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 […]
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. […]
Nicole Krauss’s Great House is intricately crafted, beautifully written, poignantly populated, and kind of plotless.
Great House presents the idea that your furniture—the enduring collection of things with which you surround yourself—defines you. The characters’ furniture even serves as parts of their identities and personalities. Each of the lonely, troubled narrators externalize and objectify the conflicts within and between themselves, placing parts of their souls in their belongings in order to transcend their humanity, like Voldemort and his horcruxes.
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:
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 […]
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
Julie and Michael Dunhill have it all: a gorgeous mansion in DC, a multi-million dollar business, co-ownership in the local basketball team. But everything they have fought for in life–the money, prestige, popularity–have only driven them further apart.
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
After being severely wounded in the last book, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Lisbeth Salander wakes up in the hospital with one hell of a headache—only to find that her assailant/father is recovering only a few doors down.
After firmly re-establishing himself as the fearless investigative journalist and publisher behind Millennium magazine—a publication once scorned for its inaccuracy that is now flying off newsstand shelves—Mikael Blomkvist is, once again, on top of his game. So when he is approached by Dag Svensson, a young man who has just spent years writing a dissertation on sex trafficking, Mikael is immediately taken by the idea of publishing Svensson’s controversial findings.
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 […]
Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist and the publisher of Millennium magazine in Stockholm, Sweden. A year ago, he had everything going for him; he loved his job, and his oddly romantic relationship with his business partner and best friend Erika Berger had never been better.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn picks up where The Adventures of Tom Sawyer left off. The Widow Douglas adopts Huck, and he goes to live with her and her sister, Miss Watson. But Huck isn’t taking to his new life too well; though he wants to please the Widow, he finds himself making mistakes in his new life everywhere he turns.
I received some good books in the mail this week, two of which I ordered online and one of which comes from a good friend. I also made an unsupervised trip to the library in my new car this weekend, and I came back with only two books! Jack was so proud. Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald I enjoyed Tender Is the Night by Zelda’s husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I found myself yearning for a complementary view—for the wife’s […]
Sebastian Junger’s War follows its famous author as he spends nearly a year in Afghanistan as a writer for Vanity Fair. He also captured his experience on on a small handheld camcorder, which was used to create 2010 documentary Restrepo with Tim Hetherington.
With the arrival of the cherry blossoms in D.C., it is officially spring. And I can think of no better way to celebrate than everyone’s favorite seasonal event: a 24-hour readathon! Though I will be house-shopping on Saturday afternoon, I plan to devote the majority of my weekend to reading. I’d like to finish up a few books I’m in the middle of right now, including: • The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie • The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy • […]
Melody Schreiber 