Tuesday, February 12, 2013

♥♥♥Love Stories I Love♥♥♥



I hate predictable writing. I cringe at sappy stories. I loathe ooey-gooey books.

Unless said writing is a romance.

So be prepared for some predictable writing on my list of favorite love stories. Be ready for some sappy romances. Get set for some ooey-gooey tales. And forgive me for my reading sins. We all have our flaws.

Here goes:

You probably have The Fault in Our Stars and Sloppy Firsts and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and Anna and the French Kiss on your list, too. So I'm not bothering to put these on mine. You already know how wonderful they are. In a Teen Love sort of way.

One for the Money will never be anybody's literature, but you've got to love a story where our main character is in love with two amazingly gorgeous fellows. You know all about this one, so I'm not listing it either.

Should I even both putting Bridget Jones's Diary down? No, I don't think so. Everybody has read this one and, even if you haven't, you've seen the movie.

Okay, enough of what's not on my list. Here are a few that might be a little off your radar:

♥♥♥The Monk Downstairs♥♥♥


♥♥♥Stargirl♥♥♥


♥♥♥Eleanor and Abel♥♥♥



♥♥♥The Gold Bug Variations♥♥♥


♥♥♥Major Pettigrew's Last Stand♥♥♥


♥♥♥Possession♥♥♥


♥♥♥A Kiss for Little Bear♥♥♥


♥♥♥Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak♥♥♥


♥♥♥The Lover's Dictionary♥♥♥


♥♥♥My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead: 
Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro♥♥♥


What do you think? Have you, too, loved any of these? Hated any?




Monday, February 11, 2013

Another It's Monday!

                 


What I Finished Last Week




The One and Only Ivan


Travels With Epicurus





What Arrived Last Week



There's No One I Love Like You


The First Four Notes: 
Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination


My Bookstore


The Colour of Milk


The Yellow Birds





What I'm Reading Now


Lessons in French




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, February 9, 2013

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You


The first thing I always do on Tuesday mornings is to post my Top Ten list and then visit other people's blogs to read their Top Ten lists. The prompt this week was "Top Ten Bookish Memories."

The first blog I visited this particular morning was Christina T's Reading Extensively.  Here is her number one Bookish Memory:          
 1. Meeting Ally Carter at a book signing

Crazy, because guess where I was headed this morning? Yes, to see Ally Carter at Manvel Junior High!


Students came from four schools to hear Ally Carter speak.


She spoke about the writing process and answered questions.
I loved her Speed Round.



Two junior high librarians came suitably Gallagher Girl-ishly attired.



Naturally, I had to buy my first Ally Carter book
(can you guess which one?)
and get it autographed.


Some of our Alvin ISD Brazoria Fiction Fiesta librarians at the event,
posing with Ally Carter.


What I loved most:
Three junior high girls dived right into their new Ally Carter books.



I can see why Christina T. chose meeting Ally Carter as one of her favorite bookish memories!


Thank you, Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, 
for sharing Ally Carter with us and our students!





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.


To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme 
post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken
 then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at At Home With Books.



Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Barbed Wire




For more wordless photos,

Happy Bookish Moments (So Far)








Finding and Reading ZAMM in Yellowstone Park, 1975
Finding and reading a book that changed my life. Saved my life. 
Someday I'll tell this story.



Reading 100+ Books in One Year
Who knew I could read a hundred books in a year?




I'm a Librarian!
And suddenly I'm living my dream. 


Photo by 12thSonOfLama
Happy Meetups with Readers
Bookcrossed a little, shopped in bookstores.





I'm a Cybils Panelist!
2008. Then 2009. And 2010. And 2011. And 2012. Happy.





Astonishing BookCrossing Release Results!
450 books released in one week
at George R. Brown Convention Hall in Houston.







The Texas Book Festival
Fabulous. Every year.




 Authors, Authors Everywhere!
TLA. IRA. Blue Willow Bookstore. My school. Everywhere.







And, finally, you can't learn everything from a book. Or, as they say in French, Vous ne pouvez pas tout apprendre à partir d'un livre. A bookish-nonbookish moment.




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, February 4, 2013

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

                 


What I Finished Last Week

Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day

One for the Books

     The Blue-Ribbon Jalapeno Society Jubilee
                     



What I Hope to Review This Week


Quiet                                     Just Like Jesus


 Scent of Darkness                          Hearts on Fire     






What Arrived Last Week and I'm Reading Now

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story

Lessons in French by Hilary Reyl




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.