This morning I received an e-mail from Michael Sims, the author of Adam's Navel, which I posted about earlier this month. A friend had sent him the link to my bloggy review of his book, and he just wrote to thank me for the kind words and to let me know that he will be mentioning my review in a talk he is giving about used books continually popping up in remainer bins and yard sales and being read.
After re-reading my review, I wished that I had spent more time on it. And, if I had known that the author of the book would be reading it, I probably would have. Still, I think my feelings about the book (that I really liked it) came through, and there weren't too many mispellings.
My celebrity was doubled with my discovery that Receptionista included a link to Spacebeer on her blog. I'm sure it would be much cooler for me to just post stuff and not care who read it or liked it, but I get such a tingle of niceness whenever I get a comment or a link from someone whose writing I really enjoy. I have never met R., but I read her blog everyday and just feel like I would like her if we met in person. So, Receptionista, if you read this, you totally made my day with your link.
***
In keeping with my book-reading posts, I should mention that I finished The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method by Marilyn vos Savant (the super-genius that writes the articles in Parade magazine.) This was another catalog purchase -- I bought it because I've been a little self-concious about my spelling lately (which is not awesome, but part of that is because I type at the speed of light and don't always proofread well), and because I have been thinking about spelling a lot lately for some random reason. My husband is an awesome speller, who even went to the state championship for spelling in Nebraska a couple times. I admire that and also just don't understand it. So this book was alright -- I liked the "madness" section, which was a history of spelling and how it has evolved, better than the "method" section which was more of a how-to improve your spelling guide. I could have done without the author's silly asides that really seemed like they belonged more in her columns for the Sunday circular than in a book. Overall, eh, it wouldn't kill a person to read this book, but I couldn't really recommend it. I had to chip away at it, and only because I really do finish everything I read did I end up finishing it. I think I'll probably try to sell it to Half Price, unless any of you would like to have a copy.
2 comments:
Make that three times at state. Whoo! I think I was born with a spelling chip in my head, because I've never worked on it in my life. I see a word once, and somehow I remember how to spell it. In grade school, some kids from the nearby town of Bayard made up some story about how I studied the dictionary every night because I whupped their ass at the county bee every year. Not true. Instead, I ate Doritos and listened to Van Halen the night before the bee. It's fun to brag about it now, but, at the time, I would have traded my spelling ability in a second for just one year of being good at basketball. Chicks didn't dig guys who could spell.
Now I've caught you late at night with a flashlight, sneaking some study time with your dictionary. Can't fool me...
Post a Comment