I sure do hate to see the holidays fading behind me. It’s one of the few times a year I can really cram in some solid reading time. A couple of days off work, big old couch, cup of coffee, a new book…
Over the past week, I picked up and finished Chabon’s Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was the perfect winter holiday book. I’m not one for ‘alternate history’ kinda things, but this one was well done. Of course Chabon’s writing was great (as always) but I really enjoyed the peek into the lives of the Jewish/Yiddish/Orthodox people. Lots of interesting tidbits to chew on. It’s fascinating to ‘experience’ older cultures like that. I did throw my two cents into the conversation with a short rambling book review over on LibraryThing too.
Now I’m turning the pages of The Bookaholics Guide to Book Blogs. If you frequent lit blogs, then you’ll know 99% of the folks featured in the book. I had no idea that some of the ‘heavy weights’ in the lit blog world are such a tight knit group. A couple of them are even married. I’ll pass along more when I’m done.
Hope your new year is off to a good start and that your holidays were as enjoyable and book-filled as mine were!
I want a book reading challenge. Some of my favorite posts, over the past year have been those folks participating in some quasi-organized reading challenge. The themes have been great too. So now I’m in search of one. Fortunately…
I was lurking around the net, familiarizing myself with children’s books from the 1940’s (per one commenter’s suggestion) and I ran across an news tidbit saying the UK publishers are going to start rating children’s books. Just like the movies, though this seems more aimed at “reading level” than content. Though, surely, there is some of that too.
The age ranking will go: Early (for five years plus), Developing (7 plus) Confident (9 plus) and Fluent.
When gift buying for nephews, I always wonder which book to get. The reading abilities and tastes seem so hard to figure out at that age. Honestly. I have more faith in my local bookseller’s knowledge about what would be a good purchase, but this would seem to be a step in the right direction to help the clueless (such as myself).
LibraryThing is hosting SantaThing this year. For $25, you get to play Secret Santa to someone. Which means you peruse a user’s library, decide what book(s) they must have/would enjoy and then tell Library Thing. They’ll buy and ship the book(s) for you and your done!
All the while, someone else is looking through your library/blog and turning in a list for you to get. What a cool idea! Though, it might be kinda scary what someone might send me based on their “impression” of my collection.
The downside, there is only one day left to decide, as the deadline is December 13th at high noon!
