fall update: checking in/out.

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Wow, I've been super-absent. And there I was three posts ago, anticipating that things would get busy around Pass the Chiclets... I always have the best of intentions, and those never hold up against my inertia, sigh. Blogging inertia, that is — it's been quite busy in the non-virtual aspects of my life, but I won't attribute this lack of blog momentum entirely to real, outside life.

No, it's gotten to the point where I really have no idea what I want from this book blog, or the book blogging business in general. I think disenchantment and distance from the original road I was trying to chase when I first started have stoppered the inspiration, or motivation, or whatever it was that powered this blog and my writing. And it doesn't feel too important at this point to get the flow back.

At the same time, I'm proud of this blog. I hope I'll never stop being proud of it. It'll remain right here and alive while I take a hiatus of indeterminate/possibly eternal length. I'll probably be withdrawing from Twitter, too (although if you tweet at me, I will definitely respond!). So thank you for reading. May your days be prosperous and joyous.

Love,

Eden

summer update: I'm back!

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Hello! Half of the summer's over already (whaaat) and I'm finally back in town and here to stay for at least the month of August. Many books were read over the past few weeks, so hopefully Pass the Chiclets will grind back into gear and start rolling. Here's hoping that once I get back into the groove of review-writing, things will get busy.

Books to review:

1. Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi. I loved her debut novel, Split, and this was an adventurous, ambitious second book, not without its problems.
2. The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas. Also a historical romance writer, I was eager to read this one (WoC author! Good ol' fashioned high fantasy!) and it mostly did not disappoint. Excited to review it.
3. Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett, illustr. by Adam Rex. Somehow I'd missed this picture book when it came out, written by the guy who wrote Extra Yarn and illustrated by the guy who wrote The True Meaning of Smekday. All in all, a fun, quirky read.
4. Spirit's Key by Edith Cohn. [September 9 2014] I had high hopes for this MG magical realism title, enough that I requested an advance copy. Unfortunately, it didn't quite fulfill them.

Rereading books is always interesting because it isn't something that I do very much, compared to the amount of new books that I read; at the moment, I'm in the middle of rereading both The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge, two middle-grades that engage my emotions in resonant, different ways. It'll be fun(/heartbreaking?) to see how I feel after my round through this time. People have postulated before that sometimes rereading is essential for really appreciating or understanding a book, sort of like listening to a song multiple times before deciding whether you like it or not. I'm not in full agreement with this theory, especially considering the ways which we process those two different mediums, but it has merit, I think.

Lately I've been feeling inspired by my friends over at The Sirenic Codex, who not only have redesigned their blog from the back end in a beautiful, Tumblr-inspired theme, but also have fabulous discussion posts like this one. Book blogging is about community and who you know and who you're friends with, and none of those are inherently better or worse, but sometimes I just step back and look at pure, polished content, and think: "That's what I want to produce."

Hope your summer's going well!

<3

Eden

blog update: early summer hiatus.

It's spring, and school is revving up to give me one final kick at the can before we're finally free for the summer. As such, Pass the Chiclets will be taking a month-long (max... hopefully) break. I haven't quite gained all my momentum back since the winter break, but once school is fully out, I hope to get things back on schedule and on track. Looking over my last four reviews, it's nice to have gone out on such a positive note (all ratings of four or higher!).

Thanks for reading, and until then~

-Eden

three years for PtC. whoa. + giveaway!

It's hard to believe, but I guess add up enough long absences, sporadic memes, five-reviews-in-a-row streaks and catch-up posts and you get three whole years. Wow, I remember a while ago (in my one year post, in fact) thinking that two years was ancient in the blogosphere. This makes me want to hug my wee blog so hard. :) We made it to three years, y'all!

If you've been reading all this time, or if you just clicked through from some SEO site, or if you've dropped by intermittently to comment, thank you. I appreciate every pageview, every comment, every thought you've had in response to what I've written here. There's nothing like being a small-time book blogger to make you understand how much time it takes to read and respond to a blog post, so please know I am so happy and grateful.

I'd like to host a giveaway now! If you would like to win an advance reader's copy of Marie Rutkoski's The Winner's Curse, please enter below. Full disclosure: this book has been published in finished form (March 4, 2014). Open to Canadian and US residents; ends March 30, 2014. (As always, if I have any international readers, I'm so sorry!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


All my love.

-Eden

winter hiatus.

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Hiatus time! It seems like I never seem to manage going a full year without taking a pause. This time, it's just before winter break; the snow's fallen and falling here already, and it looks like Christmas will be well and truly white. I hope you have as many good books to read over the break as I do.

Good things and good books and good reviews await on the other side. 'Til then,

<3

-Eden

*tiptoes in*

Gosh, I have been away for so long and I am so sorry. The fact is that I'm looking at a probable hiatus for Pass the Chiclets in a few weeks; my responsibilties are building up and I hate feeling guilty for leaving PtC in a dusty rut, even though—and because—I love this wee blog so much.

Before that, though, I've still got a few things planned: two or three last book reviews of ARCs to get in for those long-suffering publicists I still haven't gotten back too, and one very exciting (to me, at least!) week-long project involving covers of all types with the lovely ladies over at The Sirenic Codex. If I'm going to be out (for a while), why not go out with a bang?

In the meantime, wrap up for the impending winter (or chill out for the impending summer, if you happen to be in the Southern Hemisphere) and thanks for reading. <3

-Eden

status update: hello, fall.

It's been a week since I last posted, and that's usually when the guilt for abandoning Pass the Chiclets kicks my butt into gear. Apologies! Here’s a little status update to fill in the space.

Books to review:

Fall—more specifically, September—is major book-release season, and I have no less than four ARCs that release within two weeks of each other to review. To hold myself accountable, here are all the ARCs I have to review over the next three months:

1. Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt. [Sept. 10 2013] A middle-grade historical mystery which seems like it would charm me straightaway… if I gave it more than a few more pages at a time. I will return to you ASAP, promise!
2. Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts. [Sept. 17 2013] A dystopian manned by three POVs; not sure why I thought requesting this one was a good idea. Oops. Still, I’ll give it a shot.
3. This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales. [Sept. 17 2013] I liked this one’s premise, but the first two chapters are practically 100% whining so… we will see, I guess?
4. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. [Sept. 24 2013] Eep. I loved this book, but that makes writing the review all the more daunting.
5. The Eye of Minds by James Dashner. [Oct. 8 2013] Not very good; review will be forthcoming anyway.
6. The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya by Jane Kelley. [Oct. 15 2013] I picked this out of a catalogue, so was elated to receive it at all, but now I’m feeling guilty for relegating it so far down in my TBR pile.
7. Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark. [Oct. 22 2013] Verse! And I’m totally ready to love it.
8. Reality Boy by A. S. King. [Oct. 2013] I read this one when it arrived even though it comes out in October, even though I had seven books before to read. Why is A. S. King such a good writer?! Reality Boy is practically intellectual. I’m not sure how else to describe it.
9. Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger. [Nov. 2013] Not sure if I really liked the first one enough to go into this sequel with a pleasant mindframe, but fingers crossed.
10. Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando. [Dec. 2013] Something fresh to finish off the whole stack! Looking forward to this.

Some more thoughts on book blogging [it seems like every time I do a PSA I have some thoughts to share on book blogging, heh]:

I’ve been pondering the comment-for-comment culture of blogging. It’s not only in book blogging, of course, but in any type of blogging that revolves around a community you-know-me-I-know-you structure. And the concept has been making me think lately: if I only comment on your blog so you’ll comment on mine, and vice versa, do we ever actually have an “audience”, or real readers? Or, if we’re going to look at this more optimistically, at what point do we get a real audience, readers who care about what we write?

Mostly I’ve been concluding that we need to care about or respect the blogger themselves to really become their reader. And this is a reason why new book blogs don’t tend to get off the ground very high (myself & PtC included); if you only write reviews, who cares about one more bland, monotone opinion?

Thus, I think creative content is essential to readership. It needs to be content that people want to consume. I want to replicate that feeling that I, as a reader, get—that urge to comment on a blog post. Not out of courtesy or duty, but because the topic or post genuinely interests me. And if a blogger does that consistently? You bet I’ll subscribe.

Yet: creating can be tiring. Effort and time go into building content (and, subsequently, maintaining a readership). Me? I just want to write reviews and discuss books on my own personal platform. So unless I wish to have a wider readership for me reviews, I resign myself to my level of non-fame: comments only from book bloggers whom I am friends with, majority of search hits for my Book Thief quotes post, an average of 0.5 comments on my reviews. But in the end, it wouldn’t matter. I’m reviewing for myself, because I want to, because I like it. Because creative content is hard to make. Popularity would be nice. But…

I’m lazy.

Tant pis.

How is your fall going, friends?

happy Canada Day! + July absence.

Canada, whoot!

Hello <3 It's Canada Day! I was going to write up a post full of Canuck author-ly goodness, but I'm currently on the road, so instead here you get a PSA.

Posts on Pass the Chiclets will be pre-scheduled for July, and I won't be able to respond to comments in a timely fashion, but I hope you'll still swing by; I have a few things lined up, including a giveaway and a special guest post series. :)

Happy Canada Day, loves!

dear book blogging community: a letter to you.

This is a letter to you. Maybe in the future, when the emotions have faded, I'll talk about what happened to me, but this is a letter to you.

To you, the one who said "I think you're right." To you, the one who was there from the start. To you, the one who reached out first. To you, the one who had no clue who this no-name blogger was but still spoke up and offered support. To you, the one who said, "That is one damn fine review."

To you, this crazy strong book blogging community we have.

busy.

I need to be this organized.

It's nearing May, which means school is pressing. I will ergo be posting irregularly here on Pass the Chiclets, and only reviewing the galleys sent to me for review. That also means I won't be able to post any fun or creative discussion stuff, like Novel Sound's amazing poems + books idea. But I'm going to let myself off the hook for that.

Thank you for reading! Now here's a very elaborate signature just to make up for this ridiculously short post.

ethnic balance: a new rating in my reviews

People are diverse. Our novels should reflect that. Thus, from now on, I’ll be including a rating out of 5 for ethnic balance, 5 being the best, with a wide range of ethnicities represented (sans stereotypes) and 1 being the worst, with only one ethnicity being represented (i.e. white), or a few ethnicities represented badly.

Context is going to be important. For example, in my last review of the amazing The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson, the world is set in futuristic Brazil, and thus everyone’s skin colour is shades of brown, which makes sense in the context. However, the discrepancy in the people and their different cultures (e.g. poor vs. rich, technophile vs. not) is woven into the novel and its themes, showing that even in one ethnicity, a wide variety of people exist. As well, a Tokyo ambassador is an important side character, and his culture is considered and lightly discussed.

On the other hand, my favourite contemporary YA of all time, Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John, would rate a 4 at the very minimum for the inclusion of one male Chinese character (who’s also a love interest! …not to give anything away, but yay for interracial relationships) and one African-American “popular” girl whose race is dealt with tactfully without being a major-but-awkward plot point.

What brought this on? Well, a while back, author Megan Crewe wrote about male white side characters—how all minor side characters tend to be male and white, and how authors tend to default to these male white minor people. This is, to be put it plainly, awful. So I’ve decided to add a note to each book I review without making a big deal about it each time. Just a little mark for something that I hope becomes natural for writers very soon.

PSA: apologies for the blog absence! + ruminations

I've been absent, and I'm so sorry. Book blogging is a responsibility, and priorities sometimes get shifted. But that's life.

I've been thinking about this book blogging gig we're doing. The responsibilities it comes with, and the evolution of how we run this business. Because it does seem like a business: in return for consistent and punctual blogging, we get free books, sometimes even ahead of time. After a while, though, these things become dependant on one another. People get into book blogging only for the free early books. Or only the bloggers who run a lot of giveaways (and ergo have a lot of followers) get specific titles.

And you try not to be bitter, because half of what goes on, you can't control.

But I can control the other half. I can focus on bringing back the love into book blogging, rather than outputting reviews just for books. I try to remember that thrill I get from pushing my opinion onto a space that's all my own. I try to not compare myself. I'll worry less about comments and page views and followers and numbers.

And to help with that, I want to alleviate the pressure I put on myself. I don't want to be constantly thinking about which ARCs to read next and when a review must be out. I have to be a little smarter. I need a little more balance. I think I'll strive for that. (Wish me luck? *hugs*)

Anyway, this was a really navel-gazing post. Thanks for sticking around, if you're reading this. (Because you blog because you hope someone will read it, right?)

<3

happy holidays!

source: Gingerhaze

See y'all in the new year! <3

there are 100 reviews in my archive. OMG. want a giveaway?

(Okay, that was not the most professional post title.) I'm just so dang proud I made it this far, y'all. Reviewing has meant so much to me because that's what this blog is about -- talking about, sharing and celebrating books, the good and the bad.

So to celebrate this (because it's more interesting to commemorate this than a certain amount of followers, non?), I'm giving away a book of your choice (under $10) from the Book Depository -- which means, yes, this is open as internationally as TBD will ship. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm back.

I missed you all.

A city's beauty. Found here.

Because dang it, I'm too much of a romantic. Found here.

away.

So remember my catch-up post in which I vowed to blog more consistently? Something I realized: it's difficult to blog consistently when you're going abroad.

Yes, I'm going away on vacay (sort of) (I just wanted to say that 'cause it rhymed) and possibly abandoning PtC for three weeks. The reading and writing shall never stop, though, so that's all good.

Before I leave, I wanted to say (and if you're not the sentimental type you can just skip this part) that I'm so proud of this book blog of mine. I took a look through my review archive, and I've now got over 85 reviews up. I've always seen 100 as sort of the number to reach, and being this close is thrilling. I might pull a Nafiza and start madly reviewing once-per-day once I get back in mid-August, so I can close out the summer with a bang.

I think starting Pass the Chiclets has been one of the most exhilarating choices yet.

Anyway. Here's a pretty photo for sticking through with me. Happy summer, lovelies.

the London Eye; found here. (no, I'm not going to London.)

let's catch up.

It's summer. No school, lots of sunscreen and time time time to read books, write and go to the library! (...And other bodily functions too, I suppose, such as sleeping and eating and, you know, breathing.) So here's a catch-up post. More for my purposes than yours, but whatevs. Friends like to keep up with friends, right?

1. The few ARCs and books for review I have left include Girl Out Loud and Devine Intervention from Scholastic (sorry I haven't gotten around to them yet, Catherine! *grovels*), plus some titles from Hachette and S&S. The latter titles reviewed will be pick-and-choose.
2. Lately all I've been doing on this little blog of mine here are reviews and In My Mailboxes, which sets up a kind of monotony, I think. So maybe more posts related to books in general are on their way?  Potentially? At the very least, I'll be doing a post on why we should judge books on their cover... or at least, we should judge the book's publisher on the cover.
3. I'm going to blog more consistently. This'll involve planning and pre-scheduling blog posts/reviews, which on the outside to you, my lovely reader, will just look like more posts in a less haphazard manner. But I do believe blogging consistently is part of the key to actually enjoying blogging.
4. Can you believe Google Chrome doesn't have the words "blog" and "blogging" in its automatic dictionary? *shakes head*
5. And there may be a few design changes around PtC!

So here's to the best of things we make of summer. :)

-Eden

sooooo... guess who's one year old today?

Can you believe how old Pass the Chiclets has gotten? We're ONE whole year old. Since I consider two years in the blogosphere ancient... well, suffice to say that I'm well on my way to wrinkles.

But it's a source of pride, too. I've got almost seventy reviews in the archive, and I can see how my reviewing style has evolved over the months. (Whether it's for the better or for the worse... I'm not going to judge that myself, haha.) I've figured out what Goodreads is for (NOT author/blogger bashing) and what good Twitter is (random hi-speed chats on books and boys and booze).

Most of all, this small book blog of mine has provided an outlet for my love of the most wondrous things in the world: books.

(Although shoes rank pretty close behind, too.)

And I guess I'll wrap this up by expressing my appreciation of the entire book blogosphere. Seriously, the amount of book love in people is so, so lovely. And while the blogosphere might have claws sometimes, that's what friends are for: to help you through the tumbly times. (They're also for embarrassing. :D)

Thank you, all, for bringing me nice publicists, smart friends and good books.

Love,
Eden

guys. we're so effin' beauteous now, yo.

Why hello there. *beams* Take your time. Feast your eyes. Wonder how PtC got exactly this good-looking.

Of course, there's only one person who could've brought about this beauteousness:

Linna, from 21 Pages, and her LJ Design Studio.

Just check out her stuff, guys. Her portfolio is mindblowing, and -- well, you have the proof in front of your eyes. The entire header is her work. So is the fabulously detailed little sidebar image that says "the name's Eden", as is the colour scheme. I have awesome snazzy blockquote formatting now, too. Heehee. :D

Anyways, PtC is getting back to your regular programming. While we get revved up, be sure to take a peek at Linna's portfolio. The prettiness is just incredible. Cross my heart and hope to die.

<3
-Eden

not to put y'all on hold, but--

Changes are happening! (I'm not just fishing, yo.)

<3
-Eden