Young Woman Reading by Hermann Jean Joseph Richir

Saturday Reads: February 4, 2012

Young Woman Reading by Hermann Jean Joseph RichirI am a true converted fan of Ree Drummond’s [amazon_link id=”0061658197″ target=”_blank” ]Pioneer Woman[/amazon_link] cookbooks (the [amazon_link id=”0061997188″ target=”_blank” ]new one[/amazon_link] is due out soon) and cooking blog. Part of the artistry of her blog is her ability to take excellent photographs of her cooking. I have been pinning so many of her recipes to my Recipes board on Pinterest. I just love Pinterest.

The New York Times has more Downton Abbey reads (yet another reference to the new book about [amazon_link id=”0770435629″ target=”_blank” ]Lady Almina[/amazon_link]).

Paulo Coelho is encouraging folks to pirate his books, arguing he actually sells more books when they do.

William Boyd’s article on Vienna at the turn of the 20th century was fascinating reading.

Julian Barnes wrote a short story “The Defence of the Book,” and The Guardian offers a taste.

Sam Jordison argues that if you’re going to read [amazon_link id=”1843548534″ target=”_blank” ]Bleak House[/amazon_link], need to go about it in the right way.

James Lasdun has a good review of Nathan Englander’s new short story collection [amazon_link id=”0307958701″ target=”_blank” ]What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank[/amazon_link].

Flavorwire has a list of 10 Great Science Fiction Books for Girls (driven, of course, by the 50th anniversary of [amazon_link id=”0374386161″ target=”_blank” ]A Wrinkle in Time[/amazon_link]). My favorite on the list is [amazon_link id=”038549081X” target=”_blank” ]The Handmaid’s Tale[/amazon_link], but I have to admit the list skews older than I thought it would when I followed the link. I think girls might like André Norton’s [amazon_link id=”0216901693″ target=”_blank” ]Outside[/amazon_link] (out of print, but easy to find second hand), or Lois Lowry’s [amazon_link id=”0547424779″ target=”_blank” ]The Giver[/amazon_link] (though it has a male protagonist).

[amazon_link id=”0670030589″ target=”_blank” ]One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest[/amazon_link] is 50, too. Flavorwire has a gallery of book covers. My favorite is either the Penguin classics cartoon cover or the one with all the pills.

Feast your eyes on these gorgeous bookstores.

I loved this post in Better Living Through Beowulf about turning to Austen when you’ve been jilted by your fiancé.

Top Ten Tuesday

Surprise Endings

Top Ten Tuesday

Warning! Here be spoilers!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about the Book Endings that Left Me with My Mouth Hanging Open. The ends of each of the following books are discussed, so if you want to read them and want to be surprised, read no further: Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins; The Giver, Lois Lowry; Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier; Lord of the Flies, William Golding; Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell;  Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen; Possession, A.S. Byatt; The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield; The Ghost Writer, John Harwood, The Egyptologist, Arthur Phillips. Nota bene: I will be discussing the end of many of the Harry Potter books and why I didn’t find some of them as shocking as others seem to have found them.

Here is your last chance to stop reading if you don’t want the endings of those ten books spoiled.

I mean it.

For real.

Continue reading “Surprise Endings”