Sheila's Guests and Reviews

I went to the Permanent Press website for details of a book I was reviewing last week, and my eye was caught by the title of an upcoming release, All Cry Chaos . It's probably the mathematician in me; mention chaos in any kind of literary manner (as opposed to kids and families) and it quickly ignites that chaos theory spark. So I clicked on the cover and saw this Publishers Weekly quote: "Readers, especially the mathematically inclined, will relish this intellectually provocative whodunit." Wow! Definitely something I'd like to read... Fast forward to yesterday's  mail delivery where I found a parcel with some gorgeous stamps (see picture) from the Permanent Press. And there, inside, is a copy of All Cry Chaos , all for me! How cool is that? So now this mathematically inclined reader is struggling to keep her fingers from opening the book... must finish prior reviews... must finish prior reviews... must finish... must... Thank you Permanent Press!

If you post book reviews you'll almost always find you're asked to post ratings too. On many sites, they won't even take the review til you give them a rating. Not a problem, perhaps, unless you happen to have a thing about numbers. And being some kind of mathematician still, I kind of do. Back in school, in England, we got percentages, not letter-grades, or 1 to 5s. 100% was perfection, no room for improvement, and the only place you might get it was in math. In science, the experiment could've been just a bit more clearly described. In english, the essay may have no grammar errors, but couldn't you have added some more emotion? But in math, the answer's wrong or right, and even if the score's split between stages, each stage itself is either right or wrong. (Of course, in college I learned that even math can't reach perfection, but that's another tale.) So now I give grades of 1-5 to books. Actually, I give grades of 3-5: 5 means I love it so much...