Last week’s dire predictions have come to pass – I’ve been pretty scarce around the blogiverse. My only post since last week’s Salon was my review of How to Be an American Housewife for the latest BlogHer Book Club. BHBC has recently shifted to a more discussion-based format, and we’ll be having a variety of conversations about this novel over at BlogHer.com during the next few weeks. Have you read it? Please join in if […]
Banned Books Week starts today, but it kind of snuck up on me this year. Last year, I was excited to participate for the first time; I read Speak and re-read Forever and A Wrinkle in Time. Like many of us, I believe it’s important to read and discuss and challenge books that are challenged, and I think that designating a week each year in support of that cause is a very worthwhile thing. But […]
Most of you know – either because you participated yourself, or because you just couldn’t escape all the posts from bloggers who were participating – that last week was Book Blogger Appreciation Week. The 2011 BBAW theme was “Cultivating a Community of Bloggers and Readers.” I posted according to the daily BBAW prompts on four of the five days, and had a wonderful time re-connecting with old book-blogging friends and getting to know new ones, which was what […]
I’m late to the BBAW posting party, and will be making up for it with a two-in-one post today (warning – lots of words ahead)! Fortunately, today’s designated topic is a variation on Monday’s theme – Community – so I don’t feel all that far behind. And as I mentioned in my Sunday Salon post this week, I’m quite ready for this: “Lately I’ve been feeling a bit less connected to my community. There are […]
This is the fourth time I’ve participated in the BBAW Interview Swap, and it’s always introduced me to someone new. This year, my interview partner is Julie B., founder of A Tale of Many Reviews. She launched the blog on her own in August 2010, but it soon turned into a group project. A Tale of Many Reviews also features many other things – author interviews, book and blog tours, giveaways and contests – and […]
There are so many ways in which the past four and a half years of book blogging have changed my reading habits, and so many books and authors I’d never have known without it. Beth Kephart is near the top of that list, and the loss would have been all mine. Despite her prolific and varied output and a National Book Award nomination for her first book, the memoir A Slant of Sun: One Child’s […]
As promised, I’m back with an update about my Reading Days. It won’t take long…because they didn’t exactly go as I’d hoped. Jury duty isn’t such a good opportunity to catch up on your reading when you actually have to serve on a jury; they kind of like you to pay attention in the courtroom. I was called up for the very first panel last Monday morning, but that jury wasn’t accepted until Tuesday morning. […]
It’s on its way…and whether it’s your first time or your fourth, you’re invited to be a part of all the fun and festivities! Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) was founded by Amy Riley of My Friend Amy in September 2008 as a way to celebrate the community she’d found online. Since then, it’s grown into a group effort with a dedicated team of behind-the-scenes helpers and literally hundreds of bloggers joining in the daily themed […]
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 […]
Shortly after returning home from BEA, I remember seeing something about the start of “summer hours” mentioned in reference to the publishing industry. I’m not sure exactly which “hours” those are, but I did have a job once where we observed “summer flex-time” for several years – employees could work 9-hour days Monday-Thursday and leave at noon on Friday. I was never able to partake, because my child-care arrangements at the time didn’t allow for […]
Thanks to Serena for tweeting the link to this item, which got under a large expanse of book-blogger skin on Twitter yesterday, and to Sassymonkey for the tweet that inspired this post’s title. Daniela Hurezanu shared some not-very-favorable impressions of last month’s Book Expo America on the website for Santa Cruz Weekly – but she provoked some not-very-favorable reactions with her characterization of the book bloggers she met there: “BEA is a major event for […]
I’ve been suffering from a case of “can’t keep up with anything” this week, so my Salon discussion today is largely a recap of what I have managed to keep up with (with links, in case you haven’t been able to keep up either!). ** I did manage to commit to some weekend reading time last Sunday, and I plan to do it again today. While my husband spends part of Father’s Day at the […]
