How to Organize Your Ebooks

It’s not a secret that I am fairly fond of E-books these days, mostly due to space and fast read. I just hate reading books 2 weeks later after it’s release due to postal speed of delivery. (Don’t get me wrong. I do still buy paperbacks, especially the books that I love. Yup, I usually ended up buying both E-books and paperbacks). 

But I also encounter a new setback. I have way too many e-books and yet, I have no organization at all. It was all in a jumble and pretty much everywhere. I don’t really remember which ones are the ones I’ve read without accessing my Librarything nor my Goodreads. I ended up coming up with several ways to help me out when it comes this this matter. I just hope it help you e-book junkies too as well.

1. Sort them Reads and TBR (To be Read)
This is the most simplest way you can do. Create two folders: 
          1. To Be Read
          2. Read 

When you’ve acquired an e-book, just throw them in the TBR folder. Once you’ve finished, just move it to your Read folder.

Of course, you could break it further into :
          1. Fiction
          2. Non-Fiction

I however, as a reviewer, tends to be quite an OCD and have taken it a bit further, by making a few more folders within my folders. My TBR files has ARCS files, which I ‘sub-folder’ed  (is that even a word?) into its release month.

2. Genre-lizing it.
Horror, Paranomal Romance, Mystery & Thrillers, Young Adults, Children, Picture Books, Steampunk, Post & Apocalyptic … etc. oh wow. My TBR and Read folders have these sub-folders, which pretty much an easy organize tip if you feel like reading one genre or the next. You can go wild with your genres. I’m pretty much not that savvy when it comes to genre-lizing, due to cross-genre books. Here’s a small shot of what I did with mine:

3. By Author
I’m OCD. Heck, I did this in my Genre folders. The question would be, what if the author has written books in several genres, what do I do? I just sort them via genre – Author – Read + Unread. Yes tedious, but heck, it works.

4. Via Publisher
Some of my friends actually do this. This particular works when you know exactly which publisher publish in what genre. Although, I know that, I kind off be lost when it comes to easy picking, cause personally it just doesn’t make sense to me.

I’m not really sure how else I should do to try organize my eBooks, but I’m sure the above methods would quiet the OCD in you as well as it did for me.

P/S “Search” feature works too as one of my friends pointed out to me.

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How to Pick Out the Right Book to Read

○ Learn the layout of your library. Where are the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Easy, Reference books are located.

○ Learn to use the 10 classes of the Dewey Decimal System. There is always a label some where hanged around to remind you which class is what.

○ Learn how to use your Library Internet Database. Explore which book you would like to read.

○ Read the summary at the back, flap and occasionally, there’s a mini catalog card which includes the subject of what’s in that book.

○ Skim the text and look through the illustration, if you’re into  that sort of book. Does it match your interests? For the young-ins, I suggest having an adult around to read and enjoy reading with you.

○ Look at your fellow classmates and peers on what they are reading or returning. Ask if they would recommend the book to you or suggest another book of interests.

○ Ask a librarian or your teacher to try one of the books or authors they has incorporated into a lesson. They could also make suggestions based on what you like in particular.

○ Try checking out the books mentioned in the books you read or any sort of media, or your adults.

○ Check out the bestseller lists or any sort of book lists.

○ Browse through the shelves. Something (usually the cover or titles) may catch your eyes.

○ Be curious. Adventurous. Try reading books of that are different from your usual taste. 

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The Five Fingers Rule

To check the reading level of your book, take this simple test:

1) Open a book to the middle and choose any page to read.
2) Read the page. (aloud if possible)
3) Put out 1 finger for every word you do not know or cannot pronounce.
4) If you have 5 fingers out, the book is too difficult to read without help.
5) If you do not get any fingers up, but are reading very slowly and decoding almost every word, you will not enjoy the book.

Here’s the finger guide:
1 Finger: This book is o.k. for you.
2 Fingers: Still Good.
3 Fingers: Could be a bit hard for you to understand.
4 Fingers: Will be too difficult to read and understand.
5 Fingers: Choose another book.

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Oh! That Thing with Genres

Ah yes… Genres. They are such tricky little thing. Curious. Very curious indeed. Don’t underestimate the word called Genre. You be surprise of its power…. *wahahahahahah*

*Ahem*

What am I mumbling about? What powers? Why, How, Huh?

Let me regress… There were times when genres are just the differences between fiction and non-fiction. They have their own divisions and sub-divisions. But as I grew up… I found it has evolve to such an extend that half of the time, genres overlap here and there, that we can’t recognize if it's one genre or the next. As a librarian.. this makes cataloging a bit *just a bit* difficult, but of course.. sometimes, internet helps. I can’t really blame them, cause as an aspiring writer, I do too jump and mix genres when mood strikes.

As I was saying, the main division of genres are FICTION and NON-FICTION. As I have taught the kids during library introductory at school, FICTION is naturally story books and novels, of course throw in comics and graphic novels in for some sense. NON-FICTION is Factual books, in means, whatever that is left, which are their reference books, and their school sort of books. *shows textbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries as emphasis.*

So let’s start with some of the NON-FICTION (FACTUAL) sub-divisions available:

• Autobiography – A book about the life of a person, written by the person himself.
• Biography - A book of somebody's life that is written by another author.
• Comedy / Humor - Huh? Don't forget the book of jokes!
• Art & Craft - Arts & hobbies related books.
• Documentary - Books that reminds you of Discovery, National Geographic & History Channel.
• Educational - Textbooks, handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias and all that.
• True Stories - Famous books from this genre are usually true tales of crime. There are other sub-divisions for this one but you get the idea.

Here's my favorite part. FICTION. Now this one really breaks out in so many overlapping sub-genres that half of the  time is confusing. and yet fun! But it’s a good technique to introduce readers to various other genres. Here are some of the main categories.

• Action - Think Rambo and Indiana Jones...
• Adventures
• Comics, Graphic novels
• Crime
• Detective
• Erotica
• Fan-fiction
• Fantasy
• Historical
• Horror
• Gothic
• Literary
• Mystery
• Romance
• Saga
• Science Fiction
• Thrillers
• True Story
• Western

So... to set an example... let me break out the HORROR genre (since it's one of my favorites) into a few of its sub-genres. It's a genre where it is intended to scare its readers, by inducing terror and horror. It can go either supernatural, or non-supernatural.

• Ghosts
• Shapeshifters - Lycans, werecats, were/something
• Gothic
• Magical
• Death
• Demonic
• Vampires
• Witches
• Science Fiction %
• Fantasy %
• Romance %
• Historical %

And then some....  The ones with % are notably the genres which is available as a main sub genres as well as available in other sub genre’s sub-divisions. I am not really sure if that came out right. But you know what I mean. See what I mean?

Oh my.. so how can I choose a book and make sure it is in my general interest of reading? Flip to the back, and read the blurb, or you can do research over the net. Another way would be flip open a random page and read to get a more accurate flavor. Don’t fret though, sometimes, books are are slow or fast, and they probably trip you here and there. If you gotta try a dip here and there and want to be convince, I suggest you visit the Teasers Tuesdays Meme which is currently hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

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Vampires; <i>Sucking Blood Factor!</i>

Vampires has been quite a fascination for me when it comes to the Horror Genre, and it's quite obvious to me, being someone who grew up in the South East Asia, to notice the vast difference among the different types of Vampires available around the world. Definition of a Vampire, is a creature of the night, who either feeds on Blood, or some sort of essence.

Since I’m Asian, let’s play with the vampire originating from this parts of the world. In this parts of the world, among the Malays (Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore) vampires are known as the Kuntilanak, Languir, Pontianak, Matianak and Boentianak. There is also a big taboo in calling out their names over here, since, they can supposedly hear you and come when you call their names, we occasionally call them, “Ponti-baby”. Anak is translated as baby in English. I guess it's less scary that way.

So anyway… let’s deal with the origins of our vampires. It is a sad story actually, because they origin from women who died in childbirth, where they become the undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages. A Pontianak kills her victims by digging their sharp fingernails though their victims stomach, devouring their organs. They perform their revenge on male individuals by ripping out their sex organs with their bare hands. They tend to locate preys by sniffing out the clothes which are being left outside to dry. Langsuir is the most deadly of them all. Unlike Pontianaks, they appears as a very beautiful woman to devour their victims. She would possess and suck their blood from the inside, slowly killing their victims. She is said to be form when a woman who suffered from laboring sickness (meroyan) or what we would now called as post-natal depression, died and she turned into a Langsuir 40 days after her death. 

Then, there is the Chinese Vampires, which are commonly known as Jiang Shi, or the hopping Chinese ghost. They just hop around, killing living creatures to absorb their life essence from their victims. These vampires are form when their souls failed to leave their dead bodies, due to improper death, suicide or just a want to be a trickster, or the victims of pre-mature burial. Honestly, this is kind of the most funniest vampires I have ever known (not personally of course). They have eyes but they locate victims by smelling them. You could just be in front of them and by holding your breath, they can’t see you. Their eyes would be opening all wide but they can't see you. It just doesn’t compute, but that’s how it is. *lol*

As far as I know, there are hardly any books regarding Asian vampires. Unless if you are Russell  Lee, and Tamar Jalis. But even with them, they barely cover the subject as a main stream. I, as an author, tried but I ended up scared out of my wits before finishing it. *hehe* I guess that’s why in written form, it’s quite rare to find them over here. Visual stream however has covered this part of the genre over and over again.

Vampires originated from the west is kind of simple and ultimately strong characteristically,  living quite a lifestyle when it comes to portraying them. They are far more feature as gothic and the nature of romanticism appear dominant and that to me.. kind of lose its horror edge. They are far more alive and social rather than how the vampires from the East ‘lives’. The most famous of them all would be Dracula, originated from Transylvania (yes I look the darn spelling up! I can’t spell that place by myself, even if my life depends on it >.<). He is the product of Bram Stoker and the character himself is  also being connected to Vlad the Impaler, famously nicknamed as Vlad Vampire. The running history of how a vampire in the western civilization works is by another vampire infecting them with their vampire blood. There’s nothing really that scary about them. No creepy crawly factor at all for me. For me that is.

 Some Vampire Books:

P/S: No! I am not featuring glittering vampires in this post. Period! It’s just not fair to us horror enthusiastics. I drew the line there in Vampirism!

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