31st July, 2009 by Christina - 4 Comments
If you haven’t noticed the Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) button on the sidebar, I’m rather impressed that you’re able to read this site. I mean, that button is HUGE! And I love what it represents.
BBAW is September 14-18, 2009 and is the brainchild of Amy Riley of My Friend Amy. So what is BBAW?
A week where we come together, celebrate the contribution and hard work of book bloggers in promoting a culture of literacy, connecting readers to books and authors, and recognizing the best among us with the Second Annual BBAW Awards. There will be special guest posts, daily blogging themes, and giveaways.
The awards are sort of like the Bloggies of the literati. Or the Oscars for the book-nerds. With less fancy dresses. I might wear sequined gowns in honor of supporting bookish behavior every day that week. After all, if you look at the pictures I put up here from time to time, I clearly have enough black cocktail dresses (two more haven’t been showcased yet!) so it stands to reason that there’s a formal gown or two lurking in the closet. Sadly, no limo ride and red carpet.
Now, I’ll admit this because I’m not modest. I’m totally gunning for a few awards. I’d be happy with just one, but the three I’m pushing for because I have no shame:
- Best Name for a Blog (Hello, Stacked! Get it? Get it? Sigh…)
- Best New Blog (Stacked has been going strong since December 2008)
- Best General Review Blog (Because clearly I cannot focus on any one genre of books)
So go nominate your favorite blogs (i.e. ME). You have until August 15. And really, it doesn’t need to be for me (it does)–there are some absolutely fantastic blogs out there. I’m not a big commenter, but there are plenty that I follow regularly and have nominated because they have amazing content and have inspired me.
If you’re a book blogger and haven’t already, go register on the site to join the Book Blogger Directory. It’s really easy to add the BBAW banner to your site, so do that too and then participate. BBAW is a great way to bring the book blogging community together to spread our love of literature. (Twitterati should also follow @BBAW.)
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5th March, 2009 by Christina - No Comments
Yesterday, Barnes & Noble* announced the winners of their Discover Awards (Fiction and Non-Fiction). The day ended with a reading at one of the BN locations in downtown Manhattan and I went because Eric Weiner was one of the six finalists – all of whom would be reading.
Weiner sounds NPR. His writing is funnier when you hear it as it must sound in his head. He didn’t seem very grumpy.
I probably should not have been, but was, surprised at how many of the finalists were really not good readers. Granted, writing and reading are not mutually exclusive. Weiner was a little too fast, as was fiction winner Gin Philips (The Well and the Mine
), but other wise good. You could hear that the writing was great – third place fiction writer Zachary Lazar really captures place and emotion in Sway
, but I couldn’t get past how blandly he read while first place non-fiction writer David Sheff (Beautiful Boy
) promised a good reading as his introduction was moving and well spoken only to dry up when he began.
The two exceptions were second place fiction writer Benjamin Taylor (The Book of Getting Even
) and third place non-fiction writer Nia Wyn (Blue Sky July
). Taylor happened to be behind me on the way out and was commenting to his companions about his reading with their reassurances that he was the best reader. He clearly was and had most likely stood in front of a mirror practicing pace and tone. As she introduced her book, Wyn said “It is a love story.” It is, and combined with her soft voice, was just really moving and brought me to tears.
The art, and it really is an art, of reading out-loud for entertainment seems to have died a long time ago; sort of a ”video killed the radio star” problem. Televisions popularity brought about the end of radio soap operas and spoken performance. Outside of a poetry reading or writers night, spoken word does not exist. We don’t gather at friends houses and pass the time with a little dancing, some board games, and maybe a reading. Family time is often spent around the boob-tube rather than sharing in the same novel as one person reads to the group. Like many of the things I like, I think it a shame despite it’s lack of place in modern society.
Post reading (which took all of 40 minutes if that) the authors were available to sign books. After reading The Geography of Bliss
, I had gone out and purchased my own copy and moved over all my sticky tabs before returning the first copy to the library. Weiner commented that my copy looked like his prior to a reading before writing “Follow Your Bliss” on the cover page. I’m pretty sure that’s the name of a B52’s song, but it is good advice.
I found all the books to be interesting and have added them to my list, although not being a Rolling Stones fan, I most likely won’t pick-up Sway.
*Yes, I’m aware of the irony that this is a Barnes & Noble award but that I am linking to Amazon.
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