The 2011 holiday season has arrived. Here are some of my book-related recommendations for this year (For non-book related ideas, check out my Just Me, Jaymie blog tomorrow).
My Five Star Book Reviews
A Harry Potter tote bag (available at Barnes and Noble) - roomy and sturdy. Different pictures on the two sides.
American Girl Magazine subscription (photo from site). We have this in our school library and my girls love it.
Vera Bradley book cover (You can get some sized for paperbacks at Barnes and Noble. This is a little larger - and on my personal holiday wishlist. Photo from site.)
Vera Bradley e-reader cover (I use one of these for my Nook Color and I love it. Photo from site)
Hope you find some happy reading-related things for folks on your holiday shopping list.
Haven't had a lot of reading time lately, so I have no adult book to review today. I have been enjoying magazines, though, and the July issue of Empire, with a focus on the new Harry Potter movie, was a winner.
The issue comes in a cardboard cover which holds the magazine and an extra insert - a "Collector's portfolio" which is extremely well done.
The magazine is British, so it is expensive for a magazine ($10), but for HP fans, it would be well worth the money.
I used to subscribe to both of these, but I have recently let my subscriptions go while I try to determine what I am doing with writing, other than teaching Creative Writing at my son's elementary school.
That said, I always found both of these to be great resources. For some reason, I prefer the layout of The Writer over Writer's Digest, but both are great resources for improving your writing as well as getting published.
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Love this magazine - yes, it is from the folks at Consumer Reports, but for some reason I would rather read this one than their regular magazine. I love the layout, the color schemes, and the reviews. Great resource
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Another magazine I love is the Children's Books editions of Publisher's Weekly. This is another high cost magazine - $12 - but it is the one I read the most carefully of all the magazines I buy.
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I have been crazy for British cross stitching magazines lately, which is not good for my budget! I have to get them at the book store and they cost anywhere from $10 to $15 an issue. I wish there were some good US counterparts, but I haven't found them stocked at my local bookstores. I really enjoy Cross Stitcher and Cross Stitch Card Shop.
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As we move into the final days of summer vacation, I'm going to take a little break from book reviews and post a few other things for the next two weeks. I hope you'll find some things you like while I'm away.
This week I want to talk about magazines. I love magazines, and probably spend way too much on them, but they are a quick read, something you can pick up and put down easily, and cover a variety of topics. I have let most of my past subscriptions lapse, and have been looking into new magazines lately.
One of my favorites right now is Booklist from the American Library Association. I get to read great reviews a couple times a month (except during the summer when they publish just one issue a month) and find out about all sorts of new books. It is an expensive subscription, unless you find a deal, like I did a couple years ago. But if you love books like I do, it could be a great resource. Another book-related magazine I have thought about getting is Horn Book, which is specifically geared to children's books.
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Over the past 10 years or so, I have been a connoisseur of craft magazines. I have subscribed to several over the years. But I have become much pickier in the last year or two. I was often frustrated to get a new issue in the mail and find nothing inside that piqued my interest. So, right now I have only two favorites, Paper Crafts and a line of magazines out of Britain.
Paper Crafts is great for me because it gives a variety of ideas - cards, gifts, and scrapbooks. I think they have a great balance of information - a list of supplies, simple instructions, and pictures. Not too much information so that you get fewer projects, but also not so little that I get frustrated because I can't replicate something. I enjoy a lot of their specials issues, too, like Card Creations, Holiday Cards, etc.
The British publisher is Practical Publishing. Recently I treated myself to a couple issues of their magazines (They are $15 each - thank goodness for coupons and discounts at Barnes and Noble!) - The Complete Stamping Handbook and Quick Cardmaking. I went through each page carefully, circling products I thought I might use some day, marking projects and techniques I wanted to try. For the first time in ages, I savored a craft magazine, finding something of interest on almost every page. I will definitely be looking at more of their publications in the future!
So, that's the end of MAGAZINE WEEK. I hope you have enjoyed the change of pace. We'll be back to our normal book review schedule next week! Happy Summer!
I am a puzzle-girl. I especially like logic puzzles - traditional, Battleship, Sudoku, Kakuro.... I love them. So, I often check out the Penny Press and Dell offerings in the magazine rack! Penny/Dell offer all sorts of options for puzzlers - word searches, crosswords, math/logic puzzles, and variations on all the classic themes. You can buy the books from bookstores and grocery stores everywhere. You can also order them in bulk from the company. They offer regular sales where you can buy a set of books that have one particular kind of puzzle - like Cross Sums or Petal Puzzles. You can also sets of back issues for only a $1 or $2 per issue. The website also has sample puzzles that you can try to see what sort of puzzles appeal to you. If you want to give your brain a little stretch, try out some puzzles!
[If you are a puzzler, check out the Conceptis link on the right side of this blog! Super fun online puzzles - well, they are "super fun" if you like that sort of thing, which I do]
Leadership Journal is from the folks at Christianity Today. It is my favorite magazine about faith issues. It talks about issues for pastors and other leaders in the church, trends, books and resources. It includes interviews with leaders who are trying new things (or who are making "old" things new again.) I am not a pastor, nor am I married to one. I am not currently in a major position of leadership in my local congregation. But I like knowing what is going on in the Christian community at large and I also like hearing about how pastor's are coping with their responsibilities. It helps me think about ways I can better support the pastors at our church.
My son is a LEGO fanatic! So it was a no-brainer for us to sign him up for the free LEGO magazine. Every couple months he would get a little magazine with information about new sets, directions for building something, a comic, contests, and pictures of other kids with their creations. It was a big hit at our house!
Then we discovered that we could enroll him in the BrickMaster club where he would get the magazine and a small LEGO set every couple months. It is totally worth the $40 a year! He spends as much time looking at the LEGO magazines and catalogs as he does playing with the toys! If you have a LEGO fan in your life, check these options out!
Highlights Magazine seems to be some sort of rite of passage for kids! I remember getting it when I was little. I have a picture in my mind of me sitting on the floor of my yellow bedroom organizing my magazines. (We won't spend too much time analyzing that little memory!)
It is a great magazine for kids - it has puzzles, jokes, stories, and articles. Kids can even submit their own drawings or jokes or stories and get published in the magazine. They have even spun off some puzzle books that collect the sorts of puzzles kids have come to love from the magazine, like the Hidden Pictures.
High Five is a fairly new creation from the Highlights people, and it is geared to kids ages 4 to 7. This is a great magazine! I know my son was frustrated with the regular magazine when he was younger because it was too hard. High Five was just right for him - puzzles and stories that he could do himself. High Five is a great gift for a younger sibling who wants to feel like she gets to do what the older ones do when they get Highlights.
Just another break in the usual blogging as our household adjusts to summer! This week I will highlight some magazines that I enjoy. [In keeping with the usual weekly schedule, Monday and Tuesday will be about kids, Wednesday about faith, etc.]
So, what are some of your favorite magazines?
