Goodness, this is actually my first comment here I think. I’ve rarely been to the html version of the site, but I’ve been reading the feed on Google Reader for months now and have enjoyed the things coming out.
My biggest suggestion is about your advertising. The one thing that really bugs me about websites, and part of the reason I read blogs via feed rather than at the sites themselves (the major part is that it’s easier :P), is advertisements that have nothing to do with what the site is about (or at least stuff that really isn’t very useful). Right now you have Dreamhost, Amazon, Graphic Classics, and some others, and then this one for some pill. All the others are good, I think. Dreamhost might not be related to the site, but it’ll be useful to someone who wants to start their own blog on their own space, etc.
It’s that pill one that bugs me. You should really get rid of it if you can. I feel it hurts the html version of the site (or php or whatever it is…you know what I mean). You should focus on really good adverts (such as ones for SF/F magazines, websites that sell products that would be interesting to your viewers, such as myself, and the like). Have you considered advertising for charity organizations that help in the reading process for kids and such? I think that would be really good for the site too.
Those are just my thoughts. As for the general layout. I like it. It’s simple, gets the job done, and doesn’t pull you too much from the content, meaning it’s not flashy. That’s important. I should look at the content more than anything else, and that’s what happens. Just work on those adverts :P.

Is that constructive enough? I don’t know. I’m trying to be helpful to make the site a little more appealing to readers on the html version of the site. It looks good, but bad adverts will always grab people’s attention, and it’s better to have interesting adverts than ones that will make people cringe. The pill one makes me cringe, but maybe because I’m so tired of seeing all these annoying advertisements about enhancement pills, energy pills, etc. on the net and TV.

Anywho, hopefully that helps!

State of BOOKGASM summary.

Overall very good. I check this site on a regular basic to find books that I would not have pick up other wise. One of my favorite of last year was the book “The Chess Machine”. Thank for the head up. Otherwise I would have missed it.

Thing that I do not care for(IMHO) the recent articles on people in book stores. I did not find them funny. Your quick reviews article that cover three or four book at a time. In every one of them, there is at least one book that I want more information on. Please do full review on each of them instead of the quick summery.

I would like to see more review on nonfiction. There are large numbers of history and biography books that come out each month. They are never mention. You might consider doing more.

I love that you take time to do review of the 60’s and 70’s paperback series.

I plan to continue to to check this site on regular basis. Thank you for you hard work.

Patrick Reumann

The QUICKGASM feature is a necessity. There are some books that I either am at a loss on how to write a good full review on, or simply do not have the time. It allows us to cover more books; the other option would be to let them fall completely by the wayside. Whenever I win the lottery and can quit my job, we’ll make that feature go away, deal?

Humor’s subjective, understood. But this site was founded on somewhat of an edge, so they’ll always have a place, but are rare right now.

Actually, I really enjoy the “Book Whore” segments. I work in a book store, and my day is a blur of covers, authors and blurbs. Bring able to enjoy book blurbs in the peace of my home instead of doing in the elevator on the way up from the basement is refreshing.

I do not actually have any complaints about the site. The reviews are typically well articulated, books that are shot down usually have a reason (other than being god awful) and the mix of new and old publications always keeps me guessing as to what will show up next. I also adore that you do graphic novels and horror and tons of genres mixed in together. When I saw WWZ on the header, I knew I was in the right place.

(On the topic of ads, the Google ads right now are all for pharmaceutical products. Birth control pills, diet pills, adipex. I don’t really mind, but this is just to confirm what the first guy said.)

Thanks for hard work you do!

“State of Bookgasm”

Although I don’t always leave comments, I come to Bookgasm everyday. As an avid reader, aspiring author, and general book lover, I really enjoy reading the book reviews and site-user comments. There are always healthy doses of the good, the bad, the funny, etc.

I sometimes even enter these great contests! They are an enticing way to boost excitement and visits from readers.

I like the book reviews of all genres, even if there is a particular genre I don’t read often (or sometimes ever.) It’s still interesting to see what other books people are into, and hear what they have to say. It opens my eyes to what is out there beyond the genres I read all the time. I hope that it does the same for other readers.

Kudos on the “9 Most Annoying…” and “9 Least Annoying…” posts. Those two posts were just hilarious! As were the user comments.

Personally, I would love to see more posts on biographies, as I am a fan of such.

But no matter the posts, I have found quite a few good books through Bookgasm. Thanks for the great site!

Heather Brown

Bookgasm is a blog for those of us who simply love to read. We gravitate to those mystery, science fiction, fantasy, thriller, spy novels, and even comic books, first because we love reading them. And because we love reading them, we love recommending them to our friends and those we know share this love. So Bookgasm can go from Matt Helm to Jack London; from Ed McBain to Richard Price, all for the same reason: They are great fun to read. It is this kind of passion for the simple love of reading that sets Bookgasm apart from all other literary/book/reading blogs. And this is a characteristic that I hope it never loses.

Because it is this passion for the fun of reading that will eventually keep book stores, libraries, and, yes, even books themselves, alive.

Bookgasm talks to other readers; never down to them. So while we may not have the time or the opportunity to carefully turn the pages of some well-worn paperback found at a second hand store, or in a box found in the basement, it is refreshing to know that the reviewers at Bookgasm have — and are so happy to tell us about what they have read.

One of the things I really appreciate is that Bookgasm discusses a lot of horror books without resorting to a hard to read spooky black background. That might sound like a minor thing but seriously, I really appreciate the easy to read design.

I also really appreciate the wide range of books reviewed. I have read science fiction again because of positive reviews here, as well as rediscovering my love for all things Remo Williams.

I found Bookgasm because it was covering books that I was interested in. So what is working in my opinion is the content. Please continue to cover SF, mystery and suspense. I really appreciate the reviews of older books. There were a couple, such as the John D. Macdonald ones, that led me to finally read books by authors that I knew about but hadn’t read.

As for what doesn’t work, since I use the RSS feed to scan the topics and summaries before clicking to the site, it would help if you break up your articles so that I can tell what books or topics will be covered in an article. I hate to think there were books you covered that I never noticed because they were buried deep in the content and did not appear in the RSS or on your main page.

The state of Bookgasm is: continuing awesomeness. (No, I’m not 13. Just no better way to put it.) There’s a multitude of books out there, but I don’t have time to screw around. You guys make my life so much easier and enjoyable with fair, spoiler-free reviews that focus in on “the next great read” in all the genres I love. See, that’s the thing. Bookgasm gets that reading is fun and reading fun shit is sublime. So no surprise I LOVE the “Bullets, Blackmail, etc.” column. It turned me on to George Gilman, Donald Hamilton, and a whole world of forgotten paperbacks. I dig all the columns on the site and appreciate the genre tags and links to reviews of the same author. I feel the least connection to Book Whore’s column. I think it’ll be useful some day by putting a book on my radar screen. I guess since it’s more a plot blurb than a mini-review it doesn’t excite me as much. Not a criticism, just a reaction
Lastly, a suggestion: I loved comedian Patton Oswalt’s myspace blog-list about his favorite Horror authors and a work from each that floored him. I’d like to see lists, in the same vein, from the Bookgasm crew that delve into Mystery, Western, Crime, etc. authors/books I probably don’t know about. Thanks for the site!

I’d just like to state that the site is damn near perfect as is. There is a multitude of sites on the net but I find myself turning to you guys every chance I get. Keep up the good work.

Although the longer reviews are informative and entertaining, I prefer the quick ones. Just wet my whistle with a brief description and if it grabs my interest the author’s or publisher’s website is just a click away for anything more in-depth. Quantity is quality as far as I’m concerned. I also like the mix of new and old books. I’m lucky to have a really good used bookstore in my neighborhood and very much enjoy getting hipped to all the old stuff that I can pick up cheap. I read a lot and it can get rather expensive. This site has exposed me to so much new stuff that it looks like I’d enjoy that I’ve had to start keeping a list to help me remember.

This is my first comment but I now have the feeling it will be far from my last.

Thanks to all involved.

Just a note, the Google ad is not one about a pill to help people sleep. So, maybe you should go hit Google with a hammer to get it to stop that. Can you block those ads? Or filter them?

Easily my favorite part of the Bookgasm site is the regular BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS reviews of pulp and series fiction. I’m a big fan of the Destroyer, Matt Helm, Travis McGee, and many other series characters and love to read about books I haven’t gotten to yet and series I don’t know about. I’ve become a regular reader of the site–maybe not every day, because there isn’t enough new material every day, but I stop by at least once a week. I’m a big comics fan, too, so always appreciate the columns on new collections and graphic novels I may not be aware of. I agree with others that the Quickgasm columns could use a bit more detail, or if not detail, at least a clearer sense of whether the books are being recommended or not. I’ve discovered many new books via your blog that I didn’t know about beforehand, books that I’ve put in my Wishlist at Amazon.com or put in my request list from my local public library. I greatly enjoyed both of the recent columns on the people you see in bookstores–I’d say keep the humor coming! Very insightful and on-target in the sarcasm present, and the responses were equally funny in both cases.

The state of Bookgasm is great. You offer down-to-earth, witty reviews of books new and old. When I stumbled on your site a few months ago (no, not looking for porn), I was a little skeptical based on the name (as I thought it might be porn), but have been pleasantly surprised ever since. I have found several new titles that I would never have found but for Bookgasm (e.g., “Death Dealt the Hand” by John E. Bailor). I have been reminded of authors I’d forgotten about (e.g., John Dickson Carr). And I have been entertained by the humor and wit of the reviewers (e.g., the disturbing book store patrons entry last week). Since finding Bookgasm, I have enjoyed popping on the site periodically to read about good books and to have some fun doing it.

More advertisements about pills, please.

Well, I might as well write a full post instead of a one-line joke.

I can’t remember how I first came upon this site a few months ago, but it’s one of about ten regular sites I visit each day. I’m usually surprised by the number of actual reviews put up each day. One or two new reviews a day would be a lot, but you usually have even more.

As far as the quick capsule reviews, I have no problem with them. Like someone said earlier, they’re a good way to see if something might interest you and follow the link to Amazon to read more about that book. It kind of reminds me of the magazine Talebones, which I haven’t read in a while, but it used to have a capsule review section near the back which must have listed two dozen books, many of which I ended up checking out at Amazon.

I’m not into the thrillers and spy novels at all, but there are so many other reviews of horror, sci-fi, etc. that I can simply ignore the reviews for the spy novels and never feel like I’m missing out on anything.

I like the layout and the easy links to Amazon. Truthfully, I don’t think I ever even noticed the ads on the right side of the page until now (and yes, there actually is a pill ad up there now). The contests, too, are something I never really paid attention to before, but I can’t think of any other site that gives away so much as regularly as this one.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a few more features that aren’t reviews — interviews with authors and , just thinking aloud here, maybe even readers. Or professional reviewers. There’s a column at McSweeneys called Dispatches from A Public Librarian, detailing a librarian’s strange experiences with library users. Something like that, written by, say, a bookstore employee or such, might be interesting. I’m sure there are other features that might be interesting on a semi-regular basis, and no, that’s not subtle hint about anything.

So, on the whole, I enjoy coming to the site every day. Some days it’s a half-minute visit, other days it’s long enough to read two or three full reviews. It’s my favorite review site, ahead of SFsite.com, which would be my second favorite.

Third place would be porn. Lots and lots of porn.

Bookgasm is awesome man. I come here everyday and 99% of the time walk away with some thing to go buy. You used to have a lot more horror starting out. I’d like to see more of that. The same goes for more books based on tv shows and movies. There used to be more. I’m not a huge crime buff though I read it occassionally so I think there is too much of that some times but again, that’s no big deal. The important thing is that you cover stuff noone else does and stick with the genre stuff that noone else will admit they ever read. That itself is what really matters and I’m gratefull to have a web stie like this to keep me on top of things. And, you guys make me laugh a lot(t). THANK YOU!