Let the Games Begin!

Four years ago, I had to write a post apologizing for my unavoidable absence from the world of books and I must joyfully do the same again today. Instead of reading books and writing blog posts, I will be parked in front of my television until August 12, watching basketball and swimming, gymnastics and tennis, volleyball and diving, mountain biking and rowing. In fact, there will be very few sports I don't end up watching (boxing, wrestling and martial arts mostly). I will be waiting to see if there are actually live cows during the opening ceremonies. I will be immersed in nostalgic bliss while New Order and Blur play during the closing ceremonies. And I will be unable to keep from tearing up when I see so many amazing men and women on the podiums after their inspiring performances.

I will also be celebrating tonight with an Opening Ceremonies Tea -- filling my tummy with these digestives, tea cakes, biscuits and Jammie Dodgers. Cheers!

Off to London,
K

We Be Reading on Facebook

It took us a bit of time but we're on Facebook! Take a moment to "Like" our page if you are so inclined. We'll try and make it place for fun and interesting tidbits.

And if your blog is on FB, let us know and we'll Like you!

Branching out,
K

Blogiversary Giveaway Winner!

photo by k

I almost forgot to announce the winner of the $20 gift certificate to Out of Print Clothing --

Susanna of SusieBookworm!

Thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts about our blogiversary. We wouldn't have made it through four years without making such good friends along the way.

Humbled,
K

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

A couple of years back, we took a family vacation up to Victoria, BC and I was lucky enough to meet up with a fellow blogger at the gorgeous Munro Books. I didn't buy many books there though because they cost so much more in Canada than in the US (even though the currencies are almost equivalent right now). But, they had this UK version of Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay on the remainder table and I liked the cover more than the standard paperback in the US and so I grabbed it. It's a book I knew I should read but it took me until now to want to read it. Now I fully regret waiting so long because it's a masterpiece and is not just for comic book fans (though there are fun tidbits in it for those fans).

This is the story of Sam Clay (Samuel Klayman) and his Hungarian cousin, Joe Kavalier (Josef). Following them from childhood through middle age, these cousins who become close friends and brothers, are the creators of the superhero The Escapist. But Joe is never free from the feelings of obligation toward the family he left behind in Prague at the start of WWII and Sam is never free from the weight of his absentee strongman father.

This is simply an incredibly well-crafted novel. Though its subjects and locales are diverse, I think there will be some aspect to speak to almost any reader. I never felt that I couldn't relate to these boys whose lives were so incredibly remote from my own. In fact, I felt that I learned a lot about the Jewish experience in New York during the War and about the history of comic books and about magic and art and so many other things. The blurb on the front of my copy from Tom Payne (Daily Telegraph) says "Perfection. There are perhaps four other books I've loved this much, and none that has made me cry more." I was feeling a bit cheated because I didn't cry while reading the book and I'm quite well-known for getting emotionally involved in stories. But then, on page 633 of 636, there was one single line of dialogue that had me weeping because it revealed one of the inevitabilities of parenthood, one that I think about sometimes with sadness. This connection is one I hope to find again the next time I read Chabon.

In awe of amazing,
K

New Release: Shadow Show

This seems like the wrong time to admit that I've never read anything by Ray Bradbury. I knew of him, he visited my suburban library regularly when I was a kid, and I knew of many of his stories. But somehow I never picked up any of his works and, as I read the stories of some of the many authors who count him as an influence, I strongly regret it and hope to rectify it soon.

Shadow Show: All-new stories in celebration of Ray Bradbury, edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle, is a unique collection in that each short story is followed by an "about this story" in which the author writes a bit (sometimes a lot) about their inspiration. The main thing you bring away from each and every one of them is that Ray Bradbury was loved -- by readers, by writers, by children and adults. And, after reading Bradbury's own introduction to the collection where he accepts the mantle of literary father to so many, it's easy to see why. His recent death adds a bittersweet note to the volume but nothing was changed to the past tense, keeping the tone strictly as an homage to a living legend and not a eulogy.

The first story brought me my second tweet from one of my favorite authors (and a few days later my third) --

Gaiman's story, The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury, set the bar very high for this collection but I'm happy to say that there were very few disappointments after that. Of the twenty-six stories, I marked nine with 5 stars (those by Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, John McNally, Robert McCammon, Alice Hoffman, Gary Braunbeck, Bonnie Joe Campbell, Audrey Niffenegger and Dave Eggers - how's that for a list of wonderful authors?). The rest were mostly fours (10 of them) with only four threes, one 2, one 1 and one DNF. And my list of Bradbury's works to explore is longer than the list of stories in this book!

photo by k

I think that, of all the stories, Joe Hill's fantastic tale, By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain, is the one that has haunted me the most. If you get your hands on this book, turn to that tale first -- unless you want to cry, and then read Neil Gaiman's story first.

In awe of his greatness,
K

A Belated Fourth Blogiversary to Us!

photo by k

I can't believe it but we somehow missed our fourth bloggiversary! Our first post went up on July 8, 2008, and, four years later, this is our 978th post. When we started, Z was just four years old and we were reading picture books together. Now he's eight and we're almost solely reading chapter books. I have participated in 24-hour read-a-thons, challenges aplenty, read-alongs and memes. I've met a few blogging friends in real life, gone to book festivals and attended the Kidlitcon. I've spent countless hours on LibraryThing and Twitter. I've even convinced Z to write a couple of posts.

On this belated anniversary, all we really hope is that this blog has been fun to read and that it has successfully communicated our very deep love of books and reading. We want to thank all of the authors, publishers and publicists who have sent us books to review over the years. And we, of course, want to thank all of you for reading our thoughts on such a wide variety of books and sharing yours with us. This wouldn't be worth doing without the community.

We want to share our love of all things bookish with you once again with a giveaway! One lucky person will get a $20 gift certificate to Out of Print Clothing. This giveaway is open worldwide. Simply leave us a comment on this post and include your email address if it's not in your commenting profile. We'll choose a winner on Monday, July 22nd. Good luck!

On our way to post 1000,
K and Z

An Unintentional Break for Sunshine

photo by k

Long time, no post, eh? The sun finally came out in Seattle, the days warmed up a bit (mid-70s to low 80s!) and I lost all will to be inside on the computer. I've been outside taking photos, doing yardwork, reading and enjoying life. I've also been participating in a group read of The Well of Ascension, the second book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, and the discussion is taking place each week at various host blogs -- which is why you aren't seeing anything here about it. I'm doing plenty of reading, just not writing about it at the moment.

photo by k

I did see this cool poster around town. It's part of the King County Library System's Take Time to Read initiative.

Take Time to READ is a multi-year multi-part initiative of the King County Library System. The goal of the program is to increase reading of all kinds, in all formats, all across the county.

There are now 260 large book cover posters spread throughout 14 communities in the county and at the local library branches. I've already seen three of them and am thinking of using their guide to spot more around my area.

Finally, my mother-in-law (she who was evacuated from the Waldo Canyon Fire area but is now back home and okay) is coming to visit this week so my computer time will be limited by that but I'm hoping to get a couple of posts up soon about my recent reads by Michael Chabon, Kate Morton, Terry Pratchett and more! I hope you all are also enjoying summer, even in those places where it's scorching hot and/or mind-numbingly humid. It is thankfully neither of those things here.

Enjoying the doldrums,

K