Literary Distractions

Distracting myself with life and literature. Blogger, writer, editor, freelancer, publishing student.

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January 2017 Recap

My January 2017 Recap and February TBR! #janrecap #febtbr

The first 33 days of 2017 are officially in the books. Only 332 to go! While we saw mourned many more celebrity deaths in January 2016 (David Bowie, Alan Rickman, René Angélil, Abe Vigoda–to name a few) than this past January (Mary Tyler Moore), we still mourn for them nonetheless. A few other notable events that happened this past January include a new United States President was inaugurated,…

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Reads for 2017

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Reads for 2017

It’s another week of Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish link-up for bloggers to share their top ten lists! My it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these…and what a perfect week to do it, because it’s a freebie week! So one of my big goals this year (besides a myriad of others) is to hit my reading goal for 2017. I was so happy to have hit my reading goal of 25 books last year, and I want to…

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Review: The French Impressionist by Rebecca Bischoff

Review: The French Impressionist by Rebecca Bischoff #bookreview #yafiction

The French Impressionist Author: Rebecca Bischoff Publisher: Amberjack Publishing Publication Date: December 6, 2016 Format: Ebook Pages: 250 ISBN: 9781944995027 Genre: YA Fiction, YA Contemporary Mary’s Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars Review copy from NetGalley Synopsis “Rosemary is fifteen and gloriously free, on her own for the very first time. Part of an exchange program for aspiring artists, she…

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Book Review: Navigating Life: Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me by Margaux Bergen

#BookReview: Navigating Life: Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me by Margaux Bergen #netgalley

Navigating Life: Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me Author: Margaux Bergen Publisher: Penguin Press Publication Date: August 2, 2016 Format: Ebook Pages: 256 ISBN: 9780698182202 Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Parenting Mary’s Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars Review copy from NetGalley Synopsis “Margaux Bergen began writing this book when her daughter Charlotte turned nine and gave it to her right after…

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2016: A Year In Review

2016: A Year In Review

This has been one heck of a year. I think that’s the best way to describe 2016, right? With the death of beloved actors and musicians (this year made me an emotional wreck), the way politics have played out in the United States, engagements and births among family and friends, and hitting (or at least striving toward) some personal goals, this year has been a roller-coaster of emotions. 2016…

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Ranking the Harry Potter Book Series

Ranking the Harry Potter Book Series

We’re just ONE day away from July 31! a.k.a Harry Potter’s birthday. a.k.a. J.K. Rowling’s birthday. a.k.a. the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child script book. You get the idea. And since we’re celebrating the 19th anniversary (if you’re in the U.K.)/18th anniversary (if you’re in the U.S.) of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone first publication, I thought I’d do a…

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Literary Distractions' 2016 Biannual Recap

How is it already July 1?! I hope my Canadian friends are having/have had a great Canada Day. To my American friends in the United States, be safe as we prepare to (and actually) celebrate the 4th of July. Now that we’re officially halfway through the year, I thought it’d be a great time to do a progress check-in on how much I’ve read and my new year’s resolutions (anyone else even remember what…

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Review: What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Review: What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

What We Saw Aaron Hartzler Harper Teen; 2015 978-0-06-233874-7 Hardcover; 336 pages Synopsis Kate Weston can piece together most of the bash at John Doone’s house: shots with Stacey Stallard, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early—the feeling that maybe he’s becoming more than just the guy she’s known since they were kids. But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills’s…

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Review: The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth

Review: The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth

The Things We Keep Sally Hepworth St. Martin’s Press; 2016 978-1-2500-5190-5 Hardcover; 338 pages         Synopsis Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease at only thirty-eight years old, knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. She also knows there’s just one other resident her age, Luke. What…

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Why I Got Rid of Almost 100 Books

Why I Got Rid of Almost 100 Books

Words cannot express how happy and relieved I was when I finally bought, built and filled my new bookcase. It was literally a weight off my shoulders. No, seriously–it was heavy to lift on my own, and it’s almost a whole foot taller than I am. After the blood, sweat and tears of setting up my bookcase, I was very proud of how I had organized my shelves by genre, size, etc. (Check out my BYOBooks…

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Shakespeare's First Folio: Live!

Shakespeare’s First Folio: Live!

This year (in fact, TOMORROW) marks the 400th year of Shakespeare’s death. And what better way to celebrate the life of the Bard and his extraordinary works than visit his First Folio that is touring around the United States? The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., decided to honor Shakespeare by touring his First Folio around all 50 states. And I was able to catch it when it was in…

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Audiobook Review: Black Dahlia & White Rose: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates

Black Dahlia & White Rose: Stories Joyce Carol Oates, author Paul Michael Garcia, Coleen Marlo, Tavia Gilbert, narrators Dreamscape Media; 2012 978-1-6112-0961-7 Audiobook; 7 CDs / 8 hrs. 47 mins.       Synopsis With an unflinching eye, Oates charts the surprising ways in which the world we think we know can unexpectedly reveal its darker contours. From the title story, which maps the friendship…

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As an afternoon date, the boyfriend and I decided to go up to Lake County Discovery Museum yesterday and catch a glimpse of one of Shakespeare's First Folios, which is on tour of all 50 states. Check out folger.edu for more details. ***** #shakespeare #firstfolio #hamlet #tobeornottobe (at Lake County Discovery Museum)

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Day 5 of the #febbookchallenge: Favorite book to reread. Definitely Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde. I read this back in the mid- to late-90s before vampire/paranormal romance became a "thing." I fell in love with this book instantly and I get a rush of nostalgia whenever I reread this. Ugh, so good. This and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes novels should be a starting point for vampire novels. Just sayin'. ***** #bookworm #bookblogger #bookstagram #books #igreads #igbooks #instabooks #instaread #reread #vampirebooks #vampires #yabooks

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Review: Self-Help by Miranda Sings

Self-Help Miranda Sings Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster; 2015 978-1-5011-1794-7 Hardcover; 231 Last year seemed liked it was the year that dozens of YouTubers signed book deals. Or maybe the tiny snowball started rolling downhill in 2014 but grew to much larger in 2015. Let’s see, who was on that list… Zoella (Girl Online), Alfie Deyes (The Pointless Book), Marcus Butler (Hello, Life!), PewDiePie…

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January Recap

Thirty-one days in 2016 down… only 335 to go! So, it’s been quite a busy month. I swear sometimes it feels like I was just celebrating the New Year and slowly getting back into the groove of driving to work. And with starting a new routine too, I feel like I’ve been working on it forever (and still can’t quite get it down!). I know some people made it a big deal which book would be their first…

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Making a Book from Scratch

Making a Book from Scratch

There was no way I couldn’t reblog this from The Scholarly Kitchen. What I like most about The Scholarly Kitchen is it keeps readers up to date on scholarly and academic publishing, open access and libraries, and every so often, they share a fun and/or (because it can be both) informative video on books or publishing. Like this video series, for example. The physical object remains an…

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