Thinking of You Chartroose!

If you *know* Chartroose, leave her a comment on November 1st telling her you are thinking of her!

http://chartroose.wordpress.com/

If you don’t know Chartroose, allow me to introduce her to you.   And then, go read her blog and leave her a comment.

Early in my book blogging adventure, I found a fun blog to read by the name of Bloody Hell, It’s a Book Barrage! hosted by Chartroose.     I lurked for quite awhile; intimidated by the blogger’s bright quick wit and impressively deep thoughts about books, music, politics, stuff.    Every book review she posted, I wanted to read the book.

Eventually, I worked up the courage and started to comment and  she began to comment on my blog (wow!) and that fun experience of getting to know someone through books made us friends.     Ya know, that bookbloggingfriendshipthing.   Chartroose became my favorite blogger!   The one blogger I really hoped would read and comment on each and every post  -  it got to be a little scary how much of a fan I became.   I even started a Stalking Chartroose Challenge! I wanted to keep track of the books that she recommended and keep track of my progress to keep up with her.     (interestingly enough, my post on the Stalking Chartroose Challenge was posted almost exactly one year ago!!)

But she’s been on a bit of a hiatus.    I miss her and know that others have wondered where she is.

Now, we all agree that for many of us, blogging is supposed to be fun and we should be allowed to take a few breaks now and then  – we don’t OWE our readers anything, right?   Right?

So, this little project I have in mind today is NOT to guilt Chartroose into coming back to blog but to just make a peek of an appearance?    maybe?   I just want her to know that I miss her and hope she can remember the fun of yapping about books; that  sharing thoughts about books can make reading more than just a solo activity but an enjoyable community experience, too.

So now.   Some of my FAVORITE posts!

Her review of The Ha-Ha by David King.     (read her comments; she says she’s sappy and sentimental.)

“The characters in this superb novel are filled with such acute longing” – quote from review of We Disappear by Scott Heim

Unfinished book, thoughts on Social Darwinism and BRING ON THE BUTTERFLIES!

A tribute to a favorite personality Jean Shepherd

and if Chartroose has somehow won the lottery and she’s really off on some tropical island sipping fruity drinks with umbrellas and reading dammit, then maybe she can send in Gnarly Surfer Dude to do some more guest posts?

TELL ME, have you read any books rec’d by Chartroose?

Happy Halloween! Beware of Flying Monkeys

Happy Howl-a-ween!

Oscar, very precious, is.       (I don’t speak Yoda.  Are the commas where they are supposed to be?)

Powderly Meadows is my pup’s absolute favorite place to be when he can’t be where ever his momma is…

Women Unbound Challenge

Eva and Aarti are hosting the Women Unbound Challenge and I’m helping!     I am so happy I was on Twitter when the whole idea erupted.   Within an hour and a half (I had dinner sometime in there), we had host volunteers, a hashtag #unbound, rule suggestions, time frame, and a ton (well, quite a few!) of enthusiastic and interested readers!

I have no idea what books I will read.

I will commit to the most books read level.

I think know this will be fun!   and educational.

Click on this sentence which will direct you to the official webpage of the challenge for Women Unbound Challenge and you can read all about it and get more information since I’m not explaining it further when you can go there and get a better idea.

Then come back here and give me your suggestion for a must read book!

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Thoughts   The Giver by Lois Lowry, Dell Laurel-Leaf/Random House 1993, 179 pages, Newberry Medalist

MOTIVATION for READING: This was the highest rated book on one of those goodreads.com “BEST BOOK” lists that I had not yet read and didn’t know enough about it not to read. (There are a few books rated higher that I will never ever read because I just don’t want to.)

AND…    One of the students in a class I sub for mentioned this as one of his favorites.     So I read this in honor of him.     I also dared him to read the next in the series Gathering Blue so I’ll have to read that soon, I suppose.

WHAT IT’s ABOUT: A young boy lives with his perfect family in a perfect community in a perfect future and is chosen for a unique and honored role:   to be the receiver and keeper of the secrets of the past.     His sole responsibility is to receive the memories from the Giver, an older man who wants to pass on his duties before he’s too old to manage the task.      CAN EITHER of these two HANDLE IT?

WHAT’s GOOD: The setup is handled very well and I was desperate to know the conflict before I was ready to handle it.     The unfolding of the story is important.

WHAT’s NOT so GOOD: The ending is frustrating.     I don’t like series books because I don’t like having to read more books than the thousands I have already decided I want to read before I knew I would have to read the second in a series.     Does that make sense?   Another post, another day…

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO JONAS!  TO THE GIVER!

Plus, I’m frustrated to find out that Gathering Blue doesn’t necessarily address much if ANY of this story?   It’s apparently not a continuation.    So add the third book (which I’m not even sure the title!) to Mt. TBR.    I know, I’m just horrible.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I am looking forward to reading Number the Stars.   Is this the 3rd book in this series?     and I’m very glad to now say I’ve read a Lowry book.

This qualifies for my Read-A-Thon Oct09 Hour 16 Mini-Challenge to identify good books with an older protagonist.    Or main character.   A page or a real ongoing challenge on this topic/concept forthcoming.

RATING: Four Pie Slices of Apple Pie.

Song Parody, Read-A-Ton (yes, TON) and a Big Shout Out to Softdrink, Cuz She’s COOL

If you’ve ever enjoyed The Rocky Horror Picture Show…

It’s astounding, time is fleeting
Reading takes its toll
But listen closely, not for very much longer
You’ve almost met the goal

I remember doing the Read-a-thon
During those moments when
The blackness would hit me and sleep would be calling
Let’s do the readathon again…
Let’s do the readathon again!

It’s just a book in your hand
And then a flip of the page
With your eyes on the words
You let your mind engage
But it’s the cheerleaders that really drive you insane,
Let’s do the readathon again!

Your book is dreamy, or hot and steamy
It stars a banshee, or no one at all
It’s in another dimension, there’s no comprehension
Oh no, there’s none at all
With a bit of a page flip
You’re suddenly on a space ship
And nothing can ever be the same
You’re strung out on cookies, you sound like a Wookie
Let’s do the readathon again!

Well I was strolling through the bookstore just havin’ a look
When what should I espy but my next book
It shook me up, it took me by surprise
It had a sale tag and Care gave it 5 pies. < — that’s ME!
It lured me in and I felt a change
Time meant nothing, never would again
Let’s do the readathon again!

See you all in April?

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Fizzy Thoughts AKA Softdrink is the genius behind all songs rewritten to include a book- theme.      Thanks Jill! You’re incredibly awesome.   #luvjill is t

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Book Menage! woo hoo!

Here’s what’s up in my reading future:

The Restless Sleep:  Inside New York City’s Cold Case Squad   by Stacy Horn

and a graphic novel, Rick Geary’s The Borden Tragedy

A serious treatment of the Borden murders presented for the first time in comic book form…

This book may be purchased from the Fall River Historical Society Gift Shop; click here.

DISCUSSION STARTS Monday November 30!

WHY?    Because I love the Book Menage hosted by Citizen Reader, that’s why!

Citizen Reader explains the next Book Menage here.

My Take on Boston Book Fest

My friend Holly and I ventured north into the big scary city* to attend the Boston Book Fest on Saturday.  It was raining but not cold enough to deter us.   We bravely found a parking spot ($20 and right behind the Trinity Church on Copley Square – getting in was easy, getting back to the interstate was treacherous) and quickly scampered to the first event.     

The first session we chose was in the basement of the Trinity Church and it was a lovely venue, quite cozy.   The title was Book Worms and Net Crawlers and featured Ethan Gilsdorf, Ben Mezrich (I bought his latest book The Accidental Billionaires : The Founding of Facebook – A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, but alas, I didn’t stick around to embarrass myself by asking for his autograph.)   I did take his picture – he’s on the right, Gilsdorf on the left.    (excuse my photo-taking skills – yea, whatever.   I thought Auto Setting was supposed to fix the blurries.)      Where was I?  OH!  David Pogue!   He.  Was.   Funny.     His book The World According to Twitter is a laugh riot, if it delivers more of the taste he gave us.     Gilsdorf’s book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is about the World of Gaming and explores the literature roots of this craze (J.R.R.Tolkein) and I’m almost interested in reading it but I’m sure most of the book is beyond my understanding of this side of current culture.   I guess that is all the more reason to read it.     He discussed why seemingly normal people might want to disappear into these live re-enaction weekends to fight medieval battles – for the chance to have a ‘Magic Moment’ where the current world dissolves and they feel like they are truly back in time.      The moderator, unfortunately, had a bit of a monotone and I was actually embarrassed by his lack of enthusiasm as he presented the panelists.   They made up for it, though and were all very entertaining.

[Photo of me and Holly;  she's considering which session to attend next.]

You might be wondering who or what this adorable purple and red lobster is doing.    If you recognize the little fella, then you must have read my post about the package I received from Nymeth.    She told me he wanted to ‘see the world’.  What better an opportunity than to take him along to Boston!    He came in handy, when he jumped up and down and yelled “DAWN IS TOO FOND OF BOOKS!!!   WHERE ARE YOU??”     And that is how we came to meet Dawn and wave happily to her before the next session held in the beautiful Old South Church.        Titled Hodgman / Perrotta, this event introduced Holly to the guy in the Mac commercials (she doesn’t watch much TV and swears she doesn’t know what I’m talking about and had never seen him in her life).  

Yea, I know.  FUZZY. sorry!

I had NO IDEA that John Hodgman had a literary background!    He is extremely quick-witted.   By which I mean he is very funny and fast on his feet in terms of thinking up quick funny things to say.      Which I’m not.     I’m really not that funny when I have time to think about it and even time to edit what I type.    In other words, I’m excited to try some of his books!    I didn’t get in line to meet him, either.   And I am just as excited to read Tom Perrotta’s books, too!     He was just as cool.    He’s just not as famously face-famous, as Hodgman might put it.     Anyway.

We missed Dawn in the mass exodus of the church, found ourselves in the cafeteria of the Boston Public Library and somehow Dawn tracked us down, the awesome and diligent gal that she is.     I blame the rain on the difficulties.

Dawn thought up the name “Copley” for the lobster since his first outing was to Copley Square!

In one of our Twittering exchanges, I amused myself with the clever concept to have a secret phrase to say when we met so we would ‘know’ each other:

“The book is wet when it rains in Tibet.”

Dawn, who is ever more clever and amusing and has my utmost respect since she didn’t ignore me nor make fun of me for my silliness, offered this:

“The book will freeze if it snows in Belize,” as her response.

Aint she cute?    And I swear, even though this was the first time meeting her IN PERSON, I feel like I’ve known her forever.    It was very fun to share lunch with her in the BPL Courtyard.

Dawn had to rush off to her Writer’s Workshop, so Holly and I rushed over to the Power of Place presentation which featured Anita Shreve, Anita Diamont, Elizabeth Nunez, and Carolina De Robertis and hosted by Kim McLarin.    Unfortunately we missed Anita Shreve’s bit,  we were treated to the author’s reading selections from their latest work.    Nunez has a lovely voice and I now want to read Anna in-Between.    I apologize that we were sneaking in during De Robertis’ time but I’m so glad we got to hear about Anita Diamant’s new historical fiction Day After Night which features Israel in the days after WWII.

next, we decided to explore the beautiful Copley Hotel  and just check if the Tea with Catie Copley was really full or not – maybe they’d let us sneak in.   And they did!    Catie is a trained service dog and is the official greeter of the hotel.    I can’t resist a childrens book when it’s in my face, so I bought one; especially because of  the mention of Catie’s dog toy being a stuffed lobster!  I’m easy.    I’m going to send it to my niece Ada Mae for Christmas.      And of course, kids say the darndest things.    After the author read the book, one of the darlings asked her ‘Did Catie really do that?  Is it REALLY true?’

I chose the morning activities, so it was Holly’s turn to pick for the afternoon.     The crowd was growing and we were astonished to discover that the line for the 4 pm session to discuss The Obama Year (featuring Jack Beatty, David Gergen, Lani Guinier, Michael Porter and Tom Ashbrook ) was already snaking through the book stacks at BPL!    Sure enough, they turned away the people six spots ahead of us – we were SO CLOSE.     We looked in on the Thrillers and Killers session but didn’t want to sit on the cold marble floor and not see who were were listening to.    (Stephen Carter, Andre Dubus III, Joseph Finder and Jessica Stern)

So we sped back home.

Where I was greeted by the fabulous cooking skills of my incredible husband!   He smoked meatloaf and salmon and sausages, whipped up potato salad and chopped up the mix for cole slaw.    I only wish I could have enjoyed a beer but I had coffee instead.    I was ready to sit down to the computer and cheer my heart out for the read-a-thon.

A VERY FUN DAY.   

* Holly went to school in Boston Proper but I am rather intimidated by the famously hellish driving conditions.  That’s why I took her along – she was supposed to be my guide and calmer-downer.       It wasn’t easy but we somehow did a u=turn over the T tracks in front of Northeastern to get back onto Mass Ave and eventually onto I-95 South.

Final Read-A-Thon Update

End of the ‘Thon Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
5. How many books did you read?
6. What were the names of the books you read?
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
8. Which did you enjoy least?
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

1.   I was daunted week’s ago with wanting to attend the Boston Book Fest AND do the Read-A-Thon so I signed up for both.   Both as Reader AND Cheerleader AND Mini-Challenge Host.   But I couldn’t stay awake and finally crawled into bed during Hour 20 with uncertain hopes to wake up around Hour 23 to do this meme at least.   I didn’t make it – woke up 1.5 hours after it was over but have spent the last hour tweeting and cheering anyway.

2.   To be honest, it didn’t seem to me that there was much book excitement talk but maybe I was too hectic to comment comment comment everywhere.  I did tbr a few books:   Jumped by Rita Wms-Garcia, The Secret Scripture by Barry Sebastian and Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice.

3.  My improvement suggestions are ALL aimed at me and my preparation process.   So, none to share until the next one!  ha.   The organizers always do an amazing and impressive job keeping us all on task and on top of things.  CHEERS!   Applause, applause!

4.   I think the cheering went well with Eva’s clear instructions and guidance.  Yea Cheer Captain!   And even though I’ve been through this almost EVERY RAT, I always am disappointed that I don’t track my comment counts (I don’t even try – it’s too stressful) and that I didn’t get to everyone in my assigned group.    I am SO GLAD that I didn’t see many zero comments on posts so I think we did a great balanced approach to visiting everyone as a group.    so GOOD JOB CHEERers!   I do wish I knew more of who my fellow cheer team was and also a bit surprised that I didn’t figure out who they were!   (I know MargReads and VioletCrush and probably Vasilly since I followed her around blogosphere – oh and jehara!)

5.6.7.  I DID READ ONE BOOK! Wahoo!!!    Catie Copley by Deborah Kovacs.   I attended the High Tea with Catie the Lab, Resident Dog at the Copley Hotel during the book fest and I have a hard time resisting buying kids books.   It was 28 pages  pages that only had illustrations.   Yea me!    I read the first 2 pages of Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree waiting for an event at the BookFest, too for a total of 30 pages read.  

9.  Advice for cheerleaders:     yes!  sign up and do whatever cheering you can!    If you aren’t a google-blogger, create an id in that realm and then it’s super easy to leave comments.       If you ARE A google-blogger – this applies to both readers and cheerleaders, turn off word verification and AT LEAST!!!!   allow nonblogspotters  to comment!   and maybe even open it up to OpenId  and/or Name/URLs.  I offer that up to the vox and livejournals and whatever’s I came across and thus didn’t leave a cheer because I wasn’t about to sign up for anything new.   sorry!

Don’t wear mascara during those tired lean weak hours cuz if you do give up and crash, you’ll look like hell when you wake up.

I think that’s enough for now…

10.   I’ll always participate in Read-a-Thon!    and I’ll probably continue to cheer more than read but I do so aspire to actually reading some time and breaking that 1000 page goal.    sigh….

THANK YOU ALL who participated in my mini-challenge to create a list of great books featuring an older protagonist. Please continue to think and add more.     I might even create its own page here at ol’ Care’s Online Book Club.     Congrats to a new-t0-me blogger that I’m excited to get to know:  Sarah at Dangerously Cold Tea for winning the random selection.

Happy One More Successful Fun Read-A-Thon Everyone!  Thank you Dewey for kicking off this great project and thank you all for allowing it to continue as tribute to this outstanding book blog mother of book blogs.    CHEERS!

Read-A-Thon Update Hour 20

G’night Readers and Cheerleaders and Organizers and anyone else.

I can’t make it another second but I do think this is the longest I’ve ever was awake for a RaT.    Although, this is the first year I didn’t get a visit to every blog, and that disappoints me.

Oh well!  Congrats on all those pages turned!  

Enjoy this photo of Copley the Lobster at today’s yesterday’s Book Fest: