Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sunday Salon: What Are Your Reading Resolutions for 2012?

New Year's Day. A brand new start. I love this feeling.

I make resolutions every year. My focus this year, as it has been for the past several years, is on Happiness. To that end, I have made this reminder chart (thank you, Andrew Weil and Spontaneous Happiness):


Here are my Reading Resolutions for 2012:

1. Read good books slowly. Keep a sticky and pencil nearby as I read these good books. Note great quotes. Note great ideas. Note great new words.

2. Read so-so books quickly. Skimming is okay for these books and these books still count as books read. A two sentence review is perfectly acceptable.

And that's it.

No big resolutions to read War and Peace this year or to read and review 365 books this year or to read all the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up this year. No attempts to read strictly from my enormous TBR. No vows to refrain from purchasing new books. Just these two little resolutions for me.



How about you?  What are your Reading Resolutions for 2012? Do you have a list of books you want to read this year? How about challenges? What about your TBR? What do you hope to accomplish in 2012?



P.S. Here's my list of Top Ten Reads of 2011!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Top Ten Favorite Books I Read in 2011

My ten favorite books read in 2011 are:

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier
I did not see much sun during the past few weeks. I've been in Siberia.  I've been reading Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier. ...more


Poser by Claire Dederer
“We didn’t want to look good. We wanted to be good.” Claire is a new mom, a wife, and a writer and she is so close to having a nervous bre...more



Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Are you like me? Do you ever read a book that is so amazing that all you want to do is tell people to go read this book? I'm not just talk...more


Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Take a look at the cover on this book before you decide to invest seven hours of your life in this book. Unlike many book covers, this one is a pretty...more


The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
I just spent about six hours with The Yearling and I could happily turn to page one and spend another six hours. ...more


I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen Rosenthal
Willy is distraught to find that his precious Bobo is missing when he wakes in the morning. Willy knows Bobo’s presence is essential to his happiness....more


The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
I grew up in the sixties when there was a strong movement toward moving back to natural foods. I had a mom who was a stay-at-home mother and prepared ...more


The Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett
A baby pig and a baby princess accidentally exchange places in this funny tale. The pig is presumed to be the princess transformed by a disgruntled fa...more
Room by Emma Donoghue
Best fiction book of the year for me. Read it. Enough said.


My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe
There are books I read that make me wish I were as good at reviewing books as I am at re...more


There's my ten.
How about you?
What were your favorite reads of 2011?






Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Monday, December 26, 2011

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?!







 

What I Finished Last Week



To Timbuktu by Casey Scieszka


 
What I'm Reading Now



A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness



What I Might Read Next



Sideways on a Scooter by Miranda Kennedy



What are you reading today?!



It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. Book Journey offers a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling BJ how many you visited.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings




There are some suspiciously book-shaped packages
under my tree this year,
all labeled, "To: Debbie  From: Santa."
I am very, very hopeful.


And look what Santa already brought me!


So, I will be happy,
no, thrilled,
for any books I receive from Santa.
Or gift cards for books.

Are you listening, Santa?

And how about you?
What books are you hoping that Santa will bring?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!


Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Monday, December 19, 2011

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? in which I obtain my seventh library card...









What I Finished This Week:



I've been eating, drinking, and breathing
Cybils fiction picture book nominees.

This week I finished reading my 250th Cybils
children's fiction picture book
after a 150 mile road trip that included
the acquisition of my 5th, 6th and 7th
library cards. (See below.)

 A big thank you to all the libraries that helped me read 250 books
in the last four months.




  What I'm Reading Now: 



1Q84



Big Questions




The Discovery of Jeanne Baret




The Adventures of Tintin


Kitty Cornered by Bob Tarte


What I Might Read Next: 

 

  
   


What are you reading today?!



It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! D This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. Book Journey offers a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Top Ten Books I Want To Give As Gifts



Arguably: Essays
From Amazon:  "For over forty years, Christopher Hitchens has proclaimed truth where others have spun falsehood and written, with passionate commitment, on matters that others fear to broach. This volume of essays spans Hitchens' whole career and encompasses his writing on politics, literature and religion...."

Big Questions
From Amazon:  "A haunting postmodern fable, Big Questions is the magnum opus of Anders Nilsen, one of the brightest and most talented young cartoonists working today. This beautiful minimalist story, collected here for the first time, is the culmination of ten years and more than six hundred pages of work that details the metaphysical quandaries of the occupants of an endless plain, existing somewhere between a dream and a Russian steppe...."


Poetry on Record:
98 Poets Read Their Work
From Amazon:  "This collection, arranged chronologically by the poets' birth dates, regardless of continuity, style, or recording quality, and without narration, introduction, or internal identification of the poets or their titles, communicates in a kind of hodgepodge the range and fullness of modern poetry."


One on One
From Amazon:  "101 chance meetings, juxtaposing the famous and the infamous, the artistic and the philistine, the pompous and the comical, the snobbish and the vulgar, each 1,001 words long, and with a time span stretching from the 19th century to the 21st."




Thinking, Fast and Slow
From Amazon:  "Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior...."


for the iPad



Guinness Book of World Records 2012



Blank Journal








Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Monday, December 12, 2011

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?!






What I Finished This Week:


How to Eat a Cupcake
Not yet reviewed



Mo Wren, Lost and Found
Not yet reviewed



  What I'm Reading Now: 



1Q84



Big Questions




The Discovery of Jeanne Baret




The Adventures of Tintin



What I Plan to Read Next: 

1Q84
The Discovery of Jeanne Baret
Big Questions
The Adventures of Tintin



What are you reading today?!



It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! D This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. Book Journey offers a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.