Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Top Ten Favorite Quotes From Books


10. "Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, 'What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?' Instead, they demand: 'How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?' Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him."   Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry, The Little Prince


9. "...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."   Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet







8. "We used to all come outside when the streetlights came on and prowl the neighborhood in a pack, a herd of kids on banana-seat bikes and minibikes. The grown-ups looked so silly framed in their living-room and kitchen windows. They complained about their days and signed deep sighs of depression and loss. They talked about how spoiled and lucky children were these days. We will never be that way, we said, we will never say those things."   Jill McCorkle, Creatures of Habit









7. "Listen to your broccoli and it will tell you how to eat it."   Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird



                                                                                                                    







6. "Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things.""I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."   Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland






5. "Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day" from The Truro Bear and Other Adventures: Poems and Essays





4. "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for all of Paris is a moveable feast."   
3. "As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans."   Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast










2. "This inner peace of mind occurs on three levels of understanding. Physical quietness seems the easiest to achieve, although there are levels and levels of this too....Mental quietness, in which one has no wandering thoughts at all, seems more difficult, but can be achieved. But value quietness, in which one has no wandering desires at all but simply performs the acts of his life without desire, that seems the hardest."   Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance


1. "The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there."   Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
















Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists 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 complete with one of our bloggers answers. 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 sign Mister Linky at the bottom to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time..just post what you can!

Monday, May 7, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?









What I Finished Last Week

Bloom by Kelle Hampton


The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
by Jennifer E. Smith


A Journey to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne



 
What I'm Reading Now



Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman

Long Way Home by Bill Barich


What I Got in the Mail This Week
and Might Read Next:


The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland
by Catherynne M. Valente

Insurgent by Veronica Roth



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, May 6, 2012

Wish I Had Time to Chit-Chat, But I'm Off to the Center of the Earth


Wish I had time to chit-chat today, but I'm off to the center of the earth. With Jules Verne, of course. I've already found the secret instructions:

Descend into the crater of Yocul of Sneffels, which the shade of Scartaris caresses, before the kalends of July, audacious traveler, and you will reach the centre of the earth. I did it. ARNE SAKNUSSEMM*

Would you like to come along? It's certainly not too late and we'll be traveling with an accomplished (though perhaps a bit eccentric) geologist and his nephew, so there's nothing to fear. You aren't afraid of heights, are you? Or, should I say, depths? Easily remedied by a five-day course of ascending 150 steps to the top of a steeple on the Island of Amak, in the southeast quarter of Copenhagen.

How about supplies? A letter of introduction to the Governor of Iceland is already prepared and our geologist friend has packed all the ropes and torches and pickaxes and alpenstocks we will need.

So join us, if you will. We're waiting for you, if you'll hurry along.



*Verne, Jules (2009-10-04). A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (p. 17). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition. 


What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine 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.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Top Ten Books That Would Make Great Movies (Though Most of These Would Be Near-Impossible to Make into Movies)


Some books are so brilliant I fear 
they could never be made into good movies.

Here are some I wish could be made into movies:


The Secret History by Donna Tartt
has it all: mystery and murder.

The Gold Bug Variations is
music, math, and intelligence.
A tough book to make into a movie.


Have any Haruki Murakami books
been made into movies?
This one or 1Q84 would be expecially tricky.

Half of a Yellow Sun is another big book
that would be difficult to make into a 
conventional movie.

I can see Major Pettigrew's Last Stand 
as a movie. Why hasn't it been undertaken?

Olive Kitteridge
With so many wonderful older actresses out there,
why not try to make a movie from Olive Kitteridge?
Meryl Streep, perhaps?


I'm amazed that no one has made Megan McCafferty's
Sloppy Firsts into a movie.

What could Hollywood do with 
The Lover's Dictionary?


And who wouldn't love to see a movie
made from one of M.F.K. Fisher's books like
An Alphabet for Gourmets?

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, April 30, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?












What I Finished Last Week

Nothing.

Oh dear. 
Nothing?  I finished nothing last week?
 Odd. Disconcerting.



 
What I'm Reading Now

Bloom by Kelle Hampton


What I Reviewed Last Week


Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis
Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis
by Lauren F. Winner


When I Was a Child I Read Books
When I Was a Child I Read Books
by Marilynne Robinson

And here's a treat:
I received a little audio clip
from the Macmillan audiobook, When I Was a Child,
read by the author herself:

Audio Clip:  
When I Was a Child I Read Books



What I Might Read Next


Tomorrow is the start of my Book Un-Birthday Month,
so I hope to read any un-birthday books that
will arrive in the mail for me.

Of course, I'm always open to suggestions!


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, April 29, 2012

The Library Conference, a Photoblog

 



Even though the conference was just thirty miles from my home,
I decided to stay in a hotel in Houston.
What a great view!

As usual, there were lots of great authors,
including this author, one of my favorites,
Hank the Cowdog author John R. Erickson.

Zita the Spacegirl author/illustrator Ben Hatke.

 Divergent author Veronica Roth.
I came that close to getting a copy of Insurgent.
A kind librarian generously offered to loan me her ARC.

Great sessions, including this one about
 the ALA Every Child Ready to Read
program that we initiated with a small grant
 at our school this year.


 Some of the usual unusual characters at the library conference.

Wouldn't it be nice to have an outdoor reading room at my library?!

I took home a first place medal in the Fun Run this year!


 I found a geocached book,
even though I really didn't know what to do with it when I found it! 

 And, best of all, I took home a gentle wolf puppet 
and a nice little stack of free books 
from the conference!





How was your reading week?


What is the Sunday Salon? 
Imagine 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.

Monday, April 23, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?






 





What I Got in the Mail Last Week



Such a cool idea for a book!


 
What I Brought Home from the Library Conference


Yes, that's me standing on a chair and,
yes, the books do stretch from the floor to the ceiling.



What I Finished Last Week 
and What I Might Read Next


Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
(Review coming soon)


When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson
(Review coming soon)


I don't know what I'm reading next,
but I have lots and lots of choices, don't I?!



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.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon!


It's time again for Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon!

FINAL UPDATE:  Hour 24

  1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  Nine pm.  I just could not keep my eyes open for one more minute.
  2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?  Children's books work for me.
  3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  I think prizes might be nice. Maybe I can help with that in October.
  4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The little videos posted each hour were clever and motivating.
  5. How many books did you read?  Twelve. (Fine print: All were children's books and ten of these were simply children's picture books.)
  6. What were the names of the books you read?   
  7. Which book did you enjoy most? Because of Winn-Dixie
  8. Which did you enjoy least? I enjoyed all of the books.
  9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I've never participated as an Official Cheerleader, but I think that's what I'll do in the fall readathon.
  10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will definitely be back. I might serve as a Cheerleader.


UPDATE:  Hour 6


I haven't read much so far. In my defense, I had to give blood (Woo hoo! I have now given 10 gallons of blood!) and then had to go to the library to pick up the book I really wanted to read today, Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.

Now I've given my blood, I've gotten my Winn-Dixie book, I've poured myself a big, cold glass of ice water, and I've planted myself in the most comfortable reading chair in the known universe. Here I go, ready to read away....

More later....


Introductory Questionnaire

 

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I'll be reading today in my beautiful town of Alvin, Texas, on the Texas Gulf Coast.


2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I hope to reread Because of Winn-Dixie, the children's book I'll be giving away Monday on World Book Night.


3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

I'll be drinking lots of delicious ice water.


4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I'm Deb Nance. I started reading spontaneously when I was two, and it's my favorite thing to do. I'm also deeply interested in happiness and spirituality and education and creativity. 













5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I always do a Readathon Lite. Feel free to join me if you, like me, want to participate but need your beauty sleep. 

I hope you will stop in here and say hello! 



Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Top Ten Tips For New Book Bloggers

(10) "Build it and they will come" is just for ballparks.
For blogs, I'd advise, 
"Build it and visit other people's blogs; then they will come."
If you (9) leave a comment.
(8) Always leave a comment.
(7) Visit other people's blogs.
(6) Leave comments.
(5) Do you want to make some friends?
Then I suggest you visit other people's blogs...and...
(4)...Are you getting my message...It's simple, really. Just visit other blogs...
(3)...visit lots of other blogs...
(2)...lots and lots of blogs...and...
Last of all, and most important, (1) COMMENT. 

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.