Judge-a-Book-by-Its-Cover Covers

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.
Here are some I love.

The no-title cover...

And the just-a-title cover...

 

Is it the Very Cool Cover or the Very Cool Title?

The wonderful integration of cover art with title...

Life (and, thus, good stories) are always about walking precariously, I think...

You somehow know this book is going to be very, very helpful...

The wacky Murakami covers can't help but intrigue...

I wanted all three flavors.

Perfect.

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.

Time for It's Monday!

It's Monday and it's time once again to share what we read and acquired and are reading.

What I Read Last Week Whew. Sometimes I wonder if authors realize that their target audiences could be suffering from depression that is exacerbated by their novels. Should these books have warning labels for the emotionally susceptible? If so, then slap some warning labels on these two books.

What I'm Reading Now In an attempt to counteract the affects of reading two Dark & Painful books in a row.

How about you? 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.

Dark and Painful: Best Books Dealing With Tough Subjects

Here's my list of top ten books dealing with tough subjects:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

We Need to Talk About Kevin

The Color Purple

Where the Red Fern Grows

Of Mice and Men

The Fault is in Our Stars

Revolutionary Road

The Year of Magical Thinking

Flowers for Algernon

Maus

Room

I won't say more, to avoid spoilers.

Your thoughts?

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.

Yes, It's Monday!

                 

What I Finished Last Week Eleanor & Park Flambards The World is a Carpet: Four Seasons in an Afghan Village

What I'm Reading Now The 5th Wave  Give and Take  by Adam Grant A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley

What did you finish last week? What do you hope to read this week?

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.

International Reading Association Conference in San Antonio

San Antonio!

Spent the first morning at the Institute of Texan Culture...

betcha didn't even know there was such a thing as Texan culture!

I was eyeing this dress as potential attire

for the Queen of the Library.

A woman making her own yarn from cotton.

My husband was drawn to the cowboy wagon.

Of course.

Then we were off to La Villita,

a little village of artists and craftsmen. 

Look at his amazing work.

You gotta eat Mexican food along the Riverwalk.

And be serenaded by a mariachi band.

A persistent duck kept pecking my husband's booty.

So beautiful.

Time for the conference.

The incredible Rick Riordan.

I love Jason Chin's work. 

I got this autographed for the library

David Ezra Stein.

Tom Lichtenheld.

Reading Rainbow's LeVar Burton.

And the one-and-only Mo Willems.

Fabulous time was had by all. As they say.

When You Need Something Light & Fun

Yes, I love to read literary fiction and, 

yes, I love to read massive nonfiction tomes,

but, trust me, I love Light-&-Fun, too.

When the world gets Too Serious, 

when we have heaps of books to shelve in the library,

and children are trying to read-read-read and come to the Chapter Book Picnic,

and inventory's not quite done,

and everyone's cranky,

I turn to Light-&-Fun.

You can't do better than Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

You get Africa, delightful characters, a little mystery, and the soothing idea

that those of us who are bigger girls are nothing more than "traditionally built."

 There's the whole Moving-and-Starting-Over genre that I love to read.

You know this kind of story. 

Person buys a house in a place where he barely speaks the local lingo 

and begins a brand-new life.

Almost always a catastrophe, but that just adds to the fun.

 How about the kind of books I call Challenge Books?

A person takes on a big challenge and tries to do something difficult

for a set period of time, usually a year. These are always interesting and snappy.

And the people usually end up failing to meet their challenge or just becoming slightly better,

so it makes those of us who don't attempt to become happier or healthy a little smug.

And there are always the traditional Light-&-Fun books, like little mysteries,

or gentle romances, or escapist action and scifi tales, or wonderful travel narratives.

Any recommendations for me? What do you turn to when the world is Gray and Cold?

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.