Hello book lovers!
How was your reading week?
The main idea of this feature is to talk about books without it being a review (where I only talk about one book and its themes) or a meme (because it doesn't leave much place to debate sometimes).
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Blog:
My review and interview with Lynda Waterhouse will be posted tomorrow and there are some good stuff in there (if I may say so myself), so don't forget to drop by to read it!
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Books:
I received and started reading immediately Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead (Yes, Vampire Academyyyy wouhouu) and I really loved it though I can't wait for another series! Thanks Penguin for sending it my way :) Review to come soon!
I have started Matched by Ally Condie and I really can't get into it... I was waiting to be entranced by the story (you know, because there is so much buzz about this book, I actually figured I would enjoy it from the first pages), but I am yet to be moved by a single character. Oh well, I'm sure it will get better... Hopefully...
I am reading an adult book (gasp!) for my book group at work and I chose The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell which is short listed for the Costa Prize. The style is original and we follow two different characters, one in the Soho art scene of the 1950s and the other in the present day. I am loving the 1950s passages!
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Stuff I read and want to share:
This week I have a zillion things to share so brace yourself!
Google launched its own ebookstore (Google eBooks: What The Media Said | The Bookseller) last week and a day after Amazon launched his. This is starting to look like a soap opera *beams*. Can't wait for the next episode!
The world's most expensive book was sold £7m at an auction. Guess what the book is about? American birds! If you want to know why it is the most expensive, check out this BBC article.
More seriously, I read a fascinating on books translated in English and how cultural institutes (especially European ones) try to support American and British publishing companies to promote their own authors. "Books translated into English help nations large and small put their names on the literary map" says a representative of the Romanian Cultural Institute. (Translation As Literary Ambassador | The New York Times).
I discovered AmazonCrossing from reading this previous article. AmazonCrossing is a publishing imprint of Amazon.com which focuses on world literature translate in English.
A Really Short Story Of Nearly Everything written by Bill Bryson has won the 2010 Educational Writers' Award. Congrats!!
I came across a new blog! The YA YA YAs is a blog where three Young Adult librarians blather about YA literature and YA librarianship. Go check out their awesomeness!
The article is three months old but I read it just this week while reading about parents banning books from schools and how it's more an American thing. (Why Are Parents Banning School Books? | BBC News)
I came across this amazing article about Figment.com, a website for bookish teenagers. "A free platform for young people to read and write fiction, both on their computers and on their cellphones. Users are invited to write novels, short stories and poems, collaborate with other writers and give and receive feedback on the work posted on the site." (Web Site For Teenagers With Literary Leanings | The New York Times)
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That is it for this week and I shall try to write the reviews of all the books I read for next week :D
(I did say *try*)
Have a lovely week and think that in 12 days you will be able to eat plenty chocolate (but who's counting?)
x Caroline
Don't give up on Matched! I think maybe what you're seeing with the characters is that they all come from this world where individuality is made impossible and undesirable for them, and they're products of that, but Cassia does grow as a character throughout the book so you might still like it... maybe...
ReplyDeleteAlso, how did I not know about the google ebookstore? I need to look into that. :)