Book Blogs

Dear Readers,

I am a Toastmaster. I am on a Toastmasters journey and am following the Innovative Planning Path as part of the Toastmasters educational program to improve communication and leadership skills. My challenge is to create 8 compelling blog posts related to books and this is my third post.

This morning I am looking at other Book Blogs. A google search directed me to Book Smugglers. This is a book review blog for all ages started in 2007 by Ana Grilo and Thea James and specializing in “speculative fiction” since 2008. Speculative fiction refers to fiction that has futuristic or supernatural  themes.

The bloggers mostly review books sent to them by the authors or publishers. The January 8th post, the most current post at this time, is featured under the title, Old School Wednesdays. The bloggers indicate that Old School Wednesdays is a regular feature since the end of 2012. The book reviewed is a Terry Pratchett book, Jingo, published in 1997 hence the “old school” reference.

Jingo does not sound like my kind of book and I am not familiar with this writer. His last name actually reminded me of Ann Patchett. Patchett wrote a book called Bel Canto which I loved. One reason I loved Bel Canto was because it was loosely based on a real life hostage situation in Peru under former President Alberto Fujimori. I  was always fascinated by President Fujimori, a Peruvian of Japanese descent. Sadly, he was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to prison. Now his intriguing life story would be a great book and movie. A quick amazon search revealed that Bel Canto is a 2018 movie in the drama/thriller category.

Are you a fan of speculative fiction? Check out the Book Smugglers blog.