Today, I want to talk aboutDune. It feels so known that even specifying that it’s by Frank Herbert feels unnecessary because honestly, what other Dune could I be talking about?
I bought a physical copy, to hold and enjoy and watch my progress through the pages.
I borrowed an ebook, to read a few pages any time I had a few spare moments.
I even got an audiobook — something I very rarely do — to listen to it, instead.
Current progress:
So it’s clearly not going well, and although I can sit here and tearfully shout “I don’t know why!!” I can probably think of a few reasons if I’m being honest with myself. And I think I need to be honest with myself.
Expectation
I thought this book would be one I would fly through because I enjoyed it so much. Here’s what put that thought into my head:
I’ve been working on a new blog feature that I’m pretty excited about, and I think it will add a lot of value to the site. There is now a way to view all book reviews sorted by the author’s last name, in a lovely visual format featuring the book covers!
Benefits of the new reviews page:
🔆it shows ALL the reviews (the other review page shows most recent 100)
🔆you can quickly navigate to a specific author or title
🔆you can navigate to different sections easily — no eternal scrolling!
🔆you can use the search function on the page to locate a title or author once in the right area
🔆the book covers are so pretty!!!
🔆plus the covers link to the review on the site
🔆miscellaneous fascinating data about how SO MANY AUTHORS apparently have last names that begin with M? Yet N is basically empty??
So how do you get to this gorgeous new page? Just check out the top of the page in the navigation bar and click “Review Gallery (by Author)” (or click here, or the photo below. 😊)
It was really fun to go through the list of reviews I’ve posted here and think back on the good and bad ones. I might have to do some re-reading soon now that they’re on my mind again! 😊 One last thing: if you do happen to go check it out, and find a book that isn’t linked… please let me know!! There were so many and I started to go cross eyed, so it’s totally possible even though I’ve checked and rechecked more than Santa Claus.
Another topic I kept going back and forth on was HOW I should organize the new page! Author’s last name is pretty standard and safe, so that’s what I went with. But personally I am pretty mediocre at remembering the author’s name, but I will probably definitely remember the book’s name. It’s not terribly hard to look that up, but I debated if I should sort by author, title, COLOR?? So I’m wondering…
What method of sorting books / reviews do you prefer? 😊
I feel that it encompassed a lot of the most important things I did in the last decade, which is likely going to be the most formative and varied decade of my life. (Not ruling anything out, but it’ll be hard to beat!) It was also a fantastically funny and sweet read, and if I can end every year that way, I think I’m doing alright. 😊
Here’s a look at my life mirroring Merri’s life in Hart & Seoul, and a little timeline of it all!
A brief timeline of ten years
Korea / kpop – I lived in Korea!
Ok, this is probably a pretty obvious one. Lee is a kpop star, and there’s romanized Korean spoken throughout the book. The cultural moments that I keep mentioning are so relatable for me after having lived there. Frankly, I fell in love with Korea and Koreans and Korean entertainment. A blend of modernity and tradition, a sense of community towards everyone, and the wildest stories that end up being so touching and sweet. I adore it, and this book was a delicious reminder of all that I love!
I had to find a dime for a library fee recently, and it was a struggle. (And for the record, I returned it day-of but they had already closed, so they counted it as next day. 😞)
Apparently some libraries are removing late fees after seeing that some people will just keep the book and stop coming to the library to about the shame of paying a late fee.
What’s worse for you: the shame, or the fee itself?
I can’t explain it – I just really dislike this cover!
Are there any covers that you really dislike? Maybe ones that are popular, or ones that are long forgotten? There’s a lot of talk about covers people love, but what about the other end – the examples of what-not-to-do?
Reading her autobiography right now, and my god I love it. Which was expected, but still… it’s even better than I anticipated! She has some bits about when she fell into WoW when it was new, and since Classic is being re-released this month, it’s just getting me more excited! I also want to re-watch The Guild for the millionth time, now… Loving it so far! Also, girl was in college at 15?! Combined with Bruce Lee being a Cha-cha instructor, and my week is filled with interesting facts about cool people!!
My Book Joy 