World Book Night 2012 Recap.

My original idea was to try and pass out my copies of The Book Thief at the Skokie Holocaust Museum. Which is a fantastic place with the mission of informing and remembering what happened during WWII to the Jewish people. However due to logistics issues it ended up not happening.

Then I ended up with a crazy hectic day, and between school work, classes and more end o the term schoolwork didn't have much free time to go someplace and hand out books.

So, being a bookcrosser and being used to wild releasing books I threw my copies into my bag and took them with me. In the early morning while working at a computer lab before class, I left five copies of the book on free paper racks in the hallway. Since my computer was right across from where the books were, I got to see people picking up the books to see what they were, I witnessed several get picked up (and the exited response by one of the finders). I left five more copies at the Skokie campus of Oakton Community College later that afternoon, and was able to hand a copy off to an interested person walking out from the cafeteria. I left three more copies on a ledge in the front window of the place I stopped for lunch as you entered(all of which were gone by the time I finished eating). And finally left my last four books in various parts of the hospital nearby (one in the professional building, One on a bench in the hall to the cafeteria, and two in the ER waiting room). I have also passed along my last three copies by hand through people I know.

It was a fun day. I was surprised at how quickly the books were picked up - It was either the eye catching green "pick me up!" notes I put on the covers or the striking cover image for the books themselves. Hopefully World Book Night will continue to occur here in the USA. I would love to hand books out again, and do it in person next time.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

The rules come from MizB of Should Be Reading.

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from: Powering the Dream: The History and promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal

"Coal is a flammable rock. You can put it in a pail and carry it to your house. Or, you can pack it into one hundred cargo containers and load it onto a rain. It's plentiful and spread pretty evenly around the world.Take a pound of it. Burn it completely and you would generate ten thousand British Thermal Units (BTUs) of heat. Dirty and heavy, coal has exactly one thing going for it: price." (pg 201)

World Book Night 2012

The date draws near! Yesterday I picked up my box of books to pass out for World Book Night on 23 April 2012.

I am passing out copies of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak which I read in 2009. You can see my response to the book here I was thrilled to see it on the list of 30 books chosen for this first year of giving away books on World Book Night here in the United States.

My original idea for passing out books fell through due to complications in logistics.

So, I'm thinking of where to leave 20 books for light readers to find, and figuring how to register the copies on bookcrossing without obscuring the World Book Night information found on the covers.

Celebrating the release of King Trevor by Susan Helen Gottfried

One of my good online friends is a writer. We met through bookcrossing, and the now defunct book relay site. We've traded opinions on books over the years, chatted on forums,and reviewed books for Front Street Reviews.

A few years back Susan started to post outtakes on her blog from the world she had created for her then looking to be published novel. When we her readers clamored for more she jumped on the self-publishing bandwagon and put out three volumes collecting the outtakes by year called The Demo Tapes. Shortly before the third demo tapes book came out she published her novel Trevor's Song. I read this last year and have yet to add a review here as I've been struggling to write it without revealing too much. It had a powerful story, and a very sudden ending leaving me wanting more.

Today, I get more of Trevor's story. Today the sequel King Trevor is being released.

In celebration, I have a book giveaway. One person will get signed copies of the Demo Tapes years 1,2, & 3 as well as Trevor's Song.

Two other people will get a copy of a book Susan recommended to me in the past that I found amazing.

I have One copy of Snow flower and the Secret Fan and 1 copy of Cowboys are my Only Weakness to pass along.

Leave your name a way to contact you and a way music has touched your life. I'll draw winners on Monday 16 April 2012

Swing by her blog over at West of Mars to see what Susan has in store for everyone on her release date, and to congratulate her on the new book and a happy birthday!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

The rules come from MizB of Should Be Reading.

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from: The Kittens of Boxville by Ryosuke Handa (this is a book that should be read as it is very dependent on the photos of the kittens in the story)

(pg 30) "Today of course, Pauly Pancakes is on vacation, and the kitchen of the resteraunt is quiet and still. Minnie sits in front of the stove and pouts. "If Pauly was here he would make us some breakfast." she says sullenly, watching Borris from the corner of her eye as he tries without sucsess, to scratch open the pantry door. "He keeps crackers and stuff in here!" Huffs Borris. "Tinned Fish!""

Books Wild Released in March 2012

Here are the books I wild released in March:

1.) Acts of Malice by Perri O'Shaughnessy on 3/1/2012
2.) What the Librarian Did (Harlequin Super Romance) by Karina Bliss on 3/3/2012 Caught!
3.) 7th Heaven (Women's Murder Club) by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro on 3/6/2012
4.) Moonlight Becomes You by Mary Higgins Clark on 3/12/2012
5.) See No Evil (Smallville Series for Young Adults, No. 2) by Cherie Bennett, Jeff Gottesfeld on 3/14/2011
6.) Jewel (Oprah's Book Club) by Bret Lott on 3/14/2012
7.) Point of Origin (Kay Scarpetta) by Patricia Cornwell on 3/14/2012
8.) Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux on 3/19/2012
9.) Beyond and Back: Those Who Died and Lived to Tell It by Ralph Wilkerson on 3/19/2012
10.) The Eye of the World: Book One of 'The Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan on 3/19/2012
11.) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston on 3/27/2012
12.) What Looks Like Crazy by Charlotte Hughes on 3/27/2012
13.) The Dead Zone by Stephen King on 3/27/2012

Books read in March 2012

Audiobooks:
1.) Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
2.) A Canticle for Lebowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
3.) Hounded by Kevin Hearne
4.) Hexed by Kevin Hearne
5.) Hammered by Kevin Hearne
6.) Snuff by Terry Pretchett

Print copy:
1.) 7th Heaven by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
2.) Cinderella's Convenient Husband by Katherine Garbera


E-books:

1.) Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
2.) The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
3.) A Very Special Delivery by Linda Goodnight
4.) Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh
5.) An Election by John Scalzi (novella)
6.) Glitches by Marissa Meyer (novella)
7.) The Secrets of Jin-shei by Alma Alexander

Total Read: 13 full length books, 2 novella/short stories
This month was heavy on the books on my nook and audios

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

The rules come from MizB of Should Be Reading.

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from Damned by Chuck P

"In Hell, whenever the demons announce they’re going to treat everyone to a big- name Hollywood movie, don’t get too excited because it’s always The English Patient or, unfortunately, The Piano. It’s never The Breakfast Club."

Book Review: What The Librarian Did by Karina Bliss

When Rachel meets Devin she has no idea who he is. She develops a friendship with him that quickly becomes more as mutual attraction flares between both adults. However, Devin's friendship and mentor ship of young musician and fellow student Mark threatens to keep the two possible lovers apart.

Mark confides to Devin that he is looking for his birth mother, whom he has never seen but knows works at the Aukland University. He only knows she was a teenager when she put him up for adoption, and wants to show her how being abandoned feels. To find out why she gave him away and in revenge make her feel the conflict he has felt since he discovered he was adopted.

Cautious librarian Rachel's past holds a huge secret that has defined her life for seventeen years. As a teen she made a decision to give up the child from a teen pregnancy. At the start of the school term she sees Mark and recognizes him for who he really is. When her friendship with Devin becomes more than just a casual acquaintanceship she is torn with sharing with him. Because she knows the knowledge will change the relationships she is forming with both Mark and Devin as well as strain Devin's friendship with Mark.

Can she learn to cope with her growing attraction to "bad boy" Devin? Will she find a way to introduce who she really is to Mark without alienating him?

I received this from Shaunesay a few days ago. I actually read this during commute time and finished it this afternoon. It was a fun read. However, there were things included to I'm guessing broaden the characters that were introduced but then never explored. It left the characters a bit flat and not as fully rounded out as they could have been. I'm guessing this was due to the length as it was a fairly short book.

But that aside, I loved the three main characters, Mark - fresh at college trying to find his birth mother for possibly wrong reasons. Devin Freedman retired superstar musician who is starting school in an attempt to change his life, and leave the rock and roll lifestyle behind, and Rachel Robinson a campus librarian with a pension for vintage clothing.

Books Read in February 2012

Print Books:

1.) Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin
2.) The Singing Citadel: Four Tales of Heroic Fantasy by Michael Moorecock
3.) My Cat's not Fat, He's Just Big Boned by Hollander (Graphic novel)
4.) The Gargoyle a novel by Andrew Davidson
5.) The Outcast by Louise Cooper
6.) The Master by Louise Cooper
7.) Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout
8.) The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey, James Mallory
9.) Testing Miss Toogood by Stella Cameron
10.) What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss

E-Books:

1.) Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
2.) All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki
3.) The Wizard of Oz by Eric Shanower, Skottie Young (Illustrator), L. Frank Baum (graphic novel)
4.) The Riever by Jackie Barbosa (novella)
5.) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, Peter Gillis (text adaptation), Renae De Liz (illustrator), Ray Dillon (illustrator) (Graphic Novel)

We've been working our way through one audiobook this month but still haven't finished it.

Books Wild Released in February 2012

1.) My Cat's Not Fat, He's Just Big-Boned by Hollander on 2/3/2012
2.) Shadows by John Saul on 2/10/2012
3.) Let Me Call You Sweetheart by Mary Higgins Clark on 2/10/2012
4.) Shibumi by Trevanian on 2/13/2012
5.) City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams on 2/13/2012
6.) Dune By Frank Herbert on 2/13/2012 Caught!
7.) Freaky Deaky by ELMORE LEONARD on 2/21/2012 Caught!
8.) Code To Zero by Ken Follett on 2/23/2012
9.) Testing Miss Toogood by Stella Cameron on 2/23/2012
10.) Children of the Dark by Charles Veley on 2/24/2012
11.) Murder List: A Novel by Julie Garwood on 2/28/2012

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

The rules come from MizB of Should Be Reading.

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from A Stark and Wormy Knight by Tad Williams. (This is a short story collection that is currently only released as an e-book with a print release later this spring.)

“Oh, those were frightsome days, with knights lurking beneath every scone and round every bent, ready to spring out and spear some mother’s son for scarce no cause at all! So did your wisdominical Great-Grandpap confine himself to plowhards and peasant girls and the plumpcasional parish priest tumbled down drunk in the churchyard of a Sunday evening, shagged out from ‘cessive sermonizing. Princesses and such got noticed, do you see, but the primate proletariat were held cheap in those days (Pg 41)

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

The rules come from MizB of Should Be Reading.

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from Food Ethics edited by Paul Pojman. Some nonfiction, but this has been dominating my reading time currently due to it being a class text.

(pg 92) Garett Hardin's Lifeboat Ethics

""Man can not live by bread alone"-the scriptural statement has a rich meaning even in the material realm. Every human being born constitutes a draft on all aspects of the environment-food, air, water, unspoiled scenery, occasional an optional solitude, beaches, contact with wild animals, fishing, hunting- the list is long and incompletely known."

Books Wild Released in January 2012

1.) Catfish and Mandala by Andrew X. Pham on 1/5/2012
2.) Almost Like Being in Love by Christine Dodd on 1/13/2012
3.) Spirit by Graham Masterson on 1/13/2012
4.) Train Your Dog in an Hour by Sandy Butler on 1/17/2012
5.) The Marrying Type by Judith Arnold on 1/17/2012
6.) Crime Scene at Caldwell Ranch by B.J. Arnold on 1/23/2012
7.) Crime Scene at Caldwell Ranch by B.J. Arnold on 1/23/2012
8.) Crime Scene at Caldwell Ranch by B.J. Arnold on 1/23/2012
9.) Crime Scene at Caldwell Ranch by B.J. Arnold on 1/23/2012
10.) Crime Scene at Caldwell Ranch by B.J. Arnold on 1/23/2012
11.) Destiny's Promise by Laurel Pace on 1/24/2012
12.) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain on 1/24/2012
13.) Crime Scene at Caldwell Ranch on 1/27/2012
14.) The Girl’s Almanac by Emily Franklin on 1/31/2012
15.) Spider Girl Legacy vol. 1 on 1/31/2012

Books Read in January 2012

Print:

1.) The Nymphos of Rocky Flat by Mario Acevedo
2.) Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam by Andrew X. Pham
3.) Unplanned Parenthood: The Confessions of a Seventysomething Surrogate Mother
4.) The Girl's Almanac by Emily Franklin
5.) Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris

Audiobooks:

1.) The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth
2.) Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
3.) Wormwood by G.P Taylor
4.) Thud! by Terry Pratchett
5.) Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
6.) Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
7.) Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton

E-books:

1.) Falling Fast by Lucy Kevin
2.) The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

Graphic Novels:

1.) Spider Girl Legacy volume 1

Total Books read in January: 15

Teaser Tuesday

The rules come from MizB of Should Be Reading.

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

For this week's Teaser Tuesday I'm choosing The River of Doubt:Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

"Even Rondon was shocked by how pathetic Julio looked, crouching in the gnarled tree like a frightened animal, "imploring for mercy and asking us to receive him on board." Three nights alone in the jungle would have taken their toll on any of the men, but they had been especially excruciating for Julio." (pg. 277)

Book Review: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevdo

Title: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats
Author: Mario Acevedo
Publisher: rayo an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers
Published Date: 2006

Felix Gomez went to Iraq as a soldier, fighting against the evils of terrorism to keep his country safe. He returned a vampire, ashamed of his actions during the war and of the innocent deaths he had caused.

He has returned to a life in the States as a private detective. Contacted by a good friend working at the Rocky Flats Weapons Facility, he is hired to find the cause of the mysterious "illness" that is affecting the women of the plant to become nymphomaniacs.

During the course of his investigation, Felix is confronted by women with sex on their minds, integrating into the local vampire community, shadowy government agents, and the mysterious vanatori- Vampire Hunters from Eastern Europe who are preying on the local vampires. Is the cause a virus? Has the nymphomania been caused by a radiation exposure? or is there a more extraterrestrial cause?Felix vows he is going to find the cause of the Nymphomania or die trying, a promise which almost becomes true.

Author Mario Acevedo has created a world where vampires are not an uncommon occurrence. They have local communities (at least in this Colorado setting), can eat human food as long as there is blood covering it (human or animal). His story is humorous with very adult humor. I found myself drawn into the plot, and giggling at events several times while reading. This book reminded me very much of Christopher Moore's vampire books. While I wasn't exactly enamored with the alien plot worked into the story it wasn't distracting or overly silly. I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

Worldbuilders

Author Patrick Rothfuss has extended the deadline of his Worldbuilders 2011 charity event to February 7, 2012.

For those who missed last years post, Worldbuilders is an event that raises money for Heifer International. For every $10 donated your name gets put into a lottery for wonderful book oriented prizes.

Pat's Worldbuilders blog

to donate. click on the worldbuilders link below the icon below



Support Worldbuilders

Teaser Tuesday:

The rules come from MizB of Should Be Reading.

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

For this week's Teaser Tuesday I'm choosing The Horse Boy a Father's Quest to Heal his Son by Rupert Issacson

(pg 217) "This had been the first morning he'd woken up and not sad "Lets go home." Instead he had woken up and said "Let's go see the reindeer people. First the water, then we'kk go see the reindeer people.""

Book review: Cathedrals of the Flesh by Alexia Brue

Title: Cathedrals of he Flesh: My Search fo the Perfect Bath
Author Alexia Brue
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Date Published: 2003

I originally received this book from Morsecode as part of the books she sent when my name had been pulled from a drawing that she did on her blog Morsie Reads!. I had put this on my wishlist after reading the blurb when the book was offered in a swap on one of the forums that I read regularly.

When author Alexia Brue visits her best friend Marina in Paris, they both attend a local turkish bathhouse (also known as a hamam). Alexia and Marina decide to research what it would take to open a hamam in New York City. This research took Alexia's curiosity concerning the history of bathhouses and their current status worldwide. Alexia travels from the US to Turkey, where the hamams are frequented by older generations and looked down on by the younger generations. She then travels to Greece and visits the remains of a Roman bathhouse which is being excavated by archaeologists. From there Alexia travels to Russia and Sweden with their Steam baths. Russians show her their love of the banya with it's ritual of flogging the bathers with bunches of birch leaves (a tradition which brings blood to the skins surface, and promises that those partaking won't get old). Sweden shows Alexia the tradition of the sauna where bathers end their bathing experience by plunging into frigid waters. Alexia finishes he travels by visiting Japan, where bathing occurs in the onsen (the author visits an onsen in Tokyo), to the more famous hot spring baths outside of Kyoto.

I found this book a fascinating way of visiting other countries. While the author's travels and research did not end up leading to the opening of a bathhouse in New York, it opened her eyes to the different types of baths found worldwide, and gave her oppurtunities to become comfortable with these traditions. I enjoyed reading about the authors travels as a single woman through parts of the world where being a woman is not the best thing, and enjoyed reading her relavations about herself as she traveled the world.