All posts by trav

At the heart of it all, I’m a fan. A fan of books and bookstores. A fan of fiction and non-fiction. A fan of authors and publishers. And most of all I’m a fan of great conversations sparked by books. All that to say - I really need more bookshelves.

Reading with Intent

One of my biggest fears is wasting my time. That’s one reason I like following book bloggers and keeping up with readings and reviews. I’m trying to be pickier about my books these days and I’m trying to read at a pace where I can actually absorb and use what I’m reading, not just “read at it” and react to whatever is open on the page before me. There are just so many books!

Today I ran across this quote and wanted to leave it here. I may have to make myself a bookmark with this. It’s from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations (that link is to one of the free digital versions on Project Gutenberg).

“…I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something.”

I love that about “those who have a lot to say about something”! Some of these modern histories and social science books appear more worthwhile than they are just because they weigh a ton.

Anyway, just wanted to share the quote. Reading Meditations is turning out to be a good (if slow) experience. Amazing to think that he wrote all of this for himself. All these lofty goals, thoughts, personal philosophies were not meant for the public eye. Pretty neat to think about.

Be well!

Happy New Year!

As I plan my pile to read this month, I want to take a moment and shout out HAPPY NEW YEAR to folks still swinging by here and reading. I hope you all found lots of time for books and celebration, over the past few weeks.

The ‘Matrix’ cover design is by Grace Han

Looking into January, I am most excited to read Lauren Groff’s Matrix (Riverhead Books/Penguin Random house) as well as re-reading Toni Morrison for my book club.

And so I am wishing a happy 2022 to each of you and I hope the year ahead is full of good reading and good times. Be well!

Hay Festival 2021

The sun is shining and it feels good to have 2020 way behind us. While being safe/stuck at home wasn’t the best, one positive to come out of it is the way book festivals how to do virtual events and this year’s Hay Festival is building on last year’s experience!

Things kicked off a couple of days ago and virtual events are planned all the way through Sunday, June 6th. It’s a long weekend here in the States and I hope to get to take in some of the events.

You can check out the full schedule here. You do have to register for the events, but I haven’t had to pay anything yet. I’m not sure if everything is free or if I’ve just clicked on the freebies. What makes all of this even better is that you can go through the video archives and watch events from the past.

While attending a Hay Festival, in person, is still a bucket list item for me, I love being an armchair attendee. And now that their online shop is up and running, it’s fun to scroll through all of the signed copies of Festival books plus all of the gifts, including chairs with the Festival logo, mugs, shirts, stationery and more. All the money collected here goes to support the festival.

I hope this post finds you healthy and doing well and that you’re able to tune in to at least one Hay Festival session that interests you.

Are there other virtual events this summer that should not be missed? Let me know!

Free Zora Neale Hurston Audiobook

Zora Neale Hurston was born today, in 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama. In honor of her birth, one of her most famous book Their Eyes Were Watching God is available FREE to the first 10,000 downloaders. The offer is being made through Libro.fm by the publisher of the ebook.

Zora Neale Hurston

It’s hard to imagine a time when Hurston wasn’t the well known author she is today, topping many school reading lists. But when she died in 1960 she was broke and living in a state welfare home. She was buried in an unmarked grave until 1973 when some scholars did the research and went back and marked her grave.

The University of Florida has the collection of what remains of Zora Neale Hurston’s writings. It’s an amazing few shelves of paper as all of her papers were thrown in the fire after the order to burn her writings when she died. A friend of hers wound up saving them from the flames.

So grab your free copy of the audiobook today, while they’re still giving them out and think about all the stars that had to align to make this possible. Famed stage actress and civil rights voice Ruby Dee narrates this audiobook. I have not heard her yet, but Dee, who died in 2014, no doubt brings some real life awareness and urgency to the story. I’ve seen clips of Dee in the stage version of A Raisin in the Sun and can see just what a great fit she’d be as narrator.

Also, that cover for this copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God is pretty dang cool!