Top Ten Tuesday: Websites I Love That Aren't About Books

This week's Top Ten Tuesday was a breath of fresh spring air - ten websites we love that have nothing to do with books.  Well, I can't say these sites never mention books, but they're ones I go to again and again for a variety of different reasons.  Without further ado, and in no particular order...

When I want something minimalist without going crazy:
Reading My Tea Leaves

When I need to slow down and listen to a slightly silly podcast:
Slow Your Home

When I want to read an essay that speaks to my humanity:
C. Jane Kendrick

When I want some inspiration for being more financially savvy:
Budgets Are Sexy

When I want to feel luxe:
Bois de Jasmin

When my roommate talks at extreme volume and I need to work:
Coffivity

When I want to love the city I'm in, without spending all my $$:
the skint

When I need some new threads*:
ThredUp

When I need a different perspective:
Colorlines

When I'm in the mood for a virtual trip abroad:
Aspiring Kennedy

What non-bookish websites do you love?

*referral link! means if you click and end up buying something, you get $10 and so do I - not too shabby. 

Hello from the other side!

My first year of graduate school is done, which is incredible and almost unbelievable.  I'm genuinely happy to have chosen my program, and while the past year has been mental, it's also been more wonderful than I had thought it would be.  There have been lots of busy days and nights, lots of uncertainties, but also real strides and progress.

So...so far so good.

But what have you been reading, Cornelia?!

Well, this is the part where I flop.  Not much - lots of rereading books, since after long, long days filled with different kinds of reading assignments, I was too exhausted to try anything new or stick with it.  Magazines hit the spot on very early weekend mornings before doing a million things.  However, I have been dabbling, thanks to browsing around once a week at the library.

I started to read The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling and am sticking with it.  Having read many a detective-crime novel, I don't see what everyone went crazy-angry about.  This is a mystery - it's not meant to be another Harry Potter.  The characters are engaging and different, relatable and also captured well (classic JK Rowling) and I like the plot so far.  The only downside is the hardcover is a door-stop and hard to carry around.

I've also begun Until We Are Free by Shirin Ebadi.  I read Iran Awakening in 2003, and as a young teenager found her account of her life and work to be inspiring, compelling, and frightening.  I haven't picked up her work since then, until I saw this one sitting out at the library.  A Nobel Peace Prize winner and phenomenal woman - if you haven't heard of her, check out her work and her writing.

That's all from me - still getting used to the change in season.  Life is more relaxed but still busy, and I'm relieved that the weather is finally nice enough to read outside.

What are you reading this first Monday in May?

National Poetry Month: Fourth

This April, in honor of National Poetry Month, I'm posting a poem a week.  There are too many good ones out there to post them all, but this one stuck into me when I read it.  Short and to the point.  It's by Ko Un, called Asking the Way.

National Poetry Month: Third

In honor of National Poetry Month, this April I'm posting a poem every Monday. This week it's one by Meena Alexander, from Raw Meditations on Money, 1. She Speaks: A School Teacher from South India.  Go read something good for your soul.

National Poetry Month: Second

In honor of National Poetry Month, I'm posting a poem a week instead of my usual post.  This week it's Covenant by Alan R. Shapiro - a long one, and a bit of a doozy, but intimate and almost Norman Rockwell-ish in the way it immediately captures family and siblings.

National Poetry Month: First

In honor of National Poetry Month, this April I'm going to be posting a poem (or a link to a poem) a week instead of my usual post.  I've only got four weeks, but I hope I'll get in some good ones, on and off of the blog.  First up is Maya Angelou's Awaking in New York, over at the Poetry Foundation website.  Go read something good for your soul.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami Review

While I was living overseas, I tried valiantly to read Murakami's 1Q84.  I enjoyed the prose and the even style of writing - level, calm, and unhurried.  Unfortunately, I had a copy with all three or four volumes in one, which made for something like over 300 pages of calm, unhurried writing...and I put it down.  Alas alack, etc.

This, however, was just right - a lovely introduction to the writer, and also gave some insight into his style and mindset.  I'd only heard good things about both Murakami and this book before reading, and was not disappointed.

If you're looking for a slow-paced summer read for sitting in cafes or on the stoop, pick it up.  It's not an "athletics" book, and it's not just about writing.  I think it's fair to say it's about life changing, making choices and sticking with them, community, and how we respond to challenges in life.

Basic plot: (from back cover) An intimate look at writing, running, and the incredible way they intersect, from the incomparable, bestselling author Haruki Murakami.  While training for the New York City Marathon, Haruki Murakami decided to keep a journal of his progress.  The result is a beautiful memoir about his intertwined obsessions with running and writing, full of vivid memories and insights, including the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer.  By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the expanding population who find similar satisfaction in athletic pursuit.

On a scale from 1 to Cripplingly Depressing: 0

Memories from reading: I read this while waiting for graduation ceremonies to start and for my plane to arrive, which I think added something to it.  There was never one period where I just sat and read for ages, and the book is good for that - when you have a moment, the pieces you do read are engaging and thought-provoking.

Teeth-gnashing: Nothing, really.  I can't think of any bits that I wish had been longer, or cut short.  It all seemed to be put together very well.

Weapon of Choice: Paperback, from The Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, MA.

Other titles by this author:

After Dark

After the Quake

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Kafka on the Shore

Norwegian Wood

Have you read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, or any of Murakami's other books? What did you think?

Currently

Reading: 1. This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.  I know this one is coming out (has already come out?) as a movie, and the book reads that way.  I was looking for a lighter summer read, and it kind of fits the bill - the writing style/author's voice is very readable, and yet at the same time it's also about family dysfunction.  So far I like it, but I hope the plot picks up.  Amen.

2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.  WH, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I watched one episode of the miniseries when I was visiting with my family and was...underwhelmed.  The book, however, is so well written I almost can't stand it.  I'm not usually the early historical fiction fan, and I'm not very far in, but I have the feeling it will fly by.  Here's an excerpt:

Wolsey looks at his expression, and laughs.  Squabbling underlings! He knows quite well that, dissatisfied with their original parentage, they are fighting to be his favorite son.  "Whatever you think of Master Stephen, he is well grounded in canon law, and a very persuasive fellow, except when he tries to persuade you.  I will tell you ---" He breaks off; he leans forward, he puts his great lion's head in his hands, the head that would indeed have worn the papal tiara, if at the last election the right money had been paid out to the right people. "I have begged him," the cardinal says.  "Thomas, I sank to my knees and from that humble posture I tried to dissuade him.  Majesty, I said, be guided by me.  Nothing will ensue, if you wish to be rid of your wife, but a great deal of trouble and expense."

Making: Vegan Molasses Cookies.  I'm not vegan, but love eating cookie batter without eggs - and another positive is that these come out very soft - maybe too soft? Still delicious. (Try these, too.)

Watching: Endless youtube videos about skincare.  One of the finer examples of internet rabbitholes, and yet so addicting.  Here you go.

Quoting: This may be my new favorite, by none other than Mary Oliver:

There were times over the years when life was not easy, but if you're working a few hours a day and you've got a good book to read, and you can go outside to the beach and dig for clams, you're okay.

What are you currently reading, making, or watching?

Happy Friday!

Hello again and Happy Friday (the first Friday in June)! 

How are you? What are you reading? How has your spring been? I hope that life has been treating you well.  Thanks for sticking with me - I'm glad to be back.

Since I haven't been blogging about it, what have I been reading for the last month and change?

Hello from the Gillespies by Monica McInnerney

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christiee

The Bishop's Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Skin Cleanse by Adina Grigore

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

All of which I have genuinely enjoyed, some more than others.  I finished Murakami's book yesterday morning, and if you like essays, memoirs, or sports, definitely read it.  I found it both calm and relatable, and it made me want to pick up another of his shorter works - maybe essays.

In addition to terrific library finds, this spring has turned into a "cup runneth over" experience with books. While visiting with family, I was very generously given How To Be Both by Ali Smith, which I've been wanting to read for ages - and then a friend lent me Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which I started to read while waiting for the bus (and LOVE so far, good gravy).

Then last week, as I was walking back from grocery shopping, I saw a yard sale with a box of books and stopped to look.  You know where this story is going, of course. I flipped through the books while balancing my bags, and picked up three - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, and The Lover by A.B. Yehoshua.  How much did they cost? Twenty-five cents each.  It was, if I were the dramatic type, as if the heavens opened up and practically gave them to me.  So they now sit on my to-be-read pile as well, with some picks from your blogs over the last several weeks.

They're not fancy new books, but just right for me, and what I so love about reading and book blogging.

Have a wonderful weekend :)

P.S. Has anyone else been watching Outlander?? Any thoughts on the end of the first series? The more I watch, the more I keep re-reading, and thinking about how they're going to work the end of the second season! I'm ridiculously excited to follow along.

Back to regular posting soon

We've been reading, reading, reading, spending time with family, cooking up a storm, and relaxing.

Be back soon!

xo

Cornelia & Sheba

UPDATES: Dewey's Readathon!

Update: I had a terrific time! I started with Hello from the Gillespies, since I'd enjoyed reading it so much and was hoping it would get me through my April reading slump - it did, and then some.  This also meant that I finished my first book for the ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, thank goodness.

I'd been thinking of reading The Marco Effect next, since Adler-Olsen has been a favorite Nordic crime novelist of mine in the past, but decided to read The River of No Return instead, since it sounded so incredible.  I really loved the first 300 pages, and then thought: Am I getting tired, or is the plot getting more confusing? I finished it on Sunday, and it wasn't just the fatigue.  

Overall, I'm so glad I joined.  I got a ton of reading done, and it felt great.  Throughout, I almost wanted more Saturdays to be like that one - more time reading, more time connecting with others, more time eating snacks :)

Thanks Team Popper for stopping by and cheering me on - I can't wait till next readathon.

Dewey's Readathon is tomorrow, April 25th! It's a chance for readers and bloggers to come together and honor the memory of one blogger, Dewey, who started the readathon, and to read as much as possible for 24 hours.  I'm joining in for the first time - while I'm nervous about how much I'll actually be able to finish, I feel so good about reading alongside fellow book lovers.  Almost all of the joint activities that I've been a part of in this book-blogging world have been so, so fun.

Getting down to it - while I won't be able to post updates or join in the twitter chats until Saturday evening, I will be reading! I'm excited to dedicate my day to eating, reading, and standing around waiting for the bus with a book.

Below are the ones I'll have in rotation, linked to Goodreads.  Will I get through all of them? Nope.  But I like a little variety in my life, and who knows what I'll actually be in the mood to pick up!


Hello from the Gillespies by Monica McInerney (e-book)
Percentage before: 32
Percentage after: 100 

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris (e-book)
Percentage before: 14

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway
Pages read: 346

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

How Children Succeed by Paul Tough

The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

My Mother's House and Sido by Colette

Are you joining Dewey's Readathon? What's on your list? 

Can't wait to check out everyone's reading tomorrow :)

Review of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed is a book I've been wanting to read for ages (see: here), but I didn't realize that as soon as I picked it up from the library that I'd devour it in one day - almost in one sitting.  It was compelling, devastating, heartbreaking, and funny all at the same time.  If you're looking for a (nonfiction) book that will make you seriously think about how to change the world, go now and read this one.

Okay.  Phew! Now down to it.

Basic plot: (from Barnes and Noble) Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that a job -- any job -- can be the ticket to a better life. But how does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour?

To find out, Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She lived in trailer parks and crumbling residential motels. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you [intend] to live indoors. 

Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Read it for the smoldering clarity of Ehrenreich's perspective and for a rare view of how "prosperity" looks from the bottom. You will never see anything -- from a motel bathroom to a restaurant meal -- in quite the same way again.

On a scale from 1 to Cripplingly Depressing: Oh, man.  I would say that the realism - the reality of the situations she describes in this book - is what makes it a serious read.  I found myself asking: How do you build community or a positive outlook in these situations? How do you in any way get out?  If I were working in one of the places she worked, I don't know that I could have read this book.  That said, Ehrenreich is tremendously funny and honest, which kept the book buoyant.

Thoughts: Ehrenreich wrote this book over ten years ago, and it doesn't seem as though (minimum) wages have gone up very much - from 1998 to 2008 to 2015.  So what happens when the job market, even for low wage jobs, tanks? For years? Ehrenreich used the word "shameful" to describe what's been going on - and it is.  The middle class bubble she talks about was something I'd never thought of in that way, and it seems very, very true.  Additionally, one of my favorite things about the book was how beautifully she captured the interactions and relationships between co-workers.  You really get a sense of people in the workspace, not case studies.

Teeth-gnashing: There aren't really any resolutions to the problems she presents.  I don't think that the point of the book was to solve the problems, since they are so huge, but it would have been nice to know what I could do when I finished reading.

Memories from reading: Got home from the library and couldn't even wait to put everything away before I started reading.  Green gingham chair all the way.

Weapon of Choice: Paperback!

Other titles by this author:
Living With A Wild God: A Non-believer's Search for the Truth About Everything
Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America
Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

Have you read anything by Barbara Ehrenreich? What have you read recently that's been all-consuming, or left you thinking about it long after you were done?

(If you make a purchase through a link on this site, I will receive a small commission.)

Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors

Good gravy.  How do you pick just ten of your favorite authors?

I decided to make rules, because otherwise it's impossible (impossible!) to narrow it down.  There are too many. I asked myself: which books have I picked up and read and re-read (and haven't already written about ad nauseam on this blog)? How many of those authors have written other books that I've picked up and read and re-read?

And then I chose.  Eurgh.

So, yes, JK Rowling and Zora Neale Hurston should be on this list, as well as Hans Fallada, Frantz Fanon, Leo Tolstoy, and Diana Gabaldon.  But here we have it, cut down to a mere ten.  Three ladies, seven men, all white, five from Western Europe, five from these United States, nine out of ten deceased.  If you want to read something (potentially) life-changing, go pick up one of their books/letters/essays/poems.  My favorites? Linked in their names.

From left to right!

Top Row: 

Marilynne Robinson, Dorothy Sayers, Albert Camus, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Primo Levi

Bottom Row: 

Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman, Steig Larsson, Roald Dahl, John Steinbeck

Also, whenever I see that picture of John Steinbeck I think: You old cad, you.

(If you make a purchase through a link on this site, I will receive a small commission.)

Who are your ten all time favorite authors? Would you be able to narrow it down?

April is the cruelest month

If I'm being completely honest, I haven't been feeling the book love in April.  I don't know what it is - I flew through the first few months of the year, but at last it seems to have slowed.  I didn't continue most of the books I had checked out from the library, and didn't feel like reading anything.  I started and stopped, started and stopped (which is a bit what life feels like right now).  I'm not even gonna tell you what I'm reading now, I'm that ridiculous worried it won't stick.

My one reading relief has been National Poetry Month.  I love poetry - at its best, I think it can help cure almost any melancholy feeling, and it captures so much of what is beautiful in life.  I've been discovering new poems and poets through the Poetry Foundation, and have forged ahead with Yehuda Amichai and W.H. Auden, old favorites.

There is Walt Whitman too, a dog-eared companion, who so captures America (and life) for me I can't stand it.  Below is an excerpt from a poem he wrote after Abraham Lincoln was killed, called When Lilacs Last in Dooryard Bloom'd:

Lo, the most excellent sun so calm and haughty,
The violet and purple morn with just-felt breezes,
The gentle soft-born measureless light,
The miracle spreading bathing all, the fulfill’d noon,
The coming eve delicious, the welcome night and the stars,
Over my cities shining all, enveloping man and land.

Go read the rest here - and have a beautiful spring weekend!

Oh, The Books!

Happy Friday!

Today I'm doing my first-ever guest post over at Oh, The Books! with Asti and Kelley - I'm excited, I'm nervous, their site is fantastic, has a great voice, and their weekly recaps are *beyond* detailed (seriously, if you want to get an incredible spread of what's been going on in the book blogging world, that's the place) - so go check them out!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

This weekend, I was able to take advantage of some down time to finish up one of my very first NetGalley books, Blanche Among The Talented Tenth by Barbara Neely.  It was exciting for me (dorky but true), and is a mystery that I've been reading for a few weeks.  I really enjoyed getting to know the main character, Blanche White, and was surprised by the author's style and approach.  I'll have a full review up soon, but for now let's say it was a good read.

I decided to crack open Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris next, as part of the Reading My Library Challenge for the month of April.  There's a certain edge to Harris's books that I hadn't picked up on, but so far I like it.  It's part of her "food trilogy," which also includes Chocolat (which I haven't read, but did see the movie, yum).  This scratches both my travel bug and my magical realism itch - double win.

What are you reading this week? Anything juicy? Or are you still recuperating from the holiday weekend?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals for me this week - I finished Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich on Friday and needed something lighter.  Also, I had never read anything by Terry Pratchett before, despite having heard almost only good things about all of the books he's written.  So far, I can see why.  It's wry, unique, imaginative, quirky, and at times hysterically funny.  I know I missed the Pratchett readathon from last week, but I'm glad I'm along for the ride now, and I may just have to add some more of the Discworld series to my must-reads for this year.

What are you reading this week? Have you read any of Terry Pratchett's books before?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! Here are a few of my favorite things from around the internet this week:

This review of Rachel Hartman's Shadow Scale, the sequel to Seraphina, which made me go straight to the library. (Warning: spoilers if you haven't yet read Seraphina!)

An article on shifting from a paycheck mentality to a net worth mentality.

As I recover from a cold, these poses from Yoga Journal to relieve tension look just right.

What's the deal with costumes? A discussion about one of my favorite villains, Poison Ivy, from a favorite comic, Batman.

What are your favorite things from this week?

Notes on Nonfiction

Currently enjoying: Books on personal finance, habits, and biographies.

Noticing: An author's voice plays a big part in whether or not I continue reading.

Realizing: Non-fiction articles and journal pieces hold my attention longer than books (ah, attention span!).

Thinking: About digging into non-fiction reads during this upcoming season of travel.

What nonfiction are you enjoying, thinking about, or noticing?

Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR List

American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon. I picked this up as a treat while visiting The National Gallery, and while I'm only a casual admirer of Norman Rockwell's (I knew almost nothing about him before starting this book), I'm really looking forward to finishing this one.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  Oh, Fyodor.  Why, oh, why do you write characters that are so despicable in such mundane ways? Lots of drama, lots of religious monologues, and so far, little sanity (though, truthfully, it seems like many families are that way).  My first Classics Club book.

Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac.  While out with a friend one Sunday, I found a used copy of another book on my Classics Club list and snatched it up.  I checked out two translations and liked this one best -  it's Penguin Classics - and can't wait to get started on this story of "the excessive paternal love of a retired vermicelli merchant"(back cover).

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward.  This is a book I got a while back from Barnes & Noble, as one of a few I wanted to read, and I still haven't gotten through more than the first chapter or so.  It's a story about Hurricane Katrina, family, poverty, and growing up, and what I've read has been captivating.

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar.  Another from a while back - a debut novel about a young Pakistani American in the Midwest who falls in love with his mother's closest friend.  Faith, love, and modern American life all come together for what looks like a powerful novel.

Life From Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness by Sasha Martin.  I found out about this one from Oprah and from Kelly at The Well-Read Redhead, which meant it had to find a way to my TBR list.  I love memoirs and autobiographies and I love reading the stories behind recipes, so - no brainer.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.  I have heard only good things about this book, and started to listen to it as an audiobook over the summer.  Life got very busy and I never finished reading it, but I was hooked.  A story about teenagers that isn't moralistic and doesn't sound like someone who never experienced adolescence wrote it? Done.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  Young Adult Fiction is not usually on my radar, but this is a book that kept popping up over and over again.  It's gone on to win the National Book Award, the John Newbery Medal, and is a memoir-in-verse.  I'm really excited to read it.

Terrier by Tamora Pierce.  For as long as I can remember, I've had friends tell me to check out Tamora Pierce's books.  I never got to them when I was younger, and thought I'd outgrown them. This (fantasy) story, the first in a trilogy, got my attention as soon as it mentioned a young girl assigned to a tough beat who can communicate with the dead...and uncovers a conspiracy.  It reminds me of the Sabriel series, but I think it will be pretty different.

Neverhome by Laird Hunt.  This is one I heard about through the book blogger grape vine, and it sounds incredible.  Taking place during the Civil War, Neverhome tells the story of a farmer's wife who disguises herself as a Union soldier.  The New York Times says: "Through bloodshed and hysteria and heartbreak, she becomes a hero, a folk legend, a madwoman and a traitor to the American cause." I mean, why haven't I already read this one?!

What books are on your spring to-be-read list?

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