Summer Reading Saturday-- Let the Games Begin

June 1st is Monday. The day after tomorrow. It's completely insane. I'm still not entirely sure what happened to April.

So here's the deal-- For KIDS, read 30 sessions over the course of the summer (June- August). You (and/or your parent) decide the length of a session. If you're in Salt Lake County (or want to use the cute chart anyway) you can print your own chart.

Boo will be doing 40 minute sessions ('cause I'm feeling really brave) and Mister will be doing 15 minute sessions.

For TEENS, complete 4 books and 4 "free choice" activities.
Free choices: read a book, magazine, graphic novel or
eBook • listen to an audiobook or CD • watch a DVD •
attend a library event • submit a book review at our website.
Print your own chart.

For ADULTS, well, it's a lot like the teens one-- 4 books and 4 "free choice" activities. Free choice for adults also lists reading to a child. I don't actually consider it too much of a challenge... I'm going to try for 8 books a month at a minimum. But it's still fun to participate. You can print your own adult chart, too.

So, I don't really need the chart for adults. Let's face it, I read that much anyway.

BUT, I sometimes have a hard time with my kids! So if I have to report our progress every week, I'll be accountable to you, right?

Here's what that will entail-- each week I'll post 1)how many sessions Boo and Mister each marked off that week 2)who did the reading 3)a favorite book or two. And maybe even a bookish picture.

Would YOU like to play?
Of course you would. Here's how you play-- Post about this on your own blog each week! For this week, post the age group(s) and session length, if applicable. Leave a comment here linking to your post and link this (or the current week's) post in yours.

If you don't have a blog-- you're still welcome to play! You can email me (schriftstellarin[at]hotmail[dot]com) your progress each week (I need it by Friday 10 pm Mountain Time) and I'll include it in my post OR leave your progress in a comment each week!

It's that simple!! I hope you'll play! The more the merrier!!

One More Fairy Post

I know, I'm inflicting my obsession on you.

:D

So, it's Friday and the end of our Fairy Week. And I have a list of fun, fabulous little chapter books for you!

Now, I haven't tried these with Boo yet, but I think she'd do okay with their length, but they're really probably meant to be 1st-3rd grade chapter books. They're labeled "stepping stone books".

Dulcie's Taste of Magic
Silvermist and the Ladybug Curse*
Fawn and the Mysterious Trickster*
The Trouble with Tink
Beck and the Great Berry Battle
Vidia and the Fairy Crown
Lily's Pesky Plant
Fira and the Full Moon
Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon
A Masterpiece for Bess
Prilla and the Butterfly Lie
Tink North of Neverland
Beck Beyond the Sea
Iridessa Lost at Sea
Rosetta's Daring Day*
Queen Clarion's Secret


*Apparently there is at least a slight connection between the books and the movies. Fawn, Rosetta and Silvermist are movie characters.

I've read most of them. I own half of them. (I told you, obsession.)

They're all cute. And most of them have a good message. (Others are just fun!) Prilla learns what happens when you lie, Silvermist learns that if you think you have bad luck you definitely will.

They also have cute pictures, and though they're all about 100 pages, the type is big and they're easily finished.

I think these are a really good choice for girls that are ready to move up to chapter books. Sorry, none so far focused on the sparrow men. Why is that?

And you can get them in these cute boxed sets! Who is your favorite fairy?? (I can't decide between Rani and Fira!)

In the Realm of the Never Fairies by Monique Peterson

This book is gorgeous.

Really, there's just no other way to describe it.

A sort of behind-the-scenes look at the wonderful world of Tinkerbell and all her friends.

With AMAZING pictures.

I got this book for my birthday a while ago and it is just an absolute must-have for a fairy fan.


Are you a fairy fan? (Or just suffering through Fairy Week? lol)

What is it about fairies? It's not just Disney, fairies are EVERYWHERE! I have lately seen (on blogs and such) more fairy-related books than I would have believed possible! What is it about them that captivates us?

Or is it just children who are captivated? Here I am reviewing a bunch of fairy books-- all written for children. Fairies seem to have taken the YA world by storm, too. Have we outgrown them as adults?

(For that matter, what's up with vampires? They're everywhere too! Is there a correlation, do you think? When we grow out of fairies do we turn to vampires? Or is it all just Stephanie Meyer's fault?)

Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand by Gail Carson Levine

And then there's the fabulous sequel! (That's right, it is really a different book from yesterday, I promise.)


Wands are dangerous things, but the fairies are back and they must find one or face the wrath of the mermaid Soop. (You should never mess with mermaids.)

This is another excellent installment from Gail Carson Levine-- again with amazing illustrations!

Between the two, Levine's Disney Fairy books really set up the world for all of the little books that have been written (by other authors) about each individual fairy.

Have you noticed, though, that the Disney movie Tinkerbell threw a lot of it out the window?

Okay, technically I haven't seen the whole thing and I guess maybe they can mesh them, but when you've had an author like Levine give you such a marvelous world, why not use it?! Drives me nuts.

Why do you suppose that is? I mean, Disney's got their logo on the books, right? They had to have at least approved them. Why would they create a different tone and world and even different characters for the movies?

Somebody, anybody, explain this to me!

Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine

Welcome to Fairy Week! (Yeah, I know, it's Tuesday.)

I have a tiny little obsession with the Disney Fairy books. Okay, maybe it's a big huge obsession.

Anyway.

Here it is, the book that started it all.

I LOVE Gail Carson Levine. I really do. And her writing plus Disney must equal fantastic!

This is the book that really gives life to Tinkerbell and her friends and the world of Pixie Hollow. We're introduced to Rani- a water-talent fairy, and Vidia- a fast-flying (and not always nice) fairy, Lily- plant-talent, Terrence- a sparrowman (boy fairy), Beck and Bess (painting and animals respectively... no wait, reverse that) and the brand new Prilla, who doesn't seem to have a talent at all.

This has never happened before and no one is quite sure what to make of it. But Prilla, it turns out, just has a talent no one has seen before, and it's needed when Mother Dove's egg breaks.

Mother Dove's egg is the source of magic in Neverland. So off the fairies go, on a quest to make it all right again.

This is a great story with absolutely wonderful illustrations!

Ruby Among Us by Tina Ann Forkner

5 stars
R-1-2

A really fitting read for Memorial Day.

Lucy is a 19-year-old senior in college who is making her first friends. Needless to say, she's lived a fairly sheltered life. But now she is determined to break out of the shell she feels kept in by her grandmother's secrets... and hopefully she can remember her mother in the process.

Lucy's story was touching. Her side/love story is sweet and naive, in rather sharp contrast to the tangled web of secrets and misunderstandings (and a few outright lies) that make up her mother's and grandmother's stories.

But maybe time really can heal all wounds, and as Lucy makes Kitty open up about the past, maybe she can finally heal too. And maybe Lucy can find family.

I really enjoyed this one. And it went a lot quicker than I expected. Yes, at times you want to strangle Kitty for the ridiculously tangled mess, but you can't entirely blame her, either. There's also an element of Christian fiction as Lucy struggles to decide whether or not she has faith. The story does leave you wanting more. Lucy's love story is VERY secondary. But sometimes it's nice to finish a book and have a whole world of possibillities open to the characters. :D

There is (apparently) a companion novel! (Amazing what you learn poking around on Amazon...)

Summer Reading Saturday

Well it's that time of year again. In just over a week, the summer reading program begins again.

I have a confession. I'm not nearly as good about reading to my kids as I should be. I just don't have the patience some days. (Read that "most days".)

My biggest problem? I try to have it be part of bedtime. Bedtime is just too stressful around here. I'm out of patience and I just want the little monst... I mean kids to leave me alone for 12 hours of so!

But-- I do a bit better when it's contest time. And June 1st is the BIG day.

So I was thinking... since my Saturday posts are all about Boo and Mister anyway, why not shift them to Summer Reading Saturdays? That way I'm accountable to YOU as well as the monkeys that aren't reading on their own yet.

And I'm hoping some of you will join in.

The reading program (this is through the county library system) has an adult program and a kid program. I will post all the details when I have them-- hopefully next Saturday. Usually, though, the adult side is more or less "read 8 books" or something... so I may double it this year. The kid portion-- you decide how long the sessions are and complete x number of sessions.

Boo's sessions have been increasing over the years (this is her third or fourth year) and so I think I'll set hers at 30 or 40 minutes. (Now, I count it even if it's four 10-minute sessions, so long as they're all the same day.)

This is Mister's FIRST year, though, so we'll probably stick with 10-15 minutes for him.

The theme this year-- BE CREATIVE!

If you're in Salt Lake County, the kickoff is at Wheeler Farm on June 1st. See the Library Website for more info!

Survey for You!

So, in the never-ending quest to improve this blog, I have a short survey for you.

It's all about giveaways. I love giveaways, don't you? And I want to do more in the future, but I want to do them right!

Click Here to take survey

I am hoping to get lots of responses, so take just a minute and pop over there for me, okay?!

THANKS!

Third Time's A Charm.... Winner!

So the WINNER of my third giveaway is..... (drumroll.....)

SUEY!

And well.... Suey.

So-- send me your mailing address (schriftstellarin[at]hotmail[dot]com) and you can either a) have all 6 books or b) pick 3 and choose somewhere for me to donate/someone you know to receive the other 3! Up to you!

Enter Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Okay, I'm technically only reviewing the first half of this book.

Here's the thing-- Enter Jeeves is a collection of short stories. Fifteen short stories, to be exact. Eight of them are Jeeves stories. The other seven are Wodehouse's Reggie Pepper stories. He is kind of a precursor to Bertie Wooster. With all that in mind, it seemed sensical to review each half separately.

SO-- On the subject of the 8 Jeeves stories in question:
5 stars
R- 0

If you can find it, this is definitely a good place to start. The entire county library system only had one copy, though, which is just sad. I did, however, find it on both Amazon and Indiebound, so maybe there's hope after all.

Anyway. Included in the stories are "Extricating Young Gussie"-- which is the first time Bertie and Jeeves were introduced to readers-- and "Jeeves Takes Charge"-- which relates how the two met.

Inevitably, each story involves Jeeves extricating (such a sadly underused word) Bertie and/or his pals from various troubles. And, just as inevitably, Bertie's and Jeeves' relationship is under strain over some point of Bertie's appearance, of which Jeeves does not approve. (Purple socks, pink ties, a mustache.... can you picture Hugh Laurie with a mustache??)

HIGHLY recommended for anyone who loves witty humor. And since it's all short stories, it's a great light summer read!

What's on YOUR summer reading list??

Jeeves and Wooster-- A TV Review

5 Stars!!

I first found this British comedy just flipping channels. It went something like this:

Husband: flip flip flip
Me: Wait, what was that?
H: Wasn't that Hugh Laurie?
M: Yeah, go back.
H: goes back to PBS
M: And Stephen Fry!

Who wouldn't stay on the channel with that combination?? I LOVE Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie!

The show was Jeeves and Wooster-- a series based on the Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse.
And it was hysterical!!

Now I have the full boxed set, though I haven't watched it all yet. They are soooooo well cast! And such a great combination.

Hugh Laurie plays Bertie Wooster, a young semi-aristocratic Brit whose "old bean" is more for ornamental purposes. As a result, he is highly reliant on the brilliant Jeeves, his valet. (Played of course by Stephen Fry.)

As Bertie and his pals get into trouble, Jeeves is always there to find a way out. Whether the trouble involves relatives reluctant to pay a proper allowance or young woman under the impression that Bertie wants to marry them, Jeeves always has a plan.

P.G. Wodehouse wrote many stories and novels about the pair. If you can find it Enter Jeeves is a good place to start. Or The Inimitable Jeeves is a good starting place too.

I'll be reviewing Enter Jeeves tomorrow!

Oh, and if you like Stephen Fry, I HIGHLY recommend Relative Values.

Julie Andrews, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth.... you really just can't go wrong! It's a hilarious movie!

Bits of Fluff

You know, like the cotton floating around making people sneeze...

1. Wednesday Wars won the poll. Off to put it on hold. Thanks for voting. :D
2. Cool Giveaway on One Librarian's Book Reviews
3. Another cool Giveaway at Books Love Jessica Marie
4. The Disney Channel has switched to summer programming... Upside? Phineas and Ferb is actually on when my kids are awake, in addition to later at night. Downside? Playhouse Disney is only about 5 shows long and that does NOT include Charlie and Lola, Little Einsteins, or The Wiggles. Blast it all.
5. Boo has thrown just about every piece of clothing she owns on the floor... sigh.
6. Went to the zoo yesterday. The Madagascar exhibit was not quite as cool as I wanted it to be. Boo's favorite animal died-- she started sobbing in the reptile house. At least no one got sunburned.
7. Mister won't stay out of the kitchen. Toddlers emptying the dishwasher are not actually helpful.
8. 24 hours without internet equals 56 unread emails. Could be worse.
9. I love PG Wodehouse.
10. No Wednesday Morsel today... Maybe tomorrow.

That's all I got.

I need a nap.

Heavenly Intrigue by Joshua Gilder and Anne-Lee Gilder

5 Stars
Nonfiction


This book was FASCINATING! Absolutely fascinating.

Modern science has shown that Tycho Brahe was murdered and the most likely suspect is Johannes Kepler. Between the two of them, these men are the fathers of modern astronomy.

By all accounts, Kepler was a class A jerk. Holy cow. What a piece of work. The language he used (there are quotes from surviving letters throughout the book) is that of a man with some serious delusions of grandeur. At the very least.

Brahe, on the other hand, was open, friendly, generous and forgiving-- both of those to a fault. Kind of ironic given the scar on his face from deuling with his cousin. (He had a prostethic nose made of a gold and silver alloy for special ocassions and a copper one for everyday use. Not kidding.)

Both had rough lives. Kepler started out with nothing and was never happy. Brahe started out with everything and gave it up for love and astronomy.

Brahe's life was also laced with a certain irony-- he was accused, hounded, and eventually exiled from Denmark on two main charges. One- he was "living in sin" with his "mistress". Since he was a nobleman and his wife was a commoner, the church would not recognize their marriage. It was a "common law" marriage which was then outlawed with the ascension of Christian IV to the throne. The irony? His estate was seized and given to Christian's mistress. Apparently it's okay to have one as long as you don't live with her?

Two- he allowed the priest to forgo the exorcism before his son's baptism. (The priest making that accusation omitted the exorcism himself when he baptized the king's son a few years later.)

Brahe was also an interesting person in his lack of interest or belief in astrology. In an age where astrology and astronomy were nearly inseparable, he said "Because of this, man, if he wishes to live as a true, supermundane person, can overcome any malevolent inclinations whatsoever from the stars."

Kepler, on the other hand, writes his horoscopes yearly and is constantly blaming the planets for his bad temper and violent mood swings.

Like when he gave Brahe two doses of mercury, most likely from Brahe's own lab. When the first didn't kill him, Brahe was given a stronger dose that killed him in about 13 hours. Kepler then made off with Brahe's forty years of observations and empirical evidence, which was supposed to go to Brahe's heirs.

It's a twisted affair, but if Kepler hadn't been such a nasty person, would he have discovered his three laws? Would he have been able to lay the groundwork that allowed Newton to develop the science of physics? History would certainly be vastly different.

Anyway, fabulous book, though if you're not interested in astronomy, it's probably not for you. Personally, I loved it!

*Sorry about the late post (and no post yesterday). Comcast ate my internet!*

Faultline Winner!

And the winner is Llehn!!

I don't have an email address for you, so please email me (schriftstellarin(at)hotmail(dot)com) with your address!!

Congrats!!

Last Day!!

Tuesday is the last day to enter my third giveaway!

Odds are in your favor...... :D

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I don't know how many stars. I can't decide.
R-4.5

Okay, so I actually read this months ago. January. But I couldn't review it.

This is a book written entirely in letters. One way communication. We have no idea to whom Charlie is writing. They just all begin with "Dear Friend" and it doesn't seem as though Charlie himself really knows this "Friend".

This book is creepy. It is haunting, stark, raw. Absolutely nothing held back. High school life at it's ugliest.

Honestly, I think The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a fairly inaccurate title. The Life of a Doormat might work better. Charlie is a bit of a chameleon-- becoming whatever those around him want him to be. It's rather disturbing.

And yet, it's true to life. Maybe too true? I don't know. It's everything you hope your children will never see/face/know/deal with. It proves to me that I was blissfully ignorant in high school. And you know what? I'm okay with that. Plenty of time later in life to see how ugly life is.

I guess I can see why a teen would read it, but I wouldn't want my own kids reading it before.... college? I guess. I'm not even sure I'm glad I read it.

You can read another review at Book Blather. And I highly recommend it. I think she did a better job of expressing herself. I'm too conflicted. (Which is why I waited so long to review it.)

Why Do You Blog?

This blogging survey is from a high school English teacher doing her own end-of-school research project! If you've got a blog and would like to participate, just copy the questions and leave her a link! I thought it was kinda fun to think about why I spend so much time doing this every week.

1. How long have you been blogging? About 8 months total

2. Why did you start blogging? Different reasons for different blogs... this one? Because 1) Bookscoops and 2) I was tired of forgetting what I wanted to tell friends about the books I read.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging? Mostly it's just fun. And I can get complaints about a book off my chest without irritating my husband too much. ;)

4. How many times a week do you post an entry? On this one, generally at least 6. Arri and Keish gets 3 or so a week. My project blog is sadly neglected.

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis? Um, lots! I follow a good 65.

6. Do you comment on other people’s blogs? I am really trying to be better about this. A lot of times I don't, though.

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? If so, are you satisfied with your numbers? Google Analytics and feedburner are my friends. Is anyone ever satisfied? You can never have numbers too high.

8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote? No, not really.

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog? I hope so.

10. Do you blog under your real name? Sort of. You can easily find my first name, but I don't broadcast it. Arri and Keish is a fictional blog, though. My project blog is linked to my Stampin' Up! site, so it has a little more personal info.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about? Yes. And I'm going to leave it at that.

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog? Well this is my book blog, obviously. My others are 1) fictional and 2) stamping/scrapbooking.

13. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why? I have three. Different interests. I started with Pickled Penguin Ink. to showcase projects in my Stampin' Up! business. It's been pretty neglected, though, and I need to clean it up and get it going. This blog I LOVE-- keeps me reading and thinking. Arri and Keish we started originally on Windows Live as a way for family, friends and anyone else to read our writing. Hopefully the easily to deal with blogger site will attract more visitors. We love our characters and their world and wanted to share it.

Saturday with Boo and Mister-- Library Books

We need a third library card in this household. Here's why--



Those are the ones we've read.

Big Kicks is cute. Biggie the bear is asked to join the soccer team, 'cause, well, he's big. But maybe being big isn't the same as being good at soccer!
Counting Crocodiles is hilarious! The silly monkey outwits all the crocodiles to get something other than lemons to eat. I know I saw this on a blog, but I didn't write down whose! If you've reviewed it, leave me the link!!
The Cow that was the Best Moo-ther is pretty funny. Marjorie's excited to enter her baby in the cute baby contest. But the farmer's wife faints when Daisy eats a worm!
Samurai is far too dense for my children. Heck, it might be too dense for me. I have no idea why we checked it out. I suspect Daddy had something to do with it. Really cool pictures, though.
Fancy Nancy is adorable (that's a fancy word for cute)! Nancy offers fancy lessons to help her family become fancy.
A Simple Brown Leaf was.... boring. Sorry, it was. Boo was bored, Mister wandered off.... Mommy was bored. Good message, but... it's going back.
I'm Dirty is very very cute. A day in the life of a Backhoe Loader.
Ballyhoo Bay is FABULOUS! And look, it's the same author as Counting Crocodiles. Cool. Great message, but not at all boring.

We also have (but have not yet read):
The Imaginary Garden by Andrew Larsen; Honk, Honk, Goose! by April Pulley Sayre; Houndsley and Catina Plink and Plunk by James Howe; Agatha's Feather Bed by Carmen Agra Deedy; Busy, Busy Town by Richard Scarry; and What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe by Anna Alter, which you can read a review of at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile! (Totally random, Daddy checked it out like the day before I read the review. I didn't even know we had it until yesterday!)

Anybody read any of those? I'd love to link in more reviews!

And, before I sign off for yet another crazy weekend, here are some I've decided we need to get next--


And of course:

Because Boo is really curious as to why Daisy is a chicken.

Boo's Favorite: Fancy Nancy
Mister's Favorite: Big Kicks I think. Sometimes it's hard to tell with him. ;)

And The Winner IS...... (And NEW Giveaway!)

Christin! Congrats! I sent you an email-- get me your address and I'll get Quiter Than Sleep in the mail for you!!

Thanks to everyone who entered!! If you didn't win, you're automatically given ONE entry in my other giveaway-- for Barry Eisler's Fault Line! If you want extra entries for following, etc. you'll need to comment on it! You have until Sunday night!

AND this is my 200th post! It's been a big week here!

SO I need to do ONE MORE GIVEAWAY to finish out this awesome week!

I LOVE Dover Thrift Editions! So much so, that I end up with duplicates! These perfect copies need to find their way into another home!! There will be TWO WINNERS! Each will get THREE classics! The titles are: The Nibelungenlied translated by Moffat, The Canterville Ghosts and Other Stories by Wilde, The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories by Tolstoy, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Kafka, The Ballad of Reading Gaol and Other Poems by Wilde, and Moll Flanders by Defoe.

No carry-overs this time-- if you want to be entered, you have to comment on THIS post!

One for commenting.

Plus one if you tell me your favorite classic.

Plus one for telling me WHERE/HOW you subscribe or follow. (I'm curious, do you use Google Reader? Are you a "follower"? Did you use my cute little panda Feed button?)

To keep it all fair, my cute little monkeys... I mean "assistants"... will choose which winner gets which books. :D

You have until Tuesday night-- I'll pick the winners Wednesday (May 20)!

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

Nefairously Written and Ignominiously Illustrated by the Author.
5 Stars
JF

HILARIOUS! Oh my word. From start to finish-- including the Glossary!

This is a fabulous parody on all the "winsome deserving orphan" stories in literature. (Think Pollyanna, Anne Shirley, etc.) It's a quick read and well worth it! Except that Tim, A, B (twins-- both named Barnaby) and Jane aren't orphans. Yet.

Here are some fabulous quotes for you:

Their father, an impatient and irascible man, went to work at a bank each day, carrying a briefcase and an umbrella even f it was not raining. Their mother, who was indolent and ill-tempered, did not go to work. Wearing a pearl nechlace, she grudgingly prepared the meals. Once she read a book but found it distasteful because it contained adjectives. Occasionally she glanced at a magazine.

The parents decide to go on vacation and leave the children with a nanny.

"Oh lovely!" said Nanny. "You are an old-fashioned family, like us. We are four worthy orphans with a no-nonsense nanny."
"Like Mary Poppins?" suggested the man, with a pleased look of recognition.
"Not one bit like that fly-by-night woman," Nanny said with a sniff. "It almost gives one diabetes just to think of her: all those disgusting spoonfuls of sugar!"

And just in case you're thinking of skipping the Glossary...

CRYPTIC means seeming to have a hidden meaning. If you mother says, "Consider yourself grounded, mister!" it is not at all cryptic. But if she says in a certain voice, "We need to talk," she is being cryptic. And you are about to be grounded.

Absolutely a book I need to own. And a great book for kids-- it will give them some excellent vocabulary words. Just make sure they're old enough to know it's a joke. ;)

I love Lois Lowry.

Reminders

Today is the LAST DAY to enter my FIRST GIVEAWAY! The drawing will be tomorrow!

You have until Saturday night to vote in the poll. So far The Wednesday Wars seems to be winning...

You have until Sunday night to enter my FAULT LINE GIVEAWAY! I'll do the drawing on Monday!

Messenger by Lois Lowry

5 Stars
YF
Final story in the Giver trilogy

This is a beautiful story. It follows Kira's friend Matt (now Matty) several years after Gathering Blue.

Now he lives in Village and takes messages for Leader. He hopes to receive his "true name" (a title, really) soon.

But things are changing in Village and in Forest. When the people vote to close Village, Matty must journey to get Kira, before it's too late.

Messenger really ties together The Giver and Gathering Blue. Lois Lowry ties the two together beautifully, without it feeling contrived-- which sometimes happens when an author tries to do something like this.

I loved it. I did. There were little inconsistencies in details and voice (between Messenger and Gathering Blue) that annoyed me at first, but the story is so wonderful and touching that it just doesn't matter.

I actually wish it had been a little longer, but there's a certain wisdom in leaving the reader wanting more. :D

Fault Line by Barry Eisler and GIVEAWAY

This is my first Virtual Book Tour review!

About the Book:

Silicon Valley: the eccentric inventor of a new encryption application is murdered in an apparent drug deal. Istanbul: a cynical undercover operative receives a frantic call from his estranged brother, a patent lawyer who believes he’ll be the next victim. And on the sun-drenched slopes of Sand Hill Road, California’s nerve center of money and technology, old family hurts sting anew as two brothers who share nothing but blood and bitterness wage a desperate battle against a faceless enemy.

Alex Treven has sacrificed everything to achieve his sole ambition: making partner in his high-tech law firm. But then the inventor of a technology Alex is banking on is murdered, the patent examiner who reviewed the innovation dies--and Alex himself narrowly escapes an attack in his own home. Off balance, out of ideas, and running out of time, he knows that the one person who can help him is the last person he’d ever ask: his brother.

Ben Treven is a military liaison element, an elite undercover soldier paid to “find, fix, and finish” high-value targets in the United States global war on terror. Disenchanted with what he sees as America’s culture of denial and decadence, Ben lives his detached life in the shadows because the black ops world is all he really knows--and because other than Alex, whom he hasn’t spoken to since their mother died, his family is long gone.

But blood is thicker than water, and when Ben receives Alex’s frantic call he hurries to San Francisco to help him. Only then does Alex reveal that there’s another player who knows of the technology: Sarah Hosseini, a young Iranian American lawyer whom Alex has long secretly desired--and whom Ben immediately distrusts. As these three struggle to identify the forces attempting to silence them, Ben and Alex are forced to examine the events that drove them apart--even as Sarah’s presence, and her own secret yearnings, deepens the fault line between them.

A full-throttle thriller that is both emotionally and politically charged, Fault Line centers on a conspiracy that has spun out of the shadows and onto the streets of America, a conspiracy that can be stopped by only three people--three people with different worldviews, different grievances, different motives. To survive the forces arrayed against them, they’ll first have to survive one another.

My Review :)
3.5 Stars
R-4
Language

Okay, I'm not sure I liked any of the characters. I guess I liked Ben the most, but they're not necessarily likeable people. That said, they're pretty well-written, and it's a good story.

They call it a thriller for a reason, I tell you. NONE of the chapters end in a spot where you can put the book down and walk away! I was up WAY too late finishing the book. I mean, WAY WAY too late. Because the story was gripping.

There were editing issues in a couple of places which drives me nuts, but it wasn't bad. And the story is good enough that you just don't care.

What kept me from giving it 4-5 stars? There was quite a bit sex and language. (People actually talk like that? Really? Actually the sad thing is I'm sure they do.)

About the Author:

After graduating from Cornell Law School, Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA's Directorate of Operations, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center. Eisler's thrillers have won the Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year, have been included in numerous "Best Of" lists, and have been translated into nearly twenty languages. The first book in Eisler's assassin John Rain series, Rain Fall, has been made into a movie starring Gary Oldman that was released by Sony Pictures in April 2009.

For more information about the author or his work, please visit http://www.barryeisler.com/

***GIVEAWAY***
I have a copy to give away!

(And TODAY is the blog's 6 month anniversary!)

So-- 1 for a comment
2 for following/subscribing
2 for posting about this on your own blog
AND if you enter my other giveaway but don't win that, you'll get an entry in this one.

Drawing will be Monday- May 18th.

May Possibilities

The poll is up-- now you just have to vote!

You have until 11:59 PM Saturday. :D

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

5 Stars
R-0
YF

This is a companion novel to The Giver-- not a sequel. It does not pick up Jonas' story, he's not in it. Just so we're clear.

Gathering Blue gives us another view of what the (post-apocalyptic) future could be. (Hopefully not though, yikes.) It's a society existing separately from and yet at the same time as Jonas' society. (There's even a blue-eyed boy mentioned at the end. Is it Jonas? Could be.)

Kira's alone in the world. Her father died before she was born, her mother has just lost a battle with illness, and the neighbor women want her land to build (I kid you not) a pen for the "tykes and the fowls" so they won't have to chase them. (Now, I'll be the first to admit that there are perks to something like that. I block Mister into the living room with boxes. But a pen surrounded by thorn bushes? Seriously? So they can play in the ashes and debris that used to be Kira's cott? With the chickens? Yikes.)

Kira herself is saved by a Guardian who defends her and brings her to the Edifice to live and work with the threads, as her talent has out-classed even her mother's.

But things may not be what they seem. And just because the door is not locked does not mean she's free.

Happy Children's Book Week!

Is this not the cutest poster ever??

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!!

Here it is. I told you it was coming.

This week makes 6 months since I started this little blog!

So I'm celebrating.

With a giveaway of course!!

Well, more than one, really, but you'll have to be patient... :D



"A modern mystery of Emily Dickinson."

This was a fun mystery I read a while back. Karen Pelletier is obsessed with Emily Dickinson, as is her colleague Randy Astin-Berger. Or was. But once Randy is found strangled with his own necktie (and who of us hasn't wanted to do THAT to a colleague) Karen has to figure it out before the police decide it was likely her. And to do THAT she has to find the truth behind Randy's latest research...

So, here's how it works-- you get 1 entry for commenting.
You get 2 more for subscribing/following (new or current).
You get 2 more for mentioning this on your own blog.
You get 2 MORE for checking out Arri and Keish's NEW site and leaving a comment either there or here about it.
AND you get THREE MORE for leaving me another choice for May Possibilities-- but you have to do it today.

So, that's a possible... what? TEN entries!? AND if you don't win, you'll automatically get one entry in the giveaway coming later this week.

I'll be picking a winner FRIDAY, so you have some time... but the May Possibility MUST BE POSTED TODAY.

Have fun!

The Trouble With Demons by Lisa Shearin

5 Stars
R- 3-3.5

My kids think I'm nuts-- why else would Mommy have spent all day laughing at a book? It doesn't even have pictures!

Ah, but I did laugh. Out loud. A LOT. Practically every page.

The latest Raine Benares story definitely does not disappoint. Lisa Shearin knows what she's doing.

As always, the voice is great. Here are some examples--

Time to put a stop to this. I slapped Phaelan on the shoulder. "We'll just refill one of our water skins with melted butter and we'll be good to go. You like seafood."

"Yeah, but I don't like seafood that likes me."

He did have a point, but I chose to ignore it. I jerked the strap tighter that secured my two new short swords across my back. Uncle Ryn had replaced the ones I'd stuck up the demon's nose. I pushed the crab out of my mind, prodigious pinchers and all. Of today's problems, carnivorous crustaceans were way down on my list of worries.

(Giggles just keep bubbling up before I can stop them.)

The huge Guardian wasn't going to let a little thing like treason to an acting archmagus keep him from doing his guard duty.

With the Isle running over with Demons, the soul-sucking stone no longer contained, and all sorts of crazy magical entanglements blooming, Raine has to keep her head to tackle the problems confronting her. Like the queen of the demons. Literally.

Saturday With Mister-- Security Book

I don't know what it is, but books are almost a security blanket with this kid.


Climbing on the couch? Better take a book.
Sitting watching cartoons? Gotta have a book in hand.

Climbing on your sister? Definitely need a book. (If nothing else, maybe she'll accept it as a peace offering, right?)


Now don't get me wrong, I usually have a book in hand, too, but still. I think it's funny.

You should have seen what happened when I took the Handy Manny book away at bedtime. Actually, you probably heard it. That screaming wail right around 7 pm mountain time? Yep, that came from our house.

Still he's cute. Most of the time.

Another AWESOME Contest

Holy Criminy! Awesome might not be a strong enough word! You could win a copy of the book, plus either a $100 gift certificate or a $200 work of art! Holy COW!

What book, you ask?


Yeah, Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

Go check out the freaking amazing contest!

I have had this book on hold FOREVER and EVER and I cannot WAIT to read it!!


You can also check out the book trailer....

Just Some Notes

Awesome giveaway at Fantastic Book Review!!

Don't forget to leave me a May Possibility. :D

Check out the new Arri and Keish blog.

Have a WONDERFUL Mother's Day weekend!!

April Possibilities-- The 13th Reality

The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner
5 Stars
R-0
JF

Think Harry Potter only Quantum Physics instead of magic.

I LOVED this book. Lots of fun. I'm sooooo looking forward to reading the next one. THANKS to Cari from Bookscoops for suggesting it!

Tick (yes, he knows it's an insect, but it's better than Atticus) is just your normal 13-year-old nerd... until he gets a mysterious letter postmarked Macadamia, Alaska.

A series of clues, misadventures, mysterious meetings and new friends follows. Tick has a few short months to figure out the clues and save the world. Or help save the world. Or start saving the world-- it is a series, after all.

Wonderful read. Over 300 pages and yet I read it in a day. Go, read it. Really.

So, it's a new month, which means we need a new batch of possibilities. Leave me a comment with an idea of what I should read!! (Come on, I know you have an idea....)

I'll put up a poll with the choices on the 12th, so you've got a couple of days to leave me a title!

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher

"Bad boys and secrets are both hard to keep..."

4 stars
R- 2.5

Fifteen-year-old Ruby has to work. Her mother's illness makes anything else impossible. But the packinghouse work is miserable.

So when she learns about a chance to get paid for dancing? Well, who wouldn't jump on that, right? But it may not be quite what she thinks.

I had never heard of taxi-dancers. But that's what this is all about. A room full of pretty women in fancy gowns and any guy can dance with any of them for ten cents. (Hence the title. I had wondered.)

Soon Ruby is caught in a vast web of her own lies, late hours, nasty women, and men who may be after more than a dance.

I enjoyed this book. Ruby is an idiot, no doubt about it, but I liked the story and I thought it was well done.

The hypocrisy and racism were interesting. It's okay to snub the Pinoys/Flips (Filipinos) and the Chinamen (especially after Pearl Harbor... 'cause we all know the Chinese were all over that) but it's also okay to go out with them if they have a lot of money. And to go to the "black and tans". And being snubbed yourself for being a Pole? Apparently that's just expected. But, hey, at least you're white. (Racism ticks me off.)

The money was fascinating. The idea of $18 a week being enough to turn everything around, pay off all your debts, have a better life. I'm not positive I could feed my family on $18 a day. And that's just for food.

It's also interesting to see how much Ruby gets caught up in it all. She's making more than she tells her mother, plus getting expensive gifts and such, but she never seems to get ahead. She needs a new gown, or a new outfit... etc etc. The same things you see a lot of today. The same things people've always done. There's always more to buy.

I want to say the ending seemed contrived, but I'm not sure it does. It feels like it could be, but it also fits her character. Like she finally wakes up or something.

The author's notes at the end were also interesting. Apparently Chirstine Fletcher had a relative no one talked about because she had gone off and been a taxi-dancer, among other things. Definitely worth a glance at that part of the book too.

All-in-all it's an interesting look at the early 40's and the beginnings of America's involvement in WWII.

Something Old, Something New

I know, I know... I've devoted probably more than one post already to shameless self-promotion.

But-- Arri and Keish have a new blog with a new look!

We're starting over, so only the first letter and a couple of pictures are up so far, but pop over and check it out!

If you haven't read any of it yet, it really is a fun story (if I do say so myself) and it gets better and better as it goes along.

Wednesday Morsel

Name that book!

Pluto

Pluto was a planet.
But now it doesn't pass.
Pluto was a planet.
They say it's lacking mass.
Pluto was a planet.
Pluto was admired.
Pluto was a planet.
Till one day it got fired.

:D:D

Lots of LOOT!

Yippee! Books!!

My Amazon box FINALLY came! Which means I got:


I've been soooo looking forward to these! The third Julia Grey novel and the third Raine Benares book!!! Do you think my kids would notice if I just curled up and read for a couple days straight?

And the adorable Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight. Soooooo cute! If you haven't read it with your kids, find yourself a copy and do so. If you don't have kids to read it with... find yourself a copy and read it yourself! :D

AND at the library, in the "for sale" section, I found Dragon Slippers; My Picture Book of the Planets; and Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars! (Boo was very excited.)

You know I loved Dragon Slippers, and Boo is really into astronomy, so I couldn't resist the picture book. Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars was a Beehive Nominee. It's a cute book of space poetry.

AND as if all that wasn't enough-- Grandma and Grandpa went on a trip and brought back books for the monkeys!
For Boo... and For Mister.

Manny's Toolbox is really cool-- it has foam core pages and all of the tools pop out! And they're little tool-shaped books themselves! Very fun. It's a puzzle plus multiple books in one. Totally his new favorite thing.

Tinkering Tink is a really cute story, but then, I'm a sucker for the Disney Fairy stories.

I love books. I'm totally out of shelf space, I think, but oh well. :D

The Big Dirt Nap by Rosemary Harris

Shop Indie Bookstores
4 stars
R- 2?

This is the 2nd Dirty Business Mystery. (The first was Pushing Up Daisies.)

Again, a fun, fluffy mystery. This one is missing the romantic aspects that the first one had, but it was a good story.

It's about a year after the first book and Paula is off to Titans, an old hotel, to see its corpse flower... and ends up confronted with an actual corpse. Who had her business card in her pocket. Figures.

Now her friend Lucy is missing, people are following her, and the blasted flower still hasn't bloomed. (Though that may be a mixed blessing since once it blooms, it'll smell like a corpse--hence the name.)

I like Paula, she's a fun character. I wish there had been a bit more of the other characters, (Felix isn't even mentioned...) but in some ways it was nice to not have any such complications. I kind of think the third will take place closer to home, so we may see a return to those relationships... or lack of relationships. ;)

And for your reading pleasure, here's a fun quote--
"Classical music would have put me to sleep so I settled on a college radio station in the middle of its weekly Irish hour. That, the Red Bull, and four open windows were the only things keeping me from pulling over into a deserted weigh station, curling up into a fetal position , and having a snooze. I'm a good sleeper. That's been the consensus with everyone from my mother to my last sweetheart. I know it's supposed to be a compliment, but it's hard to take it as praise when someone tells you they love it when you're unconscious."

This could so be me! Well, minus the Red Bull. :D

Reader's Choice Summary

Alright, voting has ended. Winners have not yet been announced, but in the meantime, here's how I did.

I read 21 of 24 books in the allotted time. (Okay, so technically I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society before it started, but still.)

I have read one more since. (Breakfast With Buddha.)

The two I haven't finished yet? The Outlander by Gil Adamson, (which is right here, I just ran out of time. I'll still read it) and Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mt. Everest by Lincoln Hall (which, I'm sorry, I am just not interested).

I keep track on my Reader's Choice pamphlet of what I've finished... and I mark them with smiley or frowny faces. This time around, I liked a lot of the books-- 19 smiley faces. I also had 2 "ok"s and one frowny face. I think that's the highest percentage of smiley faces I've had on a Reader's Choice.

I may buy-- The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, mostly because it's the beginning of a series, and I imagine I'll be rereading it. And I may buy The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, 'cause it was that good.

I'm not sure I could pick a favorite... I guess Guernsey. (Sorry, it's a long title.)

So, did you read along? How many of the Reader's Choice books have you read? What was your favorite?

Wanna place bets on who will win? :D

Spellcheck does not believe "frowny" is a word. Weird. I know it's a word. The Primary song uses it. ;)

Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo

3 Stars
R- 2

"Enlightenment meets On the Road in this witty, insightful novel." --The Boston Sunday Globe

Um, sure. I guess.

Insightful, sure. Probably would have been more so if I'd stayed awake, but to be honest, I kept falling asleep on this one. And it took a lot longer to read than 320 pages normally takes me.

Confession- I skimmed pretty much the whole 320 pages. Well, skimmed in so far as my CDO brain lets me. (That's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, only alphabetically as it should be.)

When Otto Ringling arranges to drive to North Dakota to settle his parents' estate, he's expecting to spend the time with his flighty, flaky sister. But no. She's sending her guru with him instead. Thus Otto spends a crazy week learning from this "almost Buddhist" and showing him all things America along the way.

The author's note says that this is somewhat based on an actual roadtrip he took... I think I may have liked it better if it had been a memoir instead of a novel.

It's supposed to make you think, I guess. And while I agreed with many of the philosophies presented, I don't know, I guess it's just that I don't read novels for self-analysis. If I want that, I'll read self-help or religious texts, philosophy, history... or better yet, the scriptures. Not really what I'm looking for in a novel, though.

And then I feel shallow and guilty for not embracing the introspection, taking up yoga, and devoting part of each day to meditation. Which is silly, but then I start to feel rather cranky, like the guilt trip is calculated. I am not a fan of heading off on guilt trips.

And then I feel cranky about society's insistence that we should all be tolerant of everything, go green, support local small businesses, and we'll feel so much better about ourselves and save the world in the bargain. And yet this beautiful view of tolerance doesn't seem to allow for me to just keep plugging along, doing the best I can. Which makes me feel guilty, which makes me cranky...

You can see where this is going, right? It's a downward spiral, I tell you.

Maybe there's just something wrong with the wiring in my brain, but why does it seem like all these things that are supposed to make you feel better about yourself are really calculated to make you feel worse?

I have the same trouble with the make-up industry... don't get me started. ("You can't be flawless, but you can come close if you buy our complete line of skin care products." At least that Phineas and Ferb episode points out that they're making people feel worse in order to make money.)

Sigh.

Sorry about the rant. The book was okay. More or less. Some of the philosophy was great. I guess I just wasn't in the mood.

I think I need more sleep. ;)

Saturday with Boo and Mister-- Preschool Revisited

"Mom, what's an adjective?"**
(Don't most kids start with nouns and verbs? My kids are weird.)

"It's a word that describes something."

"What does describe mean?"

"It tells about it. Like saying 'pretty girl'. Pretty is an adjective."

"So if I say [Mister] is pretty silly, pretty is an adjective?"

"No, silly is an adjective, but pretty would be an adverb."

"Mom, what's an adverb?"

"It's a word that describes a verb or an adjective. Or another adverb."

"Mom, what's a verb?"

"It's an action word."

"What's an action word?"

It's like "who's on first?" I swear.

Can you tell we like to watch Schoolhouse Rock? Mister loves it too. Maybe that's what we'll do for preschool...

** Conversation is recorded as best as I can remember it!

Happy May Day

Happy May Day!

As I'm far too lazy to find your house and doorbell ditch you with a basket of flowers, enjoy these flowers today! (Just start clicking, you'll see 'em.)

For those of you with girls under the age of.... I don't 9? 10? or those of you who like to read for your inner little girl-- check out these Fairy Books-

Ruby the Red Fairy
Amber the Orange Fairy
Sunny the Yellow Fairy
Fern the Green Fairy
Sky the Blue Fairy
Inky the Indigo Fairy
Heather the Violet Fairy

Shop Indie Bookstores

There are a ton more titles too--

Kylie the Carnival Fairy

Shop Indie Bookstores

Fairies for the days of the week... etc etc. Boo LOVES them!!

Find out more at Scholastic.