The Reader's Room

Dec 21

Kids’ Corner: Top Ten Books

There always is a surge of top ten lists at year-end, and we did our part last week. But The New York Times, Washington Post, and even our effort don’t hold a candle to the top ten list of my 5-year old daughter. E picked out the top 10 books she read in 2015. Keep reading to find out what she selected and why.

To say that E has a lot of books is an understatement. I believe she inherited my book addiction. E also loves playing book-related games for the blog and was excited to get to create her own top ten list. How did we do this? We first laid out all her books on the floor of her room. Then she selected her 10 favorite. Finally, she lined then up in descending order from most to least favorite. Here are are top ten and the reasons she gave for their making it on to her list. Read more

Dec 18

3 Comments

1001 Book Review: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I may well be the last person on earth to read this book but I’m going to write up this review in case any of you are contemplating a reread. Find out what we thought of it and let us know what your opinion of the book. Read more

Dec 16

2 Comments

Our Top Ten Books

In the last few months various outlets have been publishing their top books of 2015. We thought we’d join in with the top ten books we read in 2015 and our top 5 books published in 2015. Find out which books made our lists and scroll down for links to a number of other “best of 2015 lists.” Read more

Dec 15

4 Comments

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

Although we won’t be competing for prizes, Book Worm and I will be participating in our winter scavenger hunt (because it’s fun). If you want to join us, sign up and read the instructions here. For my first task I tried to combine reading challenges by also selecting a 1001 book. I started with item #1: Read a book by an author who shares your birthday. I was born on May 27 along with Dashiell Hammett. So I read the Maltese Falcon. Here’s I thought…

Featured Author: Charles Dickens

Dickens_Gurney_head

This month it was my (Book Worm) turn to choose our featured author. I thought long and hard and decided that because it is the holiday season, and I live in England, there is no other author who better captures the spirit of the season in quite the same way as does Charles Dickens. Read our fun facts about Dickens, our favorite Charles Dickens books, and see my photos from the Charles Dickens festival. Read more

Dec 11

2 Comments

Indiespensable Book Subscription: Box #56

In October I received my first Indiespensable box, a book subscription service from Powell’s bookstore. You can read that review here. A few weeks ago my second box arrived and I’m happy to announce that I continue to love the service. Keep reading to see what I got and find out why this box was so great. Read more

Dec 9

6 Comments

2015 Man Booker Longlist: Did You Ever Have a Family Bill Clegg

Several months ago, Book Worm and I tried to make our way through the 2015 Man Booker Longlist books. Book Worm finished Did You Ever Have a Family a while ago and has been patiently waiting on me so we could post a joint review. Now I’m done. Find out what we both thought about his book and let us know what you thought. Read more

Dec 8

6 Comments

Scavenger Hunt Challenge Update: Join the challenge!

We are officially one week into our Winter reading challenge and approximately 1/4 of the items have been revealed. Have you decided which item(s) you will be picking? Keep reading to see how you can join us and to see some of the items revealed thus far. Read more

Dec 7

6 Comments

Read Around the World: Wales

The next stop on our world tour of reading is Wales! This month, we have a special guest contributor: Louise. Louise is from Wales and runs the wonderful blog book a week. You should check out it! She will be sharing some fun facts about her country, Welsh literature, and her personal recommendations for books to help immerse you in your “travels.” I’m especially excited to feature Wales as it is home to the book lover’s paradise Hay-on-Wye. I’ll hand it over to Louise to tell you more…

Non 1001 Book Review: The Gap of Time Jeanette Winterson

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
Published in 2015. Part of the Hogarth Shakespeare Retold series
Reviewed by Book Worm
Rating 5 stars
Find it here: The Gap of Time: A Novel (Hogarth Shakespeare)

Amazon synopsis: The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s “late plays.” It tells the story of a king whose jealousy results in the banishment of his baby daughter and the death of his beautiful wife. His daughter is found and brought up by a shepherd on the Bohemian coast, but through a series of extraordinary events, father and daughter, and eventually mother too, are reunited.

In The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson’s cover version of The Winter’s Tale, we move from London, a city reeling after the 2008 financial crisis, to a storm-ravaged American city called New Bohemia. Her story is one of childhood friendship, money, status, technology and the elliptical nature of time. Written with energy and wit, this is a story of the consuming power of jealousy on the one hand, and redemption and the enduring love of a lost child on the other. Read more