Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* 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!

 At moments of departure and a change of life, people capable of reflecting on their actions usually get into a serious state of mind.  At these moments they usually take stock of the past and make plans for the future.


~p. 105, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption - Laura Hillenbrand

Title: Unbroken : a World War II story of a survival, resilience, and redemption
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Pages: 496
Published: 2010
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography, History
Rating: 5/5

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.  It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard.  So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini.  In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.  As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile.  But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion.  His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

Thoughts: I really, really, really liked it and it really lived up to the hype that I have heard about this book.  It was also a book that was very much an emotional journey and the emotions that I experienced were very much unexpected.  While there were times that the book felt a little dry, like the description of a B-24 bomber, the story always had a point and it was building to something that was going to be written later on in the book.  I am not going to spoil the book for those of you who are planning are reading the book, but I will say its an amazing journey, especially emotionally.  Highly recommended. 

2141 / 15000 pages. 14% done!

A Winter's Respite Read-a-Thon - Update #1

I finished Unbroken this evening.  What an amazing book!  I can't recommend this book any more than I have.  Unfortunately, I haven't read anything else.  I tried to start reading The Hunger Games last night, but for some reason couldn't get myself to start it.  I hope that I will be able to get something else read or at least started in the next few days.  Sometimes I find it frustrating that I sometimes can't get myself to read more at times.  Hopefully finishing this book will allow me to start something new.

A Winter's Respite Read-a-Thon - Opening post

I realize that I am starting this later than I had hoped to, but here I am.  My hopes for the read-a-thon is to finish "Unbreakable" by Laura Hillenbrand, start reading "War & Peace" for the read-a-longs that I am involved with, and get some books started for a couple of reading challenges that I am doing.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* 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!

 Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive.  Mr. Vernon Dursley had been woken in the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his nephew's Harry's room.


       ~p.7, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

A Winter's Respite Read-a-Thon

 

The First read-a-thon of the New Year is just about 3 days away! I can't wait! Here are the dates and times for the read-a-thon: Monday, January 17 at 12 am until Sunday, January 23 at 11:59 pm (your time of course!)

The 'thoners will be using the hashtag #readathon on Twitter so definitely join in on the conversation!
This is a pretty flexible event so you can read as little or as much as you'd like.

So you know you wanna join! I know you do! Click the button up top and that ought to take you to the sign up page on The True Book Addict's blog! 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Author: J.K. Rowling
Pages: 332
Published: 2004 (originally published in 1997)
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Rating: 5/5

When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord''s curse when Harry was just a baby, and which he somehow survived. Escaping from his unbearable Muggle guardians to Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments, Harry stumbles into a sinister adventure when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers which could be valuable, dangerous, or both.

Thoughts: I really liked it.  I had forgotten how much I liked the book until I sat down and read it again.  While the book seems to start off slowly, it has a purpose and once I was in the middle of the book, the action seemed to get quicker and that more intense and I really didn't want to put it down, but my body wouldn't allow for me to do so.  I really like how Rowling allows to go into a world that is one of pure fantasy, but also one that entirely enjoyable.

1645 / 15000 pages. 11% done!

The Long Winter - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Title: The Long Winter
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pages: 352
Published: 2004 (originally published in 1940)
Genre: Classics, Historical fiction, Children's literature
Rating: 4/5


The adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, Carrie, and little Grace bravely face the hard winter of 1880-81 in their little house in the Dakota Territory. Blizzards cover the little town with snow, cutting off all supplies from the outside. Soon there is almost no food left, so young Almanzo Wilder and a friend make a dangerous trip across the prairie to find some wheat. Finally a joyous Christmas is celebrated in a very unusual way.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed it, but like the family, I found the winter to be a tad tiresome.  When I did find it tiresome, I went to the internet to find out how much of the story is true and actually is very faithful to the events of the winter of 1880-81 in the De Smet, S.D. area.  What I found fascinating was that nobody in the area died, although if it had lasted longer there probably would have been some deaths.  The reason that I classified the book as young adult because the book is longer and also Laura was 13/14 during the time period that the story takes place, despite the fact that the storyline is fairly simple and straight forward and is geared towards readers ages 8 to 12. 

1313 / 15000 pages. 9% done!

2011 Classics Challenge

Stilletto Storytime is hosting Classics Challenge 2011.  I am hoping to read a number of classics, although what I will read I have no idea.  I will aim for Student at 5 books.

Here is my list:
1. Persuasion
2. Frankenstein 
3. Little House in the Big Woods 
4. The Long Winter 
5. The Quiet Little Woman

Blog Hop

Follow Friday asks this week: What makes up your non-human family?

Nothing.  I don't own a pet, nor do I wish to.  I really don't like dogs and cats freak me out as well.   Also, I am gone for two months during the summer and so I don't see the need to have a pet around.



The question posed this week is: Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?

I read quite a few different genres, so I can't say that I read just one type of genre specifically.  But I suppose if you have to ask what genre that I read the most prolifically and have read for the longest time its Christian fiction.   I have read it for about 15 years on a regular basis, despite the objections that I have about the genre as a whole.  I have cut back and don't read it as often as I once did, but I still read the occasional book.  I primarily read it because I see it on a regular basis when I go to church on the weekends.  What draws me to it is that occasionally I will find a book that I will really enjoy and not feel as though it is a cliched, Christian novel.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday asks Do you remember the first book you bought for yourself? Or the first book you checked out of the library? What was it and why did you choose it?

I believe the book that I first bought for myself was The Little Princess.  I can't recall why I choose it but I believe it was probably because I really liked the premise of the book.   I don't know why I picked up the book, but probably the pink cover had something to do with that.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* 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!

 In the predawn darkness of August 26, 1929, in the back bedroom of a small house in Torrance, California, a twelve-year-old boy sat up in bed, listening.  There was a sound coming from outside, growing even louder.  It was a huge, heavy rush, suggesting immensity, a great parting of air.  It was coming from directly above the house.  The boy swung his legs off his bed, raced down the stairs, slapped open the back door, and loped onto the grass.  The yard was otherwordly, smothered in aunnatural darkness, shivering with sound.  The boy stood on the lawn beside his older brother, head thrown back, spellbound.
        ~ pg. 3, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Blog Hop

What book(s) have you discovered lately from someone's blog?

Between podcasts and my occasional reading of blogs, I would have to say the book that I have discovered is Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. 



What book influenced or changed your life?  How did it influence/change you?

The book that influenced/changed my life was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson.  They influenced/changed me because they changed my reading habits.  Prior to reading those two books, especially Jacob Have I Loved, I was primarily reading pulp fiction and wasn't reading books that didn't have any sort of literary value, ie The Babysitters Club.  I had to change my reading habits because the school I was attending didn't have that great of a library and there were no Babysitter Club books (if there were any, there weren't many available).  Anything that I liked to read wasn't available to me and at the time, the public library didn't have a great system for requesting books. In otherwords, I had to ask the library staff to request a particular book from within the system and I wasn't exactly able to tell if they had a book that I wanted to read.  It wasn't a great era for young adult literature and most of it was books that were either too young for me to read (I had already read all of the Little House books by this time) or were way above me in terms of reading ability.   As a result I started to read more adult literature and by the time I was half-way through my first year of high school in Grade 8,  I had read half of Les Miserable (the unabridged version) and had fallen in love with Jane Eyre, after starting it one night after my sister had broken her collarbone while skiing one evening and forced to wait for her in the waiting room and nothing else for me to do.

Literary Blog Hop

How did you find your way to reading literary fiction and nonfiction?


I found myself reading more literary fiction by the fact that the school I attended in Grade 7 didn't have much in the way of my favourite series, The Babysitters Club, available to sign out.  I had been reading the series for the better part of two or three years and when I started at my school that fall there wasn't much choice in the library to sign out at first.  There wasn't anything I was reading and then I signed out Jacob Have I Loved that September, I was able to change my reading habits drastically.  Also I was unable to find anything in my local library at the time because at that time asking for a loan was quite difficult, without having to ask the library staff to see if they could get a book for me.  As a result, I was forced read more difficult things.  And by the time I went to high school in Grade 8, the transition wasn't too hard and I was able to read more difficult things and was able to understand them.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday has posted an interesting question:

Any New Year's reading resolutions?

Yes.  If you wish to view them, you can this year: http://jaynesbooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-new-year-and-to-new-reading.html



 

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday has posted an interesting question:

What’s the best book you read this year?
Worst?
Favorite?

The best book I read in 2010 was Blankets by Craig Thompson.   The worst I read was Triumph by Carolyn Jessop.  My favourite books of 2010 were The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.


I am so sorry for being late with my post.  I hope to have it updated regularly starting tomorrow.

Room - Emma Donoghue

Title: Room
Author: Emma Donoghue
Pages: 321
Published: 2010
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4/5

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.


This was a book I had wanted to read for quite sometime and I wasn't really disappointed.  The first chapter I felt was a little slow and really didn't grab me, but the relationship between Ma and Jack was intriguing enough to allow me to continue on with the book.  But I was rewarded with an excellent story that I couldn't put down for most of the evening, especially after they had managed to escape from the small shed that they were living in.  It was certainly a delightful book and while I probably won't read the book again, it is one that will have me wondering what happens to Ma and Jack as they are able to adjust to life on the Outside.  Highly recommended.

961 / 15000 pages. 6% done!

Harry Potter 2011 Book Challenge

Daemon's Books is hosting the Harry Potter 2011 Book Challenge. He writes:

[...]since this year also marks the complete end of the Harry Potter series with the 8th and final movie coming out on July 15, we thought this was the perfect time to relive the entire series one more time to get ready for the final chapter.

Participants will read books 1-7 (one book a month) and are encouraged to join in discussion over at Daemon's Books.

There will be monthly giveaways, including one BIG giveaway at the end of the challenge.
Daemon’s Books is also partnering with its sister site, Daemon’s Movies, which will be hosting its own Harry Potter movie challenge in parallel. You can find all the information for the Daemon’s Movies Harry Potter challenge here. Feel free to participate in both challenges or just the one that appeals to you.

Visit the post about the challenge to get the book schedule.

How To Participate:
Each month:
Step 1: Read the assigned book for that month (see schedule on the post about the challenge)
Step 2: Write a review or opinion piece about the book on either your blog or any of the accepted places listed on the post about the challenge:
Step 3: Starting February 1, 2011 and at the beginning of each subsequent month there will a post up for you to share links to your reviews, opinion pieces or to write comments (designated comment section) on Daemon's Books. This will count as proof of your participation.
Note: Each proof of participation will give you one entry into the final big giveaway. There will be only one entry per book (no multiple entries even if you put multiple links). That means that if you complete the challenge from beginning to end and provide proof of your participation for each book you will have 7 entries.
Deadline to join: The deadline to join is August 1st, 2011.

Get more information and sign up by visiting the post about the challenge.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* 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!

 I eat three green beans and have a big drink of milk and another three, they go down a bit faster in threes.  Five would be fasterer by I can't manage that, my throat would shut.
      ~pg. 45, Room: a novel by Emma Donoghue

War & Peace read-a-longs

I am finally going to read War & Peace this year. It won't be on my own, but I will be doing a couple of read-a-longs through A Room of One's Own and through a Facebook group that I heard about through a book blog about a month ago.  There are reading schedules available through both groups and if you wish you can join me.  But if you are unable to do so, you can just cheer me on as I read the book throughout the year, as I will be putting up posts on a regular basis as to my thoughts as I read through the book.   Wish me luck!

Series Challenge Season Five

Kathrin of Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic is hosting season 5 of the Series Challenge. Here's what she says:

The rules:
1) The challenge starts January 1, 2011 and ends December 31, 2011.

2) You must read 3 or more books for this challenge.

3) With these books, you should finish the series or at least be up to date with it.

4) Crossovers with other challenges are perfectly alright.

5) Post a review on your blog and leave a link at the post I will set up on January 1, so I can keep track and others might find new series to enjoy.

6) Have fun!

If everything goes according to plan, I might even have a prize or two for one or two Season 5 winners. Woohoo!

To join, go to Series Challenge Season 5

Song of Alaska
1. Dawn's Prelude 
2. Morning's Refrain 
3. Twilight's Serenade 

Harry Potter
1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Tea Rose
1. The Tea Rose
2. The Winter Rose
3. The Wild Rose 

2011 YA Reading Challenge

Here are the rules:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.  Create a post about the challenge and and click HERE to sign up.
--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post.

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.

--The "Fun Size" YA Reading Challenge – Read 20 Young Adult novels.

--The Jumbo Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 40 Young Adult novels.

--The Mega size YA Reading Challenge – Read 50+ Young Adult novels.

3. Audio, eBooks, paper, re-reads all count.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. The Challenge starts on January 1, 2011 and goes until December 31, 2011.


I am going for the Mini Size


Here is my list:
1.  The Long Winter
2.  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
3.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 
4.  A Great and Terrible Beauty 
5.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
6.  Little House in the Big Woods
7.  Rebel Angels 
8.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Read and Review 2011

MizBooks is once again hosting the Read and Review Challenge.  She writes:

* review each book you read between January 1st and December 31st of the current year.
* PLEASE keep your reviews clean & respectful ~ these books we read are the hard work of an author, and we don’t need to be mean. Even if you didn’t like the book, please try to find something you can say that would be encouraging to the author.
* reviews can be as short, or long, as you wish
* you MAY overlap with other challenges
* eBooks and Audiobooks ARE allowed
* if there will be spoilers in your review, please note this in the subject line of your post so that those who don’t want to read them can skip that review. Thank you.


My List:
1. The Warmth of Other Suns
2. Room
3. The Long Winter 
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 
5. Unbroken : a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption 
6. A Visit from the Goon Squad 
7. Dawn's Prelude
8. The Mistress of Nothing
9. Juliet: a novel 
10. The King's Speech
11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
12. Cleopatra: A Life
13. The Swan Maiden 
14. A Promise to Believe In
15. Blood, Bones & Butter 
16. Deja Dead
17. Morning's Refrain
18. The Book of Negroes 
19. The God who is there 
20. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
21. Twilight's Serenade
22. House Arrest
23. The Tea Rose
24. A Love to Last Forever
25. The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady
26. A Great and Terrible Beauty 
27. Sing You Home
28. The American Heiress 
29. The Winter Rose 
30. True Grit 
31. Moneyball
32. Persuasion
33. The Night Circus 
34. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 
35. Captivity 
36. Frankenstein
37. Little House in the Big Woods 
38. Rebel Angels
39. The Wild Rose 
40. The Christmas Scrapbook : A Harmony Story
41. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 
42. Lost December 
43. The Quiet Little Woman 
44. The Christmas Wedding

2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate. Click HERE to sign up.


--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post.

2. There are four levels to this challenge...Pick your poison:


--The Mini – Check out and read 30 library books.

--"Fun" Size – Check out and read 40 library books.

--Jumbo Size – Check out and read 50 library books.

--Mega Size – Check out and read 51+ library books.
(Aim high. As long as you read 30 by the end of 2011, you are a winner.)

3. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Young Reader – basically any book counts just as long as it is checked out from the library. Books MUST be checked out like with a library card, books purchased at a library DO NOT count.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

6. Challenge begins January 1st 2011 and goes thru December 31 2011.


Will do the Mini Size to start with.


Here is my list:
1.  The Warmth of Other Suns
2.  Room
3.  Unbroken : a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption
4.  A Visit from the Goon Squad 
5.  Dawn's Prelude 
6.  Juliet: a novel 
7.  The King's Speech
8.  Cleopatra: A Life
9.  The Swan Maiden 
10.  A Promise to Believe In 
11.  Blood, Bones, & Butter 
12.  Deja Dead 
13.  Morning's Refrain 
14. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 
15. Twilight's Serenade 
16. House Arrest
17. The Tea Rose
18.  A Love to Last Forever
19.  The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady
20.  A Great and Terrible Beauty 
21.  Sing You Home
22.  The American Heiress
23.  The Winter Rose 
24.  True Grit 
25.  Moneyball 
26.  The Night Circus 
27.  Captivity
28.  Frankenstein 
29.  Rebel Angels
30.  The Wild Rose 
31.  The Christmas Scrapbook : a Harmony story 
32.  Lost December 
33.  The Quiet Little Woman
34.  The Christmas Wedding

The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson

Title: The Warmth of Other Suns
Author: Isabel Wilkerson
Pages: 640
Published: 2010
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 5/5

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.

With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties.

Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with southern food, faith, and culture and improved them with discipline, drive, and hard work.

 I really, really loved it.   I first heard about the book when I was listening to a podcast of the New York Times Book Review a few months ago when the author gave a short interview about the book and really wanted to read the book afterwards.  In otherwords, I was intrigued with the concept of the book and really like it.  I wasn't disappointed with the book and really liked the stories of the three principles that she wrote about.  I almost felt like I wanted to go to these people to hear their stories about life in the South before they left for their Northern and Western cities.  They almost became like family to me, hearing about how they got to their certain points in the United States and how they met with the challenges that confronted them.  I highly recommend the book.

640 / 15000 pages. 4% done!