Tag Archives: Being a reader

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Saturdays @ the South: Reasons to make the blanket fort a permanent fixture…

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Ah, the respite of the blanket fort, a cushioned haven from reality about which our terrific blogger-in-residence Arabella has already expounded upon beautifully. I made my own bid for the blanket fort several weeks ago when I said that my hermitage week is more like a hermitage month, but now that month that I typically associate with long, languorous bouts of reading is coming to a close. The bouts of reading might get a bit shorter as the days start to get longer and general busyness starts to pick up a bit, but the spirit of the hermitage stays with me all year long. While I never (ever) need an excuse to read, I do find that sometimes I need to offer others who don’t sympathize with my passion for reading quite so much a reason for one of my favorite downtime (or in many cases anytime) activity. This week, for those of you who have a similar problem, I’ve compiled a list of ready-to-go reasons (backed by science, no less!) to let people know that having a book as your constant companion and reading whenever downtime presents itself is not only normal, but healthy.

Reading makes you a better person

In a somewhat ironic twist, given that readers are often considered to be introverts, being an avid reader can help you interact better with other people. Reading literary fiction with its complex characters who aren’t always easy to get to know (or like), can make that reader a more empathetic person in general. The logic behind this is that working harder to get to know characters and understand their motivations and emotions. This in turn makes readers more practiced at empathy which carries into real-life social interactions as well. (This can also explain why we get so attached to characters in some of our favorite books.) Readers in general tend to be more empathetic overall because reading stimulates the part of the brain that helps you visualize movement. In essence, readers actually feel part of the action in a book happening to them. It’s a similar process in assuming the emotions characters are showing in a book. The reader ends up feeling those emotions, too giving readers higher levels of emotional intelligence and awareness.

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“Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation”

Science has shown that not only is reading a stress-reducing activity, it can reduce stress more than other commonly employed stress-busing activities like yoga, enjoying a cup of tea or listening to music. Dr. David Lewis of the University of Sussex (whose quote from The Telegraph introduced this paragraph) indicated that reading reduced the stress levels of experiment participants by 68 percent and according to the study, “subjects only needed to read, silently, for six minutes to slow the heart rate and ease tension in the muscles… [often] to stress levels loser than before [the subjects] started.” We could all use a little less stress in our lives, so picking up a book, even for a short time can definitely help. The study didn’t address the effects of long-term reading habits, but I can only image the possibilities…

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Reading helps your brain

This one probably won’t shock any bookworms out there, but there are studies that indicate exercising your brain with reading can increase both intelligence and overall brain power. Books generally expose readers to new vocabulary (even more than TV) and exposure to new vocabulary can make you smarter. Plus, reading books can help keep you smarter, longer. “Exercising” your brain with activities like reading has a similar effect on the brain as cardiovascular activity has on your heart: it makes it run better for longer. This can help stave off some of the cognitive issues associated with age, like memory loss and declining brain function.

It’s free!

Thanks to libraries making it our mission to provide people with as much reading material as possible, reading can be free for all who possess a library card. Because of libraries, reading is cheaper than an Netflix subscription, joining a gym, going to a movie, shopping, taking a trip and many other activities in an increasingly commercial world. So not only can you become a better person by reading, it doesn’t have to cost you a cent in order to do it.

So this week, dear readers, instead of recommending specific books, I simply recommend that you read whatever you want, whenever you want, and for as long as you’d like. Keep that book fort erected and let your “I’m-A-Reader” flag fly over it proudly. You’re not just enjoying yourself, you’re improving yourself. And isn’t having fun the best kind of self-improvement, anyway?

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A Word About Book Recommendations

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BBC

 

I led a very misguided youth, my friends.  A wild, rebellious life, full of dangling participles, chilled red wine, and moving parking cones around when I thought people weren’t looking…Ok, so maybe I wasn’t precisely a dangerous rebel, but there were mistakes made.  For our purposes, let’s say that the greatest of these was the inability to accept book recommendations.

When I younger, people would offer me suggestions for books that I should read, and I, in my omnipotence, would pull my sleeves over my hands and roll my eyes and proclaim to the Heavens “You don’t know me!  You don’t know what I should read next!” (Again, this is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point).

Eventually, however, as I grew older, and began to accept that I didn’t, and indeed, might never, know everything, I began to realize that other people might actually have some good ideas about books…and other things, as well.

stock-photo-23919442-giving-booksI’ve mentioned here before about the benefits of having bookish friends, but it’s worth mentioning again.  Because, very often, friends can see parts of us that we ourselves cannot.  Therefore, while some of their recommendations may be straightforward “oh, I just read this and it was good–read it too, so I have someone to talk to”, very often, these recommendations can speak to a part of you that isn’t readily visible, can speak to a part of you that you don’t normally acknowledge, or can help you though a problem that you didn’t know you had.  Sometimes, these recommendations speak to the nature of your unique relationship with anther human person, or just remind you of the reasons you entrusted yourself to this person in the first place.

For those of us who love to read, books are more than just entertainment.  They can very often become extensions of ourselves and parts of who we are.  So talking about books and their characters, their twists and turns, even their settings or details, can be a way of learning about ourselves and finding our way to others.  So for that reason, book recommendations should seldom be discounted, particularly when they come from a trusted source (human, or blog…book blogs are great places for recommendations, you know!)

And thus, I’ve included a list of some of the best and/or most memorable books I’ve read as the result of a recommendation, to show how diverse and wonderful a reading experience you can have when you rely on the kindness of others.  Please consider this my recommendation to you, as well!

2251443‘Salem’s Lot: I’ve waxed lyrical about this book before, and I will again, but I might never have read Stephen King were it not for my Dad.  When I was little, I genuinely thought Stephen King was a friend of ours, because his books (and, thus, his publicity photos) were all around our house.  He has a terrific story about the first time he read ‘Salem’s Lot that I’m sure he can tell you if you ask nicely, but hearing it had me convinced that if this book was enough to creep my father out, it had to be terrifying.  But the truth of the matter is that ‘Salem’s Lot is so much more than a scary book (though it is, indubitably, a scary book).  It’s a beautifully-written book that I have, in turn, passed on to a number of friends, and we have all enjoyed making our own memories of The First Time We Read ‘Salem’s Lot, too!

2255425Eugene Onegin: I was incredibly fortunate to have one of the best advisers ever in the history of undergraduate advisers, not only because she was infinitely wise and never let anything bother her, but because she began every conversation we ever had with “What have you been reading?”.  And she genuinely cared about the answer.  It was because of her that I first picked up Pushkin’s classic poem.  Even in translation, Pushkin’s brilliance is obvious, and his rhyme scheme is subtle enough that the book reads as much like a novel as a poem.  More than anything, though, I marvel at the way he can balance the humor and sarcasm of his narrative with heart-wrenching honesty and sympathy for all his flawed and unforgettable characters.  If you’re interested, there’s also a superb film adaptation, starring Ralph Fiennes, and directed by his sister, Martha.

2391030Silent in the Grave: I discovered Deanna Raybourn first delightful historical mystery series from a dear friend who was, like me, an historian, a fan of mysteries, and a lifetime devotee of Jane Eyre.  In this series, Raybourn not only shows off her skill at creating complex and genuinely shocking murder mysteries, but her characters are total and unique treats to meet.  Her heroine, Lady Julia Grey, is a young widow from what might be the most eccentric family in England, and her interactions with her father, brothers, and sisters, are some of the funniest I have ever read.  But beyond this, there is her erstwhile and irresistible companion in sleuthing, the secretive Nicholas Brisbane, who is a slightly handsomer, slightly less angsty version of the great Mr. Rochester himself (swoon, sigh, etc.), making this series (in particular, the first three books), sheer delights to read.

3529152Bird Box: This is the latest recommendation I’ve had, and it came from the lovely Lady Pole.  She is one of the few people who doesn’t flinch when I talk about scary stories, or dark fantasy stories, or creepy stories, because she knows that reading scary stories can be good for you.  It allows you to explore the feeling of fear in a safe place, it allows you to conquer those fears vicariously, and it also helps us realize that we are stronger than the scary stuff, both in books and in real life.  So when she heard that this book was a genuinely terrifying exploration of Things That Lurk Where We Can’t See Them, she knew who to tell.  And while I’ve only read the first few pages, I can confirm that this book is an immediately engrossing and unsettling one that is going to necessitate keeping the lights on–but it’s also beautiful and fascinating, and I can’t wait.

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Saturdays @ the South: Cookbooks Count As Reading!

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In the ruminations about reading resolutions and challenges appearing here over the past two weeks was a link to a counterpoint article from the blog Broke by Books in which the blogger makes many great points, but when she talks about cookbooks (albeit lovingly) she says “I didn’t feel like I could legitimately say I ‘read’ a cookbook.” While she goes on to say that cookbooks will be part of her reading goals for 2016, she still doesn’t justify adding them to her Goodreads list as being “read.” As someone who has proudly and enthusiastically added cookbooks to her Goodreads “Read” list, I heartily declare the reading of cookbooks as “legitimate” reading.

I understand where the idea of not really “reading” a cookbook can stem from. While Julia Child, Irma Rombauer and their counterparts blazed a trail for standby recipes, tips, hints and a certain amount of “foolproof-ness” to their extensive works, their books aren’t necessarily the type of tome one wants to cozy up with in front of a fire. This is, of course, unless you’re like me and consider the listing of ingredients (6 tablespoons unsalted butter / 2 c. yellow cornmeal / 1 tsp baking powder / 1 tsp baking soda … etc.) to be pure poetry. Modern cookbooks owe a great deal to their venerated predecessors, but have added so much more to the cookbook, and as a result, the cooking process.

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So many options… so little time

Cookbooks are now generally accompanied by glossy photos, which to some may only add a bit of sparkle to the production value, but I maintain is an important, possibly essential part of cookbookery. Anyone who has made a dish and said “it tastes good, but is it really supposed to look like that?” will likely understand where I’m coming from, here. Modern cookbooks also often have a theme that functions very nearly as a storyline. Some are more abstract than others, but some take the combination of personal history and recipes to new heights, adding paragraphs about the history of the recipe, why it was included in the cookbook and/or why it is an important recipe to the author. I can’t express how much I’ve learned about flavor combinations, kitchen experimentation and other cultures by taking time to really examine (i.e. read) a cookbook. The tidbits embedded among the ingredients and instructions often make for a compelling tale in which the reader can get to know the author and the food. And learning about food, its history and its importance to people can provide that essential, but often ineffable quality of truly good food.

There's a reason people's cookbook shelves get stocked like this... they're good reading!
There’s a reason people’s cookbook shelves get stocked like this… they’re good reading!

This week I’m offering you a very small selection among many possibilities that can make for legitimate cookbook reading. If you happen to gloss over the ingredients lists or instructions in the process, let’s all remember the time-honored reading tradition of “skimming.” Skimming over a passage of lengthy description that’s not holding your attention in a novel is no different from reading the parts of a cookbook that bring the food to life and skimming over the lists in the middle. In either case, you’re going through a book cover-to-cover and getting something out of the text you’ve read. So if you’ve gone through an entire cookbook, even if you have no intention of making a single dish from the book, don’t let it stop you from calling it legitimate reading and checking it off your list!

3635907New England Open House Cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase

While the tag-line for this book is “300 recipes inspired by the bounty of New England” and this book certainly lives up to that promise, each recipe is introduced with a thoughtful paragraph or two bringing each entry to life in a way a isolated recipe could never accomplish. Chase infuses history, delightful anecdotes or background on how the recipe came to be a New England or family favorite into each offering making this book so much more than a cookbook. The essays in the beginning of the book will give the reader a great sense of what a labor of love it was to bring this tome about.

3595256Everyday Easy by Lorraine Pascale

Pascale’s cookbook is another that introduces each recipe with a paragraph that gives the reader a solid sense of what’s to come. With recipe introductions like “Pancetta. It’s that porky, tasty yumminess that I love so very much,” I defy anyone not to be at least a little tempted to make something from this book. Full-page images of what every dish should look like (in its best form, anyway) will leave the reader with no doubt about the mouthwatering potential of Pascale’s recipes.

3545897Mediterranean Cookbook: Fast, Fresh and Easy Recipes by Marie-Pierre Moine

This is a DK published book, which is pretty much a guarantee that even just browsing the pictures in this book will give you an eye-popping experience. But this book does so much more. The popular Mediterranean style of cooking is highlighted by course with interludes about the regions (North African, Middle Eastern, Italian, Iberian, Greek) that create the Mediterranean cooking experience. These interludes give the reader an introduction to the food culture of that region along with menu suggestions that will pull from the sections in the book (with page references, naturally). It works well to give the reader a sense of how different flavors will work and meld together.

3488257Wintersweet by Tammy Donroe

This book has a fascinating focus, using ingredients found during the late fall/winter harvest and making delectable desserts with a combination of that harvest and pantry staples. What results is an amazing, successful effort by Food on the Food blogger Donroe to create a book that has a sense of place (most ingredients are regional to and/or sourced from New England) and sense of history as Donroe includes some wonderful family anecdotes and recipes from her family’s own cache of trustworthy gems. You’d be hard-pressed to find a cookbook infused with more personality and genuine charm than this one.

3617330Food52 Genius Recipes by Kristen Miglore

I’ve mentioned this book before. I will likely mention it again. The subtitle for this book is “100 recipes that will change the way you cook”; I’d venture to say it will change the way you view cookbooks in general, particularly in terms of reading them. This book is set up with an introduction to each recipe that gives the reader a mouth-watering sense of why it was included in the book, why the recipe works the way it does and often suggestions for variations so you can adapt the recipe to your personal style. I’ve yet to find a picture that doesn’t make my mouth water. They have a great philosophy of unfussy preparation and presentation which makes the recipes completely accessible and the blurbs before the recipes as relatable and interesting as any food memoir. If ever there was a page-turner of a cookbook, this is it. (And if you’re as hooked on this book as I am, you’ll also want to check out Food52 Baking.)

This week, dear readers, I highly recommend that you cozy up in whatever spot is most comfortable to you (especially if your book fort is still up), with whatever hot drink you find most tempting (tea, coffee, hot chocolate, mulled cider) and discover the possibilities a new cookbook can offer. You might even find it as engrossing as your usual reading material, in which case, once you’re done you should proudly claim that you did, indeed “read” a cookbook!

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Saturdays @ the South: Multi-tasking with your Reading Resolutions

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Yup, more Calvin and Hobbes, because couldn’t fit all the New Year-related strips in last week’s post.

Last week, I introduced several guided reading challenge possibilities for those of you who wanted to make a resolution to read in 2016. Our wonderful primary blog contributor Arabella also introduced the concept of Hermitage Week. Personally, my reading hermitage runs the entire month of January, instead of just one week, thus my blanket fort is perpetually erected and ready for snow days or any other lengthy reading time. This means that I try to have a book list at the ready for my Hermitage Week (Month) needs. It also is a great time to get a solid lead on tackling those reading resolutions.

With that in mind, I’m breaking down the most intense of the challenges, BookRiot’s 2016 Read Harder Challenge, with an infographic of three possible selections for each of 23 out of the 24 categories.* Hopefully this list provides not only some fuel for the reading challenge fire, but also a list of “hunker down and just read” possibilities as well. One thing I hope you notice is that many of the books suggested here can apply to several categories. For example, one of the “Read a book over 500 pages long” suggestions will also cover the “Read a horror book” category. A couple of the “Read a book out loud to someone else” books also covers “Read a book under 100 pages.” One of the “Read a food memoir” books also covers the “Read a collection of essays” category, and so on. BookRiot gives kudos to those resourceful multi-taskers who use the same book for multiple categories, so don’t feel compelled to read a different book for each category. This will allow you the space to accomplish your reading goal but still enjoy your reading and leave yourself time to read other books that are unrelated to a challenge. Remember when I recommended resolving to be kind to yourself? This is a great way to put that into practice!

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See, Calvin already knows how to be kind to himself, though it’s not necessarily a path I’d recommend…

To help you further, I’ve put together a “Resolving to Read” Pinterest board that has links to all the books shown in the infographic below. They are all available through the Peabody Library (a majority are available directly through the South Branch) and/or Overdrive, so all you have to do is click on the cover in Pinterest and you’ll be taken to the book in our catalog. If none of the books mentioned here suit your fancy, feel free to stop into the library and discuss additional possibilities. We are always ready to talk book recommendations with our great patrons! And if that’s not enough, the New York Public Library has also compiled a list of suggestions, most of which are different from the ones I’ve suggested, so you’ll have plenty to choose.

Hopefully, even if you don’t take up a reading challenge, you’ll still find something worthwhile to read on this list sometime this year or in the future. Plus, these books will make great company during your reading hermitage, however many you decide to tackle or however long your hermitage is. Above all, dear readers, reading is meant to be savored and enjoyed. There’s still a day left to the “official” Hermitage Week, so feel free to hang out in your book fort (or armchair, bed, couch, floor, bean bag chair, etc.) and linger over some particularly engrossing passages. Till next week, I’ll be in my fort…

*The notable exception here is “Read a book originally published in the decade you were born.” Our patron base is as varied as our reading tastes and I don’t presume to guess the age of anyone reading this blog or tackling a book challenge. Should you require some help tracking down a book from the decade you were born, feel free to stop in and ask! We’re always happy to help! Alternately, you can check out Goodread’s list of best books by decades.

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Traveling the World…From Your Blanket Fort

Greetings, readers!  I don’t know about you, but as far as I am concerned, today’s weather is the perfect justification for just staying put with a stack of books.  Whether you have adopted the blanket fort, or whether you prefer the armchair, the choice, is of course, yours…

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Winter can be a rather isolating time, when we have to spend a good deal of time close to home…But if there is anything that being a reader teaches you, it’s that, quite often, books can bring you further than any other mode of physical transportation.  And not only do these adventures help pass the time, but they have proved psychological and physiological benefits, as well.

As reported by The Guardian, a study at the New School for Social Research in New York, proved that reading literary fiction enhances the ability to detect and understand other people’s emotions, a crucial skill in navigating complex social relationships.  Moreover, according to some of the study leaders, “Literary fiction lets you go into a new environment and you have to find your own way”–a key tool necessary for anyone wishing to actually explore new cultures and places.

Things have recently got even more exciting, thanks to this TED Talk by Ann Morgan, a book blogger, who challenged herself to read a novel from every country in the world.  For those who haven’t experienced a TED talk before, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and is a global conference sponsored by the non-profit Sapling Foundation, with the slogan “Ideas Worth Spreading”.  TED conferences are currently held around the globe (and have been broadcast via the internet since 2006), with speakers given a maximum of 18 minutes to share their ideas, experiences, inventions, or theories.  They are generally fascinating, often innovative, and occasionally feature great literary ideas like this one.

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In her talk (which you can read here), Morgan explained that she believed herself to be well-read, but eventually realized that most of the books on her shelf were written by English-speaking authors from English-speaking countries.  Thus, her knowledge of the rest of the globe, its authors, and its people, was almost non-existent.  Thus, she set herself to read a book from every country on earth (though, admittedly, in translation).  Best of all, she made a map for the rest of us, with a book recommendation from each country…which you can check out in full here.  Just click on the little map pins for the title and a brief description of the book.

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There are some drawbacks to this map…Morgan chose to use the United Nations list of recognized nations, so there are no works, say, or native Hawaiian literature, or a distinction made between various African tribes who travel between nations.  Also, some of the books are obvious choices, like Ulysses for Ireland (which is great, but also a rather challenging choice…), but many of these books are lesser-read books by emerging authors, and featuring novel, often contentious themes that really help readers come to grips with the issues at work in the country in question.  Check out some of these selections that are currently available through the Library’s NOBLE network for examples, and start planning your armchair adventures today!

41DEQgiEiyL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampaté Bâ: This novel was Morgan’s selection for Mali, a country in North-Western Africa.  The narrative is set up as the account of a teacher-turned-civil servant named Wangrin, who works in Mali during the first half of the 20th century, when the country was under French rule.  Wangrin quickly learns to play his peers and colonial employers off against one another for his own ends, rising to prominence, until his ambition, personal faults, and enemies conspire to bring him low once more.  As much as this novel is a personal tale, it’s also a broad story about the evils of colonialism in Africa, and the impossible decisions it forces people to make.

2352361Lucy: A Novel by Jamaica Kincaid: This story focuses on the fortunes of a 19-year-old girl who leaves her home in the Caribbean West Indies to work as an au pair in the USA.  Thenovel looks at the rupture that relocation can cause in a life, and provides a fresh, feisty and at times alarming perspective on the land of the free and on British colonialism.  Even though Lucy took this job to both escape and renounce the stifling atmosphere of her country and her family, she finds that being a woman in any society places her in a position that she can never fully escape–so all she can do is to explore it.  Simple, beautiful, and unforgettable, this book has already been hailed by many as a classic of Caribbean literature.

3021959Montecore : The Silence of the Tiger by Jonas Hassen Khemiri: This selection from Sweden is particularly interesting, as it shows the country through the eyes of a Tunisian immigrant who spends his life trying it adapt to his new home.  Told through a series of correspondence between Jonas Khemiri and an old friend, Kadir, the book is a daring, powerful and often hilarious attempt to unfold the story of the struggle of Dads, Jonas’s estranged father, to make a life for himself in Scandinavia after he left Tunisia as a young man.

2395668The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag: This selection from Mongolia draws on Tschinag’s childhood to tell the coming of age story of a young shepherd boy in the Altai Mountains. On the face of it, he and his family are nomads, herding in the same way the Tuvans have for generations; yet, far away in the interior of Mongolia, change is afoot.  The influence of the Soviet Union is prompting seismic shifts in social interactions and culture that will change our young hero’s own life, and the life of his people, forever.

 

Enjoy your adventures, intrepid armchair travelers, and safe journeys to you all!

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Introducing Hermitage Week: Stocking Your Blanket Fort

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When I was younger, the week after Christmas was officially the saddest time of the year.  I had spent months (and months) waiting for Santa, waiting to give my parents the handmade presents that I had wrapped using enough tape to ensure they were more secure than most government facilities.

And then it was all over.

But gradually, I realized that those days after Christmas could be kind of pleasant, too.  Without expectations or anticipation, there was finally time to settle down, appreciate and recover from all the business and social activities that the holidays brought with them, and, of course, read all the books.  Now that I am….taller (“older” implies that I have grown up in any appreciable way), I have come to treasure the days between Christmas and New Years.  After the hustle and bustle of the past few months, it’s lovely to take some time for quiet.  And for books.  After a discussion with the good Lady Pole, I have taken to calling this period The Hermitage Week, when it is socially acceptable to build a blanket fort and hide away in it, and indulge in all the lovely books that you have been putting off all year long, and those that you got as presents, or catching up on those films and tv shows that you keeping meaning to check out.

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You are never too old for a blanket fort.

And so, in the spirit of Hermitage Week, I thought we might begin to investigate some suggestions to sustain you through the next few days, and perhaps help you get ready for any Reading Resolutions that you are planning for the upcoming year.

First off, we present a few series which are indubitably long enough to sustain you through a week of reading, whether inside your blanket fort or otherwise.  These books have also, largely, proven the test of time and readership, so you can be assured that you will be in good literary company with these selections:

3653012Peter Diamond Investigations: Anyone looking for a detective story reminiscent of the Golden Age of mysteries (more on this genre later, but much like those of Dorothy L. Sayers, Ellery Queen, or some early Agatha Christie) should definitely add these books to their list.  Peter Diamond is a detective working in Bath, England, whose cases range from discovering lost manuscripts of Jane Austen to cults of murderous musicians, to covert drug smuggling rings and back again.  Unlike many mysteries out there right now, these books don’t focus on the gory details of the crime, or the sadistic nature of the criminal in question.  Nothing against those books, mind, but for those of us who like their detective novels with a bit more tea-and-sausage breaks, these books are an ideal choice.  Fans of the much beloved Inspector Morse will also find a great deal to enjoy here.  Though you can start anywhere in this series, Peter Diamond made his first appearance in The Last Detective in 1991, and is now on his 15th adventure (the quite enjoyable Down Among the Dead Men, published earlier this year.)

2045912Agent Pendergast: We’ve discussed this super-phenomenal series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child previously, but, just in case I wasn’t clear, I love Agent Pendergast.  These stories are a pitch-perfect blend of intellectual stuff: settings like the New York Museum of Natural History, and plots that involve lost Sherlock Holmes stories and antique cabinets of curiosities…and utterly over-the-top elements, like monsters in the subway or ancient curses.  Not to mention the fact that, at the center of these stories, is one of the most enigmatic, fiendishly clever, and wonderfully ruthless heroes at work today.  While this series doesn’t have to be read in order, it is so much more fun to watch these characters develop, evolve.  You can start at the very beginning, with Relic, or jump in with Cabinet of Curiosities, which really launched Agent Pendergast as the series’ protagonist.

1986634Discworld: The world lost a huge talent when Terry Pratchett passed away earlier this year.  Not only was his imagination boundless and his wit razor-sharp, but his heart was the biggest part of his person and his works, especially evident in his later works, written after his diagnosis with a very rare form of Alzheimer’s Disease.  Even though his longest series is set on a flat disc balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle known as Great A’Tuin, there is something so perfectly human about all his characters (which range from witches to vampires to kings to milkmaids) that it’s impossible not to become a part of this huge, mad, hysterically funny, irresistibly touching world.  Though this series began with The Color of Magic way back in 1983, you can enter Discworld anywhere (like with Carpe Jugulum, my favorite of the series)…and I can guarantee that you won’t want to leave.

2934925Maiden Lane: Elizabeth Hoyt is one of the best historical romance writers at work today, and her Maiden Lane series, which take place in 1730’s London, are always sure-fire successes.  Set, quite literally, at the crossroads between the opulence of nobility and the filth and fear of the impoverished, these books not only give Hoyt the chance to put her considerable research work to good use,but also allows her to play with a number of tropes, insuring that each of her stories are unique, engaging, and thoroughly satisfying.  This is another series that doesn’t need to be read in order, but there are benefits for those who do begin with Wicked Intentions and carries on to the most recent release, Sweetest Scoundrel.  Overall, though, new readers won’t have any trouble falling into these super-steamy, intensely emotional romances within a very few pages.

So there you have it!  If anyone needs me, I’ll be over there building my blanket fort….

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Saturdays @ the South: On Resolving to Read

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I miss Calvin & Hobbes… so much.

With the bulk of the holidays over and the ball getting ready to drop on another year gone by, thoughts inevitably turn towards resolutions. I tend to believe that the resolutions made accompanied by champagne on the 31st (or when you’re drunk from sleepiness as you fight to stay awake until midnight) tend not to be the ones that last. So with a little time left in the year, it might be time to start thinking about what you’d like to accomplish in 2016, if of course, you’re even into that sort of thing. For us bookish people, we tend to make reading resolutions.

I’ve made a couple of reading resolutions for 2016. The first, is to acquaint myself with YA fiction. This is a vast section of books with which I’m completely unfamiliar and I’d like to rectify it for two reasons: 1) as a librarian, I want to be able to recommend books to all of our great patrons, including those patrons interested in YA titles; 2) there is an enormous array of YA books in all genres and I’m certain that there are great books I know I’ll love just waiting to be discovered. I don’t want to deprive myself of a new and exciting reading experience. I’m also going to give a “Clean your Reader” challenge, inspired by Entomology of a Bookworm, a try. So many books on my Kindle get a little neglected when up against the physical books on my personal shelves and the library’s shelves. It’s time to give those books their fair shake! (Full disclosure: I’m probably going to borrow a few library books from Overdrive as part of the challenge, because part of the fun of a challenge is keeping things interesting.) Lastly, I resolve to let myself read for pleasure, which means if either of the first two challenges aren’t working for me I reserve the right to stop and read something else. Life’s too short not to enjoy reading!

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Bill Watterson is so wise.

 

For those of you who might be considering a resolution that involves reading in some form, there are plenty of options. For some, the resolution might be to pick up the habit of reading again. For others, it may be resolving to push the boundaries of what they typically read. For example, someone who consistently reads non-fiction might challenge themselves to read a story or someone who only reads hard-copy books might resolve to read an e-book or an audiobook. Fortunately, if you want to resolve to read but you’re having trouble coming up with a specific resolution that might be achievable for you, there are plenty of different places to turn. With that in mind, instead of recommending specific books this week, I’m going to offer you some ready-made challenges that you can adapt to your needs or just use as inspiration for your own personal reading resolutions:

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Goodreads Reading Challenge

This is the simplest of the challenges and the easiest to personalize. Enter how many books you want to read, mark them as read on the site as you go through the year and Goodreads will track your progress and let you know if you’re on target, ahead or behind in your goal. The caveat to this challenge is you must be a member of Goodreads. While Goodreads is free to use and I find it a great way to track book lists and see what my friends are reading, the site is owned by Amazon. I’m not here to render any opinion on Amazon, but this may be an issue for some, so I want to be upfront about who owns the site. The 2016 Reading Challenge hasn’t been activated on the site yet, but you can peruse what people did for the 2015 challenge, including the many groups that gathered on the site to chat about challenges, book ideas and offer support.

Five Great Books

Not a challenge per se, Public Radio International put together a list of “five great books you should think about reading in 2016.” So if you’re having trouble thinking about reading possibilities in the new year, you can use this list as it’s own challenge. I’m a fan of any list that includes a history of libraries and have already put a couple of these books on my to-read list for next year.

2016 Reading Challenge

PopSugar has put together their reading challenge for 2016. Rather than a specific set of titles or a set number of books to read, they’ve compiled a list of general book descriptions and you find the titles that best fit into those categories. A challenge like this is a great way to get out of your comfort zone a little but still hone in on books you think you’ll enjoy. They even have it in a printable format so you can post the list somewhere that will remind you to do it and track your progress.

#ReadHarder Challenge

For a more intense reading list, there is the ultimate book challenge put out by Book Riot: the Read Harder Challenge. This is similar to PopSugar’s list but designed to push reading boundaries and get people who love books to read out of their comfort zone, to expose themselves to viewpoints they might not have considered, but often still end up enjoying. Book Riot also offers a printable and tons of social media support including a group on Goodreads, a Twitter hashtag (#ReadHarder) and even an in-person book group (if, perchance, you’re reading our humble little blog in the NYC area…)

To keep things balanced, here’s a thoughtful counterpoint on not doing reading challenges, though, it its own way, this article can be construed as a challenge in and of itself.

As you think about what you will make of the coming year, dear readers, remember that everyone’s resolutions are different and personal. What works for others may not work for you so if nothing else, resolve to be kind to yourself. Should you choose to participate in an existing challenge or make up a challenge of your own, please know that here at the library, we’re always ready and willing to offer you suggestions to help you with your reading goals, no matter the time of year.

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Happy New Year!