Gwen Dawson wrote this great article on her blog today about how to tell if you are addicted to reading or not. She also had a link to a fun quiz you can take to find out if you are addicted.
My results?
"You are totally crazy about reading novels. It is more than a passion for you. Reading novels is an obsession for you."
Uh-oh...what I want to know is, is it unhealthy?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
A new Richard Russo novel
Roxanna Robinson reviews Russo's latest novel, his seventh, in today's New York Times Sunday Book Review.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Join the President Obama Book Club!
Check out this presidential reading list from The Daily Beast. Its packed full of what President Obama has been reading so far this year, many of them presidential biographies, some literary fiction and a couple others on very timely topics (read: environmental technology and climate change).
Monday, August 10, 2009
The lost art of reading
Please don't tell me people aren't reading -- I just don't believe it. But I will grant you that people aren't reading well. Here's the article from the Los Angeles Times...
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Graphic novels in the works
Twilight, that infamous teen vampire novel, will soon be released as a graphic novel. A perfect medium for this particular genre, one of my favorites being the Anita Blake vampire hunter series which has been re-done as a very successful graphic novel series. I was also very excited to hear that my favorite novel of all time, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, will also be forthcoming as a graphic novel. Yippee! Kudos to the writers who don't feel afraid to reinvent their work in a different format.
How to connect with booklovers on the Internet
With all the possibilities available on the web, are you still unsure where to go for book, author and literary information? This is kind of an old web page (updated about a year ago), but most of the links still work. 100 Places to connect with Bibliophiles Online. Just my cup of tea.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Much ado about the supposed "sequel" to Catcher in the Rye?
There has been a lot of talk lately about a supposed "sequel" to Salinger's most famous work, Catcher in the Rye. Here's one take from Slate Magazine's Juliet Lapidos, which is actually laugh-out-loud funny because its not that she agrees with Salinger, but that this sequel is supposedly so badly written.
Having just finished reading Catcher a few weeks ago (I know - shocking!) I can't say as I'm that overwhelmed by the controversy, but its an interesting story just from the vantage point of authorial control vs. readers' demands for closure and/or some sort of say in what happens to a character.
Having just finished reading Catcher a few weeks ago (I know - shocking!) I can't say as I'm that overwhelmed by the controversy, but its an interesting story just from the vantage point of authorial control vs. readers' demands for closure and/or some sort of say in what happens to a character.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Reading aloud in the modern age
Verlyn Klinkenborg wrote an interesting piece in The New York Times last month about the joys of reading aloud. Read it here.
His last sentence struck me, "But what I would suggest is that our idea of reading is incomplete, impoverished, unless we are also taking the time to read aloud." This is more than readily apparent when we are children and we are learning and acquiring language, but it seems a lost art as we grow older. I remember some of my favorite moments in English class when I was called on by my English teacher to read out loud. It was the art of being to connect with the words and their intentionality, to bring life to the meaning of the author's written work. There is a beauty in that when you hear someone get the book, to bring life to it by reading it aloud.
His last sentence struck me, "But what I would suggest is that our idea of reading is incomplete, impoverished, unless we are also taking the time to read aloud." This is more than readily apparent when we are children and we are learning and acquiring language, but it seems a lost art as we grow older. I remember some of my favorite moments in English class when I was called on by my English teacher to read out loud. It was the art of being to connect with the words and their intentionality, to bring life to the meaning of the author's written work. There is a beauty in that when you hear someone get the book, to bring life to it by reading it aloud.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
I never read anything by DFW, but I have heard him lauded by people I admire and respect, so he is one of those authors whom I'm always meaning to pick up at some future point. He died in his home, on September 12th, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot. Very sad...
What not to read
Hilarious excerpt from Brit Richard Wilson's new book, Can’t Be Arsed: 101 Things Not to Do Before You Die and smack dead-on with some of them!
Monday, September 01, 2008
Being Laura Bush
This week, Curtis Sittenfeld's new novel entitled American Wife is being unveiled to the public - just in time for the Republican National Convention. The novel is an imagining of what it would be like to be inside the head and persona of the First Lady, in this case, a fictionalized Laura Bush called Alice Maxwell. It is a roman-a-clef in which are some are claiming people will confuse with the real thing. First of all, people -- it is F-I-C-T-I-O-N and even if some people do, would it be so wrong? The arguments claim that the oafish, incompetent President in the novel, Charlie Maxwell, might be too hard for some people to distinguish between him and the real President. Hmmm...
The New York Times Book Review here...
USA Today here...
The New York Times Book Review here...
USA Today here...
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
2008 Books read (as of August)
It might be better to start keeping my lists of books read online. I've traditionally kept my list in a notebook, which works perfectly fine, but thought it might be interesting to share what I've read with others.
The list is chronological, starting with most recent first:
The list is chronological, starting with most recent first:
- Isaac's Storm: a man, a time, and the deadliest hurricane in history, Erik Larson
- When You are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
- Survival of the Sickest: the surprising connections between disease and longevity, Dr. Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince
- The Mistress's Daughter: a memoir, A.M. Homes
- The Size of the World, Joan Sibber
- The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
- In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden, Kathleen Cambor
- In a Country of Mothers, A.M. Homes
- Jack, A.M. Homes
- Harley, like a person, Cat Bauer (YA novel)
- Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan (YA novel)
- Godless, Pete Hautman (YA novel)
- One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson
- Jessica Farm, vol. I, Josh Simmons (graphic novel)
- Y: The Last Man, vol. II: Cycles, Brian Vaughan (graphic novel)
- Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Diana Gabaldon
- Daddy's Girl, Debbie Drechsler (graphic novel)
- The Amber Spyglass, Phillip Pullman
- Fables: Legends in Exile (vol. I), Bill Willingham
- Y: The Last Man, vol. I: Unmanned, Brian Vaughan
- The Subtle Knife, Phillip Pullman
- Plum Wine, Angela Davis-Gardner
- The Golden Compass, Phillip Pullman
- This Book Will Save Your Life, A.M. Homes
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
old grocery lists
Not sure its book-worthy, but this is a great idea. A performance artist took old discarded grocery lists and imagined their authors' lives through items on the list, handwriting, etc. Now I finally know what to do with all those old grocery lists I throw out!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Booker Prize longlist is announced
No surprises really, but the 2008 nominees on the Booker Prize's longlist are overwhelmingly male. However, 5 first-time novelists are in the running this year...
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Lorrie Moore's new collection
Lorrie Moore is one of the best short-story writers around. Its good to see she has a new collection of short stories out - her last book was 1998's Birds of America. The new collection of short stories is called simply, The Collected Stories.
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