Weekly Geeks: Ten Things about Books and Me

Weekly Geeks this week asked us to list ten things about yourself in relation to books. They then exhorted us to let our imaginations run wild. Lists, imagination, and books? Count me in!

1. It literally pains me to turn down the corner of pages. Therefore, I’m never without a bookmark, book dart, or odd piece of paper to use to mark my place.

2. My favorite kind of book is a second-hand one with an inscription in the front. They’re like little windows into someone else’s life (and mysteries unto themselves since you then wonder how they ended up in the secondhand store).

3. My book weight is possibly the best thing I bought in all of my three years at college.

LT’s Second Annual Literary Oscars List

Last year, we made up a list of all the Academy Award nominees with a basis in literature (any remote basis, really). I had fun putting the post together and was surprised (although I’m not sure if pleasantly or not) at how many nominees had their roots in books.

This year, we don’t seem to have as literary a group, but still, enjoy the show tonight; it has to be the closest Shakespeare’s wife will ever come to an Academy Awards ceremony!

Bookish Clips

Okay, most of this Clip Show isn’t news, per se, but there are some fun sites/sights to be seen!

First up, we have the Continuing Adventures of How the Kindle Isn’t Like A Book: David Pogue takes a look at how page numbers are proving a difficulty for devices where there are no pages and you can adjust font size ad infinitum removing any kind of standardization within even Kindle versions of any given text/”book.”

Secondly, check out Bookshelf Porn for vicarious bookshelf appreciation and all kinds of bibliogasms. (Bookgasms? Basically you’ll swoon, is all I’m trying to convey.)

A belated 2010 wrap-up

Remember when I was going to be all on top of it and have a bookish year in review before New Year’s? Clearly I didn’t get that out, but here’s my belated look back on my year in reading. I’d love to hear all of your favorites (and least favorites) from this year, too, so hit the comment section to chime in!

Favorite Book Read in 2010:

Happy Halloween from LT!

Halloween may just be my favorite holiday of all time, so this year I treat you to a smorgasbord of Literary Transgressions Halloween-themed good times: we have my top five spooky stories to enjoy this time of year, a Halloween/literature-themed clip show, and a little nostalgic bonus feature from last year’s LT Halloween festivities. All this below!

Another Monday, another list of books

Hey, all! Not thrilled with the Weekly Geeks prompt, so you get yet another list of what I am reading/what I picked up at a rummage sale this week. Here ya go –

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain: I have been meaning to read this for a while but hadn’t gotten around to it. The conversational style and wacky stories make this one pretty easy to read, but it’s dragging in the second half.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: I remember reading and loving this book in high school, but can no longer remember what it’s about! I’ll find out this week, though, I’m sure.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende: Who knew this was a book? I loved this movie when I was a kid, didn’t you?

What Einstein Told His Cook by Robert L. Wolke: This is apparently about cooking and chemistry (even though Einstein wasn’t a chemist, but whatever. Maybe hidden in there somewhere is a technique to fix all of my recipes to adjust for high elevation.

What are you all reading this week? Read any of the above? Let me know below!

Kate

Library Loot: 9/20

Hey all! Weekly Geeks appears to be a bit behind this week, so this seemed as good a time as any to throw a Library Loot post at you — also known as a listing of the books on my TBR list. Here’s what I am looking forward to:

In the Woods by Tana French — I think it was Eva who mentioned The Likeness on her blog, which sounded so good I went hunting for it. But, as Eva already knows, I’m sure, that book was a sequel to this one and I figured I should read them in order. The story is about a dynamic detective duo who has to solve a murder case that is very closely connected to a missing child case one of the detectives was involved in…as a child. Not particularly scary so far, but a marvelously well-written mystery.

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman —

A Clip Show: the OED, a presidential reading list, and poly-readers

Welcome to your beginning-of-term LT Clip Show! Let’s see what’s in the hopper this week:

First off, the ongoing debate about “real books” vs. e-books finally gets a bit personal as e-books tear families apart! (Nothing like a little muckraking to stir things up, right?) Frankly, I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner.

And speaking of which, let’s bid a fond, teary farewell (perhaps toast it with a spot of tea?) to the print version of the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED’s head recently announced that forthcoming editions of the hulking work will no longer be printed and will be available online only. Alas and alack! (Bright side: This news saves about twelve gazillion acres of trees!)

Meanwhile, the release of President Obama’s summer reading list caused quite a stir in book sales this year. The New York Times investigates this presidential reading trend.

Also in Washington, just a head’s up that the National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, will take place on September 25. This should give you plenty of notice in case you want to hasten down to the capital to take part. The website has a lot of information about the Festival, although even after poking around I’m not quite sure what’s up. It’s nice that we’re celebrating books though, eh?

And lastly, NPR takes a look at “poly-readers,” or people who read multiple books at once. LT took a look at this trend this past spring but check out NPR’s take on the whole issue. They have an interesting perspective, pointing out the joy of randomly interconnected books and the fun to be had with juxtaposition. What do you make of it all?

As always, feel free to share any interesting reading or book-related clips you found recently in the comments below!

–Corey

Back to School Reading

Ah, September. Breathe in that crisp, autumnal air! Break out the straight edges and calculators! And, best of all, crack open some books!

Even if you’re not going back to school this fall, there is something about September that still echoes of the days when you did. (See: “I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.”) But if you are heading back, here are three books that never fail to get me back in the mood to do some serious learning:

1. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Nothing makes me want to do some hard-core research and write the best history paper of my life like reading this book. Yes, it has vampires, too, but it’s more about scholarly integrity and research methods, don’t you think?

Library Loot: Brain Candy Edition

After a week of being up to my neck in environmental law and county ordinances (ah, journalism!), I took an evening and visited my local library for a pick-me-up.

I needed something engaging, but not something I felt like I’d have to work to understand. Turns out even former literature students like myself just get sick and tired of reading “smart” books. After much wandering of the aisles and about an hour spent curled up in front of an insanely comfy chair by a sunny window, here’s what I ended up with: