Currently // Announcing That / Annoyed With / Looking Forward To

Time // 3:02pm
Hoping that // This crazy, crazy weekend goes well. At least it's crazy because it's full of fun stuff - date night for Noel and I, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban party, cute tea party-themed baby shower to co-host - plus laundry and church and trips to the park and the usual.
Eating // Snitching some bits of pumpkin pasty that I made for the HP party! (Delicious, if I say so myself.) And pita chips. I think I might need a pita chip intervention soon; things are kind of out of control.
Annoyed with // Facebook. They changed their algorithms again I think. The Quirky Bookworm page has 281 likes, and I used to get about 120 views for most of my posts. Which wasn't great, but it was at least close to half of the people who liked the page. But all of the sudden, no more than 60 people have seen any of my posts. Which makes posting seem a little pointless sometimes, sigh. If you're not seeing my posts - the easiest way is to 'like' a couple of my updates when they show up in your feed. The more you like of someone or something, the more they'll show up.
Planning for // Disneyland! And the Tucson Festival of Books! Both of which are coming my way in less than 3 weeks. So much planning/packing/scheming to do. But I'm SO VERY EXCITED on both counts!
Working on // Reviews of Solsbury Hill and The Eternal Nazi. And trying to hurry up and read more April books whose reviews are due all too soon (since tomorrow is March. How did that happen?).
Wishing that // There will be a teensy bit more winter in my near future. Like 5 days with highs below 60. That's all I'm asking! Fortunately we made it with no AC in February (even though it got as high as 81 degrees in the house!) but I'm worried about March. I might have to break my no-AC-till-April rule this year.
Looking forward to // A new Rob Lowe book is coming out! I can't wait for Love Life. I'll have to listen to it on audio too, since I liked Stories I Only Tell My Friends so very much.
Announcing that // the very first Bookworm Fridays link-up will be coming up next Friday, March 7th. Based on your survey feedback, I'm creating a link-up the first Friday of every month. It'll alternate between Judging Books by Their Covers in even months and #bookwormproblems in odd months. So get your #bookwormproblems posts ready!

Ready to link-up?!

Reading in Foreign Languages

I was an International Affairs and French double-major in college, so at one point I could read in French fairly easily. But it's been a while (ahem, nine years!) since I really used my French. Tucson doesn't lend itself to much French-speaking.

To challenge myself, I decided to try to read next month's selection for the Young Adult Book and Movie Club, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in French (and started a little early to make sure I finish in time). But I am amazed at how much my colloquial French has slipped. I was weirded out to discover that Stan from the Knight Bus (aka "Le Magicobus") had a bunch of buttons on his face, until I went and got my English copy, and discovered that, in fact, he had a lot of pimples.

It's a little disheartening how slowly I've been going. I'm probably only reading at about 10 percent of my usual rapid pace. C'est vraiment triste!

Do you read in any foreign languages?

Book Review: The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan

Anna Trent likes her position as a chocolate taster in a factory--until a freak accident lands her in the hospital and out of a job. Coincidentally, the cancer patient sharing her hospital room is Anna's former French teacher, and as Anna convalesces, Claire makes her practice French to help them pass the time. Then Claire goes one step further: she gets Anna a job at the famous Thierry Girard chocolate shop in Paris.

Lovers of Paris, connoisseurs of chocolate and fans of chick lit will all enjoy Jenny Colgan's The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris, as Anna discovers a new world of chocolate--not factory produced, but lovingly created by hand--and ends up meeting a handsome Frenchman with whom she begins to fall in love. But things go awry when tragedy befalls the Girard family and Anna must try to save the future of the chocolate shop.

Anna's story is told in alternating chapters with that of Claire, who met a handsome Frenchman of her own some 30 years before. As in Meet Me at the Cupcake Café, Colgan has created a story where love and baked goods are central to the story and sweet endings are a must. Her characters are both believable and funny, while the Parisian setting makes this story practically irresistible. The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris is a quick, enjoyable read, chock full of both romance and chocolate.

I'm definitely a Jenny Colgan fan now. Her books are perfect, fun, chick-lit indulgence. I really enjoyed last year's Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe, and I think I liked The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris even more, mostly because it was refreshing to read a chick lit book not set in London. (It does help that her stories always seem to involve delectable baked goods!)

One of the French characters does speak in a super stereotypical way ("Zut alors!"); but I didn't mind it too much, given the enjoyability of the book as a whole.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Sure! Especially if she enjoys chocolate.

Who's your favorite chick lit author?

I originally wrote most of this review for Shelf Awareness.

Creating a Simple Book-Themed Nursery

 
I finally finished Juliet's nursery! (She's already four months old, nothing like finishing things in timely fashion! But, since she's still sleeping in our room, no big deal really.)

I'm so happy with how it came out. At first, before she was born, I had schemes for chair rails and blue paint and all kinds of nonsense. But since we're thinking this will only be her room for a year or two, and then the girls will share a room; I decided to stick with the tan walls, and just add the color via the artwork. I love how all the alphabet and book elements came together in the end!

The alphabet wall is a set of stickers I bought at a baby store here in Tucson, which is sadly out of business now. But you can find them on Amazon pretty inexpensively. I don't like that the letter B is pale green and the letter C is yellow, whereas all the other letters are darker and stand out more, but otherwise I think it adds some nice color to the room.
 

And Juliet will totally talk to the letters on the wall while I'm changing her, which makes me rather happy. (Please forgive the imperfection of my photographs - we don't have curtains up in there yet, so the lighting is odd, and it's a very small room, so it's hard to back up enough to get a whole wall in a shot!)

I'm most proud of the book collage art on the wall over the crib. I tried to use lots of children's classics - Maisy, Clifford, Curious George, Little Critter, Babar, and some Disney, some Eric Carle, Goodnight Moon, and a Golden Book I had as a kid called We Help Daddy.*

A couple of my friends helped me with the collages, which were pretty simple. Just before Juliet was born I went to Bookmans and spent about $20 trade credit on a big stack of picture books. Then we flipped through, cut out our favorite illustrations, and mod-podged them onto some old canvases I had. I put four coats of modpodge over the top, and fortunately they dried nice and matte (I was a little worried about the shiny factor for a while there!). They just look so cheerful!

Next up is the bookshelf which contains most of our board book collection (although there are a few left in Eleanor's room). I snagged that 'J' at Home Goods before we'd even decided on Juliet's name for sure - glad it worked out! The lamb is from my childhood, and plays Mary Had a Little Lamb. My grandma made the quilt that's over the back of the glider.

And then above the closet is the book garland left from my baby shower. This picture doesn't quite do justice to its three dimensional qualities.

Juliet will stare at it, transfixed, if we're in the rocker. I think it's the shadows. I like that you can see the words on the pages too - the detail is great!

Maybe soon I'll remember to share what some of our favorite board books are! But for now, I hope you enjoyed the tour of Juliet's book-themed nursery.

Have you ever made any book art?

 
*Oh goodness. Just checked, and the cheapest one is $15 used. Now I feel bad for cutting it up. Also, a couple of the book titles are my affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

A Few Quick Bookish Thoughts and a One-Question Survey

Happy Thursday!

Both of my girls are asleep right now (miracle of miracles); so I'm jotting down some quick bookish thoughts.

Oddly enough, given the grim subject, I've rather been enjoying The Eternal Nazi. Although since I've mostly been reading it while Juliet naps on me, I have to chuckle at the juxtaposition of cute baby + Nazi-hunting.

I listened to the entirety of The Rosie Project on audiobook in only 3 days; I enjoyed it that much! It helped that I listened over last weekend, so I was able to escape for a couple of long walks while Noel watched the girls. [Sidenote: dear East coast, I'm sorry that you're struggling with snow, but I'm dying of heatstroke already. Summer is BY FAR my least favorite season, which is ironic since I live in a region where summer lasts 5 1/2 - 6 months. But this year it looks like it'll be 8 months... since we're already having temps as high as 88. Stupid polar vortex.]

And finally, I've been meaning to start an ongoing link-up. I've been loving the What I'm Into and the Twitterature link-ups from Leigh Kramer and Anne Bogel (I get about 90% of my book recommendations from them, I swear!). I'm thinking the 5th of each month would be when I'd pick, so that people could plan their posts accordingly.

My first idea was #bookwormproblems, since that first link-up was so fun, but I'm not sure if any of us have enough #bookwormproblems to make it a monthly thing. Then I thought about something more generic like "Bookworm Life"; which could incorporate problems. And then I thought about maybe Judging Books by Their Covers, or even a "Best of / Worst of ______ ".

And then I decided I needed to stop wiffle-waffling in my sleep-deprived brain, and ask you guys! Since presumably you'll be the ones linking up, ha.

So I'm embedding a little poll below. You may have to click through to vote if you're reading via email, I'm not sure. Do me a favor and answer it? Thanks!

Books I'm Waiting Impatiently For

Here's a #bookwormproblem for you - I'm dying to read some new books by some of my favorite authors, but their release dates seem so far away! Here are a few of the books for which I am impatiently waiting.

By Its Cover by Donna Leon (4/1/14) 
I felt like the Guido Brunetti series slumped a bit in the middle, but it's been great again lately - The Golden Egg was depressingly amazing. I can't wait to see how life at the Questore is holding up, and what Brunetti's wife Paola is up to.

Delancey by Molly Wizenberg (5/6/14)
I've loved Molly Wizenberg's blog Orangette for years. In 2009 Noel and I got to eat at Delancey, and I saw Molly & Brandon working in the kitchen! I was starstruck (but too chicken to actually say hi). I adored Molly's first book, A Homemade Life, so I'm sure that Delancey is going to be great as well.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (6/17/14)
It seems odd that this book and That Summer (below) don't have covers yet, since they'll be published relatively soon. I blitzed through the first two books in the Grisha trilogy shortly after Juliet was born, and have been waiting impatiently for the grand finale ever since.

That Summer by Lauren Willig (6/3/14)
That Summer's not part of Lauren's Pink Carnation series - it's a standalone Victorian novel. I'm pretty excited about her standalone stuff, since I really enjoyed The Ashford Affair last year.

To Dwell in Darkness by Deborah Crombie (9/23/14)
This one was originally scheduled to come out 3/25, which I was already impatient about since the last Gemma James & Duncan Kincaid mystery came out in February last year. But then they just moved it back six months! Ack! I'm dying for a Gemma-Duncan fix. What's going on with Duncan's job?!

There are other books later in the fall that I'm impatient for too (I'm looking at you Maggie Stiefvater); but I'll just get sad if I think about how far away their release dates are.



Which books are you waiting for?

This post contains a handful of my affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

Judging Books by Their Covers: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

I adored Life After Life, but somehow didn't notice until I was already done with it that the cover had one rose stem with two flowers on it. (Ahem. Apparently attention to detail is not my strong suit lately.) So out of curiosity I looked up some other covers, and then realized that I hadn't done a Judging Books By Their Covers post since last November! Thus, here you go, time to get judgmental about Kate Atkinson this time!

Here's the publisher's synopsis of Life After Life: 

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right?

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.

Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can -- will she?

And here are the three most common covers I could find.

The left one is the British hardback, which I think is easily the best representation of what the book is about. The middle one is the American, which at least gives a sense of things growing and living in unusual ways, but otherwise has nothing to do with the book. And the right one, the British paperback, gives you a sense of snow and foxes, which is apropos for Ursula's birth, but doesn't give a reincarnationish vibe at all.

Which cover do YOU like the best?

Tweet-Style Reviews of What I've Been Reading

Since my last Twitterature round-up, I've kept up my stellar reading pace - thank goodness that 2014 continues to roll smoothly along! I felt really frustrated by how little I was reading late last year, but due to the nursing baby and a bunch of good books to review, I've been enjoying myself a lot recently. Here are some very short reviews of what I've been reading!

Why Kings Confess by C.S. Harris. Have SUCH a crush on Sebastian (Lord Devlin). This series of regency murder mysteries gets better & better. #frenchrevolution #bourbons

Murder in Pigalle by Cara Black. Weird to start so far into a series. But enjoyed it. Excited to see Cara Black at the TFOB next month! #paris

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker. SO GOOD. Convicting AND hilarious. Go read it. In related news, upped our World Vision contributions & bought reusable applesauce pouches.

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield. Took forever to get into, but liked it (on audio). Not sure if I would've finished the print edition. Oddly haunting, but also just odd.

Death in Sardinia by Marco Vichi. Set in 1960s Florence & Sardinia. Made me think about post-war Italy in whole new way. Likeable detectives, will read more of this series!  

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. I'm late to the game, amazingly it lived up to all the hype. I DEVOURED this book. Highly recommended! #ww2 #iwanttoreaditagainalready

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. The Young Adult Book and Movie Club continues! I'm loving the discussion and as always enjoying Harry and his friends' shenanigans. #yabmc

The Very Fairy Princess Follows Her Heart by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton. Have read this book eleventy billion times now & still think it's cute. It's a winner! Have also read many other cute V-Day Picture Books.

Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider. Halfway through this book on intentional living, in spite of a culture "where the prevailing mark of a good day is getting a lot done".

What have YOU been reading?

This post contains my affiliate links, thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm! I'm planning to link up with Anne Bogel's awesome Twitterature series - you should check it out!

Book Review: One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything, A Walk in the Woods) is back with a quirky history of 1920s America sure to please loyal readers and new fans alike.

One Summer: America, 1927 is the story of a pivotal year in American history. In the span of a few short months, Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic, The Jazz Singer changed the movie industry, Babe Ruth hit an astonishing 60 home runs and "the crime of the century" (the murder of a man by his wife and her corset salesman lover) riveted the nation.

Bryson skillfully weaves together all of those stories, supplementing them with fascinating information on race relations, the presidency, Prohibition, business, Al Capone's domination of Chicago and the seeds for a stock market crash most people didn't see coming. These diverse subjects blend together to create a gripping composite history.

Bryson reads the audiobook of One Summer: America, 1927, and his rather unusual accent--he grew up in Iowa and lives in England--provides an interesting contrast to the more polished voices of professional narrators. His narration is clear, wryly delivering each line to perfection. The oft-changing topics make the 17 hours fly by, keeping the listener engaged all the way. Fans of Bryson's other books--or anyone who enjoys American history, baseball or aviation--will find One Summer fascinating.

I know I've mentioned One Summer several times before - it made my Most Memorable Books of 2013 list, and a couple of "What I'm Reading" lists, since the audiobook took me quite a while to finish. But I loved every minute I listened to. I'd guess I listened to about 12 of the 17 hours, and then filled in with the library hardback version for the remaining parts. With an unpredictable little baby (Juliet was only about 2 weeks old when I was reading it) it was easier to have multiple formats to alternate between!

Rating: 5 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Sure!

Do you like it when authors read their books?

I originally wrote most of this post for Shelf Awareness. And it contains a few of my affiliate links.

Reading Glasses: A Semi-Tragedy

I've always had suspiciously good eyesight. Why did I have 20/20 vision when my parents, all my grandparents, and several of my siblings need glasses? Who knows. But I reveled in my easy vision, and made fun of Noel for how blind he is sans eyewear. (I know this sounds mean, but for reals, he can't even tell if I'm smiling or frowning from across our bedroom unless he has his glasses on! I find it very entertaining to test how far he can see.)

In recent months, however, I've noticed my eyes hurting after being on the computer or my phone for long periods of time. I just assumed it was screen fatigue. But then 3 or 4 times in the last couple of weeks Eleanor has asked, "Mom? Why are you frowning at your book like that?" And every time I just said, "Oh, I didn't realize I was frowning."

A few days ago a friend of mine said that she'd gone to the eye doctor, and been told she needed reading glasses. I thought, hmmm, could that be why I've been frowning while I'm reading? Am I unconsciously trying to focus more? Nah, can't be. I have great vision!

Till she came over to my house.

And I tried on her reading glasses.

And my phone screen glowed with new life, and the words in the book I picked up were like 32% bigger.

Sad, sad day.

Do YOU wear glasses?

Googly-Eyed Book Covers

I've been loving the Tumblr Googly Eye Books lately. Inspired by the awesome pictures there, and because I was gleaning/reorganizing books [I got rid of forty ARCs and THIRTY-SIX actual books! I'm so proud of myself!], I decided to take some googly-eyed book pics of my own.

First up, a googlyized version of The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig. (Which I love, and reviewed here, if you want to know more).

Poor James Herriot, his googly eyes are even going separate directions.

I'm not sure that Georgette Heyer would approve what I did to My Lord John!

Hehe, The Prince is much better begoogled.

Although Viggo is greatly improved sans googlyness.

I think Made in America might be my favorite. Perhaps because it had two faces on the cover!

Although I do like the googly-eyed treatment of Jessica Seinfeld.

However, trying to find books with actual eyeballs on the cover was surprisingly difficult! I never realized how many covers show the back of people's heads, or their profiles, or their lower faces. I have at least a dozen covers almost like this one.

I wonder why? Theories?