Paula’s end of week recap

This is the fourth of my weekly posts in which I summarize books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming features, see what’s on the night-stand and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings.

If there is something you would particularly like to see on Winding Up the Week or if you have any suggestions, questions or comments for Book Jotter in general, please drop me a line. I would be delighted to hear from you.

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE TBR >>

I read and reviewed The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews: a funny, tender, honest account of 19 year-old Erin’s journey into Alaska’s wilderness. I gave it four stars on Goodreads and my critique was a Featured Review on NetGalley. >> Read my thoughts >>

Also featured on Book Jotter last week was Books Before the Blog; the first in a series of planned (occasional) posts in which a small selection of titles I read prior to publishing this blog are highlighted. Included are a mishmash of genres, fiction and non-fiction; light and heavy; old and new; in effect, whatever pops into my thoughts when I start writing.

If you would like to use or adapt my Books Before the Blog meme, and/or make use the photo at the top of the page, all I ask is that you give me credit with a link back to Book Jotter.

Look out for my impending review of A Month in the Country by the late J.L. Carr – an award-winning novella first published in 1980.

Next up is Dejan Tiago-Stankovic’s Estoril: A War Novel – a comedy-cum-spy story from Head of Zeus, an independent publishing house based in London. It is due for release on 8th March.

Coming up soon is Burmese Days, George Orwell’s first ever novel, which was based on his experiences as a policeman in Burma from 1922 to 1927. It was selected as the Goodread’s 1000 Books Before You Die group’s February read in the War and Travel category.

CHATTERBOOKS >>

A New Database for the Bookish Community

Austine, the ace dragon lady (a ‘proud’ Slytherin Horned Serpent, apparently) and book reviewer at NovelKnight was somewhat peeved to discover that the online world was bereft of (or at the very least concealing from her) a social media directory for bookish types. She searched every corner of the kingdom (i.e. Google) to no avail. However, she refused to be defeated and, rather than emit flames of justified disgruntlement at this baffling omission, she set up her very own self-sorting Book Community Media Dashboard.

Please mount your steeds and gallop immediately over to Austine’s lair where you can add your various social media links to this wondrous literary creation. While there, you may also like to dash off a quick scroll to make it known that her den of links is a worthwhile invention that will be of benefit to all.

Fab Features

Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on my bookdar last week. I generally make a point of tweeting my favourite finds, but in case you missed anything, here are one or two interesting snippets:

• The Guardian: Top 10 books about the body – “From the horrors of Frankenstein to the wit of Sara Pascoe’s Animal, novelist Emma Glass picks her favourite reading about the wonders of the human body.”
• The Bookseller: Over 90 express interest in Big Green Bookshop’s indie alliance – More than 90 UK booksellers have said they would join an independent book store alliance, should one be formed.
• BOOKWITTY: The Global Phenomenon of Local Bookstores – “For many readers, a bookstore isn’t just a place to buy your next book, but a place to happily peruse the shelves for hours. Leeron Hoory explores Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores from cartoonist Bob Eckstein, a tribute to independent bookstores around the world, their owners, and their customers.”
• Brain Pickings: Ursula K. Le Guin on “Spare Time,” What It Means to Be a Working Artist, and the Vital Difference Between Being Busy with Doing and Being Occupied with Living – A review of Ursula K. Le Guin’s No Time to Spare: “In praise of the mundane, unquantifiable, impractical activities that feed creative work and fill life with meaning.”
• Atlas Obscura: Charting the Geography of Classic Literature – A new exhibit focuses on maps of classic fictional worlds, from Oz to Flatland and Middle-Earth to Don Quixote’s Spain.
• Paris Review: The Art of Unpacking a Library – The unpacking of books is a creative act: books lifted out of their boxes shed their original identities and, through random associations, acquire new ones.

FINALLY >>

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I wish you a week bountiful in books and rich in reading.

NB In this feature, ‘winding up’ refers to the act of concluding something and should not be confused with the popular British ‘wind-up’: an age-old pastime of ‘winding-up’ friends and family by teasing or playing pranks on them. If you would like to know more about this expression, there’s an excellent description on Urban Dictionary.

Hosted by Paula @ Book Jotter

Categories: Winding Up the Week

Tags: Abi Andrews, Book Reviews, Books, Dejan Tiago-Stankovic, Features, George Orwell, J.L. Carr, Literary Press, Reading, Winding Up the Week