Happy Birthday Clive Owen!

Just a quick post to wish Happy Birthday to my favorite imaginary boyfriend! Clive Owen has it all.  What does he have to do with books and reading, you ask? He has starred in a number of fabulous and varied literary adaptations and his next film will find him playing Papa Hemingway. And besides all that, his is the image that I use when I need to conjure up a visual representation of most any heroic figure in just about any book!

I have loved Clive in everything from Lorna Doone to Sin City and I think he is the perfect blend of looks, brains and talent.  So Happy Birthday Clive, you remain, absolutely, my favorite romantic hero!!!

SWOON!

And who can forget Clive as Byron in one of the funniest clips ever...

Party like it's our Birthday...

Hard to believe but I'd Rather Read is one year old today!!!  YaY!  I wasn't sure I'd actually get to this point when I started this thing. My hope was to find some new folks to chat about books with and maybe introduce some new writers to some old friends. I think we've been successful on both counts. I have some ideas for moving on into year two of the blog and, as you can see, we have a bit of a new look. I was in the mood for something different and I hope you all approve. If I ever actually get some real blogger skills, I look forward to personalizing the site even more.

I'd like to say thanks to everyone who visits the blog. I know you're out there even if you are too shy to comment. I'd also like to thank some of those shy folks for the nice emails. I love communicating with everyone whether on the blog or through email, so please keep them coming. I do want to encourage those of you who visit to join in though. We're a friendly bunch and I truly enjoy hearing your thoughts, not only on the topics represented on the blog, but on books and writers in general.  As I've said before this is not a classroom.  We're not doing literary analysis here.  We're talking and ranting and raving about books and writing that makes us feel something, whether it is joy or horror!  So please, as a birthday present to me, join in the discussion.  

I know that you guys will enjoy the pretty pics, so consider that a little birthday gift to all of us.  Plus, for everyone that leaves a comment on this post, you'll be entered into a random drawing to win a little gift pack of books!!!  I'll announce the winner on Friday. So, once again, thanks to all of you who have visited this year and here's to a future full of alpha heroes, smart heroines, crazy angst and great writing!  Cheers!!!

WINNER UPDATE****  We have a winner for the special birthday book snakpak and it is Moirae (the fates)!!!!  Yay for Moirae!  Moirae has/is an amazing blog for YA and adult fantasy reviews.  You'll find a link on the side of the page and I highly recommend a visit to this fabulous site!  Moirae, please send me an email with you address and I'll send your books out ASAP!  Thanks again everybody, your support means the world!  

Happy Birthday Miss Austen!!!

Also read again and for the third time at least Miss Austen's very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice. That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going, but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!
-Sir Walter Scott

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

According to several blogs that celebrate all things Austen, Sourcebook is making many of their Austen spin-off titles available free in the electronic format in order to celebrate this special day!  Check out the link below for details...

Free Jane Austen books!

I can't say that I have ever read a bad Jane Austen book,  but my favorite would have to be Persuasion.  It is a work that holds such realistic and controlled optimism that  I never fail to be amazed by it.  I find it a bit less cynical, but every bit as humorous as P&P or Sense and Sensibility.  If you haven't read Austen, pick up any of her books and give it a go.  You really don't know what you're missing.  Oh and by all means check out the literary adaptations of her work.  There are several that are spectacular, including the 1995 version of Persuasion starring Amanda Root and the always wonderful Ciaran Hinds...





  

Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman!

A quick post to wish a happy birthday to Neil Gaiman!  One of the nicest famous writers that I have ever met. Oh, and he loves cats (and dogs).   Plus, his library looks like this:

And he is a really good writer!  What's not to love...

Happy Birthday Clive Owen!

Happy 46th Birthday to Clive Owen, otherwise known as my boyfriend!  He is my imaginary boyfriend, you know, the one that I am allowed to drool over and fantasize about even though I adore my husband of a zillion years.  Clive is a great actor besides being gorgeous and yes, he has appeared in the requisite literary adaptations that are necessary for a birthday mention in this blog.  One might wish though that Clive would do a few more historical films since he is usually the model for most of the male heroes in the romance novels I read.  Unless they are blond or have some physical characteristic that says they can't be played by Clive Owen, then his is the face I picture as I am reading.

It's a pretty damned good face for a romance hero!  Clive is currently busy filming a  biopic for HBO in which he plays Ernest Hemingway.  I was never a huge Papa fan, but you can bet I'll be waiting most impatiently for this portrayal to hit the screen.

Happy Birthday Rupert!

Here's another in our new series of birthday posts for attractive British actors.  Showing at least a bit of restraint, I am limiting this to actors who have appeared in a number of literary adaptations.  Today's birthday wish goes out to Rupert Penry Jones.  RPJ might not be quite as well known in the states as some of his British brethren, but he meets our demanding criteria for inclusion in the British actors birthday posts.  He is British.  He is hot.  He has appeared in a zillion literary adaptations, including Persuasion, Jane Eyre, Casanova, The Four Feathers, Cold Comfort Farm and Hilary and Jackie.  For those who might not be familiar with him, here's a short clip of his work as Captain Frederick Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion...



Although he is not my fave Capt. Wentworth (cough, Ciaran Hinds, cough, cough), he was certainly the best thing about this production of Persuasion.

They taste good to her...

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite poets and yes, I'm aware that no one reads poetry anymore, thank you.  Here are a couple of special gifts from WCW, maybe they'll provide a little motivation...

To a Poor Old Woman

munching a plum on   

the street a paper bag

of them in her hand

They taste good to her

They taste good   

to her. They taste

good to her

You can see it by

the way she gives herself

to the one half

sucked out in her hand

Comforted

a solace of ripe plums

seeming to fill the air

They taste good to her

Winter Trees

All the complicated details

of the attiring and

the disattiring are completed!

A liquid moon

moves gently among

the long branches.

Thus having prepared their buds

against a sure winter

the wise trees

stand sleeping in the cold.

William Carlos Williams

Why are you so good Agatha Christie?

Could not let the day pass without a shout out to Dame Agatha on her 120th!  She was a master of mystery and mayhem and I have loved her since I was 10 years old.

If you haven't read her then quit reading this and go and find yourself any one of the zillions of great books that she crafted. You'll quickly see how much contemporary mystery writers owe to the lady.  Christie has reportedly sold between 2 and 4 billion books and is listed in Guinness as the best selling mystery writer of all time.  Only the Bible and Shakespeare have outsold the Dame.  Her works have been adapted into movies, tv shows and even video games.  She has been honored in many ways, but one of my all time favorites remains this wonderful episode of the classic British tv series, Dr. Who.  Why is Agatha Christie so good?  I'll let David Tennant explain...

The Unicorn and the Wasp - Dr. Who

Also, kudos to Google for a very cool tribute today...

Google Christie Tribute

Well deserved for a woman who helped define the modern mystery novel.