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!
The kids are on spring break, which is kind of cool because I get to spend time with Bebe Boy James during the day, but also kind of noisy with two of the grandbebes (JoJo and Jaiden) also living here. Concentration to read a book can only be had by going to the outer hallway and shutting the door! :)
From The Guardian is an article linking to a now-famous row between a book blogger and the author (Jacqueline Howett) whose book he reviewed and gave a two-star rating to. Many of you may already know of it because it blew up on the Twitterverse as an extreme example of how NOT to react to a bad review. The author has since deleted most of her own comments, but ... well, this IS the web, and anything you post can never be truly erased. From The Guardian's article:
She says: "Look AL, I'm not in the mood for playing snake with you, what I read above has no flaws. My writing is fine."
And: "Besides if you want to throw crap at authors you should first ask their permission if they want it stuck up on the internet."
And: "You are a big rat and a snake with poisenous (SIC) venom. Lots of luck to authors who come here and slip in that!"
Ummm ... Maybe I don't know from what, I'm not a writer or anything, but that ONE sentence that Big Al quoted would be enough for me to step far away from the novel. Need an editor, anyone?
NOTE TO SELF: If you ever decide to pick up a pen (or a keyboard) to write the next Great American Novel (or ANY novel, for that matter) - DON'T write the way you talk. Keep in mind that "anyways" is not a proper word, and lay out a bit of money for an editor or at least a proofreader.
Jumping on The Hunger Games bandwagon here - Bebe Boy James and I recently finished the first book in the series together (a re-read for me), and this weekend we went to the movie. I'll leave aside the crazy rantings from those who were disappointed that Rue was black in the movie (she was in the book, too), but if you'd like to see them, here's a sample (made famous by the Tumblr Hunger Games Tweets):
It makes me kind of sad that these are young people, which goes to show you that we're not really "post-racial" (whatever that means).
I think Rue was adorable, and I *****************************(spoiler redacted) (because, see, I actually read the book).
The movie was very good (if I hadn't read the book, I might even say that it was awesome). If you haven't seen it, you should.
It makes me kind of sad that these are young people, which goes to show you that we're not really "post-racial" (whatever that means).
I think Rue was adorable, and I *****************************(spoiler redacted) (because, see, I actually read the book).
The movie was very good (if I hadn't read the book, I might even say that it was awesome). If you haven't seen it, you should.
 |  |
On the sad note of how we really haven't achieved harmony between the races, I wrote an article about the Trayvon Martin case from the perspective of how it affects me as the parent of a brown-skinned boy, "Another talk to have with my son". I wrote it about as soon as the circumstances surrounding this shooting began to truly echo in my psyche. I think it may help to shine a light on WHY there has been such a visceral, emotional reaction to this case from many of us.
Talk about shelf envy ... sigh ... the above is George Lucas's library. Click through to the 20 Beautiful and Private Personal Libraries article on Flavorwire's site to drool some more.
Street shelf envy - I ran across this very cool pictorial on Design Boom highlighting repurposed phone booths in NYC.
A quick reminder about a previous This and That item:
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 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!
