Good Books, Inc. Scavenger Hunt Entry #1

In case you didn't know, Padfoot & Prongs created this kick-ass Scavenger Hunt for us literary die-hards. You should check it out! There are 10 items to complete. I am already behind by a month and the contest ends on May 23rd, so I have to get cracking! While there is a fabulous grand prize winner drawn from those who finish the contest, the best part is the experience you have doing, as they call it, some 'not so average literary things'.

The first item I am checking off the list is #7, which is:

7.) Complete 10 One-Minute Writer prompts. Be sure to include the prompt and the date that it was given.

I actually started #6 first, but it is taking a while to perfect, so I am on to #7! This is good for me because I am wanting to get back into writing a little again. I have included a link to the original post so you can read the prompt as well as read other people's entries.
P.S. I have no idea why some of these entries are so tiny. I have tried to fix it but the end result is the same. I apologize. If it is tiny on your computer, I hope you have a magnifying glass.

Prompt One: Time
I need to make more time for keeping up my friendships. I am so bad at keeping in touch. Mostly because I hate the phone. E-mail, Facebook, and texting all work better for me. Thank God for advances in technology. But it is also because I will forget to call or e-mail or text. I think, I will go back and write when I have a few more minutes. Then I forget I did not ever send anything. I am trying to be better.

Prompt Two: Reading
I actually did this one in my blog, previously, which you can find here.

Prompt Three: Vent
My foot is hurting, the laundry keeps piling up faster than I can wash it, my headache from yesterday is back, I was a little sad after reading someone else's cancer story, and I still don't have a job here yet.

Prompt Four: Learning
Fill-in-the-blank: I think the world would be a better place if students learned more ____ in school.
Critical Thinking. No one seems to know how to think for themselves any more. It is a world full of sheep just following the shepherd with the loudest voice. Form your own opinions, decide for yourself what makes sense, and then if what you come up with is in agreement with everyone else, so be it. If not, then obviously you were not making the correct decision before.

Prompt Five: Photo
I wish I had a photograph of the first time a child's eyes lit up after I taught them something. I have a photo of the moment afterwards. I taught him how to write his name. The photo is of him smiling and pointing to his name he wrote on the marker board. But I will never forget that look in his eyes. Maybe I don't need a photo after all.

Prompt Six: Crisis
I wrote this haiku in December, but it applies here better than anything I can come up with now.
Dad I am sorry
The chemo is for pain and
Containment only

Prompt Seven: Adult
I am probably one of the very, very few people in the world who ended up in a career that I dreamed of doing as a child. When I was young, "Santa" got me a chalkboard for Christmas. I spent so much time teaching my little sister and my stuffed animals. I loved my job teaching. I hope to be in the classroom again one day. But circumstances took me elsewhere for a while.

Prompt Eight: Thank You Note
Lauren, thank you for being my best friend. Your love and support for the past 6 years has meant more to me than all of my other friends combined. Even though we rarely get to see each other now you are always there for me, even driving down in a snow storm to be with me at my dad's funeral. Who else would do that? You are one of a kind and I love you.

Prompt Nine: Haiku
As you can tell, I love Haiku. :) They are short and fun-sized. This is one about my cat, who is currently lying curled up next to my leg.
Kali do you know
Just how much you mean to me
My lil' furry friend

Prompt Ten: Store
Obviously, if I owned a store it would sell BOOKS! But not just books. It would sell all kinds of bookish-related things. Also, writing-related things. Stationary, old-fashioned feather pens and ink wells, and a collection of creative book quotes that are on everything from post-it notes to t-shirts. Oh, and I can't forget to sell Sheri's BookCharmers. I got some and trust me, they are great!


Have you completed entry #7 for the Scavenger Hunt? Send me the link and I will post it here!

Jennifer's One-Minute prompts at Find Your Next Book Here

Teaser Tuesdays

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

I would like to provide teasers from So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson because it is a great book, one I haven't reviewed, and because it happens to be sitting near me. :)

"Never mind that the section that looms so large in my mother's legend is all of about twenty pages long and was, I bet, glossed over by most readers, including me. That's the great beauty of Personal History: because it is so long, and because (Katherine) Graham played so many parts in her life, there is something here for everyone."

Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's Really Making America Fat by Hank Cardello with Doug Garr

BOOK #: 24 (I did not review book #23)
CHALLENGES: Triple 999 Challenge
RATING: Amazing!




Book Description:
It was his job to keep you eating.
It was his job to keep you drinking.
It was his job to keep you buying.
Unfortunately for you, he was good at it.

For more than thirty years, Hank Cardello was an executive and adviser to some of the largest food and beverage corporations in the world. For thirty years, he watched as corporate profits- and America's waistlines- ballooned: fattening consumers meant fattening profits. Now, in this fascinating and timely book, Cardello offers a behind-the scenes look at the business of food, providing an insider's account of food company practices, failed government regulations, and misleading media coverage that have combined to place us in the middle of a national obesity epidemic. This book is a sweeping critique of excessive food consumption in America, one that uncovers the money behind the calories and presents a fresh vision for building health into the lives of ordinary Americans.

Review:
This book was an all-consuming, intense read that made me want to keep reading quotes right from the book to others. Cardello creates for the reader a crystal clear picture of what the food industry (in all sectors) has done to feed America into a national health crisis. Cardello does not lay blame in just one corner, though. He explains in detail how everyone from the major food corporations to the grocers to restaurants to the consumers themselves have helped fuel the obesity epidemic. Then, lucky for us, he takes his knowledge of the inner workings of the food industry and uses it now for good, giving a no-nonsense approach to how we can correct the problem by each taking responsibility for our part, researching a healthier way to make profits (and even increase them) and delicious meals, and watch our waistlines slowly return from the places they've been hiding.

I enjoyed Cardello's no holds barred approach to getting this information to the public. He doesn't dress it up or butter it up for the reader, but instead says what he wants to say as plainly and closed to interpretation as possible.

"The risks to Americans' health that this presents are not always immediately apparent, but there is a darker reality here that few people take seriously. You start with those packaged goods with high calories and sugar, and that jumbo order of fries at the fast-food emporia that dot the American landscape today. Cut to the overcrowded hospital rooms of tomorrow and a society burdened with obesity and diabetes. There are several dots to connect the food with an overburdened health care system that will eventually affect the well-being and economic status of every American, obese or not."

Cardello offers so much inside information you feel as if you've been let in on a huge conspiracy. He lets you in on trade secrets I had never dreamed up. Did you know a well-trained waiter will nod slightly when he wants you to choose a particular item on the list of specials? Did you know that purchasing agents for restaurants have little control over which products they purchase? And did you know that salads are not on the menu to give you a healthy alternative? They hardly ever reach the mouths of those who need them the most. No, they were put there to lure in customers' friends and family members who would not ordinarily come to the restaurant. "They're not really being offered as a health initiative; they're an accomodation item."

Cardello explains how well advertising and marketing is orchestrated. It is an exact science. There are no casual decisions made. Whether an item is at eye level on the grocery store shelf (not just kids' items, but adult-focused items too) is a huge design issue. Cardello tells of a study done by Stanford University that discovered children preferred McDonald's packaged carrots to plain-packaged carrots. They did not realize, of course, that McDonald's doesn't sell carrots. They were the same carrots put in two different packages.

He also explains that government regulations are not working. Take the Food Pyramid for example:

"In 2006 the pyramid was made over but the revision still did little to make America healthier. Today the same debate is being waged as government officials once again begin to rethink and redesign the Food Pyramid, and it's obvious that the result will be a hodgepodge influenced by special interests. The U.S. Potato Board wants to be included as a vegetable and the meat folks certainly don't want to move up the pyramid either."

I agree with Cardello that changes that the government mandates do little to address the main issue and can even create a new set of problems. Cardello believes that the obesity crisis can be solved in a way that benefits us all, consumer and executive alike. However, the road will not be easy and it will take more than talking about it to get it done.

***I loved reading Stuffed and now I'd love to pass it on! Instead of a giveaway for this title, I am looking for a barter. If you have a book I'd like to read, I will send you Stuffed in exchange for it. Want to know what's on my wishlist? Visit me on BookMooch here or Amazon here. The first one to contact me with a good exchange (sorry, due to the weight, stateside only) will get the book!

Special thanks to Stacey Miller for sending me this book for review.

The Tuesday Quote Game

I have read your suggestions and tips and thought of some tweaks on my own for The Quote Game. I will be trying these out to see what works. Thank you to all of you who left me ideas!

Mee's suggestion was to always post on the same day. I have been doing that but it might help to make it more obvious so I put it in the post title today. I liked Beth's suggestion to announce the topic a week ahead of time, giving everyone a week to gather quotes for the topic. So, that is what I will do starting this week! I will post a topic today for you to post on next Tuesday!

Mee also suggested to open up comments to more than just Open ID. I had chosen this option to limit spam comments. I am A.D.D. My brain is everywhere at once. The likelihood that I will moderate everyone's comments in any kind of timely fashion is slim to none. I have enough trouble remembering to post! :P But, I am willing to try it for a week and see how it does with the word verification still turned on.

Okay, now on to the topic! The topic to look for this week is: LOYALTY. Examples of faithfulness or lack of faithfulness, either one. Perhaps you read a story about an affair or about lifelong friendship. Perhaps someone is loyal to a fault or the word has not entered into their vocabulary. It could be a seeing-eye dog who loyally helps his charge, a husband who stands by his wife after she has an affair, or an employee who is loyal to their company. There are many angles to this.

So think about it for this week and come back next Tuesday armed with your quotes!

Musing Mondays 03-30-09

Monday Musings is hosted by Just One More Page. I haven't participated before, but I finally had something to say.

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about recording your reading…

Do you keep track of what and/or how many books you read? How long have you been doing this? What's your favorite tracking method, and why?If you don't keep track, why not? (question courtesy of Miz B)

I just so happen to be a compulsive list maker. I have lists for everything- particularly books. I have a whole folder on my laptop dedicated just to Lost in Books lists and my book collection and wishes lists. Seriously.

I keep track of how many books I read and what they are for each month of the year. I have a library list of every book I own, although it does need a bit of updating for March. Giving books away and bringing them in goes a lot quicker these days. I have lists of books I want to read, broken down by categories. You should see the master organizational list to try to keep up with all of my challenges! It is color-coded!

I have been keeping track of books for about 3 years now and of course just started the challenges lists since January when I began Lost in Books. I did not participate in challenges before then and actually had never read any book blogs!

I would be lost without my lists. I have A.D.D. and if I did not attempt to keep track of all of the books, I would never be able to tell you how many books I had read or even if I still had a book or if I had given it away or if I had only borrowed it from the library! Lists are essential, essential.

Even if sometimes I forget to look at them and do my own thing anyway. :)

Marvelous Mondays 03-30-09

Three Great Reviews:
~Sheri from A Novel Menagerie read Follow Me by JoAnna Scott and rated it a 10 out of 10.
~Marg at Reading Adventures decided to read & review erotic literature and found some at her local library.
~Write for a Reader has a great review on Creative Journal Writing by Stephanie Dowrick.

Great Posts for a Weekly:
~Lesley's Book Nook: Thursday Thirteen

Interview of the Week:
~Elizabeth interviewed Bookish Ruth for this week's 451 Fridays on As Usual I Need More Bookshelves.

Interesting Posts:
~Best Music to Read to @ The Dangerous Pages Review
~Kaye at Pudgy Penguin Perusals asks an interesting question: Do you notice that people on fiction covers never have their eyes featured?
~Rebecca from The Book Lady made me laugh out loud with her Adventures in Bookselling.

Reading On Their Own (different books read & reviewed than the rest):
~Blog of a Bookworm has a review of All That Matters by Wayson Choy
~Heather at Age 30+...a Lifetime of Books read and reviewed The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. She ran into the same problem I have had so far- no other Kingsolver books seem to live up to The Poisonwood Bible. Maybe it is our expectations. I am going to take Heather's advice and try not to put mine up so high when reading The Bean Trees.
~Bibliophile By the Sea has a new review of the classic Steinbeck The Winter of Our Discontent.
~Bart's Bookshelf has a review of the graphic novel Bourbon Island 1730 by Appollo & Lewis Trondheim

An Award? For Me?

Jennifer from Find Your Next Book Here has flattered me by giving me the Proximidade Award.

"This blog invests and believes in the Proximity - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award."

Thank you, Jennifer!

I would like to give this award to Meg from Literary Menagerie, to Serena from Savvy Verse & Wit, to Kelly from The Chic Geek, to Kathy from Bermudaonion, and to Sandra from Fresh Ink Books. These five ladies (and Jennifer) always leave comments on my blog and have made me feel most at home since I arrived on the scene in January. Thank you, ladies!

WINNER of Secret Daughter and Plus Another Giveaway!

I know I am a day late! I had a lot more to do yesterday than I had planned including a play with my mother and sister and then visiting friends in Charlotte for the night. So, a day late, but I did not forget!

This great ARC copy of Secret Daughter: A Mixed-Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away by June Cross has been won by....

Kelly of The Chic Geek!!!

Congratulations, Kelly!! You are one of my most loyal followers and commenters so I am very happy to see that you were able to win a book from me! That's awesome!

Well, speaking of giveaways, I have another one for you! Thanks to Hachette Audio Books for this giveaway. Leave a comment on this post and become a follower (if you aren't already) to enter into the giveaway for:

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven (Abridged) by Susan Jane Gillman

Audio Book Details:

Bestselling author Susan Jane Gilman's riveting new memoir is a hilarious and haunting true advnture. It's filled with the memorable characters, psychological insights, and dazzling humor she's known for. Yet it also displays an accomplished literary eloquence and grandeur of scale that will entertain and enthrall old and new fans alike.

Available in CD and Digital Download formats. Read by the author.

Visit Susan Jane Gilman's site at www.susanjanegilman.com

The winner will be announced next Sunday, April 5th.

Become a Person of Influence by Gordon MacFarlane

BOOK #: 22

CHALLENGES: Triple 999, Spiritually Speaking Challenge

RATING: So-So (2 stars)

MacFarlane, a Human Behavior Specialist, aims to help the reader to know and understand who they are in order to understand others and begin making a difference in your social, business, or family life. MacFarlane believes the best way to understand yourself is the D.I.S.C. Model of Human Behavior. D.I.S.C. was invented in the 1920s by Dr. William Marston. D.I.S.C. is an acronym that stands for four major patterns of behavior that are present in everyone to some degree: Dominant, Influencing, Supportive, and Cautious. Basically, it is like Carl Jung’s personality theory, except for one important difference: D.I.S.C. doesn’t work. At least it didn’t for me. I was not one of the personality types that the D.I.S.C. model provided.

Well, I chalked that up to the fact that there will always be people who don’t fit into a personality “type” or “mold”. So I continued reading looking for something that would help me reach the book’s goal. The rest of the book is filled with great information, but, like even MacFarlane admits, it isn’t anything you haven’t already heard. His purpose outside of the D.I.S.C. model was to put the information he gathered into an easy-to-understand format. He did succeed at this. Classic communication skills and self-efficacy techniques are simplified so that anybody can understand them and learn how to implement them.

I did not learn anything new while reading this book, but if you would like a crash course in these communication skills and techniques than you may find this short self-help book useful. MacFarlane does include some great “nuggets” that are good to keep in mind during your daily interactions. The few that I personally decided to take away as reminders were:

-“Always try to bring out the best in people and you will be welcomed wherever you go.” (Norman Vincent Peale quote)

-The way in which you say something will always impact someone more than what you say.

-It is not the situation, but the way we respond to the situation that’s important.

-Don’t follow anyone who’s not going anywhere.

-Listen twice as much as you speak.

1st to Die and 2nd Chance by James Patterson

BOOK #s: 20 and 21

CHALLENGES: Triple 999 (x2), Genre Challenge (1st to Die)

RATINGS: Keepers! (5 stars)

James Patterson is just one talented suspense writer. I first fell in like with Patterson after reading The Beach House, which he co-wrote with Peter De Jonge. I had, of course, heard wonderful things about his Women’s Murder Club Series, of which these two books are the first two, but like any book you never know how you will personally feel about the story.

I LOVED 1^st to Die. I think I read it in 2 days, which is not typical of me. I loved the character of Lindsey Boxer and her 3 friends who form the Women’s Murder Club during the book. The plot of a serial bride and groom killer was so original. I thought I had figured out who the murderer was and then Patterson threw such a twist at the end that I almost felt smacked! I did not see it coming. It made sense in retrospect, but he definitely had me fooled. That is the defining characteristic of a good mystery writer is if they can make you think you’ve figured out the twist they are going to throw in, only to throw in a different one! Loved it!

In fact, I loved it so much I went online to BookMooch and ordered the next in the series, 2^nd Chance.. The end of 1^st to Die was kind of bittersweet and so I wanted to know how Boxer would react to the events. Cleverly, the first two chapters of 2^nd Chance were at the end of 1^st to Die. I was hooked on the second book before I even closed the first one! 2^nd Chance shows that Boxer is a survivor and is able to bounce back to take care of the next crazy serial killer let loose on San Francisco. This killer hits a little too close to home for Boxer and so taking down this criminal becomes personal.

The story lines were both original and creative, the characters are rich and well-developed (and fun!), and Patterson's twists will made me appreciate the genre of the mystery novel. I am already looking for the next book in the series, 3rd Degree, in the library!

Other Reviews of 1st to Die:

• A Reader's Journal
• Today's Adventure
• DeSeRt RoSe BoOkLoGuE

Other Reviews of 2nd Chance:

• DeSeRt RoSe BoOkLoGuE