The Art of Buying Books for Other People

Christmas (noun)
The most wonderful time of the year; would be absolutely magical if it weren't for the month of pure hair-ripping agony that proceeds as you try to buy people presents.

Maybe I'm a pessimist - or overly fussy about buying the right gifts. I'm inclined to believe that my friends and family are just downright impossible to buy for (I'm looking at you, Mother-who-has-everything), but I'm not going to go too far down that road at risk of starting a feud.

If you've ever had a similar dilemma, though, you may appreciate this post. Because as bookworms, we have hour upon hour of blissful experience selecting and buying books ... but buying them for others?

Is that even a thing people do? And how the heck are we supposed to do it?

Well:

Step #1 ~ Let go of what YOU would want to read

So ... go with me here. This might mean that you end up buying something for your nearest and dearest that you HAVEN'T ACTUALLY READ.

Please stop hyperventilating.

My point is that different people are always going to have different tastes. You have to come to terms with the fact that sometimes, those tastes do not interact ... at all. Trying to find a book you both like is akin to expecting Donald Trump and Theresa May to agree on Twitter. Except with maybe less chance of a world war.

That isn't to say you can't give your friends and family something you've read and loved if they'll genuinely like it! And you should definitely make sure that you choose something that looks interesting! Just remember that your usual TBR tick list isn't necessarily going to be applicable.

Step #2 ~ Be willing to accept help

You see, this is why physical bookshops are so important. If you find a friendly employee with more experience of your intended giftee's kinda thing, USE THEM. If there's no friendly employee around and you happen to be an adult attempting to buy for a pubescent family member, then you'll probably find me at some point. I rarely make a bookshop trip without managing to attract some sort of lost-looking older person looking for recommendations.

If you're looking online, maybe find a blogger or Goodreads reviewer who seems to have similar tastes to them, or look up the backlist of their favourite author. If you know a couple of books they've read and enjoyed, What Should I Read Next? is a resource to try. Only problem is that you've got to use a pretty well-known title for it to actually work, so it isn't a cure-all solution.

My point is - do your research, punks!

Step #3 ~ Avoid the most well-known books

I'm guessing the majority of loved ones you'll be buying for aren't going to have a Goodreads account. If they do, then honestly I don't know why you're bothering to read this - just go buy their To-Read list.

(Yes. All of it. You can get a loan for buying thousands of books, right?)

As long as they don't, then you have no way to absolutely ensure that they haven't read a book. Sorry. But if you want to try and find something they're unlikely to already own, then don't go for anything on the bestseller list - especially if they're a voracious reader. This sounds simple enough, but if you're following step one and going for a genre that you don't usually read, then you might not know which books are widely read.

Again, research is key. But ...

Step #4 ~ Don't spend too much time on this, yeah?

Given that it's the second week in December, I can concede that you probably don't have hours and hours to spend on this whole enterprise. I'm guessing you're going for a book because you can get free delivery on Amazon and still have it within a couple of days. But I'm going to give you the tip anyway, because if you spend too long searching for the perfect book ... well.

The thing to remember is that the graph representing time spent searching for gift and quality of gift doesn't necessarily look like this:

You're probably already exhausted. It's nearly Christmas, you've been planning the next couple of weeks for the last couple of months, and this is the thirteenth - or thirtieth - difficult gift you've tried to procure in the last four days. 

If you spend more than thirty-five or forty minutes scrolling through book lists or traipsing through local bookshops, your desperation will be building with every passing second and your gifting standards will drop with every bite of your fingernails. Keep your head clear. Find the first thing that you believe will work.

Congratulations. You just bought a book.

***

In the comments: Have you ever tried to buy a book for a loved one for Christmas? How was it - child's play? Akin to trying to outsmart Stephen Hawking? Or somewhere in between?

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How to Beat Boredom As A Bookworm

Do you have days when you don't know what to do? When you're just sort of zombieing around in a state of utter, utter boredom and feel like you're wasting your life? When you don't even feel like reading?

(You'd better, or I'm going to feel even worse.)

Never fear, bookworms! Right now, I'm on my summer holidays, which means that I am an absolute expert at fending off boredom in the most bookish of ways. I have ideas you can use at a moment's notice with access to the internet or maybe some books, and also some that might require some planning and - maybe - leaving the house. No, really. You should listen to me anyway.

You wouldn't want to end up like Sherlock now, would you?

Go to a bookshop and recommend reads to anyone who will listen

This, ladies and gentlemen, is excellent fun. And only a little bit creepy.

The first time I ever did it, I did not intend to. I was just looking to spend all my money as sacrifice to the reading gods. But when a woman came in with two young children and started looking for Percy Jackson books under J as if Percy was the author . . .

I had to say SOMETHING.

Then there was the time I was at the library and a (different) woman dragged her son over to me and asked if I thought he was old enough to read the Alex Rider book he had clutched in his hand. (I can only imagine that, since I was rearranging a shelf that was annoying me, she assumed a worked there.) It was surprisingly satisfying to tell her that, seeing as he'd read Harry Potter, he should be ok, but he was holding the fourth book in the series. I handed her the first one and made my exit.

I guess if you don't feel comfortable doing this, you could just go to the library or bookshop to read. Go ahead. Be normal if you dare.

Plan a party based on your favourite book

Pinterest will be full of ideas for you on this one. Just search "Harry Potter party ideas" or "Lord of the Rings party ideas" or pretty much anything else, and you will be swamped with snack recipes, ideas for decorations and party games. It's a wormhole. You will literally be lost in it for hours, to the point where everything is almost too entertaining. Plan costumes, party bags, and pretty much whatever else you want.

You don't have to actually have the party, of course. That's far too much work in my opinion (but then I'm a nerd who prefers planning things to actually doing them) and you actually need friends who won't stand in the corner reading a book the whole time.

Volunteer at your local library

There is literally no bad side to spending days when you would have been bored working at a library. I mean for a start, you're no longer bored, and you get to spend hours a day surrounded by books. Most libraries, especially small ones, are pretty much always in need of help thanks to the ever-present budget cut, so you're even helping keep afloat the library that is probably supporting your book addiction more than anything else. YAY for aiding the local community (but mostly yourself)!

I know, I'm a selfish and terrible human being. You don't need to tell me again.

GO TO YALC!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but YALC, the UK young adult lit convention, is this weekend - and as of right now, they've still got tickets available! If you can get yourself to London, you can see over eighty authors (full list here), including Malorie Blackman, Holly Bourne, and Maggie Steifvater. There's also a full timetable of writing workshops, and an agent arena where you can hear talks about the publishing industry, or even pitch your work to an agent in a 1-2-1 session.

It's just occurred to me that you might be reading this after YALC 2016 has finished. (Poor you.) Never mind! There are all kinds of book festivals and conventions out there that you could go to. Just spend an hour or two researching online, and you'll forget why you were reading this post.

Set yourself a reading challenge

Sure. There are loads of challenges out there online that you could join in with, but where's the creative fun in that? Besides, some study somewhere has probably shown that humans are more likely to achieve goals they've set themselves.

Just to give you an idea, I've always thought it'd be fun to use a book tag, answering the questions with books on my TBR rather than ones I've already read.

You might not be all that surprised by Friday's post.

Make some bookish crafts

There's all kind of art that can show off your love of books.

Paint the first page of your favourite book on a wall! Make stickers to put in your books so everyone knows they're yours! Create as many bookmarks as humanly possible! Again, Pinterest is great at coming up with ideas for this, especially if you're willing to (take a deep breath here) cut up books and use the pieces for your art. No? Okay. *backs away slowly from rabid bookworms*

Or, if like me you have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever, you could always buy some pretty things on Etsy and pretend you made them.

Organise your bookshelf

If you've ever even approached the great sparkly being that is Bookstagram, you'll notice that many people's shelves look like rainbows of impossible beauty. The secret? They're organised by colour.

But that's not the only way to go, you guys! Books can be shelved by author, by genre, by length or subject or even how much you enjoyed them. Go wild finding ways to make them look pretty, or easier to find.

Now.

While you're taking books off the shelf, do you think it might be time to get rid of some? WAIT, DON'T BITE MY HEAD OFF! I'm merely suggesting that you could make room for more? It's up to you, but Amber @ The Mile Long Bookshelf wrote this really awesome post on how to root out stuff you don't really need and then what to do with it afterwards.

***

In the comments: When do you normally get bored? What do you like to do to beat it? And are there any non-book-related things that help?

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Why I (A Voracious Reader) Hate English Lit.

DISCLAIMER: This post was written a little over six months ago: I was stressed, I didn't really know what I was doing when it came to reading critically, and mostly I was just fed up with having to explain Shakespeare to my desk partner when I didn't really get it myself.

Call me crazy, but this year I'm applying to do English Lit at college. Voluntarily. All I'm saying is that your relationship with a subject can change drastically if you start looking at things from a different angle, and I'd feel hypocritical if I didn't acknowledge that.

I'm probably making myself a bit of a black sheep within the community here, but I feel like it's time to come clean:

I really, really hate English Lit.

It's terrible, I know, because English Lit is, quite LITerally (hardy hardy ha ... I like my puns, okay?) reading made into a qualification. In theory, I should love it. It should be my favourite thing. I should run into that lesson - which, joy of joys, I get to have FOUR TIMES A WEEK - with my face split in a grin and my notes at the ready.

But ... meh.

I can practically hear the English Lit students about to stone my windows, so I guess I'm going to have to justify myself. Here goes:

#1 ~The reading style is super, super awkward.

I genuinely can't think of another aspect of life in which we read like an organised literature class, and this is probably for good reason. Where else would you carry a book to read only in a certain setting with certain other people, read in tiny short bursts, and then get wrenched from the page to discuss constantly, at the whim of somebody else? Where else would we be expected to form a critic's-level opinion immediately after finishing, and be able to present it to others?

It has to be this way, of course - English Lit requires you to get a lot more information out of a book than you would reading for pleasure, and having to come up with opinions on the fly does help in high-pressure exam situations. But I'm not built for reading a book over a series of weeks or even months: I find myself forgetting details, not to mention the fact that it makes getting immersed in a setting or burrowing into a character's head incredibly difficult. And trying to keep it all in my head long enough to get a handle on over-reaching themes?

Forget it.

#2 ~ The pressure makes relaxation pretty much impossible

If you ask a reader why they enjoy reading, most of us will say something along the lines of 'it's relaxing'. I mean, I don't know how true this is - sobbing over character death is the very definition of stressful - but opening a book does tend to give me a feeling of calm.

Apparently, when I'm being marked on my efforts, that feeling pretty much flies out the window.

I was working on one of my set texts today, and quite frankly even reaching for it gave me a sense of dread. I try to keep the stress out of my mind as much as possible, but I often catch myself worrying that I haven't interpreted something the best way, that my notes aren't detailed enough to be helpful during revision, and then I remember that these quotes I'm analysing are all going to have to be memorised by exam time.

*shudders*

Granted, this pressure isn't an absolutely necessary part of the studying process, but I am one of the worst people I know when it comes to self-expectation and stress. And, no matter what I do, it's always worst in English Lit.

#3 ~ I don't get to choose what I read

What do you mean I can't DNF this book? Not even if I throw it at my teacher's head?

*throws hands up in derision*

#4 ~ I worry about disappointing my teachers

I want to be clear that my feelings about English Lit are not down to bad teaching of any description. My teachers are awesome.

The thing is that when an amazing teacher is presenting something to a class, they are doing it in an absolutely amazing manner. Their arms are moving around everywhere, they know exactly how to explain a complicated concept so that it makes sense to a bunch of hormonal teenagers, and I know that if I went up there and tried it, I'd be falling flat on my face.

It's a fact of life in a wheelchair (and life as an incredibly conscientious if seething student) that I end up in the front row pretty much all of the time - in most classrooms, that's almost directly under the teacher's nose. And I don't know about you, but if I was one of these incredible teachers, I'd be pretty downtrodden by someone right in front of me looking like they wanted to jump out of the window. Especially if they were the kind of person for which jumping is an interesting exercise to begin with.

So I have to look engaged, which I absolutely, desperately want to be. It's just that swallowing stress about whether or not I'm going to remember any of a lesson is an involved enough process without having to plaster a smile on my face as well.

#5 ~ Listening to other students' opinions can suck

This is, unfortunately, one of my incredibly anti-social "ugh, people" moments. I'm sorry. And if you're in my Lit class, you probably know what I mean.

It's not that I dislike listening to other people's opinions in general. Class discussions are, if nothing else, an excellent way to steal great interpretations of text. But - and this is true of every lesson I have, not just English Lit - any classroom will always be filled with its fair share of Those People.

And Those People, in my considerable experience, really really don't like being told how to interpret anything. In order to get out their deep and intense frustration, they use class discussions to do what it is they do best: disagree with everything everyone else says.

If you are one of Those People, then fine. I completely understand that English Lit is as much about coming up with your own theories as it is learning the more established ones, but teachers tell us the most common interpretations of a book to HELP us. From a purely theoretical viewpoint, if you're going to take a poem written from the point of view of a controlling (and eventually murderous) husband and argue that the wife's death is her own fault because you think it's been taught in a biased way, I'm gonna be cross. Particularly if you use the phrase "she deserved it".

What do you mean, that was an oddly specific theoretical example? Just don't look at it too closely! I've got to go now, anyway.

***

In the comments: How do you guys feel about English Lit.? Do you feel similarly, or am I going to have to deal with an angry literature fan? Why do you think you feel the way you do?

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5 Real-World Advantages to Being a Blogger

I'm assuming I don't have to convince you guys that being a blogger is amazing.

You get to meet tons and tons of likeminded people, you have your own personal little corner of the internet that you are overly proud of ... and your social media stats, no matter how paltry in blog-world, are super-impressive to your real-world buddies.

(I know, I'm transparent, competitive and vain. Shh.)

But these are all internet-based advantages. What's the point of all this when we inevitably have to log out, close the laptop and step into the big, scary wide world? Well, I have some suggestions:

#1 ~ The CV boost is insane

Okay, my friends, story time.

A little over six months ago, I was hardcore freaking out trying to find myself some work experience. I applied everywhere I could think of that would be mildly interesting, be that publishing houses, libraries, bookshops ...

I'll be honest, I wasn't casting the widest net in the world. But when I was offered to come in and interview at a local bookshop (which, thanks to fiddly insurance stuff and already having said yes somewhere else, I didn't actually do), I discovered that the girl who sat next to me in science had also gone for one there.

The first thing her interviewer said to her was "oh, are you the one that has a blog?" And she is absolutely, definitely not a blogger.

The "blog" part of my CV had stood out so far in the mind of whoever was reading it that it sounds like they were attempting to apply it to anyone from my school who happened to walk through the door. It might not be this dramatic every time - and I'm keen to emphasise that she had not been asked to interview thanks to any of my skills: they were jumping at the chance to have her even without the blogging thing - but it illustrates just how much potential bosses love bloggers, particularly if their blog is vaguely related to the industry they're applying to.

If you're writing a CV and trying to come up with some skills you could demonstrate through your blog, I would go with:

• commitment
• social media skills! (seriously, they love this, particularly if you have expertise with stats)
• photo editing? video editing? HTML manipulation? GIF selection? Whatever it is that you've had to somehow figure out between headdesks in order to make your blog look pretty.
• you can write things

Hang on, no. I have to expand on that last point.

#2 ~ You get some great writing practice

I've low-key dreamed of being an author / writer / story-making person for a very long time. Imagining things is one of my favourite things to do, I love reading and everyone I know has always encouraged me to write ... but I find the idea of sitting down with a blank word processor not just terrifying, but lonely. I'm getting better now (thanks to the amazing practice that is blogging) but it turns out that I will only sit down and actually write something if I have a deadline and immediate feedback available.

BLOGGING, MY FRIEND.

And this doesn't just apply to people who might want to write books in the indeterminate future. Blogging gives us a very specific skill: an ability to write for an audience who have limited time and a lot of possible content out there to read. This skill can be applied everywhere, because you have both adaptability and your own style. Texts. School assignments. Emails (especially ones that are asking for something). You can use it for networking, getting your point across ... missing cat posters ...

In a way, it's not even writing practice. It's communication practice. And if you've figured out a way to live your life in the world without communicating in any way whatsoever, then please let me know.

#3 ~ I don't think there's a better way to learn about your subject

My absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of many, many random things is almost entirely thanks to blogging. Obviously, I can tell you about the current YA market and what's about to release, but also how the publishing industry works, the politics of diversity in media, what it takes to be an author in an ever-changing world ... and a lot of other, much weirder things besides. 

What I think blogging does is two-fold. It exposes you to people and channels chock-full of incredibly specific knowledge and news - stuff that there is no way you just stumble upon - but it also gives you an obsessive enthusiasm for the whole topic. You get introduced to all these people who care about it just as much as you do, and it creates a sort of frenzy in which you all get more and more excited about the whole thing.

We become slightly dangerous, quite honestly.

I was always obsessed with books, otherwise I guess I would never have started this blog in the first place, but what I've been experiencing in the last few years is next level. I never walk into a bookstore without at least three recommendations to sniff out. I always know when my favourite author has a book out. I drag my parents to conventions maybe twice a year.

All this is very book-centric, of course, but it applies everywhere. It's tech bloggers who can tell you exactly what PC to get and why. Fashion bloggers are the ones who know which boutiques to check out. And if you need a great recipe, you'll find something a lot more original by talking to a food blogger rather than a cookbook.

Basically, blogging gives you superpowers. So obviously that's an advantage wherever in the universe you end up.

#4 ~ It gives you an excuse to buy stuff

This actually could be a disadvantage, since having an excuse to buy stuff also means that you buy a lot of stuff. Money-wise, it's probably a bad idea.

But having an excuse to read books also means that I can spend way more time in bookshops than is strictly necessary, pre-order the latest books at extortionate shipping prices in the name of ensuring I am 100% up-to-date, and feel no guilt! I guess strictly I don't need to feel guilt anyway, since it's my money and I can do what I want with it, but it's nice to have justification when the parentals are rolling their eyes at being dragged into yet another room full of shelves.

"Yes, Mum, I do have to go in despite having been in another branch of the exact same shop less than half an hour ago. It's research."

#5 ~ It's ... fun?

Yeah, sounds kind of obvious. But think about this. Having fun doesn't just have short term effects (you know, excessive smiling, the odd peal of laughter, generally being a happy lil' sushi roll) - it also means you're looking after your mental health by making time to do the things you love. In fact, it's kind of impossible not to make time for the bloggersphere - because, never forget, it is EVERYWHERE - and I really love that. It's so easy for a lot of other hobbies to slip away, no matter how much you love them, just because you feel like you can't justify the time required in your already-busy life.

Please don't do that with blogging. Obviously, if it's too much for whatever reason, you can take a break. Don't feel forced to keep going if you aren't enjoying yourself, because that's not beneficial to you, your brain or the people around you. But if you do love it, make time.

There are so many real-world advantages to benefit from!

***

In the comments: What day-to-day advantages have you discovered being a blogger has given you? Where have you gone that you never would have been able to reach otherwise? And which of these advantages do you think is the most beneficial?

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7 Reasons Why Comfort Reads Are So Important

Comfort Read (noun) - An old favourite book which is re-read when a person needs something familiar which makes them feel ... um, well, comforted. Known for consumption along with warm beverages while in pyjamas and possibly yelling at parents to go fetch some chocolate.

Shush - it's a technical definition, you know.

I am a huge, huge fan of comfort reading. It makes me so freaking happy - because who doesn't want to meet a bunch of old friends between the pages of a paperback while things are getting all topsy-turvey IRL? Who doesn't have those moments when you just need to step back into the lovely veneer of memories and familiar stretches of the imagination?

But - you cry - what exactly is it that makes these comfort reads so important? (And if you haven't been crying that ... again, shush. You're ruining my great introduction.) Well, allow me to enlighten you:

#1 ~ You Know You're in for a Good Read

You know the deal. The feeling. You open a book that you absolutely can't wait for - maybe you've been waiting for it for ages, maybe the blurb looks like the plot was made for you, maybe it's a book from your favourite author that you only just found out about.

And after about a chapter or two, your heart sinks. Because, sure, it's okay. But man, you wanted more.

The one type of book which doesn't have that problem is (you guessed it) a comfort read, And I suppose you could say that lack of jeopardy makes things dull, but I'm definitely not going to. I mean A GOOD READ, GUARANTEED, PEOPLE.

Huh. That kind of rhymed.

#2 ~ The Memories

MEMMMORIEEEEES! ALLLLL ALLOOONNNNE IN THE MOOOOONNNLIIGHT!

No! Er, hold on a second *turns around in a desperate effort to get musical theatre Lara inside her box*

*modulated wailing from inside the box*

Sorry about that. Anyway, yes. I was talking about memories. If you were to pick one of my comfort reads off the shelf in my bedroom, I could probably flick to a random chapter and take you back to the first time I read it. I could point to a particular food stain and tell you whether it was chocolate or chorizo or barbecue crisps. In one particular case, I can even sniff a page and explain that this is the section of the book that got vomited on.

(By the way, I still feel really, really terrible about that. I was in hospital at the time though, so ... blame the morphine.)

My point? Comfort reads are like time machines you can hold. And I just love that kind of real-life magic.

#3 ~ Sometimes it's nice to know how things end

I do not deal well with suspense. None of you have ever seen me watch a remotely scary movie, but it really isn't pretty - I jump at anything resembling a loud noise, and local dogs have been known to mistake me as one of their own thanks to the whimpering.

So sometimes it's nice not to be shredding myself apart as the book reaches a climax, is all.

#4 ~ You can skip the dull bits with no shame

It's okay, Agnes, listen! I said there was no shame!

There are some people who skip boring sections of a book the first time round with no worries whatsoever, but unfortunately I do not have the confidence or the devil-may-care attitude to do this. Which is probably why I end up reading so much more slowly than everyone else.

But what I like about a comfort read is that know it absolutely inside out. Not only could I read it literally from back to front and still know what was going on, but I can even open it to my favourite chapters without looking at page numbers. My oldest copies often just unfold themselves to the page or paragraph I've read the most.

It's a beautiful feeling to be able to find that exact part of a book that complements the emotions tumbling through your skull. Sometimes, I think it's the only thing that keeps me from becoming even more unhinged than I already am.

#5 ~ The details seem endless

So, you know when I just said that I know my comfort reads absolutely inside out?

Well, it turns out that I also discover something new each and every time I read them. Because CONTRADICTIONS, FOLKS!

I will be honest, in that I'm semi-exclusively talking about Harry Potter here; I don't think I'm ever going to get my head round the absolutely mind-boggling level of worldbuilding with a whole lifetime of re-reads, so there's no way I could have taken in even half the detail the first time.

Maybe I was lying about the exclusivity, because that kind of applies to every re-read I do. I'm always finding out new things about characters, discovering hidden corners of settings ... and guess what.

I love it.

#6 ~ No danger of getting attached to dead characters

You know the drill. A favourite character equals a dead character more often than it doesn't ... and this is ridiculously frustrating. I almost get disappointed when I identify with a character super-strongly, because I just know that means they're dead. But then - of course - there's still hope they might survive.

And this is why I get attached.

With re-reads, I know all. I'm like a psychic with a very limited crystal ball, and I use that power. It tends to go a lot like this:
Remus Lupin: Hey, so I'm an awesome father-figure character and I'm really kind and courageous and -
Me: No
Remus Lupin: ... but I refuse to marry the woman I love because I don't want to hold her back!
Me: No.
Remus Lupin: ... but I'm afraid to have a child in case I pass on my lycanthropy!
Me: You can be as sympathetic and morally perfect as you like. I'm not getting attached, okay?
Remus Lupin: *puppy dog eyes*

As you can see, this Vulcan strategy doesn't always - or indeed ever - work. But it's nice to be able to try?

#7 ~ Life Changes ... They Don't

What if I don't want to change, Mr. Obama? I mean, you're an amazing president and human being - can't you do all the changing for us?

Okay, fine. The world needs to change. We need social progress and developing opinions and debate. We need to embrace the future. But we've all experienced the not-so-great kind of change, the kind that drags us away from what we know and love in a direction that we never wanted to go. And in those times, we need a little reminder of the way things use to be, if nothing else.

That's the real key to comfort reading. The real reason it's so important.

A book that we still manage to love year after year, read after read, and page after page ... it reminds us who we are. It has been a key in our lives sometimes for decades, and that means that tiny pieces of our personality get trapped within each word, They hide between the lines waiting to be rediscovered; we take them out, treasure them and put them back into place, ever so carefully. Ever so gently, so we can have them next time.

After I finish one of my comfort reads for approximately the seventeenth time, I feel more whole. More balanced.

More me.

***

In the comments: What are your favourite comfort reads, my humans? What makes them so comforting? And why do you think they are so important?

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9 Ways to Make an Author's Day ... for Free!

So ... hello again, internet. 

I'm not dead, I swear, I just managed to seriously get out of the habit of blogging in the last couple of months. I've missed it every day, honestly, it's just that stuff got crazy and then when it finished being crazy my brain seemed to have forgotten how to open a new post without having Pinterest available on another tab for procrastination.

I AM trying to fix this. Promise. Maybe a regular posting schedule will happen again at some point.

Anyway, the post. Introductions. Geez, I'm out of practice. Today, I've decided to have a chat with you guys about authors. Because, well, we all know they are the rockstars of the bookworm universe, and since we are unable to buy concert tickets for many reasons (only one of which is their general lack of existence) I figured it might be nice to suggest some ways you can support the artists you love with no budget because you've already spent all your money on books

There are nine, but make of this what you will - you could do a week and a bit of supporting different authors in a different way every day, have a day of incredible kindness doing all nine at once, or just pick and choose as you like. Don't forget to comment or tweet me when you do stuff, either!

Recommend their work to your friends

This sounds obvious, I know. If you're reading this, you're probably a book blogger, and spend what seems like every second of every day shoving books into people's faces. But if you do that, then you know how important trusted recommendations can be to sales. If you know someone who you really think is going to like a book you love, then waste no time forcing them to devour it.

In the terrible case your friends aren't bookwormy enough to throw paperbacks at (or you've run out of people who are willing to read it), then there are other ways to drum up support. For instance ...

Write a review

It can be scary if you've never written a review before, but once you sit down to write about a book you adore it will just pour out of you - probably not coherently, but as long as people can get a general sense of how awesome it is then that's okay.

Go to your local bookshop - suggest it to people who can't decide what to buy

Yes, this sounds absolutely bonkers, but it can be brilliant fun if you're sensible about it. Don't be rude or freak anyone out - and definitely don't put yourself in a situation where you feel unsafe or uncomfortable - but even just sneakily rearranging the shelves so your favourite is facing out can encourage people to pick it up.

Failing that, you could always just go and buy more books.

Send them links to your nice reviews

Only your nice ones, mind. In the not-so-rare event that I write a review which is 100% positive (or incredibly close) then I do tweet them about it. It's up to them whether they want to read it or not, of course, but I want to make my appreciation known.

(If you're struggling to establish whether a review qualifies as "nice" or not, then I find this post from Amber @ The Mile Long Bookshelf to be very helpful.)

Cross post! Cross post it all!

As I type this right now, the next thing on my to-do list is to copy-paste a bunch of my Goodreads reviews and transfer them to Amazon. Because, do you know what? That's literally all you have to do. There's no pressure to rewrite for the different audiences or anything - and almost every author I've ever had an in-depth chat with about my reviews has asked if I could cross-post to Amazon. That's how important it is for those who are umming and erring about whether to press the buy button to see a positive opinion.

And, yes, authors aren't just in it for the money. But they still need to, you know, eat? Apparently you're not allowed to pay for food with good intentions anymore?

When you like their book, tweet them about it

No. You're not going to annoy them. You're not going to seem selfish when they just have to take a second or two out of their day to like it or even reply. Unless they're J.K. Rowling, I can absolutely assure you that they're not being sent so many tweets that it becomes a chore.

Put it this way - if you'd written a book, would you want the people who loved it to keep quiet because they fear you, or would you want to have a conversation with them? I mean ... you know how amazing it is to fangirl about other people's books with awesome folks on the internet. Can you imagine how mind-blowing it would be to fangirl about your own?

Ask them how their latest book is going

You'll probably get a lot of pterodactyl screeching and angst, but at least they'll know you care.

Request their book(s) at your local library

Or, you know, all the libraries. ALL THE LIBRARIES IN THE WORLD. 

If a book gets requested at a library and the decision-making librarian likes the sound of it, then it has to be bought (Yay royalties!), either from the publishers or library services. And THEN its presence on the library shelves encourages word of mouth (as well as allowing readers with small book budgets to experience it, which of course is wildly important).

Win win, yes?

UPDATE: The lovely Cee Arr from Diary of a Reading Addict has just informed me that, in countries with a Public Lending Right (PLR) programme (which includes the UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) authors, authors get paid a small amount for every book of theirs is borrowed from a public library.

If you're an author, you might have to get registered in order to receive these payments; check this page to see a full list of countries with a PLR, and if you're published in any of them make sure you look up what you need to do to register in that country!

Readers, you can be safe in the knowledge that you're not cheating your favourite authors when you borrow instead of buying.

Follow them on social media

This is particularly important for more up-and-coming authors, since nowadays publishing houses like to see prospective authors with big social media followings - if you love their writing and want to see more of it, then this is a great way to support them.

Support campaigns for authors' rights

Remember that thing I said before about noble intentions and devotion to your craft not being exchangeable for food and other life essentials? You know, that money is important for survival?

Yeah. That.

Authors are amazing people. They work incredibly hard at what is not only a dream job but an incredibly difficult (and important) one. It entertains us. And do you know how important entertainment - escape - is in the world we're living in right now? These people deserve proper pay and respect. Sometimes they get it ... sometimes they don't.

So please. Support authors who ask for pay to speak at conferences and fight for their right to be identified as the author of their own work. Being an artist is amazing, but it's hard work and people get taken advantage of, or even just not appreciated. They need those who love their art to have their back.

In the comments: How do you guys like to make an author's day? Have you ever used any of the techniques here? Which ones would make you smile the most?

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What I've Missed About Reading

It appears that, in true Lara style, I wrote a whole post about my blogging plans and how I was generally going to get more organised over the next year, particularly by posting more often ... and then went AWOL for a month and a half.

Oopsie.

Sorry for my absence, guys - exam season kind of kicked my butt and I basically lost the ability to read anything except revision guides, write anything except flashcards, or commit to anything except long study sessions in the library. But now ... now it is time for a comeback.

Are you READY, punks? Because I really, really have missed you.

In fact, I am willing to write a whole post about how I have missed the whole book blogging/ bookworm community - in fact, no. I'm willing to write a whole post about just how much I've missed the simple act of reading.

#1 - TALKING ABOUT BOOKS

I've had my head in various books for the whole time I've been away, but the thing is that when people ask "So what are you reading at the moment?", they aren't really expecting me to wax lyrical about the Organisation chapter of my Biology Revision Guide. However I try to phrase it, I can't quite make indicator species sound like main characters, the digestive system into a setting, or the fact that active transport requires energy a decent plot twist.

(BTW, if anyone understood that incredibly geeky paragraph, could they actually write this book? The section set in the small intestine might be a tiny bit gruesome, but ... you'd definitely have me as a reader.)

I've honestly been spending most of my time lately logging on to Twitter and inwardly crying because I'VE MISSED SO MUCH. Half the books people are raving about? I completely missed their release days! *sighs*

I guess I'm just going to have to get stuck in. *settles down to scroll through months of blog archives*

#2 - ESCAPING FROM THE DULL, DULL WORLD

It turns out that life is kind of boring when you don't have fictional people's lives to escape into.

I mean, there are so many cool things that I don't have in my everyday existence - where are all the cute relationships who create banter with fandom references? Where're all my kickass grandmas and my time travelling teenagers and my private islands?

WHERE ARE ALL THE FASCINATING MURDERERS?

Oh. Maybe ... maybe I shouldn't be inviting murderers to enter my life. You're still fascinating, murderers, but please stay on the other side of the paper, where you can't reach my vital organs with your stabby knives.

It's probably a good job that I've managed to get over my self-created reading slump as soon as I have, or I might have gone looking for intrigue in somewhere dangerous. You know, like an organised crime ring.

See, people - reading saves lives! And does anyone have any books about organised crime rings to recommend?

#3 - BEING IN CONTROL OF MY GOODREADS GOAL

Before my exams decided to sneak up on me to steal away all my free time, creativity and knowledge of life outside of a textbook I was actually having a pretty productive reading period. I am naturally bitter about that, but since they have returned all those things to me (minus a few weeks of my life), I've decided not to press charges.

However. My Goodreads goal is now slowly spiralling out of reach, and since I failed last year's so spectacularly, this is worrying. But, fingers crossed, I'll get there; and if getting there means reminding myself that Goodreads goals are arbitrary numbers that don't define anything about my life, then so be it.

#4 - BEING IN CONTROL OF MY TBR

You know the theory that even the smallest TBR can grow astronomically big without any interaction from the person that's supposed to be making it? Yeah, that. I swear they've been breeding.

I can only tackle them so quickly, peeps, and honestly the sheer speed of multiplication is starting to scare me. Do I need to seperate them at night or something? Are they like gremlins, and I've just been getting them wet by accident? If anyone could give any tips on properly caring for them, that would be most appreciated?

But in all seriousness, I think I have a problem somehow linked with Goodreads and the sheer inviting nature of its "Want to Read" button. They should decorate it in more dangerous colours, or something.

#5 - BEING IN CONTROL OF ANYTHING, BASICALLY

*Smiles for an unreasonable amount of time in a near-futile effort to try and convince you I've ever been in control of anything in my life.*

*Fails*

#6 - HAVING AN EXCUSE NOT TO TALK TO THE MUGGLES

Say what you like about books (or actually, don't, because I might spit in your face if you're overly mean) but they are excellent mechanisms for avoiding conversation. If someone can't see your mouth due to the large volume in front of it, they don't tend to expect interesting words to come out. This comes in really handy when you're bored by people generally, or are worried you'll reveal your murder plans if you get talking for too long.

Come on, I can't be the only one.

For whatever reason, revision guides don't have the same effect. Maybe they make the people around me think I need to escape? I mean, I was studying the Implications of Research into Antisocial Personality Disorder at some point - the look on my face must have been pretty torturous.

But does that excuse people talking to me on a regular basis? Ugh.

#7 - THE WHOLE BOOKWORM IDENTITY

I guess there must have been a reason why I decided to become obsessed with books in the first place.

Obviously, there's the books. The whole words-stimulating-imagination thing is pretty darn cool. But ... there's also the whole community surrounding them. The enthusiastic conversations I can have at the library with perfect strangers who are about to check out my favourite book. The people who don't give me a weird side eye when I squeak at the new cover on the display table at Waterstones. The people on the internet (yeah, that's you lovelies) who can look at a Tweet that is basically just incoherent moaning and know I'm complaining about the first Percy Jackson movie.

Again.

I am glad I'm back because I get to hang out with my bookish friends again. I get to put on my proud bookworm cloak and join the army hiding behind a cave of books. And even just writing this post is putting a smile on my face.

So, I do actually have a point. Basically, don't ostracise yourself from this wonderful community just because you're in a busy life season or a reading slump. We won't judge you because your TBR is growing out of control and you can't even remember the exact last time you sat down and cracked a spine. We're all busy sometimes, and you're still one of us.

Come join the party.

***

In the comments: What do you guys miss the most when you don't have time to read? Is your TBR quite as out of control as mine is? And what else do you love about being a bookworm?

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