Belle's Bookshelf: christmas

Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Friday, 7 December 2012

Friday Links: Marchetta News, Dying Libraries and Alex Mack

I've been hyperventilating all week because JIMMY HALLIER is back. Also, Saving Francesca is being made into a movie. So much Marchetta awesomeness.

What do your bookshelves say about you? I love the idea that books are like photographs for readers, representing who you were at a particular time in your life.

A eulogy for Fisher Library at Sydney uni. Tear. On a more positive note: this slideshow of the best college libraries in America makes my mouth water a little bit.

This Facebook page of "reviews" of books that are TL;DR makes me laugh. My fave: "1984 by George Orwell. A book about events that happened 28 years ago, published 35 years earlier. Irrefutable proof that time travel is possible."

Last month Harlequin launched their new digital imprint Escape Publishing and it's currently open for submissions.

Can season three of Game of Thrones come out already?! Here's a peek behind the scenes of production. Squee!

The Hawkeye Initiative is highlighting the ridiculousness of how women are portrayed in comics by rejigging the art to feature Hawkeye. Brilliant.

The Muppet Christmas Carol is not only the greatest A Christmas Carol adaptation, it's also the best Christmas movie, IMO. Here are 25 reasons it rocks.

Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield are the cutest couple of the year. Officially. If they break up, I will be devastated. Unless she hooks up with Ryan Gosling and he gets with Rachel McAdams. Or they all get together and form one big polygamous family of adorable.

Julia Gillard's apocalypse speech is probably the most awesome thing she's ever done. Aside from, you know, being Australia's first female prime minister or whatever.

This has to be the greatest selfie ever taken.

Here are 45 powerful images from 2012.

Having a bad day? Laugh at these people. That's not mean, right? Ahem.

Where is Alex Mack now? And did she ever take the cure? The answers might surprise you.

YouTube Clip of the Week
This made me smile.

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Top Ten Books I Want Santa To Bring Me

1. The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling. I feel like the only person in the world who hasn't read this book.

2. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. Everyone I know adores this book, and every time I see a new, glowing review, I kick myself for not owning it.

3. Metamorphoses by Ovid. I love Greek mythology and I've been meaning to read the Metamorphoses for years, so I'd love to get it as a gift.

4. Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes. This not only looks like a totally adorable cookbook, it also sounds like an interesting and potentially moving read, focusing on how baking literally saved Marian's life as she recovered from depression.

5. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. This twist on the Peter Pan tale sounds intriguing and has gotten amazing reviews from people I trust.

6. The Fire Chronicle by John Stephens. I loved The Emerald Atlas when I read it last year, and I've been looking forward to reading its sequel for awhile. I just need to get my hands on it!

7. Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart. I'm obsessed with Miranda's self-titled sitcom, and her book sounds just as hilarious and delightful.

8. On Writing by Stephen King. I'm hoping to focus more on my creative writing in the new year, and it seems like this book is a must-have for all aspiring authors!

9. The Illiad and The Odyssey by Homer. I specifically want the Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics edition of Homer's work, because it looks gorgeous. I'm obsessed with this collection.

10. The Original Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. This edition of Mary Shelley's classic includes two versions of the story: the original that Mary wrote, and the version we all know, which was heavily edited by her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. I'd love to see the original and compare the two.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

What's on your wishlist?

Sunday, 25 December 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!''- Fred, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Thursday, 22 December 2011

Bookish Buys: So This Is Christmas

Who's ready for Christmas? I'm so not. I don't know if it's because I've been so busy, but I've got more than a touch of the pre-ghost Scrooge to me this year. Usually I'm really into Christmas, but this time 'round I haven't finished getting presents - I haven't even put up my tree! Oh well, I thought I'd virtually decorate the blog by searching out some bookish Christmas buys instead...