Recommendations: Awesome Bookish Things and People

I wanted to share with you, dear reader, the bookish things I enjoy. These people, things, etc. are awesome. AWESOME. I hope you give them a shot and enjoy them as well. Please let me know your recommendations! 

Ron Lit is an awesome YouTube channel. Ronnie (I am assuming that is her name - I could be wrong) has an awesome personality for book videos and I could listen to her wit all day long. 

Books on the Nightstand is a great website for anything book related, but what I really enjoy is the weekly podcast with Ann and Michael who both work for Random House, but they base their conversations on any book they find interesting and not only those from their publishing house. 

Vaginal Fantasy is the kind of book club cool, open minded people (yes, boys are welcome) would enjoy. It's led by the awesome Felicia Day and involves a group of awesome women. They read a different fantasy/paranormal/science fiction romance book a month and then talk about it. It's hilarious and wonderful. And, if that title is any indication - which it is - expect NSFW stuff. 

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is one of the most clever adaptations I have ever seen. For those of you who don't know, it's based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and is set in today's time. You will still swoon for Mr. Darcy and it's fantastic. 

Priscilla from The Readables has a clever and entertaining YouTube channel. She has top 5 lists and has an affinity for comics and manga. What is not to love?

Kristy from The Story Siren has some awesome videos. Sadly, she hasn't been able to update. But the good thing is that the reason is because she had a baby! Pretty good reason, I say - ha. Even though the videos are older, they're still great to watch. 

And lastly, Lesley from Words of a Reader has great taste in books and has some of the most unique book haul videos I've seen (and I've seen a lot). She also seems to have such a lovely personality which just makes her videos delightful. 

Books on the Nightstand: Bingo!

For those of you new to my blog, you must understand one thing - if I'm not reading a book, I'm probably talking about something book related. One of my most favorite book-related things to do is listen to the Books on the Nightstand podcast. The two hosts are fantastic and witty and are not book-snobs. They give recommendations, talk about their current obsessions and talk current book events. 

One thing they've done this summer is create a book bingo! It's fun and you can find it here. 

Even though it's a summer bingo, I'm gonna just go ahead and play it to see if I can get any squares until I'm tired of it haha. Here are the ones I plan to complete (yes, you can get more than one card if you refresh the page!):

I'll make sure to post my progress on here :D

Top Shelf Short Stories: The Miniature Wife

The Miniature Wife
by Manuel Gonzales

How had I not heard about this short story collection before? Seriously, this author writes awesomely and I am so glad that I heard about the collection from my favorite podcase, Books on the Nightstand. 

This story, which also serves as the title of the collection, is truly one of a kind. It's about a man, the narrator, who "accidentally" shrinks his wife to miniature size. At first, he tries to protect her by taking away their pets, a bird and a cat, since they could kill her. Then he begins to build her a dollhouse that is a replica of their home. Just when he starts to contemplate making himself miniature in order to live with her some days a week, he finds her with an employee (soon, ex-employee, eesh) of his who shrunk himself in order to have an affair with her. And that's not even the worse of it yet!

It may seem that I'm giving away too much - but so much of the story lies in what is said between the lines! I believe that this story shows the manipulation and repression that some males bestow among women. First of all, how does the narrator "accidentally" shrink his wife when his experiments and all that take place at work and in a safe area? Second, instead of focusing all his attention on un-shrinking her, he spends it building her a replica-home dollhouse. Then he talks about being proud of making her so small while still maintaining her beautiful physical features. He also talks about how useless she was before having to force her to defend herself against the "elements" such as house flies which really bother her. 

Also - the narrator talks about shrinking himself for a few days a week then going back to full size in order to buy groceries and whatnot - um, hello? That means he knows how to un-shrink her! It was so infuriating to read! But that's what made it so good - it made me feel something. 

Verdict

Read it. Read it now and then tell me about all the other stuff I didn't mention or didn't catch. What are your theories? This is the kind of writing that makes me want to analyze and that means it's good. 

New Feature: Top Shelf Short Stories

I don't think I've plugged my favorite podcast here, which is INSANE because they are awesome and the podcast is all about books. My most favorite podcast (offered in iTunes, but they also have other platforms) is Books on the Nightstand with Michael Kindness and Ann Kingman. If you have not listened to this podcast, you have no idea what you're missing. Also, their website kicks major butt. 

Anyway, I got the idea of Top Shelf Short Stories because of Ann Kingman. Ann's resolution for the new year was to read a short story each day for a year. I, on the other hand, am not so ambitious, and am settling for Top Shelf Short Stories for the month of October (and maybe I will prolong it, depending on how I do). 

So, dear reader, I need your help. I have plenty of short story collections, but I am rather greedy when it comes to the written word. SO - here is where you come in, reader. I'd appreciate any story recommendations! If you can't think of any, don't fret! I'll be hosting polls so you can vote for upcoming stories or authors. I'm making this part up as I go! :D

Stay tuned and please, join in and give me your recommendations!