Picture Day Friday: Roman Library of Celsus

The Library of Celsus in the Roman city of Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey, was considered one of the greatest libraries of the ancient world.



Designed by the Roman architect Vitruoya, the library was built in the memory of Celsus Polemeanus, who was a Roman senator, the General Governor of the Province of Asia, and a great lover of books. Celsus's son, Julius Aquila, began the construction in 110 AD, and it was completed by Julius Aquila's successors in 135 AD.

DABWAHA March Madness for Romance Novels

Today is fill-your-bracket time till 11:59 central time, and tomorrow the mayhem starts with voting and trash talking on Twitter via the #dabwaha hashtag.

Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors (DABWAHA) is a March Madness scheme for romance novels run by the enterprising Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books and Jane Litte of Dear Author.

These are the finalists for this year. You enter your picks by first, registering your name and email address and then, by clicking on each book title to select it for the next round. Be sure that you do select a final winner as well as a tie breaker number.

Once you've done that, you're ready for voting for your favorites, which starts March 15 at midnight central time and goes in four sets of twelve hours each for a total of two days for round one.

The overall schedule is posted on the site, so you can plan your voting times. Don't forget to lobby for your picks on Twitter. People are vocal in their support for their favorites, and authors promote their books vigorously (some even with videos!!).

Here's my bracket. My final round favorites are: The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne and Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh, with the Bourne as the top favorite. Let's see how I do this year.

[Edited 3/23/12: My original bracket is toast. Here's my bracket for the second chance tourney of the final sixteen.]

Comparing Top Book Favorites of 2011

As mentioned earlier, I read 144 books in 2011. For a complete list of my books, go HERE. Also, as mentioned earlier, these are my top ten books of 2011:

Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase
The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne
The Other Guy's Bride by Connie Brockway
A Lady's Lesson in Scandal by Meredith Duran
Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir
Kissing Comfort by Jo Goodman
A Place Called Home by Jo Goodman
The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas
How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal
Where Shadows Dance by C.S. Harris

Now, let's see how I fared when I compare my list with the Best Of 2011 lists for romance put out by others. This what I have in common with them.

Library Journal: Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

Amazon: Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

Publisher's Weekly: none

Just Janga: Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase, The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne, The Other Guy’s Bride by Connie Brockway, and A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal by Meredith Duran

GoodReads: none

The Good, The Bad, The Unread: Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

All About Romance: Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase, The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne, and The Other Guy’s Bride by Connie Brockway

Goossamer Obsessions: none

The 10-10 Reading Challenge for 2011

In January 2010, I was challenged by Melissa Klug, director of marketing for Glatfelter book paper manufacturers, to take up the original 1010 challenge for Reading in 2010. The challenge called for reading 10 books in 10 categories by October 10, 2010. We were to report in to the challenge on the 101010Reading blog.


I modified the challenge as follows: Read any number of books in 10 categories, other than romance, by December 10 to finish the challenge. Also the overarching aim was to reduce the to-be-read TBR mountain. (For a complete list of my books, go HERE.)

Detective, Mystery, Crime, Thriller
—"Talking About Detective Fiction" by P.D. James
—"The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog" by Elizabeth Peters
—"The Hippopotamus Pool" by Elizabeth Peters
—"Seeing a Large Cat" by Elizabeth Peters
—"The Ape Who Guards the Balance" by Elizabeth Peters
—"The Falcon at the Portal" by Elizabeth Peters
—"He Shall Thunder in the Sky" by Elizabeth Peters
—"Lord of the Silent" by Elizabeth Peters
—"Tomb of the Golden Bird" by Elizabeth Peters
—"Unnatural Causes" by P.D. James

Literary
—"Funny in Farsi" by Firoozeh Dumas

Women's
—"How to Bake a Perfect Life" by Barbara O'Neal

Young Adult
—"Princess Academy" by Shannon Hale
—"Before Midnight" by Cameron Dokey

Mythological Tales
—"Norwegian Folktales" by Peter Christian Asbjørnsen & Jørgen Moe

Biographies & Memoirs
—"All You Need to be Impossibly French" by Helena Firth Powell
—"Welcome to My World" by Johnny Weir

Organizational Advice & Spiritual Guidance
—"What Am I Feeling" by John Gottman
—"Being Perfect" by Anna Quindlen
—"A Short Guide to a Happy Life" by Anna Quindlen
—"Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach

Writing Craft
—"A Time to Write" by Kelly Stone

Writing Research
—"North American Romance Writers" edited by Kay Mussell
—"Dangerous Men & Adventurous Women" edited by Jayne Krentz

Travel
—"Kauai Handbook" by J.D. Bisignani

Categories for 2012
—Detective, Mystery, Crime, Thriller
—Women's & Literary
—Children's & Young Adult
—Poetry
—Humor
—Mythological Tales
—Biographies & Memoirs
—Parenting Tips
—Spiritual Guidance
—Organizational Advice
—Writing Craft & Research

Picture Day Friday: Ancient Nalanda University

Nalanda was one of the first great universities in recorded history. Founded in 427, it survived until 1197. It was located on 35 acres in the Bihar region of northeastern India (just south of India's current border with Nepal). It was devoted to Buddhist studies, but it also trained students in fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, politics, and the art of war.



According to this article: "Nalanda university was an architectural and environmental masterpiece. It had eight separate compounds, 10 temples, meditation halls, classrooms, lakes, and parks. It had a nine-story library where monks meticulously copied books and documents so that individual scholars could have their own collections. It had dormitories for students, perhaps a first for an educational institution, housing 10,000 students in the university’s heyday and providing accommodations for 2,000 professors. Nalanda was also the most global university of its time, attracting pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia (modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, and various countries of central Asia), Turkey," and Greece.

Nalanda means "insatiable in giving" and comes from Buddha's visit to that region where he talked about giving "alms without intermission." For an academic institution, the name's very apt.

Analysis of the Books I Read in 2011

I found the source for this blog from Fizzy Thoughts and modified it a bit. (For a complete list of my books, go HERE.) Without further ado, here are the stats...

How many books did you read in total?

144: an average of one book every two-and-a-half days

How many works of fiction and how many non-fiction?

Nonfiction: 9, Fiction: 135 (wince), a ratio of 1:15. In 2010, the ratio was 1:57, so hopefully the upward trend will continue in 2012

Which percent of male versus female authors did you read?

Male: 7, Female: 137 (double wince), about 20% of the total. Of the seven books, four were nonfiction and three were fiction (two in the Ancient category). In 2010, the number was 3% of the total

What were the categories of the books?

Ancient, Medieval, Georgian, Regency, Victorian, Edwardian, Western, Contemporary, Mystery & Historical Mystery, Young Adult, and Nonfiction

How much romance versus all other genres?

114 books, which is more than 79%. In 2010, I read more than 85% romance, so I branched out a bit in 2011. All the non-romance books were in the ancient, contemporary, historical mystery, and nonfiction categories

Which was your top favorite book?

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne

Which were your surprise favorite books and why?

–Norwegian Folktales by Peter Christian Asbjørnsen & Jørgen Moe (my first book of Nodic mythological tales)
–Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas (my first book about the immigrant experience of someone from the Middle East; previously I've read about the immigrant experience of people from China and India)
–Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir (my first celebrity memoir)

Which were the oldest and newest books, by pub date?

–Born of the Sun by Joan Wolf (1991)
–The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne (Nov 2011)

Which were the longest and shortest book titles?

–Arabella by Georgette Heyer and Flawless by Carrie Lofty were the shortest book titles
–All You Need to Be Impossibly French by Helena Frith Powell, Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian by Firoozeh Dumas, and Scandal of the Year: Abandoned at the Altar by Laura Lee Guhrkee were the longest book titles

Which were the longest and shortest books?

–Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen was the shortest book
–Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell was the longest book

Who were the most-read authors of the year?

Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody series), Georgette Heyer, Laura Kinsale, Loretta Chase, Joan Wolf, and Elizabeth Hoyt

Which authors were new to you in 2011? Would you want to read their entire works now?

Joan Wolf and YES!!!

Any translated books?

Norwegian Folktales by Peter Christian Asbjørnsen & Jørgen Moe (my first book of Nodic mythological tales)

Any re-reads?

Books by Georgette Heyer, Jo Beverley, Laura Kinsale, Joanna Bourne, Loretta Chase, Mary Balogh, Connie Brockway, Eloisa James, and Elizabeth Hoyt among others

Which books you wouldn’t have read without someone’s specific recommendation?

–His Lordship's Mistress by Joan Wolf recommended by Magdalen
–Lady Be Good by Susan Elizabeth Phillips recommended by Janet
–A Soldier's Heart by Kathleen Korbel recommended by Sunita

Which books are you annoyed you hadn't read before?

–Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas
–A Soldier's Heart by Kathleen Korbel

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?

–Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen
–A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen
–Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach