Chicks Dig Books: The Nerdy Girl’s Guide to the Printed Word

Marketing Manager Elizabeth Knauss interviews Jen Congiliando, the discerning reader and reviewer behind the awesome book review blog Chicks Dig Books.

If you think of book critics are omnipresent judges who preside over the publishing industry casting a wand of love or hate upon authors, you may be right. But Jen Congiliando is no such book reviewer. She is warm and fuzzy…and she loves to flip through a good horror novel. She initiated a book review blog to get into sub-culture genres that are sometimes overlooked, and in doing so, she has gathered many writing trends that writers seem to latch on to, which she has shared with us. She’s also had some pretty cool publishing related experiences.

What inspired you to create your book review blog, Chicks Dig Books?

I’m trying to break into the publishing industry, and I thought that starting a book blog would be a good way for me to showcase my writing and keep on top of new book releases. There are a ton of book blogs out in cyberspace, so I tried to make mine a little different by staying away from the usual “fluff” and Chick Lit that is traditionally marketed to women and focus on titles with better characters and deeper plots, and on genres that are usually more male-dominated like horror and science fiction. Basically I’m a nerd who likes to read interesting and “out there” books and I tried to make Chicks Dig Books reflect that. Blogging also allows me to attend trade conventions like Book Expo America, where I can get new books before they go on sale to the public.

I see that you manage to read about 5 to 7 novels a month…how do you do that? Are you a speed reader, do you read while driving, are you magic?

Magically delicious, but that’s another story. I get asked a lot if I’m a speed reader, but I honestly don’t know how to speed read. If someone could teach me that would be pretty sweet. I simply make the time to read; I fit it in whenever I can. I read during my lunch breaks, before class, while my husband plays Xbox, and yes sometimes at work when it’s slow and no one is looking. I’m a busy girl; I work full-time, go to grad school part-time, I work out a few nights a week, and still try to eke out a meager social life. So finding time to read can be tricky, but I make it work because it’s so rewarding.

How do you choose which books you will review?

Most of the time I find them on NetGalley. They post a lot of books by first-time authors, so it’s a great way to discover new talent. Other times I check out the new releases on Amazon and see if anything strikes my fancy. I actually don’t often rely on word-of-mouth recommendations, which I guess is ironic since here I am recommending books to other people! But occasionally I do give in to peer pressure, like when a bunch of people told me to read The Hunger Games and I finally gave in and read it. When I’m choosing a title to read, I usually go for character-driven stories about protagonists with real-life issues: dysfunctional families, personal struggles, weird relationships, etc. But I’m also a sucker for quirky plots and concepts, and I adore dark humor.

Do any of the authors ever find out you have reviewed their work?

They do! And I’m happy to say I haven’t received any hate mail yet! Sometimes I tweet authors the link to the review and occasionally I’ll get a retweet, which is always nice. Steve Boman, who wrote Film School, found my blog and saw his book on my list of upcoming reviews and actually sent me an e-mail asking me what I thought of the book. I sent him the link when I posted the review and his publisher linked it on their website. That was nice because it was unexpected. But what really made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside was when I tweeted Amelia Beamer my review of The Loving Dead and she said I “reviewed the book she tried to write.” She knew that I understood the point she was making with her book and I think that’s a great compliment for a reviewer to get.

Do you have a favorite title of the year?

I think my overall favorite title of 2011 was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It’s well written, fiercely imaginative, and above all it’s fun! Cline took a typical “dystopian society” story and made it his own. It’s a sci-fi adventure story and a love letter to 1980s pop culture rolled into one giant nerdgasm. I loved it.

Do you ever get tired from reading so many books and just want to skip to a movie?

Sure, sometimes. I’m a huge movie nerd, so there are times when I’ll just chill out and watch a movie with my husband to take a break from all my books. Everyone has days where they need to give their brain a rest; that’s what reality TV is for! There were some books I sort of had to force myself to get through, but most of the time I’m so into them that it doesn’t feel like work at all.

Being immersed in book world, do you ever get inspired to write a book of your own?

Strangely enough, I really don’t think I ever want to write a novel. I have no idea what I would write about! If I had the opportunity to write a nonfiction book about a topic that interests me I would probably like to do that, because I enjoy doing research and I’m better at that kind of writing style. But I don’t think I have what it takes to be a novelist. I think that’s one arena where I’d be better as a spectator than a player, which is why I’m interested in working in book editing or marketing. My husband is trying to write a novel right now, so maybe I can help him publish it.

Do you like cheese?

Cheese is my kryptonite…who told you?!

What types of trends do you notice among the books you’ve read?

I’ve noticed some great new female authors who are Indian and Middle Eastern coming onto the scene. Kamala Nair and Nayana Currimbhoy both wrote excellent debut novels last year that sold pretty well, and Keija Parssinen’s first novel came out last month and is also really good. I would like to see more books from all three of them.

Do you have any advice to book writers out there…anything that you can’t stand while reading…anything that’s a “must” for you?

Writers of the world, develop your characters! Give them wants, needs, flaws, frustrations, and aspirations, make them human. I absolutely cannot stand flat characters. If a book has a decent plot but stock, boring characters, I’m going to hate the book. But truly dynamic characters can make a book memorable, even if it has a so-so plot. I’ll gladly read 200 pages of a guy sitting around his house if in those 200 pages I can get inside his head, identify with him, be intrigued by him, see what makes him tick. Another thing I’m not fond of is love triangles. If a love triangle is all that’s advancing the story, then the book is in serious trouble. If a book has a love triangle in it, it should serve to help the reader understand the characters, not to give the characters something to do.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 11:18 am. It is filed under Interviews, Literary Life and tagged with book reviews, Elizabeth Knauss, literary blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.