Literary Exploration Society to Expand Reading (Formerly 52 Books)

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Sunday, December 13, 2020

BW50: Thirteen things

Happy Sunday dear hearts! Today is the 13th which reminds me that 2021 will be our thirteenth year of 52 books in 52 weeks. I'm excited for the new year and I'll post more about it later in the week.

So what is it about the number 13? Do you think of it as lucky, unlucky, or just a number? Well!

13 is a prime number as well as a emirp, a happy number, a star number, one of the three Wilson primes, as well as a Fibonacci number. You and your kids may appreciate these 13 fun books about math and numbers.

Zeus was the thirteenth and most powerful of the Greek Gods. Hmm! Makes me wonder who is the 13th Major Roman God. Perhaps we need to move forward to explore any year xx13 or delve into the 13th Century.

How about reading a story with 13 in the title or is the 13th book in a series. Check off another book in your TBR pile by reading the 13th book on one of your physical, virtual, or goodreads shelves.

Remember what it was like to become a teenager? Oh, the teenage angst!

There are approximately 13 moon cycles in the year as well as 13 weeks in each season – “Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall, all you have to do is call and I'll be there, yes I will." Whoops, say hello James Taylor.

In a deck of 52 cards, there are 13 cards in each suit of hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs.

Numerology wise, 13 is a number of focus and pragmatism.

And for those who love Doctor Who, 13 Doctor Who Books to get you through 2020!

Have fun exploring! Rabbit trails are a must!

Link to week 49

Visit 52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges, as well as share your book reviews with other readers around the globe.

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Please share your book reviews and link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week.

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Sunday, December 6, 2020

BW49: This is my Life by Willian Stanley Braithwaite

This is My Life

William Stanley Braithwaite

(December 6, 1878- June 8, 1962)

To feed my soul with beauty till I die;

To give my hands a pleasant task to do;

To keep my heart forever filled anew

With dreams and wonders which the days supply;

To love all conscious living, and thereby

Respect the brute who renders up its due,

And know the world as planned is good and true—

And thus —because there chanced to be an I!

This is my life since things are as they are:

One half akin to flowers and the grass:

The rest a law unto the changeless star.

And I believe when I shall come to pass

Within the Door His hand shall hold ajar

I'll leave no echoing whisper of Alas!

Who is William Stanley Braithwaite, his poetry, and electronic text of House of Falling Leaves poetry collection.

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Sunday, November 29, 2020

BW48: Ladies of Fiction Bookology - Rumer Godden

Welcome to December! This month we honor those who died on December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor, celebrate St Nicolas Day on the 6th, the beginning of Winter on the 21st, as well as Festivus, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing day, and the all important Christmas book flood Jólabókaflóð.

We also are celebrating our Ladies of Fiction Bookology author of the month, Rumer Godden, writer of literary fiction novels, children's books, short stories, and poetry. Several of her books including Black Narcissus have been made into films and Television. She resided and worked in both England and India and moved to Scotland the last years of her life to live with her daughter. Her last novel was published in 1998 before she passed away on November 8, 1998

There are a number of ways to complete the bookology challenge, including but not limited to:

Spell out the author's name - one book per letter from the title on the cover.

Read one or more books written by the author.

Read a book written in the country or time period of the author.

Learn more about Rumer through Rosie Thomas: rereading the India novels by Rumer Godden, Reviving Rumer Godden’s classics, British Summer Reads For Catholic Kids: Rumer Godden, and Publisher Weekly's compilation of reviews .

~Cheers and happy reading!

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Sunday, November 22, 2020

BW47: Best of 2020

"Reading is like breathing in, Writing is like breathing out" ~ Pam Allyn What a wonderful quote! Reading to me is as necessary as breathing and writing has become much the same. I get grumpy without my daily dose of words. I am ever so thankful for books and those who make them possible from the writers to the publishers to the online and brick mortar stores from whom I can satisfy my bookish sweet tooth. Especially writers, as we are the beneficiary of their creativity. They inspire, entertain, enrich our lives, teach us how to do new things, enlighten us with knowledge, make us laugh or cry, and ponder the meaning of history and life.

From classic literature to comic books, there is a wide variety to satisfy every reading palate. As we head into the end of the year, the best of lists are being released and the desire is great to fill our shelves, both virtual and physical with those books we want to read. My year ends with an end of the year shopping extravaganza, before I institute a buying ban at the beginning of the new year. Usually until April, sometimes longer, to give myself time to enjoy those which reside on my shelf for a bit before abandoning them to the temptation of the new.

Ready for the best of the best? Let's begin with New York Time's 100 Notable Books of 2020 and the 10 best books through time.

According to Oprah, these are the best of 2020

Financial Times shares their 20 best from crime to history to economics.

Esquire presents 44 of the best books to elevate your reading list.

Electric Literature offers up 20 Small Press Books you may have missed in 2020.

Five Books shares a plethora of top 5 lists from award shortlists to audiobooks.

And let's not forget the Greatest Books of all time.

Stay tuned to NPR's Book Concierge who will be coming out with their year end interactive reading guide for 2020 in a couple weeks. Meanwhile 2013 to 2019 lists are available.

Have fun following rabbit trails.

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

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Sunday, November 15, 2020

BW46: Bookish Birthdays and Events

Happy Sunday! Today is I Love to Write Day so grab your pens or pencils and write a note, a poem, a letter, get back to work or start working on that novel you've been planning forever. Your muse is waiting for you. Are you ready for an interesting exercise? All you have to do is put pen to paper and answer the question, "Writing is like..." And no, writing isn't like a box of chocolates. *grin*

Meanwhile it's time for another round of author birthdays.

Nov 15: German novelist Gerhart Hauptmann who won the 1912 Nobel Prize in Literature and poet Marianne Moore winner of the1951 Pulitzer Prize.

Nov 16: George S Kaufman, playwright and journalist as well as Portuguese novelist José Saramago, 1998 Nobel Prize winner, and Nigerian author Chinua Achebe.

Nov 17: Dutch Poet Joost van Den Vondel and civil war historian Shelby Foote

Nov 18: Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood and British dramatist Sir W.S. Gilbert

Nov 19: Poet Allen Tate

Nov 20: Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf, 1909 Nobel Prize winner, and South African novelist Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Nobel Prize winner.

Nov 21: French Philosopher Voltaire, and American feminist author, Marilyn French.

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with Everybody Reads 2020: Native Voices: Own voices memoir, poetry and novels by Indigenous people or 31 Native American Authors to Read Right Now

Many book events around the world have turned to celebrating online this year and The Miami Book Fair's special events starts today with many authors interviews available on demand. As well as Portland Book Festival (November 5th through the 21st.), the Gaudeamus Book Fair in Romania (November 16th to the 22th) and Dublin Book Festival 2020 (November 27th through December 6th.)

The Baillie Gifford Prize 2020 longlist has been released for the best in Nonfiction with the winners to be announced November 15th and the winners of the 2020 National Book awards Longlist will be announced on November 18.

World Philosophy Day is coming up on Thursday, November 18 and a perfect time to dive into the mind of the 12 Famous Philosophers and Their Guiding Principles. Perhaps add one or two to your reading list for next year.

Have fun following rabbit trails!

Cheers!

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Sunday, November 8, 2020

BW45: Ladies of Fiction bookology - Jayne Ann Krentz and Cherie Priest

This month you are getting two for the price of one with Cherie Priest and Jayne Anne Krentz. I somehow missed highlighting Krentz last month so the two red heads get to share this month. Both the ladies currently reside in Washington.

Jayne Ann Krentz encompasses three different worlds writing contemporary romantic suspense as well as historical romantic suspense under the pseudonym of Amanda Quick, and futuristic paranormal suspense under her real name, Jayne Castle. Krentz has written many books under 7 different pens names over the years from the 80's to the present. I've read quite a few and all are very entertaining.

Cherie Priest has written over two dozen books as well as multiple short stories in the steampunk, horror, and mysteries genres. She is best known for her Clockwork Century series starting with Boneshaker which I have on my shelves and am looking forward to reading.

There are a number of ways to complete the bookology challenge, including but not limited to:

Spell out the author's name - one book per letter from the title on the cover.

Read one or more books written by the author.

Read a book written in the country or time period of the author.

Learn more about our authors with a Conversation with Jayne Ann Krentz, youtube interview Book Lust with Nancy Pearl featuring Jayne Ann Krentz, as well as The Queen of Steampunk Speaks: An Interview with Cherie Priest and The Toll by Cherie Priest Is the Southern Gothic Horror Novel of the Summer.

Cheers and happy reading!

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Sunday, November 1, 2020

BW44: Non fiction November

Welcome to November and National Novel Writing Month, Native American Heritage month, National Caregiver Appreciation month. This week we celebrate National Author Day, so if you have some time this week thank an author for all their wonderful words via email, snail mail, facebook, or twitter. We are also observing Dio De los Muertos, voting on U.S. General Election Day, if you haven't already, as well as letting our Men Make Dinner Day, and if you are like me, having a Margarita with my Nacho's on National Nacho Day.

We are celebrating all things non fiction this month from the practical to the literary and creative. Fill your mind with facts and figures, history and geography, cultural and biographical, or learn something new from cooking to woodworking. There is a wide variety to appeal to most everyone.

Annie Dillard on the Art of the Essay and the Different Responsibilities of Narrative Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Stories

25 great nonfiction essays you can read online for free

Fiction v nonfiction – English literature's made-up divide

A Reading List for Stronger Creative Non-Fiction

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

100 Great Narrative Nonfiction Books

The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020

The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read

50 Cookbooks We're Diving Into This Fall

11 Nonfiction books that read like fiction

Works of Nonfiction to Rival Any Great Thriller Novel

Have fun following rabbit trails. ~Cheers

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Sunday, October 25, 2020

BW43: 52 Books Bingo - Ghosts and Goblins

We approach All Hallows Eve where the veil between the living and the dead is thin and Ghosts and Goblins come out to play.

There are a wide variety of fantasy novels where goblins come out to play from historical fiction to futuristic to mythology. You'd generally think of goblins as evil creatures but they come in all shapes and sizes and I'm sure the last thing on your mind is romance, however some authors have taken the goblin mythology and written stories with goblins as romantic leads and heroes such as in Shona Husk's Shadowland Series.

Ghost stories abound from the real to the creepy to the spooky to the surreal to romance and ghostly detectives and cozy mysteries. And let's not forget Gargoyles!

Read a book with ghost in the title or picture on the cover.

Read a book with goblin in the title or picture on the cover.

Read a book with gargoyle in the title or picture on the cover.

Challenge yourself and spell out ghost, goblin, or gargoyle, one book per each letter in the title.

A few more links to close out our October Spooktacular reading month:

9 books to creep you out this Halloween season

2020 Halloween reads for Kids and Teens.

Goblins: Books for kids

11 Haunted Novels with Emotional Ghosts

Top 10 Unconventional Ghosts in Literature

Have fun following rabbit trails!

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Sunday, October 18, 2020

BW42: October by Paul Laurence Dunbar

October

Paul Laurence Dunbar

October is the treasurer of the year,

And all the months pay bounty to her store;

The fields and orchards still their tribute bear,

And fill her brimming coffers more and more.

But she, with youthful lavishness,

Spends all her wealth in gaudy dress,

And decks herself in garments bold

Of scarlet, purple, red, and gold.

She heedeth not how swift the hours fly,

But smiles and sings her happy life along;

She only sees above a shining sky;

She only hears the breezes' voice in song.

Her garments trail the woodlands through,

And gather pearls of early dew

That sparkle, till the roguish Sun

Creeps up and steals them every one.

But what cares she that jewels should be lost,

When all of Nature's bounteous wealth is hers?

Though princely fortunes may have been their cost,

Not one regret her calm demeanor stirs.

Whole-hearted, happy, careless, free,

She lives her life out joyously,

Nor cares when Frost stalks o'er her way

And turns her auburn locks to gray.

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Sunday, October 11, 2020

BW41: 41 things

And now for something completely different!

Welcome to all things forty one this week. People, places, things, dates that have something to do with 41.

Best Books to Read For Ages 41 – 60

41 Books Recommended by Mark Zuckerberg

Read a book about the 41st President: 41 A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush

Authors born in 1941

Read a book with 41 in the title or 41st book in the series

Best selling and popular books in 1941

President only for 32 days in 1841 - William Henry Harrison

President from 1841 -1845 - John Tyler

Literature in 1741, Books set in 1641, and Took place in 1541.

41 Best Books of 2020 to elevate your reading

41 debut Authors over 40

14 Female authors recommend 41 favorite female authors

41 more books worth reading

What Beatles song repeats the title in the lyrics forty-one times? Let it be. Read a book with Let It Be in the title

Read the 41st book from the lists of Best 100 including Great American Read, Must Read Classics, Best Books of the 21st Century, Greatest Books, Most Influential, BBC's Big Read, or Goodread's listopia of 100 Best.

Have fun following rabbits trails, exploring events and people from 41BC all the way up to 2014.

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Sunday, October 4, 2020

BW40: October Spooktacular

Welcome to our October Spooktacular reading month. It's time to dip your toes into the water and scare yourself silly. Read thrilling stories stocked with the mysterious and shocking, paranormal stories brimming with ghosts and goblins, or urban mysteries packed with vampires and werewolves. If you are anything like me, I can't stand horror books filled with blood and guts. Give me a psychological thriller any day, roiling with nail biting, spine chilling suspense, creepy settings, and characters you certainly wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

Choose from a wide variety of classics to the contemporary, or the Hitchcockian and Lovecraftian to Stephen King and his son, Joe Hill, to Dean Koontz, to the men and ladies of suspense.

If you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, now would be the perfect time. Put away all your preconceived notions from the movies as the book is very different and will shock and amaze you. If you have read it, dip your toes into retellings of the story as well as the reimagining's of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

From the really scary to the mild:

The 20 Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2020

Best Horror of 2020

31 Psychological Thriller Books That Mess with Your Head

Lock Your Doors: 8 Young Adult Thriller Books

2020 Halloween reads for Kids and Teens

Currently on my night stand are Dean Koontz's Devoted, Josh Malerman's Bird Box, Dan Simmon's Hollow Man, and Marisha Pessl's Night Film, to name a few. Hmm! Which should I read first?

~Cheers to a spooktacular reading month~

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Literary Exploration Society to Expand Reading (Formerly 52 Books)

Pages

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

I'm participating in 2021

Sunday, December 13, 2020

BW50: Thirteen things

Sunday, December 6, 2020

BW49: This is my Life by Willian Stanley Braithwaite

Sunday, November 29, 2020

BW48: Ladies of Fiction Bookology - Rumer Godden

Sunday, November 22, 2020

BW47: Best of 2020

Sunday, November 15, 2020

BW46: Bookish Birthdays and Events

Sunday, November 8, 2020

BW45: Ladies of Fiction bookology - Jayne Ann Krentz and Cherie Priest

Sunday, November 1, 2020

BW44: Non fiction November

Sunday, October 25, 2020

BW43: 52 Books Bingo - Ghosts and Goblins

Sunday, October 18, 2020

BW42: October by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Sunday, October 11, 2020

BW41: 41 things

Sunday, October 4, 2020

BW40: October Spooktacular