G
Guest
Guest
I miss going into the library to peruse the new Non-fiction shelves, but have been requesting books on inter-library loan curbside pick-up. Without the advantage of plucking it off the shelf and having a sneak peek inside I’ve been relying on NTY or WaPo book reviews.
Some have been wonderful, some have been so-so, and a few have been nearly unreadable.
Eric Dolin’s A Furious Sky; the Five-Hundred-Year history of America’s Hurricanes was decent, although as a Susquehanna regular I wish there had been some mention of 1972’s Hurricane Agnes devastation and destruction in the Rogues’ Gallery chapter
Alan Mikhail’s God’s Shadow; Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern World was a worthy read, provided you are interested in history, conquest and the resulting world.
One of eagerly awaited I-Was-There recent political tomes was 500 pages of un-read-able. No flow, no syntax, and page-long poorly written paragraphs in which nothing new happened or was revealed.
But I digress. The books have occasionally included an appreciated library provided bookmark, with a book recommendation/review (most recently Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women) and a list of library Zoom programs, printed on stiff cardstock.
I do not know how this will be received, by the library or by the next borrower, but I’m trying out a new tradition; inserting a 2” x 8” bookmark in the flyleaf, with a personal opinion review, printed on heavy cardstock and laminated, tucked into the plastic cover.
For that G-awful-written I-was-there political tome I tucked in the following custom bookmark:
This is a Borrower’s Bookmark Review
(feel free to return with your own review)
Title of book, date and author
(which I will here omit,
think reference to Broadway’s Hamilton)
Synopsis
500 exceedingly dull pages
in which nothing new happens.
Apparently drawn from the copious
after-every-single meeting
or personal interaction CYA notes,
presented un-edited,
by an Author who has
no sense of writing
style, syntax or rhythm.
I repeatedly tied to read this book,
or speed read, or skip pages ahead,
but it is, at best,
borderline unreadable.
Desperately needed a ruthless editor.
+++
That custom bookmark is already printed and in tucked in the book for return to the library.
I will have to ask my three library in-laws their professional opinions. But I’ll probably keep doing it no matter their response.
I relish occasionally finding reader’s notes, or occasionally their missing to-do lists, tucked inside books, or more often penned grammatical corrections in the margins, which I will not deface/do, but still kind of appreciate.
What say you to a last reader’s review bookmark in a library book?
Some have been wonderful, some have been so-so, and a few have been nearly unreadable.
Eric Dolin’s A Furious Sky; the Five-Hundred-Year history of America’s Hurricanes was decent, although as a Susquehanna regular I wish there had been some mention of 1972’s Hurricane Agnes devastation and destruction in the Rogues’ Gallery chapter
Alan Mikhail’s God’s Shadow; Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern World was a worthy read, provided you are interested in history, conquest and the resulting world.
One of eagerly awaited I-Was-There recent political tomes was 500 pages of un-read-able. No flow, no syntax, and page-long poorly written paragraphs in which nothing new happened or was revealed.
But I digress. The books have occasionally included an appreciated library provided bookmark, with a book recommendation/review (most recently Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women) and a list of library Zoom programs, printed on stiff cardstock.
I do not know how this will be received, by the library or by the next borrower, but I’m trying out a new tradition; inserting a 2” x 8” bookmark in the flyleaf, with a personal opinion review, printed on heavy cardstock and laminated, tucked into the plastic cover.
For that G-awful-written I-was-there political tome I tucked in the following custom bookmark:
This is a Borrower’s Bookmark Review
(feel free to return with your own review)
Title of book, date and author
(which I will here omit,
think reference to Broadway’s Hamilton)
Synopsis
500 exceedingly dull pages
in which nothing new happens.
Apparently drawn from the copious
after-every-single meeting
or personal interaction CYA notes,
presented un-edited,
by an Author who has
no sense of writing
style, syntax or rhythm.
I repeatedly tied to read this book,
or speed read, or skip pages ahead,
but it is, at best,
borderline unreadable.
Desperately needed a ruthless editor.
+++
That custom bookmark is already printed and in tucked in the book for return to the library.
I will have to ask my three library in-laws their professional opinions. But I’ll probably keep doing it no matter their response.
I relish occasionally finding reader’s notes, or occasionally their missing to-do lists, tucked inside books, or more often penned grammatical corrections in the margins, which I will not deface/do, but still kind of appreciate.
What say you to a last reader’s review bookmark in a library book?