book reading | Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

Bibliophile Collective Tuesday – A New Year – A New Reading Challenge

January 3, 2023
mandyevebarnett

It is always exciting to begin a New Year and a new book! I have an impressive book pile to begin 2023, and will, as always, leave a review on Goodreads for each one.

I would love to know what you are reading this month and why you chose it. Also please review each book you read, as these reviews are the life blood for authors. It validates all their hard work in creating a time, place and characters from their imaginations. Your review can be one sentence long, it doesn’t have to be a synopsis of the narrative.

My first book for 2023 is Villa Serena by Domenica De Rosa. As many of my followers know I love Italy, and this will in some small way ease my hankering to fly to Italy in 2023 and escape the Alberta winter.

I have set my Goodreads 2023 challenge. Why not do the same?

You can, of course, find many reading challenges online – here is a selection!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/books-to-read-in-2023/

https://www.the52book.club/2023-reading-challenge/

#TBR Challenge 2023

2023 Beachcomber Mystery Reading Challenge

2023 Books in Translation Reading Challenge

2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

2023 Children’s Book Reading Challenge…for Adults!

2023 Classics Reading Challenge

2023 Diversify Your Reading Challenge

2023 Diversity Reading Challenge

2023 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge

2023 Library Love Challenge

2023 Literary Escapes Challenge

2023 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge

2023 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge

2023 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

2023 NoveList Reading Challenge

2023 Romance Book Reading Challenge with She Reads Romance Books

2023 Romance Reading Challenge

2023 Southern Literature Reading Challenge

Around the World in 80 Books

Around the World Reading Challenge 2023

Beyond The Bookends’ 2023 Reading Challenge

Booklist Queen’s 2023 Reading Challenge

BookRiot’s 2023 Read Harder Challenge

Calendar of Crime Challenge

Color Coded Reading Challenge

COYER (Clear Out Your E-Reader) Challenge

Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

Creativity Reading Challenge 2023

Cruisin’ thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2023

Epistolary Reading Challenge 2023

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2023

Humor Reading Challenge 2023

Memoir Reading Challenge 2023

Mental Health Reading Challenge 2023

Read Around The World Challenge

Read It Again, Sam Challenge

Read With Allison’s 2023 Reading Challenge

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge

Reading by the Numbers Challenge

Roll to Read Challenge

Romanceopoly Reading Challenge

TBR Pile Challenge

The 52 Book Club’s 2023 Reading Challenge

The Book Girls’ Guide Decades Reading Challenge

The Book Girls’ Guide Lifetime of Reading Challenge

The Book Girls’ Guide Read Around the USA – 2023 States Reading Challenge

The Book Girls’ Guide Read Around the World: Book Voyage Reading Challenge

The Nerdy Bookworm 50 Books A Year Reading Challenge 2023

The Purrfect Reading Challenge 2023

Thrifty Thursday Challenge 2023

Uncorked 2023 Reading Challenge

Virtual Mount TBR Challenge

What An Animal Reading Challenge 2023

Bibliophile’s Collective Tuesday – Two Mother’s Days!

May 10, 2022
mandyevebarnett

Photo by George Dolgikh @ Giftpundits.com on Pexels.com

I’m in the unusual position of having the potential to celebrate two Mother’s Day’s. In England the day is celebrated in March, however in Canada it is celebrated in May.

I wondered why this was the case, so did some research to find out why there are two dates. The Mother’s day in the America’s is a 20th century invention by a woman called Anna Jarvis. Her mother organized women’s groups to promote friendship and health, and was also a human rights activist during the Civil War of 1861. Anna wanted to celebrate her mother in a memorial service and did so on 12th May 1907. This was her late mother’s birthday. Within five years virtually every state was observing the day.

In England, Mothering Sunday was not originally to celebrate mother’s per se, but began as an explicitly religious event of the 16th Century, with no connection to mothers at all. The word “mothering” referred to the “mother church”, which is to say the main church or cathedral of the region. Thus the date falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent three weeks before Easter Sunday.

I was treated to supper and received this lovely calla lily.

The rest of my weekend was spent walking Sammie, editing book two of The Delphic Murders and reading.

What did you get up to?

What are you reading?

My current read is The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser. Blurb: Mary Swan Middleton has always taken for granted the advantages of her family’s wealth. But a tragedy that touches all of Atlanta sends her reeling in grief. When the family maid challenges her to reach out to the less fortunate as a way to ease her own pain, Mary Swan meets Carl-and everything changes. For although Carl is her opposite in nearly every way, he has something her privileged life could not give her. And when she seeks his help to uncover a mystery, she learns far more than she ever could have imagined.

Bibliophile’s Collective Tuesday – An Interview, Upcoming Event and a Writing Retreat

August 10, 2021
mandyevebarnett

I recently received an email from an author requesting a blog interview, which is normal. However, as I investigated her blog and social media to create the interview questions, I discovered she interviewed me back in 2015! A lot has happened in the intervening years as you can imagine. More books published and an increase in my reach and many more connections.

Kathryn kindly offered to host me on her blog for an update. You can find it here: https://idea-creations.blogspot.com/2021/08/mandy-eve-barnett-her-writing-journey.html

I am still reading When Robins Appear and will share my review once I finish. Most probably, that will be this week as I am going on a writing retreat. Whoop! My favorite thing.

I will be a guest panelist and co-presenter at When Words Collide, a virtual writing conference. I will be sharing my experience about my writing group organization, hosting meetings and events etc. The second presentation is with my publisher, Dream Write Publishing’s owner.

We will be in a private cabin beside a lake, so it is perfect for two writing companions and, of course, little Sammie. There will be lots of walks lakeside. I will be revising my current detective manuscript, reading, and relaxing. There is something about being near water that makes me happy. I would prefer the ocean, but a lake will do.

Where is your happy place?

Bibliophile’s Collective Tuesday – How Do You Choose Your Next Book?

April 27, 2021
mandyevebarnett

As our options for choosing a book to read have become virtual for the most part, during COVID, we have to decide which one works best for us. The easiest option for many is a book selling site, such as Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble or Kindle, to name a few. There is also the option of utilizing your local library, where you can browse online, order and pick up your selections. And visiting your local bookstore too. Whatever method you use the author will sincerely appreciate your leaving a review. So please do.

It is a matter of personal preference where we purchase our books and in what format. Whether it is print or e-book. As I work on a computer all day for my day job and then work on my laptop most evenings, my preference is a print copy. I enjoy the tactile feeling of weight, smell and texture as well as the physical turning of a page. For me it is better to read without a backlight at night, as it stimulates my brain rather than calming it.

Which do you prefer? Print or e-book?

Why do you make this choice? Is it a practical concern or something else?

I am lucky to have a friend, who gives out books after she and her daughter have read them. I recently visited her and she handed over a huge bags of books! Such a delightful surprise and it was like Christmas lifting each one out to read the blurb. However, it then gave me a problem – how should I choose which one to read first, second, third and so on.

After reading all the blurbs, I categorized them. Ones that did not instantly appeal, others that were soft choices and others that engaged my curiosity. Depending on your specific likes and dislikes, favorite genres and subject matter, choosing can be little easier. So from this stack.

I choose my first three reads as below.

I choose these particular books because two have characters in them that write and the third because I love myths, legends and magic.

This is my review of Saying Goodbye is Easy by Kathie Sutherland

A compelling, complex and enlightening narrative, full of truths, struggles and internal emotions. Every reader will find a connection with the struggles, highs and lows of the narrator. A courageous, heartfelt and revealing story, told in short stories and reflections.
This book will change your outlook on your life and your life’s path.

Please leave a comment on how you choose a book and the last book you reviewed so other readers can find them.

Bibliophile’s Collective Tuesday – Why Books Covers Vary from Country to Country

April 20, 2021
mandyevebarnett

A book cover is an intrinsic part of any book. It is the initial draw for a reader to pick up the book before reading the blurb and deciding if the narrative appeals or not. For any of the best seller author’s you may pick the book in the knowledge you know their writing style and genre. However, have you ever wondered why there are differences in the actual book cover depending on where you live in the world.

Take a couple of Stephen King books for instance. (You all know I love him!) I have the UK and USA versions of two of his books below. The images relate to the narratives but are very different in atheistic.

So why the differences?

Publishers buy the text of a book, not the cover as the cover is the property of the initial publisher. So this means international publishers have a choice:

Negotiate a license for the initial cover or,
Make their own cover.

Publishers generally choose the second option, as it gives them the opportunity to make their own creative choices. This is dependent on their market and the position the book. There may also be factors, such as the size of the market. The UK has a smaller marketplace as opposed to the US, which is a larger geographic area. The book cover may need to be more specific in a larger marketplace. Each editor has their own vision for the book and a good sense of their market, so will use a cover that best serves that genre’s (and author’s) readers. In most cases, publishers are only buying rights to the book for a single country or language, so can tailor make the cover to suit.

The other reason for a change in a book cover is to update it to current atheistic and tastes. A book cover published in the 1970’s would look outdated and tired, so a new look can attract younger readers.

For example: The Stand. As you can see the 1978 original is dark & light fighters, then the TV movie tie-in cover and also an array of other covers. It gives you an idea of the development of a cover for the same narrative.

Do you have older versions of books on your shelf? Care to share?

I did actually change one of my covers. The first one, I created myself (and it looks it to be honest!) The second I hired a designer. I love the imagery.