Canadians are crazy. You might think our favourite winter sport is hockey – but you’d be wrong. It’s really Canada Reads! That’s right: throw-down, chest-beating, teeth gnashing book banter. On national television, no less! 🙂
Since only the first book has been eliminated, there’s still time to get caught up.
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There’s showing your love…and then there’s showing your LOVE!
Style For Book Nerds: 10 Literary-Inspired Looks For A Well-Read Wardrobe
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Here’s a great list – debatable, obviously, but great just the same.
Stylist.co.uk has compiled a list of what they consider to be the 100 best opening lines.
What do you think? What’s your favourite opening line from a book?
I am slowly working my way through all the books I bought for my classroom library. I want to be able to put books into the hands of my students and to be able to say something meaningful about them. Although I am way past my teen years, I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by the calibre of the teen fiction out there today. I’m not talking about the mega hits like Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series which, sure, teens read en masse but which I can’t say is quality literature by any stretch. I’m not talking about better-written fare like The Hunger Games. I’m talking about those quiet, often over-looked, books that speak directly to young adults about things they care about and things they worry about: divorce, illness, love, sex, abuse, drugs and alcohol. Those sorts of books were few and far between when I was growing up – which is why everyone and their dog read Judy Blume’s novel, Forever or Go Ask Alice by Anonymous.
Dana Davidson’s novel Played tells the story of handsome and talented Ian Striver, a boy who does know the difference between right and wrong, but who also wants – more than anything – to be accepted into an elite group at his school. Ian has made it past the induction phase of FBI (Freaky Boys Incorporated) but now he must pass one final test: he has to bed someone chosen for him by members of the FBI.
Kylie is the girl and it is impossible not to fall in love with her. She’s smart, she’s kind, she values the right things (her family: single mom and her younger brother and sister) and even when a little voice tells her that it can’t be possible that a boy like Ian could fall for a plain girl like her, she allows herself to fall in love with him.
Ian, on the other hand, was so fine and so popular that he could have any girl he wanted. Kylie wasn’t sure what, but she felt that something wasn’t quite right.
But the truth was that she wanted something more to happen to her. She went to school, took care of her siblings, kept their house clean, did her homework and saw her girlfriends from time to time. But that wasn’t enough. It seemed to Kylie that a perfectly healthy, reasonably intelligent teenage girl ought to be able to get into more than that. Kylie felt as if her life was more like that of a thirty-five-year-old than that of a sixteen-year-old. So while she had her suspicions about why Ian was taking time with her, she was going to let it ride and see where it took her.
While Ian does set out to play Kylie for his own gain, Davidson does a terrific job of making him likeable and complicated. Played does not play out exactly as the reader might anticipate and I enjoyed it a great deal.
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Much has been written about the loss of indpendent bookstores, about their inability to compete with online retailers like Amazon. There hasn’t been an independent bookstore in my city in forever…and for the longest time, the only bookstores we had were Coles, small chain stores in found in malls. When Indigo opened a beautiful store a few years back – it was a big deal in these parts. We do have a couple second hand bookstores and our university opened a bookstore on a main street in our city centre.
I love bookstores. I love killing a couple hours browing in a bookstore. But I admit it, I do shop online.
That said, if I had one of these bookstores in my town, I may give up shopping from my couch altogether.
I bought this book for my 12 year old son for Christmas. He started reading it and then, as boys of his age often are – got distracted and left it on the table in the livingroom – where I picked it up and read it from start to finish.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a straightforward tale, elevated because of its narrative style. Selznick tells the story in words and full page illustrations – 284 pages of them.
Twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the attic of the Paris train station. He lives there because his father has died and an elderly uncle has claimed him. The uncle is responsible for keeping all the clocks in the station running perfectly and he teaches Hugo to do the same. But when the uncle disappears, Hugo is left to fend for himself.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a book that perfectly marries text and images. Selznick stops his written narration, often several pages at a time, and lets his black and white drawings take over. The pictures tell the story, not just supplement the words. It’s brilliant really.
The story revolves around an automaton – a self-operating machine with human actions- a mysterious man who operates a toy store in the train station, a young girl and a famous French film director. The joy of how these things connect is for the reader to discover. It’s quite magical.
You can read more about the book here.
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I’ve been following this blog for a couple years and it NEVER fails to make me laugh. The blog’s mistress is Raych and she says: “The Done Read is all about the three H’s: Honesty, Hilarity, and H’mad relatives.” She reviews books – and recently has shared pictures and tidbits about her new daughter – awarding them caterpillars rather than stars. Seriously, who doesn’t want to read a book with 9.5 caterpillars!
I check in with her every couple weeks to see what she’s been reading. Raych is well read and has a writing style that is engaging and original. I also appreciate that her reviews are honest reactions to the books she reads – which is, despite the recent Internet craziness, to be admired.
So, I highly recommend you check out Books I Done Read.
What’s your favourite childhood book?
I was lucky growing up. Both my parents were readers and there were always books in my home. Trips to the library were a regular thing and there was always the Scholastic flyer to supplement my own collection. (I remember books costing a pittance compared to know and yet I also remember squirrelling away my dimes and nickels so I could buy the books I wanted.)
I actually talked about first literary loves last January. You can read that post here
Then I’d love for you to tell me about those early books – the ones that turned you into a reader.
Yesterday I talked about my dream of owning a bookstore. I’d have to be independently wealthy to do it, of course. The bookstore business is really tough. I think that’s always been true, but I suspect things have gotten even worse with eReaders and online shopping.
Still, it is a dream some people pursue. jlsathre left her job as a lawyer and opened a second hand bookstore. Here’s her list of the top 25 things she learned from doing that.
There aren’t many independent or second-hand bookstores around these days…which is sad. Owning a bookstore has always been a sort of dream gig to me. The thought that I could spend the day surrounded by books, tea and an occasional customer to chat with – well, that’s my idea of heaven.
For anyone who’s ever been to Halifax, Nova Scotia, JWD Books on Barrington is likely familiar.
And good news – they’re not closing, they’re moving.
The Ludic Reader 