This quote is from Looking for Alaska by John Green and it is my favorite quote of the week.
(The Colonel is a nickname for one of the boys who goes to Culver Creek and is a friend and the roommate of Miles, the main character.)
"When the visitors shoot a free throw on most every court in the country, the fans make a lot of noise, screaming and stomping their feet. It doesn't work, because players learn to tune out white noise. At Culver Creek, we had a much better strategy. At first, everyone yelled and screamed like in a normal game. But then everyone said, "Shh!" and there was absolute silence. Just as our hated opponent stopped dribbling and prepared for his short, the Colonel stood up and screamed something. Like:
"For the love of God, please shave your back hair!"
I don't know but that just cracked me up.
May 31, 2010
May Round-Up, and What's Coming Next
BLOG STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH OF MAY:
1,614 Visits and 2,605 Page Views
50.56% New Visitors
Visitors Coming Mostly From:
~U.S.
~Canada
~U.K.
~Philippines
~Australia
~Germany
~India
BOOKS READ IN MAY:
1. Blue Bloods (Book #1) by Melissa de la Cruz (4.5 Stars)
2. Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster (4 Stars)
3. I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry (4 Stars)
4. It Happened One Night by Lisa Dale (3 Stars)
5. Live Fast Die Young: My Life with James Dean by John Gilmore (3.5 Stars)
6. Persuasion by Jane Austen (4.5 Stars)
7. Recovering My Voice: A Memoir of Chaos, Spirituality, and Hope by Aruni Nan Futuronsky (4 Stars)
8. The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler (4 Stars)
9. Web of Deceit by Darlene Cox (2.5 Stars)
10. Cecil Learns to Smile by Charlotte Bucher (1 Star)
TOP POSTS FOR MAY (including comments and page views):
1. A Review That Turned Into a Rant
2. Books You've Read Over and Over and Over
3. In My Mailbox
4. TSS: Animals Like to Read, Too!
5. Review: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
6. Review: Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster
TOP COMMENTERS (aka I love you guys):
1. Kathy (Bermudaonion's Weblog) 26 comments
2. Jenners (Find Your Next Book Here) 23 comments
3. Tasha B. (Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Books) 21 comments
4. Deb (Bookmagic) 18 comments
5. Staci (Life in the Thumb) 16 comments
6. Stephanie (Laughing Stars: The Stark Raving Bibliophile) 14 comments
5. Tif (Tif Talks Books) 12 comments
6. Fredamans (Freda's Voice) 11 comments
7. Kathleen (Callista's Ramblings) 8 comments, Lisa (Lit & Life) 8 comments
8. Kristen M. (We Be Reading) 6 comments
9. Lilly (Reading Extravaganza) 5 comments, Trisha (eccentric/eclectic) 5 comments, celi.a (Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia) 5 comments
10. Avid Reader (The Avid Reader's Musings) 4 comments, Pam (Bookalicio.us) 4 comments, Enbrethiliel (Shredded Cheddar) 4 comments, Diane (Bibliophile by the Sea) 4 comments
BOOKS I HOPE TO READ IN JUNE:
1. Possession by A.S. Byatt
2. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
3. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
4. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Rigler
5. Uglies by Scott Westerfield
POSTS COMING UP IN JUNE- Look for them!:
1. On Book Series: To Sequel or Not to Sequel
2. TLC Book Tour- In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
3. Four All-New 20 Questions Posts- Plus a Surprise Blogger!
4. My Month in Movies- May Edition
5. Take Me Away...to Honduras!
6. Reviews for The Truth Lies in the Dark, One Amazing Thing, Looking for Alaska, Maximum Ride 4: Final Warning, and more...
CHALLENGES: WHERE IT'S AT-
Personal Project-
Books and Movies for Dad (0 read, 1 watched) (No change this month.)
2010 Challenges-
100+ Reading Challenge (33 of 100)
1st in a Series (1 of 3)
A to Z Challenge (11 of 26) (Whew! Some progress here.)
ARC Challenge (11 of 12) (I will complete this challenge when I complete Children of Dust.)
Colorful Reading Challenge (1 of 9) (I finally got 1 down in my own challenge! Sheesh! lol)
Countdown Challenge (18 of 55)
Flashback Challenge (0 of 3) (Haven't so much started this one.)
Indi Authors (4 of 12)
JP Challenge (3 of 10) (Who knew I would be failing at this one?)
Jane Austen Challenge (1 of 4 read)
Memoir Challenge (2 of 4)
New Authors (12 of 25)
RYOB (4 of 10)
Support Your Local Library (8 of 25)
Take Another Chance (2 of 6)
ThemeQuest (0 of 3) (Haven't so much started this one, either.)
TwentyTen Challenge (6 of 20)
We Didn't Start the Fire (2 of 8)
World Religion Challenge (0 read) (Reading a book for this now. Still.)
YA Decades (1 of 8)
Year of the Historical (4 of 12)
Young Adults Challenge (5 of 25)
Young Readers (2 of 12)
Perpetual Challenges-
Banned Books (33 of 50)
100 Shots of Short (35 of 100)
Completed in 2010 (aka YAY!)-
Random Reading Challenge
Women Unbound Challenge
Here's how I did last month.
May 29, 2010
On My Wishlist #5
On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. I'm going kinda random today and offering up a, well, random selection of books from my TBR list. All book summaries came from Goodreads.
Girl in Translation by Jean KwokPublisher: Riverhead (c) 2010
Summary:
Introducing a fresh, exciting Chinese-American voice, an inspiring debut about an immigrant girl forced to choose between two worlds and two futures.
When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life-like the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family's future resting on her shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition-Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the worlds she straddles.
Through Kimberly's story, author Jean Kwok, who also emigrated from Hong Kong as a young girl, brings to the page the lives of countless immigrants who are caught between the pressure to succeed in America, their duty to their family, and their own personal desires, exposing a world that we rarely hear about. Written in an indelible voice that dramatizes the tensions of an immigrant girl growing up between two cultures, surrounded by a language and world only half understood, Girl in Translation is an unforgettable and classic novel of an American immigrant-a moving tale of hardship and triumph, heartbreak and love, and all that gets lost in translation.
The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem AslamPublisher: Faber and Faber (c) 2004
Summary:
Marcus, an English doctor whose progressive, outspoken Afghani wife was murdered by the Taliban, opens his home—itself an eerily beautiful monument to his losses—to the others: Lara, from St. Petersburg, looking for evidence of her soldier brother who disappeared decades before during the Soviet invasion; David, an American, a former spy who has seen his ideals turned inside out during his twenty-five years in Afghanistan; Casa, a young Afghani whose hatred of the West plunges him into the depths of zealotry; and James, the Special Forces soldier in whom David sees a dangerous revival of the unquestioning notions of right and wrong that he himself once held. In mesmerizing prose, Nadeem Aslam reveals the complex ties—of love and desperation, pain and salvation, madness and clarity—that bind the characters. And through their stories he creates a timely and achingly intimate portrait of the “continuation of wars” that shapes our world.
The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth RogersPublisher: Three Rivers Press (c) 2007
Summary:
Ellen DeGeneres, Robert Redford, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Aniston, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Martha Stewart, Tyra Banks, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Tiki Barber, Owen Wilson, and Justin Timberlake tell you how they make a difference to the environment.
Inside The Green Book, find out how you can too:
- Don’t ask for ATM receipts. If everyone in the United States refused their receipts, it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long, or enough to circle the equator fifteen times!
- Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth. You’ll conserve up to five gallons of water per day. Throughout the entire United States, the daily savings could add up to more water than is consumed every day in all of New York City.
- Get a voice-mail service for your home phone. If all answering machines in U.S. homes were replaced by voice-mail services, the annual energy savings would total nearly two billion kilowatt hours. The resulting reduction in air pollution would be equivalent to removing 250,000 cars from the road for a year!
With wit and authority, authors Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen provide hundreds of solutions for all areas of your life, pinpointing the smallest changes that have the biggest impact on the health of our precious planet.
Chasing Down the Dawn by JewelPublisher: Harper Entertainment (c) 2000
Summary:
In Chasing Down the Dawn, recording artist, actress, and bestselling author Jewel opens her intimate journals to create a vivid montage of the people, places, and relationships that colored the life she came from and have marked this past magical, turbulent, and ultimately transformational year of her life.
Drawn from her remarkable chronicle of life on the road during the Spirit World Tour, this unforgettable collection of freeze-frames captures unusual images from jewel's childhood in Alaska, her beginnings as a struggling artist, and her challenges as a daughter, sister and woman. jewel paints an unblinkingly honest picture of the exceptional journey that carried her to the world's stage.
With acutely observed, elegantly written depictions of the musicians, lovers, strangers, celebrities and other characters that inhabit the singer/songwriter's world, Chasing Down the Dawn is more than a collection of, vignettes, observations and stories. It is a finely wrought mosaic in prose and poetry, set to the rhythm of life.
On the Road by Jack KerouacPublisher: Penguin Books (c) 1955
Summary:
On The Road, the most famous of Jack Kerouac's works, is not only the soul of the Beat movement and literature, but one of the most important novels of the century. Like nearly all of Kerouac's writing, On The Road is thinly fictionalized autobiography, filled with a cast made of Kerouac's real life friends, lovers, and fellow travelers. Narrated by Sal Paradise, one of Kerouac's alter-egos, On the Road is a cross-country bohemian odyssey that not only influenced writing in the years since its 1957 publication but penetrated into the deepest levels of American thought and culture.
Have you read any of these books? Which should I try to get my hands on first? Which one do you want to read?
May 27, 2010
Heather J. is Here!!! 20 Q's
20 Questions with Heather J.!!
Today please welcome Heather, of one of the first fabulous blogs I discovered, Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books. Heather can also be found at Storie delle Sorelle Book Club Blog and at Heather's Creative Memories Website.
1. MY EARLIEST MEMORY OF READING: During my elementary school days I clearly remember many nights in my bed with a flashlight, with the covers pulled up over my head, reading one of my treasured fantasy novels while pretending to be asleep.
2. THE FIRST BOOK I READ OVER AND OVER: The first book I read to myself over and over was probably Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
3. A CHILDREN’S BOOK EVERY CHILD SHOULD READ: It is out of print, but I’d recommend Seeds and More Seeds, by Millicent E. Selsam. This is the book I had my mom read over and over to me when I was little, and I still enjoy looking at it as an adult.
4. THE BOOK I HAVE RE-READ THE MOST TIMES: I’m not a re-reader (although I was when I was in middle and high school).
5. MY FAVORITE PLACE TO READ: In a reclining chair on the beach on a warm, breezy day.
6. MY MUST-HAVE READING ACCESSORIES: A book – no accessories required.
7. THE NUMBER OF BOOKS I OWN (YOU CAN GUESS): Probably around 200, but I’m actively trying to lower that number.
8. MY BOOKSHELVES ARE: Sagging from the weight of the books on them.
9. THE NUMBER OF BOOKS ON MY TBR LIST (THAT I HAVE NOT AQUIRED YET): 470
10. THE WAY I KEEP TRACK OF BOOKS I WANT TO READ: I email myself the blog post where I heard about the book (or simply a note telling myself where I heard about it) and put those emails into a TBR folder in my inbox. Whenever I want a new book to read I browse that email folder, and when I’ve read a book from the list I delete the original email.
11. THE LAST BOOK I RECEIVED/BOUGHT: A blogging buddy (who is actually NOT a book blogger) just sent me The Day The Falls Stood Still, by Cathy Marie Buchanan.
12. A BOOK THAT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE IN SOME WAY: Definitely The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien. This is the book that started my love of reading in general and fantasy specifically.
13. A BOOK I LIKE THAT NO ONE ELSE SEEMS TO: There are many people who can’t stand one of my all-time favorite books: Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte.
14. A BOOK I DON’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE SEEMS TO LOVE: My Antonia, by Willa Cather … that book bores me to tears. Oh, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams … I find it more stupid than funny.
15. A BOOK THAT INTIMIDATES ME: The Brothers Karamazov, and also Anna Karenina – both are books that I really want to read, but I’m sort of freaked out by them.
16. IF I COULD GO TO ANY LITERARY DESTINATION I WOULD CHOOSE: At the moment I’d like to go to Lyme Regis and comb the beaches for fossils, after reading Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures.
17. THREE OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS: Robert Jordan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Laurie R. King
18. I HAVE BEEN BLOGGING ABOUT BOOKS SINCE: January 2008
19. MY BOOK BLOG STANDS OUT FROM THE CROWD BECAUSE: I’m not usually reading the same books as many other bloggers.
20. THREE BOOK BLOGGERS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE FEATURED IN THE FUTURE: Allie from A Literary Odyssey, Raych from books i done read, and Bibliolatrist from Bibliolatry
You're in luck, Heather! Allie recently did answer 20 Questions. Here is the link. I am adding Raych and Bibliolatrist to my list!~Coming Up on 20 Questions!~
Surprise Blogger!! Can you guess who it might be?
May 26, 2010
Books on the Shelf: P
A-Z Wednesday is a Weekly EventThis week's letter is "P"
The first book is one I have read (and a favorite too) and the second book is in my TBR Pile.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
From Amazon.com: The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
Possession by A.S. Byatt
From Amazon.com: Roland Mitchell, underpaid English research assistant, is on a search for nineteenth-century poet Randolph Henry Ash's copy of Vico, in the hopes that Ash will have written something enlightening in the margins. The book is brought up from the vaults of the British Museum, and in it Mitchell finds far more than Randolph Ash's thoughts on Vico. Hidden between the pages, unknown to anyone, are two rough drafts of a love letter to an unknown woman, written by Randolph Ash - a man scholars believe was eternally, faithfully married. From here on, the plot thickens, as they say, to include romance, poetry, parodies of feminist and Freudian criticism, trips to old houses and foreign countries, thefts, deceptions, and true love.
To join A-Z Wednesday, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
If you've already reviewed this book you can link the review also.
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment. (We all love comments, don't we?) Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.
The first book is one I have read (and a favorite too) and the second book is in my TBR Pile.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverFrom Amazon.com: The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
Possession by A.S. ByattFrom Amazon.com: Roland Mitchell, underpaid English research assistant, is on a search for nineteenth-century poet Randolph Henry Ash's copy of Vico, in the hopes that Ash will have written something enlightening in the margins. The book is brought up from the vaults of the British Museum, and in it Mitchell finds far more than Randolph Ash's thoughts on Vico. Hidden between the pages, unknown to anyone, are two rough drafts of a love letter to an unknown woman, written by Randolph Ash - a man scholars believe was eternally, faithfully married. From here on, the plot thickens, as they say, to include romance, poetry, parodies of feminist and Freudian criticism, trips to old houses and foreign countries, thefts, deceptions, and true love.
To join A-Z Wednesday, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
If you've already reviewed this book you can link the review also.
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment. (We all love comments, don't we?) Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.
2 Challenges COMPLETE! Yay! :)
This month, I finished 2 Reading Challenges! Yay!
To see a reading list, click on the challenge title.
Even if it is not the reason I read, or even
the reason I join reading challenges, it
still feels good to meet goals!
May 25, 2010
Books You Thought You'd Hate But Ended Up Loving!
The Book List is just a short and fun meme that allows you to share books and make a list of books! Who doesn't love lists?!?This Week's Topic is the brain child of Cristina aka Enbrethiliel of the blog Shredded Cheddar:
3 Books You Thought You'd Hate But Ended Up Loving
My List:
1. Scared by Tom DavisIt wasn't that I thought I would hate it, persay, because I was intrigued by the book summary. But I have never been very impressed with Christian Fiction- I always found it preachy. This book was the exception to every other CF book I've read. I LOVED this book. I recommend reading it. If you want to read my review, it is here.
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott FitzgeraldFitzgerald is one of my fave writers but I actually watched the movie before I read this short story. The movie was so L-O-N-G. It started out very interesting and then I just could not have cared less after an hour and a half and there was still, oh, an hour and a half or so to go. So, I didn't have high expectations for the story when I went to read it to fulfill part of a challenge last year. But I really enjoyed the story. It was exactly the length it needed to be. And all I kept thinking was how do you turn a short story into a 3 hour movie?? My review of the short story and the movie BB is here.
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldSpeaking of Fitzgerald, I first fell in love with his writing in high school reading this book. In high school you read so much that doesn't seem to affect you that I had no different expectations for this book. However, I really loved this book! In fact, it is still one of my favorite books ten...er..eleven years later. I think my teacher (who by nearly everyone in the school was an awesome teacher) really got a kick out of the fact I loved it because I was the only one in the class who said they did.
So what about you? What books surprised you when you read them? Was it a book from school? Was it a book in a genre you don't normally read? Was it a book by an author you thought you'd dislike? I'd love to read your list!!
- Write a post on your blog that is a list of 3 books pertaining to the topic above. It can be super short or long & windy. Choose your own M.O. :)
- You link back to the week's post here on Lost in Books in your post so if someone else wants to play, they can find their way here. Then you come here and leave your link in the Mr. Linky so other people can find your post and your list!
- There is no obligation to post every single week. Participate when you can!
May 24, 2010
Jane Austen's Persuasion
The first Austen I read was P&P and I loved it. It is one of my favorite books. So, other than not getting into the Sense & Sensibility movie a couple of years ago, I have no idea what has taken me so long to get to my second Austen novel. Persuasion was so good!
I loved the character of Anne. She is strong in a way that is really inspiring to me. I also liked that this was not a story of falling in love for the first time, but of finding that a mistake you made a long time ago can be made right again. There are lots of stories of finding true love, but not many about finding it the second time around with the same person. I really liked it.
I believe that my next Austen novel will not take so long to read. Now I just have to decide Emma or Mansfield Park?
THE STATISTICS:
BOOK #: 33
RATING: 4.5 Stars
FOR CHALLENGES: Jane Austen Challenge, Year of the Historical, A to Z Challenge, Support Your Library, Random Reading, 100+ in 2010
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Classics
PUBLISHER: Everyman's Library
FORMAT/PAGES: Paperback/304
HEY, FCC!: Library
Criminals, Boarding Schools, and More on What I'm Reading on Monday This Week
This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey. You can leave your post with the Mr. Linky there.
Books I completed the past week are:
1. The Truth Lies in the Dark by Kristin Callendar
2. Cecil Learns to Smile by Charlotte Bucher
Books I am working on:
Fiction:
1. Looking for Alaska by John Green (pg. 85 of 221) (for challenges)
Nonfiction:
1. Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan by Ali Eteraz (pg. 80 of 352) (ARC)
2. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White (pg. of 309) (for a TLC Book Tour)
3. Hinduism: A Brief Introduction by Kim Knott (pg. 46 of 160) (for a challenge, but reading is information heavy so it's going kind of slowly so I can absorb it more!)
ARCs Coming Up Next in the TBR Pile:
1. One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
2. Fireworks Over Taccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
3. She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott
4. Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos by Laura Bennett
Books for Challenges Coming Up Next in the TBR Pile:
1. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
2. 10 Things I Hate About Christianity by Jason T. Berggren
3. Maximum Ride 4 by James Patterson
4. Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Reviews posted this past week:
1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
2. Cecil Learns to Smile by Charlotte Bucher
Books still needing to have reviews written or posted:
1. Persuasion by Jane Austen
2. The Truth Lies in the Dark by Kristin Callendar
Current giveaways on this blog:
None at this time
Book Montage:
Books I completed the past week are:
1. The Truth Lies in the Dark by Kristin Callendar
2. Cecil Learns to Smile by Charlotte Bucher
Books I am working on:
Fiction:
1. Looking for Alaska by John Green (pg. 85 of 221) (for challenges)
Nonfiction:
1. Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan by Ali Eteraz (pg. 80 of 352) (ARC)
2. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White (pg. of 309) (for a TLC Book Tour)
3. Hinduism: A Brief Introduction by Kim Knott (pg. 46 of 160) (for a challenge, but reading is information heavy so it's going kind of slowly so I can absorb it more!)
ARCs Coming Up Next in the TBR Pile:
1. One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
2. Fireworks Over Taccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
3. She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott
4. Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos by Laura Bennett
Books for Challenges Coming Up Next in the TBR Pile:
1. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
2. 10 Things I Hate About Christianity by Jason T. Berggren
3. Maximum Ride 4 by James Patterson
4. Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Reviews posted this past week:
1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
2. Cecil Learns to Smile by Charlotte Bucher
Books still needing to have reviews written or posted:
1. Persuasion by Jane Austen
2. The Truth Lies in the Dark by Kristin Callendar
Current giveaways on this blog:
None at this time
Book Montage:
May 23, 2010
Cecil Learns to Smile by Charlotte Bucher
I really hate giving bad reviews to children's books. I love picture books and young readers books. I love what they can teach. But this book, unfortunately, does not hit the mark for me.
Here are some passages I couldn't get past (putting grammatical errors aside, as I tend to be more leniant in that area for self-publishers since pro editors are not on hand and we all know how well MS Word's Grammar Check *cough* doesn't *cough* work.) So here is the first passage-
One day a huge man/creature came thru (yes, the author spelled the word like a text message! Ack! My teacher brain just about fried right there!) the forest and spotted the little frog. "Hello little frog" said he, as he removed his dark lens glasses and a strange black box from in front of his face. "Why do you look so sad?" said the man. "All my family has gone on to other trees to live and I am here by myself. Some have even gone to other forests" said little Cecil. "I am too small to make the giant leap to another tree."...The visitor said "Let me take your picture with my camera. I can show it all over the world for I am a TV cameraman. Perhaps some of your brothers, sisters, and cousins will see your picture and come to visit you." The little frog croaked "Okay dokey" meaning yes.Okay...there is so much wrong with that one page that I am actually BLOWN AWAY. First, obviously spelling through in shorthand. This is a Beginner Readers book. This is teaching the child to spell the word wrong and that it is okay to be sloppy when you're writing. It's not a txt msg! Spell it out! Secondly, she writes that the frog doesn't know what a camera or sunglasses are, but somehow the frogs in the rainforest will be able to see Cecil on TV.
Let that soak in a for a minute.
MAKES NO SENSE, right? Even most 4-year-olds will be able to tell that makes no sense. Plus, a man walking through a rainforest just stops to converse with a tiny tree frog. Then the whole, "Okay dokey" meaning yes. Okay, so I just don't like that, but I guess there is nothing too wrong with it. I can let that go, right? Moving on, let's see what else there is-
Soon all the frogs knew that Cecil had become important and loved. Cecil's Uncle Bert, speaking from his lily pad, said "We should plan to go and visit Cecil in case he moves to Frogiwood. Maybe we need to apologize for teasing him." Cecil's cousins Maisie, Mokie, and Nickie were very excited. Maisie said "I have dreamed of Cecil ever since tadpole days. I miss him." She also dreamed that he was going to get a special pair of Crocs so that he could jump over to play with everyone.
I had to read that page about 10 times before I actually believed that it said the frog was going to wear some Crocs. CROCS! Not only is that a terribly odd thing to say, but how exactly does that help a tree frog (who has sticky feet) jump from tree to tree? Are Crocs the new Air Jordans? I'm confused. And Uncle Bert and the three cousins are never named before this page which is halfway through the book. Why now? And, if they do have a "Frogiwood" in this story, the cameraman needs to be a frog, too, I think, otherwise it, again, makes no sense. Why would a human be shooting film for Frogiwood exactly?
I can give Bucher credit for trying to teach a lesson about not teasing others who are different. I can give her credit for introducing an exotic animal to children. I like that. But the execution is just not there, the illustrations are hit and miss (though better than I can do), and, call me crazy, but I just can't get past the fact that you should't put frogs in a rainforest environment and then say they watch TV run by humans. Like I said, it doesn't make any sense. The story needs to either be fantasy fiction OR realistic fiction in my opinion. Mixing it just doesn't work in a young children's book.
THE STATISTICS:
BOOK #: 32
RATING: 1 STAR
FOR CHALLENGES: Young Readers, Indi Authors, New Authors, Countdown Challenge, 100+ in 2010
GENRE: Children's Beginner Reader/Picture Book, Fiction
PUBLISHER: Self-Published with Outskirts Press
FORMAT/PAGES: Paperback/21
HEY, FCC!: I received this book from the author for review purposes.
May 22, 2010
Take Me Away in May- Fiji
Take Me Away SaturdayFor those of you unfamiliar with Take Me Away Saturday, I started it because I love books that take place in different cultures and are about different cultures. Take Me Away is a way to share with other readers books that can transport them into another culture. Each week I feature a different country or culture (ex. Cherokee, Jewish, etc. that do not have a specific country per se) and list some books that can transport you there. (Note: ex. not necessarily books by a German or an Australian, but books set in Germany or Australia.) I try to provide a variety of fiction genres as well as nonfiction selections.
This week we are visiting the country of Fiji.
Here is an easy to see map of Fiji:
For more information on this country click here.
Click on the titles of the books below to read reviews and/or purchase the book. Note: I do not receive commissions if you purchase a book through the link I provide, whether from Amazon, Indiebound, or otherwise.
Thrown together for three days on the paradise island of Taveuni, a lonely Norwegian biologist, a bereaved English novelist, and a strange and beautiful Spanish couple so much in love they seem to have evolved a private language, fill the long Pacific nights by playing bridge, telling stories, and discussing ideas. This brief encounter is no mere interlude, but the start of an intertwined story, full of illusion and allusion, that will unfold many months later. Part tragedy, part mystery, and, above all, a love story, Maya debates and unravels the questions that give meaning to the lives of its characters—and to our own.
Getting Stoned with the Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu by J. Maarten TroostGetting Stoned with Savages tells the hilarious story of Troost’s time on Vanuatu—a rugged cluster of islands where the natives gorge themselves on kava and are still known to “eat the man.” Falling into one amusing misadventure after another, Troost struggles against typhoons, earthquakes, and giant centipedes and soon finds himself swept up in the laid-back, clothing-optional lifestyle of the islanders. When Sylvia gets pregnant, they decamp for slightly-more-civilized Fiji, a fallen paradise where the local chiefs can be found watching rugby in the house next door. And as they contend with new parenthood in a country rife with prostitutes and government coups, their son begins to take quite naturally to island living—in complete contrast to his dad.
It is 1918 and Spanish Flu is epidemic in Suva, the capital of Fiji. Twelve year old Olive is sent with her brothers and grandmother to Taveuni to stay with her childless aunt and uncle on their sugar plantation to escape the disease as her mother lies dying of the flu in their family home. The months that follow hold magic and sorrow for Olive, as she uncovers well kept family secrets and grieves for her dying mother. The Sailmaker's Daughter is dedicated to the memory of Stephanie Johnson's grandmother, who was born in Fiji in 1905. Like Olive in the book, her grandmother was one of a large family; her father was the sailmaker in Suva and her mother died of the Spanish Flu at the end of the Great War. The Sailmaker's Daughter is both a tribute to Stephanie Johnson's grandmother and a powerful evocation of a mystical paradise lived and lost.
The literary device of juxtaposing the story of the Fiji coup against autobiographical reminiscences of a Fiji background works very well. This is an excellent story, beautifully written and skilfully mixing the personal with the political .. The EH McCormick Award for the Best First Book of Non Fiction, sponsored by the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN Inc) and Creative New Zealand, goes to Kava in the Blood by Peter Thomson." - Judges Report, Montana New Zealand Book Awards, 2000. Entwined through the author's reportage of the 1987 coups is an evocative picture of life in the islands. Thus, Kava in the Blood is also an intriguing story of hurricanes, haunted houses and copious kava consumption, set within the dramatic landscapes and vibrant cultures of the Fiji Islands.
How do ordinary people respond when their lives are irrevocably altered by terror and violence? Susanna Trnka was residing in an Indo-Fijian village in the year 2000 during the Fijian nationalist coup. The overthrow of the elected multiethnic party led to six months of nationalist aggression, much of which was directed toward Indo-Fijians. In State of Suffering , Trnka shows how Indo-Fijians' lives were overturned as waves of turmoil and destruction swept across Fiji.
Describing the myriad social processes through which violence is articulated and ascribed meaning-including expressions of incredulity, circulation of rumors, narratives, and exchanges of laughter and jokes-Trnka reveals the ways in which the community engages in these practices as individuals experience, and try to understand, the consequences of the coup. She then considers different kinds of pain caused by political chaos and social turbulence, including pain resulting from bodily harm, shared terror, and the distress precipitated by economic crisis and social dislocation.
Throughout this book, Trnka focuses on the collective social process through which violence is embodied, articulated, and silenced by those it targets. Her sensitive ethnography is a valuable addition to the global conversation about the impact of political violence on community life.
In evocative island settings, a cast of international characters mix an intriguing cocktail of murders, tropical passion and Fiji humour. The year is 1990 and a nuclear bomb's been spirited from Moruroa, France's military atoll, and smuggled to the Fiji Islands. Islamic extremists are trans-shipping the bomb through the islands to a mystery consignee. French special forces and the Fiji military try to track down the bomb and its shadowy high-jackers. The chase takes them through the brothels and backwaters of Papeete and Suva, to down-at-heel Taveuni copra estates, and then out to remote atolls in northern Fiji. Taveuni ornithologist, Jack Costello and Madeleine Bouvier, a coral reef conservationist, struggle with developers intent on over-expoliting the islands. Their tentative love affair is thrown into confusion by Madeleine's past activities in France. When they and their Fijian friends become embroiled in the bomb-chase, Jack and Madeleine must take matters into their own hands.
This is, of course, not an exhaustive list. There are many more books out there. Do you want to share book recommendations that feature Fiji? Or do you want to share other thoughts? Please leave a note in the comments! I love the feedback!
Be sure to check back for another trip in books! Here is what is coming up next:
June: The Central American country of Honduras
July: The Middle Eastern country of Israel
The Take Me Away Map of Countries Visited:
Where we've been and the books that take us there:
The Americas and the Caribbean
Guatemala
Peru
Brazil
Chile
Haiti
Europe
Triple Threat-Baltic States
Spain
Norway
Hungary
Middle East
Turkey
Yemen
Asia
Russia
Vietnam
India
Japan
Taiwan
Africa
Egypt
Sierra Leone
Kenya
Zimbabwe
Australia, Pacific Islands
New Zealand
Cultures Across the World
Australian Aborigines
Sioux Nation
Inuit Culture
The Americas and the Caribbean
Guatemala
Peru
Brazil
Chile
Haiti
Europe
Triple Threat-Baltic States
Spain
Norway
Hungary
Middle East
Turkey
Yemen
Asia
Russia
Vietnam
India
Japan
Taiwan
Africa
Egypt
Sierra Leone
Kenya
Zimbabwe
Australia, Pacific Islands
New Zealand
Cultures Across the World
Australian Aborigines
Sioux Nation
Inuit Culture
May 21, 2010
Heartfelt Haiku for Haiku Friday
Haiku Friday is hosted by Jen at It's a Jen's Life.To my sister, C.:
It seems so unfair for you
to lose a good friend
so soon after losing dad
To Rashmee, my sister's good friend who died this past week at 27 years old of a brain aneurysm:
Rashmee, you influence still:
You took the sunshine
As you left us suddenly
To John:
Your ear to listen to me
And your hugs and heart
I smile even when I'm sad
May 20, 2010
ALL NEW QUESTIONS START TODAY with A Buckeye Girl Reads!
This is the feature 20 Questions where book bloggers allow us to get to know them a little bit better! To keep it interesting, I have thrown out several questions and added some new ones! The first to answer these new questions is Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads! Welcome to Lost in Books and 20 Questions, Collette!20 QUESTIONS
1. MY EARLIEST MEMORY OF READING: My earliest memory of reading is reading with my mom. I remember making her re-read the following children's books to me over and over again: Harold and the Purple Crayon, Where the Wild things Are, The Velveteen Rabbit and a Seasame Street book-There's A Monster At the End of the Book.
2. THE FIRST BOOK I READ OVER AND OVER: I'm not sure, but it was either a Ramona book by Beverly Cleary or a Judy Blume book
3. A CHILDREN’S BOOK EVERY CHILD SHOULD READ: The Velveteen Rabbit
4. THE BOOK I HAVE RE-READ THE MOST TIMES: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2. THE FIRST BOOK I READ OVER AND OVER: I'm not sure, but it was either a Ramona book by Beverly Cleary or a Judy Blume book
3. A CHILDREN’S BOOK EVERY CHILD SHOULD READ: The Velveteen Rabbit
4. THE BOOK I HAVE RE-READ THE MOST TIMES: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. MY FAVORITE PLACE TO READ: On the couch
6. MY MUST-HAVE READING ACCESSORIES: A bookmark, sticky notes, (The sticky notes are so I can remember any good recipes I find in books-I've gotten into this bad habit of wanting to eat whatever the characters in the book are eating.) and a can of coca cola. (I always have to have something to drink while I read-I don't know why.
7. THE NUMBER OF BOOKS I OWN (YOU CAN GUESS): I'm guessing on the low end, and going with around 200
8. MY BOOKSHELVES ARE: An organized mess
9. THE NUMBER OF BOOKS ON MY TBR LIST: 210 (What did I do before GoodReads?)
6. MY MUST-HAVE READING ACCESSORIES: A bookmark, sticky notes, (The sticky notes are so I can remember any good recipes I find in books-I've gotten into this bad habit of wanting to eat whatever the characters in the book are eating.) and a can of coca cola. (I always have to have something to drink while I read-I don't know why.
7. THE NUMBER OF BOOKS I OWN (YOU CAN GUESS): I'm guessing on the low end, and going with around 200
8. MY BOOKSHELVES ARE: An organized mess
9. THE NUMBER OF BOOKS ON MY TBR LIST: 210 (What did I do before GoodReads?)
10. THE WAY I KEEP TRACK OF BOOKS I WANT TO READ: I use GoodReads-I have a bookshelf with almost every blog I read, that way I can remember where I found the book on the tbr list. Spreadsheets just aren't my thing.
11. THE LAST BOOK I RECEIVED/BOUGHT: Mind Games by Carolyn Crane
12. A BOOK THAT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE IN SOME WAY: Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza. It's a non fiction book about the genocide in Rwanda. It made me re-open my eyes to the struggles across the globe. Her story is such a powerful one. My Grandma read it and made everyone she knew read it as well.
11. THE LAST BOOK I RECEIVED/BOUGHT: Mind Games by Carolyn Crane
12. A BOOK THAT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE IN SOME WAY: Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza. It's a non fiction book about the genocide in Rwanda. It made me re-open my eyes to the struggles across the globe. Her story is such a powerful one. My Grandma read it and made everyone she knew read it as well.
13. A BOOK I LIKE THAT NO ONE ELSE SEEMS TO: Persuasion by Jane Austen-It seems to be a lot of peoples least favorite Austen book, but I loved it.
14. A BOOK I DON’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE SEEMS TO LOVE: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfeld
15. A BOOK THAT INTIMIDATES ME: Moby Dick-I've never been able to conquer that whale.
16. IF I COULD GO TO ANY LITERARY DESTINATION I WOULD CHOOSE: Scotland, esp. the Scotland in Lynn Kurland's time travel books. Who wouldn't want to go back in time and nab their own Knight in Shining Armor & be able to bring him back to the present time?
14. A BOOK I DON’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE SEEMS TO LOVE: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfeld
15. A BOOK THAT INTIMIDATES ME: Moby Dick-I've never been able to conquer that whale.
16. IF I COULD GO TO ANY LITERARY DESTINATION I WOULD CHOOSE: Scotland, esp. the Scotland in Lynn Kurland's time travel books. Who wouldn't want to go back in time and nab their own Knight in Shining Armor & be able to bring him back to the present time?
17. THREE OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS: Barbara Kingsolver, Chloe Neill, Leanna Renee Hieber
18. I HAVE BEEN BLOGGING ABOUT BOOKS SINCE: 2009 (My blogiversary is sometime this week.)
19. MY BOOK BLOG STANDS OUT FROM THE CROWD BECAUSE: My Sigh & crushworthy Meters. I started them after I read a historical romance novel where I kept sighing over the earl in the book.
20. THREE BOOK BLOGGERS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE FEATURED IN THE FUTURE: Becky from One Literature Nut, Hanging With Bells, and Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm
18. I HAVE BEEN BLOGGING ABOUT BOOKS SINCE: 2009 (My blogiversary is sometime this week.)
19. MY BOOK BLOG STANDS OUT FROM THE CROWD BECAUSE: My Sigh & crushworthy Meters. I started them after I read a historical romance novel where I kept sighing over the earl in the book.
20. THREE BOOK BLOGGERS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE FEATURED IN THE FUTURE: Becky from One Literature Nut, Hanging With Bells, and Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm
~Coming Up on 20 Questions!~
Heather J. of Age 30+ in Books
Laurel Ann of Austenprose
May 19, 2010
A-Z Wednesday: O is for Outrageous
A-Z Wednesday is a Weekly EventTo join, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
If you've already reviewed this book you can link the review also.
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment. (We all love comments, don't we?) Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.
This week's letter is "O"
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions by Gloria Steinem
From Learn Out Loud: First published in 1983, this is noted feminist Gloria Steinem's most diverse and timeless collection of witty, life-changing essays, written "as if women mattered." Steinem's most personal writing is here, including her humorous exposé, "I Was a Playboy Bunny," a tribute to her mother, "Ruth's Song," as well as prescient writings on female genital mutilation and the difference between erotica and pornography. The satirical and hilarious "If Men Could Menstruate" is alone worth the price of admission.
I haven't read this one yet, but I think it will be an interesting look into the second women's feminist movement in America.
Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
If you've already reviewed this book you can link the review also.
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment. (We all love comments, don't we?) Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.
This week's letter is "O"
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions by Gloria SteinemFrom Learn Out Loud: First published in 1983, this is noted feminist Gloria Steinem's most diverse and timeless collection of witty, life-changing essays, written "as if women mattered." Steinem's most personal writing is here, including her humorous exposé, "I Was a Playboy Bunny," a tribute to her mother, "Ruth's Song," as well as prescient writings on female genital mutilation and the difference between erotica and pornography. The satirical and hilarious "If Men Could Menstruate" is alone worth the price of admission.
I haven't read this one yet, but I think it will be an interesting look into the second women's feminist movement in America.
May 18, 2010
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
So, I've been trying for weeks to come up with a review for this book that does it justice without giving away any spoilers. I just cannot write anything remotely as good as the reviews I have seen by other bloggers. I bow humbly at your way with words, fellow bibliophiles!
All I can say is that this book is a very emotionally-driven book. There was longing, thoughtfulness, innocence, despair, kindness, love, confusion, joy, anger, hope- the whole gamut. It was a fantastic story about the Holocaust and I really recommend it to everyone who likes to read about this time in history or who likes a really good, heart-tugging story.
I also watched this movie and the movie is really very well done. I recommend it as well.
I will now direct you to a review by Tif at Tif Talks Books that is much superior to my own so you can really get a feel for this book.
Here are other reviews I found worth checking out:
Book Chatter and Other Stuff...
Books on the Brain
Melody's Reading Corner
Worducopia
Bermudaonion's Weblog
Jo-Jo Loves to Read
Maw Books Blog
Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Laughing Stars
Shelf Love
Book Addiction
THE STATISTICS:
BOOK #: 31
RATING: 4.5 Stars
7 CHALLENGES: Year of the Historical, Countdown Challenge, YA Challenge, Support Your Local Library, TwentyTen Challenge, New Authors, 100+ in 2010
GENRE: Historical Fiction, War, Literary Fiction, Young Adult
PUBLISHER: David Fickling Books (c) 2006
FORMAT/PAGES: Hardcover/224
HEY, FCC!: I borrowed this book from the library.
What's Been on Your TBR List the Longest
The Book List is just a short and fun meme that allows you to share books and make a list of books! Who doesn't love lists?!?This Week's Topic is:
The 3 Books that Have Been on Your TBR List the Longest
So here is my personal list:
1. Emma by Jane Austen (ok, all of the Austen books I haven't read, which include all but P&P and Persuasion, but that would be cheating...)
2. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (Been on the list since it came out in 2001 because I loved her book, The Poisonwood Bible, but somehow I've never gotten to it.)
3. Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I read and loved The Great Gatsby in high school and immediately wanted to read other things by Fitzgerald. The only other thing I have managed to read though is the short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This book is an anthology of short stories.)So what about you? What books have been lingering on your TBR list the longest? Tell us all about it:
- Write a post on your blog that is a list of 3 books pertaining to the topic above. It can be super short or long and windy. Choose your own M.O. :)
- You may include photos with your lists, especially if that helps illustrate your point.
- You link back to the week's post here on Lost in Books in your post so if someone else wants to play, they can find their way here.
- Then you come here and leave your link in the Mr. Linky so other people can find your post and your list!
- There is no obligation to post every single week. Participate when you can!
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