Top Ten Tuesday (books about books)

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This week the ladies at The Broke and the Bookish are asking us to suggest books for folks

who like ________. I filled in the blank with "books about books." Theses are some of my favorite books to read, even if they mention books I will never read or haven't heard of. I like the community feeling I get from reading books by readers.

 

Shall we?

 

 

The first three books about books I ever read are these. Anna Quindlen's How Reading Changed My Life (which I just recently re-read), Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris, and Lynne Sharon Schwartz's Ruined by Reading are three of my reading touchstones.

 

 

By the Book and My Ideal Bookshelf ask contemporary authors and other famous folks about their reading habits, favorite books, etc. My Ideal Bookshelf even provides paintings for each person's "ideal bookshelf" of the books that represent them.

 

Joe Queenan is a cantankerous reader with definite ideas. His One for the Books should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Another man who loves his books is Morris of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

 

And then there are the stories about books getting you through life. Nina Sankovitch reads a book a day for a year while she's mourning the death of her sister. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is her story. Alice Ozma tells about her single father reading to her every night from childhood through high school in The Reading Promise. And Molly Guptill Manning discusses how books got our servicemen through World War II in When Books Went to War.

I'm always looking for more. What are your favorite books about books?

It's Monday! (3/9/15)

It's Monday! is sponsored by Sheila at Book Journey.

 

Spring is on its way! One day last week, I heard birds chattering in the morning sunshine while it was still in the single digits. What a pick-me-up that was! We're going to have temperatures in the 40s all this week. Not that I'll be spending any time outside instead of inside reading.

 



Last week I finished By the Book and We Knew Mary Baker Eddy (vol. 1). I love books about books, and By the Book (a collection of New York Times Book Review interviews with authors and other notables) was a fun read. It's a great book for picking up when you can only read for a little bit, as each interview is only a few pages long.

 

We Knew Mary Baker Eddy changed my life. We all know books can do that, but we're often surprised at which ones do. This one did. It brought me closer to God, Truth, and gave me an even clearer understanding of how one heals with Christian Science. I'm sad to have this reading experience end, but it leaves me with much to grow on.

 

 

I started three books in the last few days: Anna Quindlen's fantastic How Reading Changed My Life (a comforting re-read for me), Little House in the Big Woods (because I've never read the Little House books), and Rebecca which will be my main read this week. I'm very excited about all three.

 

And, I continue with Middlemarch. Finally, around disc 10 (of 25) the story really started to pick up, and I'm coming to realize the brilliance of it. It's the kind of book where you must subordinate yourself to its pace for it to do its magic. I'm glad I stuck with it, and I'm excited to see what happens next.

 

 

What are you reading this week?

Friday Finds (3/6/15)

Hosted by MizB. Click on the picture to link up!

 

A great big list of awesomeness to share this week...

 

As you know, I'm a fan of memoirs. I read memoirs like other folks eat candy. If I didn't read so many of them, I might be tempted to call them "guilty pleasures." But if I labeled so much of my reading as guilty pleasures, I'd feel pretty bad about myself. Anywho...

 

I stumbled upon Girl in the Dark this week, and I'm intrigued. Anna Lyndsey is a woman who cannot tolerate light, so she shuts herself up in a blacked-out room and listens to audiobooks. There's more to it than that, I'm sure, but that was enough to hook me.

 

What Comes Next and How to Like It is a memoir by the author of A Three Dog Life, which I loved, though I barely remember. It's about Abigail Thomas's life after her husband's passing.

 

 

Okay, this next one is an odd addition, but hear me out. I care very little for Jerry Lee Lewis, could name a couple of his hits, but not much more. But I love Rick Bragg's writing. His books (All over but the Shoutin' and Ava's Man, esp.) are heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure. He's one of those writers who is gifted enough to make me want to read a book about someone I've never been interested in.

 

I've had a copy of The Tipping Point on my bookshelves for years now, so it's time to read it. I enjoyed Gladwell's Blink immensely years ago.

 

And I'm adding another poetry collection with an audio component. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky has put together many anthologies of poems, and apparently I'm collecting them all. This one is titled Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud. 

 

I read a picture book by Candace Fleming last year (Imogene's Last Stand) that hooked me on her history books for kids. Recently, her newest book, The Romanov Family, won two ALA honors. While it's on my list, I've also added Amelia Lost and The Great and Only Barnum. I've been interested in the Amelia Earhart disappearance since I was little, and as a kid, I went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It's where my fear of clowns caught hold.

 

 

Do you know about The Penderwicks? I'd never heard about these books until I read an advance review of the fourth book coming out later this month. They sound like fiction for more sensitive kids, and I applaud that. The author said when she was a kids she ran out of books she wanted to read and decided to remedy that when she grew up. The first of the books, The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (shown here), won the National Book Award.

 

Apparently I'm in a circus mood this week, because my last book is about a circus elephant and the boy who loves him. Modoc is "The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived." I ask you. How can you not want to read about the greatest elephant that ever lived?

 

 

What's on your list this week?

March Releases

 

Sigh. March. When the calendar turns to March, I always feel like we're home free. The worst of winter's behind us (actually, the very worst storm usually happens around mid-March, but potato, potahto), a refreshing spring is ahead of us. And I think the publishing industry must feel the same way, because there are some fantastic titles coming out this month. Below are eight titles I'm looking forward to:

 

(released March 3)

 

Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness by Sasha Martin

 

Girl in the Dark: A Memoir by Anna Lyndsey

 

 

March 10

 

 

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

 

Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are by Shauna Niequist

 

American Ghost: A Family's Haunted past in the Desert Southwest by Hannah Nordhaus

 

 

March 16

 

 

Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina MacLaughlin

 

 

March 17

 

 Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin

 

 

March 24

 

 

What Comes Next and How to Like It: A Memoir by Abigail Thomas

 

 

What March releases look good to you?

February 2015 Recap

 

It's a short month, but it packed a great literary punch. For the most part, I really enjoyed the five books I read this month.

 

When I began the year, I made a list of books to get through in January and February. I read every one of them. I don't often make a list that I can clear. I'm working on my March list now. We'll see if I get similar results.

 

As always, behind on reviews, one-word reviews below each book. Blah, blah, blah.

 

 

Charming

Stunning

Mediocre

Yummy

Candid

Going into March, I'm reading (and loving) these:

What's up for March? I'm still working on the list, but I think it will look something like this:

 

Dead Wake (out March 10), Half Broke Horses, Rebecca, How Reading Changed My Life (re-read), Little House in the Big Woods, and Life from Scratch (out March 3)

 

 What did you love reading in February? What are you looking forward to reading in March?