One of the things I did was put the year of publication in, which makes for interesting reading-- 2010 has 21 books, more than the 15 from 2009. But that's not a number that's all that meaningful, because I started the list in 2010...and there are egregious gaps from earlier years. Like Silver Phoenix, by Cindy Pon, which I read back when everyone was raving about it on their own blogs--I didn't feel as though I could contribute a fresh perspective, and so never reviewed it myself. And I don't know why I never read Bleeding Violet, by Dia Reeves; I've wanted to since it came out. I know there are a number of older books I need to add as well, but I'd love to see what recommendations you might have for me! I just found this great list of multicultural sff, compiled by Marie Brennan, that has lots of books I haven't read....
One of the things I tried to do today was to add some pictures, and I ran into a mess with Blogger. There doesn't seem to be a way to manipulate the sizes of the picture much, and I would really like them to be smaller. My next problem I struggled through--I'm now able to put in the pictures I want! (thanks for the help, commentors!). I am pretty happy with the cover pictures I have up now, but I think I'll change them when I put new books up, so the pictures show the most current reviews.
*I've tried a few times to define "multi-cultural," and gotten into some sticky semantics trying to clarify to myself what I mean. And I toyed with the idea of avoiding an all-encompasing definition by explaining the multicultural-ness of each particular book, and things got even stickier. So the books will have to speak for themselves....
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I upload all my images to photobucket first, so that I can size or crop just as I like. That's my workaround.
ReplyDeleteI also just pulled together a list in Goodreads and used their "tile" widget to create the collage of book covers that I wanted in a single file.
Here's what I do for pictures (these steps are approximately the same in firefox and IE, if you're on a Mac, I can't help).
ReplyDeleteRight click the image you want.
Select Save As.
Change the destination folder and/or the filename if you want. (Some image owners have right-click disabled, and you should respect that, find a different image.)
Then in the post editor, click on the image icon. It will default to "upload image" in the left pane. Then click on "Choose file" in the right pane, and navigate to your picture file.
Manipulating the photo size is a little trickier if you don't want to use the small/medium/large sizes that Blogger pre-loads.
Note that there are a couple of different versions of the blogger editor. The one I'm using is their most recent, I think, which you can switch to by going to Dashboard-->Settings and scrolling all the way down to the bottom where it says "select post editor" and choosing "updated editor."
Feel free to ping me on email if you need any other help.
Listing books sounds so easy, but it can be so problematic! I've been keeping lists of books for teens of color for several years now, and each year I find a better way to organize the list. It's worth the effort though, because it creates a valuable resource. I was really glad to find you list of POC sci-fi/fantasy! It's an area that really needs more attention.
ReplyDeleteI love your list so so much! I'm going to try and join a sci fi/fatnasy challengethis year (just need to find one) and I'm just going to use your list for titles :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I have two recommendations for you! They were recently sent to me for review: Half World by Hiromo Gito (it's like Bleeding Violet but even more disturbing...really good though) and From the Abuelas' Window by Nancy Toomey. Magical realism, MG.
Last Bloggiesta someone recommended to me signing up with Amazon Associates. Blogger has a widget that is write in your post editor page where you can search Amazon for book titles (or anything else), and post the picture to your blog. Gives you the choice to put in a link, and image or an image+link. If you go with just an image there's no need to worry about FTC disclaimers because you won't be making money off of any clicks. There's not a ton of variability in sizes, but their default size works great for me.
ReplyDeleteI believe I discovered after I actually signed up with Amazon that you can get the Blogger AmazonAssociates widget without the Amazon account.
Congrats on accomplishing your main task for Bloggiesta! Now I have to check out your list. :)
ReplyDeleteviz pictures:
ReplyDeleteI am, indeed, on a Mac, Nicola! But I struggled through it, and found out how to sneak around blogger's back door. But I don't see why they can make changing picture size as flexible in Page mode as it is in Post mode! I might try photobucket later, though, Madigan--thanks for the tip. And the Goodreads tile widget sounds possibly helpful in the future too. I've never tried Amazon for pictures, Angela, but thanks for that tip!
looking at your lists, cambele, I see you have the publishers....that will be my next tinkering!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words, and the recommendations, Ari! I'd never heard of the second one.
And thanks for stopping by, Chacic! I hope you like the list, and do let me know if you think of something to add.
Congratulations on being all accomplished. The list looks great. Now how is that immaculate house coming? :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it nice to always have something to look forward too?????
ReplyDeleteie, it's not. But I did just read the first seven chapters of Misty of Chincteauge (sp?) out loud to an appreciative audience, which surely counts for something...
I'm on a Mac, too, so I know just what you mean! Image sizing isn't very easy with Blogger.
ReplyDeleteI checked out your multicultural sf/fantasy list. Some great suggestions there! I can feel my TBR growing larger already.
This is a great list. I keep waiting for the new Lee and Low imprint of multicultural sci fi/fantasy, but I haven't seen any releases yet.
ReplyDeleteOh, that list from Brennan could be a very bad influence on me! It's not like I need more books...
ReplyDeleteOh me too, Kailana!!! I really don't need more lists of enticing books....
ReplyDeleteHow did Comment Challenge work out for you? Even if you didn't make the five-a-day goal, come by the Finish Line at http://www.motherreader.com/2011/01/comment-challenge-2011-finish-line.html
ReplyDelete