Before I dive into the first post of my new feature, “Books Going Places,” I want to reminisce for a moment. The Dawn of Young Adult Fiction for Me In the summer of 2011, I had just moved to North Carolina, and I was unemployed. When I couldn’t write another application or cover letter, I read. Though my apartment was small and dingy, it was across the … Continue reading Books Going Places: The Starbound Trilogy
When I was in middle school, I was assigned Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat.” A long-time fan of felines, I was excited about it. When I reached one of the more gruesome parts of the story, I actually burst into tears. It was my first encounter with Poe’s macabre, and as a teenager, I wasn’t ready for it. But then I read “The Gold Bug” … Continue reading Visiting The Poe Museum
These past few years have definitely ignited a love of literary travel, which is part of the inspiration for this blog. Whether it’s a bookstore, an author home, a literary museum, or a recreated book-to-movie film set, I’m always up for literary adventures of any kind. #1. Hunt Library in Raleigh, North Carolina How I went four years in this city without knowing about this place … Continue reading 6 Favorite Fictional Finds of 2015 (#12DaysofTravel, Day 5)
My recent trip to Europe turned into an accidental literary adventure. While planning my holiday, I had selected one bookshop in each of the cities I was visiting – Paris and London – to make some unneeded book purchases, but in the end just about everywhere I visited had some sort of literary significance.
I share everything from world famous landmarks like the Louvre to hidden gems like The Hunterian Musuem that you might never have heard of. But every single one has something special to offer. Continue reading An Accidental Literary Adventure in Paris and London – Guest Post from Heather Croxon
While 
browsing a used bookstore a few months ago, I peeked into the travel section to see if they had anything on Italy. Amid abandoned copies of Under the Tuscan Sun, I found Tilt: A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa.
Confession: I’m no history buff. I don’t read all the plaques at museums, and I don’t seek out history tours. I appreciate history, and I like to understand its cultural relevance, but that’s about where it stops. It’s really not like me to voluntarily read an entire book on a monument’s history.
But maybe it’s something I should start doing. Continue reading “Tilting Towards Pisa: A Day Trip & Book Review”
Well, it’s been a little while since I’ve blogged, partly due to traveling and also due to a cold that knocked out my energy for almost two weeks. But I’m back, and I’ve got lots of posts coming up! I decided to post this today because I’m catching up on writing projects at one of my favorite places — a library. I don’t know if most … Continue reading 4 Problems for Book-Loving Travelers
Because without books, I’m nowhere.
Before I had any idea how much fun travel could be, I was going on adventures every day by reading. And no matter how many amazing places I see in the world, there’s nothing like a great book’s ability to take you to somewhere you’ve never been. And for me as a writer, the book is the inspiration and the aspiration, something to look towards.
Are you a practitioner of tsundoku?
After reading a blog post on tsundoku and learning what it was, I wanted to create a more prominent reminder of my tendency to buy books that I want to read…and then never actually read. I own books that I bought as far back as early college, nearly ten years ago, that still sit unread on my bookshelf.
I discovered I needed a space for my habit of tsundoku.
tsundoku, 積ん読 (Japanese)
(n.) the act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other such unread books
A few days ago, Heather over at bitsnbooks tagged me to write a post on my favorite screen characters. This challenge has evolved, since Heather was originally tagged by someone who listed their top 10 screen characters, and then Heather narrowed it down to her top 10 book characters on screen.
Since I don’t watch a lot of movies (or much television) and since quite a few of my favorite book characters have yet to make it to the big screen, I split up my list into five favorite book-to-movie actors and five favorite book characters I’d like to see on the big screen.
Continue reading “Top 5 Screen Actors for Books Made Into Movies”
In 2014, I read 23 books, almost making it to an average of 2 books a month. Like last year, I wanted to share some of my favorites, but unlike last year, I’m only highlighting a few of them. I made one-liner descriptions for the rest of what I read at the end of this post, which might be my new style of reviews since it was so fun to do.
And The Favorite Is: The Book Thief
My favorite book of last year was The Book Thief. Continue reading “The Best of What I Read in 2014”
Since graduating from college, I have mostly succeeded in my commitment to read more books. While an English major, I struggled to complete the pile of books I was assigned to read each semester, much less make room for any additional “fun” reading. I’ve been getting better at reading more (and by that I mean, making time for reading more), and this year is probably … Continue reading What I Read in 2013
Booked & Ready 