Interesting Links

My links today are sort of all over the place, but are more about architecture than books.

Via Shelf Awareness: Near the Library, D’Espresso’s Bookish Coffee Bar.

Via (sort of surprisingly) Go Fug Yourself:
10 music videos set in libraries and bookstores.

Via archinect: Should you build your own home? Loved this! FYI, home in this context, refers to your website, not to an actual house.

At the NY Times, AT HOME WITH PATRICK DOUGHERTY: Building With Sticks and Stones. I've written about the artist previously.

Teaser Tuesday 10/12

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

As frequent readers may have noticed from the lack of anything going on here, I'm in a slump. Since I think the universal cure for a slump is well-loved classics, I'm browsing my shelves these days looking for something that seems appealing. Over the weekend, I read an old favorite: Friday by Robert A. Heinlein. This week's Teaser:

As I left the Kenya Beanstalk capsule he was right on my heels. He followed me through the door leading to Customs, Health, and Immigration. As the door contracted behind him I killed him.

This isn't my favorite Heinlein by any stretch, but it's a quick and fun read (especially if you skim the typical Heinlein lectures on everything from politics to astrophysics and avert your eyes from the outdated sexual politics).

Teaser Tuesday 10/5

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

This week's Teaser is from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott.

[A moral position] begins in the heart of a character and grows from there. Tell the truth and write about freedom and fight for it, however you can, and you will be richly rewarded.

I've been reading this book for some time now, somewhat because I've been in a general reading slump, but also because this book lends itself really well to being read in snippets.

Friday Update and Links

I've read maybe 10 pages from a book this week. I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating on anything more complicated than Glee or a game of sudoku. My brain has turned to mush. Can I blame being pregnant?

Other people are doing interesting things, though, so I will just share them and hope you will forgive me for being such a poor blogger. Some are architecture, some are books, some are both.

From Archi Dose, I present two cool new blogs: Round Houses and Things Organized Neatly. Both are exactly what the packaging says and are worth checking out.

The Top 10 Bookstores in the US from Flavorwire [Via Bookslut]

I though this article was interesting, even though I'm not Jewish. I do like fantasy, though. Why There is No Jewish Narnia Warning: contains minor spoiler for The Magicians by Lev Grossman.) [Via Nancy Werlin at Whatever]

Author Douglas Coupland helped design a national monument in Ottawa to Canadian firefighters who died in the line of duty. Yes, Douglas Coupland, the author of Generation X, etc. So much for my excuse why I can't finish editing my novel. [Via Bookslut]

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

BBAW - Future Treasures

As part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I am responding to a daily question about books and blogging. Please visit the BBAW website for more answers from other bloggers.


We’ve been visiting each other and getting to know each other better…now is your chance to share what you enjoyed about BBAW and also what your blogging goals are for the next year!

I've been too busy this week to really appreciate BBAW, unfortunately, but I'm looking forward to catching up on all the great posts stacking up in my RSS reader and finding out what I missed!

My blogging goals for the next year are simple: keep going! As many of you have already read, my husband and I are expecting our first child this December. I anticipate that my life is going to change dramatically when our little girl arrives. I'd like to keep blogging, though, so I will do my best to learn how to fit it in to my new schedule.

BBAW - Unexpected Treasure

As part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I am responding to a daily question about books and blogging. Please visit the BBAW website for more answers from other bloggers.


We invite you to share with us a book or genre you tried due to the influence of another blogger. What made you cave in to try something new and what was the experience like?

One book I read recently on the advice of a fellow blogger was Dissolution by C.J. Sansom which I read after reading the review on The Infusion. That wasn't particularly outside of my comfort zone, though, as I really love historical mysteries.

I also read, this year, The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti, after reading many positive reviews about it from other bloggers. As you can see from my review, I wasn't terribly impressed with it, though.

If I had an "unexpected treasure" this year, it's not coming to me, unfortunately.

Teaser Tuesday 9/14

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

This week's Teaser is from Persona Non Grata: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie.

The buildings were grander than anything she had seen before, but the streets smelled just as powerfully as every other town of fish sauce and fresh bread, frying, warm dung, sweaty bodies, and brash perfume.

"Come on, Tilla, or whatever your name is," urged Marcia over the clatter of a passing handcart.

This book is set in Roman Gaul, not Roman Britannia, like the first two books in the series (Medicus and Terra Incognita). I'm enjoying the change of scenery.