Continuum Contemporaries series: Carol Shields's "The Stone Diaries":A Reader's Guide
Reading matters (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009
Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel The Road has been chosen as the best book of the decade by The Times. The newspaper compiled a list of 100 books, an incredibly eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction, with some intriguing choices, including the following books reviewed on Reading Matters: Unless by Carol Shields Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson Cloud...
Beattie's Book Blog (Free subscription) | 06/10/2009
Wolf Hall wins The 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction http://www.themanbookerprize.com/ Bookies’ favourite scoops prize Hilary Mantel is tonight (Tuesday 6 October) named the winner of the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for Wolf Hall , published by Fourth Estate. Wolf Hall has been the bookies’ favourite since the longlist was announced in July, with William Hill taking over...
Not As Advertised (Free subscription) | 05/10/2009
When I've had enough of the kids' backchat (which is frequently), I like nothing better (apart from a snifter of whiskey, but that's another story) than losing myself in a good book. I was reading in the Saturday Times Magazine about what the literary great and good would have as their Desert Island Books. Clearly, these people are far more learned than I, or possibly just a load of pseuds. It wouldn't...
Alternative-Read.com (Free subscription) | 29/09/2009
Now, way back in 2006, when I wrote this: 1001 Books: A Bibliophile's Dream! I said I would read some of these books and display my findings on this blog. Well, as you can imagine, I nearly lost the will to live just getting this post together! There's no way I am going to even attempt to read all of them, but I do like my lists (as well as my notebooks), and since I love this book I felt it deserved...
book-a-rama (Free subscription) | 16/09/2009
Another day of BBAW activities! Today we answer a few questions. I'm answering all with as few words as possible. Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Anything chocolate. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? It's horrifying! How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?...
The Written World (Free subscription) | 15/09/2009
So, my partner for the BBAW interview swap is Melanie from The Indextrious Reader ! It was all very last minute because we did not hear from our original partners. We asked each other the same questions. My answers are here and her answers can be found on her blog! As a Canadian blogger, do you make an effort to read Canadian or does the 'nationality' of a book matter to you? What is your favourite...
The Written World (Free subscription) | 04/09/2009
In the month of August I read 36 books, which brings my total books read for the year to 273. Young Adult Reads: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen Devilish by Maureen Johnson Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation Skinned by Robin Wasserman Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff The Wolves of Willoughby...
The Weaver of Grass (Free subscription) | 25/08/2009
Well, I will say this for you, Bloggy Friends, you are an eclectic lot! So here is a Bloggers'Library, made up of your choices and listed in alphabetical order. First the poetry shelf. There would be works by: William Blake, Roberty Browning, e e cummings, Robert Frost, Seamus Heaney, Alfred Noyes, Tennyson, Wordsworth. Let's say that the top shelf of our bookcase would be the complete works of all...
The Written World (Free subscription) | 09/08/2009
Friday I finished Fire by Kristin Cashore. The review will be following on Tuesday. Anyway, I am in love! I considered Graceling one of my favourite reads so far this year, but you can consider Fire on that list now, too! I read an ARC of the book, but I have to mail it back to its owner. That's okay, though, because I have had Fire pre-ordered for a while now! So, you know that I am not very impatient...
Volatile Rune (Free subscription) | 04/08/2009
An unconscionable length of time (good word - someone will tell me I've misspelt it, too lazy to check) has passed since I last posted. There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that I continue to be blocked as I writer; the good news is that there is only one thing to do in such a situation. Read more. And I have. I have discovered Carol Shields who not only writes dense and heartbreakingly...
Fluttering Butterflies (Free subscription) | 04/08/2009
I've seen quite a few people writing out their 'Friday Finds' posts, lists of all the books that they'd like to read and found that week. I can't do it. I'm not organised enough to do something weekly. Instead, I thought I'd do like Lisa over at Books.Lists.Life and keep one post here that references all the good reviews I've been reading lately and where to lay the blame if I read that book and hate...
The Written World (Free subscription) | 04/08/2009
A Canadian Reading Meme brought to you by John from The Book Mine Set . Here are my answers: Your Favourites: 1. Favourite Canadian author? - This changes regularly. I love L.M. Montgomery, Carol Shields, Douglas Coupland, Lesley Choyce, Thomas King, Lynn Coady, Mary Lawson, and so many more... They are all pretty much auto-buys. 2. Favourite Canadian novel? - Wow, I really don't even know. My favourite...
The Written World (Free subscription) | 31/07/2009
1. Alice Munro – Lives of Girls and Women X (Not a big Munro fan because she is essentially short story collections.) 2. Timothy Findley – The Wars or Not Wanted on the Voyage X 3. Mordecai Richler – The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz X (Don't like this book) 4. Martha Ostenso – Wild GeeseX (Pretty good book) 5. Nino Ricci – Lives of the Saints (Own. Haven't read yet)...
Lower Earley Book Group (Free subscription) | 10/07/2009
Thursday 9th July - Warwick Arms Pub, Reading We had a group of 7 at this month's meeting and the kind man at the Warwick Arms turned some of the speakers off so it was lovely and quiet to discuss this month's book 'If Nobody Thinks of Remarkable Things' by Jon McGregor . It was an interesting and varied discussion, we all liked the premise of the book being a normal street on the surface but scratch...
Geranium Cat's Bookshelf (Free subscription) | 08/07/2009
Unless by Carol Shields Amberwell by D.E. Stevenson The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham - re-read The Grim Reaper by Bernard Knight Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdsdottir The Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett Thy Servant a Dog by Rudyard Kipling Enchantment by Monica Dickens Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith Oh...
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