Kicking Off the 4th

Every year our community puts on a huge 4th of July celebration. They always kick it off with a patriotic Sunday service which we've never attended until last night. That's because Glenn Beck was the keynote speaker, and we've been hearing so much about him that we just had to go see what he was all about!

The whole thing ended up being really quite fun. Hearing thousands of people saying the Pledge of Allegiance gets to me every time. They also had some wonderful patriotic songs going on, both band and singing. That was great too. Then finally Glenn Beck took the stage and wow... he is one powerful speaker. There's no falling asleep while he's talking that's for sure! He referred often to 9/11 which choked him up a bit, and to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. His whole message was one of trying to be more positive about our country. He said that we need to count on each other to make this country great and to do our part. He said that this country IS special and that we shouldn't get down on ourselves so much, because of all the problems it's going through. That we should hold our heads up high and get on with fixing things.

Anyway, it was fun and I'm glad we finally made the effort to go to this event. It was a great way to start this patriotic week!

Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

BOOK: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

GENRE: YA Romance

RATING: A

Having read John Green's "other" book (the controversial Looking for Alaska) and having gotten myself addicted to his YouTube vlogs, I was majorly curious to see what I thought of this second book of his. (Soon he'll have a third book out too, Paper Towns.)

I'm happy to report that I liked it! I really, really liked it! And that's despite the language. Oh, John, why the language? Well, sometimes I could see the point. Other times, not so much. BUT... I did love the characters. I loved the premise. (A majorly smart kid, a prodigy even, gets dumped by his 19th Katherine. He feels sad, his friend takes him on a ride, they meet some interesting people, they learn about themselves.) I loved the cleverness, and uniqueness that I'm thinking is a John Green trait. I loved the lessons learned... the "moral of the story." (The main one being, at least what I got from it anyway, we matter because of our stories, so tell your story.)

In the end, I liked it much better than Looking for Alaska. But that's just me. For those of you who have read both, which one was your favorite?

Looking forward to the next book.

Review: Relocating Mia by Rebecca Lerwill

BOOK: Relocating Mia by Rebecca Lerwill

GENRE: Thriller/Suspense

RATING: B

I wanted to like this book more. My husband got it for me for Mother's Day simply based on the fact that the author was sitting there in the bookstore looking lost, lonely and in need of someone to sign a book for. So, continuing our quest to support the local authors, he bought it!

I had no idea what to expect from this book. It turned out to be quite the suspense thriller ride. It sort of reminded me of a Jason Bourne kind of thing. It's about this girl who works to help companies relocate. She ends up in Russia, unwittingly mixed up in a major mess of a covert operation. The guy she thinks is her new partner is actually an agent for this secret operation.

My problem with the whole thing? There was too much background info for the whole first half of the book. My eyes would start to glaze over and I'd start thinking about other things. Not a good sign for a thriller. The real action didn't start until way too late. Also, I didn't care enough about the characters. It makes me wonder what authors do to make a reader care or not. Just simple character development? More conversation? More getting into their head? I don't know. What do you think? What ever it is, some really have a knack for it and others seem to be missing something.

Also, I didn't like the crude parts, and the spicy language that was thrown in. I can always do without that.

Alphabet Meme

Okay, so I was tagged, sort of, by Julie at A Small Accomplishment to do this alphabet meme. It seems like I've done it before, but it's been awhile and I don't know if it was here or elsewhere, so here it goes again:

A- attached or single: quite attached

B-Best Friend: The Mr.

C-Cake or Pie: cake (chocolate)

D-Day: Tuesday... sheesh, I don't know, they all have their ups and downs

E- Essential Item: books and music, and Ibuprofen

F-Favorite Color: I like 'em all! I hate this question! I lean towards the cool colors I think.

G-Gummi Bears or Worms: bears for sure

H-Home Town: SLC

I-Indulgences: this silly computer

J-January or July: January (I was thinking the other day that July is, for me, like January often is for many people: long and oppressive and depressing.)

K-Kids: there's four them and I refer to them here by internet nicknames: Bud (18), JJ (16), Moder (13) and Toto (9)

L:Life is incomplete without: chocolate... and books... and music

M-Marriage Date: 8/18

N-Number of Siblings: I'm the oldest of 9 kids. That probably tells a lot about me right there! I have 5 brothers and 3 sisters.

O-Oranges or Apples: apples, I think

P-Phobias or Fears: something awful happening to my kids

Q-Quote: Outside of a dog, books are a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

R-Reason to Smile: Josh Groban :)

S-Season: Fall for sure. I love everything about it.

T-Tag 3 Friends: I cringe at tagging... so I'll say what I always say... DO IT if you feel like it, if you're having one of those down blogging days and can't think of anything to say, then do it! (Let me know if you do so I don't miss it and can come comment.)

U-Unknown Fact About Me: When I was five, I kneeled on a needle. It hurt like crazy, but left only a little drop of blood. We didn't know what happened, so the dr. had to dig until he found the problem. Surprise! A needle!

V-Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Who eats vegetables? Not me! Icky stuff! :)

W-Worst Habit: not eating vegetables?

X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I have no idea. Neither, because either way you're probably at the doctor's or the hospital and that can't be good.

Y-Your Favorite Food: Italian... and all desserts!

Z-Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Booking Through Thursday: Definition

Booking Through Thursday

What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?


If someone were to say to me, "I'm a reader" it would make me think that they actively pursue the hobby of reading. They seek out things to read. They enjoy reading and make time to read. It wouldn't necessarily matter what they're reading, but that they want to read things and consciously find and look for things to read. If a person says to me "I don't have time to read" (and I hear this a lot) I would consider them to not be a reader, at least for that moment in their life. A reader reads, busy or not. Make sense? Or am I completely off?

Weekly Geeks #9: Challenges

This week's Weekly Geek assignment is to organize our challenges! Something I've been meaning to do anyway. So here goes:

2008 TBR Challenge: Last year's version of this challenge started it all, the blogging, the discovery of challenges, the connection with other book bloggers, etc. The idea with this challenge is to read 12 books in that year that's been sitting around, waiting their turn for awhile (at least six months.) Here's what I'm working on this year:

Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham
Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Eugenie Grandet by Balzac
Messenger by Lois Lowrey (done with this one but must not have officially reviewed it!)

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

Magyk by Angie Sage
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Quentins by Maeve Binchy

Book Awards II Challenge: The 2nd installment of this challenge. I failed miserably on the first one which is ending this month. I managed to read only four of the list of 12. So, I'm going to continue on with the challenge with some of my same books and try to get them read by next June!

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson
The Twenty-one Balloons by William Pène du Bois
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
The March by E.L. Doctorow
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

To Say Nothing About the Dog by Connie Willis

Classics Challenge: This one runs from July to December this year. The idea is to read five classics with a bonus "new" classic thrown in. My list:

1. Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins (England)
2. Eugenie Grandet by Balzac (France)
3. Bleak House by Dickens (England)
4. The Little Prince by Saint Exupéry (France)
5. War and Peace by Tolstoy (Russia)

Bonus: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

YA Romance Challenge: A new one I just joined where you are challenged to read six YA romances from July through next February. Now this one I can handle!

1. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

2. Snow, Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

3. It's a Mall World After All by Janette Rallison

4. Revenge of the Cheerleaders by Janette Rallison

5. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

6. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

The Pulitzer Project: Not really a normal challenge as it is a life-long reading goal... to read all the Pulitzer Prize novels! So... I'm working on it slowly.

I think that's it for now. So many of the challenges out there tempt me. Such fun ideas people come up with! But I'm learning that I'm not the best at the challenges and end up reading what moves me at the moment instead of stuff from my lists! Oh, well. That's okay too!

Ten Bookish Thoughts on Tuesday

1. I finished a book yesterday... An Abundance of Katherines. Review to come soon!

2. I won a contest over at Savvy Verse and Wit! Yeah! Another book in the mail for me!

3. I joined another challenge... sheesh. But it's YA Romance so it should be a cinch to accomplish.

4. I've decided going to author signings can be expensive! Especially if their books are still in hardback. Fun, but expensive!

5. Library Day today. I think today it's an art scavenger hunt for the teens, and bugs for the younger kids. Something like that anyway.

6. JJ (16 year old daughter) has piles of books to read, but what's she doing instead? Yep... re-reading all the Twilight series!

7. Toto (9 year old daughter) is discovering Judy Blume.

8. I'm not reading as many books so far this summer as I did last summer. What's up with that? (Maybe it's that War and Peace thing I'm working on?)

9. Do you ever wonder what someone like David Cook, our "intellectual" American Idol, reads for fun?

10. And finally a quote: "If you want to be good archaeologists, you've got to get out of the library more!"