Friday Fill-ins 08-28-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. He was a complicated man who did a lot of good things for this country. Ted Kennedy RIP.

2. Autumn chill, long nights, quiet days is what I look forward to most this time of year.

3. My best friend is not a term I use.

4. My intention is always to be honest with you.

5. Appearances can be fun and creative!

6. The last person I gave a hug to was Laurie. Why don't we do that more often?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading my book and watching The Matrix, tomorrow my plans include going to a house concert to hear my friends perform and Sunday, I want to finish my current book, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay!

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Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 08-25-09: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, page 61:

Finally, Josef had to reach into the coffin and grasp the Golem around the waist, elevating its lower body several inches, before Kornblum could tug the trousers over the feet, up the legs, and around the Golem's rather sizable buttocks. They had decided not to bother with underwear, but for the sake of anatomical versimilitude - in a display of the thoroughness that had characterized his career on the stage -- Kornblum tore one of the old tallises in two (kissing it first), gave a series of twists to one of the halves, and tucked the resulting artifact up between the Golem's legs, into the crotch, where there was only a smooth void of clay.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm in Brooklyn, 1939, having arrived in a circuitous route from Czechoslovakia to Lithuania, Russia, Japan and San Francisco. I'll soon be making my debut in the comic book industry.

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Friday Fill-ins 08-21-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. I remember, I remember...hmmm, no I don’t.

2. Dear Laurie, I want you to know how grateful I am for you in my life (I want to see if she reads this!)


3. Is that my puppy’s EARS!!??!!

4. I'm trying to resist the temptation of more coffee and ice cream.

5. I'm saving a cuddle just for you!

6. If I made a birthday list a beach trip would definitely be on it!!!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to visiting with my friend Wendy, tomorrow my plans include a little more visiting and some reading and Sunday, I want to heal! Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 08-18-09: The Day the Falls Stood Still

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan, page 89:

But I am not so quick to rule out mystery and magic. I like the astonishing and do not doubt that it exists. What is God, after all, if not mystery and magic, and astonishing? I have little inclination to scoff at Tom’s bit of mystery. From my window seat at the academy, I saw prayers in the rising mist.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm in 1915 Niagara Falls, Ontario. I'm learning some interesting history about the Falls and getting acquainted with some colorful and mystical folks who live and work around here.

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Friday Fill-ins 08-07-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. A root beer float is my favorite summertime dessert.

2. My favorite John Hughes movies is (I had to look up who this was; I don’t often track directors) Planes, Trains & Automobiles, hands down.

3. My puppy’s soft soft ears is something I love to touch.

4. The full moon makes me smile. Every time.

5. I’m feeling confident about next week’s surgery right now.

6. When daylight fades I want to take pictures in the sweet dusky light.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading and blogging, tomorrow my plans include doing a photo shoot with Ms. P and her parents and going out to dinner with Laurie and Sunday, I want to pick up my sister from the train station and have some good time together, and my last good meal before surgery!

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Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 08-04-09: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, page 152:

Still the whispers circulated in the mouths of the people seated behind her, occasionally spilling out whole words and fragments that Mercy could just overhear. 'Disappeared,' she thought she heard, and 'little child' and 'neigh distracted.' Also one word, more often than all the others, the word she dreaded: 'witch.'

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm in Salem, Marblehead, and Boston Massachusetts alternating between the 17th and 20th centuries as I put together the story of accused witch, Deliverance Dane.

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Friday Fill-ins 07-31-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. It's time for the bi-annual family reunion!

2. The basement: it's not a bad place for the bedroom on these hot hot nights.

3. I must be ten pounds lighter after sweating in 106 degree heat.

4. Love is the best thing I have ever known.

5. My puppy is simply the cutest, sweetest and funniest EVER.

6. The last time I laughed really loudly was with my laughing buddies, Nan and Gwenlyn; we always laugh loudly!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to seeing my oldest sister, tomorrow my plans include spending time with both my sisters and Sunday, I want to spend time with the whole fam damily! at the reunion! Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 07-24-09: When I Lived in Modern Times

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant, page 18 :

From a young age I had stood at my mother's side at the salon, handing her pins and clips, listening ungratefully while she taught me everything she knew. I was sent on humble errands to Steckyn's on Wardour Street to pick up shampoo capes and sleeping nets and snoods. As others hoarded string, we were sharp-eyed for hairpins that had strayed on buses or in the street, collecting them up in our handbags, knowing that the metal they were made of was diverted into the production of aeroplanes and helmets and ships and bombs and that these few slivers of steel had to be gathered and kept in a safe place, sometimes when there were shortages, under lock and key.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm back and forth in time and place between London and Palestine, hoping to be part of creating the new Zionist state. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 07-17-09

Janet is our brilliant host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. Stir fried tofu and rice make a quick and easy dinner.

2. Old Filth by Jane Gardam is the book I'm reading right now.

3. July brings back memories of a rocket firecracker blowing up in my face when I was ten! I was lucky – no long lasting effects.

4. It‘s obvious that the climate crisis is mostly human caused, but there are still deniers. What’s up with that???

5. They say if you tell your dreams it helps you to sort out the meaning; it can be very therapeutic.

6. I usually have to think it over before I respond in a conflict.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting over the flu, tomorrow my plans include getting over the flu and Sunday, I want to be over the flu!
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Weekly Geeks 2009-26: Globe Trotting

This week's Weekly Geeks asks you to tell us about your globe trotting via books. Are you a global reader? How many countries have you "visited" in your reading? What are your favorite places or cultures to read about? Can you recommend particularly good books about certain regions, countries or continents? How do you find out about books from other countries? What countries would you like to read that you haven't yet?

This was my own WG topic, so I guess I'd better get a post up about it! I've enjoyed reading books from other countries/cultures for a number of years but haven't been conscientious about it until the last couple of years, since I've been on Library Thing. There I find lots of interesting discussions about books from around the world, ones I probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise. One of the forums on LT is Reading Globally - I get a lot of good book recommendations there.

So, where have I been? I tend to read a lot of Asian lit, particularly Chinese and Japanese authors. There's a spareness about the writing that I love. Gail Tsukyama is one of my favorite Japanese writers.

South America is another favorite place to visit - Isabelle Allende, from Chile, is one of my very favorite authors and I will read anything she writes!

I've read quite a few books by African writers lately -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote the Orange Prize winner Half of a Yellow Sun, which is a stunning book about the Biafran civil war, of which I was completely ignorant.

Most of the books I read from other countries are heavy on cultural and/or political themes, so as well as reading some fresh new writing, I also learn a great deal about other places in the world. It feels expansive and is a much easier way for me to learn about a place than reading history books. And since I know I won't be traveling to most of these places, I get to "visit" them via writers who've lived the experience.

Where have I been? This map gives you a fairly good idea:




55 countries, or 24% of the total. I can see I need to fill in a lot of blanks in Africa, the Middle East and, surprisingly, Europe - Austria, The Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, and many of the eastern European countries. I have a few on my list - do you have some recommendations for me? Venezuela -- Morocco -- Romania -- Croatia -- Kuwait -- Saudi Arabia?

Visit Weekly Geeks to find out where in the world other readers have been.
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