Bring Your Next Date to the Library!!

Yes, you read correctly! Bring your next date to the library. I just read an online article published on The Date Report website, titled The Seven Best Libraries In America (To Bring A Date) by Chiara Ank. In the article, The Seven Best Libraries In America (To Bring A Date), Chiara Atik writes the following:

When it comes to romantic date spots, the library is a hard place to beat. It’s free, it’s quiet, it’s dark, it’s sexy, and there is endless, endless fodder for (whispered) conversation.

A good library is practically designed for a logical date progression — depending on you and your date’s interest (and nerd-level), you can start by nostalgically going over your favorite picture books from childhood in the Children’s section, and then move on to listening to LPs on the record players in the music room. A reading room is actually way sexy: nothing builds sexual tension better than sitting next to your date and not being allowed to talk.

Going on a date to the library can be a lot of fun! My personal pick for best library to go on a date is the Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens. The Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens is the perfect date spot as it has a library with great exhibits, expansive gardens to walk through, art collections galore and last, but not least, a wonderful tea room that serves exquisite English style tea service with all the traditional finger foods to eat.

Share your favorite library with us and tell us why it makes a great date spot!!

Why Libraries Make Great Date Spots

I admit it! I'm a book nerd and I love anything book related, like libraries, bookstores, author lectures/signings and so on. 

So, when I stumbled upon an article titled, Love In The Stacks: Why The Library Is Actually A Good Date Spot by Chiara Atik, I couldn't resist reading this article and sharing it with you. Chira Atik offers up seven great tips for making a date to the library a memorable one! Click on the above article to read the full article.

Paper Passion Perfume --- Smell Like A New Book!

It seems that Karl Lagerfeld's quote “The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.”, has been taken very seriously in the fragrance industry as Paper Passion Fragrance is a new and exciting fragrance created by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine, with packaging by Karl Lagerfeld and Steidl.

Steidlville website writes the following about the  Paper Passion Fragrance:

This tells the story of a passion and a twisting plot to put the particular bouquet of freshly printed books in a bottle. Gerhard Steidl was first alerted to the importance of the smell of a book by Karl Lagerfeld, prompting a passion for paper and the composition of a scent on the pages of a book. To Wallpaper* magazine the pairing of the publisher with the perfumer seemed a natural partnership and so the idea for Paper Passion was born. Wallpaper* Magazine commissioned master perfumer Geza Schoen to create a fragrance based on the smell of books to be part of the Wallpaper* magazine Handmade exhibition in Milan.

Paper Passion Fragrance retails for $115.00 here in the USA.

I love reading books. I also enjoy wearing a lovely smelling fragrance.... However, I'm not sure I want to smell like a brand spanking new book!

Ray Bradbury Dies at Age 91

In a Los Angeles Times obituary titled, Ray Bradbury dies at 91; author lifted fantasy to literary heights, writer Lynell George writes the following about Ray Bradbury:

Ray Bradbury, the writer whose expansive flights of fantasy and vividly rendered space-scapes have provided the world with one of the most enduring speculative blueprints for the future, has died. He was 91. 

Bradbury died Tuesday night, his daughter, Alexandra Bradbury, told the Associated Press. No other details were immediately available.  

Author of more than 27 novels and story collections—most famously "The Martian Chronicles," "Fahrenheit 451," "Dandelion Wine" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes"—and more than 600 short stories, Bradbury has frequently been credited with elevating the often-maligned reputation of science fiction. Some say he singlehandedly helped to move the genre into the realm of literature.

Continue reading about the life of Ray Bradbury by clicking on the link above.

Also, watch the following 8 minute video of Ray Bradbury. It is a phenomenal video!

Thank you, Ray Bradbury, for touching the lives of readers with your words.

Bookish Quote of the Day!!

"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." Mark Twain

11 Cakes Based on Children's Books, Movies or TV Shows!!

I loved seeing these lovely looking cakes made to look like characters from children's books found on the Mental Floss website. The cakes I enjoyed viewing most were the Alice in Wonderland cakes and The Very Hungry Caterpillar cake. Which cake or cakes did you most enjoy viewing?

Born Twice by Giuseppe Pontiggia

Born Twice Book Cover

Born Twice is the first novel I've read by Italian author, Giuseppe Pontiggia and hopefully not the last novel I read by this author.


Amazon Editorial Review:

The first major book by one of Italy’s most distinguished novelists to appear in America – an award-winning fictional memoir of a man’s transfiguring experiences raising a son whose disabilities were caused at birth by the carelessness of a single doctor. 

After thirty years of visits to specialists, Professor Frigerio–the articulate, unsentimental, powerfully expressive narrator–remembers what one doctor told him only months after his son Paolo was born: “These children are born twice. Their second birth depends on you, on what you are able to give to them. But in the end you too will be reborn.” And as he recounts this journey–his tone ranging from lyrical to angry, humorous to philosophical–we are witness to the emotional and intellectual vicissitudes he has faced: from his guilt at having had an affair during his wife’s pregnancy to his son’s endless medical struggles to his moments of denial and rage as he navigates a world full of obstacles, cruelty, and indifference. But at the heart of this story is Paolo, an extraordinary child we witness grow up to become a teenager who teaches his parents a thing or two while coping exceptionally well with all the questions, curiosities, and dreams of any young man his age. Here, too, is a finely drawn portrait of Paolo’s mother and brother, and of the life of a family bearing the weight of both great tragedy and great love. 

Born Twice is a remarkable novel–compassionate and rigorous in its exploration of fatherhood, and of the often surprising nature of disability.

I finished reading Born Twice last week. I enjoyed reading this novel immensely, but do I love it? That I'm not sure of at this time. Although Born Twice provides great food for thought and the author writes beautifully, lyrically and philosophically throughout Born Twice... Some passages left me wondering what exactly the author was trying to convey.

What did I enjoy most about Born Twice? The fact that it is a fictional memoir featuring the father's point of view about his disabled son. The story didn't just simply focus solely on his son or the father's feelings about his son's disability, but also on the relationships with family, the medical community, and other people and their views on disability. All of this made for an interesting read.

Born Twice is the winner of the of the 2001 Strega Prize, which is Italy’s most prestigious literary honor.

Bookish Quote of the Day!!!

"Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day." Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Sharon Lovejoy author lecture & signing event!

Sharon Lovejoy, the author of Trowel and Error: Over 700 Tips, Remedies and Shortcuts for the Gardener, along with several other books, was at the Curious Cup Bookstore in downtown Carpinteria this afternoon at 2pm to give a short talk about gardening and to sign copies of her books. 

Before signing copies of her gardening books, Sharon Lovejoy gave a wonderful talk about gardening filled with tips about composting, ridding one's garden of pests using natural means, and the benefits of bees and worms in one's garden. Ms. Lovejoy also answered questions from the audience about about gardening and even book publishing! 

I walked away thrilled with what I'd learned from Ms. Lovejoy's discussion this afternoon. I even purchased a copy of her book Trowel and Error: Over 700 Tips, Remedies and Shortcuts for the Gardener, which I had autographed and will be giving as a gift to my mom. My mom is the true green thumb in our family and adores spending hours in her yard gardening each week.

Sharon Lovejoy even has a blog, which may be found at the following link: http://sharonlovejoy.blogspot.com/

Until my next post, happy reading!!

The Giver by Lois Lowry

I finished reading The Giver by Lois Lowry a couple of weeks ago. This is the first novel I've read by Lois Lowry and all I can say is W-O-W!!! What a powerful novel. I can see why The Giver is the winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal.

I've enjoyed reading a few dystopian novels over the years, so The Giver appealed to me for this reason, along with it being a Newbery Medal winner.

The Giver is set in an unknown society that is presented as a utopian society at the start of the novel and gradually over time, this society, appears more dystopian in nature. In this unnamed society, it is learned that:

The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness," a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the past memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. When Jonas meets the previous receiver—The "Giver"—he is confused in many ways. The Giver is also able to break some rules, such as turning off the speaker and lying to people of the community. As Jonas receives the memories from the Giver, he discovers the power of knowledge. The people in his community are happy because they don't know of a better life, but the knowledge of what they are missing out on could create major chaos. He faces a dilemma: Should he stay with the community, his family living a shallow life without love, color, choices, and knowledge, or should he run away to where he can live a full life?

The above quote is from Wikipedia. Click on highlighted text to read/learn more.

The Giver has had its share of controversy and has appeared on the American Library Association's list of top 100 banned/challenged books for 2000-2009 and also made the list for 100 most frequently challenged books for 1990-1999.

In an article, titled Lois Lowry's Newbery-winning 'Giver' still ignites debate by Karen MacPherson published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ms. MacPherson sites the following controversy regarding The Giver:

A number of American towns and cities have chosen it for community wide reading projects, and the book is a popular gift for graduations and bar mitzvahs.

But "The Giver," which won the 1994 Newbery Medal, also is among the most challenged books in the nation, according to the American Library Association. These challenges are filed by adults who contend that the book supports euthanasia, abortion and infanticide. Lowry, as well as the book's many fans, vehemently deny these charges.

"The reasons that people give for challenging the book make it clear that they haven't read it," Lowry said. "It's saddening and frustrating because it seems to me that this is a very moral book."

I really enjoyed reading The Giver. Yes, it deals with mature, thought provoking subject matter for young adults, but I never once felt that The Giver promoted/supported "euthanasia, abortion and infanticide". I simply felt The Giver made me, the reader, think more about the world around me and more importantly about the government's role on the society in which we live.

Although, I do not have children myself, I am old enough to be a mother of a young adult and I would allow my child to read this book if I had a child. Promoting the love of reading and having healthy, meaningful discussions about what has been read is a good thing.