Book Blogger Hop Topic for the week of February 4-10th, 2022:
Have you been listening to virtual author events (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews).
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, I relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
Book Blogger Hop topic Topic for the week of February 4-10, 2022:
Have you been listening to virtual author events (Submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews)?
Well, that’s a deceptively simple question.
My answer is, unfortunately no, and I’ll tell you why. The main problem is, because I live in Israel, and many of the virtual tours and events take place in the US, because of the time difference, I’d have to be awake in the middle of the night to watch or listen to them. Plus, I’ve never been much of a podcast person, to be honest.
Yes, there have been some that took place only two hours behind me in the UK, but they aren’t as frequent as the ones in the US. For example, when there was one recording of a virtual event with Maggie O’Farrell just after she won the Women’s Prize for Fiction – that was fascinating.
Mind you, I did look up few virtual events in 2021 that were recorded that I’ve had the chance to listen in on and/or watch. For example, there was a recorded interview with Margaret Atwood last year, that I saw and enjoyed. But just to listen to them… not really my thing.
And, well… that’s it, really!
What about you? Did you listen to any virtual author events? If not, why? If so, which ones, and would you want to listen to more of them?
Thanks again to Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer for this blog hop, and Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews for the topic!
You can join this blog hop here!
This post is also my 2nd entry in the 2022 Discussion Challenge, hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
I rarely listen to author chats or virtual events period. I sometimes will go to author pages, but usually only once. I prefer to read about what other people think about authors, not just a regurgitation of what I already know. Here is my February discussion topic: What do you do when a favorite author dies? Let’s Discuss!
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Thanks.
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Actually lots of them are then recorded and available on youtube, so you ca watch whenever you want.
Just one example, type “national book festival” in youtube search, and you will find a lot, with great authors.
I actually organized one such event for my France Book Tours company. I invited 4 authors who featured French artists in their novels.
It’s available on youtube: “French artists in fiction: four lives, four authors” https://youtu.be/oZPjQjeO96o
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Thanks. I’ll check it out!
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Missed this the other day. I’ve watched lots of online events and ‘attended’ various book events either as a webinar or smaller meet the author discussions. Many events in person take place in London and it’s just too far away for me to get to quickly or cheaply! (I live in Edinburgh.) So virtual events have actually given me more opportunities to be involved in bookish events and I’ve enjoyed them. I think hybrid will be the way forward for a lot of book launches and book festivals. But I appreciate that even then, they might not work well timewise for you in a different time zone.
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Yes, but the UK is only two hours behind me, so British ones are more manageable, but less frequent.
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I did join in a few via Zoom during the first UK lockdown. Some were fabulous like Maggie O’Farrell talking about Hamnet, some were disappointing because they lacked the buzz of an actual audience. If you’re interested, you can get a pass at pretty low cost to watch all the Hay Festival events after they’ve gone out
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So I heard. I might look out for them, but I kinda hope to go to the next one myself!
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Do let me know if you plan to be a Hay. Its about 90 minutes from my home and I’d love a chance to meet up….
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I wish I could go this year, but I don’t think I can afford it. I’m going to a writers retreat in Ireland in July, and that isn’t going to be cheap! So going to the UK in May-June is a stretch. However, if I don’t make the festival and I do get to the UK this year, I’ll try to plan to be in the area! We shall see. The problem is, I have friends and family across the country! But who knows…
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Understood. I hope the Hay programme this year is more interesting than it’s been for a few years where they seemed to give more attention to environmental/political topics than literature
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I listen to them, but sometimes they get too long.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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I don’t really listen to author events online either, even though I have good access. I think it gets overwhelming with the sheer amount of stuff available online lately because of the pandemic. It’s a good thing, but it can also feel like too much of a good thing.
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Really! The Internet isn’t just a rabbit hole you fall down anymore; more like a BLACK hole that sucks you in!
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I agree with Rosie’s comment above. I’m glad to find I’m not the only person who is not much into audio books or podcasts. I did watch Olivia Laing being interviewed about her book ‘Everybody’ which I greatly enjoyed.
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No, I too haven’t embraced podcasts and similar. Lockdown was the ideal time to do it, but it never became anything like a habit. Reading somehow seems easier than listening in this context.
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For me as well!
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I have never listened to a podcast or an audio book yet. Not my thing at this moment in my life. It may change in the future.
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When my eyes go, maybe…
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No. I signed up for one but missed it due to not seeing it was Chicago time lol. Then I lost interest in a redo. I’m not an audio learner at all. No interest in audiobooks either…
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No. I’d always rather read the books than listen to the authors!
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Understood!
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No, I actually don’t do this, but I don’t know why. I used to watch Nancy Pearl’s program every month in which she interviews authors, but I haven’t done that for a while, either.
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I stumbled unto this group of authors today: https://wickedauthors.com/ and they also were on YouTube and I subscribe to that session as well; it aired last year; Edith Maxwell (known as Maddie Day) https://edithmaxwell.com/ who is also author of the Quaker Midwives series for this genre likes to give tours/lectures as depicted on her website; they are a fun group and I hope to view of them from time…the Wicked Authors that is.
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Thanks!
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