Books about books? Absolutely! It’s not surprising that good writers are first and foremost good readers, and it’s a rare privilege when they let us in on what books and authors shape their craft. 

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Fans of Pat Conroy will not be disappointed with this addition to their collection. Conroy believes in words and story, and the power of a writer to change a life. Perfect for readers, writers, teachers, librarians…anyone who loves and appreciates a good book.

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I happened upon this the other day, and haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but how could you go wrong? Some of my favorite writers talking about their favorite indie bookstores…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A classic for fans of the horror master, lovers of autobiography, writers, or readers. This is one I read at least once a year, and refer to often for inspiration. Reading it is like a master class in writing with StImageephen King. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up: Accessories the for the well-turned out reader from book covers to book marks!

For the history buff, Arcadia Publishing puts out a series of titles on local and regional history in a “unique pictorial format.” Lots of vintage photographs, short blurbs of text, and fun facts on days gone by in your hometown make these books a great pick for an older relative on your list. There are plenty of choices featuring the Grand Strand area as well as the outlying region.Image

 

For those who remember summer nights at the Magic Attic and days between the Comet and the Hurricane, “Myrtle Beach Pavilion” in the “Images of America” series would be a perfect gift. Combine it with a trip to the Pavilion Nostalgia Park at Broadway at the Beach and a gift certificate for a hot dog from Peaches Corner and you’re on your way to the theme gift of the year!

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Since we’re talking theme gifts and Myrtle Beach, how about a gift certificate for shag lessons combined with this next title? You could do an old fashioned mix-tape (ok, CD) of beach music – think The Dominoes’ “60 Minute Man”, The Embers’ “I Love Beach Music”, and of course, General Johnson’s “Carolina Girls”.

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Peeramid Bookrest!

Readers are notoriously hard to buy gifts for. At $29.95, the Peeramid Bookrest is a neat idea that works for traditional print readers and those that have crossed over to the electronic side! Comes as shown in sage, or in other colors (pink, purple, goldenrod).

I know, I know…it’s so cliche. Another “Best of” list. After all, it’s that time of year, when every other blog post or tweet is a link to one list or another.  (Ok, it WAS that time of year, last week, and some of us are just now getting around to it!). But I’m always fascinated by book lists, particularly book lists put out by individuals – the more personal, the better! I want to know what people are REALLY reading, not what the NYT Book Review says they are buying (I mean, come on, we all know people just buy those lofty titles to read the first chapter and then display prominently on their coffee tables to make themselves look more intellectual, right?).  It’s a matter of principle to me to be completely honest about my reading habits – the good, the bad, and the guilty pleasures.

So I carefully record and rate each book read throughout the year (thank you, GOODREADS!), and then come January 1, voila! I have fantastic stats of the previous years reading habits! It’s an interesting, if self-indulgent, look back at my year. I categorize things by “shelf”, mainly to satisfy my obsessive need to organize everything. There’s a nifty little pie chart that gives a visual, and I was a little embarrassed (but not surprised) to note that while 2010 was characterized with a large slice of the “spiritual”, 2011 was dominated by “mindless guilty pleasures”. What can I say? Let’s hope this isn’t a trend?

But perhaps my favorite piece of the statistics tool is the list that is generated grouping your books by year, by rating. There’s nothing like a cool graphic with bars and stars and tiny little thumbnails of your top-rated books of the year all lined up. Ah, the memories. It’s almost as good as alphabetizing your bookshelves! Apparently, I started off the year quite optimistically, giving 5 stars to 4 different books in January. 2 in February, 1 in March, May, June, August & September. July & October each had 2 5-star books. Clearly, there was a dearth of good reading in April, November & December. Pitiful.

All in all, it’s a pretty good list, and I’d venture to say there are several on the list I’ll re-read. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any of them to just about anyone. Some authors are old favorites (John Irving, Chris Bohjalian), some are new to me (2 Amy’s – Aimee Bender & Amy Greene). I jumped on the Game of Thrones bandwagon with the 1st in the series, and was not disappointed. Sometimes there’s a reason everyone’s talking about something, even if I do get tired of hearing “Do you have those books about the Throne Game, or Game Throne, or whatever it is??”.  So without further ado, and reserving editorial comments for future blog posts, here are my top rated books of 2011:

 

The Law of Similars The Almost Moon Until I Find You

Innocent TraitorThe Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Water Witches

Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIIIFaithful PlaceThe Sugar Queen

A Game of ThronesBloodrootThe Sweet By and By

My AbandonmentOne Thousand White Women: The Journals of May DoddWhat Dreams May Come

My resolutions for the New Year include:

  • More reviews! (Only 1 of my top rated books actually had a full-fledged written review – if I like it enough to give it 5 stars, I should be able to explain why! And not just by saying “it was AMAZING”! http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php  – shout out to LSSU for the banished words list of 2011!)
  • More 5 star books! How to know if they will be 5 stars before I begin? More recommendations, more reading of reviews, more award winners!
  • More mindless guilty pleasures! ok, not really. That was a joke. Let’s try this…
  • More balance! An equal slice of the pie (chart) for all the shelves!

Until next time…

In addition to the mid-afternoon slump that usually hits at around this time (it’s almost 3:30 pm here), we’re reorganizing the store, so I’ve been on my feet for the last 3 days, shifting every book from one shelf to another.  Additionally, it’s February, and that means snowbird season here, so business has been a-boomin! But happily, I remembered it was Wednesday, so I’ve got a post idea in the bag, and a perfect excuse to sit at the desk for a while.

W.W.W. Wednesdays is a meme hosted by MizB at shouldbereading. To play along, answer these 3 questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m currently reading  The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold.  It’s   a re-read (of sorts – I listened to it on audio the first time around, when it first came out in 2007.  Sebold is the author of The Lovely Bones.  This is one I don’t see a lot of in the store, but for some reason, we’ve got 4 or 5 copies all of the sudden.

I needed a protagonist in her 40′s (yeah, yeah – reading challenge book), and this one leapt off the shelves at me.  I remember it as being pretty dark, but gripping, and I’m finding it much the same the second time around.  I’m only a chapter into it, so I’ll reserve too much judgement for now.

I recently finished reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.  Wow! A little slow to start, but stick with it, and it’s well worth the time investment.  A creepy English ghost story, set in a crumbling manor home in the countryside. Country doctor Faraday is called to Hundreds Hall to treat the maid and befriends the family where his mother once worked.  The “ghost story” element of the book is subtle, building slowly in the background while the characters are drawn.  It’s not overtly shocking, but I found it frightening in a “someone is tiptoeing behind you” kind of way.  Waters was short listed for the Man Booker Prize for this one, and I’d call it a well deserved honor.

Next on the bedside table is Purge by Sofi Oksanen.  (I’ve got to find a place in the reading challenge for this one, because I really, really want to read it next, and I’m running out of time!) Is it odd that anytime someone describes a novel as “disturbing and riveting” I immediately move it to the top of the heap?  This one involves an escaped Russian sex slave who turns up in Estonia, collapsing on the porch of an elderly woman’s home.  I’ll keep you posted!

Now, back to bookselling and shelving!

 

Once in a while, I’ll read something so compelling, so fascinating, that I find myself consumed by thoughts of the characters, wanting to know more than what is revealed by the author.  I notice that I’m actively reading, rather than letting the words slip in and out of my consciousness.  My eyebrows are raised, I’m leaning in as if to hear a little better, and even once in a while whispering out loud, as if the characters could hear my sympathetic murmurs as they struggle against whatever obstacles they are facing.  Peter Rock’s “My Abandonment” is such a book.

Told from the perspective of a thirteen year old girl, “My Abandonment” is the story of Caroline and her father, who live “off the grid” in a nature preserve in Portland, Oregon.  The nameless “Father” has built a life for the two of them in an elaborate shelter with extensive systems and routines to avoid detection.  Caroline is well cared for, educated by her father out of a set of Britannica Encyclopedias.  They are fiercely loyal to one another, separating the rest of the world into “us” and those who are “not like us”.  When a small mistake is made, they are forced to leave the existence they have carved out for something more acceptable in the eyes of the world.

The book is based on the true story of Frank and Ruthie who were discovered living in Forest Park in 2005.  While the story of Frank and Ruthie has never been resolved, Peter Rock takes the tale to a conclusion that is both believable and memorable, disturbing and thought provoking.

http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/12_yr_old_homeschooled_excels.htm

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/06/289883.shtml

My thanks to Nikoal on Goodreads for providing the links to the story of Frank and Ruthie.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stumbled across this today in the never-ending battle for my attention that happens everytime I sit down to write.  Hosted by Miz B at shouldbereading.wordpress.com I thought it would be fun to “play along”…

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

So simple, yet so profound! These three little questions have the capacity to change a mundane dinner conversation into a fascinating glimpse into the depths of a person’s innermost soul! Or at the very least, get a few recomendations for the bedside table!

Without further ado, here are my WWW Wednesday answers for February 2, 2011!

Snow falling on Cedars by David Guterson Published in 1994, this award winning (Pen/Faulkner) bestseller has been on my TBR list for what seems like forever. I have picked it up at least 3 other times, but am determined to finish this time. Reason? I needed a “winter word ” (SNOW) in a title for a reading challenge! (Yes, I’m not ashamed to admit it – I’m addicted and proud of it! Only 26 days left in the Seasonal Reading Challenge!)

 Two Rivers by T. Greenwood
 My business partner recommended this one a while ago, and I just picked it up (yes, again for the challenge -what can I say?). I’m sorry I put it off for so long – it was fantastic! Not at all what I was expecting. A single father, haunted by the loss of his young wife and his tragic past, a mysterious stranger, a train wreck and a town full of secrets make for a compelling tale.

 

The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig 
Probably the hardest question to answer – What will I read next? I’ve been known to switch books from hour to hour, and rarely do I stick to a plan! That’s probably one of the reasons the reading challenges appeal to me – they provide a little discipline to my otherwise chaotic reading life! But this came into the store last night, and after finishing the first in Willig’s Pink Carnation series, I was really excited to get a copy of this, the second installment. Cleverly written, and about a subject that hasn’t been done to death (like oh, I don’t know – the Tudor court?) – this series is a treat. There’s little more enjoyable than letting your mind escape to days of English espionage in the French court. Dashing men in black masks, plucky heroines and loads of political intrigue…and of course, more than a little romance!

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