The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

In The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, the Queen discovers the joys of reading. As I read about the Queen’s reading journey, I found many similarities to my own reading journey. The Queen voiced my own thoughts about reading, and I loved relating to her.

But while The Uncommon Reader was a funny, easy read, it had unnecessary crudity, and therefore I can’t whole-heartedly recommend it. Continue reading »

Quote from Flaubert: Pleasures of Reading

“And indeed, what is better than to sit by one’s fireside in the evening with a book, while the wind beats against the window and the lamp is burning?” …”One thinks of nothing,” he continued; “the hours slip by. Motionless we traverse countries we fancy we see, and your thought, blending with the fiction, playing with the details, follows the outline of the adventures. It mingles with the characters, and it seems as if it were yourself palpitating beneath their costumes.”

Monsieur Leon, in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Part II, Chapter 2

(I’m almost done with Madame Bovary … and I’m loving it! Review to come soon!)

Where do you enjoy reading?

What Are Banned Books? (Do I Favor Book Banning?)

A recent blogging discussion has prompted me to ask the question: What is book banning? I’ve never thought it right to ban a book, but since I’ve recently been accused of doing just that, I thought I’d ask all of you what you think. Do I actually favor book banning? I’m stumped here. Continue reading »

The End of Publishing?

Chris at book-a-rama brought a most interesting article to my attention.

“The End: Have We Reached The End of Book Publishing As We Know It?” is a fascinating look at the publishing industry and struggles it is facing. While I don’t think publishing is going to ever end,  I thought the article had some great insights into book publishing. This article reminded me of some things I’ve been thinking about recently; that is, why do we read what we read? Continue reading »

Sick Day and Author Weekly Geeks

My husband, my ten-month-old, and I have all been sick this weekend. To my surprise, I couldn’t bring myself to finish my book and post the review as I’d planned. Every time I started to read, my eyes would close. I also usually read a book aloud to my son as he plays and my husband and I read a book aloud together. But neither of us have our voices, so I didn’t do that either. It’s amazing that I haven’t read much at all! My husband and I zoned out watching a movie all day Saturday, while our son crawled over us. That’s not like me.

Do you find your reading changing when you’re not feeling well? Or am I weird to be reading less?

Anyway, in lieu of a review, I’ll do Weekly Geeks this week, which is all about authors. (I don’t have energy to write up my thoughts about the book I just finished today, but I can do a few photo searches!)

So, the idea is, you guess in the comments who the authors are. I wish I could give you a reward if you get them all, but my budget really can’t right now. I will write a nice post linking to you. Is link love enough? Continue reading »

Why ARCs?

A few weeks ago, a publisher contacted me: Would I like to review ARCs for my blog?

I’ve only been book blogging for a few months, so I was flattered they found me. I have an online presence! The publicist was able to answer my questions about ARCs, mostly. But I’m realizing that I don’t really want just any free books. Continue reading »

Political Reading

As I mentioned recently, I minored in “International Studies” in college. I took courses in political history, U.S. international relations, anthropology, and sociology. I also took one economics class, but I don’t recall a thing about it.  My minor was too broad, because I don’t remember very much, and it’s only been five years. I also didn’t read well.

When people started mentioning magazines they read for Weekly Geeks, I realized that I used to read The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and other political newspapers and magazines on a regular basis. Since graduation, I haven’t read them. But I greatly enjoyed political subjects: Why don’t I make time to read those things? Continue reading »

Magazines I Would Love to Read

The only magazine I subscribe to is a religious one for church. I wasn’t going to respond to Weekly Geeks this week because I didn’t have anything to add. But reading the other posts has reminded me of what I’d like to read. Continue reading »

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is the story of all immigrants. By relying solely on pencil illustrations, Shaun Tan attempts to capture the emotions and the story of not just one man leaving his family to enter a new world but the story of all immigrants entering a new life. I was not completely convinced that the immigrant story can be properly told via illustration, but The Arrival was intriguing nonetheless. Continue reading »

Is Reading Online is Making Us Stupid?

There is an interesting article in The Atlantic about reading and our changing reading habits, thanks to the Internet.

I think the author has some great points: internet has changed the way I read, and that’s why I’m feeling a need to really read deeply right now.

In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive. …

In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking. If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture.

What do you think? Is reading on the Internet making you less able to read?