My new indexing project did indeed gobble up a lot of my time this week, and it will keep doing so for the next two weeks. On the plus side, the book I'm working on is very interesting! (Sorry, I can't tell you about it; indexers usually work under nondisclosure agreements.) I didn't get around to the adult and YA book reviews I wanted to write -- I haven't even finished the books! So the blog may be a bit sparse in the coming week, unless I can squeeze out some time scribble down a few reviews for books I finished a week or two ago. (I'm not a fast reviewer. I wish I were.)
The past week on the blog:
We celebrated Children's Book Week at The Bookwyrm's Hoard this week:- Monday: Ways to Celebrate CBW
- Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Children's Classics
- Wednesday: a review of Ginger Jumps, a picture book by Lisa Campbell Ernst
- Thursday: Children's Book Lists -- a collection of great lists from around the internet
- Friday: A review of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series
- Saturday: News & Notes - 5/18/13
The coming week:
- Guest review by Robin: Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin
- Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Book Covers Of Books I've Read
- Saturday: News & Notes
- additional reviews TBD
Challenges:
I joined the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge for May, hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Kimberly at The Windy Pages. This past week, I had two books going, but didn't complete either of them, so I'm not doing well so far. It's not that I haven't been reading, but I needed a break to reread a few old favorites.
New arrivals:
For Review:
Many thanks to Avon and Edelweiss for giving me an e-ARC of Stephanie Laurens' The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh.
I wish you all a great week, and happy reading!
It sounds like a busy week for you with your indexing job. I'm glad it's an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteI thought your Children's Book Week posts were great. I meant to comment on more of them...got distracted, I guess! I hope you have a good week.
Thank you, Jan! And thanks for coming by! I'll be a little quiet on the commenting front the next two weeks, too, but I'll try to pop by now and then.
DeleteSounds like you have had a busy week. I hope next week is slightly less busy for you so you can get some reading time in if you wish.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed reading your Top Ten Tuesday post! Ballet Shoes is a favourite of mine too. And loved your suggestions for what to do to celebrate Children's Book Week.
Thanks, Becki. Oh, I loved Ballet Shoes as a child -- and still do. Thank you for you good wishes, too!
DeleteI'm pretty caught up on my ARCs....if I don't read them right away, I can't allow myself to get more! lol
ReplyDeleteBut I still have some books on Mt. TBR to polish off....I finished one book from that mountain this week.
Here's MY SUNDAY SALON POST
That's a really good policy. I've made myself a promise -- no more requests until I get these done, unless it's an author I absolutely adore. The only problem is, I've got open requests on about 6 or 8 books right now, and any one or all of them might get approved. I made the mistake once of thinking I wouldn't get approved for a request that was almost 2 months old... then got four books approved in one fell swoop.
DeleteLooking forward to your guest review of A Game of Thrones. I'm a fan of George R R Martin's series. I haven't gotten very far into book 4 yet, but because they're so long, I've been putting it off.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you do it with your reviews. If I don't do my review ASAP I'll totally forgot all of my thoughts while I was reading the book. (I don't usually take notes while I'm reading...which I should probably do.) And especially if I've read another book in between the first and writing my review, I get all mixed up.
Hope you have a great week!
SP & STS
Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know
I usually try to write the review right away, too. I may have to refresh my memory a little before I write them! As for Game of Thrones, I think I scheduled it for Wednesday or Thursday. See you then!
DeleteYour week sound so busy... Good luck on your reading challenge.
ReplyDeleteJenea @ Books Live Forever's Sunday Post
Thank you, Jenea! I'll be popping by your post later today or tomorrow.
DeleteI'm not a fast or prolific reviewer either but I try not to worry about. Do what you can, blogging should be fun. At least your work is interesting so that helps. :)
ReplyDeleteGood advice! You're right, the point is to have fun, not stress out. And it is nice when the project I'm working on is interesting. I've been lucky; I've had some dry ones and some that didn't interest me, but I'm curious by nature, so I can often find some facet that interests me.
DeleteOh Lauren's book looks yummy! Hope your indexing continues to go well! The Sunday Post
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kimba! I got almost my quota done today (and a very interesting section.) And I'm a closet Laurens fan, so I was delighted to get this one!
DeleteHope the new project gets quicker for you. :) Have a great week this week.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have a Sunday Post up, if you'd like to stop by:
http://melissa-melsworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/sunday-post-12.html
Thank you, Melissa, and thanks for stopping by. I'll pop over to your blog tomorrow!
DeleteOoo what a pretty new arrival! I haven't read her but want to some day :)
ReplyDeleteSo, I have a question. I know you can't talk specifics but what does an indexer do?! I've got no clue on this one. lol
~Anna
Hi, Anna! Basically what a back-of-the-book indexer does is read the proofs, decide what things in the text need to be in the index, and create (or write) the index.
DeleteThe devil, as usual, is in the details! Decisions go beyond, "hey, this should be in there"; you spend time thinking of the most succinct way to put things, how to organize the entries, what headings to use, etc.
A very simple example would be a discussion about cars and trucks in a book on upholstery. The book might use the term "vehicles"; it's up to the indexer to a) realize that an entry for "vehicle upholstery" is needed and b) realize that even though the words "car" and "truck" aren't there, the index needs cross-references from those terms, because the reader might not think to look under "vehicles." Or maybe it makes more sense to leave out the entry "vehicles" and put in two entries: "car upholstery, 213" and "truck upholstery, 213." Or maybe even just "cars, 213" and "trucks, 213." Of course, the more complex the concepts (and topic) you're indexing, the more complex the entries and subheadings get, and the more time and expertise the index may require.
Indexers use special software that helps with formatting like alphabetizing and indenting (in much the way that word processing helps format documents, or a database organizes and sorts information.)
And to answer the almost inevitable question: so far, computers don't produce very good indexes for most books. A computer can generate a list of what words fall on which pages, but what if a topic like "nutrition" is discussed for several pages, but that word is never actually used? A computer would miss it entirely. Or what if the word appears on 57 different pages? You need subheadings to make it easier to find what the reader is looking for. Computers don't do a good job of creating those yet, either.
I hope that helps!
I'm getting way behind on my reviews, too! Good luck with that! :)
ReplyDeleteMy Sunday Salon
OMG, and I just got approved for six more books. SIX! Oh, help!
DeleteWow, that indexing business sounds pretty time-consuming. But don't worry, most of us fall behind on reviews from time to time. In all honesty, I think I've only got one friend who immediately reviews a book after she finishes it. I like to stew over my reads for a bit. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is, but it's really interesting. Well, it's often interesting. Sometimes, alas, it's boring. It all depends on the subject matter. I don't specialize, so I've done a lot of different subjects, and everything from children's craft and activity books to scholarly works on philosophy.
DeleteThanks for the reassurance! Ideally, I'd prefer to write my review right away, then come back in a few days and edit/polish it. I'm a perfectionist, and I know I spend too much time trying to get my reviews just right... though I can definitely tell when I don't!
I was wondering what indexing was and then read your explanation above. Holy crap! Attention to detail is putting it mildly. Interesting work though :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your books and just say no to NetGalley....although I know that's hard!
It is hard to say no! But I've promised myself that until I get that virtual pile of ARCs under control, I can't request any more... unless, of course, it's an author I absolutely love and plan to review anyway. ;-)
Delete