Lise's Ramblings

Now that anyone can easily search online for a word's definition or synonym, I wonder if people appreciate the thesaurus in the same way that we did in pre-Internet times. I can say that I'm still a fan. Although I use thesaurus.com when I'm on the go, I keep print copies of Roget's Thesaurus and the Oxford Concise Thesaurus on hand in my home office.  Browsing through a thesaurus is rewarding, because you trip across unexpected gems. Not unlike how browsing in a bookstore helps you discover unexpected finds compared to the in-and-out efficiency of ordering a book online.  Today, I learned that  January 18 marks Thesaurus Day.   The date is no accident; Thesaurus Day coincides with the anniversary of Peter Mark Roget 's birth in 1779.  Mental Floss published Ten Fascinating Facts about the Thesaurus , which includes the word's origin: Greek for treasure. How fitting. In the past, I associated January 18 with A.A. Milne's birthday (1882). Now, I h...

Last year, I signed up for the 50bookpledge . I wasn't just setting a goal, I wanted to track what I read during 2017. The site provides visual shelves showing the titles: I want to read I'm currently reading I've read If I had remembered to log every book, I'm sure that my total would've exceeded the 32 titles listed on my 2017 bookshelf. At a glance, it looks like I missed last year's goal, although I earned several badges along the way. Oh, how the Girl Guide in me enjoyed those carrots. I look back on 2017 without regrets. I consider myself fortunate to have squirrelled away time to read more than 32 books, including ones by new-to-me authors. This year, I not only resolve to read 50 books, but I'll also remember to enter more of the titles online, so that I may share what I'm reading as the months unfold. Plus, my year-end shelf will better reflect my books of 2018. So far, I'm on track. I've finished one book (Johansen'...

My freelance business, Plum Copy , has flourished since 2013. While I'm grateful to my clients and everyone who has encouraged me along the way, I've neglected my extracurricular writing. So, I'm rebooting my blog for 2018, this time with a bookish focus. Given that I consider myself an Island girl at heart, if not by birth, it's fitting to kickstart my first entry with a quote from an author who introduced readers worldwide to Prince Edward Island. Here's to the year ahead and all 365 days with no mistakes in them yet.  And cheers to the takeaways we'll learn from the mistakes we'll inevitably make. 

When the Swedish Academy announced Alice Munro earned the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, stores scrambled to add her books to prominent online and in-store displays. As you can see from my bookshelf, I am among the legions of fans of Munro’s remarkable stories.      CBC will dedicate this week’s Sunday Edition to Canada’s short-story maven.  Congratulations, Alice, a deserved win.

At bedtime, children implore parents and grandparents to read another story. Sure, stall tactics may be involved, but I like to believe that the desire to have someone read a tale aloud is at the heart of most pleadings. After all, some books can be appreciated the most when you hear the words roll off someone's tongue. Dr. Seuss stories come to mind.  Before ebooks, printed books or even scrolls, people relied on storytellers to entertain, enlighten, connect, and hand down oral histories and cultural experiences.  Aside from broader communities, reading aloud can also serve to strengthen bonds within families.  At our house, my hubby rarely sits still long enough to read. When he picks up something to read it tends to be a short piece from a newspaper’s business section, a hobbyist magazine or an instruction manual (yes, he's a rare breed). More often than not, his reading schedule coincides with bathroom breaks, because he optimizes every minute of his ...

The world of the tiny is intriguing and mystical. Think of the staying power of mesmerizing stories such as Mary Norton's The Borrowers , John Petersen's The Littles , J.R.R. Tolkien's hobbits , the Lilliputians in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels , and of course, we musn't forget Alice's adventure in minisculeness after she drank from the "drink me" bottle in Lewis Carroll's classic tale .    Even Hollywood had a hit with  Honey I Shrunk the Kids . Not that I'm saying that movie is on par with the books mentioned above. Yesterday, I found toadstools in my garden. Their caps aren't red with white polka dots, but perhaps it's still a sign that wee folk, gnomes or other mystical creatures live in our woods. Granted they haven't formed a ring . All the same, I'll keep an eye out for Shakespeare's "demi-puppets" as I muck about in the garden. Toadstools and a fairy dusting of       AWESOME! Have an...

It's easy to lose track of time in the aisles at Chapters/Indigo stores, spend hours surfing Amazon, or disappear for a day in a library, but I encourage you, whenever possible, to choose to support independent bookstores too. Chances are high that inside you'll discover well-informed staff who are passionate about books. Many independents differentiate themselves from discounters and the competition through specialization and quality, rather than quantity of sales. You can find independents with outstanding collections of children's literature, works by regional or local authors, comics, poetry, spiritual texts, gallery-worthy art books and even rare books.  My favourites: The Bookmark : Maritimers recognize this independent bookstore. After opening in Charlottetown in 1972, the owners expanded to open a Halifax store. Book signings, local content and much more. My source for Moleskin notebooks and bibliomania novelties. Nicholas Hoare : Be...

Following up on my any excuse to celebrate entry, this month I submitted my second guest post to the fan-led 1000awesomefriends.org site. This time I chose to write in a different fashion and my topic was how Dr. Seuss influenced and influences generations of readers. Here’s a teaser… Inspiring generations to read Long before we had blogs, Google, flickr and Tweets, Dr. Seuss introduced us to Blogg, Yertle, Once-ler and Kweets. Along Mulberry Street and Pompelmoose Pass too, down to Who-ville and over to Solla Sollew. He showed us odd kingdoms, near and far, fed our brains and created characters bizarre. Check out the continuation of my silly poem on 1000awesomefriends.org [scroll past the book covers to read extra verses and reach the concluding AWESOME ].

Picture this: an elementary class a freckle-faced keener squirming at her desk a teacher holding a box and calling out family names   a sluggish clock unbearable levels of pent-up anticipation Eventually, my name would ring out. I would scurry to the teacher’s desk to collect a precious bundle of books, which stretched an elastic fastener to its limits. Even though that was decades ago, I recall those days with incredible clarity. Scholastic book days―my favourite school days. Weeks after carefully poring through the newsprint catalogue, checking boxes and adding up totals, at last, my book selections would arrive. Comic collections, Choose-your-own-adventure novels, Clifford and Curious George picture books, the Miss Pickerell series, how-to books, biographies and countless other affordable reads. Scholastic had them all. Each batch of books came with yet another mail-order catalogue. The marketing whizzes who compiled those flyers knew their trade. They could entice m...

If you haven’t heard of Moonbot Studios before, then allow me to introduce you to an artistic team from Louisiana. The gifted team created The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore as an app for the iPad, but the work ended up garnering an Oscar nomination.   As one of my blog readers, you've no doubt figured out that I adore books, birds and libraries. You may or may not be aware that I’m also a die-hard fan of short animated films (e.g., the National Film Board’s The Cat Came Back  and Pixar shorts). Enter Moonbot's creative video, which combines all of those loves with a generous helping of digital quirkiness. If you can spare 15 minutes between now and Sunday night’s Academy Awards, then do check out this imaginative video. I’m confident you won’t be disappointed. Come Oscar night, you may even find you end up cheering for the geniuses at Moonbot, because this creative gem is       AWESOME!!! P.S. If you’re an iPad owner a...

Ever since 1999, January 27 th has marked Family Literacy Day in Canada . Family literacy is meant to help bring children and adults together to develop and maintain language skills. Families have many options available to them; they can choose to read books aloud, sing songs, play board or online word games, write letters or cards, type text messages or emails, visit library programs, and take part in other formal or informal activities to support listening, comprehension and literacy.   During the past few weeks, I’ve seen my sister, brother-in-law and mom reading English and French stories to my 18-month-old niece. She counts along, mimics sounds, anticipates parts of her favourite books, bonds, wiggles, giggles, touches, etc. According to non-profit group Literacy BC, kiddos are likely to enter grade school “with several thousand hours of one-to-one pre-reading experience behind them” if they’ve been raised by literate families and caregivers.   So ...

Choices galore. Casting my eyes on a  slew of new-to-me books promises hours of future enjoyment. A sampling of my reading selections from the Christmas loot. Sure, ebooks are convenient, but they’ll never give me the same rush as spotting a physical stack of as-of-yet unread books.       AWESOME!

If you’ve ever felt challenged by something in a book, then congratulations! Consider yourself fortunate to have the right to read books, magazines, e-books and other works that make you think about a topic, culture, plight, event or person from a completely different perspective.   Our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ensures that you have the right to pick up any book you desire to read. Not sure that's important in this day and age? Think censorship is a thing of the past? WRONG. Sadly, censorship continues to rear its ugly head. The Canadian Libraries Association published an updated 2011 list of works people have fought to have removed from school curricula and bookshelves in this country during the past ten years. Those titles included: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , The Handmaid’s Tale , Lives of Girls and Women , The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz , and all seven Harry Potter books. Fortunately, Canadian teachers, librarians, principals...