Hey read-a-thoners!!!! Watcha reading??? Are you getting a little hungry while reading?
My book club meets each month at someones home and we try to bring food to go with the book we just read. It is a lot of fun to see how creative we can get! For instance when we read the book ROOM by Emma Donoghue, there was Jack’s birthday cake as described in the book, Jack’s favorite meal of macaroni and cheese, ma’s favorite treat and on the creative side – we had pigs in a blanket renamed for the book “Jack in a rug”. (To get that one you have to have read the book). 😛
Another example would be… say you are reading Chocolat. Well, of course you would be whipping up some tasting chocolat concoctions! Or… you are reading The 19th wife which has to do with Iowa and a funeral… you would always do funeral type foods that were popular in Iowa at the time….
Anyhoo.. for this mini challenge if you choose to accept it, I will be asking you to come up a menu to go along with your current read or one of the books in your reading pile for today. Now… imagine that you have friends coming over to discuss the book with you. You have prepared food and beverage items to go with your meeting (money…. is no object). And what I need to see from you is:
1. Book title and author
2. The menu, food, beverage, you can even go as far as background music, decorations…. have fun with this!
3. You will receive an additional entry if you create a drink to go with your book event and give it a name
4. While you are welcome to post your response in the comments below, you will receive an additional entry if you leave a comment AND link up to a post about this on your own blog. (Linky available below)
SO…. Swedish Chef…. what are they playing for?
A winner will be chosen at the end of this mini challenge time using Random.org and will be announced here that they have won a $20 Amazon gift card that will be sent by email today to the winner! **If more than 40 participate in this challenge, a runner up $10 Amazon card will be added.
Have fun! I can not wait to see what you come up with! 😀
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Ok, I just had to get the “S” word out-of-the-way so I could move on to better things. You have not heard a peep out of my on this site in days. From Thursday afternoon (after work) on, I have been at The Brainerd Library sale helping with the sale. I was there 5 hours on Thursday, 12.5 hours on Friday, and 9.5 on Saturday. 27 hours surrounded by books, helping people with books, talking books, looks for certain books, hauling books out to cars, straightening books, toting empty boxes to the basement…. if it was bookish… I probably did it in the last 3 days.
Let me start with Thursday morning when the sale opened…
My friend Wendy (you will see here waving in the pictures) and I were in the Library parking lot by 6:15 am Thursday morning. (TRADITION!!!!) Yes, the library sale does not open up until 9:00 am and yes, it is true that it was 8 below zero on Thursday morning but it is a book dorky thing I like to do so whatever. 😛
We sat out the chairs and then we ran (yes ran!) to sit in Wendy’s vehicle sipping coffee, catching up, and enjoying the heated seats. 😀 It was about 7:00 am when the next car pulled into the parking lot – a guy who is always at the sale and I know as Tom showed up in full “ready to sit outside in 8 below zero weather gear”. Wendy groaned “oh no, now we have to go sit in those chairs to hold our place in line!” I told her, “No, wait – I know this guy, let me talk to him.” So out into the FREEZING air I went to talk with Tom. Once he heard my wheezy voice (yup, still battling that sinus infection) he said he would hold our spots and I scurried back to the car ever grateful. Not only did Tom hold our spots… but he gave numbers to those who came after him so they too could go back to their cars and stay warm too.
At about 30 minutes before “GO TIME!” Wendy and I went to stand in line and chat it up with the other books lovers (really one of my favorite things to do at the sales). Everyone, despite the cold, was in such good spirits.
The awesome Library then let us form our line inside due to the cold (I can’t remember exactly but I think someone said it was the coldest day in March in like 60 years…. I believe it!) SO inside this jolly little crew went, and at that time – thanks to Tom’s numbers, we knew we had 48 people in the line.
At 9 am the doors opened to the sale and in we went. I had to get to work and I did not feel well enough to get down and crawl through boxes like I usually do but at 50 cents a book I still spent $20. Over the next two days of working the sale I would spend another $16. (Do not judge…. 😛 )
So – on to the books…. Here is what I brought home:
and then a few special ones –
Two old Nancy Drews (I collect her) and yes, I do own The Help…. but, (and this is a book geek thing)…. not with this cover. 😛
Oh come on, have you not ever bought a good book just to own it in with a different cover? No? Just me? Too much? 😛
So that is where I have been and what I have been doing. I feel wiped out today but not as tired as I was yesterday. Yesterday was the $2 a bag of books sale and it was soooooo busy and by the time we closed up I was merely fumes of my former self. BUT – I have to tell you, what a blast and what a fun group of volunteers I spent time with this week. 😀
SO in honor of the book sale, put below in the comments one of the books that you see here that you would like (*not including the last picture). On Tuesday I will use random.org to choose a winner and I will send you that book.
Have a great start to your day everyone – I am off to get ready for church and then think I will lay low most of today re-energizing to start another busy week tomorrow. 😀
I didn’t mean to be “non postal” today and actually had a great post planned but my day turned out busier (in a good way!) when I thought and between phone calls and hanging out with Justin I have putzed the morning away and well, finally writing a little something. 😀
As you can see by the title of this post, it is my birthday…. and as you can see in the picture, I received a wonderful book on my birthday from the amazing Beth Hoffman, her newest title and so SSSSQQQUUUUEEEEEE worthy I had to show you. I cant wait to get into it and thank your Beth!
And since I love to do giveaways to celebrate anything.. today I am doing a giveaway for the book SHRED Revolutionary Diet which I really enjoyed reading through. I wrote that review on the Team Kickin It site and to enter the giveaway please leave a comment on the review, and for a bonus chance, leave one here as well.
As for me, I think I will be off mostly all day. Justin and I are going to a late dinner and a movie and I may join up with friends later tonight. It will be a great day 😀
Good morning! It is Saturday and I feel like I am recovering from some extreme event. In truth, although I was gone all day yesterday it was nothing that extensive. I got up at 5 am yesterday to drive my friend Connie to the cities for her doctors appointments. We did not get back into town until 8 pm last night and all the way home traffic (on a Friday after 5) AND construction knocking it down to one lane… made our 2 hour and 15 minute drive almost 4 hours. After arriving home, I was wiped out and was in bed by 9:30 pm.
Before I get into the awesomeness of banned book week – I want to take a brief moment and add a couple pictures for Alyce’s Saturday Snapshot which I love to participate in when I have some pictures I want to share and this morning…I do. 😀
Here is what I woke up to this morning:
Front deck this morningBack deck this morning
Yes. SNOW. 😯 Now you can fall into one of two camps here:
Camp 1. Yeah Sheila, its just a little snow , it will be gone by noon! Suck it up – its pretty.
Camp 2. Oh no, that’s horrible don’t you have a bike ride tomorrow? Snow SUCKS!!!!
Ok, Camp one… you may exit the blog now… nothing here for you to see, obviously you do not know how I feel about snow. 😀
Camp two, you are my people. Thanks you for feeling my pain and yes, I do have a bike ride tomorrow with friends in Mankato on my ROAD BIKE. The snow… must go away.
Alright – that is it for the pitty party because it is the final day of Banned Books week and I am a little bummed about that. This week I had the opportunity to read some great books that are on that list: PREP, Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The Giver, The Chocolate War, The LORAX and watched the last Harry Potter movie. All of what I just mentioned has been banned or challenged somewhere in the world. AND there have been a whole ENORMOUS team of awesome bloggers who have helped out this week by also reading and reviewing banned books and posting about them and offering giveaways and seriously – a good good time. 😀
Here is today’s posts by these bloggers. I hope you can check out what they have to say, many of them are having giveaways to go with their posts:
Laurel from Rainy Days And Mondays fantastic post on The Catcher In The Rye was linked wrong yesterday so I am bringing it back today.. She is also having a book giveaway. Please check it out!
Erin from Quixotic Magpie wrote a review of The Awakening and is offering a book giveaway!
Julie from My Book Retreat shares about the banned/challenges books of the Junie B Jones series. Julie is also having a book giveaway!
Liza from Reading With ABC is talking about Forever by Judy Blume and offering up a book giveaway!
Marie from The Boston Bibliophile is discussing The Handmaids Tale (one I need to read!) and giving a book giveaway!
Rachel from Resistance Is Futile has posted some interesting titles this week and today she talks about Roll Of Thunder, Hear Me Cry by Mildred D Taylor
Kristin from My Little Heart Melodies wrote about The Things They Carried, a book that has graced my shelf a long time and I still need to get to.
Marj from In Library Paradise shares about The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and has a book giveaway!
Priya from The Faceless Author shares her thoughts on child sacrifices in the Hunger Games – she is giving away one of her custom made comic strips!
Sue also posts at Book By Book and shared about Brave New World Today. A book I am still hoping to read this year!
That is today’s line! I hope you can visit them – if your Saturday is cold and damp like mine why not grab a second (or third cup of coffee or cocoa) and check out some of these posts. You may be surprised what you learned about why these books were challenged. AND for that matter, dont forget the posts from earlier this week as well – many of them have giveaways that will end after today so get in on those deals – some of the giveaways are truly “drool-worthy” and I have been checking them out and tweeting about them all week. 😀
I am refilling my coffee now and going to check out these links and posts. Later today I will pack up the jeep for my trek to Mankato where I will stay with friends tonight, tomorrow ride my bike in the Mankato Ramble and then I am hanging out with College Son all day Sunday and staying at his place and coming home Monday morning. I will be posting throughout the weekend as Laptop will be making the journey with me.
Thank you to everyone who posted about banned books this week. Thank you to everyone who read these posts and learned something new about banned books and thank you for a great week. I have had a blast and really wish it was two weeks long… I have two more banned books checked out from the library I have not even started yet! 😀
Julie from Diary Of A Word Nerd is going to talk about The Kite Runner (AMAZING READ!) and BOOK GIVEAWAY!
The AWESOME Laurel from An Interior Journey is chatting up The Catcher In The Rye and offering up a book giveaway!
Erin from In Real Life is going to talk about how banned books have impacted her life with a bookmark giveaway!
Rachel from Resistance Is Futile is going with a FAVORITE of mine, Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone (SSQQUUEEE!!!)
I am out of town today, doing a little research in the cities but as I get time I will be popping in throughout the day 😀
In a quick recap – here are the past weeks posts and giveaways that you will not want to miss…. each comment on one of these posts (including mine) enters you into the grand prize banned book drawing!
Day five! I hope you have been enjoying these posts and finding them informative. I am having a blast working with all these awesome bloggers who have put forth their thoughts on banned books and many with giveaways too! Before I list today’s participants remember at the bottom this post I am listing the four previous days participants as well and these are DNM (Do Not Miss) posts! There has been a lot of great banned book reviews and I have entered some of the awesome giveaways as well! 😀
But first…
Ok lets see who is up today and what they have to say…
The AWESOME Natalie from Coffee and a Book Chick is sharing today about The Chocolate War and hosting a book giveaway!
Sweet Florinda from The 3 R’s Blog (and I as well!) will be reviewing The Chocolate War, she read it and I listened to it on audio. Check out my post later because oh yes, there will be chocolate!
The amazing Cass from Bonjour Cass will be sharing her thoughts about banning children’s books and she will host a book giveaway as well!
** so I am going to break in here to share a fun fact about these 3 above bloggers. I have all three of them in person in New York. I had dinner with Natalie and Florinda and I have went to the broadway play, Mary Poppins with Cass. 😀
Kendal from Kinx Book Nook is sharing thoughts on The Color Of The Earth, a fantastic looking book!
Shannon from I Run, Teach, Read is posting about an old favorite of mine, Little House On The Prairie. Yup. A banned book. Check out her post to find out why it was banned. She is also hosting a giveaway.
Tara at Finding Wonderland is reviewing Catcher In The Rye with a book giveaway!
Johnathon Of The Rogue Scholar has taken on Brave New World along with a book giveaway. (Oh and I am loving his style for his giveaway… just saying 😀 )
Dont forget I am offering up a Banned Book Package with a gift card! By commenting on any (or all) of the posts on banned books I have linked this week – including my own, you are entered… that means one entry per comment so go, learn about these great books – and have some fun!
SO that’s todays offerings. 😀 I am working today but an going ot the library to help with their E Book launch this morning which may be fun. 😀 I know I have a banned book ot two to pick up as well, so double duty. 😀 Out weather has turned MUCH COOLER this week which is not making me too thrilled as I have a 50 mile bike ride this coming Sunday in Mankato, MN.
Day four of banned book week already! Are we having fun? Have you learned anything about banned books this week? (Hang on to that question – I am going to ask again at the end of this post. 😀
So… let me dig through the videos… what can we show today. Hang on, I need to pull some footage off the top shelf….. there. Ok, here we go:
And there are the amazing bloggers who have banned book posts and giveaways to celebrate today:
Gina At Book Dragon’s Lair comes today with her thoughts on The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian
Suey from Its All About Books is going to talk to us about Slaughterhouse Five (I haven’t read this one yet!) and a book giveaway!
My buddy Ryan from Reading In Taiwan wrote a great post of Fahrenheit 451 and a discussion on the ban.
Kristi from Kristi Loves Books is going to chat about The Lord Of The Flies (creepy title!) and a book giveaway!
Also, if you are enjoying banned book week, make sure that anytime you stop and check out Bonnie’s Banned Book Blog . Bonnie posts reviews about banned books all tear long and when I am organized (ummmm…. not currently) I post my banned book reviews there as well. 😀
Ok, I need to get ready for work but I will be back this afternoon to posy another banned book review and… some fun 😀
Have you learned anything about banned books this week?
Jonas lives in a world where there is no poverty, no sickness, and no thought or dream that is left unturned by his elders. In Jonas futuristic world, children are given privileges and assignments by age. At 9, you earn your bike… your transportation. At 12, which is where Jonas is at, you are assigned your life career bu the elders of the community. While Jonas anxiously wonders what he will be – and hopes he likes what is chosen for him…
Jonas is assigned a position that was considered an honor position, he would be The Receiver Of Memories. At first, this seems pretty cool. Jonas is given rights that others (even the elders) have never been given. While being trained by the elderly man “The Giver” who has maintained the position for years, Jonas is allowed to ask questions that in other places would be rude, but as the Receiver, he had privileges and rights. He is given the right to see and posses all the memories through the history of his world and he soon learns he can go back in this new memory and see birthday parties (something he had never seen!) and scents, and families, and the word love… but he also sees war, and learns the truth about his world, a truth he does not wish to know…
and now he has to decide if he can live with knowing…
Reminds me a bit of the Hunger Games
Why did I want to read this book? This is another book that has graced my shelves for years…. I knew this was a book that I must read, but I had not. Now, during Banned Book Week, the title came up on the list and I knew it was time. I chose the audio version as it is a little over 4 hours long and worked well into my schedule – I could listen while cooking and cleaning.
I admit, I am always a little nervous on older titles that deal with “futuristic” scenarios. I never have enjoyed sci-fi, but let me stand before you.. corrected. The Giver is dystopian before dystopia novels were cool. Or, more accurately, before we knew dystopia novels were cool. I picked up themes of The Hunger Games, and Divergent…. two books I really enjoyed.
And another thing. The Giver, although the cover is a picture of this God-like old man… is indeed a YA novel. Seriously, I am blown away.
The Giver is one of those books that I would say need to be on everyone’s book bucket list. Filled with wisdom and thought provoking dialogue, The Giver is one that will remain on my keeper shelf.
Why was The Giver Banned?
* The Giver was challenged in 1995 by a parent in Franklin County, Kansas, on the grounds that it is “concerned with murder, suicide, and the degradation of motherhood and adolescence.” The book was removed from elementary libraries but remained available for classroom use at teachers’ discretion.
* In Wrenshall, Minnesota, a school board member and two parents objected to the inclusion of The Giver on a list of books to be purchased for a high school, on the grounds of offensive language and objectionable themes. The school board approved the book but stipulated that parents would receive a list of books to be studied during the year.
* In Johnson County, Missouri, complainants charged that The Giver desensitized children to euthanasia and asked that the book “not be read in class to children under high school age.” The book remains in the high school section of the K-12 library.
* A parent in Sidney, New York, publicly objected to the novel’s “usage of mind control, selective breeding, and the elimination of the old and young alike when they are weak, feeble and of no more use…” but did not file a formal complaint.
* A review committee in Brecksville, Ohio, recommended the removal of The Giver from an elementary library. Objections referred to infanticide and adult themes in the novel. The book was removed.
* Somewhere in Oklahoma, a parent objected to the novel’s use of terms such as “clairvoyance,” “transcendent,” and “guided imagery,” because these are “all occult New Age practices the Bible tells us to avoid.” The review committee voted unanimously to retain the book but prohibited it from being read aloud in fourth grade. The committee also recommended that immature readers be discouraged from trying it, and that the librarian should make fewer copies available.
* Medford, Oregon: In the absence of a formal review policy, language arts teachers decided not to use the book in seventh grade classrooms after a parent complained of graphic descriptions of euthanasia.
* In 1994, The Giver was temporarily banned from classes by the Bonita Unified School District in LaVerne and San Dimas, California, after four parents complained that violent and sexual passages were inappropriate for children.
* The book was restricted to students with parental permission at the Columbia Falls, Mont. school system in 1995 because of its treatment of themes of infanticide and euthanasia.
I am giving away a copy of this book!
To enter this giveaway – share with me in a comment, using the book you are currently reading (banned or not) and tell me why that book should be banned. Just make something up! Have fun with it! 😀 Winner will be chosen on Sunday using random.org 🙂
Day three! Are we having fun yet? I sure am! I hope you had a chance to check out the Day 1 posts and giveaways and the day 2 posts and giveaways. There is a lot of great information in the posts and a lot of wonderful books and gift cards being given away. I hope you can take some time to visit these great blogs and bloggers. 😀 Here’s a little Banned book Video to get you in the mood:
Now that you are warmed up! Here are todays wonderful bloggers that are going to share with you some of their thoughts on banned books:
Laura from A Library Of Clean Reads is going to share with us her thoughts on The Great Gatsby with a gift card giveaway!
Daenel from Living Outside The Stacks is also going to chat up To Kill A Mockingbird today and she is also giving away a gift card! NICE!!!
Charity from The Bookworm Fairy returns with her trilogy watp up as she shares about Mockingjay (yes that is a mocking bird above and now we have added a mocking jay…) Charity’s giveaway of the trilogy and the movie is a do not miss!
Lisa from Lit and Life is going to talk banned books today – have you seen her incredible blog layout? Go take a peek!
The Brunette Librariankeeps things going with The Glass Castle and a gift card giveaway!
And here comes Jennifer from The Relentless Reader covering an old favorite of mine, Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.
Stephanie at On Page And Screen is talking about one I am really curious about, American Psycho and offering a gift card giveaway!
Joy from Joystory is going to discuss Judy Blume (SSSSQQQUUUEEE!) and will be having a crocheted book mark giveaway!
Sue also has a post at Book by Book which if her adult blog!
Suko’s Notebook talks banned books and what she is reading this week.
Jennifer from Book Den is going to discuss A Wrinkle In Time – one I have yet to read but want to!!!
Wendy from Musings Of A Bookish Kitty is going to discuss The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian (LOVE this one!)
*Remember all comments on all posts this week that are linked here (including my own) will go into a drawing for a prize package of banned books and a gift card!
How is that for an amazing line up?
and this great link about banned books will give you a chance to win 30 e-books! Apparently people are backing up Banned book Week and I am loving it!
If you have missed the last two days posts and giveaways do not fear – they are active and could use a visit from you:
Are you reading banned books this week? How about movies off of banned books – there are some great ones out there… Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Lorax, Charlotte’s Web…
Charlie… prefers to observe. Well, observe and carry on discussions on paper written to “Dear Friend” about the people he sees, how funny some people act now that he is in 10th grade, why things are the way they are, the girl he likes, the discrimination he sees, why does he always respond by crying, and his quirky family dynamics.
Charlie, alone is just fine as he is quite self motivated and can find plenty to do. His English teacher seems to pick up on Charlies gift of reading and writing and assigns his additional reports to write on books that he chooses for Charlie which is well… fine, and maybe a little weird as Charlie really doesn’t want his only friend to be his English teacher.
That’s just awkward.
And then Charlie meets Sam and Patrick and things get a little easier. Sam is Patrick’s (beautiful!) sister and they too seem to stand a bit to the sidelines, but somehow – they make it look cool to be on the outside of the clicks and the trends. As their friendship grows Charlie becomes more sure of himself and more comfortable in his own skin.
Why did I want to read this book? This one was on my radar for last years Banned Book Week and I just never got to it. Now that it is a movie (released Sept 14th of this year) I knew I really had to make time for it.
Why oh why does it take me so long to read some books that I know I want to and them when I do…. wow, I have to say what took me so long? Perks Of Being A Wallflower on audio made me laugh, sigh, and yeah, like Charlie, it made me cry… but in a good way. Narrated by Noah Galvin I had goosebumpy (my word) feelings of a John Green novel – and that is a BIG compliment.
The book is smart and witty. Charlie’s character is the perfect mix of teenage awkwardness, low self-esteem, and the push to be something more because you know inside… you are something more. I love books that talk about books and when (yes when!) I listen to this one again I will need to write down all the book references because there is something about books that talk about books that makes me want to read the books that were discussed. To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher In The Rye, Walden, The Fountainhead, Naked Lunch, Peter Pan… (and I love that some of them are banned books as this one is too!).
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is about growing up and growing strong. It is about friendships that don’t relay on status or stereotypes. It is a book I think we all need to read in our lifetime and sit back and bask in what true friendship is. It is heartbreaking at times and it is heartwarming. Looking for a great audio? Pick this one up and thank me later. 🙂
Why was Perks Of Being A Wallflower Challenged/Banned?
According to the Marshall University Library the book has been banned and challenged since 2003 for sexually explicit conduct, drug use, and a rape scene.
Book Journey 