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on January 30, 2006 at 2:00:48 pm
The Reading Cat
Site Information and Friendly Disclaimers
Abernaith's Reading Cat
Contrary to what you may think, this place isn't about cats. It isn't much about Abernaith either (although she's got a couple of sections to her own). It's actually all about TOP QUALITY READING MATERIAL.
You see, ever since Abernaith was a wee little girl, she loves to read. And she loves nothing better than to read Really, Really, Really Good Books. Unfortunately, she has found, much to her dismay, that not all the books in the world are Really, Really, Really Good. Most are just about Really Good, and even those are getting rarer. (Which perhaps is the reason why she's dreaming of being a writer herself, in order to bring back, hopefully, some Really, Really Good quality into the world of literature...But that's another story.)
Her dilemma about the devolving quality of books in general has just increased as the years rolled by, which includes a brief period of roof-crashing peaks that almost drove her to epileptic fits when she learned about the rapidly encroaching evil of Self-Help Books (that grow like monsters in the dark of the closet). And so, at present, it has driven her (after much mental nagging and consequent migraines) to create this little recs site, where she can be free and happy to keep the rare Really, Really Good Books close to her heart.♥
General Advisory..
A Friendly Warning:
These reviews are based solely on abernaith's taste--which ranges from run-of-the-mill to highly eccentric. Reviews are written with minimal censorship really, with little discretion for cursing and profanity. However, you can trust abernaith to handle her writing with a distinguishable ounce of professionalism and sense of propriety. I'm a crazy writer, not a bad one (at least I think so, most of the time), and I respect and value words.
On Books...
With regards to the Amazon.com links:
I like supporting Amazon.com. I think theirs is a great place to look for books you want to read, what with an abundance of "So You'd Like To..." guides and Listmania reading lists that other customers come up with to help one another beef up their book collections. Hopefully, I'll have all the books mentioned here come with a link to their pages in Amazon.com. They're actually the best thing for book aficionados, especially those who want to broaden their knowledge of various genres and want to try new stuff they've only ever heard of in passing. Books usually come with a back cover blurb, and popular ones have a note from publishers, reviews from magazines and newspapers, and even testaments from other customers. I hardly take the reviews seriously, both praises and/or criticisms, but I consider it a good precaution to take their advice, even with a pinch of salt, before heading off to grab a new book.
RATINGS GUIDE
If you are baffled by the ratings I dole out, worry not, for I am just as baffled as you. Once you look at the pretty quills though, I don't think it's that hard to figure out what's Good and what's Even Better. It's quite elementary my dear, if you'd only gauge the quality by the perfect score, which is 5 Golden Quills.
Maximum number of Gold Quills in a rating are 5. Each Gold Quill stands for a specific merit of the book, adding up to its overall quality. Sometimes, at Abernaith's leisure, she'll explain to you what exactly are the merits of a book to gain such and such a rating. Definitely though, ratings will be usually based on the Quality of Writing (with technical aspects such as Grammar, Word Usage, Clarity of Sentences), on Plot Sensibility, and of course, the Development of Characters. All of these, I consider to be important in the high standards of a book. It's hardly worth reading, you know, if none of these things are present.
Silver Quills
Value: Half-Point apiece
Basically, Silver Quills are for when I'm uncomfortable in giving out whole-number ratings. If I feel that there a certain lack in the book, say I found some parts boring or trying to read, and most especially when I feel that I'm over-compensating for the author by drawing much too much from my Bank of Suspended Disbelief, then I'll probably put a Silver Quill instead of a Gold one. Well, it's my own personal opinion, so that's all I need to justify my rating scheme. But I'm pretty reasonable about the whole idea, so no worries.
On Fanfiction...
What is Fanfiction? And what is Slash Fiction?
Fanfiction is just what it says: Fan Fiction. These are stories written by fans of a certain work, the earliest (to my reckoning) acknowledged as such being Star Trek fanfiction. It was, in a time before time, something of an obscure hobby that comic book geeks took up, and later Usenet (the old one) geeks made widespread.
Slash fanfiction, on the other hand, was started (from what I heard) by the Star Trek people too, special people (snigger), who have a penchant for seeing something special in the two good men of the sci-fi cult series, namely, Kirk and Spock. Although they write it as: Kirk/Spock, for how they are "paired", as in "a relationship". (Haha.) Hence, the Slash. Of course, by now, Slash has spread out like wildfire to the fanfiction community, infecting lots of girls (fag-hags, hehe) and gals (fags), but mostly girls and *gasp* married women with mostly nothing to do (with their lives). Quite a hobby really, for it serves as an outlet for all the pent-up snark (in my case).
Rated-18 Advisory
Please don't visit the Fanfiction section unless you are 18 or older. The recommendations there are mostly dealing with MATURE THEMES, with Homosexuality and __Sexual Intercourse__. There is a Rated-18 Warning over at that page too, and please be advised that once you decide to scroll down from the warning point, read the content and/or click on any of the outgoing links that are there, you, the viewer, take full responsibility of your actions and such consequence as would directly/indirectly result from them. Please take this warning seriously, as some states in the U.S. consider such content __illegal for minors__, and also to ward any offended people off trying to sue me. Please don't sue me. This is a personal site, so I'm entitled to put such content as I please in it. The forewarning and rated-18 advisory are a courtesy to the viewers of this site.
bored people have come and gone through this page,
slipping away like light through the jalousies...
Have a confession? Did you like this site? Or do you hate it, and hate the guts of whoever came up with it? So. Come tell me: abernaith@gmail.com. Or, you could drop by my new guestbook c/o the beautiful people of Ur I.T. Mate Group. People who give feedback are good, conscientious people.
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