Barbara's blog

Love this video about Books and Books Clubs.

Thanks for the interesting comments on The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas! It was the third in the Man Booker Prize Longlist series.

I bought a book for my grandkids last week. Having read it at ALA 2010 in June, I knew it was a lovely and funny book starring a mouse, a jackass, and a monkey. Everyone who is a booklover will enjoy it. Here are beginning lines I with use for my TT. 

"What do you have there?

It's a book.

How do you scroll down?

I don't. I turn the page. It's a book.

Do you blog with it?

No, it's a book." 
-- It's a Book by Lane Smith

The discussion goes on from there. And, the illustrations are so cute.

Here is the great trailer for It's a Book. Love it!

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B from Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read. Open to a random page. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences.

Author On the Bookcase
Julia Stuart

Both my parents are from England, all my relatives live there, and I visited the Tower twice. So, I really enjoyed The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise and am so excited to welcome Julia Stuart, author of The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise! Julia's novel is about the Tower of London and its inhabitants --human and animal. All the Beefeaters actually live in the Tower and this story is about one Beefeater named Balthazar Jones, his wife, Hebe, and their the 180-year old tortoise.

Author On the Bookcase
Kate Ledger

I'm thrilled to have Kate Ledger, author of Remedies, writing for On the Bookcase. In Remedies, Simon and Emily seem to have it all -- good jobs, nice house, a healthy thirteen year old daughter. But things are not always as they seem. There are some old scars and wounds that haven't been treated and addressed. Will the "elephant in the room" been the end of this seemingly perfect family. Kate's debut novel reveals marriage, parenthood, loss, grief, and hope.

Book club tips, recipes, and picks! I was interviewed two months ago by Katie Alberts of Woman's World magazine about all things book club!

Woman's World put together a nice feature on starting a book club, selecting books, reading group icebreakers, recipes, and more. 

The issue is out. Look at see!

Teaser Tuesday and Man Booker Longlist, Part Three

Today's selection:
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas plus giveaway of The Slap for review. Just comment and I'll let you know if you won.

First selection was Room by Emma Donoghue and second selection was Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

First lines of The Slap

HECTOR

"His eyes still shut, a dream dissolving and already impossible to recall, Hector's hand sluggishly reached across the bed. Good. Aish was up. He let out a victorious fart, burying his face deep into the pillow the escape the clammy methane stink.

Thanks so much for the comments on the Room by Emma Donoghue post. Room has been selected as one of the 13 books of the Man Booker Prize longlist.

The random drawing winner for the ARC of Room is 

           Joy from Joy's Blog

Congrats, Joy!

I will contact you by email.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for providing the ARC.

This is the second installment of the  Man Booker longlist book selections.

The first was Room by Emma Donoghue.

Today's selection

Parrot and Olivier In America by Peter Carey

First lines

I had no doubt that something cruel and catastrophic had happened before I was born, yet the comte and comtesse, my parents, would not tell me what it was. As a result my organ of curiosity was made irritable and I grew into the most restless and unhealthy creature imaginable -- slight, pale, always climbing, prying into every drain and attic of the Chateau de Barfleur.

Publisher Summary Olivier—an improvisation on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville—is the traumatized child of aristocratic survivors of the French Revolution. Parrot is the motherless son of an itinerant English printer.

It's going to been a hot one again. Check out this video about reading when it is steaming hot! Thanks Regulator Books for this fun and music video.