BW13: Happy Birthday Dana Stabenow

 

“Science fiction is the agent provocateur of literature.” ~ Dana Stabenow

Happy Sunday my dears. During my web wanderings, I found out today, March the 27th is author Dana Stabenow's birthday.  I checked out her blog and read an article about How My Mother and Josephine Tey Led me into a Life of Crime. Given I'd recently read Tey's A Daughter of Time, I was drawn.  I was fascinated by Stabenow's tale of discovering Nancy Drew in the library and the start of her reading journey. Lots of interesting authors, some I've read, some I haven't yet. Stabenow is a prolific writer and has written forty novels during her writing career beginning with a couple of science fiction novels and segueing into writing murder mysteries.  

It just so happens, one of the dusty books on my eshelves is Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day for Murder, book number one in the 22 book Kate Shugak mystery series.  I think I bought back in 2014 around the time I was enamored with freezing cold settings and read Nevada Barr's Winter Study and bought a bunch of other titles with snow in them, some of which I had yet to read.  Somehow I overlooked Stabenow's book so in honor of her birthday, I'll be reading it this week.  And suddenly I'm also in the mood to reread James Rollins Ice Hunt. 

Learn more about Kate Stabenow from The Thrill Begins: Meet Your Heroes - Dana Stabenow and PBS AK Alaska podcast Dana Stabenow talks about her latest crime novel, her writing career and her support for women writers and what books Stabenow likes to read with Poison Pen's Dana Stabenows Distractions. 

A to Z and Back again - Our letter and word of the week are M and Murder (Obviously... LOL!)

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BW12: Spring Fling or Autumn Optimism

 

Today we celebrate the March equinox, welcoming Spring or Autumn, depending on where you are in the world.  Both seasons have something in common - nature's showcase of beautiful colors, bright and bold as well as rich and warm.  So let's dive into the season with our Spring / Autumn Reading Fling. 

• Read a book with flowers or leaves on the cover.
• Read a book with the colors of spring or autumn on the cover 
• Read a book with Spring or Autumn in the title
• Read a book about a Spring or Autumn Fling. (oh la la)
• Read a book about life beginning.
• Read a book about rebirth.
• Read a book about life changing. 
• Read a book about wine or with wine on the cover 
• Read a book with any of the words from the poem below on the cover

 

Spring And Autumn.

By 

Thomas Moore 

Every season hath its pleasures;

Spring may boast her flowery prime,

Yet the vineyard's ruby treasures

Brighten Autumn's soberer time.

So Life's year begins and closes;

Days tho' shortening still can shine;

What tho' youth gave love and roses,

Age still leaves us friends and wine.

Phillis, when she might have caught me,

All the Spring looked coy and shy,

Yet herself in Autumn sought me,

When the flowers were all gone by.

Ah, too late;--she found her lover

Calm and free beneath his vine,

Drinking to the Spring-time over,

In his best autumnal wine.

Thus may we, as years are flying,

To their flight our pleasures suit,

Nor regret the blossoms dying,

While we still may taste the fruit,

Oh, while days like this are ours,

Where's the lip that dares repine?

Spring may take our loves and flowers,

So Autumn leaves us friends and wine.

A to Z and Back again - Our letter and word of the week are L and Life

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BW11: All the World's a Stage

 

Happy Sunday, my darlings. For those of us who still have to abide by daylight savings time, did you remember to set your clocks forward? I'm appreciating the fact we only have a few clocks to adjust when I think about the clock merchant who has to reset a 1000 clocks.  

Speaking of time, our next 52 Books  Bingo category is All the World's a Stage.  Which works well with our golden age theme since William Shakespeare was alive during the Elizabethan era, considered the Golden Age in English history. 

There are many ways to go with this category including but not limited to

Five Best William Shakespeare Plays 

Goodreads Top 100 Stage Plays

Goodreads Listopia - Best Books about Stage magic 

17 sparkling and suspenseful novels set on the stage or the screen

A Complete List of Books for Every Stage of Your Life, According to Librarians

“All the world’s a stage”

by

William Shakespeare 

(from As You Like It, spoken by Jaques)

                                        All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

A to Z and Back again - Our letter and word of the week are K and Keen

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BW10: Crime Spree Bookology - Josephine Tey

 

Happy Sunday! Continuing with our Golden Age mystery writers, this month's Crime Spree Bookology choice is Josephine Tey.  I've had The Daughter of Time sitting in my stacks for quite a while and look forward to reading it now.  Tey is the creator of Inspector Alan Grant series and also wrote plays under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot.

There are a number of ways to complete the Crime Spree bookology challenge, including but not limited to:

Spell out the author's name - one book per letter from the title on the cover.

Read one or more books written by the author.

Read a book written in the country or time period of the author.

Learn more about Josephine Tey through a Crime Readers Guide to the Classics and Decades After Her Death, Mystery Still Surrounds Crime Novelist Josephine Tey.

A to Z and Back again - Our letter and word of the week are J and Justice

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Please share your book thoughts reviews and link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week.

In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field paste a link to your post, then check the privacy box and click enter.