Saturday, March 10, 2007

THE NEW BLUE REVIEW

I answered a craigslist ad last month looking for book reviewers. The company listed about fifty books they still wanted to video review, so I emailed with the book titles I'd read (as well as my master list of all the books I've ever read -- yes, VERY nerdy). It sounded like a paid gig right up my alley. Needless to say, I was thrilled when they called me in.

I had to FEVERISHLY re-read the 3 books I agreed to review, since it had been 5-10 years since I'd read any of them. (This was the same week I was planning Aubrey's birthday party, so I was slightly overwhelmed with 1500 pages to refamiliarize myself with!)

I drove to Oakland then one morning and sat with the director and camera for a half hour and reviewed the following books:

A Year In Provence, by Peter Mayle (non-fiction)
The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley (fiction)
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant (fiction)

YOU can see and listen to my reviews on www.bluerectangle.com! Just click on the video section and look for my review in the appropriate genre.

The website aims to help readers consider a book based on a "real person" giving a "real review" -- you can let me know what you think. (Or not!)

3 comments:

anjie said...

Glad you checked it out! Indeed, it does NOT work well on dial-up connection; DSL, etc., works best.

As for the transcript, as far as I could tell, the written text looked pretty accurate when compared to the video. They left out a LOT of stuff in the edit, believe you me! (Thank goodness -- it was easy to get tangled up a bit in the self-consciousness of the interview/review. I believe I did some eye rolling and heavy sighing that didn't make the cut.)

anagotadavida said...

Hey Anjie,

what a great opportunity to use your talents! I have not read A year in Provence, but many have recommended it to me. I have read the Red Tent and loved it!

My book group is reading "Autumn of the Patriach" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Am having a little trouble getting passed the ongoing dream-like sequencing, but am only a few pages to being done. And seeing as my group meets on tuesday, i'd better sign off and get to readin'.

Had a chance to catch up on your blog, always fun to read up on your life there. By the way, loved the piece about "the bike". What is your timeline for staying in San Fran? Do you plan to return to WA? I am trying to make my way to San Fran at the end of Aug, if you're still there, we'll have to meet up!

Take care,
Ana

anagotadavida said...

Hey Anjie,

what a great opportunity to use your talents! I have not read A year in Provence, but many have recommended it to me. I have read the Red Tent and loved it!

My book group is reading "Autumn of the Patriach" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Am having a little trouble getting passed the ongoing dream-like sequencing, but am only a few pages to being done. And seeing as my group meets on tuesday, i'd better sign off and get to readin'.

Had a chance to catch up on your blog, always fun to read up on your life there. By the way, loved the piece about "the bike". What is your timeline for staying in San Fran? Do you plan to return to WA? I am trying to make my way to San Fran at the end of Aug, if you're still there, we'll have to meet up!

Take care,
Ana