Oct
7
They Like Us, They Really Like Us
October 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Remember the Book Blog Carnival I posted about a few days ago? Well it seems the folks at Blog Carnival really like our Book Blog Carnival. Our carnival will be feature on their homepage ALL day Sunday October 12th. It will be in their featured blog carnivals section to “highlight and acknowledge carnivals [they] really like.”
How cool is that??
I have to say that getting that email seriously helped lighten my mood after having watched our two main presidential candidates debate (and I use that term loosely) the hot issues in our country. I have to mention this, even though it’s completely not related to books at all really. Also, if anyone knows a book that involved this theory, let me know because I’d totally buy it.
Politicians never change. From childhood to adulthood to really old age, they stay the same in one deep, meaningful way. They always promise chocolate milk and pizza for lunch every single day. We all know they won’t deliver, can’t deliver the lunchtime goods. The lunch ladies told us it’s a lie. The teachers told us it’s a lie. They even advised the candidate not to make promises that they couldn’t keep, but the candidate saw our weakness. Our weakness called hope. I’m not saying no one should have hope. I’m not quite that cynical. I’m saying that our hope is raped by promises of chocolate milk and pizza every single day.
Just saying. It’s something to think about. I won’t mention here who I do or do not support because it’s pretty irrelevant in this blog, but I will say this: Beware of the promises of chocolate milk and pizza because no matter which candidate or party you support and no matter how strong your opinions are, no one will ever, ever, ever give you chocolate milk and pizza every single day.
Oct
2
Read For The Record!
October 2, 2008 | 2 Comments
If you have ever met a child that’s been read to and a child who hasn’t, then you have seen the immense impact of childhood reading. I was read to as a child and learned to love books very early. I was an avid reader from the moment I could read on my own. In fact, I loved to read so much so, that I often read aloud. I thought I was sharing my happiness with others. Turns out sometimes people don’t want to hear it. Oh well. It’s a habit I still battle with. =)
For all you avid readers out there, imagine for a moment if someone took away all your books. I know it’s scary, but try to think about it. Now imagine if someone took away your very favorite childhood book. I’m sure you all had one. Mine was The Monster at the End of This Book.
It may or may not be news to you that there are millions of low income children who have no books at home or just none that are age appropriate. Having lived most of my life in a low income, rural area of upstate NY, I have met children who have no books at home. I come from a whole family of book lovers and it always appalled me that there was any child who was denied the access to books, denied the chance to fall in love with stories and engage in worlds outside their own without leaving their cozy bed. Now I see my two year old niece growing so incredibly fast. She has had the luxury (or in my opinion, a right) of having tons of her own books in her home since before she could walk, maybe since before she rolled over on her own. She is growing to love books. Her parents have story time with her every night before bed. I have watched this adorable little girl, walk over to a bin full of toys, pull out a book and plop into my lap. No child should have to live without that experience, that slice of pure joy that can come only from books (and, of course, the parental bonding that comes with being read to).
That’s where Jumpstart’s Read for the Record comes in. This campaign is a continuing quest to get books into the homes of children who have none. Today October 2, 2008 across the nation, parents and children will be attending reading events in schools, libraries, playgrounds, and all over the place. Their goal is break the record this year. If you want location specific info or to be informed as to whether they broke the record, text “JSTART” to 90999 or sign up for their email list here.
Also, you can donate a book by ordering one through their website here. This year’s official campaign book is Corduroy. Other ways to get involved are listed here.
Sep
29
Book Review Blog Carnival
September 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
YAY…everyone loves a carnival, right? The smell of popcorn butter, cotton candy, and that weird odor near the tilt-a-whirl…The fun games with their amazing prizes (like dead fish), and of course Carnies!!
Unfortunately, this is not that kind of carnival. Although, I might be able to work a carnie into a book review blog post somehow. This is a Book Review Blog Carnival–hosted this week at I’ll Never Forget the Day I Read a Book . The carnival was started and is being maintained by Clark Bjork over at Blog Carnival.
SO, this is my first blog carnival. Go check it out, then come back and check me out some more.
Sep
29
Buy A Friend A Book Week
September 29, 2008 | 1 Comment
The first week of October is upon us, so is Buy a Friend A Book Week. The only goal of BAFAB is to suprise your friends, for no reason whatsoever, with the best gift a person can give — a book. BAFAB is celebrated the first weeks of January, April, July, and October annually. Although, as BAFAB explains, it’s okay to cheat and BAFAB any time you want. The website even provides a little printable note to tuck inside your package explaining why you sent it:
“It’s Buy a Friend a Book Week and I’ve selected you as the recipient of a book. Know that this gift is given for no good reason. If it’s your birthday, I don’t want to hear about it. Anniversary? Not a chance. This is a no-strings-attached present given just because.”
BAFAB is young. It was born in July 2005. The site creator, Debra Hamel, is also an author and blogger and mom. Debra has included Amazon Affiliate links to purchase books via BAFAB. She wants you to know that these are affiliate links. Now I want you to know that you should USE them. The website is a gem and the author should certainly get a kickback from your purchases.
Make sure to check out the BAFAB blog. Links are posted there daily including some contests and kick ass reviews.
I can think of few things more exciting the BAFAB. While I wish I had thought of this awesome website, I won’t hold it against Debra for being a genius first. So take a few minutes this week to buy a book for a friend. If you don’t have loads of cash to squander on loved ones (who does?), then dig into you collection — yes, I know it hurts — and pick one of your favorites or just a title you think they’d enjoy.
Grab a tag like this for your website, profile, or blog:
Now go and BAFAB!
Sep
25
I Will Never Buy This Book
September 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
First time author, Dante Moore, is making the publicity rounds for his book Re-education of the Female. Let me give you a little taste of this book:
From the Amazon editorial review, “A mature and open-minded intellect will really understand and appreciate this representation of the male point of view. This book is the perfect starting point for women to evaluate themselves with a little more detail, before pointing fingers and tossing blame at the endless reasons surrounding why they can’t find a “good man.”
Amazon’s review suggests any woman who takes offense to this book is immature and closed-minded. Good job Amazon. You suck.
For those of you who haven’t yet heard, Moore’s book is basically about burning feminism and throwing it in the East Rive. Moore, who has never been married, attempts to give women insight into the minds of men. However, his sweeping generalizations about both genders were not reasearched. He didn’t even poll a dozen people on the internet. He puts forth that his own position is that of all men and that all women have a problem understanding what men want because they won’t like what they hear. Men like Dante Moore are just a step above orangutangues, and only because they can speak–and unfortunately, write.
In an interview I watched with Moore, he explained a few points he made in his book. Women should always stay below a size 10. Cooking and wearing sexy things around the house are other ways women can keep their man. As Moore writes, “Here’s a little secret, ladies: men never really ask for anything. They command. And believe me, what you won’t do, ten broads around the corner will.”
The rantings about Moore are rampant in all forms of media, including the blogosphere. I struggled with deciding whether or not to add my voice to his free publicity. Admid all this tearing down of the book, Moore is selling copies like hot cakes. So instead of reviewing the book or complaining about it, I just want to say that if you’re an intelligent, confident woman, then don’t buy this book. Don’t make Moore a millionaire just to be part of the big conversation about.
If you’re looking for a review, check this one out at Jezebel.
Sep
17
Idiot Girls Action-Adventure Club:True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life
September 17, 2008 | 3 Comments
One day in 2002, I was wandering around River’s End Bookstore with some cash burning a hole in my pocket. I also had the nifty frequent buyer discount receipt in my wallet. Up until that day, I’d been a bit of a snobby book buyer. I always B-lined for the Literature section. I’d buy books I meant to read and sometimes read them. My bookshelf is impressive. That day I wanted something more. I wanted to be entertained. I wanted a book none of my professors had even heard of.
I began to sift through the Table Books. I’m sure those recommendation/new release tables have some sexy book-business name, but I call ‘em tables and the books upon them are Table Books. It just makes sense. At River’s End, like many other bookstores, they tape these little staff recommendation cards in front of some books. I wish I knew who wrote the recommendation for Idiot Girls.
I spotted a book cover (remember my book cover lust) that intrigued me. It was a wood floor, a pair of legs with roller skates and a polka dot skirt and the person appeared to be unconscious, laying on the floor. If this cover has anything to do with the stories in this book, I thought, I need to freaking read this right now. Lo and behold, there was a little staff recommendation card. After reading that, I decided to buy it. Honestly, at this point I have no idea what it said. I left the bookstore thinking that Idiot Girls Action Adventure Club might be aimed at preteens, but could still be entertaining. I didn’t know how funny and not for preteens this book would be.
Laurie Notaro’s Idiot Girls Action-Adventure Club:True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life is the first book I’ve ever read in my entire life that had me laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face. Page after page of hilarious, drunken, Idiot Girl tales and I couldn’t wait for more. It was a pretty fast read, but my longing for more has apparently been shared by many others because she now has seven idiot girls books. I will be reviewing them all, no worries. In the meantime, go buy Idiot Girls Action-Adventure Club:True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life and get started on your path to Idiot Girldom. Check out the official Idiot Girl Website and Laurie Notaro’s Idiot Girls Yahoo Group.
Sep
2
Amazon + Shelfari
September 2, 2008 | 1 Comment
It’s official. Shelfari has been acquired by Amazon. So far, there seems to be no big changes that will be hurdled at Shelfari users immediately. It’s likely that this acquisition will make for some big usability changes within Shelfari. I’m also going to predict that eventually all of us with both Amazon.com and Shelfari accounts will be able to add books to our Shelfari shelf from Amazon and probably display our shelf right in our Amazon profile page. I’m interested to see how this plays out.
With Google Booksearch being in Beta and Google gearing up to push it’s own (currently functional) library, this Amazon acquisition will at least help Shelfari hold its own against the giant GoogleMonster.
Aug
25
A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World
August 25, 2008 | 2 Comments
On BoingBoing today I saw a blurb about this incredible book:
It’s a collection of essays along with Murakami covers from all over the globe. It’s definitely worth a look, but I know this one’s going on my wishlist. I have a book-cover fetish anyway, so A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World immediately caught my eye. His essays cover topics like globalization and translation. The book itself was compiled by Jay Rubin, Richard Powers, Kim Choon Mie, Inuhiko Yomota, Roland Kelts, Shozo Fujii, Shinya Machida, Ivan Sergeevich Logatchov, Koichi Oi, Issey Ogata
With a special essay on translation by Haruki Murakami (Japan Foundation). It looks like an interesting window into the world around an incredibly talented writer.
Aug
22
Ooh Bookmarks Galore!
August 22, 2008 | 3 Comments
I am a huge fan of bookmarks. I’d love to start a collection eventually. While looking around Etsy today, I came across some seriously rad bookmarks. Yeah, I had to pull out the r-word for these. These lovlies just may have to go on my birthday wishlist.
One of my favorites was this owl bookmark by KnottyByNature.
Sybile Original Art and Goodies features these sexy, sophisticated original art bookmarks.
Allies Adornments had some exquisite bookmarks made from antique buttons.
Finally, these cute ribbon bookmarks from The BookWorm shop.
Aug
20
What if You Can’t Read?
August 20, 2008 | 2 Comments
Literacy is something I feel very strongly needs more attention across the globe. Knowledge is indeed power.
One of the best ways to gain that powerful knowledge is by reading, so what if you can’t read?
Well, Canada’s federal government is taking powerful step in the right direction.
According to UNESCO literacy rates in the US and Canada have steadily improved since the 1970s and expected to continue improving. In 1991 the United States created our National Institute for Literacy. In the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Canada (and a myriad of other countries) outperformed the US every time in reading literacy, interpreting, retrieving, and reflecting on texts. Adult literacy rates though are pretty similar in both countries.
The fact that we need to measure it at all upsets me. I hope that all world governments continue to take this problem seriously and start stepping up even more. Illiteracy breeds more illiteracy, poverty, lower graduation rates, joblessness and homelessness, more pressure on public services, and homelessness. If you teach one other person to read in your entire life, imagine the incredible impact you could have on that one human being, their life, and by proxy on the entire world.
Reading is Sexy!
-
Show Love
-
-
Book Blog Carnival
