tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-204025922009-12-24T20:08:54.654-05:00A Mostly Bookish Blog By JLS Halljlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.comBlogger537125Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-44472515821444328862009-12-24T10:56:00.002-05:002009-12-24T11:00:33.440-05:002009-12-24T11:00:33.440-05:00<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/4UfTIEnW7Ug" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-30138861753510711082009-12-17T15:47:00.008-05:002009-12-17T16:32:06.862-05:002009-12-17T16:32:06.862-05:00In answer to this week's BTT questions (What do you think of speed reading, and do you do it?): I'll say not much, and yes and no. I do know how to speed-read. Back in the 1970s when speed-reading was a hot topic, I read one of those early how-to books. Not, I believe, Evelyn Wood; but something...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/6piWqHC8Gfg" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-71026787664464340712009-12-17T09:05:00.012-05:002009-12-20T01:35:45.872-05:002009-12-20T01:35:45.872-05:00And another one! I had promised myself I'd cut back on reading challenges in 2010, but so many creative bloggers keep coming up with challenges I just can't refuse! So here's yet another challenge I'll be signing up for. The 2010 Bibliophilic Books Challenge runs throughout the coming year, and...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/rQZo65skMIM" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-84997225467139173112009-12-15T06:30:00.007-05:002009-12-15T07:51:20.294-05:002009-12-15T07:51:20.294-05:00This week my teaser comes from a book I haven't actually started reading yet. But it's next up, and I'm hoping to get to it later this week. The book is Crewel Yule, one of the needlecraft mysteries by Monica Ferris (read the first chapter). I love this series, which centers around Betsy...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/RZH5MG4baW4" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-14895356491050962642009-12-14T17:31:00.006-05:002009-12-14T21:40:52.363-05:002009-12-14T21:40:52.363-05:00Found another one. I know, I know - I should really stop looking! But for a while there, several centuries ago, I was headed for grad school in art history (alas, never to be). So this is a subject that's dear to my heart. The 2010 edition of the Art History Reading Challenge is being hosted by...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/FVSLGBxNLZ8" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-82503111174015332802009-12-12T09:35:00.007-05:002009-12-12T09:56:18.116-05:002009-12-12T09:56:18.116-05:00Here's another challenge I'm joining for next year. The 2010 Chunkster Challenge runs from February 1, 2010 to January 31, 2011 and this time it's being hosted by Wendy of Caribousmom (and A Novel Challenge). Most of the rules and reading levels are the same as last year, but you can read all...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/pvBOCNoiJlY" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-69847316411052102252009-12-11T09:34:00.008-05:002009-12-11T10:20:00.306-05:002009-12-11T10:20:00.306-05:00Marie over at The Boston Bibliophile is testing a new Friday meme this week. It's called Unfinished Friday, and asks us to share a few words about books we've started but left unfinished. As she says: "I know most of us endeavor to finish everything we read, but we don't have to, and sometimes...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/Ekz71jh3KJE" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-89105118834393375652009-12-10T08:55:00.022-05:002009-12-10T14:08:07.734-05:002009-12-10T14:08:07.734-05:00I love this week's question! BTT asks: "What items have you ever used as a bookmark? What is the most unusual item you've ever used or seen used?" I love it because I love bookmarks. I've collected or, more precisely, accumulated them since I was a child. Most of mine aren't terribly old or rare...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/hklAvrI2Jds" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-60563919175065391772009-12-08T06:48:00.017-05:002009-12-08T08:27:43.039-05:002009-12-08T08:27:43.039-05:00I'm mortified to admit that I'm still reading the same book I was reading last week, Rita Mae Brown's Santa Clawed. The book is not a long one and even a slow reader such as myself should be able to finish it off in less than a week, but real life keeps getting in the way, I'm afraid. The book is...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/zJ8s0TcTs70" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-48289692982966914132009-12-07T13:34:00.023-05:002009-12-07T19:20:31.044-05:002009-12-07T19:20:31.044-05:00Don't know if it's the Thanksgiving-Christmas busy-ness, or this cold I've had for the last week, or just general winter hibernation mode setting in, but for some reason I haven't felt very much like blogging lately. I've been intending to post wrap-ups for a few challenges that end soon, or in...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/L8fdRd3Ec4Q" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-78215172157180888042009-12-03T07:43:00.013-05:002009-12-03T09:45:13.209-05:002009-12-03T09:45:13.209-05:00This week, BTT is asking why participants participate: "What's your favorite part of Booking Through Thursday? Why do you participate (or not)?" You know, that's a question I've been asking myself lately. Why do I keep coming back here every week when I could be spending that time reading? Or...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/0gSPVapWucQ" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-48439916609341849902009-12-01T07:31:00.016-05:002009-12-01T10:11:16.589-05:002009-12-01T10:11:16.589-05:00Today my teasers come from Santa Clawed, one of the Mrs. Murphy mysteries by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. In this snippet, "Fair" is Fair (short for Pharamond) Haristeen, husband of Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, the series' main character (main human character, that is); and he's chatting...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/vLR3i1ZiYx0" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-2731741506231272212009-12-01T07:00:00.002-05:002009-12-01T07:23:02.632-05:002009-12-01T07:23:02.632-05:00In 2010, MizB is once again going to be hosting her popular TBR (Lite) Challenge, and once again I'll be signing up. I managed to read quite a few books from my TBR list in 2009, so the challenge was definitely good for me. Oddly enough, though, only one of the books I read was actually from my...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/q-NxHdw4rUs" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-19211625335841524652009-11-26T09:00:00.000-05:002009-11-26T11:53:41.637-05:002009-11-26T11:53:41.637-05:00<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/jnI9KSreNEQ" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-77227813505265207822009-11-25T08:00:00.003-05:002009-11-25T08:18:52.104-05:002009-11-25T08:18:52.104-05:00Now this is a challenge that seems like a natural for me. So how did I miss out on Seasons 1 through 3? The Series Challenge (Season 4) is being hosted again by Kathrin of Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic, and runs from December 1st, 2009 to November 30th, 2010. You can read all about it and...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/S_0q9xIlF9A" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-34790557958184356712009-11-24T13:07:00.011-05:002009-11-24T17:25:30.388-05:002009-11-24T17:25:30.388-05:00This week my teaser lines come from The Lover by Marguerite Duras. And once again I'm cheating a bit - more than two lines, and these lines are the opening sentences of the book, so they're really not random. But they do sort of reach out and grab you: One day, I was already old, in the entrance...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/sYaBVnkO440" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-18502901283457959482009-11-24T07:15:00.009-05:002009-11-24T07:42:26.503-05:002009-11-24T07:42:26.503-05:00Tuesday Thingers is hosted every week by Wendi of Wendi's Book Corner (thanks, Wendi!), and this week her question is about LibraryThing's Christmas gift-giving feature, SantaThing: "Have you ever participated in SantaThing (it is in its third year)? If so, what did you like? Dislike? Are you...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/u6qfIfDqgzM" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-81841765928553410492009-11-22T15:19:00.007-05:002009-11-22T15:46:05.186-05:002009-11-22T15:46:05.186-05:00Well, I was going to give this one a miss because I figured there was no way I would ever be able to read enough new authors in one year to complete the challenge. But after looking at my reading list for this year, I realized that at least twenty or more of the works I read in 2009 were written...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/KNs8Yv_P2Is" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-13804304787946141922009-11-21T16:39:00.012-05:002009-11-21T21:00:02.177-05:002009-11-21T21:00:02.177-05:00This is one I could not possibly resist. I had so much fun reading all the books for the 2008-2009 edition of the Thriller &amp; Suspense Challenge, that I'm already looking forward to the Thriller &amp; Suspense 2010 Challenge. It's being hosted this time by Book Chick City, and runs from 1...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/BbiMYEOcKI8" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-52188577618327729682009-11-19T10:25:00.013-05:002009-11-19T10:55:37.278-05:002009-11-19T10:55:37.278-05:00Do you ever have that dream where you're taking a final exam for one class or another, and when you sit down to go to work you realize you haven't done any of the reading, or attended any of the classes, and don't have even the slightest idea how to answer any of the questions? Well, I haven't had...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/DvceuAfvqMc" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-81825953214934906542009-11-18T23:35:00.004-05:002009-11-18T23:52:59.352-05:002009-11-18T23:52:59.352-05:00The Chunkster Challenge 2009 officially ended November 15th, so I'm just a wee bit late in getting this posted. I read several books that would qualify for this challenge, but haven't reviewed all of them. Here's the list (with links to those I have reviewed): Angels &amp; Demons. Dan Brown...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/Vzls1dMwfzc" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-72790920232079935602009-11-18T09:59:00.010-05:002009-11-18T10:26:06.605-05:002009-11-18T10:26:06.605-05:00WWW Wednesdays is a new meme hosted by mizb17 over at Should Be Reading. It asks three (3) questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?And my answers for this week: Currently (still) reading: Stardust by Joseph...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/IjADS0SFLt8" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-89757998662548605962009-11-17T08:08:00.017-05:002009-11-17T08:54:47.739-05:002009-11-17T08:54:47.739-05:00My teaser this week comes from Stardust, by Joseph Kanon. I'm enjoying this one quite a lot – enough to stay up reading into the wee hours. But it's a long book (over 500 pages), so I'll be interested to see if Kanon can go on keeping me up past my bedtime. In this excerpt Ben Collier, the book's...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/RytrRuupIxY" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-43512243151528686102009-11-16T09:41:00.004-05:002009-11-16T13:08:51.093-05:002009-11-16T13:08:51.093-05:00Last night I finished one of the books I've been reading for what seems like months now (but it's really only been weeks!) – E.L. Doctorow's Homer &amp; Langley (review to come later today, hopefully). I've got a couple of other books going right now, but this week I'm concentrating on finishing...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/69JSI_9hXmM" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402592.post-53439569366355979132009-11-15T17:47:00.007-05:002009-11-15T18:04:20.637-05:002009-11-15T18:04:20.637-05:00It's been a couple of months since my last Sunday Salon visit. Sundays around here are usually taken up with errands, shopping, and watching countless football games on TV (or basketball games, or tennis matches, or . . . well, you get the idea). But today, the hubby is away on a business trip and...<br/> <br/> [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Jlshall/~4/2RJQF0jdooY" height="1" width="1"/>jlshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268434704970729620noreply@blogger.com2