December 29, 2011

July 17, 2011

Guest Book Review

My young friend Weston has a goal to read fifty books this summer, which is awesome. Here is his review of the first book.



Hope to see more, Weston!

November 05, 2010

Etsy Find of the Week: Baby Cape/Coat

Can I scoop up this child and squish her?

And then... can I also get one of these in Big Lady Size?  

 




November 04, 2010

a few more books under my belt...

I keep forgetting to post my reading.  I suppose it's just as well that this challenge is coming to an end.   I appear to be running out of blogging steam (See also my lack of "Etsy Find of the Week" posts for two weeks running...)  Anyway, a few more recent reads for the official list:

Book 41:  The Reversal, a new one by Michael Connelly.  I like books where you're not quiiiiite sure if the bad guy is really the bad guy or not.  This is sort of like that.  Good Harry Bosch/Mickey Haller book.

Book 42:  Still Missing, by Chevy Stevens.  Okay, this thriller definitely had a unique plot, and kept my attention the whole way through.  Really liked it.  Basically the story centers around a lady realtor who is abducted from an open house and suffers hideous abuse at the hands of her captor...  but from Page 1, our victim is telling the story, so you already know she doesn't die during the ordeal (Probably. Unless it's some Lovely Bones type of thing where the victim is telling the story from the grave. But that's not what's going on here. Oops - spoiler?)  Her life - and the investigation into her abduction - must go on.  I guess this one also falls into the "I'm not totally sure who the bad guy is" category.  I would definitely recommend it.

Book 43:  Prayers for Rain, by Dennis Lehane.  Continuing my Kenzie/Gennaro kick.

Book 44:  Last Night at Chateau Marmont, a new release from Lauren Weisberger.  You know her books; this one is similar.  I liked it because I'm a girl who reads gossip magazines and likes makeup and designer jeans.

Now then. I know that I said that I would stop reading young adult books and would focus on books aimed at my own general age group.  Which I mostly did (see above).  However, I feel I must admit that I did read a few more YA books in addition to the titles above but I am just not going to count them towards my challenge total.  I will spare you from talking about them except for one tiny little thing which is OMG THE HUNGER GAMES!!!

October 15, 2010

Etsy Find of the Week: Kristiana Parn

I feel like my Etsy posts are prodominantly artwork, but I guess that's what I am drawn to on that site.  Art and soap.  And I feel like I should share, so:

I love love love Kristiana Parn's paintings of bunnies and foxes and little white bears!  I have one print hanging in my office but I think they would look adorable in a child's room.





October 08, 2010

Two Things I HATE

I shouldn't shine my negativity onto the internet - baby Jesus knows there's enough out there already - but there are a couple of things that irritate me to no end that I have to get off my chest:

I HATE when someone expresses their opinion and then ends with "Period."  or "End of story."  No, that is NOT the end of the story because your opinion is not the only one that matters!  Really, it's just so arrogant.  I love reading the gossip on Gawker but the supercilious commenters on that site are always doing that.  Drives me crazy. Who do you think you are?

The other thing that drives me crazy is when someone says, "You can't understand/comment on __________ if you haven't experienced it yourself."  Now, I see how sometimes this could be appropriate.  I do.  But I hate when it is used as a blanket dismissal of one's opinions.  To be honest, this comes from my regularly being dismissed by friends/family for having the audacity to comment on children.  Children, children's behavior, anything having to do with kids.  According to some of my friends I am not allowed to have any opinions on any children or on any parents in the world because I have not given birth.  Well, you know what? I don't live in a cave.  I know children, I know parents, and I am allowed to have opinions on them.  It's not like I'm sitting around passing judgment all the time, either, but it is so rude to tell me that I am not allowed to talk about it.  I haven't ever... let's see...  I haven't ever been the victim of a terrorist attack.  Can I have an opinion on terrorism?  No?  I haven't ever suffered child abuse, or rape, or run a marathon.  But I guess I am not allowed to think about those things or express any sort of opinion on them, because I haven't actually experienced them.

I guess I'm feeling like I'm being dismissed lately.  But you can't shut me down, annoying Gawker commenters and my friends!  So there.  Period.  The end.

Etsy Find of the Week: Tea Tumblers

I would love to have tea in one of these little ceramic "tea tumblers" by eikcam.




October 05, 2010

Kenzie and Gennaro

After hearing Dennis Lehane speak, I thought I'd give his Kenzie/Gennaro crime series a try.  I read A Drink Before the War, Darkness, Take My Hand, and Gone, Baby, Gone. (These are books 1, 2 and 4 of the series.  For some reason I skipped the third one, Sacred. Not sure why.)  Pretty good!  Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are private detective partners in Boston.  Of course there's sexual tension, etc., and their personalities and all the stuff on the side sort of bugs me, but the action and the plots are kind of exciting.  Worth a look.

Those were Books 38, 39 and 40 for my challenge.  Home stretch!

October 03, 2010

Banned Books Week

As I am always a step behind the times, I just found out that last week, September 25 - October 2, was "Banned Books Week", a week designated to celebrate our freedom to read.

That's great.  I am all for it, and am against censorship.  But it just got me to thinking:  What does "banning" a book really mean?  It's not like all copies of that book are being destroyed.  Are they banned from school libraries?  Are bookstores or libraries not supposed to be distributing them to minors?  Maybe I'm just in an early Sunday morning haze, but I don't really get how a group "banning" a book is really effective.  Banning a book is something that I think I would be outraged about, except for the fact that I'm pretty sure I can get a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird or a Harry Potter book any old time I want, so as far as I can tell, protests against these books are not all that effective.  Am I wrong?  Someone explain it to me, please.

October 01, 2010

Etsy Find of the Week: Kate Pugsley

I recently bought this little work of art.  It is hanging in my bathroom because some days you feel like wearing a bag over your head even if you have a cute polka dot dress on.


I also really like the grandma and the ice fishermen.





September 14, 2010

okay okay

Two more young adult books and then THAT'S IT.  I promise.  Both by E. Lockhart: 

Book 36:   The Treasure Map of Boys.  Cute, fun, thoughtful - like the other Ruby Oliver books.

Book 37:  Dramarama.  You know...  maybe not my favorite of the E. Lockhart books.  If you're a drama geek you'll like this one, though. I'm just not.  And the protagonist bugged me a bit.  Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it -- I don't subscribe to the theory that you have to like characters in order for a book to be a good read -- but Sadye did annoy me.  Bit of a know-it-all. 

UNTIL:  The last 20 pages of this 300-page book, when I cried.  

And now, my dear friends, I think my appetite for young adult books has finally been sated (for now).  Grown up books from here on out.  Huzzah!