Thursday Quotables: The Diary of a Provincial Lady

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Every week we highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.

This week I chose a passage from a book that I'm reading for the funny books themed read. The novel is The Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930) and it's exactly that, the diary of a lady who lives in the country.

December 10 -- Robert, this morning, complains of insufficient breakfast. Cannot feel that porridge, scrambled eggs, toast, marmalade, scones, brown bread, and coffee give adequate grounds for this, but I admit that porridge is slightly burnt. How impossible ever to encounter burnt porridge without recollections of Jane Eyre at Lowood School, say I parenthetically! This literary allusion not a success. Robert suggests ringing for Cook, and have greatest difficulty in persuading him that this course utterly disastrous.

The whole novel is filled with scenes like the above.


Have you read The Diary of a Provincial Lady? What do you think of this passage?

The Reading Book Post, July 20th

Hello, everyone! Summer has really got to me and my mind is constantly thinking about the sea, the beach and the sun. But, as every Monday, let's take a look on what happened in the literary world the previous week.

• The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2015 was awarded to Sarah Hilary for her novel Someone Else's Skin. This was the author debut crime novel.

• So, a new Sherlock Holmes novel will be published. Written by Bonnie MacBird, Art in the Blood is due on October 6, 2015. But, you can read right now an exclusive excerpt. Another novel to expect in the fall! 

• Not only Sherlock Holmes returns but the Star Wars franchise has a new book. Aftermath is written by Chuck Wendig and will be published on September 4, 2015. The story will take place after the events of The Return of the Jedi and will connect the original trilogy with the forthcoming A Force Awakens. There is also a small passage available. 

• London's Young Adult Literature Convention is taking place these days. Watch Patrick Ness read an extract from his new novel. The Rest of Us Just Live Here is coming on August 27, 2015.

• As the voting period for the Hugo Awards is approaching, George R. R. Martin urges all the science fiction fans to participate. He underlines that this year's is one of the most controversial processes in the award's history. The deadline for the voting is on July 31, 2015.

• The 2015 London Literature Festival will highlight Herman Melville and his classic novel Moby Dick.  A live reading of the well-known novel will be held in 160 ten-minute readings by actors, writers, and comedians.

• Just for fun: this great illustration for a special Keyboard Shortcuts for Novelists.

• If Your life Were A Western Novel, What Would Your Story Be? Take the quiz to find out! I got Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. What did you get?

Confession Saturday: Dear Lola

Hello, everyone! Confession Saturday is a new weekly feature, in which we will have the chance to express our feelings towards certain characters. This time of the week we will choose one character and write to him/her about all the things we would like to say. We can explain why we like or dislike each character, which of his/her actions we don't understand and generally whatever comes to mind. 

New: I've just added a Linky Tool to Confession Saturday, be sure to leave your links there!

After reading Anna and the French Kiss I remained in the mood for romance, so I continued with the series. This week's letter will be to Lola from Lola and the Boy Next Door (2011). 

Dear Lola,

stop being such a drama queen! The only thing that justifies your behaviour is the uncertainty that your biological parents give you. 

I can't believe you're holding a grudge against your first love. Ok, I understand that he hurt your feelings, but you're neither the first one nor the last that has been rejected. In reality, he didn't even reject you and you would have known if you'd just taken the time to talk to him. 

Max isn't the right one for you. It's not just the age difference, which for me is a no (at least in that age), it's the fact that both your situations and your sets of mind are totally different. It's hard to realise it, but it never ends well. 

But, what I really really want to say to you is that the thing you have about costumes really gets on my nerves. I understand a certain eccentricity, but the full costumes you are wearing hide the real you. I believe that the reason why you do it is that you are afraid of letting people know who you are and this is your first line of defence. If you don't let people near you, how can you expect them to understand you?

Yours,

Aeriko

Thursday Quotables: Go Set A Watchman

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Every week we highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.

This week's passage comes from none other than the much anticipated Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, which was published a few days ago. I will only put a small passage here because I don't really want to spoil it. I'll just say that I'm so happy to encounter all those beloved characters again!

Atticus raised his eyebrows in warning. He watched his daughter's daemon rise and dominate her: her eyebrows, like his, were lifted, the heavy-lidded eyes beneath them grew round, and one corner of her mouth was raised dangerously. When she looked thus, only God and Robert Browning knew what she was likely to say.

Sounds like Scout, doesn't it?

Have you grabbed a copy of Go Set A Watchman yet? What are your first thoughts about it?

The Reading Book Post, July 13th

Hello, everyone! This has been a rough week for Greece, but I'm trying to remain optimistic. But, let's see what happened in the literary world the previous days. 

• The 2014 Shirley Jackson Awards were announced a few days ago. Among the winners are Jeff VanderMeer for his novel Annihilation and Daryl Gregory for his novella We Are All Completely Fine.

• Tomorrow is the day! The publication of Go Set A Watchman is only a day away and in Harper Lee's hometown they are already celebrating. But there are also many concerns about the book since Atticus Finch is portrayed a racist. I won't hide that this comes as a shock for me! Finally, Harper Lee's lawyer Tonja Carter has hinted that there might be another unpublished manuscript of the famous author. 

•  Joss Whedon's next project will be a comic series called Twist. The series will be a Victorian thriller and will be published by Dark Horse Comics. It is to be expected in six issues, but there isn't yet a release date.

• So, John Green has given some advice on love and life to the readers of Seventeen magazine. The Q&A is featured in August's issue, which was released on July 7th.

• Dark Horse Comics has announced that The Legend of Korra will continue as a new comic series. The comic will be created by Michael Dante DiMartino and it will pick up from where the show left off.

• In Charles Dickens's literary magazine All Year Round were published many anonymous poems and short stories. But a recently discovered collection of the author's magazine, includes Dickens's own notes. In these notes, we learn that some anonymous pieces belong to authors such as Elizabeth Gaskell, Lewis Carroll and Wilkie Collins.

• What genre would your romance take place in? Take the quiz to find out and let me know! I got mystery :) 

Confession Saturday: Dear Scout

Hello, everyone! Confession Saturday is a new weekly feature, in which we will have the chance to express our feelings towards certain characters. This time of the week we will choose one character and write to him/her about all the things we would like to say. We can explain why we like or dislike each character, which of his/her actions we don't understand and generally whatever comes to mind. 

Thank you so much for all of your positive reactions and feedback the first week of Confession Saturday. This week I'm writing a letter to Scout Jean Louise Finch, from the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I won't lie that I'm excited for the publication of To Set A Watchman which is now only a few days away.

New: I've just added a Linky Tool to Confession Saturday, be sure to leave your links there!

Dear Scout,

You were just a little child when this story happened. I didn't expect you to understand the things the way you did and I'm sincerely surprised about that!

I like the fact that you were a tomboy and expressed yourself freely. Growing up with an older brother can be tough, especially when he begins to exclude you from his games. Jem was no different than that. But the games you did play were fun! Ok, I have to admit that you didn't act a lot like a girl, but I was the same as you were at that age. Of course, you should have kept your temper, even though you were right. You were defending yourself and your father, but hitting the other person isn't always the solution.

It must have been really lonely to grow up without a mother, but Atticus was doing his best. He taught you not to be racist, to be honest and see every human being equal. It was only natural that you couldn't understand at your age the gravity of the situation your father found himself into. I hope that in the future you understood why he did it. In fact, Atticus was a great dad. He set an excellent example and I have high hopes that Jem followed his steps. 

Boo Radley was a unique case. At first, the games you played with the boys were insensitive. Boo was always watching you, even protecting you. You managed to create a weird relationship with him, a man that was out of the society for so long. In the end you acted the right way. Well done, Scout!  

I can't wait to meet your older self. I'd like to see how all of this influenced your way of thinking. It was a rough situation for a 9-year-old and I'd like to find out how all of this sunk in. I hope your relationship with Atticus remained the same.

Yours,

Aeriko

An InLinkz Link-up

Cover Characteristic: Cups

This meme is hosted by Sugar & Snark.

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favourite covers with that characteristic.

This week's characteristic is cups. So, here are my picks:

5. A Jane Auster Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter (2011) by William Deresiewicz

The title of this book is huge, but the cover is really funny. I like this cut-out gentleman figure.

4. Why We Broke Up (2011) by Daniel Handler

I have to admit that I like teacups and the colour red. How could I possibly not fall in love with this cover?

3. Longbourn (2013) by Jo Baker

Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of the maids? I couldn't miss this one!

2. Black Butler Vol. 1 (2007) by Yana Toboso

The previous entry had a maid, now it's only natural that I'd choose a cover with a butler. What better cover than this one?

1. Love, Rosie (2004) by Cecilia Ahern

I absolutely love this cover. The colours are amazing and the drawing is beautiful. It just makes me want to pick up and start reading it right away! 

Thursday Quotables: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Every week we highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.

This week I'm going to share with a beautiful love poem from Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924) by Pablo Neruda. A couple of days ago I finished reading Anna and the French Kiss and in this novel Etienne gives a book of Neruda's poetry to Anna. The Chilean poet has always been a favourite of mine, so I read this collection for yet another time.

In My Sky At Twilight

In my sky at twilight you are like a cloud

and your form and colours are the way I love them.

You are mine, mine, woman with sweet lips

and in your life my infinite dreams live.

The lamp of my soul dyes your feet,

My sour wine is sweeter on your lips,

oh reaper of my evening song,

how solitary dreams believe you to be mine!

You are mine, mine, I go shouting it to the afternoon's

wind, and the wind hauls on my widowed voice.

Huntress of the depths of my eyes, your plunder

stills your nocturnal regard as though it were water.

You are taken in the net of my music, my love,

and my nets of music are wide as the sky.

My soul is born on the shore of your eyes of mourning.

In your eyes of mourning the land of dreams begins. 

Have you read Pablo Neruda? Which is your favourite poem of his?

The Reading Book Post, July 6th

Hello, everyone! I'm so happy that you liked Confession Saturday and I hope that next week our group will be bigger. But, let's take a look on what happened in the literary world the previous week.

• The Desmond Elliot Prize 2015 was awarded to Claire Fuller for her novel Our Endless Numbered Days. Meanwhile, the shortlist for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year was annonced. Among the nominees are The Land Where Lemons Grow, A Journey to Russia and  Indonesia Etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation.

• Stephen King has released an exclusive audiobook edition of his short story Drunken Fireworks. He narrates the story himself. Drunken Fireworks will be included in the collection The Bazzar of  Bad Dreams which is due out in November.

• The publication of Go Set A Watchman is only a few days away. But last week was made public that the manuscript was discovered in 2011 and not in 2014 that was the official story.

• Parent by Day. Hero by Night. This is the new direction that Jessica Drew has taken. She appears in the cover for Spider-Womam #1 pregnant. The new issues will be available in October.

• Scribd announced that it cuts down the number of romance and erotica titles available. Caused by the high demand of these genres the online service is facing an unsustainable cost. 

• Summer is here and many of us take our reading to the beach. Learn how to protect your e-reader from the sun, surf and sand. Also, seven authors reveal what book will they read this summer.

• You know my love for folklore, so this week's quiz is all about it. Which monster from folklore are you? I got the Troll. Which one did you get?    

Confession Saturday: Dear Emma

Hello, everyone! Confession Saturday is a new weekly feature, in which we will have the chance to express our feelings towards certain characters. This time of the week we will choose one character and write to him/her about all the things we would like to say. We can explain why we like or dislike each character, which of his/her actions we don't understand and generally whatever comes to mind. 

So, for the first Confession Saturday I'm choosing Miss Emma Woodhouse from Emma by Jane Austen. 

Dear Emma,

many people hate you and I can't blame them for that. Your actions don't recommend your character, although you never mean ill. You have a certain status and education and I can understand why you needed distractions, I would be bored as well in your position, but matchmaking isn't the best thing to do. Especially when you try to convince Harriet that she loves men that she really doesn't. Poor Harriet is naive and innocent, you could make her believe anything, but in this way you don't respect her. She's your friend!

But, I have to admit that you were never unfair towards Jane Fairfax. Frank is the only person at blame here and you forgave him too easily. Flirting with him was just another distraction for you and any pain you may have caused it was done unintentionally. So, you shouldn't feel sorry. This is something that Jane and Frank have to figure out for themselves.

What I really want to say to you is that you are a lucky woman and I'm jealous! Mr. Knightley is a good man, loves you, but will always tell you when you're wrong. He understands your intentions and tries to make you understand why he disapproves some of your actions. An ideal partner should possess all those qualities. I really hope you listen to him more!

Yours,

Aeriko

This is Confession Saturday for this week! Feel free to participate! If you are interested in doing so, then let me know so I can add a Linky tool :)

Thursday Quotables: Napalm & Silly Putty

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Every week we highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.

Today, I chose some quotes from Napalm &Silly Putty(2001) by the legendary comedian George Carlin (review to come in a couple of days). As I expected this book is extremely funny and to-the-point. Carlin is sarcastic and touches many important issues. 

Some quotes are just funny. Like:

One of the first things they teach you in Driver's Ed is where to put your hands on the steering wheel. They tell you put 'em at ten o'clock and two o'clock. Never mind that. I put mine at 9:45 and 2:17. Gives me an extra half hour to get where I'm goin'.

and:

I wonder: On rainy nights, does the sandman send the mudman?

The next quote puts to words some of my own thoughts:

Camcorders are a good example of technology gone berserk. Everywhere you go now, you see some goofy f* with a camcorder. Everyone's taping everything. Doesn't anybody stop and look at things anymore? Take them in? Maybe even...remember them? Is that such a strange idea? Does experience really have to be documented, brought home and saved on a shelf?

As a dog person, I can relate to this last passage I'm sharing with you:

I love my dog. I love all my dogs. Every dog I ever had, I still love 'em. And in my life. believe me, I have had me a bunch of dogs. Because you keep on gettin' a new one, don't ya? It's true. As life goes on, you keep gettin' one new dog after another. That's the whole secret of life. Life is a series of dogs.

Are you familiar with George Carlin's comedy? What did you think about those quotes? Do you like a specific bit of his?

The Reading Book Post, June 29th

Hello, everyone! I'm back from the mini-break I had, in order to attend my cousin's wedding. I'm still tired since I arrived late last night. I'm also very preoccupied with the situation in Greece these days. But let's take a look at the literary news of the previous week.

• The 2015 Locus Awards Winners were announced last Saturday. Among the winners were Ann Leckie with her novel Ancillary Sword and Katherine Addison for her novel The Goblin Emperor. Also, The Betty Trask Award was given to Ben Fergusson for his debut novel The Spring of Kasper Meier. Finally, the Miles Franklin Literary Award was bestowed upon Sophia Laguna for her novel The Eye of the Sheep.

• The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is a project that includes true stories about love, sex, and dating. For this project, there are more than 40 female contributors, among those is Margaret Atwood. The Kickstarter campaign has already gathered $52,624 CAD, which is more than the original goal and 25 more days remain for its completion. 

• Fight Club for kids? The author, Chuck Palahniuk, reads it on camera. Too bad, that this book it's not actually true. 

• Columbia University Press will make new translations of several Russian modern literature novels, as well as classics. The first publications are estimated to be made in 2017.

• Some Harry Potter news! Look how the illustrations came to be as we all know and love them. Also, J.K. Rowling has revealed on Pottermore why the Dursleys dislike Harry so much. 

• An alternative ending was discovered by scholars at Cambridge University for the novella that inspired the film Eyes Wide Shut. The novella by Arthur Schnitzler is called Traumnovelle or Dream Story was first published on 1925. The alternative ending suggests that the doctor rather than observing the masked orgy, participated in it.

• Since Grey has just been published this week's quiz will have to do about the fictional billionaire. Can you guess who said each quote: Christian Grey or a Disney villain?

Thursday Quotables: Women in Love

Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Every week we highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.

This week I was in the mood to read for another time Women in Love (1920) by D.H. Lawrence, which is one of my favourite books. To be honest, this novel influenced me a lot. The following passage is from a very emotionally charged scene.

   'I love you right enough,' he said grimly. 'But I want it to be something else.'        'But why? But why?' she insisted, bending her wonderful luminous face to him, 'Why isn't it enough?'                                                                                                 'Because we can go one better,' he said, putting his arms round her.                   'No, we can't,' she said, in a strong, voluptuous voice of yielding. 'We can only love each other. Say "my love" to me, say it, say it.'
  She put her arms round his neck. He enfolded her, and kissed her subtly, murmuring in a subtle voice of love, and irony, and submission:'Yes -my love, yes- my love. Let love be enough then. I love you then -I love you. I'm bored by the rest.'                                                                                                                    'Yes,' she murmured, nestling very sweet and close to him.

Have you read Women in Love? What do you think about the passage?

Cover Characteristic: Cars

This meme is hosted by Sugar & Snark.

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favourite covers with that characteristic.

This week's characteristic is cars. So, here are my picks:

5. A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) by John Irving

This isn't actually the well-known cover for this book, but I rather like it. The old truck in front of the barn creates an amazing image.

4. We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction (2006) by Joan Didion

This is a collection of the author's nonfiction. I like very much this cover, especially the colour.

3. The Long Goodbye (1953) by Raymond Chandler

Philip Marlowe has always been one of my favourite detectives. So, when I saw that this week's characteristic was cars this cover came into my mind. I like that it shows only a detail of the car, it suits a mystery novel.

2. Mobile Library (2015) by David Whitehouse

What an amazing cover is this! I love the colours, I love the books that are shaped like birds.

1. The Hundred-Year House (2014) by Rebecca Makkai

Ok, the car is on the background but this cover is gorgeous! 

What are your favourite book covers with cars on them?

The Reading Book Post, June 22nd

Hello, everyone! I'm finally back in my hometown, but I'm still tired from the travelling. But let's take our weekly look at the most interesting literary news of the previous week.

• Can reading make us happier? Bibliotherapy is not a new thing and can take many forms. What do you believe about this science? 

• The next article is ideal for all the authors, as well as the readers who want to dig a little deeper into writing. It contains some very useful tips on how to construct a horror narrative. I found this fascinating and helpful.

• Spiderman embraces diversity, since a mixed-race teenager named Miles Morales will wear the mask of the popular superhero. Morales has been the Spiderman since 2011, but the writer Brian Bendis confirmed that he will become officially the superhero this fall. 

• Another superhero will return changed into the information age. The new Superman will bring a roguishness into the character of Clark Kent. In the new issue, we will learn the story of what led Lois Lane to reveal Superman's secret identity.

• Grey was published this week. As was expected, there were many fans of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy who were ecstatic about it. But all these years numerous fan-fiction stories have been written about Grey's perspective of the story. In some cases, the readers prefer these versions than the E.L. James one.  

• Knopf has confirmed that the author James Salter has died at the age of 90. Salter published his first novel The Hunters in 1957, but he gained his reputation as a novelist in 1967 with the book A Sport and a Pastime.

• Graphic designer Daniel Britton has created a font that will bring awareness about dyslexia. There is still much miscommunication and misinformation about this learning disorder and this font shows what it is like to read with the condition.

• Amazon has announced that from the beginning of July self-published authors will be paid according to how many pages the readers have actually read. So, if you want to help your favourite authors read as many pages of their books as you can! 

• Artist Michael Mandiberg has created the project Print Wikipedia, for which he will transfer wikipedia into a print reference which will contain 7,600 volumes. 

• There are a lot of quizzes about famous first lines. But this quiz is all about the second lines. Can you guess from which novel they are? 

Thursday Quotables: De Profundis

Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Every week we highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.

This week I decided to pick the quotes from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde. This is a heartfelt book and very touching. Wilde wrote it while he was in prison and comes into terms with the things that happened to him and his own emotions. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. 

Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return.

Sorrow is a main theme in De Profundis. Wilde returns to this emotion various times.

Where there is sorrow there is holy ground.

It's so moving to read this change happening to the author, to finally understand himself.

But while there were times when I rejoiced in the idea that my sufferings were to be endless, I could not bear them to be without meaning. Now I find hidden somewhere way in my nature something that tells me that nothing in the whole world in meaningless, and suffering least of all. That something hidden away in my nature, like a treasure in a field, in Humility.

I am completely penniless, and absolutely homeless. Yet there are worse things in the world than that. I am quite candid when I say that rather than go out from this prison with bitterness in my heart against the world, I would gladly and readily beg my bread from door to door.

Have you read De Profundis? What did you think about it?

The Reading Book Post, June 15th

Hello, everyone! I was so happy that this week I was nominated for the Beautiful Bloggers Award. This Thursday The Reading Armchair will also be featured in Melissa's blog, Around the World in Books, so be sure to check it out! But, as usual, let's see what happened in the literary world during the previous week.

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has its 150th anniversary this year. To celebrate it, some new translations will be published. Among them, there will be a translation in emoji, Gothic, as well as Scouse (the dialect of Liverpool) and Pashto (Afgan language).

• David Mitchell was selected to be the next author to write and deposit a new novel in Katie Paterson's Future Library. This is a project, in which the selected authors will have one year to write a book without any rules or restrictions, and an anthology will be published with these works in 100 years. The first author to contribute was Margaret Atwood. 

• Rhianna Pratchett confirmed that The Shepherd's Crown will be the last Discworld novel. She said the series was his father's legacy and it was sacred to him. The Shepherd's Crown is due on August 27th.

• John Cleese has written an autobiography, So Anyway. Read an excerpt from it, in which Cleese talks about his father. 

• Corey Pressman has a new project called Poetry for Robots, in which he questions the result of using poetry and metaphors as metadata. This is very interesting and I'd like to see the actual results.

• During the Agatha Christie festival, recipes from the famous author's novels will be recreated. It will be held in Christie's own kitchen, and the guests are advised to taste the samples with extreme caution!

• What character are you like when you're angry? Take the quiz to find out! I got the Wicked Witch of the West, how about you?

Thursday Quotables: number9dream

Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Every week we highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.

This week I chose a book that I reviewed at the beginning of the year, number9dream by David Mitchell. In this novel, a young man, Eiji Miyake, moves to Tokyo in order to find out the identity of his father. I can't really give anything more of the plot because it would be a spoiler. But, as a Mitchell novel, it's unique and thought-provoking. 

It would be so much simpler if you would just drop by her for a sandwich and a coffee. I will recognize you, introduce myself, and persuade you that natural justice in on my side. How do daydreams translate into reality? I sigh. Not very well, not very often. 

In this novel, Mitchell explores many themes and ideas. It's sure to think about it a long time after you've finished it.

A single night is stuffed with minutes, but they leak out, one by one. My capsule is stuffed with Stuff. Look up 'stuff' in a dictionary, and you get a picture of my capsule above Shooting Star. A shabby colony in the empire of stuff.

The part about memories is probably one of my favourite in number9dream.

'I took her literally at first, too.' Mrs. Sasaki speaks carefully, the way she does. 'But I think she's talking about her memories.' We watch her disappear in the shimmer. Cicadas wind up and wind down. 'All we are is our memories.'

And a quote about us gamers.

All these people like my mother paying counsellors and clinics to reattach them to reality: all these people like me paying Sony and Sega to reattach us to unreality.

Have you read number9dream? What do you think about these quotes?

The Reading Book Post, June 8th

Hello, everyone! Another Monday is here bringing a new week, I've been reading some interesting news and I enjoy very much the funny books theme. But, for the time being, let's see what happened in the literary world the previous week.

• The 2014 Nebula Awards Winners have been announced by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Among the winners are Jeff VanderMeer for his novel Annihilation and Nancy Kress for her novella Yesterday's Kin. Also, the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction was awarded to Ali Smith for her sixth novel How to be Both. You can watch the winner announcement here.

• One of the things that have divided the literary world is the distinction between literary and genre fiction. In this talk, authors Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro, try to find the answer why, by talking about the politics of storytelling.

• Ursula K. Le Guin posted recently on Book View Cafe, asking all of the readers to stop buying books from Amazon. She argues that Amazon takes no risks, that's why it's ideal book is a safe commodity. Does Amazon really influence the way the books are written and which books are read?

• A library in Japan, in order to promote the establishment, has planned a book dominoes event, where they will try to break the world record. But this has caused controversy because some believe it is disrespectful towards the books. The event will be held on July 12th.

• The past week the internet was full of the news that a fourth Fifty Shades of Grey book will be published from the point of view of Christian Grey. The book is due on June 18th, Christian's birthday.

• A first edition of The Hobbit with a Tolkien's elvish inscription was sold for the record price of £137,000. The first estimate was only £50,000-£70,000.

• Georgette Heyer has been honoured with an English Heritage blue plaque at her birthplace, in Wimbledon. Famous fans and family gathered to honour the queen of Regency romances. 

• A group of scientists, drawn to The Lord of the Rings, make thorough scientific studies about the conditions and races in Middle Earth. Some of the studies include if there is higher Oxygen content and the mental illness of Gollum. 

• Readers and experts have voted the most evil child book characters of all time. The list was compiled by the online bookshop Abebooks. 

• This week's Reading Book Post has two quizzes. With the first you can find out in which dystopian world you would survive. I got Panem. The second informs you of your age depending on your literary tastes. According to this quiz, I'm a teen.

Cover Characteristic: Cigarette/Smoking

This meme is hosted by Sugar & Snark.

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favourite covers with that characteristic.

This week's characteristic is with cigarettes or someone smoking. So, here are my picks:

5. Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami

I like this cover because it's like a painting. It's a little abstract, but the colours are great. I also like that it's a scene from a bar.

4. Neuromancer by William Gibson

The Hungarian edition of the Neuromancer has this amazing cover, where we see Molly smoking outside of a car. 

3. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy 

In a list where the main characteristic is cigarettes, it was obvious that one of the picks would be from a noir novel. The femme fatale smoking and looking mysteriously is a little standard, but in this cover it works perfectly. 

2. Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

There are a lot of editions of Sherlock Holmes. This one by White's Books has this amazing cover. The pipe is one of the things that distinguish the great detective and here is the main characteristic of this cover. 

1. Slaughter on Fifth Avenue (The Sandman #32), by Neil Gaiman and Shawn McManus

My #1 pick is the 32nd issue of The Sandman, Slaughter on Fifth Avenue. Written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Shawn McManus, this issue, like the rest of The Sandman, is compelling. 

Have you read any of these? What do you think of this list? Which are your favourite covers with cigarettes/smoking?