Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Top Ten Books I Think Would Make Great Book Club Picks

Let's throw some possibilities out there:











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, January 30, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?








 

What I Finished Last Week






No reviews yet...


 
What I'm Reading Now



What I Might Read Next

I'm still not even at the halfway point of 1Q84,
so I'll be working on this 900 page book for a while.



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, January 24, 2012

Top Ten Travel Narratives

I'm crazy about travel narratives.
When I can't decide what to read,
I always look for a travel narrative.

Here is my list of the Top Ten Travel Narratives:


Blue Highways: A Journey Into America
The first travel narrative I remember reading.


A Year in Japan
Beautiful pictures along with a
wonderful travel narrative.

Shooting the Boh
I've recommended this one several times.
It's fabulous.

Paris to the Moon
I fell in love with the idea of going to Paris
from the moment I first read this book.


Dark Star Safari
All the way across Africa.
With Paul Theroux.

Notes from a Sunburned Country
Neither Here Nor There
I can't leave out Bill Bryson.

Glory in a Camel's Eye: A Perilous Trek through the Greatest African Desert
Yet another trip I will never take
except by book.

Angry Wind by Jeffrey Tayler
And then there's Afghanistan...
with shooting still going on....

Blue Latitudes
Retracing the path of Captain Cook...
Tony Horwitz is a favorite.


Travels in Siberia
And, if you get tired of the tropics,
you can always head for cooler weather.


How about you?
Can you think of a good travel narrative I missed?


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, January 23, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?








 

What I Finished Last Week



I'm finished!
I've read all five Indie Lit nonfiction finalists!
Reviews coming soon....

 
What I'm Reading Now




What I Might Read Next



It looks like 1Q84 is on its way to me again
from the library. I checked it out,
read 200 pages, and had to return it.
Think I'll finish all 900 pages this time?!


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, January 17, 2012

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Read Nonfiction

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone
Who Doesn't Read Nonfiction

My favorite nonfiction is nonfiction
that reads like fiction.

That said, here are some recommendations.



I know, I know, it sounds like a college textbook,
but trust me, it's amazing, it's brilliant, it's everything
you want in stories. And it's all true.


An Alphabet for Gourmets
How about a book about cooking?
And not just any old book about cooking,
but an M.F.K. Fisher book about cooking.
It's an alphabet of cooking, too,
which is always fun.


A fabulous recent nonfiction read is Unbroken.
Maybe you don't like history?
I dare you to try this book.
It will change your mind.


I can still remember reading this book
when it first came out.
Studs Terkel interviews people
who talk about their jobs.
Wonderful book.

I have to include a great nonfiction children's book, right?
How about Redwoods?
Author/illustrator Jason Chin
cleverly intrigues his readers with the majesty and mystery
of these big trees in this book.
It's amazing.


Travel books are one of my favorite sub-genres of nonfiction.
This is a crazy one.
A woman decides to take a trip down
one of the most dangerous rivers in Borneo.
It's a great read.


A Short History of Nearly Everything
Don't let the size of this book scare you off.
You won't care it's 560 pages once you start reading this enchanting book about science.
You will wish it was longer.


Once you read this story of the amazing Dr. Paul Farmer
and his work in Haiti, you will not be able to stop reading all-things-Tracy-Kidder.
Tracy Kidder is the kind of writer who could write a book about a paper clip and it would be a bestseller.


Because I know that many of us readers wish we could be writers,
I'll throw in this Anne Lamott book.
If you are so inclined, after you finish this one,
you might also love Traveling Mercies,
the story of how Lamott found God in the faces of some kind people
at tiny Presbyterian church in California.


I suppose you'd call this nonfiction.
But it doesn't matter what label you put on it...
it's a mesmerizing book
of reflections about the universe.
Every page is so beautiful
you want to tear it out and paste it on your walls.


Angela's Ashes
I have to include at least one memoir.
This one is an oldie, but a goodie.
You won't believe how awful McCourt's life was.
A moving story of one man's life.


This is one Top Ten list that I wish was a Top Hundred list.
I could go on and on about wonderful nonfiction out there.
Here's a quick list of other possibilities:

The Warmth of Other Suns
Bill Moyers' Genesis
Exuberance by Kay Redfield Jamison
The Last Shot by Darcy Frey
Bowling Alone by Robert B. Putnam
And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman
Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis....




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, January 16, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?








 

What I Finished Last Week







 
What I'm Reading Now





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!  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, January 10, 2012

Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book

Sadly, these authors will never write another book...this side of heaven.

Do you recognize them?

I included Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle,
Madeleine L'Engle, Margaret Wise Brown,
Roald Dahl, Robert McCloskey,
Sid Fleischman, Virginia Lee Burton,
William Steig, and Hans Christian Andersen.

How about you?
Who do you wish would write another book?


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, January 9, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?








 
What I'm Reading Now

I am hoping to start reading the five nominees
in the nonfiction category:



  • Berlin 1961 by Frederick Kempe (Putnam Adult)




  • In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (Crown)





  • Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff (Harper)





  • Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku (Doubleday)





  • The Social Animal by David Brooks (Random House)


  • 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.

    Sunday, January 8, 2012

    TSS: Proudly Announcing the 2011 Cybils Finalists!






    Folks, I'm tired.

    I've just finished reading 260 Cybils children's fiction picture book nominees. I reviewed over half of them and posted my reviews at Amazon, at Goodreads, at LibraryThing, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on my blog here.

    This is the fourth year I've been a Cybils judge. I should have known this was a big job, right?

    No, I've always been a judge for the Cybils children's nonfiction picture books. There are (only!) about 80 nonfiction nominees each year in the picture book category. And last year, with my mother being so sick with cancer, I served as a judge in the finalist round. Wasn't that easy?! I just went online to my public library catalog, requested all seven finalists, picked them up from the library after a couple of days, read them a couple of times, tried them out with students at school, and discussed with the other judges our favorites. Easy-peasy.

    I feel proud of reading all 260 Cybils fiction picture books. Happily, thanks to kind publishers and wonderful librarians, I was able to read them all.

    I almost feel like I've run a marathon and finished. :-)

    So, it is with great pride that I announce the 2011 Cybils Children's Fiction Picture Book Finalists:


    
    Blackout
    by John Rocco
    Hyperion
    Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow?
    by Susan A. Shea
    Blue Apple Books

    I Had a Favorite Dress
    by Boni Ashburn
    Abrams for Young Readers 


    I Want My Hat Back
    by Jon Klassen
    Candlewick Press

    Me . . . Jane
    by Patrick McDonnell
    Little, Brown
    Press Here
    by Herve Tullet
    Chronicle Books

    Princess and the Pig, The
    by Jonathan Emmett
    Walker Books for Young Readers


    Here's the complete list of all the 2011 finalists:

    Congratulations to all of the finalists and to all the nominees!

    And now I'm off to begin reading
     the 2011 Indie Lit nonfiction finalists...a mere five books...but 2,288 pages!

    Tuesday, January 3, 2012

    Top Ten Books I'm Excited To Read in 2012












    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.