Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Annnouncement, question and mystery

Midling-to-late-adapter of blogroll
I've converted my blog list at left to blogroll, which shows the titles of posts on the most recent posted-to blogs.  It has occurred to me that blogroll rewards catchy post titles and frequent updates, whereas my old list rewarded alphabetical earliness and fun blog names.  

After a feverish night of soul searching, I decided catchy post titles and frequent updates have more merit. Sorry, cleverly named, alpabetically early blogs. Now I just have to update my TBR list. I can't believe how old it is. 

Twitter: Please advise
I am also thinking about twitter. But will it suck me in?  Will I waste more time? It seems to be popping up everywhere, but once people are in, they don't talk about it, they just do it. Is there a central forum where everyone twitters together and you get constant twitters at you? And then, if you ignore them, are you an ass? Sometimes I think I need to be less connected, rather than more. But I suspect there are secret merits to it. Please advise

The mystery of The Duke & I
Right now I'm reading The Duke and I by Julia Quinn, lent to me by lovely Sarai. it's a fun book that I look forward to reading at night, which has been my book barometer lately. The plot is cute: Simon the somewhat reluctant duke never wants to get married and is tired of society mothers and daughters dogging him at every party.  He makes friends with Daphne Bridgerton, who is a marriagable girl weary of the whole suitor scene, so they pretend to be engaged to get everybody off their backs. 

So here is the thing: every once in a while, I read a book that sort of seizes my imagination, and my subconcious can't stop churning over it, so after I read it at night, I go to sleep and have dreams about the plot, and generally a non-restful, low quality of sleep.  And if it gets bad enough, I have to relegate the book to day reading only.  

Historically, this has happened with books that are horribly dark and/or exciting, or shockingly smutty. But for some reason, it's happening with this book, which is a frothy and light confection. I mean, there isn't even a villain here.  And I know what will happen. SPOILER ALERT for the 2% of people who have read this far and haven't guessed - Daphne and Simon will fall in love. 

Not that I'm not enjoying it, it's just that now there's this mysterious element of it.    

26 comments:

KT Grant said...

Twitter will suck your life away. LOL.
But I find it to be a great community to chat with friends and new people. I guess you could say it is a great networking site. :D

Carolyn Crane said...

Okay, that is sort of what I expected.

KT Grant said...

But I am on, so there is no question why your should come and play ;)

Sarai said...

I have managed to break away from Twitter mainly b/c my phone doesn't except it WHEW. That took up way too much time at work LOL!

As far as the DUKE and I there is a twist I think??? IDK I just liked it for the lightness and fresh air oh and he stutters and I find that attractive for some reason?!

Sarai said...

I have managed to break away from Twitter mainly b/c my phone doesn't except it WHEW. That took up way too much time at work LOL!

As far as the DUKE and I there is a twist I think??? IDK I just liked it for the lightness and fresh air oh and he stutters and I find that attractive for some reason?!

JenB said...

I joined Twitter last week and I haven't visited it since. I have sooooo many things sucking up my time that I honestly haven't even given Twitter a second thought.

How much of The Duke and I have you read? I loved the first 2/3 of that book. Very fun. :)

Carolyn Crane said...

KB: Well, that IS a fine reason.

Sarai: I wonder if my phone does it... And twist in Duke?

Jen: I'm 1/2 way in. So, no go on the last 1/3 for you? No go on Twitter? I'm so glad I asked.

lisabea said...

CJ Read that post on my sidebar about twitter.OMGLMAO. Not kidding. I can't handle the twitter.

About books keeping you up? I'm reading this crossdressing wild west incest/rape/holycrow kind of book right now. It's actually quite good, but, uh, you can see that it's a subject matter for another blog.

Julia Quinn is a cutie pie.

Carolyn Crane said...

OMG, LB, I think I might have to put up a recent clever comments thing on my sidebar for that.

lisabea said...

It's good to explore new lit-richer. 'Specially when it's free.

Carolyn Crane said...

Oh, I read that post. That was good. I can see where it would be so tempting to twitter the dumbest things you can think of.

Tracy said...

*sigh* I have these thoughts about Twitter as well. I keep getting invites from wonderful people I just don't think I can go there. :)

Sometimes books keep me up like that too CJ and with me there's no rhyme or reason to it...just some books effect me differently than others. Try not to eat spicy food and see if that helps! lol

Anonymous said...

Twitter isn't a time suck for me--a minute a day, tops. It's great for those days when you don't have time to draft a real blog post but you still want to stay in touch with your readers. Plus the 140-character limit is an agreeable challenge.

The other cool thing about Twitter is that it's a quick, easy way to let people know everything's okay in an emergency. Twitterers were the first to break the story of the SoCal earthquake. And, when other communications were down, people used Twitter to let loved ones know they were safe.

Holly said...

Personally I love Twitter because my mind works in mysterious ways and there are many times a day I want to share a random thought but don't want to have to type an entire blog post to do it.

For example: MM and I were watching t.v. last night. He had the remote and kept flipping channels. Finally he settled on something and just as I got interested in it, he changed it again. Women the world over understand this, but I didn't want to type a whole blog to get commiseration for it. Instead I Twittered about it, received the commiseration I was looking for and went back to reading my book. :0)

For stuff like that it's nice. It's only a time suck when I want it to be. I also get unlimited texting on my phone, so I signed up and have the alerts sent to me. Not everyone does this, but I find it a fun way to connect with other people without having to actually be online - or to bloghop, etc, when I'm short on time.

Did I convince you yet? lol

As for The Duke and I: I've never really understood it's appeal. It's a cute, light story, but the way people rave about it kind of surprises me. I just didn't think it was that great.

Ok, I'm done writing my novel here now.

Christine said...

Twitter me, baby!!!

To answer your questions about Twitter.... Yes, yes, yes and yes. LOL

I started twittering when I noticed Ciara posting her tweets on the sidebar of her blog and thought it would be a neat way to post little thoughts and updates on the books I was reading. But now it is bigger than that... its like little dialogues, q&a, news, etc., among fellow romance readers, bloggers, authors, editors, etc. Its fun. Every few days a new Twitterer gets sucked in. I think you should be next! :)

Christine said...

P.S. I started Twittering a few days before my husband left for a business trip to Canada last month. I twittered what the girls and I were up do a few times a day so that he could keep tabs on us. He liked it.

The funny thing is that when I confessed that I was on Twitter, I was prepared for him to roll his eyes at me for starting up yet another silly online account, but he said, "Cool. I just heard of some hostage who was able to communicate his whereabouts via Twitter and was then rescued." Isn't that cool?

Moral of the story: Twitter might just save your life.

Holly said...

Christine,
I heart you.

that is all..carry on.

Katie Reus said...

I got an email about Twitter (maybe from Sarai?) but I have no idea what it is so I rejected it. :) I loved this book. The stuttering Duke...sigh :)

Carolyn Crane said...

Oh, wow, opinions are as divided on Twitter as they are on the Duke and I !

sula said...

always late, that is me.

clearly i cannot even keep up with the online world as it is (witness pathetic blog) so twitter is beyond me at this point. but i can see how it would be fun.

the duke and i...this is a book i recall as being quite entertaining. simon is the one with the stutter, right? there's something so charming about a big tough duke-y guy with a hidden vulnerability. aww.

The Bookworm said...

I havent tried Twitter, but as far as your reading goes, it sounds like a good book. I have this author on my TBR pile.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

JenB said...

Ok, I lied. I Twittered all day yesterday.

JenB said...

CJ - I dunno if I want to tell you and ruin the book for you. :P

Let's just say I'm not a fan of self-pitying men or the women that think it's okay.

Anonymous said...

I twittered about your cat this morning and read this post this afternoon. I like it for the reasons E likes it--it's a good way to add some content without composing a post, its compression is a nice challenge, it doesn';t have to take much time. I had found myself rushings posts and posting too often because I felt i had to, but twitter relieves that pressure. i also LOVE your blogroll. I have a lot of friends who post once every six weeks. They will PAY!

Carolyn Crane said...

Sula: Yes, you have the right book. Yeah, keeping up with the online world. Hard!

Naida, Opinions are mixed on this book. So far so good for me.

JenB: you are so funny

K: I like the idea of twitter relieving pressure. And blogroll is SO cool.

Sarah said...

Twitter is a time suck, and I am on it. Very bad. Need to read a book!