Sunday Salon: Bookkeeping - Status Reports | The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness

I have had neither the time nor the brainpower to work up a Sunday Salon discussion this week, so I’m resorting to the “lists and updates” thing – an extended Status Report.

Update #1: The Handmaid’s Tale Group Read

A few months ago, I mentioned wanting to read The Handmaid’s Tale this year (a re-read for me, but it’s been over 20 years since the first time) and, hoping to do it as a group read, posted a sign-up form; I didn’t have a date yet, but thought it would be in August. Several folks did jump on board then – thanks Jill, Kath, Vasilly, and Carrie! – and now that we’re getting closer to a start, I’m posting the link to the form again. We’ll start reading the week of August 21 and wrap up with posts around September 12. More details to come, but hopefully that’s enough to help you decide whether to join in!

Update #2: Indie Lit Awards

Nominations for the 2011 Indie Lit Awards – the bloggers’ book awards – will open on September 1st and run through December 31. I hope that as you’ve been reading new books this year, you’ve made note of books you’d like to see considered for these honors! Members of the ILA judging panels are not permitted to make nominations ourselves, so we’re counting on you to participate with lots of great recommendations! As a reminder, here are the genres we’ll be considering:

Mystery*

Poetry*

The * categories are new this year.

I’m on the Biography/Memoir judging panel, and even though I can’t make nominations, I’ve made an extra effort to read within that category so I’d be up on it. I haven’t read as many 2011 memoirs and bios as I’d hoped to, but I haven’t done all that badly:

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, by Wendy McClure

Planting Dandelions: Field Notes From a Semi-Domesticated Life, by Kyran Pittman

Nerd Do Well, by Simon Pegg

Bossypants, by Tina Fey

A Year and Six Seconds: A Love Story, by Isabel Gillies

Where You Left Me, by Jennifer Gardner Trulson

As I said, I can’t nominate…but I can lobby, and I’d love to see nominations for the first, fourth, and sixth titles on this list.