I'm going to spend the weekend reading two swedish books on jewellery making that I'll review on my other blog (Yay, I dared to ask for review copies and got it!). That got me thinking of the book reviews I've published on this blog.
So far it's just been a few reviews of beading/jewellery-making books written in english that you've found here. Translations of newly published reviews on my other blog (where I write in Swedish). But how interesting would it be for you, my international readers, to read a review in english of a book written in Swedish? Would anyone be interested or would it be pretty useless as you might not be very likely to buy or even read those books?
And would anyone want to read reviews of my favourite american and british beading/jewellery-making books that I reviewed in Swedish ages ago, but haven't mentioned on this blog? (There's a list of all the books -- mostly in english -- that I've reviewed on my other blog here.)
And there's also another thing I've been pondering: would anyone be interested in reading reviews of books about other crafts? Apart from bead and jewellery-making books I also read books on e.g. embroidery, paper craft/art, metalwork etc. Books that I don't mention, let alone review, on my other blog, but which I enjoy and which might be of interest to some of you reading this blog.
Of cause, reviewing e.g. embroidery books -- it's mostly embroidery books at the moment -- I'd be writing from the viewpoint of a beginner, of someone who hasn't read many books and magazines that the reviewed book can be compared with. Unlike when talking about beading, a craft and art I've worked with for years and have tonnes of books and mags about. For example, I've read a goldwork book, which I'd love to write a lyrical review about, but I haven't tried goldwork. Yet.
And a few of my craft and beading books are in languages I don't understand so reviewing them would be from a somewhat special point of view. Not that it stops me: you could just recently read my review of a french bead book. Language isn't always a problem.
Ah, the book above is danish. I've got a couple of books from that duo too that I've reviewed on my other blog. This book on making silver beads and another one on making jewellery from beach stones. Danish sorts under languages I sort of understand. Understand it well enough to read it, at least.
To conclude, I just wanted to ask you, my reader, if you like to read my reviews and if you want to read reviews on swedish beading/jewellery-making books and/or craft books that aren't bead related. Would love to hear what you think.
I'd love to read reviews on books in other languages than English. I'm sure I miss out many interesting books in other languages than English. If the illustrations are clear, it is not impossible to understand what to do with no or some knowledge of the language. It is easy to learn the vocabulary. Most people here in Finland know at least some Swedish, but we don't usually buy Swedish beading books. The Vintage de Luxe book looks interesting. I hope you'll write reviews on embroidery books. The Hazel Everett Goldwork book is one of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input! As you say, language isn't always a problem -- and it's fun to find international books and mags, if nothing else then to learn a bit about the local trends and popular techniques.
DeleteYou mention Swedish in Finland, which made me think how often I neglect looking into what kind of books are published in Denmark and Norway. Maybe not many, but still. I've got three danish books and my sis has two, which we've found via swedish/scandinavian sources like Panduro and Slöjd-detaljer. I once looked at french Amazon and Perles & Co to find french beading books. There's so much of interest that never gets translated into english or swedish!
I'd like to see reviews of books in other languages than English, if they are available for purchase and the instructions are easy to understand. I have the Goldwork book by Hazel Everett. It is full of useful information and lovely projects. As you know there even is a Dragon! I'd recommend you to write a review.Anna
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input! It looks like I have two votes for Everett's book. I do enjoy it a lot (the dragon is a fab bonus in that book) and it's be fun to write a bit about why I like it so much.
DeleteThere's some non-english books I have that I reviewed on my other blog ages ago. It could be fun to dust them off and write a more updated review, especially since I've moved on in my beading since writing the initial reviews.