Catheryn Kilgarriff

If you're going to read this book, read it now (as in early 2008). Many of the trends, programs, etc. are already starting to shift and one of the sites referenced is already defunct.

This book was finished in early to mid-2007 and does a fair job of trying to report on all things book blog related. The book is written by two British independent publishers which, at times, gives us a nice glimpse through the eyes of someone on the other side of the fence. These are rare gems of insights in show more the book (mainly focusing in the last third of the book) it's just too bad there is so much else to wade through.

The book crams a lot in a pretty slim read. So at times it's obvious we're just skimming the blogs, trends, analysis and at times just feels like a big magazine article. The writers do a good job of connecting all the dots surrounding book bloggers and mentioning all of the hot-button issues. But it just doesn't go deep enough.

It's obvious that the writers are connected and have their favorites as the same bloggers and sites are mentioned throughout the book. This gets a little tiresome, especially when some bloggers get their posts quoted verbatim, in the book, for pages at the time.

If you're a book blogger, you'll probably want to check this out as it gives you tons of info on many of the more established lit-blogs out there.

But the book surveys too much to offer much substantive insight (again, other than the last pages) to folks who are frequent guests in blogland and familiar with what is out there.

I was and remain so glad that there is enough interest out there to compile a book like this. These ladies know how to write and I enjoyed their style and quips. I do hope they use it as a springboard to pen a more analytical book based on their publishing experiences and less about the people they know and their blogs.

That would be a book worth blogging about. show less

Publishers Catheryn Kilgarriff and Rebecca Gillieron (of the independent Marion Boyars Press in London) have written what seems to be the first in-print guide to the ever-growing world of book blogs: The Bookaholics' Guide to Book Blogs. It is of necessity both tremendously selective and quite time-dependent; I suspect someone reading this even six months or a year from now may find its analysis and suggestions outdated.

In fairly short, breezy chapters, the authors discuss various sorts of show more book blogs (those written by publishers, authors, booksellers, as well as the many types of regular readers in various genres), the role of the Internet in literary criticism and the tension between print reviewers and bloggers. They also briefly discuss the online literary magazine phenomenon (Salon, McSweeney's, N+1), and (in what was one of the most interesting sections for me) examine the debates within the publishing industry about the role, staying power and importance of blogs in the grand scheme of things.

More analysis would have been welcome; the long excerpts from various blogs I didn't so much need. For anyone who's never read a book blog, or is interested in starting one and getting a sense of some of the issues surrounding them, this is a fairly interesting and possibly useful read. The list of mentioned blogs at the back may also be a handy resource (although some of the sites referenced there are already inactive). But for folks who already read blogs regularly, or write their own, it may not be entirely necessary.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/02/book-review-bookaholics-guide-to-book.ht... show less

This book. penned by a publisher and an editor, both female, appears to me to be an absolute insider's view of the book world. It is full of "insider"-abbreviations and slang terms I'd never previously encountered. There are also references to publishers, book shops and the like previously unknown to me, but apparently household names to everybody else in the world.

I usually restrict myself to serious books about health and spiritual matters, among other things, so I found the book to be a show more somewhat superfluous offering, though light-hearted and entertaining (and there is a need of light-hearted and entertaining books).

It introduces us to blogs about every subject imaginable and includes long extracts from the blogs of various apparently well-known bloggers. It deals with booksellers' blogs, publishers' blogs, fan blogs, etc etc. It discusses and cites pornographic blogs, and presents us with some macabre excerpts.

There's a chapter about the internet in general and one comparing traditional book reviews to blogs.

The chapter I most enjoyed was the final one, treating of audio- and e-books, and introducing me to Martin Ames.

I learnt about The Book Depository, which is actually a store I often have bought books from, through Amazon, though unaware of the fact of its being a major bookseller in its own right.

Not until page 243 out of 247 was it actually mentioned how the beginner can himself or herself find a site on which to blog, which I was wondering about. But, thus, eventually, we do learn that we can open a Google account and start a blog on blogger.com. Or on livejournal.com, which is the site we are advised to investigate.

There is also a lovely, comprehensive list of blog sites at the end of the book, so the reader can explore further on his/her own.

Unfortunately, the book was marred by the many typos, omissions of words, etc, etc, and even one grave grammatical error, that I wouldn't have expected in a book written by a publisher/editor duo.

But to sum up, an entertaining book for those interested in blogs and the book world as a whole, though in my view not a work of importance, i.e. not a book that I would regard as a must read. Thus only 3 stars. But the book was a refreshing addition to my library and extended my universe by introducing me to the new (for me) fascinating world of blogging. show less