Posts tagged ‘reading’
Check out the write-up of Mama, PhD in the latest issue of eGrad, a newsletter for Berkeley graduate students:
Up on the web — it’s a site, it’s a blog, it’s a book!
Mainly, at the moment, it’s (almost) a book. It just happens to have the regulation 21st–century promotional bells and whistles, so it’s an instant community, and not a tiny one at that.
JP Mom won this week’s give-away, but here’s another for all of you. I confess I haven’t read either of these books, but they look like good curl up on the couch with a cup of tea kind of novels…
This week’s books:
The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs and Shopaholic & Baby, by Sophie Kinsella
Leave me a comment saying you want to enter by the end of the day Tuesday, April 8th and I’ll announce a winner next week.
The fine print, as devised by Overwhelmed with Joy:
“1) Once a month (or so) I’ll pick a book to give away to one lucky reader (you don’t have to have a blog to enter). It may be a book that I’ve purchased new or used, or it may be a book that someone has shared with me that I really like. It’ll probably be a paperback, just to make things easier, but no guarantees.
2) Details on how you can enter to win will be listed below.
3) If you’re the lucky winner of the book giveaway I ask that you, in turn, host a drawing to give that book away for free to one of your readers, after you’ve had a chance to read it (let’s say, within a month after you’ve received the book), or donate it to your local library or shelter. If you mail the book out using the media/book rate that the post office offers it’s pretty inexpensive.
4) If you’re really motivated and want to host your own “Pay It Forward” giveaway at any time, feel free to grab the button above to use on your own blog. Just let her know so she can publish a post plugging your giveaway and directing readers your way!
So there you have it, the Pay It Forward Book Exchange, designed to encourage people to read, to share good books, to possibly get you out of your reading comfort zone, and to get fun stuff in the mail instead of just bills!”
It’s been a while, and the pile of books on my desk threatens to tumble over and crush me, so I’m giving away two books this week; look for another give away soon!
This week’s books:
Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too by Susan Callahan, Anne Nolen and Katrin Schumann
I didn’t read this one — it arrived in the mail last week, I don’t know why. I don’t need to spend my time off reading about taking time off, but maybe you know someone who does?
I Married My Mother-in-Law and other tales of in-laws we can’t live with — and can’t live without, edited by Ilena Silverman, with essays by Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, Kathryn Harrison and others. There are some nice pieces in here, and it’s not all in-law bashing. And who doesn’t love an anthology, really? Not me.
Leave me a comment saying you want to enter by the end of the day Friday, April 4th and I’ll announce a winner next week.
The fine print, as devised by Overwhelmed with Joy:
“1) Once a month (or so) I’ll pick a book to give away to one lucky reader (you don’t have to have a blog to enter). It may be a book that I’ve purchased new or used, or it may be a book that someone has shared with me that I really like. It’ll probably be a paperback, just to make things easier, but no guarantees.
2) Details on how you can enter to win will be listed below.
3) If you’re the lucky winner of the book giveaway I ask that you, in turn, host a drawing to give that book away for free to one of your readers, after you’ve had a chance to read it (let’s say, within a month after you’ve received the book), or donate it to your local library or shelter. If you mail the book out using the media/book rate that the post office offers it’s pretty inexpensive.
4) If you’re really motivated and want to host your own “Pay It Forward” giveaway at any time, feel free to grab the button above to use on your own blog. Just let her know so she can publish a post plugging your giveaway and directing readers your way!
So there you have it, the Pay It Forward Book Exchange, designed to encourage people to read, to share good books, to possibly get you out of your reading comfort zone, and to get fun stuff in the mail instead of just bills!”
I’ve been meaning to point you all away from my blog and toward the Literary Mama columns for a couple weeks now, ever since the latest installment of Libby‘s (on the question of boy books vs girl books) and Elrena‘s (on the question of the Bible’s setting boy rules and girl rules…) fabulous pieces.
Now, those columns have been joined by a whole new cycle: Susan Ito’s sweet Valentine to her husband; Ericka Lutz’s funny piece on binge writing; Ona Gritz’s and Rebecca Kaminsky’s different reflections on self-image; and Shari MacDonald Strong’s beautiful dream for a better world. So head on over to Literary Mama and dive in.
(the image is for Shari’s column; you can start there, but be warned: you’ll have “Yellow Submarine”thrumming through your head the rest of the day!)
Inspired by Hemingway, who (maybe) wrote:
“For sale: baby shoes. Never Worn.”
6-word memoirs by various writers.
My “memoir” earned a comp copy.
The entry? Inspired by my book:
“Closed a door, opened a life.”
Pretentious? perhaps, but certainly heartfelt, true.
I can’t put the book down!
My copy from e-friend Felicia Sullivan.
Her entry, page 150, quoted here:
“Weird quiet girl, fading from view.”
Others worth a look; my sister’s:
“Learned reading, writing, forgot arithmetic”
(Though note, it’s only five words!)
Also love this, from Ariana Huffington:
“Fearlessness is the mother of reinvention.”
And also, from writer Daniel Handler:
“What? Lemony Snicket? Lemony Snicket? What?”
or commercial approach from Martha Clarkson:
“Detergent girl: Bold. Tide. Cheer. All.”
And a thoughtful entry; Arthur Harris:
“Good, evil use the same font.”
Brilliant understatement from Roy Blount, Jr:
“Maybe you had to be there.”
And I relate to Barb Piper:
“Rich in degrees and student loans”
Ayelet Waldman always makes me laugh:
“New Jersey to California. Thank god.”
Get the book; read some more.
The call to participate in a blog day for Patry Francis attracted my attention because I’d just enjoyed reading her profile on Literary Mama. To learn that she’s too ill, right now, from cancer treatment to promote her book, The Liar’s Diary, attracted my sympathy.
I don’t know Francis, and I admit I haven’t read her book, but having just started work on a publicity plan for my own book, I feel terrible at the thought of someone publishing a book and not being able to support it with readings and other events. It’s like putting your kid on a school bus for the first day of kindergarten and saying, “Bye! Good luck! See you at the end of the year!”
So if my writing about her writing can help raise attention to her work, I’m happy to participate. Here’s an excerpt from her profile that struck a chord with me:
I really admire writers who can get a lot of work done when their children are small. I was never one of them. For me, trying to understand who each child was and what they needed to grow and develop their own talents took all the creativity I had. There was no room for me to ponder the inner life of characters. Though I made many outlines and filled notebooks with ideas for the novels I hoped to write, nothing much was finished while there was a child under six in the house.
Writing, if it’s genuine and honest, is an act of supreme empathy. In writing a novel, I struggle to understand my characters, to accept their strengths and weaknesses, to allow them the freedom to be themselves (even when it doesn’t fit in with my plans), to celebrate them, forgive them and then to let them go. When you think of it, it’s very similar to the arc of parenting.
I also think my dedication to my work, both when I met with success and during the long years when I didn’t, has had a positive influence on my children. It’s taught them that if you truly love what you do, the process itself is always the greatest reward.
I have always loved my role as a mother, but I am also grateful to have something that is all my own. As my children are growing older and beginning to leave home, there is a sense of nostalgia and even loss, but that is counter-balanced by the joy I have in my other life: my work. Knowing that mom is busy and happy is also making the transition easier for the children. And, oh yes, one more thing: they are so proud of me.
And now go check out her blog, where she’s got many more lovely reflections on writing. And then (don’t forget!), check out her book, which sounds like a good creepy read for a winter’s night.
As promised, I’m clearing out my bookshelves in a giving mood right now, so hard on the heels of last week’s (won by Kim, who only wanted one book, and Violeta), I’m running another Pay It Forward Book Exchange. This week I’ve got two novels: Andrea Barrett’s moving Secret Harmonies and Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl (coming soon to a movie theater near you).
Here are the rules, as created by Overwhelmed with Joy:
“1) Once a month (or so) I’ll pick a book to give away to one lucky reader (you don’t have to have a blog to enter). It may be a book that I’ve purchased new or used, or it may be a book that someone has shared with me that I really like. It’ll probably be a paperback, just to make things easier, but no guarantees.
2) Details on how you can enter to win will be listed below.
3) If you’re the lucky winner of the book giveaway I ask that you, in turn, host a drawing to give that book away for free to one of your readers, after you’ve had a chance to read it (let’s say, within a month after you’ve received the book), or donate it to your local library or shelter. If you mail the book out using the media/book rate that the post office offers it’s pretty inexpensive.
4) If you’re really motivated and want to host your own “Pay It Forward” giveaway at any time, feel free to grab the button above to use on your own blog. Just let her know so she can publish a post plugging your giveaway and directing readers your way!
So there you have it, the Pay It Forward Book Exchange, designed to encourage people to read, to share good books, to possibly get you out of your reading comfort zone, and to get fun stuff in the mail instead of just bills!”
Post a comment telling me you want to enter by Wednesday, and I’ll announce the winners as soon as I remember to.
OK, it’s been so long since I’ve done this that I’m giving away three (three!) books this month. And I’ll probably do another give-away before the end of the month. I’m just in a giving kind of mood.
The books I’m letting go of this month are Elizabeth Irvine’s Healthy Mother, Healthy Child: Creating Balance In Everyday Life; Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary; and a signed copy of Santa Montefiore’s The Gypsy Madonna. A get-your-year-started-healthy how-to, a fascinating history, and a curl up by the fire novel.
Here are the rules, as created by Overwhelmed with Joy:
“1) Once a month (or so) I’ll pick a book to give away to one lucky reader (you don’t have to have a blog to enter). It may be a book that I’ve purchased new or used, or it may be a book that someone has shared with me that I really like. It’ll probably be a paperback, just to make things easier, but no guarantees.
2) Details on how you can enter to win will be listed below.
3) If you’re the lucky winner of the book giveaway I ask that you, in turn, host a drawing to give that book away for free to one of your readers, after you’ve had a chance to read it (let’s say, within a month after you’ve received the book), or donate it to your local library or shelter. If you mail the book out using the media/book rate that the post office offers it’s pretty inexpensive.
4) If you’re really motivated and want to host your own “Pay It Forward” giveaway at any time, feel free to grab the button above to use on your own blog. Just let her know so she can publish a post plugging your giveaway and directing readers your way!
So there you have it, the Pay It Forward Book Exchange, designed to encourage people to read, to share good books, to possibly get you out of your reading comfort zone, and to get fun stuff in the mail instead of just bills!”
Leave me a comment saying you want to enter by the end of the day Wednesday, January 2nd and I’ll announce a winner on Thursday.
Woo-hoo! Mama, PhD has its very own ISBN number and its very own Amazon page (though not yet a cover image that I can share).
I’m a very proud mama, PhD, indeed.
You can learn more about the book, my co-editor, Elrena Evans, and all our incredible contributors at our website. Then click on over to Amazon. It’s never too early to get your order in!
Full-disclosure: I worked with Andrea Buchanan for a couple years at Literary Mama, Miriam Peskowitz wrote the foreword for my book, and I think of them both as friends. I was one of the dozens, if not hundreds, of I hope not-too-annoying-people who sent them suggestions while they were writing The Daring Book for Girls this summer. I’d feed them if they came to San Francisco, and definitely buy them both a drink if we met up somewhere else. I’m a totally biased reviewer.
It seems many of the Daring Book for Girls readers have fallen into this book with a sigh of nostalgia. I didn’t have that reaction. This book is nothing like any books I had as a kid, unfortunately, and lists dozens of activities and facts that are entirely new to me. Peach Pit Rings? I can’t wait till next summer to try this with my sons! And today’s princesses? All –except Princess Anne– new names to me.
The Daring Book for Girls did not make me think nostalgically of my childhood because I’ve done so few of these activities – I counted around a dozen — and two of them (public speaking and salary negotiation) I’ve only done as an adult (I worked as a kid, sure, babysitting and such, but I think people said “I’ll pay you X” and I said, “OK!”) I had a great, fun childhood, don’t get me wrong, and I didn’t spend it sitting in front of the television, but I was not a daring girl. I didn’t learn how to ride a bike until I was 19, and I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 20, or maybe 21 (the fact that I can’t remember when I got it tells you what a milestone it was in my life. I was not chomping at the bit to adventure independently).
An adventure for me was walking in the meadow outside my grandparent’s house at night, pretending to be Emily Bronte walking the moors – see, I wasn’t even adventurous enough to pretend to be Catherine; I pretended to be the writer! And so of course I feel kinship with Miriam Peskowitz and Andrea Buchanan, who write, “When we were young and bored, our parents told us, “Go read the dictionary!” We did, and look where it got us. One should never underestimate the pleasure to be found flipping through a dictionary, an encyclopedia, or an old science book.”
Indeed, and such is the pleasure of flipping through this book, full of facts and fun, instructions on games and crafts, social skills (boys! letter writing! Robert’s Rules of order!) and life skills, from Japanese t-shirt folding to changing a tire. I was more of a paper-making, doll outfit-sewing, campfire singing girl than a hideout-building, tree swinging, roller skating kind of girl, but both kinds of girls are reflected here, beautifully. All kinds of girls – and boys – are going to find things to do and learn in this book. It’s a completely inviting, approachable book, from its green and sparkly cover to its lovely line drawings; it’s sized right for curling up and reading in bed, but also sturdy enough to carry along on a girl’s adventures.
I wasn’t a daring girl, and I don’t have any girls in my house, but this book will keep my family good company in the years to come.
