Quiz: Find The Book Title From Its Quotes

Quiz: Find The Book Title From Its Quotes

It has been a while since we did a quiz in here, right? So that is what we will do today. How many books can you name based on quotes from them?

How well do you know your bookish quotes? If you like this one you might take a look at the previous one here, as well.

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elgeewrites Quiz: Find The Book Title From Its Quotes quizQuotesp

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Quiz: Find The Book Title From Its Quotes

Types of unreliable narrators that you should love

Not too long ago, I shared about my love for unreliable narrators in fiction and I even came out with a list. But recently I had a discussion about these narrators and I realized some of my friends had pretty serious opinions about them as well. And not everyone loves them. Shocking!!

It was for me, at least. I mean what is there to not like in them, right? RIGHT?

unreliable narrators
Credit: Tenor

Well, my so called friends (am seriously reconsidering my allies here!) gave me bunch of reasons to support, which I begrudgingly have to accept, that the unreliable narrators might not be for everyone.

But I am sure there is at least one kind of unreliable narrator that each of us like. They are not all the same!!!

Types of unreliable narrators

Yes today I am gonna talk about the kinds of unreliable narrators that we usually find in fictional world and why they are so important in their books. Ready for the ride?

Unreliable narrators that are naïve

Okay not totally naïve but they can’t help it. For some reason they are not fully aware of what is happening to/around them, maybe by their own doing or not. 

Let us talk about the types of unreliable narrators that we usually find in fictional world and why they are so important in their books. Ready for the ride? Click To Tweet

For example, Jack from the Room was inside the shed for years before he was broken out and seeing the world with the innocence of a young boy is definitely not reliable. 

Types of unreliable narrators - naive

Unreliable narrators whose perception is misleading

There are many characters that fall into this category in the recent times. Christopher Boone from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, for instance, cannot be taken at his face value, as he on the Asperger’s / Autistic spectrum and his understanding of things is quite literal and lacks depth.

Patrick Peoples from The Silver Linings Playbook and Charlie from the Perks of being a wallpaper have repressed memories, while Rachel from the girl on the train has been under the influence of alcohol almost the entire time of the story.

Types of unreliable narrators - misleading POV

And these books largely depend on these narrators and otherwise would have been another run of the mill novel.

Books like The Silver Linings Playbook and the girl on the train, largely depend on their #unreliablenarrators and otherwise would have been another run of the mill novel. RIGHT? Click To Tweet

Unreliable narrators that hold back information

Omitting to state the facts is also kinda lying, of course. But Eva does that so well in We need to talk about Kevin. The whole books is written in the form of letters to her estranged husband and she talks about everything but why Kevin did what he did (mass shooting at his school) and if she did enough to prevent that from happening.

Types of unreliable narrators - omission

I recently read the Woman in the Window for my book club and found that Dr Anna Fox holds back a lot from others and the reader as well. Well, on a happier note that backfires right at her and that plays so well into holding the suspense to the story.

Kinds of unreliable narrators Pinterest
Kinds of unreliable narrators Pin me

Unreliable narrators that outright lie and manipulate

These are my favorite kind of unreliable narrators!

Man, they toy with us and mislead us perfectly into their trap without breaking a sweat. Take Patrick from American Psycho, he is suave, well read and smart and he commits gruesome murders with a finesse (or not!). His unreliability is the only thing that left us questioning the reality at the end.

Types of unreliable narrators - manipulative liars
Credit: Giphy

I love Gone Girl and I adore Gillian Flynn‘s writing and her unreliable characters (yes there are many). Nick and Amy seem sincere and innocent until we start unraveling their traps and deceit. I mean talk about the plot twists these unreliable narrators provide. 

Final words

Yes, they misrepresent facts, break our trusts and some time lie to our faces even. But so what? 

Types of unreliable narrators - gray area
Credit: Giphy

I mean what narrator is truly objective and trustworthy! They all talk about the things they believe are true. So what if these narrators add a bit of bias, color the truth or even hold stuff back from the reader? They are as amazing as their lying conniving selves they can be, to me! 

Related: Top Ten Unreliable Narrators That I Love 

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Quiz: Find The Book Title From Its Quotes

Review shots: Christie’s murder mysteries

It is a brand new month and that means it is time for mini reviews AKA review shots. And this week am gonna bring in three books from one author, who is one of  my all time favorites, Dame Agatha Christie. Don’t we all need some mystery thriller every month?

These are our monthly picks for the ClassicsNChristieClub and I thought I can club them up together for our review shots. So shall we get on with it?

Read my thoughts on three #AgathaChristie #murdermystery that we read in our #ClassicsNChristieClub in this month's edition of #reviewshots Click To Tweet

The Murder on the Links

Christie murder

Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings have been invited to  Merlinville-sur-Mer, France, to help Paul Renauld, a millionaire. Upon arriving to the Villa Genevieve, they find him dead. He is stabbed in the back with a letter opener and pushed into a newly dug grave near their golf club. His widow claims that two masked men tied her up around 2 AM and took her husband away.

As the duo proceeds to investigate the case, Poirot gets a competitor in the form of Monsieur Giraud from the French Sûreté who has a history with Poirot. Who murdered the millionaire and why forms the rest of The Murder on the Links. 

My thoughts

I am not a big fan of Poirot – Hastings combo, but I couldn’t help rooting for them here. I couldn’t guess the culprit right until the end which makes the book a win for me. The only thing that didn’t work for me is the romance story for Hastings and making him a besotted fool till the end. 

Bottom line

If you like the usual Poirot novels, you are in for a treat reading The Murder on the Links. 

The Man in the Brown Suit

Christie murder

In The Man in the Brown Suit we have a new lead detective Anne Beddingfeld. Anne leaves the country in search of a new adventure after her famous father dies. Soon enough she witnesses an accidental death and she finds a clue that might have something to do with death. She throws caution to the wind and decides to chase the clues that may prove it was not just another accident.

Her journey takes her to Africa and further on the trail of the murderer. Anne forms new friends, saves a stranger and makes stronger enemies. But does she make friends with the right person? How far will her sense of adventure take? You need to read The Man in the Brown Suit to know if the murderer was caught and who was the mastermind behind it all.

My thoughts

Christie has a bunch of recurring detective characters but Anne Beddingfeld appears only in The Man in the Brown Suit. I didn’t like her at all, and I can say she was too naive and annoying for my taste. Of course others might find her lively and perky compared to Tommy and Tuppence or even Poirot.

Bottom line

I definitely didn’t solve the case, so that is a positive thing I guess. But it bored me during some parts and I was wishing it would end soon.

The Secret of Chimneys

Christie murder

The story begins when James McGrath gives a manuscript to Anthony Cade and asks him to hand it over to the publishers in London. Cade doesn’t realize it to be arduous task with men threatening for it and a political troop trying to steal it away from him. He is also requested to return a few personal letters to a lady he has only a name of. 

There are quite a few characters who assemble to have a political and business agreement at the Chimneys, where Cade is also invited to discuss about the manuscript. Unfortunately that is where a murder takes place and Inspector Battle is called upon to investigate. Soon enough we are suspecting everyone present at Chimneys that night. Who committed the murder and what is the story behind it follows in The Secret of Chimneys.

My thoughts

Yes I am saved the best for the last. The Secret of Chimneys was our March BOTM and I should say I liked this the best among these three. I loved the array of characters especially Bundle and her father Lord Caterham provided the much needed comic relief.

Everytime I zeroed in on someone to be the blacksheep I was proved wrong, which made it all the more interesting. There is a bit of romance in this one too but it was not a hinder like in the other two. 

Bottom line

The Secret of Chimneys is definitely worth a read, pick it right away. 

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Have you read any of these ones before? Do you usually read Agatha Christie’s? Which is your favorite among them all? Let us talk.

Quiz: Find The Book Title From Its Quotes

Sunday Musings #42: One About A Short Holiday And The Spring

Hello people, I am writing from the warm Dubai and the weather is still being weird here. We took off to Marjan Islands, in Ras Al Khaimah which is another Emirate (State?) in the UAE to enjoy the short Spring.

For those of you all interested, Marjan Islands is a man made archipelago in the Persian Gulf and is about less than 2 hours drive from where I live. It was just a two nights stay and was fun being in the beach for a change. 

Marjan Islands
Pic: Google

But didn’t I say the weather was weird? The sun kept playing hide and seek all through the day and then the rain poured down as we drove back home. 

Marjan Islands

And then IT RAINED FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS! In DUBAI. Yes that literally has never happened in the whole time I have been here. 

Marjan Islands

Anyway here are some pictures from the trip for you all.

Marjan Islands

What I read this week

Marjan Islands

I read The Woman in the Window by Finn A.J for our all female book club called the bookworms of UAE.

Marjan Islands

And I am currently reading the Curious incident of the dog in the night for the Classics N’ Christie club, which I hope to complete tonight, before the end of March. 

I guess these buddy reads and club reads keep me on my toes and I don’t waste time deciding what to read next.

On my blog

Here is a quick recap of the last week on my blog

Sunday Musings #41: One About Bookish Apps And K-Drama

Marjan Islands

Monday review on Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Marjan Islands

Indie Guest Post: Creating An Author Brand – YOU! (The Economical Way!) by Eden Gruger

Marjan Islands

Don’t you hate it when you schedule a post and it just won’t get published on time? Well that happened quite a number of times this week for me. My Friday post never got published and I hate that it is still on my draft and is waiting impatiently for its time. 

Don't you hate it when you schedule a post and it just won't get published on time? Well that happened quite a number of times this week for me. Let us talk about other stuff that happened last week in my #weeklywrapup #Sundaypost Click To Tweet

I will be linking today’s post with Caffeinated reviewer’s Sunday post Meme

Around the blogosphere

Here are some literary links I found during the week:

Share your favorite post from the #bookcommunity last week here. #linksILiked #SundayPost #Weeklywrapup Click To Tweet

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How has your week been? And how has the weather been treating you? What are your current reads? Let us talk.

Quiz: Find The Book Title From Its Quotes

Creating An Author Brand – YOU! (The Economical Way!): Indie Guest Post

I have not met any indie author who thinks marketing their books easy, yet. I know marketing the book can daunting and tiring. And any number of articles you read about it is not enough at all. And let us not even talk about the cost constraints. 

That is why we are here with yet another article on marketing for indie authors. And we have Eden talking about branding for an author and creating the brand YOU!

Say hello to Eden!

I’m an indie author, (with a marketing background) and keep finding posts on writer’s forums like ‘so I published my book, but only sold two copies in the last year, I don’t know why I bothered….’

author Brand you

Contrary to some people’s opinion that “when the book is written the work is done”, self-publishing isn’t just about writing, finding a good editor, choosing a publisher, getting an ISBN, formatting the book, designing the cover and choosing your price.  It also needs to about becoming your own agent, marketing department and cheerleeader.  You can throw lots of money at marketing, but that might not help – what are you spending your money on?

This is a step by step guide to getting started, using things that anyone can do, that cost nothing.  Marketing means publicising your name and work, it is everything you do that gets people’s interest.  Which can lead to them buying your work – it’s not selling, which is a different skill, and doesn’t relate to books.

You will need: a calendar, notebook, two pens one colourful, and off we go…

First

Imagine your ideal reader, now make a note of their gender, age, occupation, relationship status, pets, where they live; When you have a detailed picture then we can work out where to find them.   

Second

Set up a Facebook page with privacy set to friends, people must be your friend to see your content.  Invite people you know, and ask these people to invite their friends – don’t randomly add people you have no connection with, they are unlikely to be your ideal reader.

Don’t randomly add people on Facebook page you have no connection with, they are unlikely to be your ideal reader. Read more tips on Branding you as #indieauthor from @edengrugerwrit1 Click To Tweet

Use this page to talk positively about your book, your writing process, your inspiration, good books you have read – absolutely no negativity allowed on this page.  If someone is unkind or abusive, block them, don’t get into arguments that make you look unprofessional. 

Remember this isn’t the page to share private photos or air dirty laundry, keep your private life just that.

Thirdly

Join every writer and reader group that you can find on Facebook, this is where you connect, and let likeminded people know that you exist (no bombarding anyone with links or information on the book).

Fourth

Back to your ideal reader, we know who they are, now we need to think about where will they hang out online, parent groups? Ones about pets, gardening, music, interior design, travel, local history, or issue groups?

Apply to join the groups where your readers are.  If you get accepted introduce yourself with a question to engage interest, ‘Hi, thanks for welcoming me into the group, I am writer what do you do?’ ‘Hi, I love history/travel/music it inspires me to write, what does it inspire you to do?

You get the picture – do not add your book information unless someone asks for it. You are marketing yourself and your work; NOT COLD CALLING (remember those annoying people who used to telephone while you were eating?).

You are marketing yourself and your work; NOT COLD CALLING! Read more tips on Branding you as #indieauthor from @edengrugerwrit1 Click To Tweet

Fifth

Set up a Twitter account in the same name as your Facebook page follow authors who are in your genre, or people who would be your target readers and make pleasant comments on their posts – don’t mention your book unless asked, just be an interesting person.

On all of the above use the same profile picture, you need to be instantly recognisable.  Make sure you look smiley and approachable – if you write horror or sci-fi you can afford to look serious, but still approachable.  Ladies, no cleavage or poute-y poses please – we know sex sells but we are marketing your book, not your personal wares.

Congratulations you now have a brand – BRAND YOU!

To begin to build on this, you need to be like healthy bowels (nice and regular); mark on your calendar exactly when each week to update your social media.  Give yourself an hour to post and respond to messages.  When complete give yourself a tick with your colourful pen; it is important to notice and record when you are working on your writing career. 

Now you have a cohesive image and a social media following which will be organically growing while you go to the next phase. 

Sixth belief, in yourself and your book.

Have you told everyone you ever met that you wrote a book? Think of this information as a pebble dropped into water making bigger and bigger ripples.  I’m not talking about becoming a bore, but if anyone asks what you’ve been doing lately, tell them you wrote a book.  Your family, friends, work colleagues, neighbours, sports team, hairdresser, dentist, librarian, mechanic, the person on the bus next to you… everyone should know.

People you know are more likely to buy from you just because they know you, they might want to hear what you have to say, or they might not.  It doesn’t matter why they use their money to buy your book, it just matters that they do.

Seventh

Never forget to ask people who buy your book to leave you a review (give the exact addresses of your FB and Twitter to post their review online).  Suggest they invite other readers they think might like the book to try it – consider how many of the last 10 books you bought came from personal recommendation?

This is one for the calendar, once a month ‘put a message on Facebook tagging anyone who has bought your book’; then do it, and tick with your colourful pen.   

Eighth

If you have an ISBN and are on Ingram’s then email bookshops, (start in your town, then county and work outwards) introduce yourself and the book.  There are templates online of what you need to include.  If you have physical copies offer a three book discount to buy direct from you.  Any deals or prices must be agreed in writing – so get emailing.

Don’t just drop into shops, it looks unprofessional and is generally a waste of your time and theirs, the person responsible for buying will need to check your book out before they can make a decision.

Ninth

If a shop wants to stock your book ask to be featured on their social media, and ask to add their links to yours.  When they agree (in writing) post on Facebook and Twitter “Head to BOOKSHOP (link) to get your copy of TITLE” or “Thanks to BOOKSHOP (link) for stocking TITLE”.

Make friends with your booksellers, they can recommend your book, or give you a reading / signing event.  Independents are better than chains, as they have autonomy.

Tenth

Do all this, and then keep doing it every single month, and then do it all again, and again.  Your name will be out there as a cool writer who behaves with professionalism rather than a nightmare spammer.  Potential customers can look you up, see what you have written….and buy your book.

Finally

Please remember why you started writing, if you were thinking you’d written an indie bestseller, and you’d make your millions, I admire your spirit, but you might want to adjust your reality.  Enjoy the process, including the marketing, or why do it?

Thank you, Eden!

And I am back to thank Eden for taking time off her busy schedule to write us a guest post. You can follow and contact Eden through these links.

Twitter | 

If you have something to add to Eden’s story, drop a comment here or send him a word of thanks on the social media. Both of us would love that.Also, if you are interested in writing a guest post for the independent publishing community, write to me right away. I am still accepting guest post submissions.

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Do you have an author website? How do you fare on your branding as an author? As a reader, do you like author brands? Do you follow their social media as much? Who is your favorite brand? Let us talk.