I am totally in love with Ryan Gosling. I think he’s an amazing actor and, yeah, okay – he’s also easy on the eyes. Now I have even more reason to love him – he’s a book lover. Don’t believe me? Check this out!
Here’s a little sample.
Okay – maybe he’s not a book lover – but he’s still easy on the eyes!
For anyone who loves an afternoon in a bookstore, One Book on the Shelf, has a terrific project on the go. She intends on visiting every bookstore in London. Follow her progress here.
I actually had one of my most perfect bookstore experiences ever while living in Birmingham, England. I was teaching high school in the Midlands, and my department head gave me 200 pounds to buy books. He sent me with our school’s librarian to Peter’s Books for an entire morning. As if that wasn’t enough – while I was perusing the hundreds and hundreds of books on offer, a woman came up and asked me if I would like a cup of tea. Um. Yes, please. Five minutes later, I was holding a massive mug of steaming hot tea *and* poring over the titles. Bliss.
Speaking of wonderful bookstores, I have always been a huge fan of The Strand in NYC. Sadly when my kids and I visited New York in the summer, I was only allowed a quick walk through – not because my kids are anti-books, thankfully they’re both voracious readers- because as my daughter put it “Mom, you have too many books and we don’t have any room in our luggage for more!”
I’d love to hear about your favourite bookstore experiences.
I have a really hard time giving away books – the exception being books I really didn’t like (because if I wouldn’t recommend them, why would I keep them?) and books that I wouldn’t re-read (one shot mysteries). But there is the whole problem of what to do when you run out of room.
I have a floor to ceiling built in, compliments of my brother, Tom. He made it for me last year – the first time he’s ever built anything like it – and I love it. I could barely wait for the paint to dry so I could start alphabetizing all my books and I spent many evenings after the books were shelved sitting in the armchair across the living room, sighing contentedly.
But that wasn’t enough. I needed more shelves, so instead of buying a sofa table which would only collect clutter, I asked him to build me a book shelf that would do double duty as a sofa table. it is the perfect piece of furniture – functional and pretty, too. I don’t think there’s anything my brother can’t do!
I have a great IKEA bookshelf in my bedroom which is reserved for my tbr books. I know – I have a teensy addiction to book buying and I know that eventually I am going to run out of room.I have always dreamed about having a library – a room devoted to books; a quiet, comfortable place to read and dream and write. Someday, maybe.
No surprise: I love bookshelves. I think they’re an essential piece of furniture. I love to see what’s on other people’s shelves. I love for visitors to see what’s on mine. It’s one of the main reasons I can’t ever see me buying an e-reader, although I do understand their appeal. Book shelves are art and apparently I am not alone. Check out the shelves at Bookshelf Porn.
I am gratified to know that I am not alone.
I know they’re on the other side of the world, but why not celebrate Australia’s National Year of Reading 2012 by reading books by Australians or books set down under. If you need help getting started, Kimbofo of Reading Matters is hosting an Australian Book Month.
I’ve read a few books by Australians myself and can highly recommend Lloyd Jones’ Mister Pip, and Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief.
For the past few years over at Chapters Indigo, where I moderate a group called 50 Books in [insert year], I’ve compiled a list of my favourite books. This year is no exception. Here are my favourite books of 2011.
The Book of Lost Things – John Connolly
Absolutely my favourite book of the year. The writing was beautiful. David broke my heart.
Once upon a time—for that is how all stories should begin—there was a boy who lost his mother.
He had, in truth, been losing her for a very long time. The disease that was killing her was a creeping, cowardly thing, a sickness that ate away at her from the inside, slowly consuming the light within, so that her eyes grew a little less bright with each passing day and her skin a little more pale.
And as she was stolen away from him, piece by piece, the boy became more and more afraid of finally losing her entirely. He wanted her to stay. He had no brothers and no sisters, and while he loved his father it would be true to say that he loved his mother more. He could not bear to think of a life without her.
The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
About 30 pages in this book had me by the throat and would not let me go. I actually had to force myself to s-l-o-w down while reading it. SO GOOD!
The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say.
Need a poo, Todd.
Shut up, Manchee.
Poo. Poo, Todd.
I said shut it.
Quiver – Holly Luhning
A creepy, crawly thriller by Canadian author Holly Luhning that weaves the story of a young forensic psychologist with the tale of 16th century countess Elizabeth Bathory, famous for torturing young girls and bathing in their blood.
She was easy to spot.
Her skin was almost blue-white. As usual, at the corner she said goodbye to the other girls; he saw her part from the heads of pink hair, tight black curls, a blonde pixie cut. Watched her follow a narrow asphalt footpath that led around the corner to a pedestrian tunnel under the busy motorway.
He’d been in the tunnel, walked its sixty feet back and forth.He had done this most mornings this week, on his way to the office. No one noticed him. He was just a man wearing a suit, carrying a briefcase, going to work. When a lorry passed on the road above, the caged fluorescent lights that hung from the ceiling buzzed louder. Sometimes cyclists whizzed towards him through the tunnel, but they always stayed on their side of the yellow line painted down the centre of the path. Each day before he left the tunnel, he stopped and looked at the yellow paint, imagined it blotted by a puddle of blood, a small broken body stretched across its line.
One Day – David Nicholls
Dexter and Emma share one night together and their lives are forever shaped by it. I loved every single second of this book.
Friday 15TH July 1988
Rankeillor Street, Edinburgh‘I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference,’ she said. ‘You know, actually change something.’
‘What, like “change the world”, you mean?’
‘Not the whole entire world. Just the little bit around you.’
They lay in silence for a moment, bodies curled around each other in the single bed, then both began to laugh in low, pre-dawn voices. ‘Can’t believe I just said that,’ she groaned. ‘Sounds a bit corny, doesn’t it?’
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Collins has created a chilling post-apocalyptic world and peopled it with characters it’s impossible not to care about. Then – she makes them expendable. Teens love this one…but so do I.
When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping.
I prop myself up on one elbow. There’s enough light in the bedroom to see them. My little sister, Prim, curled up on her side, cocooned in my mother’s body, their cheeks pressed together. In sleep, my mother looks younger, still worn but not so beaten down. Prim’s face is as fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose for which she was named. My mother was very beautiful once too. Or so they tell me.
The Housekeeper – Melanie Wallace
This was a strangely unsettling book about a girl who tried to outrun her past, only to be caught up in complex relationships she knows nothing about. It is a stark, grim page-turner…beautifully written.
The first time Jamie saw the boy, he was tied to a tree. She was in no way prepared for the sight, of him wrapped tight in old clothesline haphazardly wound and knotted, the rope soiled and stained where it had at some previous time curled on pulleys and grimed. He was remarkably still but for the snot that ran from his nose.
The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
A book you can sink your teeth into – this is a tale of social class, love and money and it resonates still.
Seldon paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart. It was a Monday in early September, and he was returning to his work from a hurried dip into the country; but what was Miss Bart doing in town at that season? If she had appeared to be catching a train, he might have inferred that he had come on her in the act of transition between one and another of the country-houses which disputed her presence after the close of the Newport season; but her desultory air perplexed him. She stood apart from the crowd, letting it drift by her to the platform or the street, and wearing an air of irresolution which might, as he surmised, be the mask of a very definite purpose. It struck him at once that she was waiting for some one, but he hardly knew why the idea arrested him. There was nothing new about Lily Bart, yet he could never see her without a faint movement of interest: it was characteristic of her that she always roused speculation, that her simplest acts seemed the result of far-reaching intentions.
Falling Apart in One Piece – Stacy Morrison
Morrison tells the story of her marriage and divorce without rancor. Her prose is straightforward as she navigates herself through the messy aftermath of a ruined marriage and I found the book insightful and, yes, helpful.
I suppose I should start where it all started. Or, more specifically, started ending. The night Chris told me he was done with our marriage.
I can recall exactly what I was doing on the June evening this one-way conversation started: I was standing at the sink in the kitchen area of our one-room first floor, washing a bunch of arugula, my favorite salad green, pushing my hands through the cold water in the salad spinner to shake the dirt loose. I was looking out the window over the sink, marveling at the beautiful backyard of our Brooklyn home: an actual lawn, its bright green grass thick as a carpet; a wood deck; and a pergola with grapevines climbing over it in curlicue abandon. The yard was my favorite thing about our house, a house that we’d bought and moved into just five months before on a freezing-cold January day, when our son, Zack, was just five months old. Stationed in his bouncy seat on the floor in the empty living room, he’d watched with wide eyes as everything we owned was marched through the front door in big cardboard boxes.
The Mercy Killers – Lisa Reardon
Lisa Reardon creates the most amazingly screwed up characters and yet it’s impossible not to fall in love with them. I am a huge fan.
It’s hard to think how different their lives would have been if it weren’t for the mess they got themselves into, if it weren’t for that war, if they hadn’t all been so young and stupid and scared. On a rainy evening in the spring of 1967, Old Jerry hunkers on his bar stool like a liquor-soaked question mark. The topic of conversation is his long-awaited suicide.
The bartender brings him a shot of Stoli. “From Olivia,” he says, “A little early happy birthday for you.” Old Jerry gives Olivia a nod and a wave across the bar. She waves back. Almost sets her chiffon hair scarf on fire with her cigarette. Old Jerry adds the shot to the other two her has got lined up.
I Think I Love You – Allison Pearson
This book was tremendous fun to read because I WAS THAT GIRL! That crazy pucca shell wearing, feathered hair, singing into a hairbrush to Partridge Family records girl! Really enjoyed it.
His favourite colour was brown. Brown was such a sophisticated colour, a quiet and modest sort of colour. not like purple, which was Donny’s favourite. I wouldn’t be seen dead in purple. Or in a Donny cap. How much would you have to like a boy before you went out wearing a stupid purple peaked cap?
Honest, it’s amazing the things you can know about someone you don’t know. I knew the date of his birth – April 12, 1950. He was a typical Aries but without the Arian’s stubbornness. I knew his height and his weight and his favourite drink, 7Up. I knew the names of his parents and his stepmother, the Broadway musical star. I knew all about his love of horses, which made perfect sense to me because when you’re that famous it must be comforting to be around someone who doesn’t know or care what famous is.
I am popping the cork on a year of book-related posts and I have to say that I am pretty darn excited about it. I hope you’ll come along for the ride…
The Perpetual PageTurner wrote this great year end meme and so I am going to start my 365 days of book blogging by answering her questions.
Best Book You Read In 2011?
The Book of Lost Things – John Connolly
Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?
Hamlet and Ophelia – John Marsden
This is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and I really, really wanted to like it because it would have been great to offer as a companion to a study of the play with my students. Sadly, this version was like really bad fanfiction.
Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
The Mercy Killers – Lisa Reardon
I have been a Reardon fan since I read Billy Dead and The Mercy Killers has been on my tbr shelf for ages. I haven’t read it because, frankly, the plot didn’t sound interesting to me. Just goes to show you how really excellent writing can elevate anything. I ended up really liking this book.
Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly got a lot of love the first part of 2011 and I’ve been reccing the heck out of Patrick Ness’ novel The Knife of Never Letting Go for the last few weeks.
Best series you discovered in 2011?
The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first in the Chaos Walking series. I will definitely be reading the rest of these books.
Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?
Patrick Ness. John Connolly. I will be reading more from these guys without a doubt. I was also impressed with Holly Luhning, author of Quiver.
Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I don’t really have a comfort zone. Well, okay, I don’t read fantasy/sci fi under normal circumstances…but I can read it – I just choose not to.
Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness. I couldn’t put that book down. At all.
Book you most anticipated in 2011?
Unfortunately, I don’t have a “most anticipated” list because I have over 400 books on my tbr shelves. These are not virtual shelves, they are books that are actually physically in my house. I add books to my tbr list all the time so I don’t anticipate books, because my list is too long and my memory is too short.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
The Town That Drowned by Riel Nason. 
A lovely book by a local author and someone I know personally. I loved the cover of her book.
Most memorable character in 2011?
Hands down, Todd’s dog, Manchee, from The Knife of Never Letting Go. It’s worth reading the book for that canine alone.
Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
Oh dear. I loved The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. It takes more of an effort to read the classics – the pace is slower, the writing is dense, but this is a beautiful book and well-worth the effort.
Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?
The Book of Lost Things. It made me cry.
The Knife of Never Letting Go. It made me want to buy a copy for every kid I teach.
Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
Harry Potter and the Philospoher’s Stone – JK Rowling
I actually started to read this to my kids when they were really little and gave up. Of course I’ve seen the movies and loved them all…and then I decided to read this to my grade 9 class…and I really enjoyed it.
Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
Oh dear. I’m not sure it’s possible to pick just one.
Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
Nothing right away. I do re-read books, but I have to make a dent in this tbr pile, so it isn’t likely I’ll re-read any of my 2011 titles in the near future.
Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
There was a moment in William Taylor’s novel Land of Milk and Honey that just made my stomach clench. No one I know has read it though, so it’s impossible to talk about it.
There was also a scene in The Knife of Never Letting Go which was so unbelievable that I was relieved when the student in my Writing class finally got there and rushed up to my desk to say: “Can you believe that happened?! ” I’d been dying to talk about it and now I could.
New favorite book blog you discovered in 2011?
She’s smart and well-read and Canadian!
Favorite review that you wrote in 2010?
I’m fond of my review for Allison Pearson’s book I Think I Love You because I had a personal connection to the book.
Best discussion you had on your blog?
Sadly I don’t have many visitors…so discussions are generally between me, myself and I.
Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?
It’s one of the things I am hoping to be better at this year – forming some relationships with other bloggers.
Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
Zip. I am a bad community member.
Best moment of book blogging in 2011?
Anytime an author comments on a review makes me happy.
Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Um.
Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
Well, I am hoping that my blog in general will see a little more traffic in 2012.
Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
I am constantly amazed at how many terrific book-related sites there are on the Internet. But do I have a best of for 2011? Not sure about that? I am finding Twitter to be endlessly interesting re: books.
Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I wanted to read 50 books this year – a goal I have set for myself the past couple years. I actually made it this year…and then some. I read 56 books!
Looking Ahead…
One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2011 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2012?
S J Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep. It was my pick for book club and I am hosting in January, so I’d better get it read. From the sounds of things, I don’t think I’m going to have any trouble.
Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2012?
Why We Broke Up – Daniel Handler
I don’t know why this book intrigues me, but it’s definitely one I’ll buy and read early in 2012.
One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2012?
I am hoping to post 365 times in 2012. 365 book-related posts. Yay!
The Ludic Reader 