Tag Archives: books

Hello 2008!

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!

Book games

A rare-book blog has created a couple of bookish themed games. They’re pretty good at burning a few minutes on a lazy holiday afternoon. Though, I think I have the lowest score on the “famous First Lines” game. I faired much better at “Letter-a-ture”. Which is even more fun because of the two player setting.

Posting will remain a little light this week, as I shed my holiday sugar induced shakes and relearn the mechanics of typing.

I hope your holiday season has been a peaceful one!

{via myfinebooks}

Challenge me!

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…

Continue reading Challenge me!

Brits banding books

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).