BW50: 52 Books Bingo - Creativity

 

Courtesy of Marie Cardouat

Happy Sunday!  Our last 52 Books Bingo Category for the year is Creativity, my favorite subject. It's time to unleash your inner Creativity. 

Creativity takes all shapes and forms from the physical to the intellectual, deliberately or spontaneously.  Whether you have a creative mind or creative hands, there are a wide variety of ways to be creative and things highly creative people do differently.   What is the difference between Artistic and Creative ability?   And then there is Creative Leadership Lessons from Star Trek.    What do you think? 

15 Books About Creativity to Get You Out of a Creative Rut.  One book I revisit over and over is The Artist Way by Julia Cameron which unlocked my imagination. 

The 9 Books Every Artist Should Have on Their Shelf

Art and Fiction: 15 Brilliant Novels About Art and Artists

The Artist’s Library: 40 Must-Have Books for Music Producers

40 Best Books about Writing.  So many good books including Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing, and Stephen King's On Writing.  Lynn Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves which is hilariously good, as well as Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. 

The 25 Best Cookbooks Of 2022.  I have a big collection of cookbooks but my favorite is still an old Good Housekeeping. However, I am fascinated with Moosehead Restaurant's variety of cookbooks.

There are so many ways to be creative and I've been diving down rabbit holes all afternoon.  *Grin. However I don't want to overwhelm you with links so have fun diving down your own rabbit holes. 

How do you nourish your creativity? 

Our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the week are C and you guessed it, Creativity

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BW49: Crime Spree Recommendations

 

Happy December! It's cold and rainy and we're tucked up, nice and cozy with books and family. The best place to be, whether it be physically or virtually.  Thanks to Sandy and Amy we've had a grand year, going on a crime spree.  

Let’s end the year with a feeling of festivity, joy, and a reminder that rich uncles frequently change their wills during the Holidays so be on your best behavior.

 What have been your favorite categories this year? Have you discovered any new genres to love?

 

·  Grandparents of Crime: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

· Romantic Suspense: Holiday in Death by JD Robb

· Golden Age: Mystery in White by F. Jefferson Farjeon or Nine Tailers by Dorothy Sayers

· Classic Children’s Mysteries: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

· Historical Mysteries: The Queen’s Christmas by Karen Harper (Tudor) or Silence in the Sanctuary by Deanna Rayburn (Victorian)

· Religious Characters: The Raven in the Forgate by Ellis Peters or Twelve Drummers Drumming by CC Bennison or Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman

· The Americans: And Four to Go by Rex Stout or The Finishing Stroke by Ellery Queen

· True Crime: The Meaning of Our Tears: the True Story of the Lawson Family Murders of Christmas Day 1929 by Trudy Smith

· Police Procedural: Water like a Stone by Deborah Crombie

· Around the World: Maigret’s Christmas by Georges Simenon or Voices by Arnaldur Indriðason

· Hanukkah: Festival of Deaths by Jane Haddam

 

Challenge: Give up your life of crime by recommending a favorite mystery book to a BaW friend.

Our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the Week are D and Delight.

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BW48: Best Books of 2022

Happy Sunday! It's that time of year when we are all thinking about next year's reading plans and  making our lists and all the best of the best 2022 book lists are popping up.   According to the Chinese zodiac 2023 is going to be the Year of the Rabbit, which is great for me since we all know how much I get lost following rabbit trails and jumping down rabbit holes on the internet.  

I'm resisting the urge to buy at the moment, adding books that sound interesting or intriguing to my wish list, and will  revisit them later, rather than impulse buy.  My kindle is full of books that I look at and wonder what was I thinking.  But then again, I have a broad assortment to choose from, whatever my mood. I'll read them in the end, eventually.  Let's explore: 

Readers Digest Best Time Travel Books That Will Transport You to Another Time and Place and 30 Best Fantasy Books of All Times.  Lots of rabbit holes to fall into with links to historical fiction, romance, young adults books, and more. Will be coming back to this one over and over again. 

Bill Gates 5 of my all time favorite books.  Mendeleyev's Dream is on my wishlist and I should probably consider rereading Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land since it keeps popping up for me.  Synchronicity!

Powell's Best Fiction Books of 2022 - the staff's descriptions alone will make you want to read every book on the list.  

Financial Times Best Fiction of 2022 - An eclectic list of  fiction 

NPR's massive list of Books We Love  - You'll be dipping in and out of this one for days. 

Time's 100 Must Read Books of 2022 - Great for the cover art alone. 

BookPage Best Non Fiction Books of 2022 - A wide range of non fiction that are intriguing. 

Our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the Week are E and Explore. 

😘 

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BW47: Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Sunday! Did you know today is absurdity day so do something silly. The 21st is World Hello day so go out and say hello to people. The 22nd is Go for a Ride day so explore.  The 23rd is National Espresso day so fix yourself a fabulous cup. The 24th is Thanksgiving so eat lots of turkey. The 25th is either Black Friday or Buy nothing day so do or don’t, it’s up to you. Whispers – go buy lots of things.  *wink*   We are celebrating this week in our household too with my sister and brother in law’s 44th anniversary, hubby’s brother’s 67th birthday, my 63rd birthday, plus Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for.

A Song for Merry Harvest

By 

Eliza Cook 

Bring forth the harp, and let us sweep its fullest, loudest string.

The bee below, the bird above, are teaching us to sing

A song for merry harvest; and the one who will not bear

His grateful part partakes a boon he ill deserves to share.

The grasshopper is pouring forth his quick and trembling notes;

The laughter of the gleaner’s child, the heart’s own music floats.

Up! up! I say, a roundelay from every voice that lives

Should welcome merry harvest, and bless the God that gives.

The buoyant soul that loves the bowl may see the dark grapes shine,

And gems of melting ruby deck the ringlets of the vine;

Who prizes more the foaming ale may gaze upon the plain,

And feast his eye with yellow hops and sheets of bearded grain;

The kindly one whose bosom aches to see a dog unfed

May bend the knee in thanks to see the ample promised bread.

Awake, then, all! ’tis Nature’s call, and every voice that lives

Shall welcome merry harvest, and bless the God that gives.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

A to Z and Back Again Letter and Word of the Week are F and Foresight.

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Please join us for our 15th annual Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks reading adventure

 

Join us for our 15th annual Read 52 books in 52 weeks reading adventure. 

The goal is easy - Read 52 Books.  We don't any set reading lists so how you get there is up to you. However, we do have a variety of challenges including weekly, monthly mini challenges, annual and perpetual challenges to entice your reading taste buds   If you aren't up to 52 but want to join in, you can set your own goal.  

2023 52 Books Bingo - 25 new categories which will take us on a exploration around the world. 

2023 Bookish Bookology - Our author of the month in which you can read one or more books by the author, or spell out their first or last name. 

2023 A to Z and Back Again - All the way from A to Z and back again as we play with words.  

Participate in one or more of our perpetual challenges:  

Agatha Christie  -- Read her books in chronological order as listed, group by detective or collection, or randomly if you choose. Read at least three per year.

Brit Tripping --- A year long mystery read traveling the Roman Roads through England reading reading a book from each of the 45 counties with a few extra trips to London. 

Mind Voyages - A science fiction / fantasy challenge through the decades, exploring the Hugo and Nebula winners and nominees, Philip K. Dick, and Robert Heinlein. 

Well Educated Mind --  Continue to explore the classics in 6 categories: Fiction, Autobiography, History/Politics, Drama, Poetry and Science. 

Plus Dusty and Chunky, Feed Your Muse, Inspiration, Nobel Prize Winners and Sounds of Silence.

There is a little bit of something for everyone. Follow your muse and read widely or wildly, follow rabbit trails, read outside your comfort zone or stick with the tried and true. Choose whatever path is right for you. 

The mini and perpetual challenges are all optional, Mix them up anyway you like and follow your own path in the quest to read.  

• The challenge runs January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023
• Our book weeks begin on Sunday.
• Participants may join at any time. 
• All forms of books are acceptable including e-books, audio books, etc. 
• Re-reads are acceptable as long as they are read after January 1, 2023
• Books may overlap other challenges. 
• Create an entry post linking to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks and sign up in the link below.  
• If you don't have a blog or social media account, post about your reads in the comments section of each weekly post. 
• The link widget will be added to the bottom of each weekly post to link to your book reviews, and closes at the end of each book week. 

BW46: A bit of this, a bit of that!

 

Happy Sunday! I'm leaping down rabbit holes today on the internet, exploring this, that, and the other.  Kind of like my sleep lately.  Ever since the time change, I've been waking up around 4, unable to get back to sleep for a while. Ideas bounce through my head for the story I'm working on as well as book ideas and book bingo, too tired to write them down and hope I'll remember them in the morning.  Some ideas remain when I wake, others are still floating around in my mind, on the tip of my tongue but not quite there. Oh well. What was I saying. Oh yes. *grin*  I've been exploring, letting my fingers do the walking through the web.   A sample of today's finds. Enjoy! 

In Search of Marcel Proust

Where to Start with Nora Ephron

Entangled Publishing Launches Red Tower Books, Focused on Romantic SFF

On writing a New Take on the Thin Man, set in Space

Hungarian Speculative Fiction: Forceful, Vicious, Viscous

Murder in the Moors: Crime Fiction Books Set in the English Moors

True Life: I was a Dragon Book Kid

Antarctica Reading List.

25 Best Steampunk Books (2022)

Our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the week are G and Grateful.

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BW45: 52 Books Bingo - Different Culture

 

Courtesy of Smarter Travel 

Happy Sunday. Our next 52 Books Bingo category is a Different Culture which links up quite well with our Crime Spree Around the world for this month. 

Why Diverse Books Matter: Mirrors and Windows

20 Fascinating Cultural Traditions Around the World

What Colors Mean in Other Cultures

Experience New Things with These 21 Books About Cultures That May Not Be Your Own

10 Cross-Cultural Novels that Illuminate the World We Live In

27 Books About Different Cultures & Faraway Places: Travel Writers’ Recommendations

RD's best books by Native American, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Authors.

GQ's Best Modern Middle Eastern Literature to read right now.

Europa Editions World Noir: International Mysteries and Crime Fiction. 

12 classic European novels to add to your reading list

Our A to Z and Back Again Letter and Word of the Week are H and Hubris.

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BW44: November Crime Spree - Around the World

 

Happy Sunday, dear hearts. November is upon us and our newest crime spree category brought to us by Sandy and Amy is all about translated books.  

Crime isn’t limited to the US (or England for us Anglophiles). Some of the most interesting, translated works are mysteries from the Around the World, including the tortured protagonists and bleak settings of Scandinavia to the creepiness of Japanese mysteries to the sunshine noir of African authors.

Places to explore:

·         Africa: The Missing American by Kwei Quartey

·        Nordic: Jussi Alder-Olsen and Arnaldur Indriðason

·         Japan: Seishi Yokomizo’s Detective Kosuke Kindaichi series and The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

·         Australia: Jane Harper

·         Spanish: Carlos Ruiz Zafron

Challenge: Dust off your forged passport and get on Interpol’s most wanted list by reading a translated mystery.

Our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the week are I and Inspect.

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BW43: 52 Books Bingo - Myths, Monsters, and Imagination

 

Happy Sunday! We are continuing our October Spooktacular with the next 52 books category - Myths, Monsters, and Imagination. 

Monsters in Entertainment: Obsession or Projection?

Eight creepiest mythical creatures from around the world

Terrifying monsters in literature

Samhain Reading List: 13 Frightening Works of Fiction for Celebrating Halloween’s Celtic Roots

Caspar Henderson: rereading The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges

"The Book of Imaginary Beings tosses stone after stone into the subterranean caverns of the reader's mind. It takes us along passageways and turns corners to reveal strange shapes and images, some of which may precede and outlast anything conceived by man. If we are attentive, the reverberations can help us trace the dimensions of those spaces. We glimpse chinks of light and are then engulfed in sudden dazzling floods of it." Casper Henderson, The Guardian. 

Getty's An Introduction to the Bestiary, Book of Beasts in the Medieval World

Let's not forget my son's favorite - Godzilla and all the monsters he's fought over the years from Mothra to King Kong. Toho's Kingdom of the Monsterverse and all things Godzilla. 

And our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the week are J and Juggernaut. 

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BW42: Noah Webster

Noah Webster: Portrait by James Herring, 1833

Happy Sunday! Today is Noah Webster's birthday, the father of the American Dictionary. October 16 is named Dictionary Day in honor of Webster.  We have the second edition unabridged Webster's dictionary which is humongous at 3194 pages, and a slightly smaller fifth edition collegiate edition at 1274.  It's interesting to compare them to the modern 2022 edition of the Merriam Webster dictionary, a mere 960 pages.  I prefer the older versions which are much more fun to peruse. I really need to get my hands on an Oxford English Dictionary one of these days.  When I'm writing, I always have Dictionary.com or Thesaurus.com tabs open in my computer, exploring different words. I prefer the online versions over the current Merriam Webster edition which has definitely been dumbed down.  

Noah Webster's Story

Noah Webster and the Dream of a Common Language 

Noah Webster’s Impact on Education

An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution

Project Gutenberg's A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings, by Noah Webster

This week's A to Z and back again letter and word of the week are K and Kin.

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BW41: Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghosts! Oh My!

 

Happy Sunday! Our spooktacular reading month continues and it isn't all about horror.  Oh no! Especially since I'm not into blood and guts violence.  I like the type of books that get your adrenaline going, keeps you guessing, finger nail biting, keep you up all night reading suspense.  There are a number of ways to go with psychological thrillers, gothic, paranormal reads that run the gamut from the supernatural to urban fantasies. Books full of bad guys, ghosts, and scary as well as delicious vampires, and werewolves.  

Authors whose books I've enjoyed:

Stephen King's World of the Dark Tower or his psychological thriller Duma Key.  

Dean Koontz's series: version of Frankenstein or take a trip with Odd Thomas who communicates with the dead. 

Christian writers that will scare the pants off you: Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. I've read all their books which are chilling and thrilling.

Take a tour through stories about haunted houses.

Psychological thrillers that will play with your head. 

The Best Gothic Horror Books Of All-Time.

30 Best Vampire Romances to sink your teeth into. 

17 Werewolf Romance Books That Will Have You Howling for More.

Need something a little lighter? Check out Cozy Mystery's Halloween Mystery Book list

This week's A to Z and back again letter and word of the week are L and Looming.

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BW40: October Spooktacular and the Unreliable Narrator

Happy Sunday and welcome to our Spooktacular October full of chills and thrills, spine tingling adventure stories, and unexpected, jump out and surprise you, don't turn the lights off reads? If you are anything like me, gruesome horror isn't your thing. However, psychological, mind bending, Hitchcock type thrillers full of suspense are my favorite type of reads, along with paranormal, ghosts, vampires, were wolves and the weird.

If you haven't read the classics, now would be your chance with Frankenstein or Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Grey or Something Wicked This Way Comes to name a few. Put away your expectations because you may be surprised when they don't turn out how you suspect they will.

And this month's crime spree category fits the bill with the Unreliable Narrator.

The first rule of reading books by an Unreliable Narrator is to not read anything more about it than a brief description. All the charm in this genre is surprise so you must be diligent in avoiding spoilers.


The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles
We Were Liars by E. Lochart
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson

Challenge: Who can you trust? Really? Watch your back and pick up a book by an Unreliable Narrator.


And our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the week are M and Mayhem.


Cheers to a spooktacular reading month.