On Writing

June 2011 in Review and a New Reading Challenge!

July 3, 2011

Somehow, we’re already halfway through 2011. Time flies! I’ve been wanting to resurrect my month-in-review feature, and this summer seems like a perfect time to do it. Mid-2011 Stats Books read: 30 Pages read: 9,746 My reviews: 20 Guest reviews: 7 Posts on book reviewing: 16 (includes features like In My Mailbox, Wordless Wednesday, and Top Ten Tuesday; reading challenges; and news) At this rate, it doesn’t look like I will hit my informal goal of 100 books in 2011. But there’s […]

My Mailbox: Virginia Woolf, Daniel Woodrell, Nancy Pearl, Sapphire, and more!

July 1, 2011

Books! A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf Holy Ghost Girl by Donna M. Johnson My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell Book Lust to Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers by Nancy Pearl Push and The Kid by Sapphire The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned (Anniversary Edition) by Kenneth C. Davis Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold […]

Top Ten Bookish Websites, Organizations, and Apps

June 28, 2011

This week, I’m highlighting my top ten bookish websites, organizations, apps, and so on (excluding book blogs). So without further ado… 10. Google Reader Technically, Google Reader isn’t limited to bookish endeavors, but that’s certainly what I use it for. Here I can keep track of all my favorite blogs and sites. It can be really interesting to watch trends in reading and writing when all the blogs are side-by-side. 9. Paperback Swap I have a lot of books, many of them […]

My Mailbox: Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Mark Salzman, and More

June 21, 2011

Note: Sorry this video is so overexposed. But I heard the vampire look is so hot right now. Books! American Gods (And The Graveyard Book and Coraline) by Neil Gaiman Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman The Bridge: A Journey Between Orient and Occident by Geert Mak

Happy Father’s Day!

June 19, 2011

The great folks over at Open Road Media have put together several Father’s Day videos, including this one on growing up with literary fathers. More from their site: [W]e’ve assembled four original videos featuring insightful commentary about growing up with literary fathers from the sons and daughters of Andre Dubus, Stanley Elkin, William Styron, Terry Southern, John Gardner, and James Jones. Catch glimpses of these great twentieth century literary giants through the eyes of their children, listen to tales of their filial […]

My Mailbox: Harold Bloom, Gretchen Rubin, Suzanne Collins, and More

June 15, 2011

Books I mention: An Island Out of Time: A Memoir of Smith Island in the Chesapeake by Tom Horton Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound, edited by John Biewen Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production by Jonathan Kern The Polysyllabic Spree and Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby The Best American Travel Writing 2010 by Bill Buford How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to […]

“Sideways on a Scooter” Event Review

June 13, 2011

“I was determined to be more than a casual visitor to India,” Miranda Kennedy writes in her new memoir, Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India. “I’d been saving everything I earned at my job as a producer at a public radio show so that I could pick up and go overseas to try my hand at becoming a freelance foreign correspondent. The lack of transcendent, transformative experiences in my life so far had disappointed me: My days seemed a […]

Good news!

June 10, 2011

I was just accepted into the Master of the Arts Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University! I will be focusing on nonfiction; hopefully you’ll see a marked improvement here in my reviews! I’m hoping to branch out into freelance writing, and I’ve already placed one article at chinadialogue.net: “Bikes are green, but in the red.” Check it out!

48-Hour Book Challenge

June 3, 2011

Friday, June 3 11:03 a.m. I’m looking forward to a weekend of reading on the beach! For this reading challenge, I’m hoping to finish several books that I’m in the middle of right now. In no particular order: The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy A pretty diverse collection! I have no idea much time I’ll have to myself […]

Another Reading Weekend

June 2, 2011

Aww snap. I must’ve pleased the gods of reading challenges, because they are granting me a second chance after I couldn’t give the Spring 24-Hour Readathon my all. Mother Reader is hosting the sixth annual 48-Hour Book Challenge (#48HBC on Twitter) on June 3-5. More from her site: The weekend is June 3–5, 2011. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the third and end no later than 7:00 a.m. […]

My Mailbox: Miranda Kennedy, Susi Wyss, and More

May 31, 2011

In My Mailbox is a way for book bloggers to discuss all of the books that they come across each week.

Books I’ve received this week:

  • Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves

  • Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India by Miranda Kennedy

  • The Civilized World: A Novel in Stories by Susi Wyss

  • The Best Women’s Travel Writing: True Stories from Around the World, edited by Lavinia Spalding

  • The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton

    • My Mailbox: Ellen Feldman, Ned Zeman, and More

    May 23, 2011

    I’m back from Indonesia! I’d hoped to have another video about books I received while I was gone, but I lost my voice somewhere in the jungles of Borneo. Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms by Carmela Ciuraru Wow, Ms. Ciuraru, with a tongue-twisting name like that I can see why you’d be interested in pseudonyms! This book looks fascinating, though; the author examines the lives of authors such as Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, and George Eliot, “plumbing the creative […]

    Hello from Indonesia!

    May 9, 2011

    That’s right, I’m in Indonesia! I’ll be traveling for the next two weeks, so I won’t be updating this site until I’m back. Until then, take a stroll through the archives to satisfy your hankering for books. Here are some of my most popular reviews: War by Sebastian Junger Zeitoun by Dave Eggers The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Room by Emma Donoghue

    My Mailbox: Sir Walter Scott, Jane Smiley, and More

    May 2, 2011

    Books I mention: On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott A History of God and In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis, both by Karen Armstrong At Paradise Gate by Jane Smiley Northwest Corner (and Reservation Road) by John Burnham Schwartz YogaNap: Restorative Poses for Deep Relaxation by Kristen Rentz

    My Mailbox: Cathy Alter, Judith Lasater, and R. Scott Bakker

    April 25, 2011

    This week I received five good books in the mail—two review copies, and three that I bought for myself on a rainy day last week. The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block This book is being published by Random House in June, and I’ll be reviewing it in July with TLC Book Tours—I love those guys! More about the book: Inspired by elements of the lives of the author’s grandparents, this haunting love story shifts through time and reaches across […]