I'm being interviewed! Like I'm famous or something!

"So, being cynical and believing the worst that can happen is but a prelude to the true hell to come, it seemed and seems to me likely that Amazon's ownership of Goodreads will mean happy-clappy fivestarland with extra soma for all is but a breath away."

That's me, in my Shelf Inflicted interview posted today. Life, reviewing, friendship...I go for them all with pinking shears. http://tinyurl.com/lvy73ej

Please come read all about it!

Big treat for 11 June 2013!

A BIG TREAT today! Superreviewer Nataliya talks Goodreads, reviews, and Being Awesome over at http://tinyurl.com/lvfkn6c Shelf Inflicted! Come one come all! Learn the secrets of a Russian immigrant who went through medical school, did an internship, and is now a resident...all while reading and writing reviews of great and telling beauty.

I am such a slacker.

New and Notworthy this week

All this month! Shelf Inflicted, my group blogging home, features the Forbes 25 Most Influential Goodreaders. Take a look! We've got lots of good reviews, too...Tana French reviewed by James, The Dispossessed in all its ambiguous glory considered by Sesana...lots of quality food for thought. Join us for a course or two.

New Review Posted on 5 June 2013

I've got a fondness for books that speak to me, directly to me, so I'm quite fond of WEST OF BABYLON, reviewed in my Kindle Originals category because the author send me a PDF (ugh) of the book. It's a four-star read. I think most of us over 40 can find common ground with the boys in the band!

My Wicked, Wicked Ways

I blog, as y'all know, in a group blog called Shelf Inflicted. It was started in a furious reaction to Amazon anaconda-ing up Goodreads. (The fallout from that is still to come. I still don't think it will be at all good for honesty and transparency in reviews. Another discussion for another day, that.) In the run-up to the sale, Forbes magazine ran a piece on Goodreads, touting its market position as largest and most trusted independent market for reviews. The article featured the 25 most influential, measured by "like" votes received, reviewers. I, he noted modestly, was #14 on their list.

Shelf Inflicted's founding spirits, in fact, are mostly from the Forbes 25, and Dan Schwent (Leader of the Shelf Inflicted Pack and #8 of the Forbes 25) decided to interview the whole lot of us for a day-by-day peep into the habits and ideas of the Cool Kids. All this month, the interviews...with a few missing persons...will appear at http://www.shelfinflicted.com

http://tinyurl.com/n5wwvkh Today's interview is #23, Baba, who's a Swiss reader of English-language romantic fiction. You can imagine that ereaders play a large role in this....

http://tinyurl.com/mtug7qu #24 is Greg, a New York-based bookseller and reviewer, with the Industry Insider viewpoint on the Amazon merger.

http://tinyurl.com/mpha9pk #25 MJ Nicholls, a Scottish youth, was first up.

All have a very interesting take on reviews, Goodreads, and reading. Go take a look!

My own review of a first-in-series mystery, LAKE ON THE MOUNTAIN (http://tinyurl.com/llwzwy3), appeared recently. It's a Canadian gay noir thriller published by Dundurn Press, the best unsung-by-Americans publisher around. Many very interesting titles in their catalog! This one will have a sequel later this year or early next.

And now you're caught up.

Forbes 25 Interviews continue!

http://tinyurl.com/mtug7qu ALL THIS MONTH! Shelf Inflicted interviews the Forbes 25 Most Influential Goodreads Reviewers (I'm #14)! Today it's the turn of #24, Greg. He's a Buns and Nubile bookseller here in NYC.

New at Shelf Inflicted! All month long we're featuring interviews with the Forbes 25 from Goodreads. This spring, Forbes magazine featured Goodreads' 25 most influential reviewers (I'm #14) in a piece about the huge added value of social media to book purchases. First up: MJ Nicholls at #25 http://tinyurl.com/mpha9pk