01. Last couple of days of my reading-and-beach intensive. Reviews to come. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Gretchen Rubin
This Is Not a Book about Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvan
This Is Not a Book about Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvan is totally a book about Benedict Cumberbatch, but all within the context of finding something to be passionate about. You see, Carvan was embarrassed (and ‘….afraid, guilty…ashamed’) of her ‘obsession’ with a celebrity, and the book came about after she decided to explore where and how her obsessive thoughts/ shame came from.
What am I doing in the spare room, lit only by the laptop’s false dawn, while my family sleeps? Why am I, a wife and mother, creeping off in the dark to think about celebrity thighs? Why am I, a grown woman, sticking up pictures of a heart-throb on my wall? Not even in nice frames, but torn out of magazines and stuck on with Blu Tack! It will ruin the paint… Continue reading
20 Books of Summer (except that it’s Winter)
Cathy at 746 Books is hosting the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge again this year. As Cathy states, it’s the most relaxed reading challenge you’ll participate in (swap books out, change your target, do whatever). Continue reading
More non-fiction reading
Squeezing in three quick reviews of recent non-fiction reads – Continue reading
Sample Saturday – three health-related memoirs
Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. Continue reading
Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts
1. Harper Lee. Wow. Just wow.
2. Reading Ireland Month – March, of course. I’ve got at least seven Irish authors in my TBR stack, so I’ll be participating.
3. I love this ‘40 page test‘. Essentially, Michael Bourne decided to look “…at the same line — the first sentence of the fifth paragraph on page 40…” to see whether it would offer a “…window onto the author’s style…”. Try it.
4. The biggest news in Melbourne this week? The Nylex Clock is back on. Most Melburnians understand the significance and if they are/were also rowers, even more so. There was many a time I would look at the time and think “5.30am and 7 degrees… What am I doing?” Continue reading
Book Q & A
Australian author and book blogger Annabel Smith tagged me in a fun (quick) meme last week. Yes, it’s taken me a few days to get to it but that’s because I was busy testing my nerves on roller coasters and ridiculous water-slides with the kids on the Gold Coast. I’m still recovering.
Book Q&A Rules
1. Post these rules
2. Post a photo of your favourite book cover
3. Answer the questions below
4. Tag a few people to answer them too
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. Make sure you tell the person who tagged you that you’ve taken part! Continue reading
Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new ‘top ten’ challenge is posted – anyone can join in. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me – I found this one a cinch.
Since I’ve been taking part in the Mount TBR challenge, I have curtailed my book buying dramatically (of course that doesn’t stop me obtaining new titles via NetGalley…). So, over the past few months, my Wishlists have been getting a real workout. I could fill this list ten times over with novels but usually at Christmas I ask for those big, glossy coffee-table books that cost a bomb. Here’s some I have my eye on (and I hope those responsible for buying me presents are reading) –
1. In the Spirit of Miami Beach by David Leddick – I was lucky to visit Miami last year, indulging in all things Art Deco. And I stayed at The Raleigh Hotel that is featured on the front of this book (. The Raleigh’s spectacular pool was made famous by the glamorous Esther Williams and has been touted ‘the most beautiful pool in America’ (I concur). Continue reading
Top Ten Tuesday – Authors I’m Thankful For
This is it folks – the only time you’re likely to see Henry James and Judith Krantz mentioned in the same list.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new ‘top ten’ challenge is posted – anyone can join in. This week’s topic is Top Ten (or in my case, eight) Authors I’m Thankful For.
1. John Irving – master story-teller and the creator of the most memorable characters.
2. Judy Blume – for everything.
3. E. L. James – for providing my girlfriends and I with SO MANY laughs whilst reading aloud. For the record, reading FSoG in a monotone has become my girls-weekend-away-party-trick.
4. Charlotte Wood – not only a beautiful writer but an awesome recommender of books. Continue reading
‘Swimming Studies’ by Leanne Shapton
A few years ago I read a life-changing book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. ‘Life-changing’ might sound somewhat over-the-top but the book prompted me to examine what made me truly happy. And my conclusion was this – reading and swimming. I especially like reading by the pool. At some stage I will put together a review of The Happiness Project (so I can document the bits that I found helpful) but in the meantime, here’s a book about swimming – the remarkably lovely Swimming Studies.
Swimming Studies is a curious little book. It’s a memoir by Canadian writer and artist Leanne Shapton, focused on the period of her life when she was training for the Olympic swimming trials. Shapton provides a unique and original perspective on swimming, swimming pools and even bathers (that’s swimwear for my non-Aussie readers). It’s described as this –
“What do you with an all-absorbing activity once it’s passed its relevance, and yet you can’t quite give it up? Is it possible to find a new purpose for its rigours and focus? “Swimming Studies” ….explores what it is like to move from a world of competition and discipline to one of recreation and introspection.” Continue reading