Literary Friday: To-Read List Book

This has been sitting on my to-read shelf for a while. I finally picked it up and started to read it. It's quite good and funny so far. Let's hope the story telling will be just as good at the end.

(Excerpt from Goodreads) Magazine writer and editor Lori Tharps was born and raised in the comfortable but mostly White suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was often the only person of color in her school and neighborhood. At an early age, Lori decided that her destiny would be discovered in Spain. She didn't know anyone from Spain, had never visited the country, and hardly spoke the language. Still, she never faltered in her plans to escape to the Iberian Peninsula.

At its heart, this is a love story. It is a memoir, a travel essay, and a glimpse into the past and present of Spain. As humorous and entertaining as such favorite travel stories as "Under the Tuscan Sun," this book also unveils a unique and untold history of Spain's enduring connection to West Africa. "Kinky Gazpacho" celebrates the mysticism of travel and the joys of watching two distinct cultures connect and come together.

Literary Friday: Battlefield of the Mind

I am currently reading about the mind again. This time I chose Battlefield of the Mind. It's amazing to me how we can make ourselves believe a lie and it starts with our own minds. You have to be careful about what you let the mind think about.

You can make yourself happy or sad just with your own thoughts. Here are a few more books I have read about the mind.

One of my favorites is As A Man Thinketh by James Allen published in 1902. I have a vintage leather bound copy. The mind guides our footsteps as we progress along the pathway of life.

Literary Friday: The Magicians

Literary Friday: The book that I have been reading this week is "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman. I chose this book because NPR touted it as Harry Potter for grown-ups. It could have been a wonderful fantasy, however the only thing that makes it grown-up are the intimate scenes and obscene language, which I don't think any deceit adult would use. I wish they would put a rating on books so I would know that it is something I don't want to read.
The author seem to take things from Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia and married them into his story. This is actually a series but I think I'm going to stop at book one.

Literary Friday: Doubled Booked

It's Literary Friday and I am doubled-booked for this week of reading I chose Mr. and Mrs. Prince the true story of a remarkable pre-Civil War African-American family, as well as the challenges that faced African-Americans who lived in the North versus the slaves who lived in the South. Mr. and Mrs. Prince moved out of slavery to owning their own land. Lucy Prince was the first African-American Poet. Abijah Prince served in the French and Indian War. They own land when people of their race in the south and north were still slaves.

Reading about slavery is always hard, so I chose a mystery to go along with it, called Niceville by Carsten  Stroud. Something is wrong in Niceville, evil lurks. It begins with the disappearance of a young boy.  who literary vanishes in front of surveillance camera while looking through a mirror.

Literary Friday: Currently Reading

 Literary Friday -The book I chose to read this week is called Amped by Daniel H. Wilson. I read his Sci-fi book Robopocalypse which I chose because of the title.
In Amped people are implanted with devices to help cure medical deficiencies, but as a result they become the strongest and smartest people. Pure humans become afraid of them and began to make laws against anyone who has a device.The plot is good but the profanity drops it down two stars for me.

Literary Friday

I am currently reading How I Came to Sparkle Again by Kaya McLaren. The title may fool you, Sparkle is a ski town in Colorado. I am on page 94, so far its okay but the writer likes to use profanity. I just never understand why an educated person cannot use more of their word knowledge to convey a point other than profanity. I would like this book a lot more if she could of use wit instead of cursing.
I am currently on a no book buying challenge for 2016. Currently I have not purchased any books, but I am keeping a list of books I would like to purchase:
1. Square Foot Gardening Cookbook by Mel Batholomew
2. Learning to Live in the Now
3. The Power of Discipline by Brian Tracey

Daily face: April 8 and Serafina

 Today was hectic and slow at the same time. I worked a illustration for 2 hours last night hoping to post it today but it it looked horrible, so I have to keep working on it.
I finally finished a book called Serafinas' Promise by Anne E. Burg. I gave this book 5 stars because there are words that struck my heart and touched my life where I am at currently. That's what I love about reading, when a writer can touch your emotions with words. I am Serafina,  that's what reading this book made me feel. Here are the words from Julie Marie to Serafina about being jealous "Manman says everyone has their own path. And everyone's path has both flowers and thorns."

 I am officially at 20 books read for the year. You can follow my Goodreads challenge. I plan on reading 80 books this year.

Oh! So Many Books

Whenever I go into a store, library, or any place where the are a collection of books I want to read them all, look in them all. Reading has taken me to so many different places, era's, and worlds how can you not love reading.

Anthropology display

I buy books from everywhere and gladly have no problem looking in the free bins. My latest read came from the Dollar Store. I have collected several great reads for only a $1. The title was "A Cup of Friendship" by Deborah Rodriguez,   the story of a remarkable coffee shop in the heart of Afghanistan, and the men and women who meet there — thrown together by circumstance, bonded by secrets, and united in an extraordinary friendship.  I am so glad to be a woman in America, that's what this book made me feel the most. It's about friendship but it also deals with the harshness that the women of that country must live through.

Literary Friday: All Our Names

I am starting to read All our Names by Dinaw Mengestu. I've never heard of him before selecting his  book. It sounds like it could be interesting.

Literary Friday

So I've been MIA for a while, but still reading.  I am currently reading The Scavenger's Manifesto. It's about being more eco-minded, how to create a lifestyle out of recycling, reusing, and repurposing rather than buying new. I must admit that I have not been faithful to it. I started reading on April 30, but picked up four other books and completed them Broken Harbor (2 stars); 2030 -The Real Story of What Happens to America (2 stars); Into Thin Air - A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster (4 stars); The Hunter - A Chinese Folktale (4 stars).
Hopefully this week I'll finish The Scavengers Manifesto.
I also wanted to share this great book find at Thrift store. Leather bound books for $4 a piece published 1979. I really don't care about date but I love leather bound books. These look like new, they were never opened.

Literary Friday

 

The Wide Smiles of Girls by Jennifer Manske Fenske. Sisters Mae Wallace and March are two years apart, and worlds away from being anything alike. Mae Wallace is the dependable, older sister.March is the happily overweight and charismatic sister who has the world on a string. A tragic accident pulls them even further apart. Mae Wallace is determine to mend the relationship, but will March let her? To join Literary Friday click here:  

http://ricki-treleaven.blogspot.com/

Literary Friday - Double Book

I'm doubled booked once again. Sometimes you just can't make up your mind. I initially picked up Wicked Ways by Donna Hill about murder and revenge. To my great joy while searching the library catalog I found out that Alan Bradley wrote another Flavia de Luce mystery, Speaking From Among the Bones. I have read all of his other books in this series and I have never been disappointed. Flavia is a 12 year old mystery sleuth that also dabbles in chemistry. Flavia stumbles across another dead body, thus begins the mystery. Whenever I read one of his books it as though I am there. I love his detail in describing everything. Check out the cute little video below of one of his previous books. The illustration is mine of Flavia.



Flavia de Luce

Literary Friday

I am currently reading The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.“What are you reading?”
That’s the question Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting room of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Will and Mary Anne share their hopes and concerns with each other—and rediscover their lives—through their favorite books. When they read, they aren’t a sick person and a well person, but a mother and a son taking a journey together. The result is a profoundly moving tale of loss that is also a joyful, and often humorous, celebration of life: Will’s love letter to his mother, and theirs to the printed page. ( Excerpt from Goodreads review)
I love reading books with books included. Joy fills my heart when I have a shared read with others. Here is my list of shared books with the author and his mother:
Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott
Jane Austens Books
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Mureil Barbery
The Holy Bible
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Alice Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Charlie & Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Howard's End by E.M. Foster
Anne Frank: The Dairy of a Young Girl
Loed of the Flies by William Golding
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Toni Morrisons Books
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
William Shakespeare
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Literary Friday

I  am currently reading Fearless by Tim Lott. It is aimed at the young adult. It's a futuristic book were the young who are labelled troublemakers are taken from their parents and made to work under the pretense that it is a Christian School for girls. One girl named "Fearless" refuses to play by the rules.
I finished The Sandcastle Girls it was a huge disappointment. I kept waiting for something to happen but it never did. I did however learned about the Armenian genocide of 1915 other than that it was a huge bore. Since I was not enjoying it I doubled-book myself and picked up an easy read called "Give up the Ghost". It was a teen novel about a young girl who can talk to ghost. They know all of the inside gossip on her classmates, which she uses to get revenge. There is also another plot in story but I won't tell. You will have to read it for yourself.

Literary Friday

I am currently reading another book by Alexander Smith McCall. It's the 5th book in his series of the 44 Scotland Street Novels. It's a tale of some of Scotland's most quirky and beloved characters, all set in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. I don't know what drew me to these books but I love to read them.

So far I am on track to reading 70 books for 2013. I just finished another Philippa Gregory book "The White Queen" part of her the Cousins Wars Series. I love reading series books. I guess because when its a good book you just don't want it to end. My daughter thinks I'm crazy because I read all 20 of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin Series. If you are not familiar with him he wrote Master and Commander. After I saw the movie with Russell Crowe I found out it was a book first and thus started my love.

Finally a book worth reading

Mice by Gordon Reece. I came across this book thinking it was really about mice. I didn't read the jacket cover. I just dived in. I haven't had a good read in such a long time. The  beginning is very good a little dark, but interesting.
Shelley and her mom have been menaced long enough. Excused from high school where a trio of bullies nearly killed her, and still reeling from her parents' humiliating divorce, Shelley has retreated with her mother to the quiet of Honeysuckle Cottage in the countryside. Thinking their troubles are over, they revel in their cozy, secure life of gardening and books, hot chocolate and Brahms by the fire. But on the eve of Shelley's sixteenth birthday, an unwelcome guest disturbs their peace and something inside Shelley snaps. What happens next will shatter all their certainties-about their safety, their moral convictions, the limits of what they are willing to accept, and what they're capable of.

A Very Dry Read

Have you ever been drawn to read a book based on the cover? I must admit that this was such a book. It has been waiting for me to pick it up and indulge myself. So I did.

On May 3rd I finished 650 pages of dullness. You would think by page 200 something would tell you to stop but I kept waiting for something exciting to happen and it never did. FYI - I'm one of those people who hates to start a book and not finish it, so I did.

This story takes place during the 18th century England. The main character is Miss Eliza Farren, an actress born of no rank or connections, who try's to enter into the elite world of society by catching the ugliest and richest man in the House of Lords. FYI - I love stories that take place in historic England.

Actually the most interesting part was at the end which was the Author's Note. This story was based on facts but is a work of fiction. I always like to know where the author conceived the idea for their story.

Do 650 pages count as 1 book or 2? My sister thinks that I should count it as 2 books read. I on the other hand, no matter how many pages count it as 1, even when I read Lord of the Rings which was 1006 pages I only counted it as 1 book.

For the first time ever I am not on target for reading my 60+ books, I should be at 20 by now. Hopefully once school is out I can have more time and catch back up. I am almost finished with Mr. Toppit. of course it takes place in England,

Currently Reading & Devastation

I am currently reading 2 books Dear James and Prayers for Sale. Prayers for Sale has been more interesting so I've been reading it more. The story takes place in the high country of Colorado during the Great Depression. A young woman named Nit Spindle has suffered a great lost and comes to the house with a sign posting "Prayers for Sale." Hennie Comfort an eighty-six year old widow owns the house with the sign. She prays the prayer that Nit has requested and becomes interested in this young woman. They form a bond despite their age difference. Hennie shares stories about her life, hardships and secrets, I haven't finished it yet but I hope to finished it this week.

My beloved Books-a-Million is closing where I live. They lost the lease on the building. They do not have a new location or any idea if they are going to relocate. My husband and I were devastated. There is a Barnes & Noble here but its not an a convenient place. We have always been loyal to BAM. All of the store clerks know us, the barista's start our coffee when they see us get out of the car. I am really going to miss this store. Books and coffee, two loves of my life.