Weekly Geeks: How I fight the bloggers' block.

This Weekly Geeks gets deep:

This past week wrapped up Book Blogger Appreciation Week, in which I'm sure many of you participated. In two weeks will be Banned Books Week, in which I'm sure some of you also will participate. I'm also sure that many of you participated, and will participate, with at least a post per day, if not more, on your respective blogs.

Personally, after such weeks, I feel almost burnt out and think, "Why am I doing this? I'm not getting paid for this." Do you ever feel the same way after weeks like the ones mentioned above? If you do, what do you to counter it? How do you keep going? Do you take a break from posts after that, or do you just "soldier on"?

Or if you don't feel burnt out after such weeks, why not? Also why are you a book blogger? From what I've seen and experienced, it's certainly not the fame or the glory that you get. So what is it? Why? Why? Why?

I have once written a post explaining in length my reasons for blogging about books. So far, they still stand.I specify that it's book blogging because, truthfully I don't think I could write about anything else. It's my passion for books and the need to be accepted and understood by fellow book lovers that is the driving force behind my blogging. Because of my introverted personality, I could never actually open up to anyone standing in front of me and start talking about reading and books, not to mention actually recommending anything. Virtual reality makes it easier and almost effortless in terms of my mental reservations.

Now, do I feel burnt out? You bet I do. I have also written about that and just burning out in life in general. For me, life is a daily struggle in many ways. Blogging has become part of my life, just like reading. I stop and think about futility of writing posts about books read or waiting to be read countless times. I call it my 'dark hour of the blogger's soul'. So far, I haven't given up. I hope I will not give in to that temptation ever. How do I manage to keep blogging? Besides my life being a struggle, it is also a mountain of things and projects I undertook and never finished. A lot of them glare at me as my personal failures. Every time I wrestle with the idea of abandoning this blog, I tell myself that I will make it work this time, I will stick with it and I will not let it be another failure.

Well, there it is. It's gotten awfully personal and slightly depressing but I hope you don't mind.

God Is an Englishman by R. F. Delderfield

Ever since I can remember, I have always been drawn to big books. And I’m not talking about ‘chunky’ ones only but big in meaning, characters and events, very often spanning generations. Therefore, when I first looked into R.F. Delderfield’s God Is an Englishman trilogy, I knew I was up for a feast.

God Is an Englishman is the first book in this wonderful saga about the Swann family. Adam Swann, a 31-year-old cavalryman in the service of Queen Victoria’s army, decides to break off with his family’s military tradition and gives up his soldierly life in lieu of starting anew in England as a businessman. The road ahead of him will not be easy, as old sentiments still prevail where people making a living in a new, industrial England are looked down on and someone like Adam, giving up his army career is thought foolish. Adam Swann persists in his desire to be his own boss and not spent his life serving somebody else, even if it’s the Crown of England. In his struggles to become a respectable and successful owner of a horse-carriage business, he has a few supporters, including his young wife, Henrietta and, surprisingly, his own father. The readers follow Adam and his personal and business lives for nine years. These are very tumultuous years for England as well. It is the 19th century, the country changes from an agricultural one into an industrial empire, with railroads ruling the transportation, mills, mines and factories replacing the farms and Adam Swann takes on a daring project of using horses as his road to success.

I thoroughly enjoyed God Is an Englishman, so much so that even before I finished it, I went and got part two (Theirs Was the Kingdom). It’s not an easy read by any means, but very captivating and really a requirement for anyone who wants to read more about one of the most important periods in England’s history. Some might say that it’s reminiscent of Dickens’s books but I should say that probably only in the time set. Through Delderfield’s book I got a hopeful outlook, not a grim one. True, it’s still England where poverty is on the rise, where child exploitation flourishes but it’s also England where one doesn’t have to belong to royalty in order to become well-off, successful and if they’re persistent enough, respected. ‘Common’ people now have a chance to have careers and to be truly in charge of their lives. I must say that I liked this approach and I just was riveted by Adam Swann and by the whole process of him starting from a scratch and, despite unexpected failures and ‘bumps ‘, holding on to what he believed and never losing sight of what Adam deemed as success.

That’s one great part of God Is an Englishman. Another one is the multitude of characters, bad, good and just average, but they all change, they all grow and, as a reader, you really have your pick in which ones are going to be your favorites. Mine was Henrietta, Adam’s wife. I think she grew the most throughout the novel. She changed so much but still somehow retained her youthful innocence despite some occurrences that would turn many into bitter, prematurely old women. Henrietta and Adam’s marriage is not an easy one, some would even say it’s doomed from the beginning, but yet again, Delderfield just serves us this happy story, with both parties fulfilling their dreams, among the turmoil of their times. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t a ‘happily-ever-after Cinderella’ story but an uplifting one nonetheless, despite the many problems that could endanger both Adam’s and Henrietta’s happiness.

I say that if you’re a ‘saga junkie’, if you are even remotely interested in the history of England and want to meet people, who in the end you feel are your friends or at least next door neighbors, God Is an Englishman and you will be a perfect match.

*****
Special thanks to Danielle J. from Sourcebooks, Inc. for sending me a copy of this book for review.
Special thanks to Sourcebooks, Inc. for re-issuing the Swann saga and other R.F. Delderfield's titles. The editions are wonderful and I wouldn't have known about this 1970's British writer without Sourcebooks.

Book Info:

Author: R. F. Delderfield
Title: God Is an Englishman
Published in: 2009
By: Sourcebooks Landmark, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc
ISBN: 1402218214

If you'd like to see what others think please check out the reviews by:

Medieval Bookworm here
We Be Reading here

Traveling With Pomegranates giveaway.

Well, here's another great giveaway thanks to awesome Katrina from Wiredset. This time it is a memoir written by mother and daughter, and the mother is quite known in the literary world, I should say.

Traveling With Pomegranates
by
Sue Monk Kidd
&
Ann Kidd Taylor







Book Description:

An introspective and beautiful dual memoir by the #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and her daughter

Sue Monk Kidd has touched millions of readers with her novels The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair and with her acclaimed nonfiction. In this intimate dual memoir, she and her daughter, Ann, offer distinct perspectives as a fifty-something and a twenty-something, each on a quest to redefine herself and to rediscover each other.

Between 1998 and 2000, Sue and Ann travel throughout Greece and France. Sue, coming to grips with aging, caught in a creative vacuum, longing to reconnect with her grown daughter, struggles to enlarge a vision of swarming bees into a novel. Ann, just graduated from college, heartbroken and benumbed by the classic question about what to do with her life, grapples with a painful depression. As this modern-day Demeter and Persephone chronicle the richly symbolic and personal meaning of an array of inspiring figures and sites, they also each give voice to that most protean of connections: the bond of mother and daughter.

A wise and involving book about feminine thresholds, spiritual growth, and renewal, Traveling with Pomegranates is both a revealing self-portrait by a beloved author and her daughter, a writer in the making, and a momentous story that will resonate with women everywhere.

If you're not convinced whether you want this book or not, you can always read an excerpt here, to help you make up your mind.

Giveaway 411:

1. There will be one winner.

2. All you have to do is simply leave a comment with your email address.

3. This time the giveaway is limited to U.S. and Canada residents.

4. The giveaway will be open until October 1st, 2009.

If the luck happens to not be on your side, you can always order Traveling with Pomegranates from amazon.com or straight from the publisher's site, Penguin.com

Good luck to you all and thank you for visiting my blog.

Win 1 of 10 books Sourcebooks giveaway - results.

The giveaway ended on Monday night but I am just lazy as usual and keeping up with my laziness, I waited three whole days to post the results.

The two winners are:

nfmgirl from Cerebral Girl In a Redneck World

&

Vicki

Congratulations to the winners (who have been notified) and thank you to all who participated. Please come back soon for another cool giveaway (or two).

BBAW: Reading Habits

Today’s it’s all about the creativity. We have this fabulous reading meme for you below and all you have to do? Pick ONE or answer them all in as few words as possible! Be creative, have fun, stand out! That’s all!

I chose to answer all with fewer words. I am just not a creative creature but I'll do my best.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Surprisingly, I do not.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

I don't write in books, only because marking reminds me of college times.
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?

Always a bookmark or at least some old store receipt.

Laying the book flat open?

Yes, I do that sometimes if I know I'm coming back in a sec.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

It would have to be fiction.

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Both. Audio books are from library and hard copies I own.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

If I have troubles reading a book, then I read to the end of chapters. Otherwise, I tend to keep reading until it's done.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

Not usually.

What are you currently reading?

The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner

What is the last book you bought?

Theirs Was the Kingdom by R. F. Delderfield

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

One book at a time. I tried it the other way and it doesn't work.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

Any place, any time.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

Series books or at least authors who wrote more than one book.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

Author: Stephen King
Book: Shantaram by Gregory Roberts

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

I don't organize books. I would love to though but I just procrastinate too much.