Matching Skirts and Blogs? Yes, Please!

Last week, Allison @ The Book Wheel came to my area to visit.  Well, she was visiting family, but she did take a 2.5 hour drive down to see me!

We spent the day at the beach, at lunch overlooking the water, trying to get into a closed bookstore, and then doing a little shopping.  And of course, we ended our day with delicious Friendly’s sundaes (which I ate in like 5 minutes, no lie!).

Matching skirts bc we are nerds (with good taste)

Want to see more?  Check out Allison’s post from last week about how we make book blogging sound cool!

Reading Lolita in Tehran Dates

So excited for the second part of the Book Club Companion Read!

Allison and I had a great time leading the discussion for Lolita in April, and it was a really lively talk.  Super successful!

But whether you participated in reading Lolita with us or not, we’d love for you to join in with Reading Lolita in Tehran for May!

Here are the discussion dates, again on my blog, Love at First Book:

Discussion 1 – May 18th: Beginning through Part 2 (All of Lolita & Gatsby) 

Discussion 2 – June 1st: Part 3 – End (James, Austen, & Epilogue)

I just grabbed my copy from the library and can’t wait to start reading!

Who’s in?

Book Club: Lolita & Reading Lolita in Tehran

For Book Club, Allison @ The Book Wheel & I decided to do things a little differently, and we are super excited about it!

For April, we will be reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, which is a classic novel on “love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation” (from Goodreads summary).  

Then in May, we have Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, which is the memoir of how an inspired teacher fought the Islamic regime by reading forbidden texts with her small group of select students.

I love this idea for 3 reasons:

1. It’s innovative – we haven’t done a Book Club comparison yet!

2. We get to compare a classic and a modern story.

3. We get to compare a related fiction and a nonfiction.

For April and May, we’ll discuss each book only twice during each month on my blog, Love at First Book.  Same amount of time to read, half the amount of discussion weeks per month, but the same amount of amazing discussion!

Interested in participating in only one of the Book Club discussion months?  That’s okay, too!  We’d love for you to participate in both, but feel free to join in only one book discussion if that works better for you.  We also made sure that both books would be readily available at most local libraries.

And don’t worry – both Allison & I will be sure to let you know of and remind you of the schedule!

Now who is going to participate with us?

What anniversary could today be???

A year ago, I published a post about my experiences meeting Allison @ The Book Wheel.  

Look at how cute we were a year ago!

Since that time, Allison and I have become real life friends.  I’ve moved away from Denver, but we chat on the phone or Google hang a few times a week.

And unless you’re new to my blog, you know we’ve had some partnerships on the blog, like:

• 50 Bookish Things You Must Do Before You Die: We came up with a mutual list, and a chunk of individual things to do.  Then we challenged people to come up with their own lists, too!
• Weekday Read-a-thon: Since we had so much going on every weekend there was a read-a-thon, we planned our own during the week!
• Book Club: Every other month, Allison and I host a book club.  Some of the past favorites have been The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Lean In and most recently, Orange is the New Black.  Stay tuned for our next pick, which will be revealed in January!

What will we come up with next?

Guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

And if you haven’t met Allison yet, stop by The Book Wheel blog or FB page to say hello!

 

Hanukkah Symbols: A Post on The Book Wheel

Today I’m over at The Book Wheel in order to explain some recognizable Hanukkah symbols!

Stop by The Book Wheel to say hi and check out the symbols!  Do you know what all of them mean?

Book Club for September: Lean In

September Book Club:

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Hosted by Rebecca @ Love at First Book & Allison @ The Book Wheel

Photo Credit: Goodreads

Allison from The Book Wheel and I are thrilled to announce our September book club pick, Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. We’re looking forward to the conversation that this book is sure to generate and we hope that you can join us!

As you finish each week’s reading, go to the blog post and start or continue the conversation!  Remember to come back to see if people respond, and help keep the discussion going!

The book is a short one (160 pages excluding acknowledgements and references), so it’s only about  35-40 pages per week.  If you’re late, early, need to skip a week, whatever, that’s okay!!   It’s all about having a stimulating conversation.

If you’d like to join us, please sign up on Allison’s page and/or below by posting a comment!  It’s not required, but much appreciated. If you have a blog or a website you are affiliated with, please feel free to post the link to your website as well!

September 1 – 7 –  Intro – Chapter 2

Sept 8 – 14 – Chapters 3 – Chapter 5

Sept 15-21 – Chapters 6 – Chapter 9

Sept 22-28 – Chapters 10 – End

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca

Interested in getting your own copy? Check it out on Amazon & IndieBound. I get a small percentage if you purchase from those links, and it doesn’t cost you any extra.

Book Club: Elegance Week 4 – You Made It!!!

Book Club: The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Week 4

Hosted by The Book Wheel and Love at First Book

Welcome to Week 4: Today-28 – Paloma to end of book (pages 239-325)

You’ve made it (or almost made it if you’re still reading, which it totally fine btw)!

Please go ahead and start (or continue) the conversation!  Remember to come back to continue to respond to others who comment throughout the week (and month)!  Write as much or as little as you please, and don’t forget to link your own blog if you have one!

Feel free to post about the entire book!  Spoilers completely allowed since we’ve finished reading!

Haven’t finished yet?  Come back when you’re done and join in the conversation!

Didn’t read with us but want to chat about the book?  Join us!  This is all about awesome book discussion!

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca and Allison

Book Club: Elegance Week 3

Book Club: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery – Week 3

Hosted by The Book Wheel and Love at First Book

Welcome to Week 3: Today-July 21 – Summer Rain Ch 1- Profound Thought 13 (pages 173-238)

Alright, so we’re moving along through the book, now more than halfway. . .

Please go ahead and start (or continue) the conversation!  Remember to come back to continue to respond to others who comment throughout the week (and month)!  Write as much or as little as you please, and don’t forget to link your own blog if you have one!

Only post about Summer Rain Ch 1-Profound Thought #13, please!  Spoilers totally allowed for those chapters, but no spoilers for the remainder of the book, please!  Save those for the later posts.

Haven’t finished Summer Rain-Profound Thought #13 yet?  Come back when you’re done and join in the conversation!

There’s still plenty of time to join us if you want to!

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca and Allison

Book Club: Elegance Week 2

Book Club: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery – Week 2

Hosted by The Book Wheel and Love at First Book

Welcome to Week 2: Today-July 14 – Camellias Ch 10 (A Cat Called Roget) –  Profound Thought #11 (pages 80-170)

Soooo, how’s it going?  Liking it so far?

Please go ahead and start (or continue) the conversation!  Remember to come back to continue to respond to others who comment throughout the week (and month)!  Write as much or as little as you please, and don’t forget to link your own blog if you have one!

Only post about Camellias Ch 10-Profound Thought #11, please!  Spoilers totally allowed for those chapters, but no spoilers for the remainder of the book, please!  Save those for the later posts.

Haven’t finished Camellias Ch 10-Profound Thought #11 yet?  Come back when you’re done and join in the conversation!

There’s still plenty of time to join us if you want to!

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca and Allison

Book Club: Elegance of the Hedgehog Week 1

Book Club: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery – Week 1

Hosted by The Book Wheel and Love at First Book

Welcome to Week 1: Today-7 – Marx (Preamble) – Profound Thought #4 (pages 1-79)

Woo hoo!  We’re finally getting started with The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  If you’re here, you have read the first part, or are currently reading it!

Please go ahead and start (or continue) the conversation!  Remember to come back to continue to respond to others who comment throughout the week (and month)!  Write as much or as little as you please, and don’t forget to link your own blog if you have one!

Only post about Marx-Profound Thought #4, please!  Spoilers totally allowed for those chapters, but no spoilers for the remainder of the book, please!  Save those for the later posts.

Haven’t finished Marx-Profound Thought #4 yet?  Come back when you’re done and join in the conversation!

Didn’t sign up to read with us?  Join now!  Sign up here or just come join us when you want to!

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca and Allison