Last night as I went to bed, congratulating myself on the fact that it was not too late (10 p.m.), I picked up a book by Ken Follett my friend had lent me. I used to read a lot of Ken Follett in high school, but haven't read much of him since then. And so, when I saw this one on her shelves, I had the urge to see if I still liked his writing style.
Well, the short answer is yes!
I thought I'd just read a few pages before going to sleep, but at midnight I was still reading. Ten I glanced up again and it was 1 a.m.... 2:30... and I finally finished the 596-page book at 3:30 a.m..
Well, that was kind of dumb. I have to go to work today.
But it felt so good to get completely lost in a book and lose track of time like that. It hadn't happened to me in a good long while. Usually after a few pages of reading at night I feel sleepy, but not with this one. I was wide awake, and even when I saw the time, I almost didn't believe it because I wasn't even tired (or so I thought).
This morning, on the other hand...
Aucun message portant le libellé books. Afficher tous les messages
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mercredi 7 décembre 2011
dimanche 4 décembre 2011
Les femmes qui lisent...
DATE A GIRL WHO READS by Rosemarie Urquico
Date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books.
Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow. She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book. Buy her another cup of coffee. Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.
It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does. She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two. Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.
If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype. You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads. Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
(Found this text randomly on Pinterest.)
Date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books.
Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow. She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book. Buy her another cup of coffee. Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.
It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does. She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two. Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.
If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype. You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads. Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
(Found this text randomly on Pinterest.)
samedi 22 octobre 2011
Readathon!
I thought I'd sign up for this "24-hour readathon" that was created by a bunch of book bloggers. I picked out a bunch of books, put them in a stack next to my bed, and snuggled in.
Technically, the 24-hour periods started at 8 a.m. this Saturday morning, but I started reading last night. (Why wait? And I love reading before bed.)
The first book I picked up was The Dubliners, by James Joyce. A friend recommended the very last short story in the book, "The Dead,"so I read that. I just couldn't get into it. It left me... well, indifferent, I suppose. Not moved, as it should have. The story is about a dinner party in Ireland, told from the point of view of Gabriel. There is dancing (with live music in the form of a piano--the guests take turns playing and singing) and drinking (for the men only) and a formal dinner with turkey. The hostesses of the party are two old sisters and their niece. The ending I suppose was the most interesting part of the story, but for a long time I was wondering where the story was going, and what I could possibly get out of it except a glimpse into what Irish dinner parties were back in the 19th century.
Anyway, I didn't have any interest in reading more of Joyce's short stories, so I turned to Maus I, which I just received in the mail and was really excited to start reading. It's a graphic novel about a Polish man's experience in Auschwitz. What's interesting about it is that the Jews are all drawn as mice, and the Nazis are cats. I had been hearing about this book for a while, but when I found out the cat and mouse thing, I was really intrigued and ordered it (a used copy for under $10 with shipping) right away. I also ordered Maus II, but it hasn't arrived yet.
I really enjoyed it. I don't read a lot of graphic novels but I like them a lot. The "main character" of the story is the author's father, but there are parts where the author has drawn himself in, describing the scenes where his father told him about the story (Don't jump ahead to 1943, Pa, we're in 1941 now! Finish that story first!). At first, the language threw me off (bad grammar, but it's because the "speaker" isn't a native speaker of English), but you get used to it quickly enough and I found it actually added authenticity to the story.
It was really late by the time I finished Maus, but I wasn't feeling sleepy so I picked up a really small book from my stack: A Very Short Introduction to Linguistics. Many years ago, I bought a series of books from Oxford's "A Very Short Introduction" series, mostly because I liked the concept, but also because the book covers were really attractive. Hey, I'm being honest here. I've browsed through all of them, but had never read this one on Linguistics. It tries to explain why or how linguists study language. Having done a minor in Linguistics, I should already know this. But as I was reading, I was thinking of ways to explain difficult concepts in linguistics and finding it really hard! It reminded me of the workshop I attended yesterday, in which we discussed plain language. Some people think using plain language means "dumbing down", but there was a study that showed that people who could explain difficult concepts using plain language were perceived as MORE intelligent than those who used fancy, million-dollar words and academic language.
I didn't make it too far into A VSI to Linguistics before falling asleep, but I'll try to finish it today.
Ok, back to reading! I'll probably be taking a break sometime today either to go motorcycle riding or to jump out of a plane... or both. But in the meantime... back to books.
Technically, the 24-hour periods started at 8 a.m. this Saturday morning, but I started reading last night. (Why wait? And I love reading before bed.)
The first book I picked up was The Dubliners, by James Joyce. A friend recommended the very last short story in the book, "The Dead,"so I read that. I just couldn't get into it. It left me... well, indifferent, I suppose. Not moved, as it should have. The story is about a dinner party in Ireland, told from the point of view of Gabriel. There is dancing (with live music in the form of a piano--the guests take turns playing and singing) and drinking (for the men only) and a formal dinner with turkey. The hostesses of the party are two old sisters and their niece. The ending I suppose was the most interesting part of the story, but for a long time I was wondering where the story was going, and what I could possibly get out of it except a glimpse into what Irish dinner parties were back in the 19th century.
Anyway, I didn't have any interest in reading more of Joyce's short stories, so I turned to Maus I, which I just received in the mail and was really excited to start reading. It's a graphic novel about a Polish man's experience in Auschwitz. What's interesting about it is that the Jews are all drawn as mice, and the Nazis are cats. I had been hearing about this book for a while, but when I found out the cat and mouse thing, I was really intrigued and ordered it (a used copy for under $10 with shipping) right away. I also ordered Maus II, but it hasn't arrived yet.
I really enjoyed it. I don't read a lot of graphic novels but I like them a lot. The "main character" of the story is the author's father, but there are parts where the author has drawn himself in, describing the scenes where his father told him about the story (Don't jump ahead to 1943, Pa, we're in 1941 now! Finish that story first!). At first, the language threw me off (bad grammar, but it's because the "speaker" isn't a native speaker of English), but you get used to it quickly enough and I found it actually added authenticity to the story.
It was really late by the time I finished Maus, but I wasn't feeling sleepy so I picked up a really small book from my stack: A Very Short Introduction to Linguistics. Many years ago, I bought a series of books from Oxford's "A Very Short Introduction" series, mostly because I liked the concept, but also because the book covers were really attractive. Hey, I'm being honest here. I've browsed through all of them, but had never read this one on Linguistics. It tries to explain why or how linguists study language. Having done a minor in Linguistics, I should already know this. But as I was reading, I was thinking of ways to explain difficult concepts in linguistics and finding it really hard! It reminded me of the workshop I attended yesterday, in which we discussed plain language. Some people think using plain language means "dumbing down", but there was a study that showed that people who could explain difficult concepts using plain language were perceived as MORE intelligent than those who used fancy, million-dollar words and academic language.
I didn't make it too far into A VSI to Linguistics before falling asleep, but I'll try to finish it today.
Ok, back to reading! I'll probably be taking a break sometime today either to go motorcycle riding or to jump out of a plane... or both. But in the meantime... back to books.
mardi 4 octobre 2011
Le plaisir suprême
"Pour bon nombre d'entre nous, lire un roman constitue le plaisir suprême, et nombreux sont ceux qui s'en souviennent comme l'un de leurs premiers souvenirs et l'une des plus grandes joies de leur enfance. Les lectures imposées du lycée et de l'université ont pu ensuite ternir un peu cette joie, lorsque lire était souvent un devoir pénible plutôt qu'un délice. Mais, d'une façon ou d'une autre, le bonheur de lire est demeuré. C'est un plaisir silencieux, né de la solitude et de la concentration, qui produit rêves et réflxions, flirte avec la passion, entraîne aventures et transformations. Un roman peut littéralement changer une vie." p.12
-- Tiré du livre Les 1001 Livres qu'il faut avoir lus dans sa vie, critiqué par Allie dans son blogue : http://biblioallie.canalblog.com/archives/2011/10/04/22104687.html
-- Tiré du livre Les 1001 Livres qu'il faut avoir lus dans sa vie, critiqué par Allie dans son blogue : http://biblioallie.canalblog.com/archives/2011/10/04/22104687.html
dimanche 17 juillet 2011
Baby Books
I've gotten into the habit of giving children's books to my friends whenever I go to their baby shower. I just think the younger you start reading to your babies, the better!
And the other day I discovered another amazing perk of books: as I was holding my friend's 6-month-old, who wouldn't stop crying, I grabbed a soft book from the shelf in her room... and she stopped crying! She sat in my arms and looked at the pages of the book for a good half-hour. It calmed her right down and my friend was able to put her to sleep. Magic!
I'm going to a baby shower today and I bought a board book called "My Many Colored Days". It's an unknown (to me, at least) Dr. Seuss book about dealing with different emotions... perfect for toddlers! And I'm sure babies will love all the brightly coloured paintings.
Some days are yellow.
Some days are blue.
On different days I'm different too.
You'd be surprised how many ways
I change on Different Colored Days.
On Bright Red Days
how good it feels
to be a horse
and kick my heels!
On other days I'm other things.
On Bright Blue Days
I flap my wings.
Some days, of course,
feel sort of Brown.
Then I feel slow, and low, low down.
Then comes a Yellow Day.
And, wheeeeeeeee
I am a busy, buzzy bee.
Gray Day... Everything is gray.
I watch. But nothing moves today.
Then all of a sudden
I'm a circus seal!
On my Orange Days
that's how I feel.
Green Days. Deep deep in the sea.
Cool and quiet fish. That's me.
On Purple Days I'm sad.
I groan. I drag my tail.
I walk alone.
But when my days are Happy Pink
it's great to jump and just not think.
Then come my Black Days.
Mad. And loud.
I howl.
I growl at every cloud.
Then comes a Mixed-Up Day.
And wham!
I don't know who or what I am!
But it all turns out all right, you see.
And I go back to being... me.
(Hmm, as I recopied that I noticed the strange capitalization in the book... I wonder if that's how Dr. Seuss actually wrote it or if that's the work of his editors? This book was published posthumously.)
And the other day I discovered another amazing perk of books: as I was holding my friend's 6-month-old, who wouldn't stop crying, I grabbed a soft book from the shelf in her room... and she stopped crying! She sat in my arms and looked at the pages of the book for a good half-hour. It calmed her right down and my friend was able to put her to sleep. Magic!
I'm going to a baby shower today and I bought a board book called "My Many Colored Days". It's an unknown (to me, at least) Dr. Seuss book about dealing with different emotions... perfect for toddlers! And I'm sure babies will love all the brightly coloured paintings.
Some days are yellow.
Some days are blue.
On different days I'm different too.
You'd be surprised how many ways
I change on Different Colored Days.
On Bright Red Days
how good it feels
to be a horse
and kick my heels!
On other days I'm other things.
On Bright Blue Days
I flap my wings.
Some days, of course,
feel sort of Brown.
Then I feel slow, and low, low down.
Then comes a Yellow Day.
And, wheeeeeeeee
I am a busy, buzzy bee.
Gray Day... Everything is gray.
I watch. But nothing moves today.
Then all of a sudden
I'm a circus seal!
On my Orange Days
that's how I feel.
Green Days. Deep deep in the sea.
Cool and quiet fish. That's me.
On Purple Days I'm sad.
I groan. I drag my tail.
I walk alone.
But when my days are Happy Pink
it's great to jump and just not think.
Then come my Black Days.
Mad. And loud.
I howl.
I growl at every cloud.
Then comes a Mixed-Up Day.
And wham!
I don't know who or what I am!
But it all turns out all right, you see.
And I go back to being... me.
(Hmm, as I recopied that I noticed the strange capitalization in the book... I wonder if that's how Dr. Seuss actually wrote it or if that's the work of his editors? This book was published posthumously.)
mardi 15 février 2011
Censorship and children
An interesting discussion here about censoring children’s reading: http://www.librarything.com/topic/36788
Here are my thoughts:
I think I will try to guide my (future) children’s reading. (As knfmn put it: “suggesting books for them that make them stretch their limits”.) If my children are interested in a particular book, I don’t think I will try to stop them from reading it. I think trying to ban them will just make them want to read them even more. And in any case, I think it would be terribly hard to determine when my children are mature enough to read, for example, the rape scenes in The Color Purple. As someone said, “The world itself isn't censorable and I would much rather my kids found out about the nastier side by reading about it and discussing it with me or their dad than coming up entirely unprepared against the real thing.”
The important thing will be to discuss difficult books with my children before they read them AND as they go along, to make sure children know they can ask questions about traumatic scenes. Of course, what worries me is that children might not want to ask questions about what they just read, and they also might not make the distinction between fiction and reality, depending on their age and maturity. I do remember reading some pretty traumatic material early on, and I don’t think it left me scarred. In fact, I remember reading one book in particular that I just didn’t get. Something about the main character being old enough to wash his own sheets – it was only several years later that it “clicked”. It was uninteresting to me, at the time.
I agree wholeheartedly with cecilturtle when she says that the concept of guiding readings, expressing values and disagreement are just as important as giving access to books. “As a parent, I do have a responsibility to monitor my daughter's choices. As a citizen, it is my responsibility to make sure that all books are accessible - there is a nuance.”
Here are my thoughts:
I think I will try to guide my (future) children’s reading. (As knfmn put it: “suggesting books for them that make them stretch their limits”.) If my children are interested in a particular book, I don’t think I will try to stop them from reading it. I think trying to ban them will just make them want to read them even more. And in any case, I think it would be terribly hard to determine when my children are mature enough to read, for example, the rape scenes in The Color Purple. As someone said, “The world itself isn't censorable and I would much rather my kids found out about the nastier side by reading about it and discussing it with me or their dad than coming up entirely unprepared against the real thing.”
The important thing will be to discuss difficult books with my children before they read them AND as they go along, to make sure children know they can ask questions about traumatic scenes. Of course, what worries me is that children might not want to ask questions about what they just read, and they also might not make the distinction between fiction and reality, depending on their age and maturity. I do remember reading some pretty traumatic material early on, and I don’t think it left me scarred. In fact, I remember reading one book in particular that I just didn’t get. Something about the main character being old enough to wash his own sheets – it was only several years later that it “clicked”. It was uninteresting to me, at the time.
I agree wholeheartedly with cecilturtle when she says that the concept of guiding readings, expressing values and disagreement are just as important as giving access to books. “As a parent, I do have a responsibility to monitor my daughter's choices. As a citizen, it is my responsibility to make sure that all books are accessible - there is a nuance.”
lundi 2 août 2010
jeudi 22 avril 2010
The things that matter in life
A quote from The Secret Life of Bees, my book club book, that I finished last night:
The main character, Lily, asks the woman she’s staying with why her house is bright pink, who explains that she did it because her (simple-minded) sister wanted her to.
“How come if your favorite color is blue, you painted your house so pink?”
“You know, some things don’t matter much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of things? But lifting a person’s heart – now, that matters.
The whole problem with people is […] they know what matters, but they don’t choose it. You know how hard that is, Lily? I love [my sister] May, but it was still so hard to choose Caribbean Pink. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”
(Still waiting for thesis revisions...)
The main character, Lily, asks the woman she’s staying with why her house is bright pink, who explains that she did it because her (simple-minded) sister wanted her to.
“How come if your favorite color is blue, you painted your house so pink?”
“You know, some things don’t matter much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of things? But lifting a person’s heart – now, that matters.
The whole problem with people is […] they know what matters, but they don’t choose it. You know how hard that is, Lily? I love [my sister] May, but it was still so hard to choose Caribbean Pink. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”
(Still waiting for thesis revisions...)
lundi 22 mars 2010
Access to other selves
I like this:
In an interview from the early nineties, [David Foster] Wallace discussed that challenge to fiction posed by "American reality" and his purpose in the face of it: "My world consists of 250 advertisements a day and any number of unbelievably entertaining options. I use a fair amount of pop stuff in my fiction. It's just the texture of the world I live in. . . I guess a big part of fiction's purpose is to give the reader, who like all of us is sort of marooned in her own skull, to give her imaginative access to other selves. If a piece of fiction can allow us imaginatively to identify with a character's pain, we might then also more easily conceive of others identifying with our own. This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside."
(Wallace is quoted by Rick Groen in Saturday's Globe and Mail.)
In an interview from the early nineties, [David Foster] Wallace discussed that challenge to fiction posed by "American reality" and his purpose in the face of it: "My world consists of 250 advertisements a day and any number of unbelievably entertaining options. I use a fair amount of pop stuff in my fiction. It's just the texture of the world I live in. . . I guess a big part of fiction's purpose is to give the reader, who like all of us is sort of marooned in her own skull, to give her imaginative access to other selves. If a piece of fiction can allow us imaginatively to identify with a character's pain, we might then also more easily conceive of others identifying with our own. This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside."
(Wallace is quoted by Rick Groen in Saturday's Globe and Mail.)
lundi 1 mars 2010
Choix de lectures
Lisez, mais pensez ; et ne lisez pas si vous ne voulez pas penser en lisant, et penser après avoir lu.
Alexandre Vinet (Choix de lectures)
Dernièrement j'ai du mal à trouver quelque chose d'intéressant à lire. Ce n'est pourtant pas parce que je n'ai pas de livres non lus à la maison! Ça fait deux livres que je commence et que j'abandonne (un Daniel Pennac - je n'aime pas son style - et un essai de Milan Kundera). Je m'aperçois qu'il y a des livres que j'ai achetés il y a quelques années qui ne m'intéressent plus du tout. Voilà pourquoi il ne faut pas trop acheter « d'avance » comme j'ai fait pendant mon bacc...
Alexandre Vinet (Choix de lectures)
Dernièrement j'ai du mal à trouver quelque chose d'intéressant à lire. Ce n'est pourtant pas parce que je n'ai pas de livres non lus à la maison! Ça fait deux livres que je commence et que j'abandonne (un Daniel Pennac - je n'aime pas son style - et un essai de Milan Kundera). Je m'aperçois qu'il y a des livres que j'ai achetés il y a quelques années qui ne m'intéressent plus du tout. Voilà pourquoi il ne faut pas trop acheter « d'avance » comme j'ai fait pendant mon bacc...
mercredi 24 février 2010
vendredi 5 février 2010
Meta-books and meta-reading
Too funny not to share. Received this in an email today:
"Those two books* you loaned me were like people who got really high and tried to explain why they think reading is so awesome. Like how people do with a song they really like….except these people were good writers, not stoned teenagers."
*The two books in question are favourites of mine! How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom and Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman.
"Those two books* you loaned me were like people who got really high and tried to explain why they think reading is so awesome. Like how people do with a song they really like….except these people were good writers, not stoned teenagers."
*The two books in question are favourites of mine! How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom and Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman.
jeudi 14 janvier 2010
LOVE love love love love
Oh. mon. Dieu. Je viens de tomber en amour avec cette photo.
Hmm, je me demande s'ils nous laisseraient prendre des photos de couple dans la bibliothèque du Parlement? Ou sinon, aux Archives nationales, peut-être... mais la biblio du Parlement est plus jolie.
Hmm, je me demande s'ils nous laisseraient prendre des photos de couple dans la bibliothèque du Parlement? Ou sinon, aux Archives nationales, peut-être... mais la biblio du Parlement est plus jolie.
mercredi 13 janvier 2010
Books everywhere!
I loved the fact that in the movie Caché (starring Juliette Binoche), the dining room walls were covered with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
Like you're eating in the library! I think books really add character and warmth to a space. Plus, it'd be easy to just reach over, pull a book off the shelf, and strike up a conversation about it!
This photo reminded me of that movie:
I also love the kitchen in this very same home. "Organized clutter."
(Last two photos from a house tour on the Poppytalk blog.)
Actually, while on the topic of books in the dining room, I've had this photo bookmarked for a while now. (Not sure of the source.)
Like you're eating in the library! I think books really add character and warmth to a space. Plus, it'd be easy to just reach over, pull a book off the shelf, and strike up a conversation about it!
This photo reminded me of that movie:
I also love the kitchen in this very same home. "Organized clutter."
(Last two photos from a house tour on the Poppytalk blog.)Actually, while on the topic of books in the dining room, I've had this photo bookmarked for a while now. (Not sure of the source.)
jeudi 7 janvier 2010
Bilan 2009
Tout le monde semble faire le bilan de leurs lectures ces temps-ci.
J'ai constaté que mon bilan pour 2009 est assez triste : seulement 12 livres! (À moins que j'en oublie?)
C'est certain que j'ai eu une année occupée. J'ai beaucoup lu pour ma maîtrise (premier et troisième trimestres de l'année), ce qui me laissait moins de temps pour lire pour le plaisir. L'été a été consacré à ma nouvelle passion : le parachutisme. Et puis puisque je prenais mon vélo pour aller travailler, je lisais moins que lorsque je prends l'autobus.
J'ai aussi passé beaucoup de temps à lire des blogues : notamment ceux d'Allie et de "Dorothy", grandes lectrices que j'admire beaucoup; ceux de Swissmiss, Design Vagabond, Apartment Therapy et de nombreux autres "design bloggers"; les blogues de cuisine Banlieusardises, Smitten Kitchen, Not Martha, Bitten, 30 Bucks a Week; les blogues persos de Jeremy and Kathleen, Sweet Juniper, Patrick Dion, Marie-Julie Gagnon, mon amie Véro et Chantal Hébert... je pourrais continuer, mais ceux-ci sont les blogues que je lis le plus régulièrement.
Mon objectif pour 2010 : terminer ma maîtrise une fois pour toutes pour pouvoir lire tout ce qui me tente -- sans culpabilité!
J'ai constaté que mon bilan pour 2009 est assez triste : seulement 12 livres! (À moins que j'en oublie?)
C'est certain que j'ai eu une année occupée. J'ai beaucoup lu pour ma maîtrise (premier et troisième trimestres de l'année), ce qui me laissait moins de temps pour lire pour le plaisir. L'été a été consacré à ma nouvelle passion : le parachutisme. Et puis puisque je prenais mon vélo pour aller travailler, je lisais moins que lorsque je prends l'autobus.
J'ai aussi passé beaucoup de temps à lire des blogues : notamment ceux d'Allie et de "Dorothy", grandes lectrices que j'admire beaucoup; ceux de Swissmiss, Design Vagabond, Apartment Therapy et de nombreux autres "design bloggers"; les blogues de cuisine Banlieusardises, Smitten Kitchen, Not Martha, Bitten, 30 Bucks a Week; les blogues persos de Jeremy and Kathleen, Sweet Juniper, Patrick Dion, Marie-Julie Gagnon, mon amie Véro et Chantal Hébert... je pourrais continuer, mais ceux-ci sont les blogues que je lis le plus régulièrement.
Mon objectif pour 2010 : terminer ma maîtrise une fois pour toutes pour pouvoir lire tout ce qui me tente -- sans culpabilité!
mercredi 6 janvier 2010
Les dictionnaires de synonymes / thésaurus
I really think that thesauri are my favourite books in the world.
Yes, really.
Oh, the possibilities...
And the method! The thematic index in Roget's Thesaurus, for example! To organize all of language...!! C'est comme un arbre de domaine pour TOUTE LA LANGUE. Yes, I like systems (INTPs usually do)...
Ok I am really geeking out here.
Yes, really.
Oh, the possibilities...
And the method! The thematic index in Roget's Thesaurus, for example! To organize all of language...!! C'est comme un arbre de domaine pour TOUTE LA LANGUE. Yes, I like systems (INTPs usually do)...
Ok I am really geeking out here.
mercredi 16 décembre 2009
You are what you eat/read
Dans une entrevue pour le magazine français Books, Nancy Huston remarque que :
De même que notre corps est fait avec tous ce que nous mangeons, notre esprit est fait avec tout ce que nous lisons.
Bien d'accord! Bien dit.
De même que notre corps est fait avec tous ce que nous mangeons, notre esprit est fait avec tout ce que nous lisons.
Bien d'accord! Bien dit.
jeudi 10 décembre 2009
lundi 7 décembre 2009
Gratefulness
On being grateful for books. I could have written this myself:
What reasons do you have to be grateful for books?
For providing wonder and learning, company and escape. For teaching me that childhood, school, family, work, marriage, love, the world could be other than it seemed to be and so that I could change things if I wanted to. For giving me a vocabulary and a sense of curiosity and letting me travel in time and place. Even for being decorative and giving warmth and comfort to a room.
What positive impact does reading have on your day?
It takes me out of my day, mostly. I’ve always had the ability to fall so deeply into a book that I lose awareness of my surroundings and I’m grateful for that. Now I read on the train, and I can forget that I’m standing up for an hour, or if I’m having a bad day at work I can run away and read myself out of it at lunchtime. I’m patient about waiting at doctor’s offices or anywhere else, because it’s not wasted time. When I’m having trouble switching off my thoughts, if I pick up the right book I can turn the whole of my concentration onto a different track. Reading is therapy.
What good things has reading taught you?
That intellectual curiosity is a good thing and that I don’t have to accept what I’m told. Particularly when I’m told by someone in ‘authority’. I hope reading has taught me empathy, given me some self-awareness, and broadened my contexts too, because it’s a way of pre-experiencing situations and seeing how they might be dealt with.
mercredi 2 décembre 2009
Book Nook
A "small space dweller book lover's dream space"...
I love the little shelf for a cup of tea! Warm drinks and reading are perfect together!
I love the little shelf for a cup of tea! Warm drinks and reading are perfect together!
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