Reading in Reykjavík

Friday links is where I post links to blogs and websites I want to remember without cluttering up my browser bookmarks, along with interesting articles, reviews and lists I want to bring to the notice of others, and other stuff I find on the web. I should be in Germany by now, after a short visit to Alsace in France. Here's today's mixed bag of links: Do you like art? Here's some lovely artwork by a very talented artist: Russian Artist Reveals Her Mysterious Sketchbook To TheWorld , And It’s Full Of Visual Secrets.  Why DO we read? How about writing?  Here's one writer's attempt to answer that question: Why We Read and Why We Write . I recently read and reviewed West With the Night by Beryl Markham and when I was researching the book's background I discovered that there are those that claim it was written by a man. I also recently reread Cold Comfort Farm , in which a male character is working on a book in which he claims to prove that all of ...

Friday links is where I post links to blogs and websites I want to remember without cluttering up my browser bookmarks, along with interesting articles, reviews and lists I want to bring to the notice of others, and other stuff I find on the web. Is there a better way to declare your love of reading than to carry around a book or two and read whenever you get a moment? But what about those times you can't carry a book? Here's one solution: Book Pins . (Don't blame me if this sets you off on an online shopping expedition. I, however, am thinking of getting a book tattoo...) Here's a literary magazine I came across while web surfing: The Threepenny Review . I haven't fully explored it, but it seems to be a mixture of essays, articles, reviews, criticism, poetry and short fiction. While I maintain that romance novels are no worse than any other kind of genre literature, I think everyone can agree that the titles of many of them are terribly generic and...

Let's begin with an interesting article about my own profession: translation. Zack Davisson translates manga - Japanese comic books - and the process is considerably more creative than you might think: Confessions of a Manga Translator . The process he describes is similar to the process I have been able to deduct from reading the European Tintin , Lucky Luke and Asterix comics in different languages, so it doesn't just apply to manga. To many, it comes naturally; to some, it happens when it's taught to them at school; while others might need help: How to Read a Book . This article comes courtesy of The Art of Manliness website, but don't let that fool you: this particular content applies to everyone who loves to read. Note: I actually think there are more than four stages of reading - there is one that falls between inspectional and analytical reading - we could call it pleasurable reading . It's where you delve into the book to the extent that you become e...

Today's Friday links are a mixed bag, but all of them pertain to books and reading: The brain and reading: Learning to Read as an Adult Changes Deep Regions of the Brain . Mobile libraries captured on film: Vintage Photos of Traveling Libraries . Libraries and why they are important: Libraries Are the Real Punk Rock . 8 authors try to answer this question: What the F**k Is a Beach Read, Anyway? Today's list: 50 Fictional Adventure Books . This list comes from the Art of Manliness website, so the stress is on male protagonists, but I have read 18 of these books and loved them.

Ugh! I am trying to finish the What's in a Name challenge by reading a book with a number in numbers in the title, and decided Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury would be a fine ending to the challenge. I have an anthology containing 5 Bradbury novels that I bought second hand and have been intending to read for a while, so I dug it out from the back of my TBR bookcase and started reading, only to be met with a musty stench so strong that it's making me sneeze every time I turn a page and it is wafted in my direction. This can't be healthy. I may have to find another book to finish the challenge.

 What's in a Name challenge category : The letter X in the title. Author : Nick Bantock. Full title : Alexandria: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Unfolds . Genre : Fantasy. Published :2002 Have you read this book? Why not leave a comment to tell me your thoughts about it? This is going to be somewhat of an unusual review, as the book is the middle volume of a trilogy that tells a single story (and links to another trilogy), and I have not read the previous book. However, I enjoyed it anyway and it fits into the What's in a Name challenge category of a book with the letter X in the title. The Griffin and Sabine trilogy garnered critical acclaim and praise for originality of presentation, as well as bestseller status when it first came out, and the author went on to write The Morning Star trilogy, which continued the story with new protagonists, followed by a final, 7th book that was published last year. I got my hands on the first ...