Musing Mondays: Mid-Year Reading

Today’s Musing Mondays is about mid-year reading.  Now that we’ve come to the middle of the year, what do you think of your reading so far?  Anything interesting that you’d like to share?  Any favorites?

Great new discoveries this year:

Lauren Willig’s floral-themed historical espionage.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!

Shel Silverstein’s audio recordings are on MP3

I need to read more PD James.

There is good fashion writing out there.

Cherry Ames exists in modern printing!

And on the flip side, books that have not been great.  A mercifully short list!

Washington Square, by Henry James, isn’t worth finishing, even with Dad reading and writing about it too.

The Body Farm was dumb.

Poets and 19th century technology

Walt Whitman would have been a perfect blogger. Didn’t he revise and reprint Leaves of Grass dozens of times? What would instant posting and feedback have done to that thought process? “I sing the body electric,” all right.

After reading a YA novel that got inside the head of an imagined teenage Emily Dickinson, I’m convinced she would have loved MySpace.   Would she have posted her poems there?  Maybe.  Or maybe a cable modem and a glowing screen would have changed the flavor of her reclusive years.  I can picture Twitter affecting the rhythms of her lines.

Who else?

This isn’t quite bookish, but I’ve also always wondered what John Lennon would think of hip hop, or techno.  What he and Bono might say to each other, or he and Eminem.

BTT #2 this week: Unique Sorting

And the second in our Booking Through Thursday twofer is about the Sorted Books Project, a wonderfully whimsical art project of juxtaposed books.

Mostly, it reminds me of The Strand- where there is the best section juxtaposition ever.

As far as my own shelves.    The chance arrangement of 3 I picked up from a secondhand book sale yields something that looks like the story of a journey.

• Five Fortunes
• Away From Home
• My Racing Heart

And my punny mind conjures:

• Partners In Necessity
• Webster’s Dictionary
• Roget’s Thesaurus
• (AP Stylebook also optional here.)

Booking Through Thursday: Hot Summer Reading

Booking Through Thursday appears to be a twofer today.  First question:

Now that summer is here (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), what is the most “Summery” book you can think of? The one that captures the essence of summer for you?

(I’m not asking for you to list your ideal “beach reading,” you understand, but the book that you can read at any time of year but that evokes “summer.”)

I will not use this opportunity to curse the rain or the distinct lack of beach weather we’ve been having in my corner of the Northern Hemisphere.   It may be the weather talking, but it’s easier for me to think of favorite books that convey a sense of “fall” to me.  Some of my favorites: Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean, and of course The Westing Game.

I think it’s less the type of book and more the act of reading more than three books in one week that says summer to me.  Getting immersed in a book, devouring it, and then zooming to the next with few distractions. Especially if I’ve got a mystery, followed by a zany travel book, followed by an odd but highly readable bio.  And a good poetry collection for when I’m feeling a little less focused…  Yes, books are the heaviest part of my vacation suitcase, why do you ask?

Thinking about summer also makes me want to write more.  Not just the various journalism and blogging I do.  But a memoir about growing up with my particular wordy, funny, intensely loving family.  And the time Aunt Ruthanne put dog food on the grill instead of charcoal briquettes.

Odd Facts about Bestselling Authors

I’m willing to believe that Dan Brown wrote pop songs before he wrote pseudoreligious conspiracy schlock adventure novels, but:

Jodi Picoult wrote Wonder Woman comics???

Thanks to MentalFloss for the odd, intriguing article.

Literary Links

While this might make me feel self-conscious the next time I’m whiling away a few hours in the Strand, it’s hilarious.

A wonderfully snarky guide to the types of people in bookstores. From the kids who “have to read it for school” to Oprah’s acolytes to devout sci-fi readers.
Thanks to ChrisL for the link.

I have a couple overdue books. (I know, shame on me) and I wish they were overdue from the SFPL instead. Because then I could return them with a good excuse.

Cherry Ames and the Lazy Sunday

Cherry Ames novels are the perfect length for a lazy Sunday morning in bed. Polished off Cherry Ames, Boarding School Nurse, this morning. Cherry takes a job at an exclusive and strict boarding school near her hometown. An odd outcast girl with French ancestry, the boarding school’s financial troubles, and the search for a secret perfume recipe intersect to give Cherry quite a mystery to solve. She gets to do some pretty diverse nursing, too. Everything from routine flu and laryngitis, to being at the right place to assist after a nearby car accident, to the routine bumps and bruised egos of a community of teenage school girls. The headmistress of the school likens a school nurse to a psychologist, hearing the girls’ secrets and worries.
Although there isn’t too much technical detail, there are fun asides about perfume making chemistry, gardening and botany, as well as an ancient family secret to liven things up. And a handsome doctor for Cherry to twinkle at a little bit. (Thus far, two handsome doctors wanting Something More from Cherry, and scarcely a date. I like this. She’s focused on her career, is our Miss Ames.)

I’m slowly purchasing the boxed sets of Helen Wells’ Cherry Ames books from Amazon. that should take me to the mid-60s or so. I’m not sure if Julie Tatham took over writing them sequentially, or in tandem with Helen Wells, and not sure who has the copyright. Maybe there’s still something for me to do at garage sales after all.

No More Book Buying- For A While

I haven’t measured my TBR pile recently, but I strongly suspect it’s well above my knee now. I’m afraid to confront the stack and take another photo.

That’s one up-side to the rain. Good curl up with a book weather. All the same, I would prefer my June weather to be less Scottish.

Poetry Friday, Live From Central Park!

Central Park SummerStage and the Academy of American Poets hosted a reading by Elizabeth Alexander, Sharon Olds and Thomas Sayers Ellis.

I was there, writing about it for Women’s Voices For Change, and having a great time. I think not-getting-rained-on fueled the general good mood, as did three supremely talented poets reading, laughing and riffing off each other.

Big thanks to Deborah for the photos!

Booking Through Thursday: Sci-Fi Day?

Sharon Lee, science fiction author, asks this week’s Booking Through Thursday question.
So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

I definitely read sci-fi and fantasy, with great delight. If June 23rd is the official sci fi and fantasy day, I will celebrate by rereading one of my favorites. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, or Tam Lin by Pamela Dean.
And I will know where my towel is. (Given the weather trends of late, I will probably need it to dry myself off after I go outside!)