You may be a bookaholic ... (#10)

... if while visiting new friends you stand with tilted head because you are reading the titles on their shelves.



To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#7)

... if the first thing you look for in a new house is built-in bookshelves.

To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#8)

... if bookstore owners smile when they see you come in the door.

To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#13)

... if, at yard sales, you visit the book table first.




To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#16)

... if you know what a TBR stack is.



To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

Sunday Salon ~ with a pun alert

It is always book o'clock wherever I am, quite aside from where the hands of the clock happen to be.  Does that make me a bookie?  Or does it mean that I am a bookaholic?  Click HERE for "Twelve Signs You Are a Bookaholic."

I would wear this mask proudly ---------->>>>>>>

Word of the Day

bookaholic / book·a·hol·ic / noun = a compulsive book buyer; a habitual and prolific reader; a lover of books.  Example:  "I don't know any bookaholics who want to overcome their addiction."

Mornings with Jesus 2017: Daily Encouragement for Your Soul ~ by Guideposts, 2016, devotions

In this book, you can read and reflect on one devotion each day that will encourage you.  Lifting up their voices in heartfelt gratitude, eleven women, including bestselling authors Tricia Goyer and Cynthia Ruchti, consider the character and teachings of Jesus and share how He enriches and empowers them daily.

Book off my shelves

This is another book (unread) that called to me as I walked past the shelves.  I bought it on sale on Nov. 10, 2017, intending to start reading it in the following year.  I forgot before January, so I started a year of reading today, October 17.  (The dated receipt was still in it, marking the one day I probably read.)

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts the Sunday Salon, where we talk

about our lives, our books, and what we have been reading.

You may be a bookaholic ... (#1)

... if you ever stayed up so late reading that you overslept the next morning and were late to work.

I've been putting "You may be a bookaholic" remarks in the upper right corner of this blog all month. Now I'd like to know if anybody noticed them. Do you look to see what I come up with each day? Do you like this feature? Do you have a favorite among those I've posted so far? Do you have an idea for "You may be a bookaholic" that you would share with me?

You may be a bookaholic ... (#9)

... if you call in sick because you simply must stay home from work to read your new book.

To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#14)

... if your children know exactly where to find you in the stacks at your local library.

 To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#12)

  ... if you could take only one suitcase and you packed like this.

Photo from Flickr, but found by me on Eva's blog. (Thanks, Eva.)

To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#11)

... if you have ever spent the last of your paycheck on books and then realized you forgot to buy groceries.

(Or, as someone once said, "Why do you want a book? You already have a book.")

To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

You may be a bookaholic ... (#15)

... if you have ever bought a book and then discovered you already own it (or worse, already have two copies).

 To see all my bookaholic posts, click here:  You may be a bookaholic

Sunday Salon ~ bookaholic edition

Here's a cat made of rock for Caturday, one day late.  Time doesn't seem to work for me the way it did before the mid-March lockdown.

You may be a bookaholic ... if you know what a TBR stack is.  My stack is MUCH higher than this one, so I should quit adding books.  Nope.  I was at Donna's last night to use her magnifying thingy to read the tiny print on something I had ordered from Amazon (no, not a book).  The book on her coffee table relates to the destructive events at the Capitol this week, so I said I would like to read it when she finished.  Donna said, "Take it."  This one had not grabbed her attention, though her sister Jane liked it.  Here 'tis:

Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union ~ by Richard Kreitner, 2020, history, 487 pp.

The fiery thesis of this book is simple:  The United States has never lived up to its name — and never will.  The disunionist impulse may have found its greatest expression in the Civil War, but the seduction of secession wasn’t limited to the South or the nineteenth century.  It was there at our founding and has never gone away.  Kreitner takes readers on a revolutionary journey through American history, revealing the persistence and power of disunion movements in every era and every region.  The divisions that threaten to tear America apart today have centuries-old roots in the earliest days of our Republic.  Break It Up will help readers make fresh sense of our fractured age.

• Each New England town after Plymouth was a secession from another.
• The thirteen colonies viewed their Union as a means to the end of securing independence, not an end in itself.
• George Washington feared separatism west of the Alleghenies.
• Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison denounced the Constitution as a pro-slavery pact with the devil.
• Aaron Burr schemed to set up a new empire.
• John Quincy Adams brought a Massachusetts town’s petition for dissolving the United States to the floor of Congress.

Bloggers gather in The Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.

You may be a bookaholic ... (#5)

... if the first thing you pack for a trip is a good book.

Armchair BEA ~ developing as a blogger

This is the day we are supposed to talk about how we develop ourselves as bloggers.  Have you branched out into your community?  Do you partner with other bloggers?  Have you gone "pro" or begun supplementing your income through your blog?  Are you a long-term blogger, and how has your online personality developed over the years?  These are simply ideas.  Think development and tell us what comes to mind.

Sheila wrote:  "If you read this blog you probably have a pretty good idea of what I look like.  Why?  Because my picture is on the right sidebar and used as part of my morning meandering post.  Why do that?   By putting my face on the blog, people who read me feel as though they know me.  For me, I think it increases a comfort with the writer, a feeling you know them, and that is why I do it.  It also helps when you go to bookish events such as the expo [BEA in New York] for people to know you.  When people approach me, they know me by my face."  She also takes business cards, like the one above, when she goes to BEA.  I see her photo on it, but not her name.  Maybe it's on the back?

I've been blogging six and a half years, since January 2007.  I used that header above, showing Yella Cat reading a book, in 2008 when my blog was over-run with cats looking for treats.  I got my cat Kiki involved in reviewing some of the books, and I tried a variety of features like this one:  You may be a bookaholic...

... if you ever stayed up so late reading that you overslept the next morning and were late to work.

And I never finished writing this post.  Yep, maybe I read too late, overslept, and wasn't thinking.  Anyway, I had it set to post at 12:01 a.m.  One minute after midnight.  Only now have I discovered I never finished it and never clicked the Publish button.  Summary:  Over the years, I've tried a variety of things on this blog, but mostly I now write about what interests me day by day.  I don't worry about what you, my readers, think of me.  Maybe I could get a bigger following — why, exactly, DO you "follow" me, anyhow? — but I'm more interested in pleasing me and enjoying my blog.  When I'm too busy, I don't post anything.  When I have several things to say, I post more than once a day.  If you like the same things, I figure you'll read it.  If not, that's okay.  I'm still having fun.

Becoming a better blogger ~ bloggers are linking up on today's ArmchairBEA post.

Beginning ~ in a brothel

But first, more neighborhood photos

There is one house between me and these two downed trees, which are in the same yard.  I stood between them to take these photos.  They fell in different directions, the top one northward, the other eastward.  Click to enlarge the images.

After dark last night, I discovered UPS had left a package in a clear bag tied to my front door.  Since I'm in the third day of being literally "in the dark" (without power since tornadoes passed through), it was a very frustrating moment -- for a bookaholic.  No lights.  A new book won from another book blogger.  I am using wi-fi at a different Panera, paying for food because what's in my refrigerator has gone bad.  Obviously, I can't carry lots of books to write about, so today's Book Beginnings will be from the just-arrived book I haven't even started -- because I happen to have it with me.  Here's the beginning of India Black by Carol K. Carr, 2011, mystery:

"My name is India Black.  I am a whore."

So?  I'm not particularly interested in reading about whores, so this doesn't in itself make me want to keep reading.  I'm more interested in this from the back cover:

"In the winter of 1876, the beautiful young madam India Black is occupied with her usual tasks -- keeping her tarts in line, avoiding the police, and tolerating the clergyman bent on converting her girls.  But when Sir Archibald Latham of the War Office dies from a heart attack while visiting her brothel, India is unexpectedly thrust into a deadly game between Russian and British agents who are seeking the military secrets Latham carried."

This meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading. Then, share your impressions of that beginning. Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.

You may be a bookaholic ... (#2)

... if you ever wondered if reading as you drive to work could be considered multitasking.

Deadline ~ by Chris Crutcher

Title, author, copyright date, and genre (setting).

Deadline ~ by Chris Crutcher, 2007, YA fiction (Idaho), 10/10

Summarize the book without giving away the ending.

When Ben Wolf learns he has only one year to live, he chooses to tell no one of his "deadline" so he can lead a normal life as long as possible.  He figures he has mere months to experience all he can, and he wants to do that on his own terms.

What made you want to read the book?

Four years ago, my friend Donna told me how good the book is.  When she started a blog around that time, this was the first (and still the only) book she reviewed.

"Ben Wolf's conversations with 'Hey-soos,' as well as glimpses into his close relationship with Coach Lou Banks (from previous Crutcher stories), meticulously guides us through Ben's adventures and his maturing as he travels this part of life's journey.  This is perhaps my favorite of Crutcher's young adult novels, and that is saying much since he is, in my view, one of the best young adult authors today."

And then recently, Stephanie @ Confessions of a Bookaholic reminded me of the book:

"Without telling ANYONE, including his parents or younger brother, he sets out to make his Senior year unforgettable.  Honestly, I'm having a hard time not tearing up just writing this paragraph.  It really is an exceptional book."

What did you think of the main character?

Ben is a smart kid, and best of all, he's a reader.  Unlike some people I know, who tell me they forget a book almost as soon as they finish it, Ben talks about what he's read.  He mentions some of these only once, but refers back to others:

A Short History of Nearly Everything ~ by Bill Bryson (p. 25)
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong ~ by James W. Loewen (p. 40)
Outgunned: Up Against the NRA ~ by Peter Harry Brown and Daniel G. Abel (p. 43)
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream ~ by H. G. Bissinger (p. 51)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X ~ as told to Alex Haley (pp. 83, 86)
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln ~ by Doris Kearns Goodwin (p. 157)
Robert McNamara's book (p. 293) He doesn't say which one, but maybe this one:  In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam.

And Ben quotes the poet Robert Burns: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley," which we usually translate into "The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry," which I translate into, "The best laid schemes of horny dying short guys oft land in the shitter" (p. 115). [Yes, watch out for teenage male language.]

Which character could you relate to best?

Dallas Suzuki, the girl Ben wanted to date, probably because she was the only female character who was really developed.  I could also relate to Marla, the therapist, who appeared briefly near the beginning and then again very briefly near the end.

Were there any other especially interesting characters?

I really liked Coach Lou Banks, who truly cared about his students.  Here's one reason to like him:

"Lambeer is a teacher who cares what you think.  Coach cares how you think" (p. 159).

And then there's the town drunk. I began to understand his pain and his guilt and, to that extent, began to warm toward him as a human being.

Were the characters and their problems believable?

Oh, yes!  Ben Wolf, the protagonist with a "deadline," began to be overwhelmed with all the problems of the people around him.  And I began to think of the people I see from day to day, wondering what grief and despair they may be hiding from the world.

What was the book's central question, and how was it answered?

How will Ben Wolf (also known as "little wolf" and "little big brother") get through the year facing his "deadline"?  Mostly pretty well, I think.

Was location important to the story?

Yes, in that Trout, Idaho was a nowhere little town, making some of the events more likely than in a large city.

Share any favorite quotes.

Ben's opinion (p. 284):  "Planet Earth is a tough town."

Hey-Soos tells Ben (pp. 241-242):  "God isn't a guy.  God isn't a girl.  God is a force.  You have all these people trying to figure out whether to believe in God or the big bang.  God is the ultimate scientist. ... Just know that everything started as one, everything still is one, and it will end up as one."

Did you like the way the book ended?

I finished the book with teears running down my cheeks, yet it was still satisfying.  Crutcher wrapped up the loose ends, and I could imagine what Ben's brother Cody and others, like Dallas Suzuki, might do in the future, which looked good.

What do you think will be your lasting impression of this book?

Reading about Ben's world that was suddenly turned upside down (see the cover photo above) is likely to stay with me.  I expect to continue thinking about him and how he faced that year of his life, maybe for a very long time.

Would you recommend this book?  How would you rate it?

Yes, I highly recommend it, having given the book my highest rating:  10/10 means I couldn't put it down.

Sunday Salon ~ books for my Kindle

More Sunday Salon posts are on Facebook.

I am apparently a serious bookaholic.  I say this after noticing how many books I've bought in the last 40 days just for my Kindle, not even counting the "two dozen plus two" actual books I got at the recent book fair.  Here's my list of new books on my Kindle (though you can see by the dates that some of them are "old" books).

Fiction

Journeys Through Time and Space: Five Classic Novels of Science Fiction and Fantasy ~ ed. by Greg Bear is sold as a single "book," but it actually has FIVE full novels in the Kindle edition, which Greg Bear calls "this bundle" of books.  That's how I'm counting them, as five novels rather than one.

1.  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ~ by Mark Twain, 1889
2.  The Time Machine ~ by H. G. Wells, 1895
3.  A Princess of Mars ~ by Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1912
4.  A Voyage to Arcturus ~ by David Lindsay, 1920
5.  The Worm Ouroboros ~ by E. R. Eddison, 1922

More Fiction

6.  Manalive ~ by G. K. Chesterton, 1912
7.  Ilsa ~ by Madeleine L'Engle, 1946
8.  Youth ~ by Isaac Asimov, 1952
9.  A Reckoning ~ by May Sarton, 1978
10.  Crescent in the Sky ~ by Donald Moffitt, 1989
11.  Love Begins in Winter: Five Stories ~ by Simon Van Booy, 2009

12.  Letters from Skye ~ by Jessica Brockmole, 2013
13.  We Are All Made of Stars ~ by Rowan Coleman, 2015
14.  The Bookshop on the Corner ~ by Jenny Colgan, 2016
15.  The Daughter ~ by Lucy Dawson, 2017

Nonfiction

16.  Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism ~ by Erich Fromm, 1960
17.  In the Beginning: Science Faces God in the Book of Genesis ~ by Isaac Asimov, 1981
18.  The Dream of God: A Call to Return ~ by Verna J. Dozier, 1991
19.  God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question ― Why We Suffer ~ by Bart D. Ehrman, 2008

20.  Forged: Writing in the Name of God ~ by Bart D. Ehrman, 2011
21.  What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Jewishness of Jesus: A New Way of Seeing the Most Influential Rabbi in History ~ by Rabbi Evan Moffic, 2015
22.  Jesus Before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior ~ by Bart D. Ehrman, 2016
23.  The Happiness Prayer ~ by Evan Moffic, 2017

Doing the math

I bought 23 books in only 40 days ― actually that's 23 books on Kindle plus 26 books from the book fair for a total of 49 books (23+26=49).  Yes, I realize that's more than a book a day, average.  Er, ah, that includes today (I mean tonight), when I downloaded Letters from Skye, the middle book pictured above.  Yes, I confess that I bought it while I was writing this post.  Yes, I hid it in the middle by listing the books chronologically in each section.

Mini-Challenge ~ Turn the Page

Mini-Challenge for Hour 16:  "For this challenge, you must turn to page 32 of the book you are currently reading (or the nearest page with text on it) and find the most entertaining phrase to complete the following sentence:  'I would rather read than ________ any day!'   Post your sentence in the comments [at Reflections of a Bookaholic] so everyone may enjoy!  Don't forget to include the title of the book you are reading and your email so I can contact you.  Let the laughs begin."

"I would rather read than sit motionless observing the Madonna any day!"

That's from page 33 of Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat.