eBay listings come and go, here is a picture:



I was also linked from some blog that you need to be invited to be view, so I have no idea what it is. Maybe if I link the blog here, he or she will see my link and send me an invite. Maybe this person thinks my blog sucks, or maybe this person thinks I'm an idiot. Maybe this person thinks I am the most amazing blogger since the internet was conceived... Obviously there must have been something worthwhile since he linked to me. I NEED TO KNOW!!

Good reading,

Plants and Books