Recently, it has come to my attention that a certain someone has read 16 books this summer. Isn't that awesome! She happens to be a very smart individual but imagine all that she must know now! She reminded me of our post earlier this summer asking you what your summer reads were so now we're following up. What did you end up reading? Which ones did you like? Why?
I powered through every Mary Higgins Clark book I could find and struggled to find other authors I could really sink my teeth into. From explicit adult content to swear words up the wazzo it's hard to find books both inspiring and not something I want to throw under the couch pillow if my mom were to walk into the room.
Nathan Bransford is a literary agent and has a blog that keeps me up to date with all things in the literary world. If you're looking for new ways to find good books, Lifehacker picked their five favorite book recommendation services: Shelfari, LibraryThing, Amazon, GoodReads and GetGlue.
Back to Nathan Bransford...his last post was the topic "Is Literary Fiction Losing its Place in Culture? He goes on to talk about the rampage of all things Vampires and phrases like "Avada Kadavra" or "muggles" finding their ways into our dictionaries and common language it would seem that genre fiction is very much in full sway. Authors like Patterson, afore mentioned Stephenie Myers and J.K. Rowling, Grisham and Dan Brown sweeping the markets are making sure of that. (After all, only 10 percent of writers control 90% of the market). But is LITERARY FICTION a thing of the past? Interesting to think about. Interesting to compare the books being read one-hundred years ago, fifty years ago and now. Interesting to see how the kindle impacts the "book" as we know it. Barnes and Noble has talked about selling their company, are the book industries in trouble? A lot to chew on. (See Nathan Bransford's blog here for a complete run-down)
So. Tell us what you managed to read this summer. I know specifically those of you who are readers but I won't call you out (Julie! Corinne! Alyson! to name a few..) Ok maybe I will :) So I'm expecting your responses!
Have a great thursday! It's almost Friday!
Love,
J
:D I love you two and this blog. Obviously, you know my summer reads. I was quite excited to log onto your blog to find this. I plan to look up Nathan Bransford now and check his things out. (By the way, your background picture isn't there anymore)
ReplyDeleteI read a lot of books this summer (you can read a lot while nursing a baby). I'm going to list my favorites that were good enough I would recommend them: Bitten by Robert F. Smith, the Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye (same author as Robert F. Smith by the way), Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Duhmas, and Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink. I use Goodreads.com all the time. Fun way to get book recommendations from friends and keep track of books I've read.
ReplyDeleteThank Goodness It's Friday, you all! So many books...so little time. Argh. A friend of mine told me that her husband would be out of a job in the next 5 years. He works binding books. The Kindle and other electronic devices, are making it hard on the manufacturing of the 'hand-held-paper-book'. Very interesting. Cannot imagine completely giving up paper books. Anyway...reading. I tend to read more than one book at a time. It depends on the day and my activities of the day. Here are a few of my summer reads...Hubby and I are still reading the 640pg Lund book, The Kingdom and the Crown, Fishers of Men. I read this book back in 2000, right after we returned from living abroad, and I am really enjoying it again, 10 years later. My two favorite series that I simple adore and have been reading for years...Alexander McCall Smith and the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Novels---Tea Time For The Traditionally Built; Jennifer Chiaverini and the Elm Creek Quilt Novels,The Aloha Quilt; and I am struggling to get through a book called, Almost Sisters...Anderson, Littke, and Morris. I am down to the last chapter. I told a friend I would read it-- the sap and day to day family ridiculous drama is killing me. HA! Not my cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteLet's stretch summer out just a little longer....Read On!