Tagged: bibliophilia

17
Dec
2020

BOOKS IN THE TIME OF CORONA

Barack Obama released his favorite books of 2020 list today and I confess to feeling a little thrill to see that the book I’m currently in the middle of was on it. And that two other books in my queue are also on it. Reflected good taste! To be honest, the book I am reading, that was on his list, is probably not going to end up on my list of best books I’ve read this year, unless it takes off or takes a rather drastic turn. It’s good, but it’s really heavy and because it’s about the consequences of...

18
Oct
2019

BIBLIOMANIA

We had book group last night and we were a small gathering, only 5 of the usual suspects, but it was cozy and made for a really nice discussion…easy to follow and jump in, without it breaking down into smaller groups, which sometimes happens. The book we discussed was interesting, though I wouldn’t have read it on my own initiative: Beautiful Exiles by Meg Waite Clayton. It’s about Hemingway’s third wife Martha Gellhorn, and while I pretty much dislike HIM, even if his books are (mostly) good, SHE was fascinating, and I found myself wondering as I often do, why...

25
Aug
2019

TRIALS OF A BIBLIOPHILE

Megsie tagged me a book meme on Facebook, which is kinda the only meme that I can’t resist. It’s posting 7 books you love for seven days. When you read as much as I do, it’s REALLY hard to only pick 7 books. Do you pick your FAVORITES? (Impossible to stick to 7, in that case). Do you stick to one genre? Do you play to your audience? Do you choose only newer books or only older ones? What if you like really quirky books or complicated books or Harlequin romances or you feel children’s literature is underrated and not...

13
Mar
2019

BOOKS I’LL NEVER READ

Have you heard of The Future Library? It’s an art project of sorts, started by a Scottish artist near Oslo, Norway. She is growing a forest that, in 100 years, will be used to print 100 books which are being donated by authors from around the world and kept, unread, in safekeeping until then. The first author to provide a manuscript was Margaret Atwood. There are 4 books so far. None of them can be read until 2114, when the 1000 trees planted in Nordmarka (assuming they are still around after 100 years of climate change and global warming) will...

18
Nov
2018

LIVING ON IN LIBRARIES

I’m reading a fantastic book. A book about books, what could be better? It’s fascinating. It’s technically about the worst library fire in American history, when the Los Angeles Public Library burned in April 1986, but it is also about the idea of libraries, the history of them, the purpose and updated use of them and how they’ve changed from a modern-day viewpoint, and the love of books in general. The first chapter, which details the spread of the fire and what it consumed, and how much it destroyed actually almost brought me to tears. The thought of all those...

06
Sep
2018

WHERE’S MY “I VOTED” STICKER?

It’s that time of year again, when we vote on books for the AWC book group after sending in our nominations. There are around 15 or so regulars and when each of them sends 3-5 book recommendations, it makes for quite a long list. We had 35 to choose from this year and the 9 winners were announced today. We actually have one book left from last year’s list, that we will be discussing next week and I just realized I’d better get going on it. I often wait until quite close to the book discussion date because if I...

30
Oct
2017

HELLO WEENIE

I just activated a new member for the AWC: a guy from Texas who has been in Sweden for 10 years, and has heard about us since before he moved here, but never thought to join because, well, duh. It’s a WOMEN’S club. Right? Except, no, not really. It’s not just Americans and not just women, though we only have a handful of men at the moment. We’ve talked about changing the name for years, but no one seems to be able to agree on a new name and the one I would have liked has already been taken by...

27
Aug
2017

BOOKS BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS

We survived the party, but I will write about it tomorrow. For now, books! I realized that I had not posted about the book group recommendations and winners and figured I would just write a book post first, since I have been lame and not posted anything for a couple of weeks. Time just gets away from me, you know? I just finished reading The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb and loved it. I immediately went and searched for more books by her but alas, that is the only one so far. Before that, I read My Life With Bob...

10
Feb
2016

MOSTLY BOOKS

It’s that time of year again: book voting time! I just checked and it was actually all the way back in November 2014 that we lasted voted on a “year’s worth” of books for the AWC book group. And we’re not actually done with those books…we still have two to read and discuss, one in early March and one in mid-April (stupid Satanic Verses, which I didn’t vote for and hated and was really aggravated that it got voted in and guess what, I am hosting that one. And I refuse to read it again. So there). Once again we...

15
Nov
2015

THREE THINGS

When I can’t think of anything to write, lists are always handy. I already did two things, so here’s three! Three things from my to-do list Get Martin’s US passport renewed Mail my US voter registration application You guessed it…clean the Tank of Death & Despair Three things I’ve already done today Vacuumed Showered Watered plants Three books recently added to my list of books to buy Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller Radiant by Karina Sumner-Smith Three really good books I’ve read recently Uprooted by Naomi Novak Bryony and Roses by T....