Mission

Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sunday Coffee


Sunday Afternoons.
Sunday afternoons are for lazing around the house.  Unless the school year has started, in which case Sunday afternoons are usually for grading papers, fine-tuning my plans for the week ahead, and just getting myself prepared for Monday.  I love long weekends, when I get an extra day, and can spread all of those activities over two days.
My Job Might Be a Vampire.
With all the vampires in the air, it has occurred to me that maybe my job is a vampire.  I mean I love it passionately, but lately the more time I spend with it, the more I feel drained.  Oh, wait, it's just that beginning of the year thing.  I think.
The Conversation.
The Reading Ape has the best discussion of the Picoult-Weiner vs. Franzen Frenzy brouhaha I've seen on the web yet.
Amanda at The Zen Leaf has a wonderful meditation on blogging in her post today.
Amanda at Desert Book Chick promises to investigate (and probably disagree with) the claim that men don't read. 
Good Company
Book Blogger Appreciation Week is September 13-17.  I was pleased and flattered to be on the long list for Best Literary Fiction Blog.  Here's the short list (all three blogs, I readily admit, are far superior to mine!):
Check out the rest of the contenders at the link above.
On the Shelf
Here's a list of some of the books I'll be reading and reviewing in the days and weeks ahead:
Dracula in Love by Karen Essex (review and giveaway soon)
She's Gone Country by Jane Porter
The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter
The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
 What About You
What's on you list of books to read/review?  Do you plan to read Freedom? What are your thoughts on the Franzen hype, or the battle of the sexes angle?  And finally, is your job a vampire?

12 comments:

Amanda said...

I've heard people mention the Freedom controversy on Twitter, or at least that there is one, but I have no idea what it's about. I don't know what the book is about either...

Natalie~Coffee and a Book Chick said...

Everyone loves a good controversy! I've heard a little bit about it, but probably need to follow it a little bit more!

Congrats on making the lost list for Book Blogger Appreciation Week!!

Anonymous said...

I think the controversy will help him sell more books. I'm a librarian so I do feel drained, but then I get revived when someone enjoys the books I recommend.

Anonymous said...

Congradulations on Best Literary Fiction Blog - it's well deserved.

I think the controversy is great - maybe people will start reading more.

BookQuoter said...

Congratulations on making the long list, you definitely deserve it!!
Looking forward to all your upcoming reviews!!
The new chair looks very inviting!!

Christopher said...

Yeah, the whole Franzen things seems a bit 'tarsome' to me. Frankly, there's not much in modern American fiction that knocks my socks off these days.

Being a pretty serious photographer, I have to say that your photograph of the yellow chair sitting among the flowers is simply brilliant. I wish that I had taken that!

I hope you've had a lovely long weekend, Lisa! Cheers! Chris

bibliophiliac said...

@Amanda-the controversy is over the huge amount of attention Franzen has received. Two well-known female novelists with mass-appeal argue that the basis for all the attention is a sexist agenda...Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner are the female writers in question...
@Coffee and a Book Chick-controversy probably equals dollars for everyone involved! (Except us!)

bibliophiliac said...

@Page-school librarian or public librarian? Either way:dream job!
@Man of La Book-the controversy is mildly diverting, and like you say, will sell books for all!

bibliophiliac said...

@BookQuoter-thanks, it was very nice to make the list!
@Chris-I wish I could take credit for the photo...I found it in the intersphere! It is just a gorgeous photo. I spent a sort of ridiculous amount of time searching for photos of chairs and other furniture outside. For some reason I find these images very appealing....

Priya Parmar said...

i am not at all surprised you are on a list for best literary blogs. you should be at the top of the list!

i am curious to see what you think of dracula in love. my sister (she is at random house) had a galley and i read nearly all of it. i want to compare it to dracula my love by syrie james which just came out. strange how a zeitgeist moves and two people write books navigating the same terrain at the same time.

Aisle B said...

hang in there girl and know that your vampire job is well appreciated by the generation of the future. You just have to zap them into vampire lit creatures who'll drain the sources of life... BOOKS!

Looking forward to signing up for Dracula in Love and hope you enjoy it.

PK Out :)

Emily said...

Yes, my job is a vampire, too. Only recently has it become slightly less so, but it still has its vampire-ish moments.

Congrats on making the long list! :)