The Survey: Pictures, Prizes, Reading, Linking

The Survey: a weekend update The 3 Rs Blog
It’s early afternoon. The windows are open and it’s really nice out, but we’re not feeling terribly ambitious today. Lately, I’ve actually remembered that my laptop is portable, and I’m tucked into a corner of the sectional sofa in our living room while Paul and Spencer watch The Bourne Supremacy on DVD. (The Bourne Identity was our Saturday-night viewing, so we could end up doing the whole trilogy this weekend.) I like that we actually have plentiful seating for all of us in one room now…but if we had some patio furniture, I might be out there right now instead.
Reading
I’m hoping to finish Kate Braestrup’s memoir, Anchor and Flares, today. I received the ARC via Shelf Awareness, but it publishes this Tuesday, so I’ll be too late to review it for them. I’ll be writing about it here, though, and that may actually be just as well; I think this is one I’d rather discuss outside of their 250-word review parameter. 
I need to pace the reading of my August ARCs better if I want to get any reviews submitted to the Shelf for next month, so I plan to be starting on one of those by tomorrow.
I’ve been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with blog reading this week, and since I caught up on a review-writing last weekend, I was able to start on a new audiobook: it’s another memoir, Leaving Before the Rains Come by Alexandra Fuller.
#MidlifeReadingCrisis
When you probably have more reading years behind you than ahead, life’s too short for book slogs. (And that’s one more reason I’m anxious to get going on my Big Book Purge!)

Sharing

The Socratic Salon discusses re-reading–something which, for me, has been another casualty of “so many books, so little time.”

“…(O)ur brains are certainly capable of the kind of concentration that audiobooks require, but many of us may never have developed these neural pathways. But they are there for the using, and many devoted audiobook fans report that building up this particular muscle is relatively painless and worth the effort as they are rewarded with an intimate performance that is like no other. 

And that brings me to the final suggestion: listen to the best narrators.”

Jenna makes some excellent arguments against policing the technology consumption of kids and families that I think are pretty much applicable to people, generally:

“I liked to be outside, but often carried a book with me to the nearest tree. Do you know if that girl over there is playing “one of those darn video games” or reading a book? You don’t…I’ve watched my kids choose outside time over technology. I’ve also watched my kids use their technology time on the weekend to research things to do offline, requesting books from the library, using an app to find a star in the sky, to figure out what bug is crawling over their foot, to share a picture of their chickens. That last one is the most important one to me, as these kids are learning to forge connections already.”

And if you’re policing your own tech consumption and dialing it back a bit for the season, BlogHer.com offers 15 Useful Tips for the Summer Blogging Slump.

I won a giveaway a couple of weeks ago–my prizes arrived this week.

“This is a Penguin Drop Caps edition of JANE EYRE, and a tote made from a different edition of JANE EYRE. Thanks @readitforward and @litographs!”

Litographs JANE EYRE tote & Penguin Drop Caps JANE EYRE

I don’t know that I’ll actually (re-)read this, but I do know that when the Big Book Purge comes, this book isn’t going anywhere!

What are you reading and watching–off-line or on–this week? Share!

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