Archive | September 2009

Semicolon’s Old, New and Ongoing Projects, Part 2

Sep18

I want to do some things that are ongoing and are an expression of the reading and other pursuits that I love. I’m going to try to fold the projects in my previous post into this blogging plan:

Sunday’s Hymn: See #9 in the post below. After I finish the Top 100 Hymns Project, I’m going to feature one hymn per week on Sundays. Because I love hymns.

Sunday Salon: More about this later in the post. Basically, I have an idea about incorporating some of my ongoing monthly projects into my Sunday Salon post each week.

Nonfiction Mondays: I’ve wanted to join in on this event for a while, and I have quite a few nonfiction books to review and share. Some will be books that we’re using for our Texas study at my homeschool co-op. Others will be review copies of books I’ve received from publishers.

Advanced Reading Survey: On Mondays I’m also going to revisit the books I read for a course in college called Advanced Reading Survey taught by the eminent scholar and lovable professor, Dr. Huff. I’m not going to re-read all the books and poems I read for that course, probably more than fifty, but I am going to post to Semicolon the entries in the reading journal that I was required to keep for that class because I think that my entries on these works of literature may be of interest to readers here and because I’m afraid that the thirty year old spiral notebook in which I wrote these entries may fall apart ere long. I may offer my more mature perspective on the books, too, if I remember enough about them to do so. I started doing this about a year ago and then forgot to keep it up; the spiral notebook isn’t getting any less worn nor less likely to disintegrate.

Texas Tuesday: This weekly feature is new; I just invented it. Since we’re studying Texas history and literature at co-op this year, and since I’m a proud, native Texan, I want to spotlight books set in the great state of Texas and books by Texas authors.

Wednesday Whatever: another new feature invented by me. I may or may not use this weekly meme as inspiration, but I plan to work on my writing on Wedsnesdays, write about whatever is niggling (wiggling?) down there in my bottomless pit of mind or whatever comes to the surface or . . . well, the metaphors could use some work as a starter. Warning: I may write about books, or politics, or homeschooling, or parenting, or church, or anything else I’m interested in. Take it or leave it. Comments are welcome.

Read Aloud Thursday: I’ve also wanted to share about some of our read aloud books, and I think I’ve found a good way to do that. Interviews with the urchins about what we’ve been reading kill two birds with one stone: narration for them and book blogging for me.

Picture Book Preschool Book of the Week: Also on Thursdays I hope to feature a classic picture book from my curriculum book, Picture Book Preschool. I used to do this feature, too, but I quit for some reason.

Poetry (and Fine Art) Friday:I’ve participated off and on, but I really want to get our poetry memorization going again. So I’ll be writing about what the kids and I are memorizing as well as about some of my favorite poems each Friday. And I may include a work of fine art to go with the poem if I can find one.

Saturday Review of Books: The Saturday Review will continue as usual, but I hope a lot of you bloggers who have participated in BBAW will discover the Saturday Review and begin to link your reviews there. The more, the merrier.

Sabbath Bible Reading Report: On Saturday evening, report on my Biblical explorations for the week. I hope the Holy Spirit will give me something worthwhile to say if I’ll do my part and actually read and meditate.

The Sunday Salon.comSunday Salon Plan:
First Sunday of the month: Post my list of books read in the previous month, and write about my favorites.

Second Sunday of the month: Operation Clean House kicks into gear. I will post before and after pictures of one area of the house that I’ve managed to clean, and as a reward to myself and to you for looking, I’ll also post a picture of a favorite shelf of books in my house and highlight some of the Good Books on that shelf. SInce I have approximately 250 shelves of books in my house and more areas that need to be cleaned than that, this project should last my lifetime if I choose to continue it that long.

Third Sunday of the month: Post about my progress for the month on The Newbery Project or the Pulitzer Project or my U.S. Presidents Project.

Fourth Sunday of the month: Write about the Semicolon Book Club selection for the month, and give a teaser for next month’s book.

Fifth Sunday on the month: Fifth Sundays are reserved for Wild, Wacky, and Not Fitting Into Any Plan At All. I love making plans and organizing stuff, but then I usually enjoy breaking out of my pre-planned stodginess to do the next thing that will later become part of a new plan.

In between all that, I’ll post random book reviews and news notes. I also hope to participate again in the Cybils as a panelist or judge, so there should be lots of reviews of children’s books of some kind in the next few months. Then, in December I’ll post some more Christmas quotations from favorite books. And April is Poetry Month.

Wow! I love blogging and planning and reading and having ideas and grand schemes and proposals. If you’d like to join me in any of the above, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email. I’ll try my best to include you and link to you and all that stuff.

Oh, yes, and does anyone know how to teach me, Ms. Graphics-Challenged, how to make those button/picture doodads like the ones above for Read Aloud Thursday and Sunday Salon? I don’t have any idea how people come up with thingies like that, but I’d like to make some for some of these weekly features that I’m planning.

Semicolon’s Old, New, and Ongoing Projects

Sep18

The last project for BBAW is to establish some goals for your blog. We’re supposed to do this one in 50 words or less, but I’m not constituted for less than 50 words, so it’s going to take me two posts. As I’ve said before, I like to think in terms of projects rather than goals or resolutions. I do have a few old projects that I’d like to do a better job of working at. I had twelve projects at the beginning of the year:

1. Bible reading project. My plan was to be reading Amos in September. I haven’t done the reading for any of the months that I had planned at all. I also was inspired by this project at another blog to start memorizing. I didn’t do that either. So, I’m going to try something different. Every Saturday evening, I’m going to write a post here, (insert catchy title: Sabbath Bible Review?), about my Bible reading for the week. I’ll tell you what I’ve read and what I’ve thought about as I read, how the Lord has spoken (or not spoken), and maybe I’ll be motivated to get the reading and meditation and even memorization DONE.

2. Prayer Project. This project, too, has been failure. I pray a lot, on the go, as I drive, or as I wait for children to finish classes., but a daily, dedicated time of prayer, even for ten minutes a day seems impossible. I get distracted; I think of all the things I should be doing; I read the titles on the bookshelf; I feel as if I’m wasting time telling God stuff He already knows anyway. I tried a prayer accountability thing with another blogger (sweet, patient Katherine), but I was coming up delinquent every week.

Lauren Winner: “It is easier to read about prayer than to do it. We fool ourselves into thinking that it somehow counts!”

I’m still working on, and praying about, a jumpstart for this particular project.

3. Pulitzer Project. I haven’t read any more Pulitzer prize-winning novels this year, but I am supposed to read Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor for the Semicolon Book Club in September. I want to read one Pulitzer or National Book Award winner per month and post about it maybe on a specific day of the month. If anyone wants to join me in this project, I’ll work with you to come up with a list, and we’ll agree to meet (virtually) on a certain day of the month for a book discussion.

4. Newbery Project. I haven’t made much progress on this project either. I’d really like to find some of the older “honor” books and read them. I tried to read The Graveyard Book three times; does that count?

5. Madeleine L’Engle Project. I’m putting this project in abeyance for now. I’m just not so interested in re-reading anything these, even Ms. L’Engle’s books.

6. LOST Reading Project. I have done a bit of reading on this list, and I intend to do more, as inspired.

7. My U.S. Presidents Reading Project is linked to THE U.S. Presidents Reading Project.

8. Poetry Project. We need to memorize more poetry. And I plan to participate in Poetry Friday each Friday this fall.

9. The Top 100 Hymns Project is online again, thanks to my wonderfully helpful Computer Guru Son. I’m planning to finish that out sometime in October (31 more hymns to go), and after that my plan is to do a Hymn Sunday post each week (along with The Common Room and Rebecca Writes and others) to spotlight all the other wonderful hymns that weren’t on the Top 100 list.

10. Book Club Project. I somehow let the Book Club die on the vine this summer, but I’m planning to read Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor, as I said, for September, and God willing, I’ll finish out the year with the following:

October: Scoop by Evelyn Wwaugh.
Novmber: A Walk WIth Jane Austen by Lori Smith.

In December, I’ll take suggestions, then votes, for next year’s selections, and my goal (there’s that word) is to do better about posting about the book for the month at the first of the month and about linking to others’ posts about the book we’re reading for the Semicolon Book Club toward the end of the month. No, I am not giving up.

11. Project Clean House. I need accountability in this area, too. What if I take a picture of an area of my house each week or month, before and after?

Ummm, I lost one somewhere, but that’s OK. I’m full up anyway and about to take on some more.

Now that I’ve cleared all that detritus away, I have a new blogging plan or project that has me excited. Stay tuned.

Just Jane by Nancy Moser

Sep17

Subtitled “A Novel of Jane Austen’s Life,” this one is suitable for Janeites everywhere, but I don’t know how much the casual fans or (heaven forbid!) nonreaders of Jane Austen are going to get out of the book. It’s an easy read, not too challenging intellectually speaking, but enjoyable.

The theme is “learning to be yourself” and to be content in all circumstances. It’s published by Bethany House, but Christianity is kept in the background just as it is in Austen’s novels themselves. A Christian heritage is assumed, and clergymen are ubiquitous throughout. But Jane herself spends a lot more time worrying about the fashions and the drains in the house than she does about her relationship to God. This Christianity-as-a-foundation (not a lifestyle or a relationship) is historically accurate, I think. It’s only in later centuries and mostly in America that people began to think about “how to live the Christian life” or “how to have a relationship with Jesus.” Immersed in modern evangelical culture as I am, I wanted to shake Jane and tell her: “You can pray about these problems you’re having.” “God cares.” “You are not alone.” But I wonder if we would be communicating across a cultural abyss that would be difficult to bridge.

So, Just Jane: recommended to Regency fans, Austen-lovers, and others who appreciate a quiet, fictionalized biography of an insightful and sometimes acerbic author who still influences our culture today.

Some other treats for Austen fans that I discovered during Book Blogger Appreciation Week:
Jane Austen Today. The blogger here writes about all things Jane: movies, books, cultural influences, news and views.

Austenprose: a daily celebration of the brilliance of Jane Austen’s writing.

Austenblog. “A compendium of news about Jane Austen in popular culture: mentions in newspaper articles, books and magazines; film adaptations; paraliterature such as continuations of the novels or modern retellings; Austen-related events; and other manifestations of the delightful way in which Jane Austen and her work have informed today’s popular culture.” Here’s a brief Austenblog review of Just Jane.

Are you a Janeite or do you lean towards Mark Twain’s (boorish) views: quoth Mr. Twain, “Jane Austen? Why I go so far as to say that any library is a good library that does not contain a volume by Jane Austen. Even if it contains no other book.”

You can tell by the parenthetical adjective where I stand on the matter.

Postscript: Today is Constitution Day, a celebration of the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law. Here’s a Semicolon post on Constitution Day and some books with which to celebrate.

Read Aloud Thursday: The King’s Fifth by Scott O’Dell

Sep17

Mr. O’Dell’s tale of Coronado and the fictional mapmaker Esteban Sandoval and the search for gold was our first homeschool read aloud of the year. We finished it last Friday. I think the urchins enjoyed the book, and it fit into both the history unit for Karate Kid (12), who’s studying world history from 1492-1900, and the history plan for Betsy-Bee (10), who’s studying Texas history. I assume that the urchins were intrigued with the intrigue in the book because there were many requests for just one more chapter. That’s either a sign that they like the book or that they want to postpone math hour. Whatever . . .

I thought I’d transcribe some snippets of conversation that I had with Betsy-Bee and with Karate Kid about the book. These are the pieces of the conversation I remember:

Mom: Did you like The King’s Fifth?

Betsy-Bee: Yes, I liked some parts a lot. I liked the parts where Esteban was in prison and on trial. Some of the rest of it was blah, blah, blah.

KK: Uhhh, it was a good book.

Mom: Why was Esteban on trial? What was he accused of doing wrong?

Betsy-Bee: He didn’t give the gold to the king, the king’s fifth.

KK: The king’s fifth of the treasure of Cibola. He was later accused of killing Captain Mendoza.

Mom: What did he do with the gold?

Betsy-Bee: He buried it.

Mom: Well, not exactly buried it. He threw it in a sinkhole, kind of like quicksand. Who was your favorite character in the book?

Betsy-Bee: Zia.

KK: Captain Mendoza was cool.

BB; I kind of liked that guy who stole all their stuff.

Mom: You didn’t like Mendoza or that guy (Torres). They were the bad guys.

KK: They weren’t the bad guys!

Mom: They were both thieves, and Mendoza told his dog to kill those two Indians! They were obsessed with gold. I actually liked Father Francisco the best. He was good and not gold-crazy.
So, Zia. Why did you like her?

Betsy-Bee: She was a girl, and she liked the horse with the cool name, Blue Star.

Mom: I think you liked her hat with the bells around the brim. Because you like to dress up in costumes.

BB: No, it would be annoying to have to hear that jingle all the time.

Mom: Would you read another book like this one to yourself?

KK: No, I like it more when you read it to us. Actually, I always like books more when you read them to us.

BB: Sometimes you can read boring books, though.

Hymn #31: O For a Thousand Tongues To Sing

Sep17

Original Title: On the Anniversary Day of One’s Conversion

Lyrics: Charles Wesley

Music: According to Wikipedia, “In the USA, the hymn is commonly sung to Lowell Mason’s 1839 arrangement of the hymn tune AZMON, written by Carl G. Glaser in 1828. Mason’s arrangement was written as a setting for this hymn. In Great Britain the tune LYDIA by Thomas Phillips or RICHMOND by Thomas Haweis are commonly used, though in larger congregations Thomas Jarman’s stirring tune LYNGHAM is favoured.”

Other tunes: BEATITUDO, John B. Dykes, 1875.
OXFORD NEW, J. H. Coombes, 1784.
NATIVITY, Henry Lahee, 1855.
SELBY, Alfred J. Eyre, 1889.
BELMONT, WIlliam Gardner.

I don’t know about a thousand tongues, but it looks if these lyrics are working toward a thousand tunes, or maybe just eighteen to match the number of verses. This organ version from youtube is LYNGHAM, but I need to hear it sung because I can’t fit the words to the music as played here.

Theme: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9.

Wesley wrote this hymn in celebration of the first anniversary of his conversion. The original poem had eighteen verses, but the part we generally sing as a hymn starts with verse seven.

IMG_2524.JPGGlory to God, and praise and love
Be ever, ever given,
By saints below and saints above,
The church in earth and heaven.

On this glad day the glorious Sun
Of Righteousness arose;
On my benighted soul He shone
And filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife,
’Twas then I ceased to grieve;
My second, real, living life
I then began to live.

IMG_1830.JPGThen with my heart I first believed,
Believed with faith divine,
Power with the Holy Ghost received
To call the Savior mine.

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood
Close to my soul applied;
Me, me He loved, the Son of God,
For me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true,
Ascertained of my part,
My pardon passed in heaven I knew
When written on my heart.

IMG_5692.JPGO for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
‘Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
‘Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

IMG_1842.JPGHe speaks, and, listening to his voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

Christmas2006-3Look unto Him, ye nations, own
Your God, ye fallen race;
Look, and be saved through faith alone,
Be justified by grace.

See all your sins on Jesus laid:
The Lamb of God was slain,
His soul was once an offering made
For every soul of man.

Harlots and publicans and thieves
In holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes
From crimes as great as mine.

mexicoworshipMurderers and all ye hellish crew
Ye sons of lust and pride,
Believe the Savior died for you;
For me the Savior died.

Awake from guilty nature’s sleep,
And Christ shall give you light,
Cast all your sins into the deep,
And wash the Æthiop white.

With me, your chief, ye then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

Hymn Studies: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.

Lifespring! Hymn Stories: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.

Hymn #32: How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

Sep16

Lyrics: Stuart Towend, 1995.

Music: Stuart Townend, 1995.

Theme:

Matt: “It struck me how utterly incapable we are of coming even remotely close to comprehending the infinite depth of God’s love for us.”

Mary Lynn: “I recently had a student sing this at school – I told her (before this survey) that this one would make my all-time-top-10 list.”

TheeEpiphany: “When I stop to remember His goodness, His patience with me, His everlasting love and promises, everything else seems so less worthy of my attention.”

Mark Moore: “I never thought about adoption as “paying a ransom”. It makes sense when you read passages in the New Testament that talk about us being “adopted” into God’s family. How did that happen? Jesus’ wounds paid our ransom!”

Stuart Townend: “I’d been meditating on the cross, and in particular what it cost the Father to give up his beloved Son to a torturous death on a cross. And what was my part in it? Not only was it my sin that put him there, but if I’d lived at that time, it would probably have been me in that crowd, shouting with everyone else ‘crucify him’. It just makes his sacrifice all the more personal, all the more amazing, and all the more humbling.

As I was thinking through this, I just began to sing the melody, and it flowed in the sort of way that makes you think you’ve pinched it from somewhere! So the melody was pretty instant, but the words took quite a bit of time, reworking things, trying to make every line as strong as I could.”

How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure!
How great the pain of searing loss!
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon the cross,
My sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished.
His dying breath has brought me life;
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything:
No gifts, no power, no wisdom,
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer,
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom.

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer,
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom.

Such a new song to be so very popular! Such an old theme!

BBAW: Meme Time

Sep16


Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
Hot chocolate and peanuts. No, the peanuts don’t go IN the hot chocolate.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of
writing in books horrify you?
I write in some books, especially my Bible, but mostly I don’t. Not horrified, but also not inspired to write anything until I’m done.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
Ummm, I have the bad habit of laying the book down spread-eagle.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Both, but I read more fiction, and I usually choose nonfiction that tells a story, mostly biographies and history.

Hard copy or audiobooks?
Hard copy. I can’t keep my attention on an audio-book; I suppose I’m not an auditory learner.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
No. I just guess.

What are you currently reading?
The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the old Trail Days by Andy Adams.
Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans by T.R. Fehrenbach.

What is the last book you bought?
I had another answer to this question, but this afternoon I visited this little hole-in-the-wall bookstore while Karate Kid was in canoeing class.
IMG_0264
I bought three books:

Antarctica: Journey to the Pole by Peter Lerangis. It looked good, and I like books about polar adventure.

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Mindy recommended it, and the last book I read on her recommendation was a home run.

A Hole in Texas by Hermann Wouk. I didn’t even know Mr. Wouk (The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, War and Remembrance) was still writing. I’m trying to read books about Texas, or set in Texas, and this one is about a guy who works at NASA just like Engineer Husband.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
See above. I always have several books going at once. That way I can find a book to suit my mood.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Anytime, anywhere.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Everybody should read something by C.S. Lewis, and if you like fiction, read Madeleine L’Engle.

Hymn #33: Jesus Paid It All

Sep15

Lyrics: Elvina Hall, 1856.

Music: John T. Grape.

Theme: “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’”. Isaiah 1:18.

Mr. Grape was a member of the same Methodist church in Baltimore that Elvina Hall attended. Their pastor, Rev. George W. Shreck, was the instrument to bring words and music together when he “called on me (Grape) to select anything new that I had to offer. On hearing this piece he expressed his pleasure with it and stated that Mrs. Elvina M. Hall had written some words that would just suit the music. I gave him a copy of it and it was soon sung in several churches here in Baltimore.”

(I’m hoping to become just such an instrument for my friend Hannah, even though I know nothing about selling or or produing music. If any of you know about uploading music to iTunes or Amazon and selling it through those sites, please email me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom.)

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him,
My robe, His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down,
All down at Jesus’ feet.

OR

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete
“Jesus died my soul to save”
My lips shall still repeat .

BBAW: Interview With a Book Blogger

Sep15

Gayle blogs at Every Day I Write the Book, and even though her blog is new to me, she has lots of fans. In fact, Every Day I Write the Book was nominated in five categories for Book Blogger Appreciation Awards: Best Literary Fiction Blog, Best General Review Blog, Best Reviews, Best Writing, and Best Book Club Blog, and it’s shortlisted in that last category, Best Book Club Blog.

The first thing I discovered in perusing Gayle’s blog is that we don’t read the same books. I only found two titles that she’s reviewed that I have read, too. This lack of congruence is a great thing as far as I’m concerned because it means I can find lots of books that Gayle’s recommended that I might want to read. I did find several titles that I want to read after reading Gayle’s reviews and teasers, including:

Factory Girls by Leslie Chang.

The English Teacher by Lily King.

Beginner’s Greek by James Collins.

Hello Goodbye by Emily Chenoweth.

Here’s what Gayle has to say about reading and blogging:

How did you start blogging, and why do you blog? Why about books?
When I was in my early 20s, I started keeping track of reviews of books that I wanted to read, mostly from traditional media sources like newspapers and magazines. I was always the one in my book club to make suggestions for our next read. I now work in social media and spend a lot of time reading blogs. One day in 2006, I started thinking about launching a blog to recommend books that my friends maybe hadn’t heard about, and to post my own reviews of books I’ve read. Once I got the idea in my head, I was so excited about it that I couldn’t wait to launch it. I blog now because I love the community of authors, readers and publishers that I have come to know, and I love the fact that so many people tell me that they visit my blog regularly for recommendations.
Why books? I have a very strong sense of what I like to read, and I thought I had something to offer in to other readers. Plus, I love to read – always have – and despite the amount of time it takes to keep up the book blog, it has encouraged me to read more. My reviews tend to focus less on characters and more on writing – I am fascinated by the process of writing fiction, and am in awe of people who do it well.

You’ve been shortlisted for an award at Book Blogger Appreciation Awards: Best Book Club Blog. Tell me about your book club. How does it work? How are the books chosen? How many participants do you have? How did you get started?
The book club component of my blog is probably the part I spend the least amount of time on, but I do enjoy it. It started in December 2007, when the publisher of Kelly Corrigan’s The Middle Place approached me to see if I wanted to host a discussion of that book on my site. Since then, I’ve hosted eight book club discussions on EDIWTB. Either I will select a book I’ve wanted to read, and will contact the publisher to see if they would like to participate, or I will be approached by a publisher with a particular book as a club suggestion. EDIWTB readers who sign up get a free copy of the book from the publisher, and on a pre-selected date, I open the discussion with a post on EDIWTB. The discussion continues in the comments. Usually, the author participates in a Q&A post the week after the book club discussion, answering questions that have come up in the comments.
I usually get somewhere between 20-30 participants. I always look forward to book club days, when the comments start rolling in.
It’s funny, I don’t think of my blog as a “book club blog”, except to the extent that people tell me they get ideas for books for their own book club to read.

What’s your favorite book blog (besides your own, of course)?
I have a few favorites – Stephanie’s Written Word, Booking Mama, Literary License, and Books for Breakfast.

You often blog about books you would like to read, future reads. Do you have a list? How do you decide what’s next up? Do you read more than one book at a time?
Yes, unfortunately, with a fulltime job and 5 year-old twins, I don’t have nearly as much time to read as I’d like. So I end up posting about future reads more often than I post my own reviews. I’d love for that ratio to be reversed… maybe someday. I don’t have a list – it’s basically a large pile of books on the floor of my bedroom. (Actually, it’s three piles and two bookshelves of books piled on their sides). The blog, in many ways, represents my TBR list.
I never read more than one book at a time.
Picking my next read is one of my favorite activities. It’s a rather unscientific process that involves thinking about what I am in the mood for, considering whether I want something very different from what I just read, and reading the first page or two of a few books to see what grabs me at that moment. I don’t participate in many challenges or book tours, mostly because I don’t want to feel constrained when choosing what to read next.

What has blogging done for you, and how do you try to serve your readers? What should a reader expect to get out of a visit to Everyday I Write the Book?
I try to serve my readers by offering honest reviews of what I’ve read, and sharing titles of books that they may not come across in their own travels. I am honest to a fault – even if I am writing about a review copy or participating in the EDIWTB book club, I will say exactly what I think of a book, even if it’s negative. I don’t think sugarcoating or focusing only on the positive is helpful to anyone (except maybe the author). People trust my opinion, and that’s the best I have to offer, so I offer my whole, unedited opinion.
A reader visiting EDIWTB can hopefully expect to learn about a book that may be a bit off the beaten path (but not always – I have read some pretty popular books), and can expect honest and hopefully well-written reviews of the book I’ve read. I also do some author Q&As and guest posts, and attend frequent author readings, which I always write up for the blog.

When do you do your blogging? How much time do you spend on blogging every day?
I do most of my blogging late at night, between 11-12 PM. I usually post 3-4 times a week, and posts usually take me about 45 minutes each.
 
What is the best book you’ve read this year?
The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. I was late to the party on this one, but it has stayed with me.
 
What are your passions outside of reading?
I used to be a huge TV watcher, but with fewer hours to devote to it, and the everpresent temptation of the laptop, I am a much less engaged viewer than I used to be. I love my 5 year old girls, my basenji, and music, and I am somewhat obsessed with social media.
 
Where do you learn about new books?
I used to learn about new books from traditional book reviews and magazines, but I am getting my recommendations more often now from book bloggers and Twitter. I also get a lot of review copies in the mail, so I learn about new books that way too. One of my favorite activities is browsing the fiction shelves of bookstores I love, on the prowl for new books I haven’t heard of before.

Thanks, Gayle. You can see my answers to some of these same interview questions at Every Day I Write the Book Blog.

Of eReaders and Books

Sep14

There’s a special promotion going on at Book Blogger Appreciation Week in which IREX Technologies is giving away one of their new eReaders. To be in the running, we are asked to write a post about the most important feature in an eReader.

Since I was thinking about Kindles and similar book readers way back last spring, and I jotted down some notes but never transferred those thoughts to the blog, I thought this would be a good opportunity to write about the newest twist to an old technology–books.

Last spring, I wrote:

I think I want a Kindle. For the uninitiated, a Kindle is Amazon’s version of an electronic book reader. You download books from Amazon into your Kindle and read them on a page-sized screen. The Kindle is light-weight, like a book, and the print is supposed to be easy on the eyes. Right now it costs about $350. However, I figure either the price will go down, or the Kindle will acquire more features.

For that much money, I would like for my eReader to be an MPED—multi-purpose electronic device. I want it to be an eReader/Blackberry/iPhone thingy, without gaining weight. I want my MPED to:

* double as a cell phone with a port where I can plug in one of those cool headsets so that I would no longer be tempted to hold my cell phone and drive at the same time.

* get me on the internet to check my email and my favorite blogs just the way my iPhone does. No, I do not want to pay a subscription price per blog, and yes, I do want to be able to download books on the go wherever I can connect to free Wifi.

*receive TV and radio signals. I want to be able to download movies into my eReader, watch TV, and listen to the radio on it, too.

I like the size of the Kindle, lightweight and about the size of a sheet of paper, or an 8 1/2 by 11 inch book. Blackberries and iPhones are too small for reading comfortably, and laptops are too bulky to carry around just for reading. I like that the primary purpose of the Kindle is reading books. Even if it branches out, the focus will remain on books and applications for book people.

I don’t like this little episode. If I pay for a book, on my eReader or in print, I want to own it. No backsies. And I don’t want to be limited to one bookseller; I want to be able to download books into my eReader from multiple sources, just like I can buy songs for iTunes from anywhere.

Come to think of it, an eReader that is just a reader, not a phone or a Wifi internet device or a radio would be fine, as long as I can get books for it wherever I want and as long as they belong to me to do whatever I want with them after I purchase them.