Beautiful Quotes I Want to Know by Heart

Other quote posts I've done in the past:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Favorite Quotes

Wonderful Quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird

Inspiring Quotes from Books

Book Quotes I Love From the Last Year




Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

Reading Six Classics at Once

Oh dear. Nothing. 

I started books, but I finished nothing.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (168 pages)

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald (326 pages)

The Doll's House by Rumer Godden (180 pages)

Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (280 pages)

The Nonexistent Knight by Italo Calvino (146 pages)

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (325 pages)

What's this about, you may ask? Why are you reading six books? And all of them some sort of classic?

It's the Classic Club Spin for May. Typically, one makes a list of twenty books from one's Classics Club list that you might like to read. The Classics Club spins the wheel and a number pops up. That is the book you are to read. 

But I decided to do something crazy. I only have six books left on my list. I decided to go ahead and try to READ ALL SIX BOOKS IN MAY. 

Yes, that is a grand total of 1,425 pages. But I'm already neck deep in several of the books. I think I can do it. I will at least give it the All-American Try.

I wrote three posts last week:

The First Books I Reviewed: The Haiku Years

The Texas Library Association Conference: Books, Authors, and So Much More!

The Classics Club Spin: And the Book I'm Going to Read is...WHAT? Six Books??

Don't worry if you don't hear from me right away this weekend....I'm volunteering for three days this weekend at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory's Spring Fling at Quintana Beach and the 25th Annual Migration Celebration at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. I'll be posting birds sited at the bird observatory and I'll be painting animal faces on children at the wildlife refuge. I promise to get back with you as soon as I can!

Update: Here are some of the fifty faces I painted on Saturday. Wish me luck as I return to paint more faces Sunday!

I hope each of you will stop by Readerbuzz each weekend and post a link to your blog. I would encourage you to visit other blogs and share your thought with others. The Sunday Salon was created twelve years ago to spark conversations. I hope to host a Sunday Salon each week with opportunities for conversations about books and book-ish things.

Other places where you may like to link up are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. If you wish to also post a link at Facebook, you can also do that. 

The Classic Club Spin: And the Book I'm Going to Read is...WHAT? Six Books??

It's time for another Classics Club Spin!

But wait. What, you might ask, is the Classics Club?

From the blog:

• Choose 50+ classics you would like to read.
• List them at your blog.
• Choose a reading completion goal date up to five years in the future and note that date on your classics list of 50+ titles.
• E-mail the moderators of this blog (theclassicsclubblog@gmail.com) with your list link and information and it will be posted on the Members Page.
• Write about each title on your list as you finish reading it, and link it to your main list.
• When you’ve written about every single title, let the Club know, and your name will be posted on the Wall of Honor.

If you haven't done this, do this first. Then you can get going with your reading by joining in for our Classics Club Spin.

What is the Classics Club Spin? Again, from the blog:

• Go to your blog.
• Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List.
• Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Monday 22nd April.
• We’ll announce a number from 1-20. 
• Read that book by 31st May.

Here is my list:

1. The last six books on my list

2. The last six books on my list

3. The last six books on my list

4. The last six books on my list

5. The last six books on my list

6. The last six books on my list

7. The last six books on my list

8. The last six books on my list

9. The last six books on my list

10. The last six books on my list

11. The last six books on my list

12. The last six books on my list

13. The last six books on my list

14. The last six books on my list

15. The last six books on my list

16. The last six books on my list

17. The last six books on my list

18. The last six books on my list

19. The last six books on my list

20. The last six books on my list

Okay, I know this is a little odd. I only have six books left on my original Classics Club list. So, I thought, why not try to read all of the last six books for this spin? They are all relatively short, and I am a ridiculously fast reader. I think I can do it.

Are you a Classic Clubber? Have you made your list? Leave a link in the comments if you have so I can see what you are picking.

Now let's see what book the spinner chooses for me to read in May....

I will read the last six books left on my list. What titles will I be reading in May?

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (168 pgs.)

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald (326 pgs.)

The Doll's House by Rumer Godden (180 pgs.)

Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (280 pgs.)

The Nonexistent Knight by Italo Calvino (146 pgs.)

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (325 pgs.)

Grand Total of 1,425 Pages!

What’s Next?

Tell us below what your number 19 title is:

• Are you feeling thrilled, hesitant or ‘meh’ about your title?
• Check out our ‘Reviews By Members’ page for other Classic Clubbers who may have read your book recently. They may be able to help you if you hit a speedhump in your reading.
• Cheer on your fellow Clubbers.
• Take a pic of your book and pop it on Instagram or twitter.
• If you can — it would be fabulous if everyone posted about their Spin book by the 31st May, 2019. 
• Then check back here to share your experience and add your review to our ‘Reviews By Members’ page.

Hashtag: #ccspin  #ccwhatimreading

The Texas Library Association Conference: Books, Authors, and So Much More!

The Texas Library Association is the largest state library association in the US, with over 6,000 members. It was founded in 1902 to promote, support, and improve library services in Texas.

I went to the TLA Conference in Austin last week.

Here are some of my favorite parts.

There are oodles of wonderful sessions at the conference. My favorite was hearing Texas authors and illustrators speak about their forthcoming books.

There was a Relaxation Station at the conference, with stations for jigsaw puzzles, coloring, origami, and bookmarks. I relaxed and made this corner bunny bookmark.

I spent most of my time in the Exhibit Hall, browsing the new books and visiting with booksellers and authors.

There were lots of opportunities to get books signed. But, beware, as the lines were long. You have to think carefully about which books you are willing to wait for. The line for Laurie Halse Anderson, for example, was huge. Most of the books, however, are free.

There is nothing like finding and obtaining a wonderful book at the conference that you can't wait to read. On the left is librarian Barbie Love, delighted in finding the latest book in Anne Bishop's World of the Others series. On the right is a group of happy students from a local school who were bussed to the event and were given autographed copies of the latest in the Beatrice Zinker series.

The best thing about the TLA conference is talking books with booksellers, librarians, authors, and fellow readers. I loved meeting all the wonderful authors, and I was happy to bring home over a hundred books from the conference.

Here's a little collage of some of the authors I met this year. I promise to post a little more about them later.

Here is a little collage of some of the books I took home.

I wanted to share more about the books I brought home, so I made this one-minute video of some of my favorites.

Can you tell that I had a marvelous time?

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by A Web of Stories. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at A Web of Stories.

The First Books I Reviewed: The Haiku Review Years

Do you remember book reports?

Book reports were big when I was growing up in the sixties. 

In first grade, we were asked to write a sentence about each book we read. For that, we got a star on our reading chart. I had more stars than anyone else in first grade. I was proud of that. I read lots and lots of books about Dick and Jane and Sally, I remember. I have no record of what I wrote about those books. I liked them, though.

In sixth grade, we were asked to read a book a week and to write a one-page summary of the book. Were we allowed to read anything we wanted? Oh no, this was 1967, and we were required to read fifteen history books and fifteen biographies as well as fifteen books about science and nature. We were not allowed to read fiction; fiction was considered too easy, something we would be doing anyway. I plugged away through books about Genghis Khan and the Silk Road and Alexander the Great. After a steady diet of fiction in my early elementary years, I found to my surprise that I loved nonfiction.

There was more required reading in high school and college, but again I have no record of those books. I remember some I loved (Don Quixote, Tom Sawyer, The Odyssey, The Metamorphosis), some I liked (Jane Eyre), and some I hated (Heart of Darkness). 

It wasn't until I joined the Book-a-Week online club back in the late 1990's that I started writing reviews of every book I read. I apparently thought I was writing some sort of clever haiku-ish reviews in those years. 

Read and grimace....

The first book review I wrote for which I have a record was for a fiction novel I read in January of 1998 called West of Venus by Judy Troy. Here is my complete review: "Holly Parker learns to love." No rating. 

Later in January of that year I read Catcher in the Rye. Here are my wise words about that novel: "Very true. Lots to think about." 4/5 stars.

The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett, which I also read in January of 1998, I reviewed by writing: "Magic and tricks." 4/5 stars.

In February, I reviewed Animal Husbandry by Laura Zigman: "Old cow, new cow!" 3/5 stars. At least these words are evocative of the book.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks got "Sweet. Sad." with a generous 3/5 stars.

Visitors by Anita Brookner: "Old lady is lonely...." 3/5 stars.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, which I read in July, was a 4/5 star read for me. "Love it! Calories: 0"

I read several Barbara Kingsolver books that year including Animal Dreams in November. I could have probably put the same review for all the Kingsolver books: "A very wise book."

I seem to have read mostly forgettable fiction and light mysteries that first year of reviewing. But I did read a nonfiction book, Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy by Stephen L. Carter, that has always stayed with me. 5/5 stars. "The best book of the year." A better review of this book might have led to it being more widely read, and goodness knows, we could use that.

What are the first books you reviewed?

When did you start reviewing books?

Have you always written brilliant reviews?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.