a lifestyle blog for book lovers

Links I love and what’s on my nightstand.

Favorite finds from around the web:

• The Books. “One of the funniest and most interesting questions you can ask a group of couples at a party is whether or not they have combined their bookshelves.”

• Three generations of women don the same outfit in a perfect portrait of womanhood. “I wanted to see her not only as my mother—but as a woman who had a life before me. A life full of hopes, first loves, dreams and ideas.”

• Authors Ann Patchett and Dan Pink talk about what makes a great book. Two of my favorite authors talk about how they know they’re reading something fabulous. (I love Patchett’s comments about how owning a bookstore has enhanced her reading life.)

• Struggling to find the silver lining in severed friendships. “Someone recently told me the theory that you shed and replace the majority of your friendships every seven years. I hate that idea. Yet, I understand why it’s an oft-repeated maxim.”

blue books

On my nightstand:

• I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe. I’ve been meaning to read this for over a year.

• Still Alice by Lisa Genova. I made all the kids bring books to an appointment on Wednesday, but when we got there and I realized I’d left my book on the kitchen table. I downloaded this on my iPhone from the Oyster app and read half of it in the waiting room. I finished it the next day. (Tears were shed.) And then I promptly began …

• Left Neglected by Lisa Genova, which I finished in another 24 hours.

• I’ve been listening to Middlemarch for almost a month now and the end is in sight. 32 hours down, 4 more to go. Whew!

On the blog:

• On burnout. “But I do need to stay balanced in another sense: I need to stay on my feet, metaphorically speaking. Burning out is like falling down, and it’s a lot easier to just stay upright than it is to get back up after you wipe out.”

• Talking about books I don’t like.  “When I’m talking books with you, the most unhelpful things you can say to me are I liked it or I didn’t. I need to know why, and how. I need to know where the story stumbled and where it sung. I need to know what you specifically loved, or exactly what turned you off. If you don’t give me details, how can I know if I would like it or not?”

• The spiritual discipline of Project Runway. “We see our fair share of drama and meltdowns (the real-life kind) around here, and the designers have given us a language to talk about anxiety and anger in a non-loaded way. It’s much easier for a kid to discuss the mean girl on tv than the one in her neighborhood, the designer’s epic meltdown instead of his own.”

Have a great weekend!

17 comments

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  1. Kelli Bullock says:

    I know what you mean about audio books. I’ve been listening to A Prayer for Owen Meaney for a while and I still have a long way to go,but listening double time helps immensely. Just need to fold more laundry.

  2. Janet says:

    Combining libraries, probably not going to happen here, our tastes are too different, he reads mostly nonfiction with loads of Wodehouse thrown in. I read mainly fiction.
    Enjoyed reading the article though.
    The Grandmother, mother and daughter pictures were so interesting, I like the whole concept.

  3. Laurie Graham says:

    I look forward to hearing what you thought of Bel Canto. I love Ann Patchett’s writing AND opera, yet had a hard time getting through that particular story.

  4. Karen says:

    Well….you may as well get “Love, Anthony” by Lisa Genova and blow through that too! I am eagerly awaiting her new book due for release this Spring.

  5. liz n. says:

    Ah, the bookshelves…that article brings back memories…It can be very significant, how we make symbolic adjustments in our lives so that “mine” and “yours” become “ours.”

  6. Breanne says:

    I loved both of Lisa Genova’s books- the fact that she is writing books based on her field of expertise was fascinating to me and I think why I enjoyed the books so much. She didn’t seek out an expert, she was the expert.

  7. Dana says:

    Loved these links! My husband and I actually met in a bookstore and we are both voracious readers; neither of us ever go anywhere without a book. However after 28 years our bookshelves are separate and probably always will be…we are very different readers ; although we have shared a few books from time to time…most notably the works of Van Reid ( I am the keeper of those. If you have not read them and you like Dickens, give them a try).

    I have loved the books by Ann Patchett that I have read: This is the Story of A Happy Marriage, Patron Saint of Liars. I have Bel Canto and State of Wonder in my ‘to-read” pile.

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