a lifestyle blog for book lovers

Links I love and what’s on my nightstand.

Favorite finds from around the web:

Harper Lee deserves the benefit of the doubt. “The outcry, from people who have not even set eyes on the sequel, seems wildly out of proportion to the impending event.”

Why the modern world is bad for your brain. “So we’re not actually keeping a lot of balls in the air like an expert juggler; we’re more like a bad amateur plate spinner, frantically switching from one task to another, ignoring the one that is not right in front of us but worried it will come crashing down any minute.”

The 26 worst things that can happen to any book lover.

On my nightstand:

• I’m still listening to Middlemarch with the audible app. (It’s 40+ hours!)

• I just started The Cortlandt Boys, the first novel from 168 Hours author Laura Vanderkam.

• I blew through The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You by Jessica Turner.

I also read a few fast and (mostly) fun reads I’ll share in Quick Lit on Sunday. (Get your posts ready!)

On the blog:

The sweet spot between fluff and Serious Literature. “These novels entertain and challenge: they’re thought-provoking, even if they’re done with a light touch. They’re insightful, but wouldn’t be called challenging.”

Clutter, personal finances, and your remarkable life. “Streamlining my life feels like playing whack-a-mole: as soon as I conquer one area, another pops up to take its place. Hellooo, personal finances. I was shocked to discover how much clutter you were hiding.”

Back to the beginning. “Most of us feel like we’re missing something important—something we wish we’d known a long time ago—and we don’t want to admit it, not even to ourselves.”

Have a great weekend!

10 comments

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  1. Kim says:

    I agree those 26 things are pretty bad, but the WORST thing that can happen to a book lover is to move to a country where (1) you don’t read the language well enough to read the books, and even if you did (2) the libraries are pathetic or nonexistent. Our local library has one metal shelving unit with “new” books — as in, books bought within the last 50 years. Sad. So, SOOOO sad. It’s why I finally broke down and bought a Kindle. I much prefer the feel of a ‘real’ book in my hands, but have gladly traded that for the opportunity to buy and receive books instantaneously so I can read them pronto. I wasted too much time and money waiting on books that went MIA in transit the first couple of years we lived overseas.

    • I went to China for 6 weeks when I was in college. For some reason I only brought along 3 books or something. When we finally found a bookstore that carried (OH SO EXPENSIVE!) books in English, I just bought the longest one I could find. (It was Tara Road by Maeve Binchy, and I ended up reading all her books! I love her so.) I feel for you.

  2. Hannah says:

    I was chilled by the article about email and Twitter addiction. Twitter, one could conceivably give up. But email? How can we escape the ruining of our modern brains? That toothpaste is not only out of the tube, it’s smeared all over the bathroom floor…

  3. 1) I love the Freudian typo of “nighstand.” It’s really better than the real word when it comes to books. Nigh : near in place, time, or relationship.

    2) The worst thing that happened to this booklover was when I was in my early twenties and packed several books to take on a trip with my parents to explore the Galapagos Islands abourd a small yacht for a week. The seasickness medicine I took affected my eyesight, making words blurry, so I couln’t read at all! It was still an amazing werk, but would have been even more amazing if I could have read away some of our long travel days.

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