What is Reading, Fundamentally?

What is reading, anyway? Novels, comics, graphic novels, manga, e-books, audiobooks — which of these is reading these days? Are they all reading? Only some of them? What are your personal qualifications for something to be “reading” — why? If something isn’t reading, why not? Does it matter? Does it impact your desire to sample [...]

Read Full Post »

New Books for June!

I forgot this first book in my May list of books:
Blue Smoke and Murder

By Elizabeth Lowell

Hardcover released May 27

Publisher–William Morrow

From author website: “Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda’s Consulting’s premier operators. But when a string of [...]

Read Full Post »

Review: The Rest Falls Away & Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason

The Rest Falls Away, Book 1 of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles
Beneath the glitter of dazzling 19th-century London Society lurks a bloodthirsty evil…
In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy of hunting vampires, and this time, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is chosen, on the eve of her debut, to carry the stake.
Rises the [...]

Read Full Post »

Books vs. Movies–Booking Through Thursday

Suggested by: Superfastreader:
Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?
…………………………………
A book opens my imagination to all sorts of possibilities as I read. A movie [...]

Read Full Post »

TBR Day Review: Test of Time by Jayne Ann Krentz

This is a reading challenge from Avidbookreader–read at least one book from our To Be Read books and post a review on the third Wednesday each month. My TBR Review for May :
* Book Read: Test of Time
* Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
* Originally published as Harlequin Temptation #177
* Copyright: 1987
* Genre: Contemporary Romance
Test of Time [...]

Read Full Post »

Booking Through Thursday–Manual Labor Redux

Following up last week’s question about reading writing/grammar guides, this week, we’re expanding the question….
Scenario: You’ve just brought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?
Do you ever read manuals?
How-to books?
Self-help guides?
Anything at all?
……………………………………..
I love getting gadgets and part of the fun is [...]

Read Full Post »

My Tree

Sunday was a thunderstormy, blustery day. I sat at my computer, but looked up when I heard a gust of wind whip through the backyard. As I looked I noticed the wind catch the biggest tree in our yard. Suddenly I heard a crack and a thud as the top two-thirds of the tree fell. [...]

Read Full Post »

Cranford, Episode 2, on PBS May 11

The second installment of Cranford (on PBS’ Masterpiece Theater) continues tomorrow, May 11 (Sunday) night. Cranford is based on three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.

If you can’t watch this series on TV the installments are available online for a limited period of time. Episode 1 is available now and Episode 2 will be available online beginning [...]

Read Full Post »

Manual Labor

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

…………………………………..
I have some of these manuals and occasionally I use them when I’m not sure about usage. I must admit I tend to use my instincts about [...]

Read Full Post »

Review: Hush: An Irish Princess’ Tale by Donna Jo Napoli

Melkorka is a princess, the first daughter of a magnificent kingdom in medieval Ireland–but all of this is lost the day she is kidnapped and taken aboard a marauding slave ship. Thrown into a world that she has never known, alongside people that her former country’s laws regarded as less than human, Melkorka is [...]

Read Full Post »