About the Website

THE PAGES

First Page is my Blog page. This is where I post book reviews according to my star rating, a system based on Amazon and Goodreads.

Five stars:   Your name is probably Hemingway, Margaret Atwood, or Chuck Wendig. The first named defined a watershed moment in writing. The last two still living writers always impress no matter how many times you read them.

Four stars:   These are borderline books that are either solid four, almost a five, or almost a three. One example is Chuck Palahniuk. Frequently a five (Fight Club, Make Something Up–Stories You Can’t Unread), sometimes he is a four, and when too descriptive of alternative uses for body parts, descends to a three.

Three stars:   Stories and authors are OK. I find a lot of these novels on BookFunnel or Instafreebie. Many are Indie authors and are self-published. Many of these authors publish four-star novels but technical issues bring the rating down.

Two stars:   I assign this rating when I see inconsistencies in content. Lack of research might be apparent. Perhaps there are copyediting problems even though themes and ideas are good.

One star:   I rarely assign this rating; the writing would have to offend me in some way. I would rather abandon a book over assigning this rating. In approximately seven hundred posts, I have given less than five novels a one-star rating. Basic grammar mistakes, numerous misspellings, and failure to use even basic grammar and spellcheck programs will trigger a one-star rating.

ABOUT     You are here. This is it.

CONTACT     A place for you to send me messages. I share no email addresses. I am considering a monthly (one time only) newsletter that will highlight a specific rant suggested by the month’s reading. I try not to go off message with rants in book review posts.

READING AT HOME: THE PAGES START HERE     My homepage explaining why I started the blog.

SERVICES   There are two subordinate pages here; Proofreading and More Than Proofreading,  which only have relevance to readers in my geographic area. I will be offering the services indicated to people in the Malang, Indonesia area.

RANTS     I want to keep opinions and diatribes out of book review posts. This is where I will vent frustration at some of the things I read.

LANGUAGES     I work in the area of language learning. This goes beyond teaching the mechanics of a language. In the two subordinate pages; English and Indonesian, I will look at the two languages as they are filtered through a cultural lens.

STORE     I may include Amazon Affiliate links on the Amazon Store subordinate page. Keeping in mind that in general Amazon services are not supported in Indonesia, I will only post selected links I think valuable and possible for purchase and delivery to Indonesia. On the Local Store subordinate page, I want to highlight some of the work done by colleagues and students with their online shops.

KRISTOPHER    This page will give a voice to my son. He likes to experiment and write in English and Indonesian.