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: Purchased Books - I couldn't do it!

 OK, so I couldn't do it! I found some books at the thrift that I couldn't pass by because they sparked my interest. I've been trying to learn yoga at home. I have video's watched YouTube, purchased how to video's but I still feel lost. So I turned to reading, with a book I can reference it to things I quite don't understand. I like the stick drawings and its set up with tabs for a weekly schedule that you follow.
(Goodreads excerpt) Too busy to attend yoga class but can't be bothered to read the endless instructions in the latest yoga book? In OM Yoga: A Daily Practice, celebrated yoga instructor Cyndi Lee brings the rigors and reqards of yoga class to the home with a totally unique method of teaching. Instead of wordy directiosn and minimal pictures, each series of asanas is communicated entirely through easy-to-follow illustrations and tips. Designed in a practical, concealed Wire-O format that lays flat on the floor while being used, OM Yoga is organized in tabbed sections for each day of the week. Monday is devoted to the Sun Salutation to welcome the week's start. Thursday's practice focusses on sitting poses, when the week's energy is dwindling. When joined together, each day's recipe cultivates a yoga practice that is challenging, energizing, and restorative. Including sections on meditation, breathing, and do-it-yourself yoga "recipes" for all levels, OM Yoga: A Guide to Daily Practice creates the possibility for a meaningful yoga practice in the privacy of the home.

The second book is about publishing your own artwork and design. If you have not attended higher learning for art and producing your work it is an insight of how trained artist do it themselves.

(Goodreads excerpt) Not satisfied with the new T-shirts on sale at the local mall? Maybe you'd like a wedding invitation that expresses your own vision, not your party planner's? How about some personalized stationery? An upgrade to your website? A business card? A poster for your political campaign? A CD package for your band? Sound good? Then get up off your couch and Design It Yourself! Avoid graphic identity theft: build your own. Ellen Lupton, bestselling author of Thinking with Type, will show you how. DIY: Design It Yourself, provides you with all the tools you'll need to create your own projects, from conception through production. Here you will find:

- simple ideas on how you can "think like a designer"

- clear and coherent explanations of design technologies, from silk-screening to web development

- what materials you'll need to get your job done

- where to find and buy them

- how much time and experience your project demands

- diagrams that show how to handle complex tasks

- basic typographic dos and don'ts

- the history and theory of the DIY design movement

- hundreds of innovative and beautiful projects for inspiration

No more excuses. With this book, virtually any design task is within your grasp. Just do it (yourself)!

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: To-Read & What's Next

I just finished Last Night I Dreamed of Peace. This was on my to-read list. I first heard about this story on NPR's book radio. It was quite interesting to hear the account of Vietnam War from a Vietnamese who did not like the Americans. I found it quite interesting that the young lady was a trained surgeon during this time of war.
At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and friends, the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. (Goodreads Review)

I don't know what to read next. I have a book called Keeping a Journal You Love by Sheila Bender. I've kept a journal since my high school days. I'm hoping she'll give me some pointers on what to do when you don't feel like writing.

My other choice is Clariel by Garth Nix. It is his 4th book for the Abhorsen Series. I love this series: Sabriel, Lirael, and The Abhorsen. I did not know that he had written a 4th book. The stories take me far away from Georgia and deliver into a world of good and evil, life and death. And the best thing about this series is that he writes and conveys all without profanity. Sabriel is one of my go-to-books. It never fails me, even though I know the story I still get excited.

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.

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

My current read is The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. It's okay but not a page turner. I picked this book because I liked the cover. I remember getting letters in the mail. I still have a collection in my scrapbook. One dates back to 1974 from my best friend Terri. I also have letters from my mother who past away when I was 21. It's funny how as you get older you see things in the letters you didn't see before. Current technology has stopped this form of communication. I can't remember the last time I received a letter.
To learn about this book watch this short video:


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 The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian. He is an excellent fiction storyteller. Hopefully I will enjoy this story too.

     

I just finished reading Shift by Charolette Agell about a fifteen year-old Adrian Havoc's world. . The end of the world as we know it, or is there some plot by the Homestate a.k.a. government to manipulate us. Homestate rules every aspect of society: identity cards need to be carried at all times, evolution is a forbidden topic of discussion, and religious education is enforced in daily "rapture" doses. A rumor is being spread about a Shift in the universe. Can it really be the end of the world.

I enjoyed the story for this young adult book. What I did not enjoy was the use of profanity. I did not expect such language to be appropiate in a book directed at the young. My children said that I would be shocked if I worked at a high school.
The plot was good. This was a easy read if you are looking for light. A book that draws you in as you read and makes you want to know what happens next.