I’ve been a fan of Edith Wharton’s novels for over 15 years, so I jumped at the chance to participate in this tour, and am glad it compelled me to read one of several Wharton books that I already owned but hadn’t previously read. Many, many thanks to Rebecca Reid…
Category: books and reading
Recently traveling, currently reading
It may seem that I became quiet all of the sudden, but really I’ve been busy. A week ago, I flew to Washington, DC, for the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. I had a poster accepted for a poster session, and was able to get approval to travel….
RYOB Challenge 2010, or, Shopping in my own shelves
It’s only in the past few months that I’ve started thinking about reading challenges. I know there are challenge groups on LibraryThing, of course, and I’ve been a member of the 50 Book Challenge for 2008 and 2009 (mainly to have a single place to track my reading, not really…
2009 reading wrap-up: how did I do?
At the end of 2008, I posted some general thoughts about what I hoped to read during 2009. Looking back at the books I listed, I did read Atonement by Ian McEwan, my short story collection by Chekhov, Crime and Punishment, and The Hungry Self: Women, Eating, and Identity by…
Books I’ve bought twice
For a while now, I’ve been thinking about books I’ve purchased more than once. Some people find a book they love, and buy copies to give to other people. I’ve done that a few times, but that’s not what I’m thinking of here. I’m thinking of books I bought secondhand,…
Shop B&N this weekend, support a school program!
This Saturday, December 5, is the annual Barnes & Noble book fair to raise money for my sons’ school district — specifically, their Visiting Author program, which pays for a published author to visit the school, talk with the kids, and read from their books. Meeting authors is a great…
Book Blogs Search Engine, by Fyrefly
I started wondering a few weeks ago if there was a website or database where I could find out which book bloggers had reviewed a book (or at least posted something about a given title, not necessarily a complete or “formal” review). Since I don’t tend to read what “everyone…
24 Hour Read-a-thon — on the 24th!
The 24 Hour Read-a-thon is new to me — like Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I first heard about it from the book bloggers I follow on Twitter. I thought it would be cool to do, but then life got busy (who am I kidding? My life is always busy!), and…
Discovering a mesmerizing novel: Florida
Last spring, I bought two books by a new-to-me author from the clearance shelves at Hastings. Her name is Christine Schutt, and I’d never heard of her. Besides the clearance price of $2.99, I remember two other things that drew me to the novel Florida: first, that’s also the title…
Reading, writing, and breathing
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.—Henry David Thoreau (Walden, 1854) I am thinking this evening about quiet desperation. My feeling tonight is not quiet, but angry and restless and relentless desperation.—written by me, on Sept. 24, 2009 This past Thursday evening, I slid into a terrible dark…