Reading in Place in January 2022

 I am participating in the Bout of Books January 2022 https://boutofbooks.blogspot.com/ 

The theme this year, as last, is “Reading In Place.”

I haven’t picked a theme for my posts this time, which means I’m going to write about whatever I’m reading each of the seven days of the read-a-thon. 

You’ll find reviews of my reading on my Goodreads feed https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1557957-miriam

I can’t wait to get started!!

Here’s info about Bout of Books:

The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Reading ARCs

 

Over the past few years, I’ve been reviewing books regularly for our local independent bookstore. That means I’m often reading and reviewing books before they hit the market. “What?” you ask. “You get to read books before they come out? How does that work and what is it like?”

It’s often strange to be reading books before they launch but after five years of reviewing for the bookstore, I’ve gotten used to it.

First of all, I’m reading lots of reviews as I always have. That’s what librarians do, they read reviews, decide what fits their patrons’ reading interests. Librarians and booksellers order books, often months before they come out so they are ready for reading on launch day. With that in mind, I get to sort through upcoming books (ARCs) the bookstore gets and decide what I want to review months before the book comes out.

What’s an ARC? ARCs are Authorized Review Copies or Advance Reader Copies. There are also eARCs, same thing just digital. Publishers print copies of the books before they are ready for distribution (three to six months ahead of time) and send these ARCs to libraries, booksellers, and to magazines, newspapers, and journals for review.

The thing about ARCs is they aren’t quite ready for mass distribution. Pictures, maps, indices, bibliographies, bios, and more can be missing. Early ARCs may be missing page numbers in tables of contents and even page numbers themselves.

As a reviewer, you have to remember that the ‘extras’ will be in the official, published version. Glaring errors may be caught, grammatical and spelling errors may still be with the final version and that’s frustrating. Of course, there are disclaimers and notices that remind reviewers not to quote from the ARC.

ARCs come in all shapes and sizes, in all varieties. Some publishers are known for providing the cover art, others keep the covers plain vanilla although that trend seems to be going away. Academic publishers don’t usually send out ARCs unless they are distributing fiction and even then, they may not print ARCs. You have to realize that there is a cost for setting up the book to print, so the smaller the press, the less likely they are to run ARCs.

Cool things to learn from ARCs are the number of copies for initial runs; marketing segments and publicity campaigns; social media blitzes; and sometimes the number of ARCs available for review. The ARC might include age group, lists of additional items not included in the ARC like maps and endpaper designs. Almost all include the range of formats (ebook, print, audio), launch date, and the price.

As a reviewer, it is great fun to read books as they are coming out, to read the hype in ads and promotions by the publishers, and then experience the book itself. Of course, reviewers end up with lots of books to populate their shelves and share with their friends. The only drawback, and it’s a small one, is you cannot sell ARCs which means lots of books that end up in Little Free Library boxes.

It turns out that ARCs are only about 70 years old. Before that, reviewers had to get their books already printed and ready for public consumption. Now I’m really curious about the rationale behind ARCs. Do you want to know more about ARCs? Here’s an article about ARCs and their beginnings.

https://lopezbooks.com/articles/about_uncorrected_proofs/

 

More Armchair Traveling Ahead

 Wrapping up Bout-of-Books 32 and my rapid round-up of armchair traveling, I'm ready to dive into the adventures I selected for myself. All in all, a successful week of reading in place.

I'll be revisiting my favorites and exploring new ones. 

When it comes down to it, every book, novella, and short story we encounter, takes us to another place and another time. Maybe that's why we all read, to take us somewhere else and help us understand other people and their lives.

Thanks for letting me share my reading in place adventures. See you soon, I hope.

By the way, the next Bout-of-Books begins January 3, 2022.

Day 7 Interstellar Travel

 It’s the final day of Bout-of-Books. By now, my habit, and hopefully yours, of reading every day and reading in place is well set. Today, I’m going to sit in my armchair and travel among the stars. I’ll go beyond the sky and visit the moon, Mars, and the worlds beyond.

 

As a tried-and-true original series Star Trek fan, I’d start there with the shows and movies and all the books. But that’s perhaps cheating since I’m watching and not reading. Therefore, I’m turning to books that take me into the beyond.

 

There’s a universe of science fiction that speculates on life beyond planet Earth, of life in the stars. Some describe traveling, others the planets themselves. When we get past the “Golden Age” of Sci-Fi writers, Robert Heinlein is at the top of my list, particularly his juvenile fiction where teens are the main characters. 

 

I read Heinlien's Juvenile titles over and over again including “Red Planet,” Tunnel in the Sky,” and “Have Spacesuit – Will Travel” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17792442-have-space-suit-will-travel  I just loved imagining living on other planets and was ready to pack my bag and go. The last Juvenile title was written in 1958, and sadly we still haven’t made it to the stars. Maybe our grandchildren’s children will get there.

 

Heinlein’s adult books are many with “Time Enough for Love” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1348631.Time_Enough_For_Love featuring Lazarus Long tops my favorites list and takes me on a journey across the United States and into the stars.

 

 Sadly, Heinlein died in 1988, leaving a hole in the genre that’s been filled by many talented writers including Catherine Asaro and Mary Robinette Kowal.

 

“Primary Inversion” by Catherine Asaro https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/365672.Primary_Inversion takes use beyond our solar system to the Skolian Empire. The Skolians communicate using “faster-than-light” communication mostly telepathy and are involved in a long-term interstellar war. Asaro is a talented physicist who writes about life elsewhere and does her best to make the science obey “the rules.”

 

My new favorite Sci-Fi writer is Mary Robinette Kowal. Her evolving series “Lady Astronaut Universe” begins with “The Calculating Stars” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33080122-the-calculating-stars

 

“The Calculating Stars” is set in an alternative universe where earth was hit by an asteroid in 1952 and humankind must escape to nearby planets and moons, beginning with Earth’s moon. Using slide rules and computers, both human and early hulking machines, pilots and then astronauts take to space stations and then the moon. The next two books in this series take armchair travelers to Mars and beyond. 

 

If you want to read about some of the women computers featured in "The Calculating Stars," check out “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25953369-hidden-figures. These women were on the forefront of the space race and are just now being recognized for their contributions.

 

Reading in place, secure in my armchair, I’m ready to dive into new adventures. Watch for more books and reviews or bibliophilic ruminations in this ever-evolving blog. Thanks for reading.

Day 6 – Traveling Lands Real and Imagined

 I’ve been thinking about other types of travel tales that take us to places beyond our wildest dreams. While perusing my shelves and think of this rather different take on reading in place and traveling while sitting in my armchair, I decided that this next set of books falls into the categories of fiction and historical fiction. 

The first is Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1274754.Northwest_Passage. It’s  a classic tale of exploration and adventure that takes the reader from rather known New England across the expanse of North America in search of a waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. You travel through the mountains, plains, and more mountains in search of that elusive “road.” Along the way, the explorers meet indigenous peoples, see the flora and fauna, and describe what they see. Thankfully, armchair traveling means no dirt, hunger, or privation, all of which the members of the expedition experienced.

 

 

The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien takes travelers through the imaginary world of Middle Earth https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42672.The_Hobbit. Replete with maps, illustrations, and extensive descriptions, armchair travelers hike through the mountainous countryside and the deep ravines, through the elven forests and along waterways. While the map may be spare, the words are not. Dive into the journey of the quiet, home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, the Dwarves and Elfs, and meet the curious creatures along the way. What an amazing journey from the Shire to the caves of the dragon Smaug the Magnificent, and back again.

 

Next in this list of odd, tangential armchair traveling trips while reading in place, is the Chronicles of Narnia, most particularly The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Geoffrey Bles is the cover artist of this wonderful book, first published in 1950 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28491033-the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe . You can read more about this book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion,_the_Witch_and_the_Wardrobe and the author https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis on Wikipedia. Having read this many times, I realize you travel from wartime England, through the Wardrobe and into Narnia. If you read the other books in the series, you get to travel the great seas, the desert, and the forests with Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and of course Aslan.

 

I decided to add one more wonderful work of fiction that takes the reader on a journey, including Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass originally published in 1865 with illustrations by John Tenniel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17828612-alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland-and-through-the-looking-glass . Alice’s journey takes here from England to an imaginary place, filled with a host of magical creatures. Armchair travelers get to hitch a ride on Alice’s journey. You can read more about this famous book on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland

 

We’re almost done with this series of armchair traveling while reading in place. The final day (Day 7) we’ll travel beyond the boundaries of Earth into the vast unknown. Stay tuned.