Lots of life getting in the way, keeping my Internet time to maybe 10-15 minute stretches here and there. I'll be better, I promise!
Showing posts with label about me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label about me. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Apologies for my absence . . .
I have been going through some personal crises, and coupled with the holidays, I was just a bit overwhelmed with everything, so the blog and other Internet-related items suffered. I deleted EVERY. SINGLE. EMAIL from all of my other email accounts, but left my blog email intact :) I will be going through the email there a bit at a time, so if you've written in the past few weeks, please be patient. For now, I will sort of throw myself back in the flow and start posting (maybe like crazy, maybe not) :)
I hope everyone has a wonderful, healthy, and prosperous New Year!
Friday, November 25, 2011
This and That - November 26, 2011
I'm back on schedule after my mini-vacay from blogging! Get ready!
This and That is a (somewhat weekly) roundup of interesting personal tidbits and items that I find around the Web (mostly bookish). Hopefully, you'll find something of interest in the following items!
A new year is coming up fast, and that means that it's time to start signing up for next year's reading challenges!
The 150+ 2012 Reading Challenge is being hosted by Amy at My Overstuffed Bookshelf!
From the blog:
1. The goal is to read 150 or more books. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate. Posting on GoodReads or wherever you post your reviews is good enough.
2. Allowed are: Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Manga, Graphic Novels, Library books, Novellas, Young Reader, Nonfiction – as long as the book has an ISBN or equivalent or can be purchased as such, the book counts.
What doesn't count: Individual short stories or individual books in the Bible and comic books.
3. 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.
4. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.
5. Challenge begins January 1st, 2012 thru December 31, 2012. Books started before the 1st do not count. You can join at anytime.
The 150+ 2012 Reading Challenge is being hosted by Amy at My Overstuffed Bookshelf!
From the blog:
DETAILS/RULES:
2. Allowed are: Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Manga, Graphic Novels, Library books, Novellas, Young Reader, Nonfiction – as long as the book has an ISBN or equivalent or can be purchased as such, the book counts.
What doesn't count: Individual short stories or individual books in the Bible and comic books.
3. 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.
4. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.
5. Challenge begins January 1st, 2012 thru December 31, 2012. Books started before the 1st do not count. You can join at anytime.
This past year, I've read almost 300 books! BUT, that was because I wasn't working for much of the year, AND because I neglected many of my other pastimes (sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, crochet, general crafting, and, of course, knitting!). Because I plan to work AND do all of the others more often (I've been doing so lately, trying to get the Christmas gifts crafted), 150+ sounds as though it will be more reasonable to expect of myself.
The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge is being hosted by Michelle at her Christmas Spirit blog!
From the blog:
- challenge will run from Monday, November 21, 2011 through Friday, January 6, 2011 (Twelfth Night or Epiphany).
- cross over with other challenges is totally permitted AND encouraged!
- These must be Christmas novels, books about Christmas lore, a book of Christmas short stories or poems, books about Christmas crafts, and for the first time...a childrens Christmas books level!
- Levels:
--Mistletoe: read 2-4 books
--Christmas Tree: read 5 or 6 books (this is the fanatic level...LOL!)
Additional levels:
--Fa La La La Films: watch a bunch or a few Christmas movies...it's up to you!
--Visions of Sugar Plums: read books with your children this season and share what you read
*the additional levels are optional, you still must complete one of the main reading level
Childrens' books count too! :)
An article that I thought was kind of cool from The New York Times on "The Weight of Memory", which could otherwise be titled "How much weight does an e-reader gain when loaded with books?"
The Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2012 is being hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block!
From the blog:
I've decided to create my own TBR reading challenge and plan to concentrate on reading primarily from my own books this year. And you're invited to join me in knocking out some of those books that have been waiting in the wings for weeks....months...even years.
Challenge Levels
Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 25 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 40 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 50 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100+ books from your TBR pile/s
And the rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade.
*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2012.
*You may sign up anytime from now until November 30th, 2012.
*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2012. No ARCs (none), no library books. No rereads. [To clarify--based on a question raised--the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, "just because," etc.}. Audiobooks may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]
*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.
Challenge Levels
Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 25 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 40 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 50 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100+ books from your TBR pile/s
And the rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade.
*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2012.
*You may sign up anytime from now until November 30th, 2012.
*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2012. No ARCs (none), no library books. No rereads. [To clarify--based on a question raised--the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, "just because," etc.}. Audiobooks may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]
*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.
Definitely one for me! I'll be posting a list at the end of December or so.
From Publisher's Weekly comes this great article about NPR's new Back-Seat Book Club. Geared towards our middle readers ages 9-14, the program is scheduled to introduce a new book each month or so, with questions being taken from the kid listeners and answered by the authors themselves!
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The League of Extraordinary Gentle - Men of la - Book Challenge is being hosted by Zohar at Man of la Book!
This is a very creative challenge, especially for those of us who don't necessarily read graphic novels at all. This is a perpetual challenge, so there is no need to feel rushed into completing it either :)
From the blog:
I thought it would be fun to read those classic novels and then the graphic novel to see how the creators managed to take such classics and mix them up all together.
1. The goal is to read the classic books and the graphic novel to see how they all tie together. No blog is needed, a review on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. is good enough.
2. What counts: books, eBooks, audio books
3. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.
The books are (in no specific order):
– Dracula by Bram Stoker
– Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
– Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
– The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
– The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
– Any Fu Manchu novel
– Any Sherlock Holmes novel
– Any Allan Quatermain novel
– Any James Bond novel
– Dracula by Bram Stoker
– Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
– Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
– The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
– The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
– Any Fu Manchu novel
– Any Sherlock Holmes novel
– Any Allan Quatermain novel
– Any James Bond novel
and
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel to tie it all together.
The 2011 Virtual Advent Tour is being hosted by Kailana from The Written World and Marg from Adventures of an Intrepid Reader.
What a great way of sharing your own thoughts and visiting and making friends with fellow bloggers!
From the blog:
Each day anyone who wants to participate takes turns sharing a treat with our friends here in blogland. For example it could be something about your family traditions, recipes, your country's holiday traditions, or a favourite Christmas memory, movie, book, song...anything you like. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas we would like to hear about what your family does during the holiday season, whether it be celebrating Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever it is that you do during this time.
If you are interested in signing up, then please sign up using the Google form (link below). If you want a specific date, then please include that along with your name and other details. If you don't need a specific date, then we will allocate a date to you. We will create a list of links so that as people express interest we will add them to the list, and then each day during the tour we will post a link directing visitors to the appropriate blog.
The tour will start on Thursday 1 December and run through until Saturday December 24. If there are more people than there are days that's fine too.....the more the merrier! It just means that there will be more than one blog to visit on those days.
This is the first year that the US will be taking part in World Book Night! Woot! The US site isn't up yet, but keep your eyes peeled! A little bit of detail:
World Book Night is a celebration designed to spread a love of reading and books. Celebrated on April 23, 2012 it will see tens of thousands of people gift books within their communities to spread the joy and love of reading. In 2012 World Book Night will be celebrated in the UK, Ireland and USA.
Visit the site to see how you can participate as well!
That is all for this week's edition! Let me know if you find something interesting! If YOU have an event to promote, feel free to email me directly at knittingandsundries(at)gmail(dot)com and if it fits the theme, I will include it in the next edition!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Frightful Fall Readathon
UPDATE: I got out on Tuesday (I think) night. Here is my pic:
Abandon Coldheart Canyon in the shadow of the master.
(DOES sound kind of creepy, right?)
So my daughter Jasmine put this up for the mini-challenge:
This is Jasmine. my mom is in the hospital she will be out soon... but she wanted me to post this.
She is reading books for the readathon and will post more when she comes back.
For a mini-challenge: The challenge is to make a frightful sentence out of book titles. Take a picture post it on your blog, and leave the link in the comments. If you don't have a blog post it anywhere and leave a link. Two winners international anywhere The Book Depository ships will get their choice of a frightful fall read. Leave the title of the book you'd like in the comments as well.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
I'm back!
I only stayed overnight in the hospital with some IV antibiotics and then came out, went home, showered, changed, and went to work! I was hit by a car (not bad, though, just basically knocked down on the bike, with some scrapes), the week before my leg started swelling, and initially I thought that's what it was from. Big Bebe Girl Tai, who is in her final year of nursing school, took a look and told me that the swelling was from my older injury from the run-in with the boy on the bicycle, and that's what it was from. (Maybe I should stay away from bikes, eh?) :)
Be prepared for more posting than usual (not tons, but maybe 3 posts a day vs. 2 posts a day), as I will be spending the weekend playing catch up here. :)
You are going to start seeing some product reviews and giveaways for things other than books, but, as always, you'll get an honest opinion and some great ideas for yourself or for others!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
A Bit of Absence
I've run into some additional complications from my run in with a little boy on a bicycle this summer, so I will be going back into the hospital .. maybe just overnight. If I can get a laptop in, I'll update from there, but if not, I will likely be away from the blog and email for a couple of days. Just wanted to give a heads up.
Friday, September 23, 2011
This and That Thursday - September 22, 2011
A little bit late, but here it is!
This and That Thursday is a (somewhat weekly) roundup of interesting personal tidbits and items that I find around the Web (mostly bookish). Hopefully, you'll find something of interest in the following items!
I've been working and volunteering part-time, so I'm trying to keep my blog flow going (it's taking some adjusting). My email is backed up to high heaven, so if I haven't gotten back to you, give me until the weekend!
Next week, I have a final interview for a job that I applied for some time ago (I'll be shadowing someone for a few hours, then going on my own, then I'll find out if I'm hired for [finally!] full-time permanent position, so I'll really need to get my act together then) - wish me luck; I need the benefits (and the pay, too!)
A quick little article over at the Wall Street Journal about Amazon talking to publishers about launching a Netflix-like digital book rental program.
Interesting concept? What do you think?
Simon and Schuster has introduced Wanderlust, which they describe as a monthly book club sampler of some of their newest releases, whether initial hardback releases or new paperback releases. This month's selections are: Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo, Wildflower Hill
by Kimberley Freeman, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum, The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais, The Distant Hours by Kate Morton This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park, and An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy.
Pretty good selection, eh? I have for review: Wildflower Hill, The Dovekeepers, and This Burns My Heart. I've reviewed Amaryllis in Blueberry, and The Distant Hours. I would LOVE to read An Atlas of Impossible Longing.
Very cool article in Publisher's Weekly about bringing books to the outdoors through Story Walks! Basically, pages from books are enlarged, laminated, and placed along park walks to encourage both physical activity AND literacy! Seriously, how cool is that?
While I realize September is almost over, This That and the Other Thing is hosting a Christmas in September event where you can link up your old or new reviews on Christmas-related books! You can even win prizes!
Many of us have LOTS of books - review books, personal books, etc. that are in great shape. Candace's Book Blog is asking for donations to Pine Ridge Reservation of new or gently used (less than five years old) books for all ages. Pine Ridge is one of the organizations I do charity knitting and crocheting for. If you know anything about America's reservations, you know that for many people who live there, life is difficult and resources are scarce. (You really need to click her link to read the full article; Pine Ridge is one of the poorest reservations in the nation - it's sad that any Americans live in such destitute conditions).
If you have great books that you'd usually put on Paperback Swap or Goodreads swap or that you would otherwise donate, think about donating to this worthy cause.
That's all for this week's edition! Let me know if you find anything of interest!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
This and That Thursday - September 1, 2011
Even though I was without my blogosphere visits for a while last week (three days, to be exact), I still have some pretty cool things to share!
For the past couple of months, I've been running a poll the last week or so asking you to pick my first personal read for the next month. For the first time, there was no tie! The votes were:
Yay! I get a little fantasy reading fix! This one is billed as "Harry Potter grows up", and it won both the Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction & Fantasy (2009), and the ALA Alex Award in 2010. People seem to either love it or hate it, and I'm hoping I'll fall into the former camp, leaving the way clear for me to buy the next installment in the series, The Magician King.
Book Blogger Appreciation Week runs September 12-16th! The long lists for awards have been announced (I didn't make it; sob!). That's OK, though .. there's always next year! The Monday memes I participate in have all been nominated (Mailbox Monday, In My Mailbox, and It's Monday! What Are You Reading?)
Voting begins on September 5, and I just don't know what I'm going to do - so MANY of my favorite book blogs have been nominated in one category or another! Head on over to check out the long lists and see about other ways you can participate in recognizing hard-working book bloggers!
It is being co-hosted by Sassy Mama in L.A., Makobi Scribe, Simply Stacie, Matter of Cents and sponsored by Retail Me Not. This event will be huge and heavily promoted. Each participating blog will host a minimum of $25 prize pack and every entrant will have a chance to win an iPad2!
Bebe Boy James and I have already pre-ordered this new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book through his class's Scholastic newsletter - he can't wait!
I'm almost sad to see this series come to an end, as it's been a favorite of my last three children. I remember when Eragon was released, and I bought it for Middle Bebe Girl Jasmine - she was astonished that the author was only 19 at the time!
Jeffrey Eugenides' first new novel in eight years! (Middlesex was his last)
Literary fiction fans rejoice! Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetery is coming to the Americas! (this is the Spanish cover; I haven't been able to locate our cover - but ... doesn't it look kinda creepy?)
Last, but not least, a title that I have for review. A book about more than baseball, comic satire supposedly runs rampant throughout. Most readers have been loving it, and I hope to join their ranks soon!
I will be participating in the Rafflecopter Giveaway Round-Up running September 21-25! This event is being hosted by Simply Stacie and Makobi Scribe! Right now, there are over 120 participating blogs and all giveaways are $25 or more in value! If you'd like to participate as a blogger, you'll need to be using Rafflecopter. Go here for more information on sign-up!
Friday, August 26, 2011
What a Week!
No Internet for two days (see my "happy squirrel" post) and, as of last night until just an hour or so ago, no electricity:
Strong winds in a band of severe thunderstorms that swept across Northeast Ohio overnight left a path of downed power lines, trees and debris in its wake.
Cuyahoga and Lorain counties have the most power outages, followed by Geauga and Summit counties.
I woke up to a sheet of sideways rain and horrid winds blowing past my windows; the electricity went out. For the next 10 minutes or so, it would flicker on for a bit, then die again. I heard what sounded like something being dragged, so I looked out the window and saw HUGE blue sparks of electricity from a downed power line at a house almost diagonal to me across the street (in the morning, I saw that a tree - yes, a whole tree, not just a branch) had come down on the line and the tree was on top of one of the cars in the driveway.
Such a saga .. but I have BOOKS!!! Bebe Boy James' school HAD electricity, so after taking him there, I pretty much curled up (after a trip to BK to get a sausage and cheese muffin and some coffee - WHAT? I couldn't cook and I didn't want to open my fridge just in case the power stayed out for a LONG time).
And .. sigh, so here we are; almost 22 hours without electricity. Thank goodness for candles and flashlights at night. We played board games and talked, and it was fun. BUT .. not as fun as the happy dance Bebe Boy James and I did when we heard the computer monitor switch back on! (that was the only thing I forgot to turn off).
Was it a tornado? Very rare in the city, but since the National Weather Service is still trying to figure it out, I can't say. I CAN say that, having lived through a tornado when I was twelve, it sure FELT like one, especially considering how the wind skipped over certain areas as the storm made it's way south from our lake.
Here's some purty pics (I didn't even think to take out my camera, so these photos are courtesy of our local news stations):
My neighborhood:
I do have to give kudos to our electric services - considering the huge amount of damage and downed lines, the fact that they came out three times to my block to restore services was great (each time they came, they restored some houses, and, according to my downstairs neighbor, thought they had restored the entire block).
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Say it with me now ...
Awwww .... isn't he/she KAYute?
NOT.
Squirrels and I are now officially on the warpath.
Sunday night, my internet connection was a little weird .. kind of in and out .. bleh .. I shrugged and went to bed. Monday morning, I had NO landline phone AND no DSL. My telephone said, "Check telephone line" and there was no dial tone. I bought two new inside lines, plugged them in ... opened up the jack ... couldn't see anything wrong .. called AT&T; they told me that if the problem was found on my own line, it would cost $110 for them to fix it ... then I went to the store and bought an inexpensive telephone that plugs directly into the wall, opened up the outside box and plugged it in .. no dial tone.
This meant that the problem was NOT on the inside lines, so I called AT&T, who nicely told me that they had a heavy level of problems in my area and that a repairperson could not come out until Friday! "No; that won't do," I told them. OK, so I had already been 24 hours without service, which I tried to pass reading and doing odd things around the house. But an entire 4-5 DAYS?!?! Oh, no. "I have a cell phone, but I definitely CAN'T do without my Internet service - puhlease tell me you can get someone out sooner than that."
Whew! So now it's fixed, just in time for me to have to take Bebe Boy James to his Boy Scout meeting, which means that I can't REALLY get back on until around 8:30 or so.
But at least it's back.
OH, and if you haven't guessed by now ....
One of those little buggers in the picture was the culprit. I guess that they're hoarding up for winter and my telephone line looked like something he/she wanted to hide in the tree with them.
I've always laughed at my friends who had an enmity for squirrels. I have now officially joined their ranks.
Say it with me now ...
I hate squirrels.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Cleveland SlamU Youth Poetry Team made it into the semi-finals!
UPDATE: The Cleveland Team was edged out by Philadelphia's team this year for finals, but they made an awesome effort!
UPDATE 2: Philadelphia, New York, Denver and Detroit competed in the finals, and Philadelphia came out the winner!
Today is Not-So-Bebe-Girl Autumn's birthday .... AND .... she's with the Cleveland SlamU Youth Poetry Team in San Francisco competing in the Brave New Voices competition with her teammates! They made it through two tough rounds yesterday, 1st place in one and 2nd place in the next. If they make it through 1st in the Semi's, they go on to the finals tonight to compete against 3 other teams for the win! If you have just one minute, go to the team's Twitter page and reply to one of their tweets to wish them luck! Add the hashtag #jointhemovement to put it on the main Twitter stream as well!
Best of luck, Bebe Girl and the Cleveland SlamU team!
If you want to see some of the poets in action, go to my Poetry Corner where I have some videos of the semi-finals here as well as some written pieces (one of my favorite pieces is "The 'N' Word by Corey - it's not what you think and I guarantee it will leave you with a smile on your face!)
Thursday, July 21, 2011
This and That Thursday - July 21, 2011
Welcome to another edition of This and That, brought to you on those Thursdays when I've found some good things to share!
I am childless this week, which is not something I'm used to. Bebe Boy James is at Boy Scout camp:
Camp Frontier is a fun camp. I had a fun time swimming. I am doing archery as a merit badge and rifle shooting (not as a merit badge). I am doing pottery, art, first-year program and that's it.
That's actually pretty much the whole letter, except for telling me how many miles away it is from two other states (because his fixation right now is geography, atlases, etc.).
I miss him.
Not-So-Bebe-Girl Autumn is at the Brave New Voices festival in San Francisco:
Today is a day of workshops as well as a film screening of a Freedom Riders documentary.
Tomorrow - The Cleveland SlamU Youth Poetry Team (including Autumn!) will start their competition against other teams from around the world and around the country (one of the Tweets last night said that Guam traveled THREE days to get there!). If you could, take just a moment and go to the team's Twitter page to wish them luck! I did post some of the SlamU semi-finals videos, just not the finals. If you'd like to take a look and/or read at some of the poets' pieces, just go to Poetry Corner. There IS one piece from the finals that I really want to put up, because I think you will love it as much as I did, so look for it on Sunday!
It's really odd not having children for more than a day ... I don't know if this is something I really LIKE (I thought I would). I'm getting a lot of cleaning and donating and trashing done, though!
I have an odd problem ... I know many of you share this one as well ... there are just TOO MANY "I should really pick that one up and read it" books on my TBR bookshelf. It's sometimes just WAY too difficult to choose, so last month for a couple of days, I had a little poll up on my sidebar asking YOU to pick my first July read! The choices were:
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (6 votes)
- Still Missing by Chevy Stevens (4 votes)
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (6 votes)
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1 vote)
- The Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (6 votes)
1. Next time, leave the poll open longer, which will hopefully break any ties (starting today; look on the upper left-hand side of the blog and put in your vote!)
2. Read the chosen three in July (but not one right behind the other, as my review books will totally suffer for it): The Anansi Boys, Rebecca, then A Thousand Splendid Suns.
I've already read Rebecca, which was kind of creepy, but good.
Thanks to all who voted!
Another interesting article from the Shelfari blog: Best of the Month: July 2011. Take a look at some books that should probably be on your shelves, or if they already are, let me know what you think of them. I have two of the listed books for review: Adrenaline and This Burns My Heart (which has lots of great buzz). Stiefvater fans won't be surprised to see the last book of the trilogy, Forever, listed here as well.
The High Summer Readathon is being hosted by Michelle at The True Book Addict from July 25th through July 31st. From the blog:
There will be giveaways and mini-challenges! And, of course, it's a week of relaxed reading during which we can personally challenge ourselves and whittle away those pesky TBR piles/shelves/libraries (that last one pertains to me...LOL)!
I know; I posted this during a previous This and That, but the actual signup wasn't available then! This is a very relaxed Read-a-Thon; you don't have to be a blogger; you don't have to participate the whole week .. start whenever and end whenever you'd like.
Have you ever gone into a bookstore and noticed that there were books behind the counter that weren't available on the shelves? Well, I ran across a rather interesting article at Publisher's Weekly: The 5 Most Stolen Books. Take a peek and see what you think.
Did you know that all federal funding has been cut from the RIF (Reading is Fundamental) program? I remember this program when I was young; I believe I even received some books through them. There is a movement to ask Congress to support national literacy at this website. If you aren't familiar with RIF, here is a quick overview of what they do:
In 2010, RIF provided 4 million children with 15 million books to keep as their own. Yet, there are still millions more children in need:
Guess which book Warner Brothers just acquired screen rights to? According to Deadline:
Warner Bros has acquired screen rights to A Discovery of Witches, the bestselling novel by Deborah Harkness.
I think it will be interesting to see how this "grownup" witch tale comes to the screen! This was my sort-of review:
In an alternate life, I am an academic, burying myself in old manuscripts and research, so this book definitely appealed to me from the start. THEN it appealed to me simply because the action got pretty darn good. For some reason (maybe because I don't read in-depth reviews of books that are waiting for me on my shelves), I didn't realize that this was the first in a series :) ... but I will DEFINITELY be buying the next one whenever it comes out!
- 61% of low-income families in the U.S have no books in their homes.
- 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income populations have no age-appropriate books for their children.
- 45% of children ages 3–5 are not read to daily. Children whose parents read to them become better readers and do better in school.
- 27% of public school 4th graders score below basic levels on reading exams. Increasing access to print material is the most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children.
- 21% of U.S. adults with below-basic reading skills are unemployed.
- $500 billion is the annual cost to the U.S. economy of children growing up poor—a result of eventually lower productivity and earnings, higher crime rates, and health costs.
Guess which book Warner Brothers just acquired screen rights to? According to Deadline:
Warner Bros has acquired screen rights to A Discovery of Witches, the bestselling novel by Deborah Harkness.
I think it will be interesting to see how this "grownup" witch tale comes to the screen! This was my sort-of review:
In an alternate life, I am an academic, burying myself in old manuscripts and research, so this book definitely appealed to me from the start. THEN it appealed to me simply because the action got pretty darn good. For some reason (maybe because I don't read in-depth reviews of books that are waiting for me on my shelves), I didn't realize that this was the first in a series :) ... but I will DEFINITELY be buying the next one whenever it comes out!
The Christy Award winners have been announced! I've only read two of the titles, but they were GREAT! Very well-deserved honors for these two (click the covers for my reviews):
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See the really cool Iron Knight countdown widget on the side of my blog? Touya at In TheReader's Garden made it! She also made these cute little badges (in two sizes, no less):
Visit her website to snag your own!
Whew! This is a bit longer This and That than usual, but I hope that there's at least one thing that interests you!
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