Po(sey) Sessions

I have seen on various blogs people talking about the books they are getting in the mail . I don’t review (officially) very many books so it is a real treat when I get some books in the mail. I thought it would be fun to celebrate that fact. I have been wanting to put some pictures of my books on the blog for a while, but all I have is a really crappy webcam. So, you are just going to have to suffer. I was lucky enough to have Chelsea send me six books. Chelsea sent me a copy of our January young adult book club pick so that I would be able to participate. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson has a beautiful cover and I am very excited to read it. The chat for this book will be on Dec. 29th. Feel free to contact me for more information or check out Chelsea’s blog . I have been told I will really enjoy this book and now I am trying to decide whether to jump right into it or wait until closer to the chat to read it. I really love talking about books in a g...

Well, it is the last Sunday Salon of 2008. Though I have not participated as much in the latter part of the year, finding this group has been a great experience. I love talking about and sharing experiences with books. Looking back it has been a very successful reading year for me and in part that is because of blogging and fellow book bloggers. Thanks to all of your for sharing your insights and expereinces. I am curious to know how you enjoyed 2008 and what you will be doing in 2009. What was the best book you read in 2008? What are your reading goals for 2009? How has The Sunday Salon impacted your reading experience? Is there one book you read in the past year and enjoyed that you would have never read without the encouragement of your fellow bloggers? What is one of the things that motivates you to read? The best young adult book I read in 2008 was easily Wake , though there were other great young adult books I read, this book had a uniqueness that I really found refreshing. ...

Even though I have only read some of her short stories and poems, Margaret Atwood quickly made it onto my list of favorite writer’s. Her short stories "Wilderness Tips" and another short story from the same collection whispered into my heart. It was easy to see why they are both so widely anthologized. I enjoyed these stories so much I quickly went to the store and bought every one of her novels I could find. But then I came across a problem. I was worried that if I read one of her novels I wouldn’t like her writing as much and the purity of the connect I felt with her stories and writing would be severed. When I decided to take on the well read book challenge I quickly selected Cat’s Eye to read. A lot of people chose it to read for their year of reading dangerously. This alone was peaking my interest. The fear was still in me, the worry that I wouldn’t LOVE it. It ended up that I read The Handmaid’s Tale first. This is great because I loved it. And it abol...

The UK versions of the mac vs pc commercials have been circulating around the web and I just thought I would do my part. All I have to say is: I WANT TO BE ON THE NAUGHTY STEP.

Thirteen things I wish I had gotten for Christmas. 1. ACR of Fade by Lisa McMann .  Wake was one of the best novels I read in the whole of 2008. I cannot wait to read the sequel. Wake is such a unique book I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Just watch the trailer for Wake !   2. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow .  The ebook is available online here , (totally free and legal) but this is a book I want to hold in my hands. I may suffer without it and just read the ebook but I don’t want to.  I have heard so many good things about this. This book has been recommended to me several times in the last few months. Have you read it? The New York Times named it a notable children’s pick for 2008. They call it “a novel that is at once an entertaining thriller, a thoughtful polemic and a practical handbook of digital-age self-defense.” 3. Diamond earrings.  No this isn’t a book title.  I just really want some nice diamond studs that I c...

The Cure was a very promising science fiction novel to begin with. It is set in a future Utopic world but when Gemm 16884 starts acting contrary to accepted behavior the book took a turn into very intense historical fiction. And while it was very well written and historically accurate, it just wasn’t what I wanted from the book. it went somewhere "new" and maybe that isn't always a good thing The hybrid did not integrate the way that I would have hoped. The elements of the stories were almost completely separate; a historical novel book ended with pure science fiction. Though I could see how and why this book has been popular to read in school. If I had to read this in school I would have loved it. I like to know as little as possible about a book before I read it, and sometimes that leads to disappointments. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I knew what to expect out of it. But critically I have to observe that on a creative level this book just ...

Frankenstein is considered to be one of the first pieces of science fiction. The modern view of this genre is intensely tied to the concept of technology and outer space, but it is not limited by these confines. Science fiction is about the exploration of any future scientific advances. There has been much inquiry into what inspired the story of Frankenstein and his monster, but it is deeply connected with scientific experiments that were contemporary to the creation of the story. Besides being the predecessor to modern science fiction what place does Frankenstein have in the contemporary genre? And does it still have influence? The story exhibits a classic example of the mad scientist subgenre of science fiction. When one comes to think about it, it is easy to understand how it can be classified as science fiction, but less apparent is why that is relevant. But a deep aspect of mad scientists is their need to play god. And this is both very relevant in the perspective of Fr...

Starting today, Dec. 23rd, publisher Simon Pulse and Lisa McMann are having an essay contest.  It is only open to teens aged 14-18. Fund Your Dream Essay Contest The kind of dream that Janie has - to go to college, better her life situation, and maybe, not have to work two jobs to do it! Lisa McMann and Simon & Schuster want to hear from you: What is the Greatest Obstacle You’ve Overcome? Answer this question in 500 words or less and submit your essay below to enter the contest. Lisa McMann will choose a winner, who will receive $1000 toward meeting his or her life goals! Lisa has more details and some good advice on her blog . Check it out for more info.

It is snowing here. But before the snow started I may have run some errands. And while running those errands I may have stopped at the library. And while I that library it is possible I bought some books. If I did in fact buy some books, it may have been the following. The Red Tent Fourth Grade Celebrity The Talking Earth Naked in Death Innocent in Death The Winter Worm Business Read any?

Would Jane Austen be proud of her modern popular status? There seems to be a slew of Austenesque books floating around. And I am not talking about her realism running through romance. From The Jane Austen Book Club to Just Jane , it seems that everyone wants to have their take (and piece of the pie) regarding this author in general and Pride and Prejudice in particular. Just last week I picked up Mr. Darcy’s Daughters and Jane Austen in Boca . At a dollar each one can’t help but be swept up into it. But during her lifetime Austen wrote anonymously, now she has not only one of the most noted names in literature but also in popular fiction. There might be a pride in the endearing and enduring nature of her work, but I don’t really know enough about Austen herself to say for sure. Either way, I am curious to know which Austen related books have you read and enjoyed? Among all these recently popular Austen spins, I thought maybe the market and interest level had been saturated. ...

I cannot believe I went to the Kelly Parra book chat tonight and won a book! I am totally excited to read her young adult paranormal novel Invisible Touch . It was great chatting with Kelly and getting some insight into her writing process. One of the things I enjoyed hearing about the most was her story creation/editing process. She said that she starts with a very bare bones story and adds another layer to it every time she rewrites it. I am excited to see what kind of depth this will add to her story. Kelly shares more of her experience about become on a writer on her website. Here is a taste: “I wish I could say I was an avid reader all my life, but that would be stretching the truth. The real truth is, I've been an avid lover of stories all my life. I've loved movies since I was a kid and was hooked on VC Andrews as a teenager. Beyond television, it was art. So when I became pregnant with my first child and someone gave me a Nora Roberts Romance novel, ...

The Iron Heel by Jack London is considered to be on of the first pieces of dystopic fiction. I was eager to read it when I was it listed on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, but was dismayed to find it wasn’t at the library. But I am SMARTER than the library search system and I found the book in a Jack London collection annoyed that it did not come up with my first search. I have never read any of London’s writings previously but I fell instantly in love and feel eager to read more of his work. What Jack London books have you read? The Iron Heel is in the public domain and available online. The first two paragraphs I found overwhelmingly striking and I will share them with you now. (This work uses a considerable amount off footnotes which I am leaving off for now.) CHAPTER I MY EAGLE The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones. There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum o...

Learn To Be Quiet Franz Kafka *** You need not do anything. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, just wait. You need not even wait, just learn to be quiet, still and solitary. And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked. It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

As I mentioned the other week, my 1% Well Read to read list has changed from the original choices. The first two titles on the list were ones that I read otherwise, but within the time frame of the challenge. I decided to include them in order to finish the challenge by the end of the year. 1. The Handmaid’s Tale 2. Frankenstein There are not many young adult novels on the list. As you know this is an area of literature that is a passion of mine so I made a special note of them and have read the following: 3. The Little Prince 4. Franny and Zooey With my recent interest in science fiction titles from that genre have taken a prominent place on my list. Frankenstein, as seen above and 5. The Time Machine Taking part in this challenge has been extremely motivating and I am looking forward to continuing to read books off the list. I have found them to be a nice guide through literature.

I was ecstatic today to find out that I had to been tagged by Chelsea to tell you 25 Things about myself. And while I am pretty sure you don’t care I am going to do it anyway. See, the thing is I have been waiting my whole blogging career to be tagged and no one ever does it. What is up with that people?! So I was all thrilled and honored to be chosen by Chelsea and go to her blog to check it out. And what does she say? “I'm trying to tag people I don't normally tag!” What exactly does that mean, Chelsea? Why have you been leaving me out all this time?! 1. Last night I dreamed I was dating Ricco Rodriguez . We were dating in secret because apparently the first rule of dating Ricco is not to talk about Ricco. Don’t know who he is? Yeah, I didn’t either until I started watching Celebrity Rehab . 2. Out of an out curious moment I decided to take a look at Celebrity Rehab online. BOY, was that a mistake. Because you can’t watch just one. I stayed up all night watc...