Just finished a book for work. It was a crime thriller set in Charm City, Jewel of the East, place of my birth, hon. But I don’t blog about these reads (why?), so instead you get some rambling musings far past my bedtime and a peek at one of the books in my permanent collection. I used to read while I blew my hair dry in the morning before school. I’ve never done that anywhere else I’ve ever lived, but whenever I visit my parents…
For more about these posts, click about. I read for work last night, but it was a screenplay, not a book. I hadn’t planned on posting when I read a screenplay (because it’s hardly reading), but I woke up this morning and Boing Boing linked to a quote from Zadie Smith about reading. Perfect. But the problem with readers, the idea we’re given of reading is that the model of a reader is the person watching a film, or watching television. So the greatest principle…
Tonight I had a work read. I am really enjoying the book I’m reading for pleasure right now, and can’t wait to blog about it. Hopefully later this week. So this is an On Reading post–for more on what that means, visit my about page. I used to love “record books” when I was a kid. James Mason reading Journey to the Center of the Earth had me dreaming of Iceland, and I nearly wore out an LP of Jean Craighead George’s Julie of the…
This morning’s work read was depressing, but well-plotted. No blogging on work books–read here to find out why. You can’t run and read at the same time. Believe me, if somebody told me how, I’d be all over that action like unsupervised kids at my local YMCA. Ever since I started running, I realized that most of the time I’m in pursuit of distraction. Reading is a noble pursuit, but there are many times when I’ve chosen to read because I don’t want to just…
Read a book tonight for work, actually a novella, and for discretion’s sake I won’t blog about it. Instead you get some thoughts on reading, and the next on my bookshelf. Click the “On Reading” tag in the sidebar if you want to see what else is on my shelf. I like old books. I’m not talking about the publication date, but about when the copy in my hands was printed, and how many hands have held it before mine. I like the idea that…
I finished a book on the subway this morning for my reading job. The only place in the world I can’t read is in the car. Train–fine. Subway–fine. Plane, bus, boat–no problem. But if I’m in the car and I spend more than 10 minutes looking at any kind of words, even on a map, I’m down for the count. When I was a kid, I figured out that I wouldn’t get sick as long as I couldn’t see out the window, so I would…
Read a novel tonight for work–literary fiction. Gorgeous prose, interesting ideas. But not bloggable because it’s work, so you get a glimpse into the twisted past of the Superfast Reader, and link to the next book on my shelf. I feel like all my childhood memories are from when I was eight, except for when I knocked my tooth out when I was seven. But I am fairly certain that an incident involving Johanna Spyri’s book Heidi happened when I was a buck-toothed, thick glasses-wearing,…
I have a fun little job where I get to read books before they are published. I won’t be blogging about them for various ethical reasons, but since I want to post every time I read a book, I think I’ll take the opportunity to write about reading. In these posts, I’ll also be listing the books on my bookshelf one at a time in the order they appear. I get asked a lot about my speed-reading. The most frequest question is, “Do you really…
Synopsis: When a bookish woman is contracted to write the biography of a famous author known to lie about herself, she discovers shocking truths that lead her to reconcile with her own tragic past. Review: Steeped in the Brontes, DuMaurier, Wilkie Collins, and The Turn of the Screw, this book is at once a throwback to the 19th century and a thoroughly modern reinvention of the gothic story. Setterfield lovingly lifts generic tropes from these classic tales while weaving a story that is utterly hypnotizing…
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.