I can't think of a better way to kick off our First Birthday Party Week than to ask R&BLers the following question:
What do you like about reading?
I'm ready to start you off with a few of the things that I like, but first an announcement. As you noticed last week, R&BLers continues to grow, bringing you more new content in response to readers' interests and requests. I'm proud to inform you all that bookgirl will debut a new weekly series titled Contemporary Fiction Views beginning TUE, Feb. 21 in the time slot right behind this one at 10PM (ET). So, I hope you'll mark your calendar and drop in on her Birth Announcement diary next week, if you can take time away from kissing your Valentine, that is. I'll let her tease you with what to expect in our latest regular feature.
Due to technical difficulties (mine), our resurrection of that old favorite, My Favorite Books/Authors took place this AM instead of last night. If you missed it, please take the time to read edrie's first installment, "broken backs and books."
Now, let's get on with the party game!
Please turn the page.
What I like about reading.
Reading a great book by a fabulous author gives me ideas for what to ask for on my birthday. Wait. Let's be honest here. What I should say is what to get myself for my birthday. I'm too impatient to get my hands on the books I want to drop subtle hints. I love celebrating another year gone by with an authorgraphed (may I coin a word?) book by my favorite author. Like Neal Stephenson -- my favorite speculative fiction writer, or Lisa Randall, my favorite modern physics writer, or Salman Rushdie, my favorite social satire writer, or Da Chen, my favorite international writer. Nothing beats opening up the "present" at the Miami Book Fair, or the box from Powell's Books, or the package from Amazon when I already know what it is. There's something about seeing the author's name on the flyleaf in his or her own hand that makes the book seem friendlier. All my books feel like friends, but authorgraphed ones feel like best friends.
Another thing I like about reading is learning new vocabulary. No one can surpass Umberto Eco for throwing down little used but perfectly apt and intriguing words when he tells his stories. For instance, I'm half way through Baudolino and I've got four new words added to my mental lexicon: hypotyposis, nomothete, apocrisiary, and simoniac. I love hunting for that unmet fellow, neatly dressed in a fresh new arrangement of letters, exotic -- usually of Greek or Latin descent, hinting of secret levels of knowledge stretching beyond my average circle of words. I love reading the books that contain the most new words. They seem special, they suggest they should be reserved and read on special occasions. Like birthdays.
The last starter I have for your own ideas about what it is that you like about reading is how once I open my mouth and say to a perfect stranger, "I'm reading this really interesting book," I almost always make a new friend on the spot. That's really the underlying impetus to Readers & Book Lovers -- someone posts about some volume s/he's reading, sounds all excited about it, enthuses about how wonderful the book/author is, and seduces a poor passerby into getting hold of that book and reading it, too. Then, instead of an announcement, a monologue, a mere heads-up, a dialogue is born. Better still, others join the conversation and a group of people who share an interest in things literary soon become what we have had here for the past year. A lovely circle of bibliofriends who love to read and share that love with us in comments and extraordinary diaries.
So HAPPY BIRTHDAY R&BLers. I hope all of you will celebrate the week by contributing a diary about your own love affair with books and share your love of reading and the role R&BLers has had in your reading lives this past year while we count down the days to R&BLers one-year anniversary.
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
DAY |
TIME (EST/EDT) |
Series Name |
Editor(s) |
SUN |
3:00 PM |
The Magic Theater |
ArkDem14 |
SUN |
6:00 PM |
Young Reader's Pavilion |
The Book Bear |
SUN |
9:30 PM |
SciFi/Fantasy Book Club |
quarkstomper |
MON |
8:00 PM |
Monday Murder Mystery |
Susan from 29 |
Mon |
11:00 PM |
My Favorite Books/Authors |
edrie, MichiganChet |
TUE |
8:00 PM |
Readers & Book Lovers Newsletter |
Limelite |
WED |
7:30 AM |
WAYR? |
plf515 |
WED |
8:00 PM |
Bookflurries: Bookchat |
cfk |
THU |
8:00 PM |
Write On! |
SensibleShoes |
FRI |
8:00 AM |
Books That Changed My Life |
etbnc, aravir |
FRI |
10:00 PM (first of month) |
Monthly Bookposts |
AdmiralNaismith |
SAT |
11:00 AM (fourth of month) |
Windy City Bookworm |
Chitown Kev |
Sat |
9:00 PM |
Books So Bad They're Good |
Ellid |
Other than that, nothing's happening.