When you can't finish a book...

...even though you feel like you have to, considering it's a review copy sent to you from the publisher or the author itself. So what do you do? Do you just stop reading and write out the review but mention why you couldn't finish it? I figured there was nothing wrong with that so I wrote out my review and explained why I couldn't finish the book. I don't intend on continuing it and not for a long time. I want to read something I enjoy!

And no, I did not bash the book terribly or listed out 101 reasons why it was bad. I don't think it's fair to the book and author if we heavily criticised it. Just like another blogger, Dana Alma who mentioned in her post, even if we didn't like a certain book doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't want to read it. Remember, one man's meat is another man's poison. My poison, your meat. Yeah, you get it.

The last book I never got around to finishing was The Diary of a Girl in Changi. That was so many years ago. I did not even feel guilty about stopping halfway and deciding that I won't pick it up again. I even sold it off! Well, maybe I will try reading it again if the book somehow finds its way to me. If the book is meant for me to read, there's no harm trying. Ah, the power of fate.

But after that, I think I felt guilty for not finishing it. Being a Sagittarius, I tend to stop doing things (only some things like personal projects, activities, etc!) halfway. I read about my zodiac and found out that it's a common trait among us Sags. Take notebooks, for example. I start writing in one then leave half of it empty and I go on to start writing in another one. Another example is my scrapbooks. I never got to complete them. Things like that.

So that's why I vowed to always try to finish every book I start to read. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. It gives me the right to say, yeah, I've read that book, cover to cover! :) I get to feel proud of myself. But I'm not proud to say that I skipped some paragraphs of Pride and Prejudice. If you're familiar with the reader's bill of rights, you know that we have the right to skip and all that. But I don't believe in skipping! Oh well, I never believed in not finishing a book anyway and my stance on it has changed. I do hope to read P&P again but I really want the new edition that's targeted at young adult readers.

That's about it. How do you feel when you don't a finish a book? And do you pick it up again after some time?

Goodreads or LibraryThing?

OR

I've been a member of a free account at LibraryThing since 2007. I'm not sure if I'd want to upgrade to a lifetime membership at a fee of $25. That will be around RM84.70 (Malaysian Ringgit). Lots of book bloggers have been steadfastly using LibraryThing but what's all the hype around Goodreads???

Now I'm confused. Which one is better? Okay, Goodreads earns one point as it's free to use whereas LibraryThing only allows us to catalogue up to 200 books for free. After that, it's $10/year or $25 for life.

BUT, from some of the reviews and analyses I've found through Google regarding these two book cataloging sites, some users prefer LibraryThing as it provides detailed information on a book. It also enables book searches from more sources than Goodreads. Let's say you want to catalog a rare book, then chances are that it'll be 'found' via LibraryThing.

If social networking is what you're looking for, then Goodreads will be the better choice as its focus is more on making friends. LibraryThing, it seems, attracts serious readers who don't give one-word reviews like those, supposedly, in Goodreads.

Therefore, I decided to do a search on Google for user reviews of these online library sites! :) These were some of the sites and blogs that I came upon:

1. Felicity from Faerye.net delved into the pros and cons of the two sites. Do read the comments on her post too. Pretty interesting feedback she's got there.

2. For a quick comparison, then check out DearMYRTLE's post.

3. Matt from Spudart lists out the effectiveness of available features from LibraryThing and Goodreads.

4. Ryan Burrell not only reviews two but THREE popular online libraries, which are LibraryThing, Goodreads and Shelfari. I haven't used Shelfari and don't intend to create an account there anyway.

5. And finally, hop on over to Kristie (J)'s post, Book Cataloguing - An analysis of online sites where she compares LibraryThing, Shelfari and Goodreads. She has even included snapshots of her excel spreadsheet that she's been using for over 10 years! Now, that's cataloging for you.

Well, I guess it all boils down to what you need. Each online library caters to different target groups who'll know how to make the most out of it. If one site ain't enough for you, there's no harm in creating accounts in other sites too. :) Though it'll definitely take more time to maintain all those accounts.

Male Authors or Female Authors?

Do you prefer to read books written by guys or by the ladies? Or you don’t care much about the gender of the authors?

I am not sure if it’s coincidence or not but most of the books that I read were written by women authors. For example, Enid Blyton, Francine Pascal, Meg Cabot, J.K. Rowling, and now, Libba Bray and Sophie Kinsella. However, some of my all-time favourite books are by men authors like Mark Haddon, James Aldridge, and even Stephen King. Now, Stephen King is a talented writer of thriller books and I’ve only read about 3 books from him.

Do guys check out the author’s gender before reading or buying books? Do guys think that female authors are not as good as male ones?

Take J.K. Rowling’s case as an example. Her publisher (I think!) printed her name as ‘J.K. Rowling’ on the Harry Potter books so that boys will buy them too. Her publishers were probably afraid that her books would not appeal to the boys if ‘Joanne K. Rowling’ were printed.

Yes, I know that most books by female authors may be considered too girlish for the guys. And I think that some girls would think that books by male authors may be too gory, bloody or obscene. But, that’s what book reviews are for, right? To let the readers know what the book’s about and to help them make their choices before buying a book.

I feel this is an interesting issue and I hope readers will give me their feedback on it. The more, the better!