Tag Archives: books

a NEW book review

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happiness

Hi all!  I recently finished reading ‘The Happiness Project’, and I have to say I enjoyed it very much.  I haven’t read a non-fiction book in a while  – because I’m usually just struggling to finish the novels picked out for our book club before our meeting time!  And I don’t even remember who recommended this book.  I’ve had it on my Shelfari “shelf” for quite a while now.  (That’s the online site where I keep track of all the books I’ve read and all the book I want to read)  So I FINALLY got to it!  It has motivated me to make and keep some resolutions and give myself a few ‘gold stars’.  :o)  I’ll also have to start reading the author’s blog.  I’m sure that will help keep me motivated.

I love, loVE, LOVE book recommendations…so let me know if you have any for me!  Have a great day!  Do or Learn something NEW!

 

a NEW Thursday Thought

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lonetulip

This NEW photo reminded me of the book “The Black Tulip” by Alexandre Dumas, so I thought today’s thought should come from that book:

“God orders a man to do all he can to save his life.”

Last year I posted my book review of the The Black Tulip.  I enjoy Dumas’ writing. I think it’s time to find another of his books to read….soon.

Have a great Thursday!

Miscellaneous Monday…NEW stuff I gotta share

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daffcollage

Oh! I’m so excited that Spring is finally coming…(although we had a few snow flurries today)…I’m certain more and more color will arrive and be waiting for me to photograph it soon!  Yeah!!!

Well today, along with these NEW daffodils and grape hyacinths, I want to share a couple of other NEW miscellaneous/random items that have caught my attention lately:

sweetsixteen

Here’s a NEW photography tip I learned this week, called the Sunny 16 Rule.  Interesting!  Since photography is very subjective to a variety of factors of conditions and camera settings,  I was a bit surprised that this ‘Rule’ even existed.  Too bad I didn’t learn this rule in the dead of winter, when I could’ve practiced it on the white landscape of December, January and February!  Oh well, maybe next year!

Another random thing…I just have to say how much I LOVE being in a book club.  First, it pretty much forces me to read books I’m sure I wouldn’t come across and read on my own.  (And they have ALL been REALLY GOOD books)!!!  But I think my favorite thing about my book club is listening to different perspectives.  It’s kind of an added education, all its own.  This month’s book was Unraveled by Julie Daines….

unraveled_cover

…and it was so interesting to hear the other women in the group  comment how they’d really like their daughters to read this book.  Since I have only sons, these thoughts obviously didn’t enter my mind, but I can absolutely understand their perspective…when I think about it.  The book has a strong message about the importance of appreciating our inner-beauty – something I too would like my daughter to read (if I had a daughter)!  I just really love reading and sharing thoughts about the books we’ve read in our group.  If you don’t belong to a book club….FIND ONE TO JOIN!  Seriously! 🙂

Have a great Monday!  Do or Learn Something NEW!!!

Linking to:

Mosaic Monday

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out’s Song-ography

 

a NEW book review

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12years

Hi all!  I LOVE book recommendations!…so when my good friend suggested I read Twelve Years a Slave, I got right to it.  (By the way, it’s available on Google Books.)

I liked this book simply for the historical aspect.  In the back of my mind (the very back)….I knew there were some free black men and women who were kidnapped and sold into slavery, but reading this book brought me a NEW awareness of this despicable-ness.  What an awful, awful injustice!  It was bad enough, in that day and age to have slavery – but to purposefully inflict it on legally free men and women was so, so wrong!

It is just sooooo hard to imagine people’s thought processes of the 1800’s!  It makes me wonder what laws are on our books and what we are doing today that, in a hundred years from now, will be looked on with disbelief!

There is also a movie coming out, based on the book.  I think it’s rated R, so I’ll probably pass on seeing it, but read the book!  (If you already have, let me know what you think!)  I thought the beginning and the end were excellent…the middle was a little slow though. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Have a great day!  Read or DO or learn something NEW!

two NEW book ratings

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RentCollector_cover-673x1024The-Island-at-the-Center-of-the-World-9780786268351

Oh my goodness!  When I have a book to read…NOTHING else gets done around here! 🙂  I think my family must cringe when they see me walking in from a trip to the library….thinking,  “Great!….Now how am I supposed to get Mom’s attention if I need her!?!”  HaHa!  Here are my latest reads.  I’m giving them both 4 out of 5 stars.  (Just so you know, I RARELY give out 5’s).

The Rent Collector is fiction based on real people.  I was hesitant to read it, thinking I wasn’t interested in a depressing story about extreme poverty, but that was not the focus at all.  It focused on learning and how the mother became literate even though she lived in a municipal city dump.  Very good book!  I recommend it!

The Island at the Center of the World is a longer read, but very interesting.  It’s a history book about the Island of Manhattan in the early 1600’s.   I don’t know about your history teachers, but mine didn’t even mention the Dutch colony….all I was taught was the English colonies….the pilgrims, the puritans etc.  I might be a bit more interested in this book than the average reader because I’ve been doing a fair amount of New York family history.  But if you like history books, this one is very good!

Again, I give them 4 out of 5 stars.  Learn or DO something NEW today!

movie watching – my NEW approach

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shadowlands{source}

I’ll admit I’m not a huge movie-goer, but I DO like the REALLY good ones!  I typically wait until I get several “It’s fabulous” reviews before I spend my precious two hours or so watching a movie 😮

However, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that my opinion of those precious two hours (or so) seems to increase if the movie is based on a book and if I’ve read the book beforehand.  It just seems like the return on my two-hour investment is somehow greater….for some reason.  I recently watched Shadowlands and although I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone by saying “It’s FABULOUS”, I really enjoyed it because I had just recently finished the book “Through the Shadowlands“.   If I would have seen this movie at the local movie rental store, I wouldn’t have known it was based on the life of C.S. Lewis and I don’t think I’d ever pick it up.  Of course, I’ll still watch the highly rated and fabulously reviewed films, but otherwise, I think I’ll make it a point to find movies that are based on books and watch them shortly after reading the book.  I found this website that will help me: Books To Movies.

If any of you know of any movies based on books that are FABULOUS….let me know and I’ll start with those 😮

MAKE it a GREAT day everyone…DO or Learn something NEW!

NEW books on my nightstand

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blind

I’ve had a few books on my nightstand, for a while now….waiting for me to find the time to crack them.  They were:

A Blind Eye by Julie Daines,  Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and Adobe Photoshop  Lightroom 2

Well, last Sunday evening I picked up the first one, A Blind Eye, right after dinner and I didn’t put it down until I had read the entire book  (roughly 160 pages)!  It kept my attention the entire read!  It’s a young adult murder mystery (NOT my typical choice), but I’m soooo glad I read it because, as you know, I LOVE newness /different-ness!  It was very good and I’d recommend it.  Hopefully I’ll get the other two books read very soon (I’ve renewed them from the library twice already).  I’ll let you know what I think about those after I get them off my nightstand.  I hope you all get to read (or do or learn) something NEW today!

I’m reading a NEW book

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book

I love to read and wish I had more time to do so.  This weekend I started a NEW book that was recommended to me.  I love, loVE, LOVE recommended books from friends and family because there’s nothing worse than spending time reading a book you don’t enjoy…right?    What a waste of time!  Recommended books, at least, have a better chance of enjoyment than just random books.  I’m all for time efficiency!  I’m also loving Shelfari.com where I can keep track of the books I’ve read and also the books I want to read.  It’s a virtual bookshelf.  I once started a book that sounded quite familiar and I wondered aloud to my husband if we’d maybe seen a movie with the same plot as I was reading.  He mentioned he thought he’d seen me read that book before.  Oops!  He was right!  I had read the book before and had simply forgotten I had.  So now I also type a short summary into Shelfari to jog my memory of what the book was about, in case I have that problem in the future.    My shelfari page is strictly for my reference.  I don’t really have time to use it for any social media purposes, but I love having it available!  Some of my friends use GoodReads, and I’m sure there are other sites out there.  If you like to read and haven’t tried a similar site….try something NEW!  You’ll like it!  OR pick up a NEW book!….and be sure to let me know of any good recommendations!