In Which I Learn a Secret about Reading

What I Finished Last Week Last week, I learned a secret about reading:  If you don't have to go to work...if you don't waste time dusting or vacuuming or washing clothes or cooking meals...if you just focus on the really important things like, well, reading...then you can read a lot of great books. Here's what I read last week:                        And I've got my bookmark in a half-dozen more.

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.

How Fast Do You Read? Take This Test and Find Out!

Source: Staples eReader Department

What do you think?

In Which I Reveal...The Arkenstone of Thrain!

Eleven Books I Can't Wait to Read This Spring

The Dark
written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Jon Klassen
Yes! Can't wait to read!

Take Me to Your BBQ
Aliens request they be taken to a BBQ.
As well they should.




Exclamation Mark
Just bought this at last week's book fair!
My favorite mark of punctuation!





Rosie's Magic Horse
written by Russell Hoban
and illustrated by Quentin Blake
Win-win combo.




Red Hat
by Lita Judge
Red Wagon is a hit with my kiddos at school.




Maya Was Grumpy
New book from Flashlight Press.



A Long Way Away by Frank Viva
Hmmm. A "two-way story" sounds intriguing.



Nighty Night, Little Green Monster
by Ed Emberley
Go Away, Big Green Monster is a big favorite at my school library.



America the Beautiful:
Together We Stand
Ten illustrators look at one song.




Ball by Mary Sullivan




How to Be a Cat by Nikki McClure
Secretly we all want to be cats, I think.
Or dogs. Maybe some people want to be dogs.

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.

More B̶a̶t̶h̶s̶ Reading, Less T̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ Acquiring

                 

Maira Kalman:  "I have always loved buying books, and I often say to myself, 'I won't buy any books this week.' Then, the next thing I know, I'm running over to twelve bookstores and frantically buying books as if I'm deprived."

I've been reading this book this week:

Are you a reader of Nick Hornby's monthly column in the Believer? Have you read More Baths or any of the other books-from-columns Nick Hornby has assembled? If so, you will be familiar with the format I'm using for this week's It's Monday! post (below).

BOOKS ACQUIRED: From the library More from the library (Note: Three copies of the same book, one in English, one in Spanish, and one audiobook version... How crazy is that?!) From publishers Twelve books (!) acquired from my school's book fair Three new e-books on my iPad Two of these books on my nightstand are books I ordered from Amazon. Eek!

BOOKS READ:

Okay, it's pretty clear that I'm having trouble with my Books Acquired/Books Read ratios. 

Any suggestions, folks?

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.

No Word for It

My niece wanders off the path at Versailles.

What word do we have to describe this?

Wonderful words we don't have in English.


Wabi-Sabi (Japanese)
A way of living that finds beauty in the imperfect.

Verschlimmbesserung (German)
Improvement that makes things worse.

Taarradhin (Arabic)
A way of resolving a problem without anyone losing.

Tatemae and Honne (Japanese)
What you pretend to believe. And what you actually believe.

Schadenfreude (German)
The feeling of pleasure derived from seeing another's misfortune.

Maya (Sanskrit)
Belief that the symbol of a thing is the same as the thing itself.

Wei-su-wei (Chinese)
Conscious nonaction.

Bricoleur (French)
Someone who starts building something with no clear plan.

Tsundoku (Japanese)
The act of leaving a book unread after buying it, usually by adding it to a pile of other unread books.

Read more at 
20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words

13 Words Not Found in the English Language
10 Untranslatable Words
The 10 Coolest Foreign Words the English Language Needs

Better Than English

Top Ten Series I'd Like To Read

I'm not one for traditional series. In fact, I usually read the first book in the series and that's as far as I get. It was only because of extreme pressure from my fifth and sixth graders that I ever read past book one in the Harry Potter series. I know, I know. It's odd.

So here's all I could come up with when challenged to list the top ten series I'd like to read:

Art of the Novella series

43 novellas by the greatest authors of the last 300 years

Elizabeth Taylor (the author, not the actress...but you knew that, right?) books

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe series

If only I could figure out what order to read these in, I'd be on my way.

Whole Story series

15 classics, with illustrations and annotations

  

Best American Poetry series

1001 Children's Books You Must Read books

Persephone Books

100 neglected fiction and nonfiction books of mid-twentieth century writers (mostly women)

Discworld 

I've actually read four or five of these, and I might like to read more.

Game of Thrones

I read book one but I haven't decided if I want to keep reading.

What series would you like to read? Any suggestions for me? 

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.