My favorite finds from around the web:
• My writing advice. Great short piece from Alan Jacobs, author of The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. “You must learn to think of your writing time as a period of discovery, in which you find out what you think, or what images and rhythms tend to emerge from your mind, or where a story seems to want to go…”
• Stranger than fiction: what happened after the bookstore. A chance bookstore not-quite-meeting leads to a wedding … but only because of Craigslist’s Missed Connections: “Yesterday at almost ten we were in the bookstore, each carrying a bag from a literary magazine. Then we rode the L train together. We made a lot of eye contact, which was nice. Craigslist remains weird; who are you?”
• The women who rode miles on horseback to deliver library books. “They were known as the “book women.” They would saddle up, usually at dawn, to pick their way along snowy hillsides and through muddy creeks with a simple goal: to deliver reading material to Kentucky’s isolated mountain communities.” (Don’t miss the amazing photos!)
• On a good marriage. J.T. Ellison’s new novel Lie to Me came out on Tuesday, and it’s about a marriage from hell (plus Paris). So for launch week, she wrote a great post about why she thinks her own marriage works.
Favorite instagram:
Still life with signed copies of Reading People and dirty dishes. Pre-order the book wherever you get your new books: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, IndieBound, Book Depository, wherever—thank you! Add Reading People to Goodreads here (thereby helping other readers find the book, because of Goodreads’ algorithms). And follow me on instagram @annebogel.
On the blog:
One year ago: The difference between a book that’s not right for you, and a book that’s not right for you right now.
Two years ago: When you’re good at overcomplicating things.
Three years ago: The bored housewife as plot point.
Four years ago: On marriage and fear and disappearing doors.
Five years ago: 21 things I wish I knew in my twenties.
Have a great weekend!
12 comments
Loved the post on disappearing doors and also that the image at the top of the post is from one of my favourite restaurants, 5 Doors North, up the street from me in Toronto!
I loved seeing the photos about the women delivering books on horseback. I read a a book called Wonderland Creek about that very thing a few months ago, and seeing those photos really brought it to life!
I just loved Wonderland Creek, along with the rest of Lynn Austin’s books. She’s coming out with a new book in October, by the way! 🙂
I was just going to comment about Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin also. Wonderful book.
Delivering books on horseback! I love it! I learned something new today, thanks.
Hello!!!! I pre-ordered your book and can’t wait to get it. I did put my amazon order number in the spot, but I haven’t received anything such as access to our own reading personality, etc. Love your podcast and your website!!!
I just emailed you, Karyn!
Here’s a great picture book about one of the “book women” of Kentucky: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3002254-that-book-woman?ac=1&from_search=true
Isn’t that a wonderful book? The author has several other picture books about Kentucky history including the midwives on horseback and the slave who lit the lamps in Mammoth Cave.
Speaking of midwives on horseback, I just finished a book called “These Healing Hills” by Ann Gabhart. It takes place just after WWII and the main character goes to Appalachia (eastern Kentucky)to get midwife training from the Frontier Nursing Service. This organization trained nurses to be midwives and also to provide general health care to these “hillbilly” people. And they did indeed ride horses to get to their patients’ houses. Very interesting book!
Thanks for the heads up on the Heather Henson books! I just asked my library to pull a few for me (I love that I can let them do the searching and I can just pick them up!). I want to read “That Book Woman” to my grandkids! It sounds like a great book to help teach geography and history, not to mention how fortunate we are to live where our excellent libraries are just minutes away!!
I haven’t read anything else by her, so thanks for mentioning her other books!
Oh my GOODNESS thank you for sharing the article about the horseback librarians. I am now a Teacher-Librarian in a high school, and when I was young I was a Little House on the Prairie fanatic. This article and the photos made my whole day! If I ever quit my job to write a book, this is obviously what I would HAVE to write about.