Thursday, December 31, 2015

I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy and healthy 2016 with lots of books!


Tuesday, December 29, 2015

According to Buzzfeed there are 24 things people slightly obsessed with books believe to be true.


  1. You know nothing beats the smell of a brand new book.
  2. except maybe the smell of an old one,
  3. Sometimes you wonder if it is normal to like a books more than people.
  4. You are never, ever without a book.
  5. The Twight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last" is your actual worse fear.
  6. There are books you associate with certain points in your life, and re-reading them takes you back.
  7. You begin to think of fictional characters as real people.
  8. and talk about them accordingly.
  9. The thought of moving scares you because you are going to have to haul about 127 boxes of books.
  10. And, of course, there is the matter of deciding which twenty (-500) books you'll take with you on a trip.
  11. You feel a secret thrill when a book teaches you a new word.
  12. Sometimes you become so immersed in a book that you begin thinking and speaking like its characters.
  13. Nothing and no one can keep you away from a book you're invested in.
  14. You've caught yourself sneaking to read while you're supposed to be working or studying.
  15. And you've started a book only to look up and discover an entire day has gone by.
  16. You were probably raised by LeVar Burton.
  17. You distinctly remember the day you got your first library card.
  18. You've dreamed of living in a mansion just so you could have one of those giant, crazy, rich-people's libraries all to yourself.
  19. For you, going on a trip means a chance to visit a new bookstore.
  20. And you can't just "visit a bookstore."  Oh no - you practically move in!
  21. Plus, you can't just casually ~peruse~a book.  You GET ALL THE WAY INTO IT!
  22. You've put a book aside because you can't bear the thought of finishing it and having it all be over.
  23. But you've also made the extremely difficult decision to keep reading instead of going to sleep.
  24. You know there's no feeling quite like that foggy dreaminess that sits with you right after you finish a book.

List compiled by Alex Alvarez


Sunday, December 27, 2015

Friday, December 25, 2015

BEWARE!  An article by author, Derek Haynes - Trust Me I'm an Editor about the concerns of new 'professional' editors popping up all over social media sites and the internet.  Many of these people are not competent so Mr. Haynes wants new writers to be careful.  I think he definitely has a valid point.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015


RIP Peter Dickinson who died recently at the age of 88.  He was an author of 60 books including both children's and adult's.  His books have been translated into 53 languages - can you imagine?  He one the Carnegie Medal from the Library Association in 1979 and 1980 as well as a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2000 - all for children's books.

He also wrote the James Pibble mystery series and many other adult books,  Peter Dickinson was a multi-talented author born in Africa and raised in England.   His talent brought him many other awards too including the Phoenix Award and the Globe-Horn book award.




 

















Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Well, I did it.......I finally opened a twitter account.  lol, I know - probably most people have one but what can I say, I'm a dinosaur.  lol    You can follow me @Diane_Kas   
BUT


Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Here are 14 Bookish Words of Wisdom for the Holiday Season by Crystal Paul for Bustle online magazine.

1.  "For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas."  Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
2.  "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."  J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit
3.  "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
4.  "You give but little when you give of your possessions.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."  Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
5.  "Christmas it seems to me is a necessary festival; we require a season we can regret all our flaws in our human relationships:  it is the feast of failure, sad but consoling."  Graham Greene, Travels with my Aunt
 6.  "Presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them."  Carlos Ruiz Zafron 
7.  "Hey great idea:  If you have kids give your partner reading vouchers next Christmas.  Each voucher entitles the bearer to two hours' reading time *while the kids are awake.*  It might look like a cheapskate present, but parents will appreciate that it costs more in  real terms than a Lamborghini."  Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree
8.  "Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind."  William Shakespeare,
9.  "One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore.  "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair.  People will insist on giving me books."  J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 
10.  "After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."  Oscar Wilde,
11.  "One day you will do things for me that you hate.  That is what it means to be family."   
12.  "Later, when you've grown up, you realize you never really get to hang out with your family.  You pretty much have only eighteen years to spend with them full time,  and that's it."  Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Without with Me? 
13.  "I can't help detesting my relations.  I suppose it comes from the fact that none of us can stand other people having the same faults as ourselves."  Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
14.  "And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us,  new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things."  Ranier Maria Rilke, Letters of Ranier Maria Rilke, 1892-1910

For the complete article check here






Friday, December 4, 2015

I know the refugee issue is a hot topic these days and I'm not getting involved with it here.  Everyone has their opinions yay or nah - that's for the individual to decide.  What I'm highlighting today is a wonderful woman who saw a need and took action.

Her name is Gil Ganzo and she started an after school program for refugee children.  The Program's name is Our Bridge.  It helps children with academics and gives them a place to play.  Let
s face it from a child's perspective being a refugee or immigrant is a scary situation.

Here is an article that tells you more about Gil Ganzo and Our Bridge Inside an After-School program for Refugee children

No matter which side of the issue you're on - these children are here, needed extra help and she stepped up and did something about it.


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Interview with author Jill Bialosky check it out here Book Browse interview with Jill Bialowski 


Biography from her website:  Jill Bialosky was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She studied for her undergraduate degree at Ohio University and received a Master of Arts degree from the Writing Seminars at The Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. 

Her collections of poems are Subterranean (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001) and The End of Desire (1997). Bialosky is also the author of the novel House Under Snow (2002) and The Life Room (2007) and co-editor, with Helen Schulman, of the anthology Wanting A Child (1998). 

Her poems and essays appear in The New YorkerO MagazineParis ReviewThe NationThe New RepublicKenyon ReviewAmerican Poetry Review among other publications. 

Bialosky has received a number of awards including the Elliot Coleman Award in Poetry. She is currently an editor at W. W. Norton & Company and lives in New York City.