Top Ten Tuesday - Bookstores I've Visited & Loved!!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Top Ten Tuesday was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

I decided to put a twist on this week's Top Ten Tuesday theme and share my favorite indie bookstores that I've visited over the years instead of sharing which ones I still wish to visit in the future.

My top ten favorite indie bookstores to date (in no particular order of importance) are as follows:

1. Alexander Book Company in the heart of downtown San Francisco, California, USA.  Alexander Book Company is easy walking distance from a BART Station. It contains three stories of books!! I love the layout of this bookstore, friendly staff, plenty of new releases to choose from and also a ton of deeply discounted remaindered books.

2. Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, USA. Book Passage has three different locations (San Francisco, Sausalito, and Corte Madera). The Corte Madera location is awesome! Book Passage in Corte Madera, California is large, offers a plethora of author signings and talks (as well author events at their other locations too), conferences, and classes. Friendly staff, great selection of books, and wonderful layout.

3. Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California, USA is a beautiful bookstore. They have authors events,  and also sell pens and stationary. Vroman's Bookstore is also billed as SoCal's oldest and largest independent bookstore.

4. The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles, California, USA. This a very beautiful and unique bookstore. They sell used records too. Great layout. Events take place there like book clubs, author talks, and more.

5. Bart's Books in Ojai, California, USA. I love this very unique bookstore! It's partially outdoors and has meandering bookshelves and passageways. It's a fun book store to visit and sells used books. It's one of my favorite used bookstores.

6. The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. I love this small bookstore that specializes mainly in mysteries and thrillers. They have plenty of author signing events and book clubs events as well. Plus, they have a podcast and videos on YouTube!

7. Elaine's Book Mark - The Paperback Exchange in Escondido, California, USA. This bookstore sells used books and is large for a used bookstore. This is one of my favorite used bookstores.

8. Rakestraw Books in Danville, California, USA. My favorite local bookstore at the moment. It's small, but packs a punch! Friendly staff, plenty of free parking, many author signing events, book clubs, great layout and very cute interior space.

9. Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego, California, USA. If you're a fan of genre fiction such as mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and horror, then this is the bookstore for you!

10. Prairie Lights in Iowa City, Iowa, USA. I attended the University of Iowa in the mid-1990s and earned my BA in Russian in 1996. The University of Iowa is located in the heart of Iowa City... During my college days, my favorite bookstore was Prairie Lights!! This place was awesome for all my reading needs and had a cafe that served yummy pastries and espresso beverages. Even though I haven't been back to Iowa City in 22 years, I am thrilled to see this bookstore still thriving! Prairie Lights opened their doors in 1978. They still have a cafe and offer author events/readings.

Share your favorite indie bookstores with me in the comment section below!

Pizza Hut + Little Free Library = Little Free Libraries That Look Like Mini Pizza Huts!

I love visiting Little Free Libraries as often as I can, especially new to me Little Free Libraries. I recently discovered an article online titled, Pizza Hut’s ‘Little Free Libraries’ Look Exactly Like Mini Pizza Huts by Anne Ewbank. In the article, Anne Ewbank wrote the following:

WHILE STOPPING FOR GAS IN Wyoming during a recent trip, I glanced at a Pizza Hut across the parking lot and saw something surprising. Pizza Huts tend to be topped with the geometric red roof that’s become the pizza chain’s logo—it’s plastered on restaurants from Riverton, Wyoming, to Rio de Janeiro. This Pizza Hut had the iconic roof. But so did another, tiny Pizza Hut placed in front of the restaurant. Set atop a wooden post, the crate-sized structure was actually a Little Free Library, filled with books that passersby could pick up and exchange.

While the Little Free Library website offers blueprints to create basic book-exchange boxes, many builders get creative. Volunteers make Little Free Libraries shaped like birdhouses, castles, and spaceships, or themed after Doctor Who and Harry Potter. Others are made with attached benches or added greenery, and reams of Pinterest boards depict interesting designs. Contests celebrate the most creative takes.

Still, a Pizza Hut-themed Little Free Library was new to me. A few days later, in Montana, I plotted a course for a random Pizza Hut. Sure enough, there was a Little Free Library out front. Topped with the signature red roof, it was filled with magazines and classic young adult books, such as Johnny Tremain and Catherine, Called Birdy.

When I called Pizza Hut, I was informed that this was a franchisee project, rather than a national endeavor. “We were looking at ways to become involved in our markets locally,” says Lynda Carrier-Metz, the chief marketing manager of Restaurant Management Company of Wichita. In 2016, Carrier-Metz won a $10,000 volunteer grant from Pizza Hut parent Yum! Brands to construct 20 book-exchange boxes in front of restaurants. According to Carrier-Metz, it came down to combining community involvement with “what people were doing already”: that is, going to Pizza Hut. “In many towns, the libraries aren’t open after 5 or 6 p.m.,” she adds. “We wanted them to come to Pizza Hut and bring their books, and get other books.”

The article goes on to share much more information, so please be sure and click on the link above to read more about how Pizza Hut decided to created several Little Free Libraries. I found the article to be fascinating and am glad that Pizza Hut has a legacy of supporting literacy.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Unabridged Audio Version

I listened to the unabridged audio version of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead and narrated by Bahni Turpin. Listening time for The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is 10 hours, 43 minutes.

The Underground Railroad won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2017 and was also an Oprah Book Club Selection in 2016. For these two main reasons, I decided to read this novel despite the fact that I find Oprah Book Club Selections hit or miss for me personally.

I thought the first 20% of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead started off rather slowly. I almost decided to call it quits...  But I am glad I chose to push forward as things did begin to pick up after that.

As far as the entire novel goes, I liked The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, but didn't love it. I enjoyed how the plot unfolded, the various plot twists and turns, and the use of magical realism when describing the underground railroad itself as a literal railroad that people traveled on. I enjoyed reading about the various characters found within The Underground Railroad. I also enjoyed seeing each state Cora travels to through her eyes and how she comes to experience an entirely new world of possibility and wonderment during each leg of her journey to freedom.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is a difficult novel to read. The brutality of slavery, the appalling living/working conditions of life on a plantation, the thought of being considered someone else's property, being separated from one's family when a slave owner sells off your husband, children, parents, siblings, etc. on a whim, or even being considered less than equal to white people are all points touched upon while reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Colson Whitehead does do a wonderful job of weaving in the various chapters together to make a solid, credible story.

Learning about what really happened to Mabel (Cora's mother) in a chapter near the end of the novel, the chapter about Ethel's background life, and the chapters on South Carolina and about life on the Valentine Farm were some of the most riveting chapters in the novel for me to hear.

The ending of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is the type of ending that leaves it up to the reader's imagination on  Cora's fate, which is fine...  The assumption for me is that she finds freedom with the people she meets up with in the end. But I was hoping for a bit more details for the ending of this particular novel.

One of the best features of this audiobook was the narrator, Bahni Turpin. She's a phenomenal narrator!!

The following is a plot summary for The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead from Audible:

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

Below is the author Colson Whitehead discussing The Underground Railroad.

I am giving The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead a rating of 3.5 stars out 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Maryse Conde Wins the Alternate Nobel Prize In Literature!

I came across an article on the Wall Street Journal titled, Not-the-Nobel Prize in Literature Is Announced by Brenda Cronin. In the article, Brenda Cronin wrote the following:

Maryse Condé, a chronicler of the colonial experience and its aftermath, won the New Academy Prize in Literature Friday. 

Ms. Condé was praised as “a grand storyteller” whose “authorship belongs to world literature,” according to the New Academy. The Stockholm-based nonprofit stepped in to honor a writer this year after the Swedish Academy postponed the Nobel Prize in literature.

Ann Pålsson, a Swedish publishing veteran who headed the New Academy’s four-person jury, announced the decision in the rotunda of the Stockholm Public Library. 

In an interview Friday, the 81-year-old Ms. Condé said she was delighted, proud—even astonished—to have won the award. She expressed hope that the New Academy might continue its work, particularly because the organization involved librarians in choosing nominees. 

In a video played during the announcement in Stockholm, Ms. Condé said she would share the honor with the people of her native Guadeloupe. The island in the Caribbean where she was born “is known for hurricanes and earthquakes,” she said, “and now we are so happy to have been recognized for something else, for this prize.”

Congratulations to Maryse Conde! I've never heard of Maryse Conde before, so I will have to check out her books.

Bookish Quote of the Day!!!

Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax

Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax is a science fiction, erotica/romance short story 48 pages in length and is part of the 'Cyborg Sizzle Series'.

I was able to download Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax for FREE to my Kindle from Amazon. Below is my honest, unbiased review for Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax.

I liked Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax despite it being predictable and formulaic. The writing was decent and so were both the storyline and the characters. Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax has a happy ending and no major complications.

Below is the plot summary for Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax from Amazon:

He requires an Expert. She needs a hero. 

Barrel requires an Expert for the Tau Cetian orphans. He’s looking for a female who is willing to commit to a lifespan-long role, who is comfortable with moving off planet, and who, preferably, has the ability to speak the offsprings’ first language. 

Nola wants the role Barrel is offering so badly she bends a few truths. Yes, she was born off planet but she has lived almost all of her lifespan in sheltered Academies. Yes, she has learned Tau Cetian but she has never spoken with a local. Yes, she plans to follow the rules but his deep, sexy voice tempts her to rebel. 

When a fact-morphing human academic meets her battle-worn cyborg warrior, deceptions are revealed, passions flare, and circuits sizzle. Wrong seems right. Lies turn into truth. The candidate least qualified for the role becomes the one candidate Barrel can’t let go. 

Jumping Barrel is a short companion story in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is meant to be read after Releasing Rage, Breathing Vapor and Crash And Burn.

It is also a BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes violent universe.

I am giving Jumping Barrel by Cynthia Sax a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax

Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax is a science fiction, erotica/romance short story 45 pages in length and is part of the 'Cyborg Sizzle Series'.

I was able to download Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax for FREE to my Kindle from Amazon. Below is my honest, unbiased review for Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax.

I liked Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax despite it being predictable and formulaic. The writing was decent and so were the storyline and the characters. Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax has a happy ending and no major complications.

Below is the plot summary for Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax from Amazon:

Abducted by the warrior of her dreams.

Zip is the last of his friends to find his female, the one being meant for him. He isn’t certain she exists until he hears her voice over a transmission. A self-proclaimed systems deity, he researches his curvy little human and discovers she dreams of being abducted by a big, strong warrior. Zip plans to make his female’s fantasies come true.

Ryssa wants one gift for her birthing planet rotation—to be captured by a warrior, preferably a tall, muscular cyborg with black hair, gray skin, and brilliant blue eyes. When Zip arrives on her planet, claiming to be her male, Ryssa assumes one of her friends has ordered the experience for her, and throws herself into the encounter, losing herself in Zip’s hot kisses, sensual touch, dominant embrace.

When the fantasy fades, will their love survive?

Knowing Zip is a short companion story in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is meant to be read after Seeking Vector. 

It is also a BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes violent universe.

I am giving Knowing Zip by Cynthia Sax a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.
Until my next post, happy reading!

Being Green by Cynthia Sax

Being Green by Cynthia Sax is a science fiction, erotica/romance short story 49 pages in length and is part of the 'Cyborg Sizzle Series'.

I was able to download Being Green by Cynthia Sax for FREE to my Kindle from Amazon. Below is my honest, unbiased review for Being Green by Cynthia Sax.

I liked Being Green by Cynthia Sax despite it being predictable and formulaic. The writing was decent and so were the storyline and the characters. Being Green by Cynthia Sax has a happy ending and no major complications.

Below is the plot summary for Being Green by Cynthia Sax from Amazon:

Can a stubborn scientist and a sexy cyborg make love grow?

Green, a cyborg warrior, cares for one being—his plant Windy. When Windy becomes sick, he’ll do anything to heal her, even venture across the universe to visit a worlds-renowned plant doctor.

He doesn’t expect to find love.

Doctor Shelby Cooper is the sole resident of a tiny planet. She prefers to be alone rather than risk caring for another being and then losing him. The curvaceous scientist is determined to resist Green’s patient caresses, his thought-burning kisses, his slow seduction.

She has underestimated the power of a cyborg’s passion.

Being Green is a short companion story in the Cyborg Sizzle series and is meant to be read after Releasing Rage.

It is also a BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance.

I am giving Being Green by Cynthia Sax a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

Little Free Library @ the Lafayette Community Garden in Lafayette, California

Little Free Library outside the Lafayette Community Garden.

Last weekend, my husband and I visited the Lafayette Community Garden in Lafayette, California, which we learned was established in Spring of 2012. The Lafayette Community Garden is a cooperative vegetable garden. 

Garden hours are as follows:

Tuesday: 4pm - 7pm

Thursday: 9am - 12pm 

Saturday: 9am - 1pm

I also discovered that the Lafayette Community Garden has a Little Free Library outside its entrance, which is how I learned about the Lafayette Community Garden in the first place.

Below are some photos of the Lafayette Community Garden.

Entrance to the Lafayette Community Garden.

Squash

Various Vegetable Beds

Oak Tree

Chickens

What a great place/space to grow your own vegetables!! It makes my heart smile knowing that communities offer spaces where people can grow their own produce. 

Additionally, having a Little Free Library onsite is also a perk too!

Top Ten Tuesday - Longest Books I’ve Ever Read

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Top Ten Tuesday was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Below is a list of lengthy novels I've read over the years and enjoyed reading at the time. The funny part is that I don't really read many lengthy novels now. 

1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (850 pages)
2. East of Eden by John Steinbeck (691 pages) ~ This is one of my all time favorite novels ever written!
3. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (576 pages) ~ This is another one of my all time favorite novels ever written!
4. Queenie by Michael Korda (626 pages) ~ I read this novel in high school over 30 years ago. I loved this novel.
5. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (608 pages)
6. The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum (646 pages)
7. The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum (752 pages)

8. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (976 pages)

9. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (1104 pages)

10. The Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (1070 pages)

Share with me some of your favorite lengthy books in the comment section below!