Friday Five (December 17)

It’s Friday Five time! Here are my links for this week (in bold):

1. Gail Godwin, who is one of my favourite writers (although I haven’t read any of her books since the late 90s), writes about being an old writer in “Working on an Ending” in the New York Times Sunday Book Review (thanks to Beth Kephart for this link). I now want to read The Making of a Writer: Journals, 1961-1963. The second volume, which spans from 1963 to 1969, is coming out in January.
   


2. For the second week in a row, Melissa at The Betty and Boo Chronicles has written a review that has convinced me I need to read the book; this time I’ve added The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot to my wish list.
   


3. Are you familiar with Carla Sonheim’s art? Check out “Sidewalk Cracks Make My Heart Jump,” which features artwork inspired by sidewalk cracks. I love it!
   


4. I’m a big fan of personal essays but I’m not familiar with many women who write them, so I was pleased to add Emily Fox Gordon to my list after reading Dorothy W.’s review of Book of Days: Personal Essays over at Of Books and Bicycles.


5. Amy’s thoughts on “The Sticky Author and Blogger Relationship” (over at My Friend Amy) may just inspire me to write my own post on how blogs are:

“Something new. A place where books are talked about on a personal level. A space that does more than talk about the artistic achievements of books but also talks about the very real way reading matters in our lives.”

The Friday Five! meme was started by Kate at Kate’s Library. The rules are simple:

Grab the logo. Share your favorite five (or four, or three, or whatever!) blog posts and/or articles from this week. They can be book related or not, but they need to have tickled your fancy! Share that blog love: link the post so we can all check it out. Leave a comment on the post so the author knows they made it into your Friday Five!

Have a great weekend!

Friday Five (December 10)

It’s Friday Five time! Here are my links for this week (in bold):

1. Leeswammes at Leeswammes’ Blog has announced the Back of the Book Competition (in other words, can you identify a book from its back cover?) and she’s asking her readers to submit back cover pics for this competition.


2. Stacked featured a guest post by Carrie Harris entitled “The Lure of Paranormal,” which has me thinking I should give this genre another try. (I already know I want to read something by Maureen Johnson after hearing her speak last year at Book Blogger Con, so maybe Devilish?)
   


3. Jessica at Read | React | Review asks “Can Blog Commenting Survive the Twitter and Tumblr Assault?” I don’t know about Twitter or Tumblr, but I do know that I struggle to keep up with all the commenting I’d like to be doing (and have all but given up on replying to comments on this blog).
   


4. Melissa’s review of Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky (over at The Betty and Boo Chronicles) has convinced me that I must read this book!


5. Mr. B and I have tried twice to read Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann to each other, and both times we’ve abandoned it after a few chapters. After reading Carin’s review at Caroline Bookbinder, I’m thinking I need to give the book another try but read it on my own this time!
   

The Friday Five! meme was started by Kate at Kate’s Library. The rules are simple:

Grab the logo. Share your favorite five (or four, or three, or whatever!) blog posts and/or articles from this week. They can be book related or not, but they need to have tickled your fancy! Share that blog love: link the post so we can all check it out. Leave a comment on the post so the author knows they made it into your Friday Five!

Have a great weekend!

Friday Five (November 5)

I was intending to post my review of Devotion: A Memoir by Dani Shapiro today, but I still haven’t managed to finish writing it (sigh). So instead I thought I’d participate in the Friday Five! meme, which was started by Kate at Kate’s Library. The rules are simple:

Grab the logo.
Share your favorite five (or four, or three, or whatever!) blog posts and/or articles from this week. They can be book related or not, but they need to have tickled your fancy!
Share that blog love: link the post so we can all check it out.
Leave a comment on the post so the author knows they made it into your Friday Five!

So here are my links for this week (in bold):

1. After reading Bronwyn’s review over at A Certain Bent Appeal, I think I need to read This Is Not the Story You Think It Is: An Empowering Story of Saving Your Marriage by Doing Nothing by Laura Munson.


2. Tiina’s review (on her blog A Book Blog of One’s Own) of Tell It to the Bees by Fiona Shaw has piqued my interest in this book about a lesbian love affair set in 1950s England.
   


3. In keeping with my latest review (of The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown), I loved this post entitled “You Don’t Have to Be Pretty” at A dress, nearly every day.


4. AfterEllen.com posted “Your Gay Fall Book Guide: Books by and About Lesbians,” which includes a couple of familiar titles. I’m definitely buying Ivan E. Coyote’s latest book of short stories, Missed Her. (I only recently discovered Coyote, a fantastic Canadian storyteller.) I also want to read Girl Unwrapped by Gabriella Goliger (it’s set in Montreal!) and Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write about Leaving Men for Women edited by Candace Walsh and Laura Andre.


5. Colleen at Chasing Ray posted a great review of The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects by John Tingey, a book about Reginald Bray, who “experiment[ed] with sending ordinary and strange objects through the post unwrapped, including a turnip, a bowler hat, a bicycle pump, shirt cuffs, seaweed, a clothes brush, even a rabbit’s skull” (from the publisher’s description). It sounds fascinating!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a copy of The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown (open to Canadian and U.S. residents) and have a great weekend!