Introducing...my new Meme Controller and Reviewers!

The moment I opened my inbox and discovered people wanted to help review here was wonderful. I wanted to announce who they were straight away. But putting the introductions into one post made more sense.

Meme Controller - GRG

I met GRG through the blog-o-sphere, and was delighted when she enquired about the position. She's fabulous to work with, and has even coerced the Blogger Schedule Gremlins to post on time (a feat I somehow struggled with). Here's GRG's introduction, in her own words:

Hi there! So….I was asked to introduce myself to you, the readers, so that you may gain a little behind the scenes info. Honestly…I’m not accustomed to talking about myself all that much, but here goes nothing! I herald from the US of A, originally born in the Northern states, only to be moved down South several odd years later with my family.

My general interests are (of course) reading, writing (to some degree), music (varied taste), movies (same here), shopping (okay, really…it’s a girl thing), and my pups (mine and our families). My love of books (and a blogging friend) is what drove me to start my own blog, Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers. Books are of course the main topic; however we do stray a bit from time to time. What genres are covered? The answer is as many as the grains of sand in an hour glass….no, really, it’s pretty much whatever catches my eye. You’ll find new books, beloved favorites, non-published works (sometimes), and those titles that have been out, but you may have missed. Feel free to stop on over anytime!

In close, I would like to thank Yunaleska for this opportunity. Although we (the newbie’s) are assisting her, we are definitely getting experience out of it as well. See you in the blogging world (and Twitter….who isn’t on there?)…and happy reading! GMR

The Reviewers - Carly, Gerry and Martin

(Further reviewing positions are still open, email me if you'd be interested) words

I was happy when one reviewer came forth. To have three volunteer so soon was even better. I have little more to say because all three have introduced themselves:

Carly

Hi everyone, I'm Carly and I'm really excited to be writing reviews for Nayu's Reading Corner!

I'm a 22 year old Creative Writing graduate from Bath Spa and I write reviews for my blog and a few other websites, including Chicklish and Curled Up with a Good Book. I most commonly review young adult fiction but I do sometimes review horror and adult books. My favourite books of all are time are The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath), Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier), The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) and It (Stephen King). Thinking about it, I guess none of my favourite books are considered YA fiction but there you go!

Aside from reviewing I'm also a keen writer. As I said before, I'm a creative writing graduate and my heart is in novel writing. I'm currently working on the same novel I've been struggling with for years. One day I'm sure I'll actually make some decent progress with it! I'm also in the process of applying for a Masters in writing for young people at Bath Spa University so fingers crossed I get in!

I also love to watch films, listen to music, travel, drink a little too much with my uni chums, take rubbish photos on my phone, spend too much money on pretty dresses and play the guitar. How diverse I am :).

I currently live with my boyfriend in a lovely town house just outside Bath, in a place called Staverton Marina, which is a teeny tiny village that floods all the time. Happy days!

Gerry

Gerry Mayfield took early retirement in 2008 from more than 30 years in a career in IT ranging from mainframe operator to IT manager for an international security printing company. He retired due to good health, having had a heart attack in 2005 and had determined it would be his last.

He set himself the goal to do those things he enjoyed that he had been neglecting. Those things included gardening, woodwork, friends and reading.

The first book he remembers reading was "The Yellow Book" and wouldn't have given it single star. As a teenager he became obsessed with Sc-Fi but since marrying, more than 30 years ago, he has broadened his reading and has read some of "The Classics". He enjoys such authors as Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin, Tom Holt and Andrew Harman but has recently read and enjoyed 'chick lit' as well as "Soldiers Song", "Never Look Back" and many more across a broad band of styles and genres. He has also read, and found OK but not outstanding, "Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin.

We have books on shelves stacked floor to ceiling in the spare room, or "Library" as we like to think of it, as well as a bookcase on the landing, books in the dining room, books in the living room, books on the bedside table and in our daughter's bedroom. One of my current projects is building a new bookcase to try to, athough temporarily, pretend there is some semblance of order to it all.

Martin

I'm 52, married and live in Swansea. I've lived in this area for most of my life, apart from a two-year business studies course at Coventry Polytechnic. For the last thirty years I've been a Financial Adviser, now Independent. My main loves in life, apart from my wife and my Christian faith, are books, music and most sports,

I've never reviewed books on line at all. However, I have reviewed music concerts and I was also editor of a football website for two years, where I wrote articles and reviewed football matches. I also started an online journalism course with the London School of Journalism, but unfortunately half way through the course I had to finish because of work commitments.

I've been an avid book reader since I can remember. I remember reading Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Richmal Crompton's 'Jennings' books when I was younger. Since then I have read different genres, including Science Fiction. However, my favourite authors currently are Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly and C J Sansom. I'm currently reading 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy, which I find is most unusual as it doesn't have any chapters! I'm also reading 'The road to Woodstock' by Michael Lang, which is Lang's biography of how the Woodstock concert came into being, and his involvement in it.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to GRG, Carly, Gerry and Martin for agreeing to help out on Nayu's Reading Corner, and I look forward to their reviews!