Sunday, June 24, 2018

Paris in July, The Great American Read, and My Blogoversary



PARIS IN JULY

Happily, Tamara of Thyme for Tea has announced that Paris in July is on for 2018. To help her out, I took some of my photos from our trip to Paris earlier this month and made them into buttons.



What do you think?

Have you signed up yet for Paris in July? There are no real requirements. You can feel free to read as much or as little as you like. You can blog about French books or movies or cooking or travel. Sign up here.



THE GREAT AMERICAN READ


I felt pleased to have read 71/100 nominees for The Great American Read. The remaining 29 books fell into two categories: (1) Scorned. These are popular books that I felt like I was too good to read. These include DiVinci Code, James Patterson, The Shack, and The Godfather. (2) Impossible. These are books that I thought would be so difficult that they had, in essence, scorned me. These include War and Peace and Moby Dick.

I thought about it a little more, though, and I decided to give this a try. After all, now that I'm retired, I can easily read a mere 29 books.

I started with Looking for Alaska by John Green (Scorned) and Their Eyes Were Watching God (Impossible). After reading on these two books, I realize that I am wrong. Both of these are amazing books, and I can see why others have put them on their list of favorite reads ever.

So I picked up copies of a few more books. If nothing else, this is teaching me not to...wait for it...judge a book by its synopsis.



READERBUZZ'S 10TH BLOGOVERSARY (WITH A GIVEAWAY)!





I never planned to be a blogger.

But somehow I am, and it's now one of my favorite things to do.

And now I've been a blogger for ten years. So let's celebrate! I'm giving away a book of your choice from my list of 100 favorite reads each month this summer. The giveaway is open internationally, so please feel free to join in by sharing your list of books everyone should read here.







What are you reading today?



What is the Sunday SalonImagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 
 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

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! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.

18 comments:

  1. I just searched for Paris in July a few weeks ago and was disappointed not to find it listed on Tamara's blog. I am so excited to learn she is doing it again! I will spend the afternoon deciding what Parisian themed posts I will write next month :)
    On another note... I think my husband and I might be going to Italy in 2019 (in anticipation of the big family trip in 2021). I am lurking on your GoodReads boards adding to my research of the region. SUCH FUN!

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  2. So happy Paris is July will return again this year... the buttons you made are lovely!

    Scorned and Impossible -I'm literally laughing out loud, but completely agree with your categories. Their Eyes Were Watching God was an amazing audiobook, but I hated The Shack ;-)

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  3. Happy Blogiversary! Ten years is quite a milestone, especially when so many bloggers come and go. That's awesome. Paris in July, how fun. I don't think I have read too many books set in Paris (though I was lucky enough to visit once). I have to take a look at that Great American Read list. I best I read some of them, because my high school teachers made us read so many classics.

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  4. Those buttons are very nice. Enjoy your Paris in July time! As to the 'Scorned or Impossible' - well, I guess we should never say never completely. I haven't counted how many of the 100 I've read, but it's not 70 I'm positive. Hope you discover some new favorites.

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    1. I couldn't stand it and went and looked at the list. I've read 33 of them - many of the them the more contemporary ones.

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  5. I love your summing up of your experience, Deb! Yes... there are books out there that I also have scored - and those that I thought impossible. I'd like to think that as I've grown older, I'm both less sniffy about books (after all who am I to strike a pose about my reading tastes? I write space opera!) and a lot more confident in choosing books that either help me escape and cope with daily life, or take me to places I'll never go... Have a great week:)

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  6. Great buttons for the Paris challenge! Can I choose them all? :)

    Blogging is still one of my favorite things to do, too. My posts have shifted from book reviews to travel/photo essays, but I like to keep a mix of both and it's still very enjoyable to sit down and compose a post, as well as visit my favorite blogs.

    Have a great weekend (although every day is a weekend now, right?)!

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  7. Great buttons! I also like the idea of The Great American Read.

    Congrats on ten years of blogging. Like you, I started ten years ago...and certainly didn't anticipate I would still be doing it...and loving it.

    Enjoy your week, and thanks for visiting my blog.

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  8. I love that you could categorize the books you haven't read as impossible or scorned. It's exactly how I feel about it. But you read 2 books that I've read and really liked so I feel like I should give some a chance. Ugh. There are some on there (War and Peace, Moby Dick) that I just don't want to tackle.

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  9. Paris in July sounds great! I guess if you can't be there the next best thing is to blog about it. :) I'll have to look and see if I have any Paris- related stuff to blog about...

    Happy 10th blogoversary!! Wow that's awesome!!!

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  10. Happy blogaversary! That's a real accomplishment! Anne - Books of My Heart

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  11. I love the buttons. Good luck with your Great American Reading List! I loved Looking for Alaska when I was younger. I read Their Eyes Were Watching God in college and don’t remember it very well. Have a great week!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  12. Huge congrats on your ten years of blogging! Such a fab achievement!
    I am going to check out Paris In July and your top 100 books :-)

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  13. I love your buttons, such fun pictures and memories. I loved Looking for Alaska when I read it too. I can't wait to look through my pictures of Paris from years ago to add to blog posts in July!

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  14. Looking for Alaska is my favorite John Green book, followed by An Abundance of Katherines (forgot the exact title, but the one about the two senior boys going on a road trip).

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  15. I've never been to Paris! I must change that. Lovely photos.
    Have a great week!

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  16. Congratulations on your 10 years- we're all the richer for it. There are so many things in this post- you made Paris buttons (I'm in awe) from your very recent travel photos.... You made categories Scorned and Impossible. You might remember that I'm listening to the Moby Dick Big Read, yes I'm still going, it was always in the Impossible section for me til I decided to listen to it. I'm up to Chapter 110 (out of 136) - and we still haven't seen that white whale! But I'm going to finish it... And I just love that you can just read "a mere 29 books". I know that you will.

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