book-reviews articles

seriously. this is getting ridiculous

2010-03-21T16:48:00.000+02:00

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

As If abolishing slavery weren't enough

So… I thought that Quirk Books had had its fun with literature. But no, Seth Grahame-Smith desecrates another poor helpless dead person again. This time, much more shamelessly, since this is actually Abraham Lincoln’s BIOGRAPHY. Come on. This guy wrote “The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies,” and “How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills.”

Don’t you think that the satirization of canonical historical figures and books has gone on long enough? I mean… sure, we have the Colbert Report. The Daily Show. The Onion. But ever since P& P& Zombies, there have been authors upon authors trying to scratch a bit of fame and nudge-nudge wink-wink humor and fame out of this trend. I mean, there’s humor, and then there’s just pure slapstick.

But there’s more. Mansfield Park and Mummies. Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter. The Undead World of Oz. Emma and the Werewolves. The War of the Worlds plus Blood, Guts, and Zombies. (very subtle) Android Karenina. Robin Hood & Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers – A Canterbury Tale (So many things wrong with this last one. First of all: Robin Hood & Friar Tuck were not killers. Lovers, not fighters, I say. And second, there is NO Robin Hood or Friar Tuck in the Canterbury Tales. Robin Hood is an invention of the Northern English imagination whereas Chaucer was a Londonite… AND he lived before the popularity of the Robin Hood legend)

I expose this as just a thinly veiled attempt for people to 1) convince other people that they’re cultured enough to have read the original 2) cultured enough to enjoy the original 3) cultured enough to take everything they read with irony.

So buy it. Put it on your bookshelf and laugh about it with your friends. Abraham Lincoln is watching.

NPR article here

[Via http://curalibrorum.wordpress.com]

Artnet News: Asia Week 2010, Documenta 13, Yves Klein, ABC No Rio ...

The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D.

2010-03-21T16:37:00.000+02:00

The Art of Happiness

Not many of us would disagree with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s belief that the “purpose of our lives is to seek happiness.” But in this world of complexity, anxiety, insecurity, conflict, intolerance, anger, and hatred we might be inclined on the one hand to ignore this extraordinary book on the grounds that it is too simplistic or idealistic, or, on the other hand, to agree too readily to its premises without actually practicing the difficult inner and outer work that the Dalai Lama believes is necessary for real happiness.

The Art of Happiness is based on conversations between the Dalai Lama and Dr. Howard Cutler, a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Cutler does a superb job of framing the Dalai Lama’s teachings, stories, and meditations in a way that makes them come alive not just for Buddhists, but for anyone seeking real understanding.

This is a book of profound common sense. Exploring topics such as intimacy, compassion, suffering, anger, kindness, hatred, and change, the Dalai Lama makes clear that real happiness depends on transforming our deepest attitudes, the very way we look at and deal with ourselves and others. It requires “new conditioning.” For the Dalai Lama the first steps toward this new conditioning are based not on mystical or transcendental practices but rather on education, learning, determination, enthusiasm, and effort.

For the Dalai Lama, it is our negative emotions, especially our anger and hatred, that undermine our physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being and promote conflict and destruction in the world. The Dalai Lama makes clear that “’The only factor that can give you refuge or protection from the destructive effects of anger and hatred is your practice of tolerance and patience.’”

Though the practice of patience and tolerance may seem impossible with regard to the big things in our lives, the Dalai Lama suggests that we can start with the small things. “By sacrificing small things, by putting up with small problems or hardships, you will be able to forgo experiences or sufferings that can be much more enormous in the future.”

The Dalai Lama throws new light on many of our assumptions. In discussing “genuine humility” and its relationship to patience, for example, he points out that it “involves having the capacity to take a confrontational stance, having the capacity to retaliate if you wish, yet deliberately deciding not to do so.”

For the Dalai Lama, the work of patience and tolerance is a work of will that is based on inner strength, compassion, and presence of mind, not on meekness and passivity. It is this work, done with as much awareness as we can muster, that is especially needed in today’s world.

See also, my essay Some Thoughts on Happiness and Suffering

[Via http://dennislewisblog.com]

EVE Tyrannis expansion due in May News | MMO | Eurogamer

Sushi Party!

2010-03-21T04:15:00.000+02:00

My husband and I were invited over to the home of another couple who we are great friends with (Todd and Amy) to make sushi together a few weeks ago. I keep forgetting to upload the photos, so, here they are! Finally! The fish and most of the fixins were purchased at Asian Delight Marketplace. I highly recommend that you stop in there and take a look around. They have everything there; meat, produce, ice cream and other frozen goods, and several aisles with just about every Asian grocery imaginable. The candy aisle alone is worth the trip. We also had some amazing sake that Todd picked up; Coconut Lemongrass by Moonstone. It was refreshing and mildly sweet.

Making sushi rolls is actually really easy. The rice-on-the-outside kind is more difficult so we usually don’t bother with those. I learned pretty much everything I needed from this book, and have tutored lots of our friends at various at-home sushi parties. EVERYONE gets the hang of it after one roll. You should give it a try, too!

[Via http://eatinggrandrapids.com]

Apple now accepting iPad app submissions | iLounge News

Book review - On the road (1957)

2010-03-20T16:48:00.000+02:00

Rating: 7/10

Written by: Jack Kerouac

Review: Recently I’ve been reading books I’ve always meant to read and not got around to for one reason or another. This was one of the first books I thought of in this category. When I was younger I almost read it several times but it just didn’t happen.

I have to confess I was a little disappointed, I don’t think the years since it was written have served it well. It now sounds dated and rooted in its time. At the time of course it was significant and thats why we read it today but I can’t help thinking I should have read it 25 years ago when time wouldn’t have been quite so cruel to it. Its a struggle not to laugh at some of the hip language and Kerouac’s writing style also gets in the way a little, it sometimes feels as though he wrote it in French and then translated it into English (Aha, I note on Wikipedia that he may indeed have done this to some extent). The book isn’t served by the process. I also felt an editor might have been a good thing, its a bit of a stream of consciousness.

On the positive side its does evoke the era and leaves you wondering what it would have been like to jump that freight train across country.

All that said it still rates 7/10 which says I liked it. I had just expected it to be 10/10.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_road

Amazon: Buy it

Video:

[Via http://6fish.wordpress.com]

Stabroek News - Windies A to tour England in hectic schedule

The Luxe

2010-03-20T16:47:00.000+02:00

Godberson, Anna. The Luxe. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. Print.

The setting is 1899 New York, where high society rules the city. Elizabeth Holland is the perfect lady with one little secret; she is in love with the wrong man. As her family faces financial difficulty, Elizabeth must choose between the man she loves and the man whose wealth could save her family.

Although I found this book frustrating in plot, it was also highly addictive. Obsession with the famous and wealthy has always been a part of our culture, and this novel adapts that obsession to historical fiction quite well. Although I will never find this series among my list of “must reads,” it is mindless entertainment fitting for vacations and the beach.

[Via http://jennclimenhaga.wordpress.com]

TF2 releases first user-made content News | PC | Eurogamer

In reverse.

2010-03-20T04:45:00.000+02:00

Two comics for you to appreciate from the last few weeks:

from here.

and

from here.

[Via http://counter-force.com]

Toyota Demands Retraction and Apology From ABC News Over ...

Start Here ... A Personal Review

2010-03-18T16:39:00.000+02:00

“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on Frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond Words… When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and Respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise disrespectful] and impatient of restraint”

Which modern day pundit made this observation?

Hesiod, a Greek oral poet of the 8th century BC.

Read on for a more recent reflection on teenagers.

In his book, ”Age of Opportunity” Paul David Tripp recounts an experience he had while attending a weekend marriage retreat. “Near the end of the weekend, I was looking out at the sun glistening on the waters of the bay when I noticed a couple sitting nearby. They looked unhappy. I was curious, so I asked them if they had enjoyed the weekend. Everything had been great they replied. I commented that they didn’t look very happy, The women responded, “We have two teenagers and we are dreading going home. We wish this weekend would last forever!” “You just have to expect your teenager to be rebellious; all of us were,” her husband added. “You just have to ride it out.” “Besides,” she moaned, “you can’t argue with hormones!”

Paul Tripp continues by summing up what he sees as “the cultural epidemic of fear and cynicism about our teenagers.”

So what gives? Can centuries of testimony to the unacceptable behavior of teenagers be all wrong!

Alex and Brett Harris have written a book filled with present day evidence of the wonderful, creative, energetic hard work tackled by a cross centered section of today’s youth!

Start Here is the companion to their first book “Do Hard Things” in which they dispel contemporary wisdom regarding young people and give a challenge; Do Hard Things!

In Start Here the Harris’ share many testimonies from youth all across America and the WORLD! Beginning on page three with a list of topics:

How to stand up for what you believe;
Strategies for overcoming stage fright, fund raising fright, and phone calling fright;
Ways to keep going when you feel stuck and keep going when you are discouraged;
How to understand God’s will and glorify Him through your efforts;
God-honoring ways to think, feel, and act after you’ve completed a big project;

And culminating with a list of, “100 Hard Things” in the appendix. They emphasize that the world WILL be changed “by a generation that gives up seeking worldly success to pursue a life of faithfulness”

The stories will move you and hopefully “convict” you to get out of your comfort zone, stop looking at what you can’t do and have faith that God has equipped you for all those works He wills in your life!

Parents, teachers, guidance counselors, Grandparents, ANYONE can be well served by reading this book.

Start with the:

Why… solely for the Glory of God!
What… let your imagination be the limit!
Where … in your home, school anywhere!
When… NOW don’t wait!
Who … you whether a 90 year old or a 13 year old
How … START HERE!

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4.

This book was provided by Multnomah for review.

Visit www.randomhouse.com for more information on this and other books.

See additional reviews on: www.amazon.com, http://www.christianbook.com, http://www.lifewaystores.com

[Via http://word4women.wordpress.com]

Obama To Appear On Fox News; Heath Reform Will Be High On His ...

Book Review | A Project Guide To UX Design

2010-03-18T04:55:00.000+02:00

If Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas had written a book for UX Designers, this book would be A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making. This is certainly the The Pragmatic Programmer for designers.

The book brings the entire environment and life cycle of a web application project to discussion, showing how each piece connects with others and where the UX Designer role fits into it. It also details how particular activities and tasks look like and what are the best practices for them.

But it doesn’t stop there, it goes way beyond, really deep into what a UX Designer really needs to know and do to become a proficient and useful asset for products and projects and a valuable player for development teams.

Why Pragmatic?

The book details really strong points the designer has to have in mind and account for before, during, and after designing:

User research: methods are analyzed in practical terms of planning and execution like: challenges, time frame for estimation, budgeting, motivation…
Scope, requirements and prioritization: recognizing and engaging stakeholders, balancing user needs and business needs, presenting and defending requirements, working with legacy requirements…
Project Methodologies: differences between Agile and Waterfall and how to use the benefits and behave in both, how the rhythim and outcome of the team change from one to the other…
SEO: one of the largest chapters in the book is devoted for SEO, with a really good and rich overview of what SEO is and what are the common mistakes and things to look for when designing and defining navigation and interactions.

In order to enable Information Architects and Interaction Designers to work and provide good solutions for web based applications and content, you can’t just show them how to use a wireframing tool and define Personas. The real work consists in knowing what the web and the project offers to you and what are its constraints, and the books does a real good job in capturing it.

Designer Who?

The UX Designer role is relatively new for most companies and even for Web Designers in general. The book does a good job on defining what a UX Designer is and what are the ideal attributions it has and what are other responsibilities it might have in different companies.

Mixing this with the really good overview in projects and companies environment, a summary of other common (and not-so-common) roles involved in web applications projects is also presented and the relationship between them and the designer is commented, as well as how the UX Design can benefit from them.

For Freelancers and Enterprise’ds

It’s interesting the amount of attention dedicated to the company and the project culture, it’s not just about what the UX Designer will do and how, but where and with who. After all, working for small business with direct contact to the CEO or Marketing VP is certainly not the same thing as working for department managers or really small companies that might not even have a Marketing department.

The way stakeholders and the requirements gathering process is presented reminded me of some Yourdon’s Death March excerpts, but the idea is: sometimes you’ll have several people (stakeholders) to please, plus the user. How to make the tough call, or how to provide best solutions that fits them all? – If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, make it a duck… but how? The book helps on this.

Freelancers have an special attention with an entire chapter about writing the proposal and services agreement document, with examples and concepts. Even legal details are mentioned. This chapter is also good for non-Freelancer Designers as it shows how to present design proposals and specs in professional looking and useful documents.

Conclusion

A Project Guide to UX Design is a must buy for web designers in general, and a really good add to the bookshelve of web developers – remember, standing in the other’s shoes is gold – and people involved with IA teams and web products strategy.

It was a really good read for me ramping up in the Product Management and Agile Product Owner thing. RECOMMENDED.

[Via http://rafaelbandeira3.wordpress.com]

White House: Fox News 'Scene Of The Crime' On Health Care Lies

The Book Thief is Captivating

2010-03-18T03:59:00.000+02:00

It isn’t easy to write a novel set in Nazi Germany that reads entirely fresh. Upon finding out that The Book Thief features a German family harboring a runaway Jew and the Allied bombing of Munich, perhaps one would hesitate to open its cover. Don’t fear clichés here, reader. Markus Zusak’s book is a standout. The characters in this novel are all well conceived and complex. Liesel, the protagonist, is soft-hearted but tough and willingly steals from strangers, as does her friend Rudy who also dresses as Jesse Owens (complete with blackened skin). Papa is a quiet and loving man who quietly resists the Nazis, while Mama’s verbal abuse almost disguises her strong heart. My favorite character, though, is Death, who narrates this book. Banish your preconceptions about who Death is and trust Zusak; his Grim Reaper is unrelenting but also caring. He executes his job (pun intended) despite his wishes. The prose is fluid and enticing. You are drawn into the world of the book effortlessly, and you are immediately invested. Death paints the story in colors both bright and faded. Zusak uses foreshadowing effectively and interestingly to keep the pages turning because of and in spite of what you know. At times the author chops up his text a bit too much for me; I rarely enjoy sentence fragments. However, the vibrant story always compells. Although some typical World War II tropes appear in these pages, there are many new elements, too. It was enjoyable to be able to cheer for a German family during WWII. They hide Max, a Jew, in their basement, and he rewards them (and the reader) with wonderful tales and illustrations. If the ending is a bit predictable, the experience is stirring and delightful. I highly recommend. ★★★★ 1/2

[Via http://ahabsquest.wordpress.com]

Michael Sigman: News/PR Line Gets Blurrier

The Fight Continues (Day #2)

2010-03-16T16:33:00.000+02:00

It’s day two. I’m trying, really trying, to get into Twilight. But somehow, I can’t let my defenses down. I think I’ve built it up—probably because EVERYONE builds it up—and I have a feeling I will be disappointed.

By page 9, I find myself counting the pages until the end of the first chapter. Pathetic, really. This is a New York Times bestseller?

I persevere. I promise myself to at least get to page 52 (the end of chapter 3) and then judge it accordingly after that.

But, when page 52 hits, I’m still unsure. It’s definitely picked up, but I wouldn’t say I’m intrigued. I feel as though I could put the book down at any time, never finish it, and live a perfectly content life.

After reading two other YA novels within the last week—Thirteen Reasons Why and The Hunger Games—which both kept me tapping my Nook pages over and over, obsessively reading and even angry with the clock for foiling my plans of finishing before bedtime (actually MAD because I wanted to finish but knew I had to go to bed and reading 200+ pages would be impossible), Twilight is just not that. Those other novels transported me to another place, plopped me into the lives of two teens I actually cared about. I laughed, I cried, I read… and read, and read.

I couldn’t put them down. I brought my Nook with me everywhere—riding the subway, walking down the street, sitting in classes; I tried to convince my boyfriend that I could take the subway to meet him instead getting a ride from him, because I wanted to read. When he insisted on picking me up, I even had the courage to ask if I could bring my Nook in the car, to which he replied, Are you kidding me? Okay, okay, I understand.

But seriously, Twilight cannot compare. It holds no deeper meaning—at least, not yet. It gives me no greater sense of worldly understanding. It does not, within the first 52 pages, make me rethink my life, my moral compass, my decisions and actions. It does not make me question our society or our government. It just entertains.

Maybe that’s enough for most people, but not for me.

But, I made a promise to myself and I never break my promises. Page 53 awaits.

[Via http://wildaboutya.wordpress.com]

Pew: Online News Users Don't Want To Pay—Or Look At Ads | paidContent

Review news ...

2010-03-16T04:47:00.000+02:00

Thank you to GJM from Rites Of Romance for such a wonderful review of Enough. I really appreciate it, and it’s gotten my week off to a great start.

“Ms Adkins gets a recommended read for this as any author that can actually have a reader so passionate about their characters deserves nothing less.”

Click here to read the whole review.

[Via http://stephanieadkins.wordpress.com]

God of War III competition: won! News | PS3 | Eurogamer

Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

2010-03-16T04:34:00.000+02:00

Our future is closely tied to human creativity. The result will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real.

The profundity of this work is validated by the widespread references attributed to Csikszentmihalyi’s insights. Several other books I have read refer to various pages and quotables found within the pages of Creativity and Flow. The book was organized like a scriptural lodestar for creativity.

The early chapters establish the historical context for the value, evolution, and impact of creativity. Like a first act, we learn about the characters and dynamics of a world where creativity touches every domain, field, and person of the human race.

Act two leads the reader on a dramatic journey of influences, struggles, and restictions. Sort of like the conflict of external and internal forces that either squelch or squelch the Creative in societies where conservative rules must apply so society does not dissolve “into chaos” (page 41).

Act three offers the Creative, whether professional or the average person, a glimpse of society without creativity and how to manage the environment to kindle the flames of creative energy.

I found Creativity a stimulating read with treasures of insight to inspire and provoke. Creativity will become a tattered fixture of my library.

[Via http://pokeindaeye.wordpress.com]

Ubi to consider Splinter Cell DLC later News | Eurogamer

Wouldn't it be grand to open an Irish branch of the Rocky Mountain Land Library??

2010-03-14T16:35:00.000+02:00

The Rocky Mountain Land Library’s celtic roots run deep. For the past 25 years, we have been building a strong collection of books on the natural history of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales — with a special emphasis on the Hebrides and Ireland’s western islands. On the occasion of Saint Patrick’s Day, here’s one of our favorites: Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape edited by F.H.A. Aalen, Kevin Whelan, and Matthew Stout.

This handsome atlas explores the rural landscape as a defining element of Ireland’s national heritage. Far more than a collection of maps, this book is thickly illustrated with photos, drawings, diagrams, and charts. An excellent text presents a narrative where layer upon layer of natural & cultural histories intertwine. Detailed descriptions are given of building styles, field and settlement patterns, archaeological monuments, villages, woodlands and bogs. Abundant maps open your eyes to Ireland’s glacial past, along with its rich heritage of stone circles, ring forts, sacred wells, Cistercian monasteries, and much more!

And for more on The Otter in Ireland (pictured above) visit Ireland’s National Parks & Wildlife Service website.

Here’s just a brief sampler of other Irish books that have found a home on the Land Library shelves. Which begs the question, wouldn’t it be grand to establish a Land Library along Dingle Bay??

A Pity Youth Does Not Last: Reminiscences of the Last of the Great Blasket Island’s Poets and Storytellers by Micheal O’Guiheen, Connemara: The Last Pool of Darkness by Tim Robinson, Nature Guide to the Aran Islands by Con O’Rourke, The Complete Guide to Ireland’s Birds by Eric Dempsey & Michael O’Clery, Twenty Years A-Growing by Maurice O’Sullivan (a Great Blasket Island memoir), Ireland: A Smithsonian Natural History Guide by Michael Viney.

[Via http://landlibrary.wordpress.com]

Energy News LIVE On Twitter: Updates In Real-Time

Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns

2010-03-14T16:33:00.000+02:00

♥♥♥♥♥

This is a coffee table style book well worth reading! Shelia Paine, a world expert in textiles and tribal societies, explores embroidery from a slightly different angle. It is her belief that the primary function of embroidery is “to decorate or embellish textiles already created to meet man’s basic needs.” She does an outstanding job of defending this hypothesis. In her introduction she explores the symbolism and motifs used in embroidery as well as the social indicators of embroidery in different cultures.

The substance of the book comes, however, in her Guide to Identification in which she divides the world into geographical regions and then investigates and analyzes the textiles indigenous to those areas. Her text is supplemented by 508 illustrations and line drawings; over 300 of them in color. She also includes in-depth explanations of the symbolism of motifs; religion’s influence on embroidery; and embroidery as ”magic” to ward against evil. Awesome stuff!

[Via http://stitchworkappraisals.wordpress.com]

Molyneux hints at Fable III for PC News | PC | Eurogamer

Taboo by Jess Michaels

2010-03-14T04:19:00.000+02:00

There’s a time and season for everything, and I guess I’m in the season for romance.

When I picked up Jess Michaels’ Taboo, I wasn’t expecting much. I’ve accepted that most romance novels are formulaic to a painful degree, and I was just looking for a nice diversion.

The story: Cassandra Mannings and Nathan Manning, the Earl of Blackhearth, has a past. And that’s Past, with a capital P. Nathan’s pretty bitter about what happened to their young, innocent romance, while Cassandra just wants to forget it all.

During their years apart, Cassandra has made a name for herself as a tailor of repute to the ladies of the ton; she has also become a mistress to several noblemen — something which irks Nathan to no end.

Which is why he threatens to ruin her success unless she complies with his demands….

What caught your attention? The cover. Okay, that’s half the truth. (Tis a nice cover, no? Those “men ravishing half naked ladies” covers are such turn offs.) It was also the fact that Cassandra was a seasoned mistress. I was getting tired of young, innocent, naive heroines who had to be “taught” by their beaus. Cassandra sounded like someone with a backbone, and the fact that she’s “experienced” puts her on a more equal footing with Nathan in that department.

Is it hot? Oh yeah. Cili padi hot.

What surprised you about the novel? Y’know, I was still expecting a pretty generic read, and in many ways Taboo is quite fairy tale-ish and eye roll-inducing, and some parts just too convenient and pat.

However, I was surprised by the genuine chemistry between Cassandra and Nathan. I was actually interested in finding out what f**ked up their relationship so many years ago. What actually happened between the two in the past is pretty standard stuff, however – you’ve probably read it in some romance book somewhere – but I enjoyed the interaction between the two. It was real, heart-felt and they had great chemistry.

Criticisms: Too short, and the overly saccharine ending … I don’t know, I just expected something different. Something a little more cynical, perhaps.

Rating: B+

[Via http://imaginarylands.wordpress.com]

Energy News LIVE On Twitter: Updates In Real-Time

"We Still Hold These Truths..."

2010-03-13T16:54:00.000+02:00

“Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future“ by Ryan T. Anderson

The review in National Review starts out with “For many today, the American Revolutionary was primarily a military campaign. But the ‘real American Revolution’, John Adams insisted, ‘was in the minds and hearts of the people,’ transforming their ‘principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections.’ According to Alexander Hamilton, America was to be the experiment that revealed ‘whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection ad choice, or whether they are foreever destined to depend for the political consititutions on accident and force.’”

You can read the entire review at www.nationalreview.com.

[Via http://summerville912.wordpress.com]

In The News Today : Welcome To Jim Sinclair's MineSet

Dark Divine

2010-03-13T04:35:00.000+02:00

THE DARK DIVINE

Proccess: Still reading

The Dark Divine is a teen fiction book by Bree Dispain. It is about a teenage girl named Grace who was in love with her brother’s best friend, Daniel, since childhood. But suddenly, Jude (Grace’s brother) cannot stand Daniel and will not tell Daniel. Soon, Daniel dissapears with his mother. But he dodges most of Gracies questions and she begins to wonder if she can handle the answers.

Great book so far!

[Via http://simplyingrid.wordpress.com]

Wii's Hanabi Festival starts today News | Wii | Eurogamer

Trust Agents by Julien Smith and Chris Brogan Book Commentary - Why My Dog is a Hacker

2010-03-13T04:27:00.000+02:00

I had just lost my six-year old dog to lymphoma. The highly active three-year old canine companion he left behind was understandably confused, moping around, and, most of all, bored. So I thought I would give her something new to do that might help her deal with her new reality.

Got her one of those dog toy balls that can be filled with small treats. As the dog plays with and rolls it around, a treat is randomly dispensed as a reward. She seemed interested enough. So I left her alone with it while I went to work in the office. It was quiet for a long time. When I went to check on her an hour or two later, she had managed to get out all the treats. No, she is not a genius dog and figured the right position at which to maneuver the ball to get at them. She had shredded the toy into dozens of little fragments to access the prize.

Essentially, my dog had hacked the treat ball system.

When we think of hackers, we think of those computer criminals who use viruses, spam, and identity theft to hurt or steal from other computer users. But in their book, Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, authors Julien Smith and Chris Brogan give the hacker label a whole new, more positive, meaning.

According to Smith and Brogan, work and life have some significant parallels to video game play. Successful players look at the rules within the system and then modify–or hack–them to make the system work better, maybe even reinvent the game in some way.

Unlike malicious hacking, hacking at work requires that you have your company’s best interest at heart, with a strong focus on the results and not how the job gets done. In looking back on my career in corporate America, the times I hacked the existing system brought me more achievement than when I merely played by the rules. One such example was when I was in sales and was very frustrated with the dull boilerplate sales letters and materials we were expected to use. So I developed some very creative sales letters that were stories, poetry, parodies, and more. That venture into work hacking helped me gain some creative recognition and make the transition from sales into marketing, advertising, and public relations. Yes, I can personally attest to the authors’ work hacking strategy suggestions.

Smith and Brogan also suggest hacking your life for greater productivity and effectiveness. This could take the form of delegating tasks (whether it be to another person or a machine) at which you do not excel and that take you away from spending time applying your talents to help others. I have just started on the life hacking path and have been able to delegate a few tasks. I now have a few extra hours to write or read, both of which are valuable to me personally and professionally. But I have a long way to go here.

As the authors note, “There are rules and there are hacks. Create the game you want from life itself.” I think my dog already knows how to do that.

Click Here to Buy or Download to Your Amazon Kindle Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

[Via http://promowithpurpose.wordpress.com]

Betty White to host 'SNL' in May | EW.com

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

2010-03-11T16:55:00.000+02:00

Mary Anning truly was a remarkable creature. Born in 1799, she was struck by lightning at the age of one and survived. Living with her family in the village of Lyme Regis on the southern coast of Britain, little Mary spent many hours on the beach with her father searching for “curies” or “curiosities” which were in fact fossils of many prehistoric creatures such as ammonites, crinoids and belemnites. To Mary and her family, “curies” were a way to put food on the table. They collected the specimens and then sold them to the tourists who visited the coastal resort each summer.

When the three spinster Philpot sisters move from London to Lyme Regis, Elizabeth Philpot takes an interest in Mary and her fossils. A collector herself, Elizabeth joins Mary in scouring the beaches and uses her connections in aristocratic circles to help her sell her finds. When Mary discovers a “monster” embedded in the rock, she unknowingly uncovers the first documented dinosaur, the first of many finds to come, and Elizabeth must fight to see that Mary gets the recognition she deserves.

Chevalier has taken a real life person in Mary Anning and fictionalized her life and accomplishments. At the time that Mary lived, science was a man’s world and hunting fossils was not considered a suitable pursuit for women. It was seen as “an unladylike pursuit, dirty and mysterious.” Although she made major contributions to the world of paleontology, Mary was never given the credit she deserved and was mostly forgotten, though several of her finds are still on display in museums today.

Alternating between the voice of Mary and the voice of Elizabeth, the chapters emphasize the class differences between the two women and highlight their unlikely friendship, including both mutual admiration and, at times, barely disguised envy and jealousy. Not just a book about fossils, Remarkable Creatures is also an examination of the roles of women in society, and in the world of science, at a time when being a spinster at the age of 25 or spending time in “unladylike” pursuits such as fossil hunting were looked upon with suspicion and derision.

My Rating:

[Via http://booklove.wordpress.com]

Steam News

Raccoon Tales by Joy Dekok - Review and Giveaway!

2010-03-11T04:55:00.000+02:00

Raccoon Tales by Joy DeKok is a charming, rhyming story of a year in the life of five orphaned raccoons. Taken in by a man and woman, this tells the story of how Chatter, Lucy, Shadow, Meeko, and RC were rescued, cared for, nursed when ill, and finally released back into the wild when they were ready.

I’ve read DeKok’s adult fiction, but this is the first children’s book of hers I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Just like some of her adult fiction, Raccoon Tales is based upon events from the author’s life. In this delightful story, children learn all about raccoons, and how, in many ways, they are like children, each having their own personalities and likes or dislikes.

As the story of these raccoons unfolds, DeKok is able to let her readers know that God is always with them, just like He is with these little creatures that He created. The book talks briefly about God’s love, prayer, and doing what is right. In an easy and fun way, children are taught these lessons without even realizing it.

The illustrations by Leslie Helen Colwin are darling. She captured the essence of Chatter, Lucy, Shadow, Meeko, and RC so well. The last page of the book also includes some raccoon facts.

There’s so much to enjoy in Raccoon Tales by Joy DeKok. Don’t be surprised if you find your youngster asking to read this one over and again.

Rating:

Publisher: Jabberwocky Press
ISBN-10: 1-935204-09-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-9352040-9-1
SRP: $11.95

Enter to Win a Copy of Raccoon Tales by Joy Dekok!

Now that you’ve read how great this book is, don’t you want to own a copy for your child, grandchild or other special kid in your life?

Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment here with a working email address so that we can contact you if you win.

2) Tweet about this contest for an extra entry. Leave us the link to your tweet.

3) Announce this contest on Facebook for two additional entries. Show us you did.

4) Blog about this contest for three additional entries. Make sure you leave us a link to where you blogged about it.

This contest will run from today until 11:59 PM (Eastern) on March 26th. We’ll announce a winner by the first week of April.

Good luck to all who enter!

Bookmark & Share

[Via http://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com]

Oscar winners making Ghost Recon film News | Eurogamer

Now Find All Mother-Daughter Book Club News at Mother Daughter Book Club.com

2010-03-11T04:51:00.000+02:00

Great news! All the content from Mother Daughter Book Club.com and Mother Daughter Book Club.WordPress.com has been combined into one site. Now you can find regular blog posts as well as book reviews, author interviews, book lists and more in one convenient place: Mother Daughter Book Club.com.

Check out the new site and send me a note to let me know what you think. info@motherdaughterbookclub.com.

[Via http://motherdaughterbookclub.wordpress.com]

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Stoner and Spaz ~Book Review

2010-03-09T16:52:00.000+02:00

Hey sorry guys, I haven’t posted in a while. Senior year is really cracking on me hard. I’ve had lots of ideas of what to say, but haven’t been able to sit down and actually vomit my words onto a blog. So I thought I’d do this review about this book I read recently and loved. It’s called Stoner and Spaz by Ron Koertge. Essentially it’s about this boy who has cerebral palsy who meets a girl who’s a complete drug addict. As a result, he learns about falling in love or lust and really starts to get out of his shell. The hero of our story is Ben who has C.P. and has to deal with that while being in high school. His grandma raised him to be this perfect student who is going to Standford, yet it seems that he doesn’t want to go there. Then he meets Colleen who is a drug addict who does weed and crack. (essentially anything she can get her hands on) For a while they start hanging out and it seems that Colleen might clean up, but it doesn’t turn out that way. Ben also learns to crack out of his shell to talk to people as he makes this movie about high school.

All in all this is an amazing little book (only 169 pages long). You really get a good feel of the characters quickly and start to feel terrible for Ben as you realize that he’s extremely disabled and lives a sheltered life. I really also liked the writing style –it just fit. I managed to sit down and read this book in two-three hours, so that made me happy.

I would recommend this book to any one who is looking for a story that may not have the perfect ending. If you want to check the book, do so here

~Nicole

[Via http://wakecounty.wordpress.com]

Aliens vs. Predator DLC next week News | Eurogamer

When Good Men Are Tempted (Bill Perkins) Review

2010-03-09T04:52:00.000+02:00

The good folks over at the Porn to Purity Blog were so very kind enough to send me a free copy of Bill Perkins book, When Good Men Are Tempted.

The book is light reading though dealing with the heavy subject of human sexuality, and as the title suggests the book focuses on men and sexual temptation. I was overwhelmingly pleased that Perkins chose not to adopt a fear-based approach (“it’s all fun and games til somebody gets a disease”), but views sex positively though with appropriate boundaries.

Perkins writes from a very down-to-earth, transparent perspective bolstered by experience, which adds to the numerous practical suggestions he has for dealing with this delicate issue. To that end he takes an unvarnished look at real-life sexuality, not shying away from some very significant (and controversial) issues.

The book is, again, light reading, though men within the church and without will undoubtedly find it immensely helpful. A good book for pastors to keep on the shelf to loan out when this issue invariably arises.

[Via http://thornscompose.wordpress.com]

The Mechanics of ABC News' Unintended Toyota Acceleration Hoax ...

"The World & Its Mistress"

2010-03-09T04:23:00.000+02:00

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.

It only takes me about five pages to remember why The Great Gatsby is so timeless. “This is a valley of ashes.” Whether one’s drowned in a crowd of overwhelmingly wealthy aristocrats or poor students in the mid-nineteen-twenties or the turn of the twentieth century, the depths of a collective group are pretty shallow. Fitzgerald reminds us that for every single contemplative, intelligent person there are myriads of superficial ones sucking them dry. Similarly, whether in a feudal society (which Fitzgerald recalls in the “feudal silhouette” of Gatsby’s mansion, 96) or at the height of American capitalism, only two things matter: money and status, whether in the form of gold or material possessions.

The characters, so materially successful, fail miserably with the communication of feelings and ideas. The tense scene between Daisy and Gatsby at Nick’s house illustrates their incompetence at elucidating their feelings–something far more real than their possessions, in which they have no problem finding immediate value and gratification. They confront each other with “counterfeit ease” and have to stabilize themselves “physically” or hide among shadows in order to conceal a mental instability (92). In Nick’s discomfort, he has to flee outside to escape the restraints of society represented by his own house. Similarly, nothing ever sparks between Jordan and Nick because their relationship is characterized by this sort of impotency that lies in her scorn of his comparative poverty—her “urban distaste for the concrete” (54)—and his revulsion towards her jaunty but dishonest personality.

But equally important as (and in relationship with) his critique of the social system is his critique of capitalism, or perhaps more specifically the American Dream. The story of the “Great” Gatsby is not merely a tragic love story, but the collapse of the American man. In the third to last paragraph of the novel, Nick recalls the “old island here that flowered once for the Dutch sailor’s eyes–a fresh green breast of the new world” (189): the land of abundant resources that represented a new, untapped potential for wealth. He immediately follows up with the image of “its vanished trees…that made way for Gatsby’s house.” He shows how the forces of man, his power lying in control of material possessions, have run over nature–including, but not limited to, love. “He must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream…A new world, material without being real” (169)–and it is at this point Gatsby dies. Gatsby must die at the height of his material success, as the most powerful and wealthy character in the novel. If he doesn’t die directly from capitalism, it is all the social implications and roads he must take to attain this that bring him to his death.

Fitzgerald’s play with natural light versus electricity shows people’s struggles to command their own world, their own sources of light. Yet when they do, such as when Gatsby shuts himself away from the storm during his joyful reunion with Daisy, it is because the characters are either consciously or unconsciously protecting themselves from some harsh reality. Similarly, he plays with light and darkness: characters shun themselves from the exterior–especially natural light–while seeming to find “enlightenment” in the darkness.

Only Carraway realizes how indefinite are the figures and objects in the shadows. And the most intangible figure of all, the one to whom we are introduced as “a figure [that] had emerged from the shadow of [his] mansion” (25), is Gatsby himself, and “the colossal vitality of his illusion” (101). We all live in Nick’s–or Gatsby’s–world, but we all occupy different characters.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

***I don’t do The Great Gatsby any justice, especially when compared to the numerous poignant reviews that already exist. But I’ve resolved to post some of my book review assignments to encourage myself to go back and improve them.)

[Via http://ombreschinoises.wordpress.com]

Daniel Reimold: Education News: 100% of the Student Journalism Beat

Passing Through- The Later Poems by Stanley Kunitz

2010-03-06T16:43:00.000+02:00

Charles Loudon** – The Fox Chase Review

I had the opportunity this past week to revisit Passing Through – The Later Poems by Stanley Kunitz. He leads us into this collection with Instead of a Forward with a commentary on twentieth century poetry that still applies today:

“It disturbs me that twentieth century American poets seem largely reconciled to being relegated to the classroom—practically the only habitat in which most of us are conditioned to feel secure. It would be healthier if we could locate ourselves in the thick of life, at every intersection where values and meanings cross, caught in the dangerous traffic between self and universe.”

Kunitz the ultimate academic recognized the need to inject energy into poetry then as today, to bring poetry out of the secure classroom environment to, “the dangerous traffic between self and universe”.

From River Road *:

That year of the cloud, when my marriage failed,/ I slept in a chair, by the flagstone hearth,/ fighting my sleep,/ and one night saw a Hessian Solider/ stand at attention there in full/ regalia, till his head broke into flames. My only other callers were the FBI/ sent to investigate me as a Russian spy/ by patriotic neighbors on the river road;/ and flying squirrels parachuting from the elms/ who squeaked in rodent heat between the walls/ and upstairs rumbled at their nutty games.

From The Knot:

I’ve tried to seal it in,/ that cross-grained knot/ on the opposite wall,/ scored in the lintel of my door,/ but it keeps bleeding through./ into the world we share. Mornings when I wake,/ curled in my web,/ I hear it come/ with a rush of resin/ out of the trauma of its lopping off.

Kunitiz the master symbolist draws the reader into his poetry permitting the reader the opportunity to live and breathe the poems as Kunitz did when crafting them.

From The Lincoln Relics:

Cold-eyed, in Naples once,/ while the congregation swooned,/ I watched the liquefaction/ of a vial of precious blood,/ and wondered only/ how the trick was done. Saint’s bone are only bones/ to me, but here,/ where the stage is set/ without a trace of gore,/ these relics on display–/ watchfob and ivory pocket knife, / a handkerchief of Irish linen,/ a button severed from his sleeve–

Through the years, Stanely Kunitz has remained one of my favorite poets. I encourage lovers of poetry and poets to read Kunitz work. There is much to be learned, much to be enjoyed. Kunitz passed away at the age of 100 in 2006. His life spanned two centuries, influencing many poets of the last century and lives on to influence poets of the new century.

Passing Through- The Later Poems by Stanley Kunitz can be found at this link:

Passing Through: The Later Poems, New and Selected by Stanley Kunitz

*River Road is located in Bucks County. The area Kunitz writes of is located between Washington Crossing State Park and New Hope Pa.

**Charles Loudon lives on Cottman Avenue in Philadelphia, he is not sure if he lives in Fox Chase or Burholme depending on who he speaks with. He is frequent visitor to the Ryerss Library

[Via http://foxchasereview.wordpress.com]

Craig Crawford leaves MSNBC… « Inside Cable News

The Isles Of The Many Gods by David Rankin and Sorita D'Este

2010-03-06T16:35:00.000+02:00

An A-Z of the Pagan Gods and Goddesses worshipped in Ancient Britain (there is more to the title but this is enough to get the idea) is a reference book, as you have probably guessed from the name.

I usually approach books like this with trepidation. I’m never sure what I’ll find in them. This book doesn’t just reference the Celtic Deities but rather all the deities worshipped in Ancient Britain.

At the very beginning of the book the authors explain why they chose these specific deities and what sources they used as their evidence. They give a short history and a timeline for the literary sources, which appears accurate.

Then comes the pages and pages of gods and goddesses. I’m not an expert on any of the gods but the information provided on the gods in the book can easily be checked by a little research.

I chose two gods that I do know a bit about to check the validity of their information. On the page about The Morrígan, they make a few connections that I have not seen anywhere else but on the whole I’d say 85% of what is on that page was good information. On the page about Lugh, I’d say 95% of the information provided is correct.

My prognosis: It is a good reference book to have with the caveat that you verify the information provided against other sources.

[Via http://celticscholar.wordpress.com]

Sony should sue Microsoft - Jaffe News | Eurogamer

Books that stay with you...

2010-03-04T16:39:00.000+02:00

The things you remember about books often have nothing to do with their ‘literary merit’, a dubious concept in and of itself. Recently I’ve been thinking about Patricia Scanlan, whose books I devoured between the ages of about ten and seventeen (not quite the target age, methinks, but anyway). And the bitchy or otherwise havoc-causing characters in her books. And their motivations, their thought processes, their selfishness and their realness… I’ve never read anyone who quite gets bitchy characters down on the page as well as Patricia Scanlan does.

Miserly characters… it’s not even Ebeneezer Scrooge that takes the biscuit (or crumb) here, but Nancy. Miss Mouse. Nancy is a character in a short story collection by Maeve Binchy, The Lilac Bus, and to this day she is one of the most vivid characters in the fictional universe as I know it. Nancy is as mean as they come, careful as she thinks, the kind of woman who goes into the butcher’s and buys two rashers. And then she hears people talking about her, is shocked, learns her lesson… and immediately starts thinking about how to appear generous while still keeping her costs down. All in maybe ten or fifteen pages.

Jenny in Caroline B Cooney’s Among Friends stays with me as the seemingly perfect girl with angst. Marcy of The Cat Ate My Gymsuit and There’s A Bat In Bunk Five fame stays with me as someone who learns things about herself and makes mistakes. Victoria Martin’s (Francine Pascal’s trilogy) trials and tribulations through hanging out with her mother as a teenager in the 1940s, working as an au pair for a flaky woman who won’t let her kids see their grandfather, and hooking up with her best friend’s boyfriend while working as a camper-waitress, definitely stay with me. Darrell losing her temper in the first Malory Towers book (and later books), and then having her play performed in the fifth form.

I have a feeling it is to do with the age you read these things at. They’re not all kids’ books, but they’re all books I read before my mid-teens, which makes me wonder… if I’d actually finished Pride and flippin’ Prejudice at that age, would I be (like so many people I know) utterly smitten with Mr Darcy and in awe of Elizabeth instead of just being a bit ‘meh’ about the whole thing? If I had Read More Classics as my teachers so desperately wanted me to, would I be gushing over said Classics instead of thinking, well, some of them are okay, but honestly, let’s not kid ourselves into thinking the label is an objective one? Or would I still feel that it’s not so much whether the literary critics deem something a great work or a fluffy beach read, but about those bits that are so astute and so true, that they stay with you years later?

Happy World Book Day, folks.

[Via http://clairehennessy.wordpress.com]

The First: Barack Obama Book Review

Fire Raiser

2010-03-04T04:01:00.000+02:00

I recently read Fire Raiser by Melanie Rawn. This is the sequel to Spellbinder. Recently released in mass market, it came out in hardcover a little over a year ago.

Fire Raiser is a contemporary fantasy. I hesitate to call it urban fantasy (though that’s probably the more common term) since it’s set in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It’s a little slow getting started, though that’s partly a difference between the fantasy genre and that of romance. It took me a while to get used to Melanie’s style again, but I’m glad I hung in there. What seem to be digressions come back around to tie in to the main story or sub-plots while enriching the character development. Since I know Melanie, I could hear her voice at several points, but the characters still remain true to themselves.

The book really came alive for me when Cam and Jamie’s relationship was introduced. I admit it, I like a good romance, and this is a lovely one. The author mentions that Jamie was one of those characters that pop up and insist on being included. I’m glad she listened to him!

Fire Raiser can be enjoyed without having read Spellbinder. Melanie has set this up well for a sequel, one I eagerly await.

[Via http://frankierobertson.wordpress.com]

t r u t h o u t | Small Foreign News Staffs Threaten US Democracy

Blogging for Books

2010-03-04T04:00:00.000+02:00

I am so excited to be blogging and reviewing books. I have been passionate about great books for a long time. I think I read a book a day as a teenager. Now, I work in a library so they surround me. Shelving books can be distracting… : )

So, as I get started in the next few weeks, be sure to come back frequently for my next book recommendation. My first official book review will be a children’s book about Easter with a CD included. So excited to get started!

[Via http://kbumgardaner.wordpress.com]

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Book review: 'The Lonely Hearts Club' by Elizabeth Eulberg

2010-03-02T16:57:00.000+02:00

I wanna hold your hand . . . or do I?

After her long-time sweetheart Nate turns out to be — gasp — just another teenage boy with a wandering eye, Penny Lane Bloom is crushed. Vowing to give up dating for the rest of high school, she soon finds a sympathetic ear — or twenty — as other girls from school find their way into an unofficial union with Penny Lane. An avid Beatles fan, Penny dubs the group “The Lonely Hearts Club” and the girls quickly form a comraderie based on wanting only the best out of life . . . and knowing that no immature high school senior will be able to provide it.

Things are fine and well until the group rapidly expands to encompass many of the school’s young ladies, and guess who isn’t so thrilled about a no-dating club? All of the young men. When the school newspaper does a feature on the club and breaks it all wide open, Penny must navigate the newly-treacherous waters of dirty looks, whispering, rumors and backstabbing. And along the way, battle her own feelings toward men — and one boy, in particular. Can the queen bee of the Lonely Hearts Club actually mend her own?

I started Elizabeth Eulberg’s The Lonely Hearts Club on Valentine’s Day — when I was having an impromptu Lonely Hearts Club meeting of my own, if I’m being honest. What I found in its pages was a sweet if simple story about a teen girl learning that friendship really does have restorative properties — and that we don’t need a man to waltz in and complete our lives (though sometimes it’s fun when the guys do show up).

Penny Lane should get points for being proactive with her heart, deciding what to do with it and to whom she’s going to give it. But I felt like, as a narrator, she was a bit boring . . . and that the supporting cast of The Lonely Hearts Club, which included best friends Diane and Tracy, was weak. None of the characters stood out as individuals or felt like people I would actually know; I wanted some depth and feeling going on here. Even as the novel opens on Penny and her broken heart, I didn’t feel the jagged edges of anything. It was all saccharine, too orderly.

Where the novel failed to move me was definitely through the characterization of Eulberg’s ensemble. Even Todd, a sort of “bad boy” fellow student, failed to inspire any aggravation or distaste on my part. Ryan, Diane’s ex-boyfriend, seemed like an everyman golden boy — the one girls love for no other reason than he’s just so gosh-darn loveable. And I don’t know . . . it didn’t work for me.

But the novel isn’t bad. The plotting is fast-paced, though I had no idea where the story was going — and not in a good way. It all just seemed to meander along without any motivation or impetus. Once the club was formed, I had a hard time figuring out where the conflict was going to come from. And in the end? There really . . . wasn’t one. Not enough to form a whole book around, anyway.

Still, I don’t want to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Eulberg’s writing is fun and the novel, which functions as a coming-of-age tale, will probably appeal to young teens. For fans of the Fab Four, the frequent Beatles references, lyrics and quotes add flavor to an otherwise vanilla young adult novel.

3 out of 5!

ISBN: 0545140315 ♥ Purchase from Amazon ♥ Author Website

Personal copy won from Read This Book!

[Via http://writemeg.com]

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How to Read Novels like a Professor

2010-03-02T16:52:00.000+02:00

I have loved reading ever since I can remember. If it had been possible for me at all I would have studied and taught literature. Since I did something entirely different in my life it was always a desire to study literature. I always feel that I when I read I am missing stuff – the in-between the lines, the symbolism. I kinda , sorta grasp the larger and deeper meanings but not entirely. So I am always on the lookout for articles or books that help me read better. When I saw ‘How to Read Novels like a Professor’ in my library, I took it in a wink.

I really really enjoyed reading it. Thomas Foster writes in a completely engaging style not once sounding like a professor or a textbook. I learned quite a few things – elements to recognize as you read, relationship of the writer and reader, the influences on a narrative, the changes in the form of the novel in the last three to four hundred years. I am huge fan of the victorian novels which I now realize are serialized novels with tidy endings.Foster does not seem to be fond of tidy complete endings and I almost felt defensive of Dickens ( who I believe was a genius with a masterful command of English language) whose work was proabably the most traditional victorian style of it all. However,I admit that when I read 20th century literature , more than the story itself, I am always looking for unique form and structure. Because at the end of the day – its all one large human story. Novels are all about presentation. That is the reason I loved David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red. Its challenging and fun to keep up with writers whose narratives surprise you from chapter to chapter. I also learned something very basic – there is no right way or wrong way to read the book.

This books acts as a very good guide to anyone wanting to be a big fiction writer. Yes, its more about how to write a novel rather than how to read a novel.For me apart from the learning elements, the most fun part of the book was the references to novels while explaining his point. As Foster puts it – the books is ‘ a giant reading list’. I loved to see so many familiar names, but was also disheartened to know that I have read so few pieces of good literature.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves reading. Period.

[Via http://shadesofwords09.wordpress.com]

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Unexpected Surprise

2010-03-02T03:58:00.000+02:00

A book recommendation from a friend, Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman is fantastic! I simply could not put it down. It’s another local read taking place in Boston and Providence. (I swear, I am not seeking these out on purpose!) April Epner is a high school latin teacher with a pretty ho-hum life until her birth mother contacts her. From this point on, her life is turned a bit upside down in both positive and negative ways. Birth mom turns out to be a zany local celebrity who isn’t exactly honest about April’s past. She desperately tries to latch on to the main character while almost simultaneously pushing her away. I found this relationship to be believable and it added to my rampant page-turning. However, what I liked best were other aspects of the novel, which I found to be clever and more unexpected. For example, the storyline adds some seriousness outlining April’s adoptive parents who were concentration camp survivors. But, my favorite was the novel’s unlikely love interest, a dorky librarian who, in my opinion, steals the show. I could really relate to this book because of the setting, the realistic scenes that took place in school and the way that they characters interacted with each other. Additionally, I was excited to find out that it was adapted into a movie starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick. This will be put on our blockbuster queue. Even if it turns out to be a flop, I will still appreciate it!

-Kelly

[Via http://novelladies2010.wordpress.com]

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Book Review – Lights Out by Halffast

2010-02-28T04:52:00.000+02:00

Like One Second After, the earlier Lights Out by David Crawford a.k.a. Halffast, is about he aftermath of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the United States and comes with my highest recommendation. EMP affects modern electronic devices but not older electronics using tubes.

This story play out on the outskirts of a medium-sized town in Texas in the vicinity of San Antonio. The main characters are caught completely off guard – they are not survivalists or preppers, but they are intelligent and self-sufficient types. Any regular reader of this or other survivalist blogs likely is better prepared.

The main characters slowly end up becoming leaders in their subdivision, and a key element in this book is that it takes a group working together to provide community security. Those trying to go it alone come to untimely ends. The situation for the main characters is less dire than in One Second After, but the need to form a community and populate it with persons with the right skills is highlighted.

Many basic needs are covered, including repairing some care to function after an EMP, farming, weapons and security, travel on post-apocalyptic roads, community security and patrols, etc.

Lights Out has been posted on the net as a free eBook for several years. In my opinion, it is excellent and has my highest recommendation. While it offers less of a how-to approach than Patriots, the characters and dialogue are much more natural. The full Adobe file is just over 600 pages, and while the first 200 pages or so are slow, it’s a real page turner after that.

The first twenty chapters are currently available for download at Frugal Squirrels, but the author apparently has a movie deal in the works so the full version of the eBook is scarce. If you can’t find one, contact me and I’ll send you a link.

It is important to be clear on one point; whether or not the effects of an EMP attack on electronic devices are exaggerated or not is largely irrelevant – the consequences for the collapse of our society would still likely be the nearly same since it very likely would take down the networks needed for modern life in the U.S. We would have the benefit of power, communications, and transportation for a bit longer, but when supply chains disintegrate, so does the rest.

[Via http://suburbansurvivalist.wordpress.com]

In other news - Beyond The Commons - Macleans.ca

Review: Baling by Carol Hanrahan

2010-02-28T03:59:00.000+02:00

Baling

By Carol Hanrahan

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Baling-Carol-Hanrahan/dp/1442168374

It was a snowy weekend in my little corner of the world, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend it than reading a story about long, lazy summer days in the country. “Baling” by Carol Hanrahan is a delightful coming of age story that chronicles one magical summer in the lives of two teenaged boys.

When Nick and his younger brother, John, find out they have to spend the summer at their Aunt Jess’ farm, helping out with the baling, they are not exactly overjoyed at the prospect. Especially Nick, the older of the two, who’d planned to spend his vacation watching movies, visiting Six Flags Theme Parks, and mostly, attending driving classes in the hope of obtaining his license. Nevertheless, they have little choice except to go along with the plan. From the day they arrive on the farm, life becomes one adventure after another, and they discover that a summer in the country may not be as dull as they’d first imagined. When the boys come across an old Civil War jacket and a packet of letters hidden away in their Aunt’s attic, they team up with Lainey Wallace, the beautiful neighbor girl, and go in search of hidden treasure. In the process, they encounter danger and uncover a family secret, and seventeen-year-old Nick discovers the magic of falling in love.

I really enjoyed this story. The author has a lovely talent for describing the joy of country living. Indeed, the writing was so vivid I could almost smell Aunt Jess’ chocolate cake baking in the oven, see the beauty of the starry night sky, and feel the soft whisper of the summer breeze. The story was very well paced, with a nice balance of action-packed scenes to keep the pages turning, and plenty of quiet moments where I could pause to savor the beauty of the landscape. The story is strong on family values, and is a refreshing reminder of life’s simple pleasures.

The storytelling was lovely, the plot, interesting, and the characters, likeable (if a bit underdeveloped.) All of this added up to a wonderful reading experience. I recommend “Baling” to anyone who enjoys heartwarming stories of life in the country.

–Honeybee

[Via http://workinggirlreviews.wordpress.com]

Facebook Awarded "News Feed" Patent | Maximum PC

PINOCCHIO: VAMPIRE SLAYER By: Dustin Higgins and Van Jensen

2010-02-27T16:47:00.000+02:00

How cool of a mash-up concept is this? Pinocchio as a vampire slayer with a built-in wooden stake. This graphic novel based on the chilling Carl Collodi tale of a puppet come to life enjoys a modern twist when vampires are thrown into the mix. Dustin Higgins and Van Jensen combine their writing and drawing skills to create a Pinocchio tale that adds another dimension of creepiness to an already horrifying tale (who would have thought it possible — the story scared me half to death in so many ways when I was a kid).

If you are curious at this point, which I know you are, read it. The Lycan Librarian’s only criticism is that the guys were a little lax as far as the plot goes. They begin with illustrated blocks that fly through most of the story with short “this happened and then this happened” curtness. I was hoping for more meat to the actual tale. If you have never seen or read anything except the Disney versions of this story, get your hands on a copy of Collodi’s original PINOCCHIO and prepare yourself for a wonderfully dark and vicious tale.

I hope this concept is expanded into novel form because it is a book begging to be written, and definitely the type of idea a writer such as the Lycan Librarian hears and wishes they had thought of themselves.

[Via http://lycanlibrarian.wordpress.com]

iTunes reaches 10 billion download milestone | iLounge News

Career Warfare

2010-02-27T04:54:00.000+02:00

I have chosen Career Warfare as my first professional book to review. it is a thought provoking and interesting read. The book is written by David F. D’Alessandro. He came to prominence when he served as the chairman, chief executive officer, and president of John Hancock Financial Services from 2001 to 2004. The book contains many excellent practical tips with vivid examples.

My review will focus on the first three chapters in the book. If you want to be successful you must understand the lessons identified here. I provide several key points in bullet format from the book verbatim. The author provides excellent examples to support each observation. I will also speak to some of the key personal lessons I have taken from the book.

Chapter 1:

Your personal brand will determine your success. Guard it and promote it.

Know how other people see you.
Know what you don’t know.
Leadership is about people not theory

I agree that leadership is about people not theory. It’s fair to point out though that people and theory are not mutually exclusive as some people seem to think. It never ceases to amaze me how often some people will dismiss an idea because it has come from book. I have read many books on management. Some are better then others. They have certainly helped me be more effective in my role. Even though this book has 10 chapters if you only read the first 3 and REALLY live the lessons the author suggests you will recoup your investment many times over.

If you want to get ahead you need 5 key qualities

Make things happen in the organization (He says make money)
Tell the truth
Be discreet
Keep your promises
Make people want to work with you

When I evaluate my progress against these 5 I think I have matured a lot as a manager within the last year or so. I have a reputation for being impatient. I bring a sense of urgency to whatever I do. This is often a good thing. Some colleagues would like me to be more of a team player. In my desire to resolve the problems I have often overlooked the politics of the situation. The problem gets addressed but many people are unhappy. I have worked hard to improve my performance in this area with considerable success. I certainly have more work to do here though.

Until a year ago or so I was always eager to hear the office “gossip”\speculation on impending re-orgs etc at Sage. I got myself in BIG trouble by”‘connecting the dots” and trying to figure out what would happen next. What a waste of time and energy. My life has been a lot simpler ever since I stopped doing this. I am reasonably confident that many of my previous and current reports would recommend me as a boss. I believe this is because I am committed to their success and am very candid with them.

Chapter 2:

Your boss is the co-author of your brand.

Bosses want 3 things:

Loyalty
Good Advice
To have their personal brands polished.

What you need from your boss:

Trust
A fair exchange

I am fortunate in this regard with my current boss. I have the freedom to say what I like behind closed doors with Ken. Bosses who claim they are open minded but really want you to be an order taker are stifling to work for. As long as I disagree before the decision but commit to it afterwards Ken is fine. The author says experience is more important then money early in your career. I had no background in R&D before I started to work for him. I have enjoyed a lot of autonomy to add value as a project manager and functional QA manager. I get to leverage my strengths and demonstrate my ability to take on new and complex work. In return I have excelled in every role he has given me. To the author’s point my work and support has been an important factor in Ken’s success.

Chapter 3

Put your boss on the couch. (Figure out what type of boss you have)

Good mentors make sure your reputation rises in tandem with theirs.
Good mentors understand that your brand has to change as you gain experience.
Be tolerant of your bosses weaknesses if they give you an opportunity to build your brand.
Get out from a boss who is only interested in using you.

I think the author is exactly right here. The real challenge is how do you know what your boss is saying about you with other senior colleagues? My guess is Ken does try to promote my interests. I don’t and can’t really know for sure though. There are very few players with REAL power to promote people in the organization I work for. My suggestion is that you need to find out who these people are in your organization. Make sure your accomplishments are visible to them without undermining your boss.

Rest of the book

The rest of the book while interesting did not capture my imagination the way the first three chapters did. I don’t agree with several of the author’s recommendations. For example, he says that it is a bad idea to work for an entrepreneuer in Chapter 5 if you want to build your own brand. I can’t say that I have worked for an entrepreneur but the advice seems a little bizarre and way too general. Management authors such as Marcus Buckingham share my opinion on this. There is bad bosses in every walk of professional life.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book. You DO need more then success and a strong work ethic to be successful. You will learn some very practical lessons to be a more accomplished professional if you take the time to read “Career Warfare”. I hope this post encourages you to read the book.

If anyone has any comments or feedback I would love to hear them.

[Via http://donaldepaor.com]

NASA programmers release 3D Sun | iLounge News

The Child Thief by Brom

2010-02-27T04:11:00.000+02:00

The Child Thief was a trip into the sort of fairy tale fantasy world so common in countless kid’s fantasy adventure stories, except this is not your typical children’s fantasy. The story is told through such a raw, unfliching style, which never shies away from showing brutal tragedy as brutal tragedy and terrible violence in all its terrible detail.

At its heart it is the story of Peter Pan, a Peter Pan which is in some ways more true to the original works by J. M. Barrie than the Peter Pan headlining in all the child friendly movies, records, and cartoons which most people are so familiar with. At least it is more true to the Peter Pan which was implied by Barrie’s works, and more true to the mythologies which inspired Barrie as well. Though even the original works by J. M. Barrie often glossed over death and violence without ever focusing on any sort of realistic psycholigical effects among the children invloved.

The Child Thief re-imagines Peter as a lost soul, outcast from both the world of the fae and the world of men, he fights for his survival among men and he fights for his place among the fae. Throughout the ages he develops a savage bloodlust and keen survival insticts, becoming both a cold strategist and a savage warrior as a reaction to the harrowing times and persecutions he lives through. Forever young, he eventually finds that he can bring others with him into the world of fairy, but only children, for only they still retain some degree of purity and magic which allows them to pass between the worlds, with Peter’s guidance.

So in order to fight against a great threat which looms over all he holds dear in the realm of fairy, Peter is driven to gather an army of children from the world of men. Children to fight and die in his war against a nightmare threat. Peter is often torn between his own noble ideals and the reality of bringing innocent kids into his war to bleed in battle and die for his cause, but the fact that he himself is still only a boy, combined with the very importance of all that is at stake, make it somehow justifiable in his mind.

The other children are mostly filled with a deep loyalty for Peter. They are children who were lost and alone when he found them. The unwanted, the enslaved, the abused, and doomed to die. He saved each one of them from something, he gave them a life, a family, and taught them to kill and die after giving them something to believe in, something worth killing and dying for. Of course they loved him for it. Except for those few that didn’t, the ones that resented him, hated him, feared him, and saw the insanity and cruelty of involving children in his personal war – of teaching them to enjoy it. Then there were those that never even made it to the land of fairy, those who Peter had saved only to be lost to the terrors and trials of the trip between worlds, lost to a fate worse than death – they had no idea what they were agreeing to, until it was far too late. And worse still, were those children who were just a bit too old, the magic of fairy would corrupt them, twisting them into vile, deformed, bloodthirsty shadows of themselves.

Peter is a troubled child, with an uncertain past and an uncertain future, in world frought with insidious bewitchments, on the brink of disaster. His deadly grim band of devil kids are troubled children too. Each with their own tragic tales to tell. And the whole magical fairy tale is delivered with such a ruthless clarity that it succeeds in really bringing the horror to life, and breathing real purpose into the rich tapestry of characters which B has assembled so flawlessly for us.

One thing which really impressed me about this book was that the writing itself was quite nearly perfect. I enjoy a great many books because they are good stories or present interesting or original concepts, but I often find the prose itself lacking. Not here. I did not find Brom’s prose lacking in the least, his writing compliments his imagination perfectly.

Many authors writing today seem to have either forgotten, discarded, or simply failed to learn many basic tenets of good story telling and writing. Some of the issues which seem rampant in today’s novels are long, exhaustive descriptions (one of the first things writers learn is to show, not tell – but many writers today either fail to understand this or fail to see the value of it). Lack of active prose. Poor research. Tedious disertations on fictional histories in order to create some degree of internal consistency, or just failing to achieve internal consistency at all. Predictable outcomes, or unpredictable outcomes which are poorly executed and are obviously just for the sake of unpredictability. Gaping plot holes. Excessive repetition of tired cliches. Easy solutions that materialize virtually out of thin air. Etc.. Etc..

Not Brom. In The Child Thief I found his writing to be more impeccable than anything I have read in quite some time. He was not lazy about researching his subject and his keen attention to most of the tenets of good writing really pay off. He also doesn’t ever really take the easy path with this story, sometimes accomplishing spectacular feats of skillful writing and imagination in order to bring together a more difficult to compose, but infinitely more engaging and well thought out tale. Sometimes it may begin to feel a little predictable, but it seldom really is, once you turn the page. Truly a masterfully crafted tale by a truly multi-talented artist.

Brom takes a wonderful, classic children’s story to whole new levels of brilliance and poetry which is not for the kids anymore, or even the feint of heart. The Child Thief is certainly a page turner, and not likely to disapoint. Many stories I read are excellent right up until the last couple of chapters at which point the story falls into one of a small handful of overused and cliched outcomes and/or simply tie up the story with a quick, convenient and often internally inconsistent reckoning, which for me kind of spoils the whole story. Again, Brom has avoided this pitfall, and delivered a darkly poetic saga which maintains its appeal from beginning to end. Some may take issue with how the story concludes, but from a critical standpoint the ending was flawless, though I’ll refrain from saying any more about that, lest I give anything away.

In summary: a masterpiece.

[Via http://unmortal.wordpress.com]

Unemployment Extension News

THE SEVEN SAYINGS OF THE SAVIOR ON THE CROSS - A.W. Pink

2010-02-25T16:25:00.000+02:00

The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross by A.W. Pink is a devotional look at the final words uttered by Jesus on Calvary’s tree. But these meditations are more than mere musings. To the contrary, Pink’s insight is theologically charged, mind altering, and heart transforming.

Pink turns the heart of the reader to the person and work of Christ. He skillfully explains each of the seven sayings of the Savior on the cross and makes direct application to Christ-followers and calls the unregenerate to repentance.

Pink’s work is an excellent introduction to the basics of Christ’s cross work. Readers would do well to proceed to The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney, The Cross of Christ by John Stott, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross by Leon Morris and Pierced for Our Transgressions by Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach.

4 stars

[Via http://baldreformer.wordpress.com]

Introversion opens up on Subversion News | PC | Eurogamer

So push back...

2010-02-25T04:18:00.000+02:00

Stop Being Pushed Around by Lynda Bevan is essentially a guide to building self-esteem. The majority of it focuses on romantic relationships, which makes sense because most self-esteem issues only become apparent when one is in a relationship or is just coming out of one.

It should be noted that the book is merely a guide.The most effective practice is self-examination as is shown throughout the book by the questions Bevan poses to the reader. Stop Being Pushed Around does eventually does give a few examples of negative and positive ways to respond to criticism, disrespect, and other tools that are used to pick away at a person’s confidence. Also, throughout the book are several quotes sprinkled in just the right places to inspire the reader.

Overall, the book is a great guide on how to build one’s esteem. It presents several realistic scenarios and gives the pros and cons to different responses. I feel this is the most effective in showing the reader the most efficient way to counter those who are making them feel inferior.

[Via http://bwloca.wordpress.com]

Education News - Winds of Change.NET

Salt: Just Two Books

2010-02-25T04:01:00.000+02:00

When I joined Twitter over a year ago, one of the first things I learned about was Salt Publishing’s Just One Book campaign. Evidently Salt, like many small publishers, was in trouble, and this was their approach to try to raise awareness and sales. The meme went around the literary community quickly, and drew a lot of attention to Salt’s books. I’d never read any of Salt’s authors, so I went and checked out their website, read some of the poems and decided to support them by purchasing my one book: Siân Hughes’ The Missing.

Hughes’ poems are excellent. They mine the regret and sadness of loss: loss of love, loss of dignity, loss of a job, and most poignantly, the loss of a child. I have no idea if Hughes’ life has taken any of these turns, but the poems feel devastatingly real, the book having an air of confession and intimacy–often relieved by a dark humor. If this is the caliber of Salt’s publications, I thought, I wanted more.

Read “The Send Off” by Siân Hughes, which won the Arvon International Poetry Competition 2006.

Watch Siân Hughes read several excellent poems from The Missing:

After reading an article in The Times about several young British poets (“The Facebook Poets”) I became interested in reading more of Olivia Cole’s poetry. Her debut collection, Restricted View, received some generous praise from Clive James and Cole was instantly being compared to Sylvia Plath (for her sake, I hope that doesn’t turn out to be entirely accurate). Thankfully, the poems themselves do live up to the hype, and fully deserve praise and readers.

Olivia Cole writes intoxicatingly about young love, first love, the excitement of discovery, and the general thrill of being young. (She writes about the end of relationships, about regret and failure, too, but it’s the celebratory poems that really stir the imagination and linger in memory.) The subject matter of the most-memorable poems almost makes Restricted View the thematic yin to The Missing’s yang. Cole’s work proves she’s not the party girl that the day-job as a literary and “party scene” columnist for a British paper might suggest.

Read “Matinee Idol” by Olivia Cole, one of my favorite poems in Restricted View.

I’m often disappointed to find that new books of poetry from established poets only contain one or two truly memorable (to me, anyway) new poems. That’s not a problem with the work of Siân Hughes and Olivia Cole, both are curious, creative poets who write about a range of events and emotions. I don’t know anything about the biography of either beyond that on the dust jackets, so I can’t know if the poetry comes from great feats of imaginative empathy or from bitter experience, but the work convinces, the poems have the feel of truth, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

Watch Olivia Cole read two poems from Restricted View:

I’m contemplating which Salt poetry collection I want to read next, and I’d welcome any suggestions.

[Via http://wordhoarder.wordpress.com]

ABC News Expected To Offer “Hundreds” Of Buyouts Tomorrow (Update ...

"half a continent...changed hands at the scratch of a pen"

2010-02-23T16:47:00.000+02:00

The scratch of a pen : 1763 and the transformation of North America Oxford, England ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006 Colin G. Calloway Treaty of Paris (1763) Hardcover. First edition and printing. xvii, 219 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-208) and index. Clean, tight and strong binding with clean dust jacket. No highlighting, underlining or marginalia in text. VG/VG

In February 1763, Britain, Spain, and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War. In this one document, more American territory changed hands than in any treaty before or since. As the great historian Francis Parkman wrote, “half a continent…changed hands at the scratch of a pen.”

As Colin Calloway reveals in this superb history, the Treaty set in motion a cascade of unexpected consequences. Indians and Europeans, settlers and frontiersmen, all struggled to adapt to new boundaries, new alignments, and new relationships. Britain now possessed a vast American empire stretching from Canada to the Florida Keys, yet the crushing costs of maintaining it would push its colonies toward rebellion. White settlers, free to pour into the West, clashed as never before with Indian tribes struggling to defend their way of life.

In the Northwest, Pontiac’s War brought racial conflict to its bitterest level so far. Whole ethnic groups migrated, sometimes across the continent: it was 1763 that saw many exiled settlers from Acadia in French Canada move again to Louisiana, where they would become Cajuns. Calloway unfurls this panoramic canvas with vibrant narrative skill,

peopling his tale with memorable characters such as William Johnson, the Irish baronet who moved between Indian campfires and British barracks; Pontiac, the charismatic Ottawa chieftain whose warriors, for a time, chased the Europeans from Indian country; and James Murray, Britain’s first governor in Quebec, who fought to protect the religious rights of his French Catholic subjects.

Most Americans know the significance of the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation, but not the Treaty of Paris. Yet 1763 was a year that shaped our history just as decisively as 1776 or 1862. This captivating book shows why.

[Via http://oldsaltbooks.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: Lieberman to sponsor DADT repeal. Key for ...

The Mayo Clinic Diet Book Review

2010-02-23T04:48:00.000+02:00

Who doesn’t need to lose weight? I fully admit I need to, especially after I made a cinnamon roll and cream cheese frosting bundt cake that was swimming in butter at 10:00 pm this evening. (I know, shame on me.) I’ve never ate a healthy diet in my life and my best attempts at nutrition are drinking water, taking fish oil pills and eating whipped yogurt. The Mayo Clinic Diet is a book I was more than happy to review for this blog, especially since I was a patient of Mayo Clinic last year and was blown away by their campus and the doctors I met who finally diagnosed me with Dysautonomia.

The Mayo Clinic Diet starts off with a quick introduction by Dr. Donald Hensrud, reminding readers that this book and it’s recommendations isn’t a fad diet and it was written due to the various bogus “Mayo Clinic Diets” that have been around for years. The book starts off with a two-week plan to get you on track and losing up to 6 – 10 pounds right away. And then it gets down to the nitty-gritty, and tells the reader the five simple habits they need to help them take off the weight, as well as gives them five habits to break so that you can keep it from coming back. When I came across their healthy weight pyramid, I was thrilled to see they had added in “fats” and “sweets,” two very important food groups close to my heart. I personally think this is why most other diets don’t work, because they usually keep fats and sweets away from you, when we all know this is impossible.

The book is very cool, it is extremely visual and easy to read, and it includes everything from recipes to visual clues on serving sizes (page 88, you were my favorite, as you were filled with beautiful images of steak) to many strategies for all of the behavior obstacles every emotional eater and junk food junkie faces. If you are nutritionally challenged like I am, you will find a solution to every challenge you face, especially important ones, such as “I can’t afford healthy foods,” “I don’t have time to exercise,” and “I’m not good at menu planning.” I like the scare tactics section, where the book tells you why you are overweight and what this can do to your health. Mayo scared me straight after learning that people who have gained over 10 pounds from young adulthood are at risk for weight-related conditions. One of my worst fears is getting diabetes, and having a foot or leg cut off like my step-uncle. When I was a young adult, I weight between 116 – 125 pounds. (I was 5′10, so this was pretty skinny for a tall chick.) I can assure all of you that I am most definitely at least ten pounds over that weight today, partly my thyroid’s fault. I’ve always abused food my entire life and I know this book can cure me from that. Because when I am hitting cinnamon and butter late at night and alone because I’m not feeling good, I know I have a problem and I’m close to hitting rock bottom. If you are anything like me, then this book needs to be in your hands asap.

Buy your copy of The Mayo Clinic Diet here.

Mayo Clinic is the first not-for-profit integrated group practice in the world. Doctors from every specialty work together to diagnose and treat patients. Mayo is the largest integrated hospital in the world and they treat over a half a million patients every year. When you buy a copy of this book, the proceeds will fund medical education and research at Mayo Clinic. So, by helping yourself, you are also helping out people like me.

[Via http://thegirlfromtheghetto.wordpress.com]

News to know: Devil Mountain Software; Lower Merion laptops ...

Resources for parents from the Int'l Reading Assoc.

2010-02-23T04:38:00.000+02:00

The International Reading Association has several publications available for free download on its website. These materials provide valuable information about reading and how to make it a part of every child’s life and “to help parents as they take on their critical role as their children’s first and most important teachers.”

The brochures listed below are particularly helpful in providing parents with a start to making reading an integral part of their family’s life.

Brochures

Getting Your Child Ready to Read
Supporting Your Beginning Reader
What Is Family Literacy? Getting Involved in Your Child’s Literacy Learning

Go to this page, scroll down to see a list of brochures and select the one you wish to view (in PDF format).

The IRA has also a list of books compiled by children called Children Choices, which comprises reviews of books by children. Since 1974 the IRA has been compiling such a list and it has become ”a source of book recommendations used by teachers, librarians, parents—and children themselves.” See the 2009 Children Choices booklist here.

[Via http://muslimkidsbooks.wordpress.com]

Bad News for Film Fests: B-Side Shuts Down - Cinematical

Book Review - G.E. Bentley's The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake

2010-02-21T16:40:00.000+02:00

Being the authoritative scholarly source for William Blake’s biographical information, G.E. Bentley JR’s “The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake” is a surprisingly likable read. Mixing both the in-depth research, rigorous investigation, and required cited sources of the best scholarly texts and an almost conversational narrative tone, Bentley’s Biography of Blake should manage to entice both ivory tower scholars and casual readers alike.

In this wonderful text Blake is looked at through the various phases that make up his life. From his childhood and his relationship with his siblings to his death and legacy to the world, the events in this biography are masterfully told. The romance story of Blake and Catherine weaved into the narrative could be considered a text in itself, and the vivid descriptions of Blake’s apprenticeship and life in general make the reader feel as if they were standing next to Blake some two hundred years or so years ago as he led his life as a poet, printmaker, painter, and prophet.

Blake’s relationships with his contemporaries are explained in Bentley’s wonderful narrative voice and evidenced by the text of actual correspondence that Blake and his circle exchanged, which are weaved masterfully into the narrative in a way that will remind the reader of masterful epistolary works like Richardson’s titles “Pamela” and “Clarissa” or Aphra Bahn’s “Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister” (minus the traditional nonsense parts of eighteenth century epistolary novels).

Many of Blake’s engravings and plates are faithfully reproduced in the text, allowing the reader to see what is so eloquently described in the text, and the references and appendixes allow for further reading for those who would be interested, not in reading additional information regarding Blake, as most (if not all) of it is included in this tome, but in reading worse written and more burdensome versions of Blake’s life.

In the end, Bentley’s biography is one of the best biographies based on literary figures, and were it not for the existence of Boswell’s “The Life of Samuel Johnson” it would possibly hold the place of best history of a literary figure ever written. I recall seeing the following line somewhere, I can’t remember where, talking about Boswell’s work on Johnson, but it certainly can be applied to Bentley’s work of Blake as well: when the reader finishes reading Blake’s biography they will feel like they have been in the presence of one of the greatest men in the last centuries. The truth is they have been in the presence of two.

[Via http://johanistan.wordpress.com]

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 2/21 - Arrowhead Pride

We Know by Gregg Hurwitz

2010-02-21T04:24:00.000+02:00

Years after a traumatic event uprooted Nick Horrigan from his comfortable life when he was 18, Nick thinks that he finally has a handle on his life. He has put his past behind him and now has a stable job in Los Angeles. As far as he knows, nothing extraordinary will ever happen to him again.

Then a SWAT team explodes into his apartment, whisks him away in a Black Hawk and tells him that a terrorist is demanding for his presence.

Thoughts: We Know’s premise called me like a siren; I like stories about folks with a tragic/shady past, and I sure wanted to know what in the world happened to Nick when he was 18.

But a few chapters in and I began to have my doubts about the book.

My biggest stumbling block in liking this book? It’s illogical and the characters can be downright silly in their actions.

To echo Nick – why couldn’t the SWAT team have knocked on his door instead of barging into his apartment, all commando style, and dragging him into a Black Hawk like he was a covert agent for Al Qaeda? And seriously, a Black Hawk hovering above a Los Angeles suburb? Way to be discreet, dudes.

And then you these super agents worrying about this terrorist who’s threatening to blow up a nuclear plant. They explain to Nick why it’s important not to have a bomb blow up in the nuclear reactor’s spent-fuel pool where the terrorist is only to … (spoiler!) get rid of the terrorist with a bomb? Hello, what if the terrorist threw the cell phone into spent fuel pool, which – if it blew up, apparently – will render LA uninhabitable for 500,000 years? (Though, having written an article on nuclear energy once, I think some nuclear scientists would have some issues with this. For one, it is not that easy for one unarmed(!) terrorist to get into the spent fuel pool!)

It doesn’t bode well for a book when you start to doubt the realism of the story just two chapters in. And when I finally found out what happened to Nick 18 years ago, I could only shake my head in disbelief. Nick must’ve been seriously naive when he was 18 to do what he did.

I just couldn’t read on after that. Though for the sake of completion, I flipped to the end to see who did the nasty deed. I wasn’t surprised at the revelation at all.

So, should you read it? To give Hurwitz some credit, it is a page turner and he writes reasonably well. If you could overlook its logic flaws you could get some entertainment out of it.

I say just borrow it from a library or a friend.

[Via http://imaginarylands.wordpress.com]

Breaking News - Mark Steyn - The Corner on National Review Online

Jitterbug Perfume

2010-02-21T04:22:00.000+02:00

Books are HEAVY. I discover this anew each time I move. Suddenly there are ten cartons of reading material that I’d convinced myself I couldn’t live without. Each weighs 50 pounds or more, and the older I get, the heavier they seem to weigh, and the more I reexamine their importance to my life. Chiropracter visits or not, I doubt I will ever learn to live without them. Yes, I know there are alternatives. Namely, digital devices like Amazon.com’s Kindle (or similar handheld iPod-type readers). Or a good old-fashioned library card. As for the electronic devices, it’s pretty simple: trade in your mouldering paperbacks and heavy-duty hardbacks for (literally) light-weight digital versions. I don’t own one of these things for the same reason I didn’t trade in my LP’s and CD’s for an iPod: there’s something missing from digital approximations. Not just the album cover art and liner notes–after all, you can download that stuff, too. But there’s a tangible reality that a mere digital file can never replicate. With books, it’s a love affair that goes deeper than words spelled out in ink on a piece of paper. In the same way that cybersex can’t replace the tangible feel of a woman, I will never be totally satisfied with digital approximations. Still…they ARE heavy, and I’m not talking about fat-bottomed girls making the rockin world go round here. So I’ve had some messy break-up’s over the years. I’ve had to reevaluate which books were important to me. Which books I am likely to revisit again and again, like a satisfying lover…and which one’s are just slutty paperback booty calls I probably won’t lay down with again unless I’m drunk and/or sitting on the toilet and need something a little heavier than an old Electronic Gamer or the morning paper.

But among the contents of my pared-down library are a few old flings that won’t ever be kicked to the curb. First and foremost among them: Tom Robbins’ imcomparable Jitterbug Perfume. Like your first girlfriend, this novel has a special place in my heart. I’m re-reading it for the tenth (or so) time, and this first-edition sweetheart is starting to show her age. Though any review of this book–brief or lengthy, critical or descriptive–would fall far short of conveying its raw, sensual energy, one way to explain it is to share with you just how powerful the plot, insidious the imagery, and convincing the characterization has been on my life. In short, it is the most influential piece of fiction I’ve ever read, and I owe Robbins a debt I doubt I will ever be able to repay. A little over the top? Perhaps. After all, this is a man whom I last saw judging a cooking contest at a Spam Festival. And Jitterbug Perfume is a novel that features wonky characters like Priscilla The Genius Waitress (who was married to a famous South American accordian player and is searching for The Perfect Taco), Alobar (a 1000-year old chieftain from dark ages Bohemia), Marcel LeFevre (a French perfume executive who likes to wear whale masks), and Pan (the invisible but goat-odored Greek god whose turn-on’s include feta cheese, wineskins, and Nymphette sex). Even so, this book has given me solace during some pretty dark times in my life–and it has (more so than any other book) been responsible for my own love affair with words and writing. In a word, it’s a novel about immortality. Except that it’s also about lots of other things. Like following your bliss.

Basically, the book follows the adventures of Alobar and Kudra (the Bohemian’s sexy Indian soulmate) as they run from death. And, as sex and death are in many ways inextricably linked (for example, the male orgasm has often been called “the little death”), we are told that plenty of sex is necessary for extending one’s life far beyond the normal human lifespan. The book follows Alobar (whose tribe puts their rulers to death by force-feeding them a poisoned egg at the first signs of aging) as he traipses across Europe to Hellas (Greece), where the rise of Christianity is weakening the smelly phallic power of Pan. Alobar continues east (after some Nymphette romping of his own), meeting Kudra for the first time as a small girl, horrified by the practice of suttee (in which a Hindu widow flings herself on her dead husband’s funeral pyre). Some years later, Alobar is reintroduced to Kudra in a Tibetan lamasery, where she has fled rather than submitting to suttee herself. The two become lovers, and set out to find a mysterious band of immortals known as the Bandaloop Doctors. The novel is a sensual epic, and a feast of words.

I came across the book at the Hitching Post in Mentone, Alabama in 1985. I was 14. The Hitching Post is one of those stores that sells everything from used books to antiques. Mentone is a little mountain-top arts community, and I suspect one of the town’s more bohemian residents most have sold it to the Post’s owner in a pile of unwanted Reader’s Digests, unaware that the novel had gotten mixed in. After all, the book did not look like it had ever been read and was less than a year old at the time. However it came to be there, I regard my purchase of the novel as fate. After all, it’s not every day that one picks up (at random) a book that will change one’s life. At 14, I already knew that I wanted to be a writer. Reading this novel just made me sure of it. Throughout the years, I’ve shared the novel with several people. I’ve TRIED to share it with several more–but some people just won’t listen to good advice. It spoke to me in a language of poetry, in a dialect of vibrant and vivid words that painted bright pictures on the insides of my eyelids when I slip off to sleep. The book held such a special magic for me that I wouldn’t marry my girlfriend Jenny unless she agreed to read it. I wanted desperately for it to mean something to her the way it meant something to me. She DID make an effort to read it…but she never got through the first half of the novel. We’re now divorced. I’m not saying that her inability to “get” the book had anything to do with our marital problems. But…well, she wasn’t much of a reader, anyway. In the end, being married to a writer just wasn’t in the proverbial cards. Later, I shared the novel with Ruth Smith (aka Ruthless), the well-known dominatrix that performs with the X-rated heavy metal band, The Genitorturers. By this time, the novel’s cover was all but falling apart, and she kindly had a librarian repair it. Aside from my ex-wife and a beautiful dominatrix, I’ve shared the novel with several other people. Usually, the one’s who get through the book and take something of its magic with them are artsy people who like to create, in one way or another. Makes sense to me.

The book lists four distinct methods for achieving immortality, each of them tied to one of the four elements: air, earth, water and fire. Air equates to special “Bandaloop breathing” exercises. This is described as both a physical act (breathing in a circular way, by taking in air through the nose and breathing out through the mouth in measured, deep rhythms), and by visualizing breathing in energy with each breath, and expelling toxins with each exhale. Earth is relative to food: the exercise here is to eat many small meals throughout the day, rather than large amounts at once. Alobar and Kudra are also eaters of beets…and this lowly red vegetable comes up again and again throughout the book. Hey, I told you it was a bit wonky. Water relates to bathing rituals. The idea is to soak in hot water, then get out of the tub for a few minutes to cool before repeating the process. Lowering the temperature of the blood is the key to this: in a hot bath, the blood comes to the surface, where it can be rapidly cooled when the bather steps out of the water. Finally: fire. Fire is sex. The Kama Sutra and a type of Tantric sex practice are mentioned…but the point is to fool your body into thinking it is young and virile (in other words, tricking the system into believing you are still in your sexual prime) by having sex on a (very) regular basis. Thus, the novel is full of sex, but not in a cheap Penthouse: Forum way. Sex is just part of the hedonistic calculus of a long and pleasurable life.

Now, I suppose I should admit that I often have a bit of trouble remembering that this novel is a work of fiction. I find myself breathing in that circular Bandaloop way…and I’ve a penchant for long, hot baths. Plus, now that I’m diabetic, eating many small meals throughout the day is encouraged by my doctor. And, of course, there’s the sex. I suppose I’m still searching for my Kudra. Blondes may be more fun…but dark, exotic Indian girls raise my blood pressure (in a good way).

So is sex one of the pillars of a long, healthy life? Of course! Do you have any IDEA how many hundreds of millions of Viagra prescriptions have been filled, in the U.S. alone? But the book brings up a point that geriatric research has wrestled with for a long time: quality vs. quantity of life. After all, what good does it do to live a long, long time if you’re miserable? The novel asks few questions, but suggests many answers. Foremost among them is to question the control mechanisms (as beat writer William Burroughs would call them) of religion and the military-industrial (or medical-industrial, perhaps) complex that seek to prepare us (through acceptance of our mortality spiritually, or sacrificing our bodies physically through violence) for the cessation of life. Robbin’s asks, instead, why we don’t deserve (and demand) the same immortality that has, historically, been attributed only to the divine (and, perhaps, to the divine right of our Emperors, Kings, popes and potentates).

It’s a question that rings true…even in fiction.

“Jitterbug” will likely piss you off if you’re one of the easily offended…but give it a chance. I think you’ll soon count it as one of the most memorable books you’ve ever read.

[Via http://evilrobots.wordpress.com]

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Read My Valentines

2010-02-20T16:21:00.000+02:00

Thanks to everyone who posted a heart during February for “Read My Valentine.” Check out these recommendations from other Winfield teens and comment me with the book you love!

Sera read “Get Well Soon” by Julie Halpern and she loved the book because “it’s really funny yet twisted, and it has romance.”

Megan read “Evermore” by Alyson Noel and she loved the book because it’s “full of romance and suspense with a little mystery.”

[Via http://winfieldya.wordpress.com]

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Stonehenge by Rosemary Hill

2010-02-20T16:15:00.000+02:00

I have recently read this book in an attempt to better my limited understanding of this site. The author has written this with an objective to better demonstrate the viewpoints and motivations behind the various historical individuals and groups who have made contributions into the continuing efforts to better understand Stonehenge’s enigmatic history. Much in the style of Ronald Hutton, she presents the documented facts with as much clarity as possible, but unlike Hutton, refrains from personal comments, preferring to present the possible / probable motivations and consequences for others to form their own idea’s. For this, in my opinion, she should be applauded and she only makes any sort of conclusion at the end of the book, with a keenly observed hypothesis about the relationship between the Durrington Walls and Stonehenge, that to me, is entirely convincing.

At just over 200 pages long, this was a hugely enjoyable read and much like Hutton’s recent book on the Druids, brings reality back into the considerations of this aging reader. Highly recommended.

[Via http://corvusrouge.wordpress.com]

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Hear No Evil

2010-02-18T16:40:00.000+02:00

Speaking of hearing…it’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me! Let’s just say that 2010 has been off to a surreal start and we’ll leave it at that. On to the first book review of the new year.

Matthew Paul Turner’s Hear No Evil is a no-holds-barred look at how his fundamentalist Baptist upbringing could never quite extinguish his lifelong love of music. Having never been allowed to listen to anything other than hymns, his ears and passion perked up at the sound of Contemporary Christian music [which had, naturally, been deemed "evil" by his church and family]. Guided by his dream of becoming the Michael Jackson of Christian music, he moves to Nashville to find that not only are his ears and eyes opened but his mind and heart as well. His story is simulatneously hilarious and painfully familiar to anyone whose ever been told of the danger that lurks in a syncopated beat.

To learn more about Hear No Evil click the photo below. If you would like to WIN a free copy, just leave a comment about this review. One winner will be drawn at random from all comments left between 02/18/10 and 02/28/10.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

[Via http://endofthestory.wordpress.com]

Wired Magazine's Days Are Numbered » Podcasting News

[REVIEW] Immortal - P. C. Cast with Leah Wilson (eds.)

2010-02-18T04:39:00.000+02:00

P. C. Cast with Leah Wilson (eds.)

Immortal (Anthology)

BenBella (US: 6th October 2009)

Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Ordinarily, I’m not much for anthologies. Generally speaking, the more contributors, the less bothered I am to read every story. Thus this collection of eight YA vampire romances is a welcome surprise. It hasn’t made me chase up every author’s backlist, but I read each short.

Cynthia Leitich Smith’s “Haunted Love” is memorable and cringe-free. Kristin Cast’s “Amber Smoke” is good, before readers’ attention wanes. Rachel Caine’s “Dead Man Stalking” gives insight into effed-up family relations. Tanith Lee’s “Table Manners” has wonderful psychological depth, but the lead character talks to the reader. Richelle Mead’s “Blue Moon” is a treat. Nancy Holder’s “Changed” steps up when the characters hit the high school gym. Rachel Vincent’s “Binge” is gold. And Claudia Gray’s “Free” provides a view into race relations in pre-Civil War US.

Despite both vampires and romances not being my cup of tea, Immortal is a strong collection with something for everyone. The quality varies from good to great, but every story is worth reading.

[Via http://tezmilleroz.wordpress.com]

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Under the Snow in Northern Sweden

2010-02-18T04:36:00.000+02:00

‘Under the Snow’ by Kerstin Ekman Translated by Joan Tate

I first heard of writer Kerstin Ekman when her latest book “God’s Mercy’ was selected one of last year’s best by the Internet site Pop Matters. Pop Matters is pretty much my bible when it comes to music, and their description of the book sounded promising. I couldn’t get that novel but did find Ekman’s 1961 novel ‘Under the Snow’. Only after I already had the book, did I find out that Kerstin Ekman is a crime writer, a writer of murder mysteries. I usually don’t read genre fiction with one exception. That exception is Ruth Rendell aka Barbara Vine whose books are so well-written I don’t consider them genre fiction. By the time that I discovered Kerstin Ekman is a mystery writer, I was interested enough to read the book.

Kerstin Ekman lives in a small village in northern Sweden. The novel ‘Under the Snow’ takes place up there near the Arctic Circle. Many of the people in this far northern area and in the novel are Samis, whom we used to call Laplanders or Lapps which are now considered derogatory terms, so from now on, I will use the term Sami.

‘Under the Snow’ has a unique rhythm that you won’t find in other books. The rhythm slows you down and has a definite small town charm all its own. The crime solvers here are a humorous pair, a by-the-book policeman whose regular police job is north of the Arctic Circle and a let’s say eccentric friend of the murder victim, David Malm. There is a lot of humor about drinking coffee, and I know from experience in small towns in northern Wisconsin during winter that coffee drinking is the center of social activity until night time when the party moves to the small bars.

The Samis are not completely integrated into Swedish society, and their participation in certain mystical rites gives “Under the Snow” a distinctiveness. The ending of the novel takes place in a long-deserted Sami village Poropirtti. I read elsewhere that Kerstin Ekman in her later novels deals with the underlying tensions between the Swedish people and the Samis, but in this novel everyone who lives in this small town gets along fine playing mah-jongg, etc., except for that little thing the murder.

Ekman wrote this book quite early in here career almost fifty years ago, and except for the unique style and the Sami mysticism, the novel is pretty much a standard murder mystery. I think the next time I read an Ekman novel, I’ll read either ‘Blackwater’ or ‘God’s Mercy’, her more recent novels. According to other Internet sources, she has moved somewhat away from genre fiction.

[Via http://anokatony.wordpress.com]

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THE ENCHIRIDION - Aurelius Augustine (420 A.D.)

2010-02-16T16:28:00.000+02:00

The Enchiridion (a book that contains key information on a particular subject), by Aurelius Augustine is a handbook of Christian doctrine that provides brief answers to Laurentius, one of Augustine’s friends. The book is divided into three sections, the first of which is a brief exposition of the Apostles’ Creed. The second part contains a basic exposition of the Lord’s Prayer. The third part focuses on the Gospel.

Augustine begins by acknowledging the request of Laurentius, namely, a handbook with answers to the big questions of life. The author articulates a few of these questions: “What ought to be man’s chief end in life; what he ought, in view of the various heresies, chiefly to avoid; to what extent religion is supported by reason; what there is in reason that lends no support to faith, when faith stands alone; what is the starting point, what the goal, of religion …” Augustine maintains that his disciple can know the answers to all of the above questions, so long as he thoroughly knows the “proper objects of faith, hope, and love.”

Augustine boils down a piece of essential knowledge that is required for all who follow Christ, namely, that the goodness of the Creator created all things. It is refreshing to hear the simplicity of Augustine’s message regarding origins; a message that comes almost 1,500 years before the scandalous musings of Charles Darwin: “It is enough for the Christian to believe that the only cause of all created things, whether heavenly or earthly, whether visible or invisible, is the goodness of the Creator, the one true God; and that nothing exists but Himself that does not derive its existence from Him; and that He is the Trinity – to wit, the Father, and the Son begotten of the Father, and the Son begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the same Father, but one and the same Spirit of Father and Son.”

Augustine wrestles with the problem of evil and holds that evil is the absence of good. In other words, it is possible for evil to exist in a universe that was originally created as good. Or to put it another way, evil is dependent upon goodness. He writes, “There can be no evil where there is no good; and an evil man is an evil good.”

Augustine maintains the God, who is omnipotent is a good God, even when he permits evil: “Although, therefore, evil, in so far as it is evil as good exists, is a good. For if it were not a good that evil should exist, its existence would not be permitted by the omnipotent Good, who without doubt can as easily refuse to permit what He does not wish, as bring about what He does wish.”

The author addresses the nature of free grace and responds to the Pelagianism that was corrupting the church in the fifth century (and continues to poison many contemporary churches): “Men are not saved by good works, nor by the free determination of their own will, but by the grace of God through faith … So when man by his own free will sinned, then sin being victorious over him, the freedom of his will was lost.”

Thoughtful readers will graciously pass by Augustine’s erroneous promotion of paedo-baptism; they will refuse to “throw the baby out with the bathwater!” Draining the bathwater would preclude the reader from profiting from Augustine’s theological insight. These insights include but are not limited to:

1) The importance of building a strong and biblical doctrinal foundation.

2) The importance of exercising discernment with professors of Christianity.

3) The importance of personal discipleship.

4) The importance of developing a Christian worldview, especially in regards to the Creator-creature distinction.

5) The folly of free will apart from grace and the liberty that new creatures receive in Christ.

6) The sinfulness of sin, the bondage and slavery of unregenerate man, and the necessity of a Redeemer.

Read the thermometer in our postmodern climate. It nearly always reads, “trivial,” “banal,” “superficial,” or “amusement.” Augustine’s Enchiridion provides a much needed shot of meaty mercury! Read it with an open Bible and a pen in hand.

Tolle Lege!

[Via http://baldreformer.wordpress.com]

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Books I read in 2009

2010-02-16T04:51:00.000+02:00

It’s time for my annual review of what I read last year. The books are not listed in any specific order of preference, though I have tried to loosely follow the order in which I read them.

1. Christless Christianity by Michael Horton – Michael Horton is a strong reformed guy of Whitehorse Inn fame. His book laments the loss of the gospel in much of Christianity, and its replacement by a form of moralism, ranging from the ‘be nice’ lite of Joel Osteen to the ‘do good works’ heavy of Brian MacLaren. I’d never seen those two compared before, and Horton’s analysis was quite good, challenging us to return to the gospel. I felt he overdid it a bit on going after Joel Osteen – it felt like he was shooting a fish in a barrel, and the first shot hit, and more shooting wasn’t necessary. He has written a sequel called The Gospel Driven Church that I have sitting on my shelf, which I think aims to give the solution to the problem he presented in this book. Recommended.

2. Don’t Stop Believing, by Michael E. Wittmer. I didn’t buy this book for the 80’s Journey song title, but it didn’t hurt. Wittmer is a professor at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and he wrote this book to challenge Christians not to give up on belief – i.e. orthodoxy as espoused by ‘conservatives’, and only have orthopraxy (as espoused by emergents). He argues for both. At times I thought it was really good, and at times it felt like he was being balanced, just for the sake of trying to be balanced. I’m all for balance, but on some issues, clarity is needed, and balance leaves you arguing both sides. The final illustration of the book was a letdown for me, as it was meant to summarize the core of the book’s theme, but the situation was far-fetched and failed to make the point. But overall, recommended.

3. Reasonable Faith (third edition) by William Lane Craig. I wrote a full review of this one, that you can read HERE. This is an excellent apologetics book – heavy reading, no doubt, but well worth the effort. Highly recommended! (Note: Craig Blomberg has an excellent article on Scripture in the 2nd edition, which is not included in this third edition, for reasons which Craig explains. I recommend this 2nd edition article as well.)

4. Tactics by Gregory Koukl. I wrote a full review which can be read HERE. Tactics is an apologetics book written to teach you how to interact in apologetics conversations. It teaches you some actual apologetics, but the value is in learning how to apply them. It’s easy-to-read and full of good suggestions for real life conversations. Highly Recommended.

I wrote brief reviews for the next three books HERE, which were all part of my summer reading.

5. With Wings Like Eagles by Michael Korda. This book was part of my summer holiday reading (though I read it before I actually went on holidays as it was so good I couldn’t put it down). I tells the story of Hugh Dowding and the Battle of Britain, an amazing aerial fight between Great Britain and Germany during WW2 in the summer of 1940. Highly Recommended.

6. Six Days of War, by Michael Oren. This book is a play-by-play history of the Six Day War of 1967 between Israel on one side and Egypt, Syria and Jordan on the other side. It is riveting military history and reads like a novel. Highly Recommended.

7. Masters and Commanders, by Andrew Roberts. M&C closely follows the interactions of Winston Churchill, Andrew Brooks, Franklin Roosevelt and George Marshall as four key leaders and strategists during WW2. It is an intriguing book to read from a leadership perspective, and though a bit long, worth it. Recommended.

8. Young, Restless, Reformed by Colin Hansen. YRR is a piece of investigative journalism into the surging movement of young reformed Christians that has become visible in the past few years. It was a good book in some ways, though I personally do not enjoy the basic style of much modern journalism, which uses a story to make an editorial point and move the writer’s story forward, rather than actually reporting what happened. For example, when Hansen visited John Piper’s house, I wanted to hear about what it is like to be at John Piper’s house and what they talked about in some detail, but Hansen only shared a few quotes. To be fair, maybe there are reasons I don’t know for this, such as Piper requesting Hansen not to share some things. But it is a good book to read, especially if you are having trouble figuring out why there are so many in the under-35 crowd running around so excited about Calvinism. (If you want the short version, read this article at Christianity Today) Recommended.

9. World War One by Norman Stone. This book is a brief history of WW1, which I realized that I knew very little about, other than that Canada won the battle at Vimy Ridge! It is a helpful overview, and gives a glimpse into a world that is very different than the one in which we now lived. The picture on the front is telling of how WW1 was a transitional time in history: It is a photo of a cavalry soldier on a horse carrying a spear (lance?) with a gun slung on his back while wearing a metal helmet and a gas mask. One of the most interesting things to me was that a key component of war-readiness in Europe was the strength of a nation’s railway lines for moving troops. War planners would get concerned if someone built too strong a rail network, and an opposing country had to match it to remain prepared for war. Recommended.

10. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. You can read my review HERE. Don’t waste your time on this one unless you are reading it for research purposes like I was. Not recommended.

11. Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Blanchard, Zigarmi and Zigarmi. I read this book as part of my leadership course requirements at Denver Seminary. It is a short, simple book with very practical suggestions for managing an organization. Recommended.

12. Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels. I read this book soon after it came out around seven or eight years ago, and at the time I thought it was OK but not great. I am also not a big fan of the seeker-sensitive approach to church ministry, so I wasn’t totally excited about reading this book again. But I was really blessed by it and encouraged in my own leadership. Regardless of whether you think Hybels is on the right track in his philosophy of ministry, he is a gifted leader who loves the Lord and His church, and he has some great insights into church leadership that I found very helpful. Highly Recommended.

13. Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. This is a relatively short book about God’s will and decision making. DeYoung encourages people to make wise godly decisions and not look for a voice from heaven on every decision you make. It is a very practical book and offers sound guidance to making decisions. Highly Recommended.

I think that’s it. I am also preparing another post describing books I partly read in 2009 – there’s quite a few of those as well!

[Via http://notinvain.wordpress.com]

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Overcoming Sleep

2010-02-16T04:19:00.000+02:00

Hello all,

This is the week! I am putting in all the time I can this week to try to finish my novel. My self-imposed deadline is February 20th! I won’t let it fall by the wayside this time. I’ve made good progress so far today, and I feel like I’m on the right path with things. My main character is currently having a huge fight with who he considered to be his friends. One by one I’m pulling apart this group, fanning the flames and watching as they soar. It’s been a lot of fun.

Writing is exhausting work. I’ve put out a good chunk of words today, met my daily goal and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. So, I figure I’ll relax a little and do today’s Lord of the Rings read-a-long blog post. It’s mid-month and time for the check in to see how the book is going. Be warned of spoilers, all ye who enter!

Thanks go out to The Literary Omnivore for hosting this month’s read-a-long. She’s also provided some discussion questions that I’ll be going through.

If you’ve been with us since the beginning, how do you feel about the narrator compared to the narrator in The Hobbit?

I think this was the part I was most looking forward to. When I was younger and first tried transitioning between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I didn’t appreciate the change in narrative voice at all. I’m not sure it was something I completely recognized, being as young as I was, but I distinctly remember feeling like it was a completely different thing from The Hobbit. I missed the good-natured humor, the light voice, the easy flow of it. I was curious to see how I’d react to the change now.

I can’t say I’m disappointed at all. I love the change in narrative voice, and I find that it’s wholly appropriate. The tone has grown up a little, but it hasn’t lost a single bit of its charm. We’re not seeing such a light play of a story — Lord of the Rings seems less of a folk tale and more of a solid legend, etched somewhere in stone tablets. With The Hobbit, we often have Tolkien passing through what we would consider “present time” of the novel. He’ll occasionally mention events from further along in the book, or even elsewhere in the world. In The Fellowship of the Ring, we don’t get that — instead, we get a more sobering and realistic view. Tolkien is more firmly rooted in what is currently going on in the story.

What results is that we’re left with much more uncertainty of what will happen with Frodo and his friends. In The Hobbit, we get enough glances and peeks ahead to pretty much assume Bilbo is going to make it out alright. In Fellowship, we have no such guarantee. Still, the voice is charming, likes to poke fun where it can, and does not lack for wit. I think it’s a huge success, this time around.

How’s your pace going? Is it smooth sailing or have you found passages that are difficult to get through?

Like I’ve mentioned around here, I’m neck-deep (way worse than knee-deep!) in writing work, so I often only get a chance to read Fellowship during class breaks or before bed — as such, it can be frustrating to not have a vast amount of time to dedicate to it. Still, I’ve felt the pacing pretty smooth. I’ve more recently seen the movies than read the books, so it was interesting to see how much more time was spent between the Shire and the Prancing Pony, as compared to the movies. I enjoyed the lingering, slow and winding travel to the start of the journey. Tolkien takes his time, and it’s just the kind of thing you need to accept. If you can accept it, it’s a beautiful thing. He’ll take you through the woods by the hand and paint this picture of a vast world.

If you’re a little impatient, or if you don’t feel that you have time for the painting, I think it can get frustrating. Personally, I wanted to take my time with it, and I’m enjoying going along for the walk, watching as the shadows creep over and things get quite dreary, with hints of sunshine.

If you’ve read this series before, is The Fellowship of the Ring, for the most part, as you remembered? If not, is it what you expected or something else?

I’ve read this series before, but it was quite a while ago. Long enough that I don’t really remember reading it, so I have no memories to compare to.

The one thing I didn’t expect was liking Tom Bombadil as much as I like this time around. The first time I read the book, I remember feeling like I was slogging through that portion. Here was this goody two-shoes guy getting in the way of the action, singing, leaping around, what have you. Now, though, I love him. He is absolutely charismatic and such a strong figure. When he came for the Hobbits in the Barrow Downs, I cheered. He is magnificent. I love how Tolkien sometimes gives us these glimpses of characters that are near immortal, perhaps even demigod like, without overshadowing the rest of the story with it. Tom Bombadil is certainly a powerful man, but he knows his place and he has his boundaries.

Plus, I love his songs. They are so cheerful!

Are you using any of the extra features- maps and indexes, for instance- in your book?

My book is old and ratty, needing quick replacing (hopefully soon)! So, the most I have at hand is a single map at the front, which I actually haven’t really been using. I’m honestly a little bit afraid that the book will fall apart if I’m constantly trying to pry it open enough to look at the map. Oh well, haha, it will be much appreciated when I upgrade to new copies!

Overall, I’m really enjoying my reread, and I’m taking it nice and slow. I’ll finish it by the end of the month for sure. I’m greatly looking forward to reading more! Now if only I could keep my eyelids propped open for long enough.

[Via http://trinza.wordpress.com]

Ubisoft to release franchise titles every 12-18 months | News

More 50 Book Challenge

2010-02-14T04:22:00.000+02:00

Books 10 & 11 were Deja Dead and Death du Jour both by Kathy Reichs. These were recommended to me by my American friend Sara and I ordered both off Booktopia. They’re books 1 & 2 in the on-going series about Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who works between North Carolina and Montreal. The first book takes place in Montreal, the second is split between Brennan’s two homes. After the last few books I’ve read were vaguely disappointing in some way or other, it was good to get a couple of reads in a row that were gripping. I love this sort of thing really, even though the gory details of autopsies and putrefying bodies can be a bit much at times! But I was a big fan of the TV show Crossing Jordan and I love the early Kay Scarpetta books. And these books are like the Kay Scarpetta books when the Kay Scarpetta books were still good!

Temperance is a bone expert – she can tell the age, sex, race etc of a corpse just by analysing the skeletal remains. Her expertise is used in Montreal in terms of identifying features about skeletal remains – firstly determining if they are human and dating their times of death and various other details. In Book 1 she is convinced that she has found the remains of the victim of a serial killer – both bodies were dismembered the same way and carry identical marks from the same tools. She connects these cases to others – even though some of the victims were not dismembered and different weapons were used, she is still firmly of the opinion that the murders were all done by the same person. She has a hard time convincing the detectives in charge of the cases of this though, so naturally, like all good heroines, she undertakes some investigating of her own to prove her point. Although I found one scene, where she goes to an abandoned monastery grounds where she suspects a body is buried, alone and in a violent storm, a bit over the top and unlike anything any normal, sane person would do, I absolutely loved the book. The pace was faultless, the facts incredible (the author is a forensic anthropologist herself and claims that she doesn’t describe anything in her books that she hasn’t personally done), the characters believable and likable. The end was downright chilling and even though I knew she survived (duh, I have book 2, lol) it was still a heart-in-mouth sort of finale.

4/5

Book 2 was a bit harder for me get into at first, as it involved the vicious murder of 4 month old twins. I found the autopsy scene a struggle and kept seeing tiny little babies in my head as I read it. This didn’t diminish my liking for the book, it’s just my personal “taboo” subject that I struggle with. Hurt and tortured babies are enough to make me weep. The book begins with Temperance being called to the scene of a house fire where at first they find two victims in a bedroom upstairs and then a third in the basement. Temperance recovers the remains and sets about finding out who the victim was, how old, etc before heading back to North Carolina for the commencement of her lecturing year. There she gets drawn into another gruesome discovery of a corpse and more bodies are found in the house fire, two adults and two infant babies. In a bizarre twist, the two cases, the one in Canada and the one in the US turn out to be connected. The ending is once again a bit of a life threatening confrontation with Temperance running headlong into it but I’m used to that from about every episode of Crossing Jordan ever, so I’m okay with a bit of a drawn out dramatic ending!

4/5

I liked them both so much I have already ordered book #3 from Booktopia. And I also bought season 1 of Bones on dvd as well. Bones’ main character is a forensic anthropologist named Temperance Brennan, who is actually based on Kathy Reichs herself. Temperance in the show also writes novels…about a forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs, which I thought was a cute little swap. My mother has watched Bones for 5 years now, but I’ve never bothered with it as I don’t much like David Boreanaz. But I’m going to give it a go now as I know Kathy Reichs is pretty involved, as it is based on her. If I like it, I’ll start to pick up the other seasons.

[Via http://makeshiftwings.wordpress.com]

Karl Frisch: Fox News, Right-Wing Media Deserve a Snowball in the ...

Book Review - The Skeptical Environmentalist

2010-02-13T16:35:00.000+02:00

However, we have to realize that investing in an ever better environment is only one of the many ways we can invest in a better world, and that we must prioritize the environment against better education, more health care, and better infrastructure as well as improving conditions in the Third World.

The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World by Bjorn Lomborg

This book is practically a college textbook. It looks like a textbook, it certainly weighs as much as one. It doesn’t, however, read like one. Which is good…I hate reading textbooks.

To get to the meat of the issue already…I really liked this book. Lomborg has written a very well-researched (almost 3,000 footnotes, with about half of them sources), easily read, thought-provoking book. He takes everything we’ve ever been told (things that most of us, including myself, never questioned) and looks at it critically. Very critically. And since Lomborg is a statistician, there are tons of graphs, clear explanations of exactly how the data were collected and interpreted, etc, etc. He leaves no stone unturned and certainly impressed me. Whether or not impressing me impresses you is something else entirely, however.

He makes a lot of arguments that I had previously not considered. Indoor air pollution? He points out that as we insulate our homes more and more in order to cut heating and cooling costs, we make this problem worse. He also argues that the increased cost of hurricane damage is not because hurricanes are getting worse, but rather because there are more of us living in hurricane-prone areas and we have more “stuff” to be damaged. Global warming? Possibly beneficial to developed countries, but detrimental to developing countries. And, by the way, it’s not as big a deal as it’s made out to be. Hell, the whole section on global warming was absolutely great and should be required reading for anyone wanting to discuss climate change.

A great example is his discussion on limiting carbon emissions. He finds that the more cost-effective route is not to limit emissions, but rather to fund R&D for alternative power. The argument is that by limiting emissions, we will be implementing costly programs that will have little impact while depriving ourselves unnecessarily.

One of the most interesting sections, for me personally, is the one on pesticides and conventional agriculture. Lomborg argues that by limiting or eliminating pesticides and herbicides (which, he finds later, are very unlikely to cause health problems) we would in fact be decreasing the amount of forest cover…because we would require more land to grow food as the percent yield goes down.

All those are simplifications, of course, and I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in environmental issues to read this book, if for no other reason than to consider his arguments. I found them, as I said, to be very compelling.

Here’s a nice quote from the book, which sums up a few of his findings very nicely:

“We will not lose our forests; we will not run out of energy, raw materials or water. We have reduced atmospheric pollution in the cities of the developed world and have good reason to believe that this will also be achieved in the developing world. Our oceans have not been defiled, our rivers have become cleaner and support more life, and although the nutrient influx has increased in many coastal waters like the Gulf of Mexico, this does not constitute a major problem – in fact, benefits generally outweigh costs. Nor is waste a particularly big problem…

“Acid rain did not kill off our forests, our species are not dying out as many have claimed, with half of them disappearing over the next 50 years – the figure is likely to be about 0.7 percent. The problem of the ozone layer has been more or less solved. The current outlook on global warming does not indicate a catastrophe – rather, there is good reason to believe that our energy consumption will change toward renewable energy sources way before the end of the century.”

Keep in mind, though, he doesn’t advocate the view that we have “solved” our environmental problems. In fact, he states several times that while it’s better, it’s still not good enough. All in all, a very sound way to look at it.

Of course, if this person is to be believed, we should give up on the environment altogether, as it’s “…crippled our economy, our lives, our budgets and worse our children’s lives.”

[Via http://tinyouroboros.wordpress.com]

First iPhone OS 3.2 app appears on App Store | iLounge News

In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth

2010-02-13T16:32:00.000+02:00

In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth

Publisher: Walker Books for Young ReadersSt. Martin’s Griffin

Publication Date: February 2nd 2010

Buy it from: Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!)

Silver star (3.95/5 stars)

Synopsis: A touching novel of last regrets and second chances in

the tradition of Lurlene McDaniel and Gabrielle Zevin.

When a small mistake costs sixteen-year-old Eagan her life during a figure-skating competition, she leaves many things unreconciled, including her troubled relationship with her mother. From her vantage point in the afterlife, Eagan reflects back on her memories, and what she could have done differently, through her still-beating heart.

When fourteen-year-old Amelia learns she will be getting a heart transplant, her fear and guilt battle with her joy at this new chance at life. And afterwards when she starts to feel different — dreaming about figure skating, craving grape candy —her need to learn about her donor leads her to discover and explore Eagan’s life,meeting her grieving loved ones and trying to bring the closure they all need to move on.

Told in alternating viewpoints, In a Heartbeat tells the emotional and compelling story of two girls sharing one heart.

Review: When I first saw the cover for In a Heartbeat, I was intrigued. I am very thankful to be able to get an advanced copy for this — and signed, making it even more awesome.

In a Heartbeat is a beautifully written book which reminds us that we should live life without any regrets. It is told in the POV of a dead girl and the POV of the girl who received the heart. I instantly liked Amelia, I felt her struggles and thoughts were well-done but there was a part of me that felt that there was too little we know about Amelia. I felt that there should have been more of her background presented. After the transplant, she started developing preferences for things and her character changes. Which was why I felt that we needed to more about the old Amelia. But since the old Amelia had difficultly walking, I suppose when you’ve a serious illness, it is hard for you to have a personality when you might go any moment.

Eagan was very much unlike Amelia, she had a snarky personality and was not afraid to speak her mind. But one thing both girls had in common was that they both had a great voice. They were realistic and touched my heart in many ways. It’s interesting to learn about the relationships between the characters, Amelia and her parents, Eagan and her mother, Eagan and her grandfather. Eagan’s scenes are most flashbacks where she goes back to specific moments in her life. This bit reminded me of The Everafter by Amy Huntley. However, why a certain memory flashes in front of her was never fully explain and I still do not know what Miki was supposed to be.

I felt the crush was too cliché for my taste. I wished that it could have been more realistic, maybe another 50 pages to give time for the characters to grow. The book was short, hence, I found the ending a little abrupt. Everything wrapped up nicely — too nicely for my liking. But apart from this faults, I really enjoyed this book.

In a Heartbeat is not the most exciting and suspenseful book but it will warm your heart, and make you appreciate life. This book deals with so many different emotions, yet at the same time it deals with them in a way that is life affirming and in it’s own way uplifiting. I will definitely recommend it in a heartbeat. You will love In a Heartbeat if you liked If I Stay, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, Everafter and The Lovely Bones.

Take less than one minute of your time and check out the book trailer!

[Via http://readthisbook.wordpress.com]

Break Media acquires FileFront gaming network | News

A Review of the 2010 Caldecott Medal Winner, Jerry Pinkney's 'The Lion and the Mouse'

2010-02-13T04:14:00.000+02:00

A vibrant interpretation of an Aesop’s fable roars its way to the American Library Association’s highest award for illustration

THE LION AND THE MOUSE. By Jerry Pinkney. Little, Brown, 32 pp., $16.99. Ages 6 and under.

By Janice Harayda

Whoever decided that Jerry Pinkney should do a wordless book was a genius. For decades Pinkney has been creating beautiful art that has earned him a place in the first rank of American picture-book illustrators. But some of his books have had words so much weaker than their pictures that they were hard to recommend as highly as their art seemed to demand.

The cover of 'The Lion and the Mouse.'

That’s been true whether Pinkney wrote the books or illustrated someone else’s. And until this year unexciting writing may have deprived him of a Caldecott Medal, which he won last month for The Lion and the Mouse. Caldecott judges aren’t supposed to consider the text of a book unless it interferes with the pictures, but whether or not it “interferes” is a judgment call. And by my lights, the writing in Pinkney’s books sometimes did get in the way. You just don’t want to recommend bad free verse, however attractively packaged, to preschoolers.

Pinkney needed to get words of out of the way of his pictures, and he did it in his near-wordless version of an Aesop’s fable, The Lion and the Mouse. Set in the Serengeti of Kenya and Tanzania, his adaptation teems with creatures lushly rendered in sunny watercolors: monkeys, giraffes, elephants, butterflies, gazelles and what appear to be wildebeest. Pinkney adds a few elements to the original tale of a mouse who repays a lion for saving its life by returning the favor: Most notably, he gives the mouse babies, which adds a dimension to the sparing of its life. But his art stays close to the original story and faithful to its theme: No act of kindness is ever in vain. And “the meek can trump the mighty,” as Pinkney says in an afterword.

Children over the age of 4 or so should grasp easily the plot of all this, though the only words are animal sounds such as the squeaks of mice. Whether children will grasp the moral that is indispensable to any Aesop’s fable is less clear. So some might also want to read a more traditional version or watch a lively one-minute video of “The Lion and the Mouse” based on Tom Lynch’s Fables From Aesop (Viking, 2007). Either way, the revival of this fable shows again why stories become classics: They never shed their truth but allow each generation to interpret them in its own way.

Best line/picture: The cover. Not putting type on the cover was great for two reasons. One is that it suggests that The Lion and the Mouse is wordless. The other is that cover image is so strong, type might have detracted from it. The detail is clear and rich that you can count the lion’s whiskers. Not sure why the lion is looking toward the spine instead of the pages, though, which seems to take your eyes in the wrong direction.

Worst line/picture: None. But you wonder if lions and zebras ever stayed so peacefully side-by-side as on the beautiful front endpaper.

Published: September 2009

Furthermore: Jerry Pinkney won the 2010 Caldecott Medal for The Lion and the Mouse.

Janice Harayda is a novelist and former book editor of the Plain Dealer. You can also follow her Jan (@janiceharayda) on Twitter at www.twitter.com/janiceharayda. She satirizes American literary culture on Twitter at FakeBookNews (@FakeBookNews), which you can preview at www.twitter.com/FakeBookNews. Some of her satirical tweets involve the Newbery and Caldecott awards.

[Via http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com]

News Of The Day

THE REBELLION OF RONALD REAGAN - James Mann (2009)

2010-02-11T16:49:00.000+02:00

The day was June 12, 1987. President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin and uttered these crucial and historic words: “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

James Mann’s, The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan is a fascinating and readable account of the days leading up to the end of the Cold War. Mann clearly describes the inner workings of the Reagan administration and the resistance from liberals and conservatives alike to the president’s approach and methodology.

The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan relentlessly presents the former president’s love for freedom and his passion to eliminate totalitarianism. I was reminded of Reagan’s love for freedom in 2005 as I stood on a bridge that spans the Moscow river. As I gazed at the Kremlin and reflected on the new found and relative freedom the citizens of Russia enjoy, I glanced at the”goon-inspired” graffiti that was etched onto the bridge. The words, “Heil Hitler” were mindlessly inscribed on the edge of the bridge. The graffiti reminded me that freedom will be short-lived if free people grow apathetic and fail to guard their liberty. It reminded me that fascism is still visible in the rear view mirror. And it reminded me that Marxism still has momentum and must be stopped at every juncture.

President Reagan was acutely aware of these concerns which helped fuel the fire of his policies and interactions with Gorbechev.

The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan is a helpful reminder of events in the distant past. While the Cold War is over, the ideology that inspired Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler is still very much alive. Ronald Reagan reminds us of the importance opposing the enemies of freedom; he reminds us to stand on the watchtower and jealously guard our freedom. He reminds us that freedom is not free; it is a precious commodity worth dying for. And he reminds us that freedom is never guaranteed in the future.

President Reagan was aware of the protesters that gathered to voice their complaints over his appearance at the Brandenburg Gate. His speech closes: “And I would like, before I close to say one word. I have read, and I have been questioned since I’ve been here about certain demonstrations against my coming. And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate so. I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they’re doing again. Thank you and God bless you all.”

The Reagan revolution is still alive and well, much to the chagrin of the secular progressives!

3.5 stars

[Via http://baldreformer.wordpress.com]

Green House launches USB 3.0 Interface Board, max. 5Gbps transfer ...

Iggy the Iguana by Melissa Williams

2010-02-11T04:53:00.000+02:00

Get ready for Iggy the Iguana by Melissa Williams. Iggy is nine years old and starting at a new school. It’s hard to move and make new friends. Iggy is one nervous iguana. He’s got an annoying young sister too. And man does Molly have some outrageous outfits.

But soon Iggy starts to make new friends. He’s got his best friend, Snap Shell, a turtle, and an off-the-wall cat named Kit Kat. His new teacher is really nice too. There is one tiny problem though–his friend Liz is also an iguana, and Iggy is crushing on her. Oh, and there’s that bully, Buddy the Bullfrog. Seems he’s the principal’s grandson and takes full advantage of that. Not only that, Buddy might like Liz too!

Will Iggy survive fourth grade?

I found a lot to like about Iggy the Iguana. In a fun and engaging way, this book explores the challenges of being the new kid at school, moving into a new place, making new friends, and dealing with people that are different from you.

The cast of characters is as fascinating as the storyline, and readers ages 7 to 11 will be totally captivated by Iggy and his friends. Though I adore Iggy and his circle of new friends, I found his younger sister Molly stole my heart. One minute annoying and the next cute as a button, it looks like she will continue to be a thorn in Iggy’s side for several more years. I also like that Iggy’s parents play a significant role in this book. Iggy’s dad is a marathon runner. He has a big race coming up that the family turns out to support him in.

My only sticking point is that a good portion of the book deals with Iggy’s crush on Liz. As a parent, I have a hard time trying to imagine a nine-year-old boy having a crush that is strong enough for him to be jealous of the attention another boy pays to a girl. Now, this is a very innocent crush and I’ll admit to being a bit old fashioned in this regard, but I also have an eight-year-old daughter. Boys are pretty much the farthest thing from her mind, and that doesn’t bother me one bit. I think Williams did an excellent job in how she handled this particular aspect of the book, I just didn’t care for it.

The illustrations provided by Kelley Stengle are absolutely charming. I love the cover art on this one. And that picture of Molly in her wedding outfit made me crack up.

Iggy the Iguana is going to be a huge hit with readers. It helps kids appreciate their differences and lets them know that they are not the only one dealing with certain difficult situations.

Rating:

Publisher: LongTale Publishing Inc.

ISBN-10: 098180540X

ISBN-13: 978-0981805405

SRP: $9.99

Iggy the Iguana

Iggy the Iguana is the first book in the Iggy Chapter Book Series for ages 7 to 11. The story focuses on the major themes of acceptance, friendship, and diversity while Iggy starts a brand new school. The transition from a private “all-lizard” school to a public “all-animal” school is eye opening, as Iggy soon accepts that just because other animals are different doesn’t mean they can’t be your friends. By the end of Iggy’s 4th grade year, he realizes that changing schools was the best move he could have ever made!

Summer League (Sequel)

Summer League is the second book in the Iggy the Iguana Chapter Book Series for ages 7 to 11. After an exciting school year, Iggy and his friends kick off their summer vacation with some fun in the sun and … baseball! While playing on his All-Star little league team, Iggy faces a very difficult situation that could change his future in sports forever. Iggy learns many valuable lessons during the summer, most importantly, it is not wise to keep secrets from adults and we can’t judge others on the outside.

Melissa M. Williams is an advocate for literacy and creativity in children. Her children’s chapter books were inspired by real life experiences with childhood pets she owned while growing up in Houston, Texas. While finishing her Master’s degree in Professional Counseling, Melissa started substitute teaching for elementary schools in order to understand the daily life of her young audience. The students helped her create relatable and realistic stories while including lessons, values and acceptance within the story-line. In addition to writing, Melissa spends most of the school year speaking to students about her own journey as an author and the process of creative writing, while encouraging each student to think outside the box, follow their inner passion, and write their own stories.

Win the Iggy the Iguana Give Away!

Including the Newly Released Items in Iggy Collection, Snap Shell the Turtle (Plush Doll), Iggy Collector’s Baseball Cards, and The Read3Zero T-Shirt … supporting the fight against illiteracy 30 minutes at a time. Be our most active visitor during the tour for a chance to win this Iggy Collection — the tour schedule is posted at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2010/01/iggy-iguana-and-melissa-m-williams-tour.html to make it easy for you to visit and comment. To learn more about Iggy and Melissa Williams – visit www.iggytheiguana.com.

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[Via http://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com]

Stabroek News - Workers protest planned Air Jamaica sale to T&T

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

2010-02-11T04:49:00.000+02:00

The Gunslinger opens with a stark, telling line: The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. I was instantly interested in the plot—why is the man fleeing the gunslinger? Or is he fleeing someone else? Who is the bad guy?

Ultimately, these questions were answered. However, there was a lot about a tower and mystical things that I didn’t care about. What, Kristina? This is the first book of The Dark Tower series. How could you not care about the tower?

This is the first Stephen King book I’ve ever read. No Carrie, Cujo or On Writing prior to this. I knew he was a writer that could pound out bestsellers for the masses. I also knew many of my friends, who are serious about literature and writing, like to read him. So, I definitely didn’t approach this with a He’s like Dan Brown attitude (yes, I do refuse to read The DaVinci Code). I was excited to see why this series has such a cult following.

Included in my edition of The Gunslinger (it was a gift, so it’s a recent edition) is an intro and forward by King, which served to do two things:

1. Get me excited to read a contemporary epic, one with Western sensibilities, that the author worked on for an über long time (this is no Twilight. He wrote the series between 1970 and 2004).

2. Create a lot of build-up. King was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien when he decided to write this. (But perhaps admitting this to your readers is an unfulfillable promise?)

The Gunslinger follows Roland Deschain, a really old, yet not aged, nomad. He was trained in the way of the gun, and when we first meet him, he is the one pursuing the man in black. (Given the name, you could guess the bad guy right away. Tolkien, too, used the black/white dichotomy.)

His journey to catch up with the man in black is riveting, punctuated with lively flashbacks. I really enjoyed these parts of the book: how Roland won his title of Gunslinger, how he’d roll into ghost towns and shoot ‘em up; how he’d battle demons; and how he’d kick ass! There were softer, endearing moments with Roland, too: he had a brief relationship with a broken woman, Alice, and loved a young comrade, Jake. Roland is an awesome character: he has near-unbeatable fighting abilities and appears to have a strong moral compass, but I was still surprised by some of his actions. King was right on the money with this epic thing (Hero’s Journey, anyone?) and the Western thing (guns, horses, sex and dust).

That being said, though, I think I ruined the experience for myself by reading his forward. I really didn’t need to know his main inspiration was J.R.R. Tolkien. Every time I came across the mysticism, especially the Dark Tower palaver, I zoned out. I even made a note, “totally LOTR”, in regards to this passage: “Once there was a king, he might have told the boy; the Eld whose blood, attenuated though it may be, still flows in my veins. But kings are done, lad. In the world of light, anyway” (205). I found it hard to enjoy that, when I kept thinking about The Lord of the Rings. I understand the need for it, though, as King did set out to complete a sweeping epic with an American bent. I just didn’t care for it. Get back to the sex and guns! And the brief, yet integral, relationships Roland has with other people.

So, all in all, there was a lot to enjoy in this book. There was some stuff that made my eyes glaze over. Will I read the rest of the series? Yes, before I die. I heard the ending is JUST COMPLETELY AMAZING. Will I get through the next six books anytime soon? Not likely: I have way too many neglected books on my shelves.

Next: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

[Via http://kristinaking.wordpress.com]

Upcoming: Gay Marriage in the News : Hot Topics

Fire Next Time

2010-02-09T15:58:00.000+02:00

Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. New York: Dial Press, 1963.

The Fire Next Time is a slim yet powerful 120 pages. Baldwin does not waste a single page on empty words or phrases. Every sentence is an argument for America to beware of “the fire next time.” He implores the reader to take a page from history and not turn a blind eye to it; we must change the course of racial inequality in order to survive. Even though The Fire Next Time was published not even ten years after the integration of Little Rock’s (Arkansas) Central High Baldwin’s fiery words hold true today.

The title, The Fire Next Time, is drawn from a “recreation of the Bible in a slave song” – ‘God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time’ (p 120), yet there are several examples of such warning scattered throughout the entire book. This warning is in a couple of my favorite quotes.

“But, in the end, it is the threat of universal extinction hanging over all the world today that changes, totally and forever, the nature of reality and brings into devastating question the true meaning of man’s history” (p 71), and “Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets ans one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time” (p 105).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in two chapters: “African American Fiction: He Say (p 10), even though it isn’t fiction, and again in the chapter “Essaying Essays” (p 81).

[Via http://gr4c5.wordpress.com]

Good News! G7 Nations Announce They Will Cancel Haiti's Debt ...

A Review-- Chris Tomlinson's "Crave"

2010-02-09T04:51:00.000+02:00

Chris Tomlinson’s new book Crave is perhaps the most straightforward and honest Christian book I’ve ever read. It’s simple, but profound, and not only am I a better follower of Christ for having read it, I am thinking more deeply about my own cravings as a result. To be honest with you, little of what I crave has anything to do with God. I crave recognition, and financial security. I crave ease. I crave the simple things– sugar, beer, and red meat. I crave popularity even. But when faced with the question, “Do I crave God?” I have to say that I don’t as much as I used to. It’s easy to become apathetic–I ‘m proof– and Tomlinson’s book helped me realize that. (click the picture to the left to order from Amazon!)

When I write a review for a book I do my best not to give away

anything that’s actually in it. Part of the joy of reading is experiencing a book for the first time. So I will try to keep this detailed but vague. (I will say that I especially enjoyed Chapters 2, 4, 10, and 13! Chapter 13: Suffering was my favorite of the book. )

Below is the byline description of Crave found on Tomlinson’s site.

There’s a certain feeling writers have about their first book, or so I assume because I have this feeling. There’s the sense that I will never again write another book, because all has been said, and because writing doesn’t get any better than this. And there’s another sense of discomfort that this book will be in print, because people are going to realize writing does get much better than this, and there’s far more to say than the simple words I’ve written.

Even so, Crave represents a season in my life that all Christians have passed through or will encounter. At its core, it’s a story of desire, of wanting so much more of God, and the struggle that ensues with God, purpose, faith, and setbacks. For years, I sensed there was more to my faith than I knew or had experienced, and I wanted more, but I didn’t know how to go about getting it. So I dove into church, and study, and service, and evangelism, and spiritual disciplines, and I ended up a burned out Christian.

I didn’t yet know the source, or the purpose, of our cravings. But God was content to write one chapter in my life at a time. And as He put the finishing touches on this season of my life, I came to see something about my cravings I hadn’t seen before. Something simple. Something profound. Which has just started an entirely new story. Join with me in this journey and find how your own pages will be written.

(Source of Description http://cravesomethingmore.org/book/)

Now here’s where the rubber meets the road. Should you buy Crave? I believe that you should, but not unless you are ready to humble yourself to the very truth of your own cravings.

This book is a mirror. It forces you to look at yourself and see past the lies and the excuses, to the very heart of your present condition. If you are too afraid to see what is looking back then this book isn’t for you, but I can tell you that it has been a painfully refreshing experience and I am thankful to own this book and to know Chris Tomlinson.

Well done brother!

To follow Chris on Twitter: twitter.com/christomlinson_

To learn more about Chris: http://cravesomethingmore.org

To ORDER Crave: CLICK HERE!

[Via http://timothykurek.wordpress.com]

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Author & Book Recommendation: “Velma Still Cooks in Leeway” by Vinita Hampton Wright

2010-02-09T04:37:00.000+02:00

Every so often, I discover an author who writes fiction with such a compelling and infectious voice that I almost can’t put a book down. It happened with Anne Tyler. And Jan Karon. And Steven Lawhead. And now it’s happened with Vinita Hampton Wright.

Velma Still Cooks in Leeway is a beautifully written story on so many levels. The sense of community is evocatively drawn, so much that you want to be part of the little town of Leeway, KS, sit down for a piece of pie at Velma’s Place or worship with the saints at Jerusalem Baptist Church.

The characters are richly observed and poignantly drawn from all aspects of the community’s life. They are quirky and likeable and unique, like the best of Karon’s Mitford folks. Wright really excels in the exploration of the inner lives and motives of her characters. There is passion and doubt and self-serving and heroism and fear and simplicity and ego and failure and addiction and anger and self-righteousness and grief and love and hate…In other words, there is life.

And all of this is suffused with a deep, genuine Christian faith. The authenticity with which Wright weaves faith together with the stuff of real life is what makes this story so intriguing. She clearly knows church, church people and church rhythms. But even more, she knows those same people away from church, and how hard it can be to live out the grace and redemption we sing on Sundays.

Velma is a woman who filters everything through faith, but not in a simple, connect-the-dots, five-easy-steps-to-success way. It is the faith of the Psalms—you know, the dance of trust, doubt, lament, questions without answers and hope. Wright’s observations make for some stunning writing.

While trying to figure out how to help two young people deal with the tensions caused by an unplanned pregnancy, Velma prays:

“Lord, if there’s a way for these two kids to make up and heal some of this awful business, then you need to do something. Or tell me what to do.” Then I talked through some ideas and waited for the Spirit to nudge me on the right one. There were no nudges, but I’ve learned that you can’t plan a nudge from the Spirit. That kind of nudge can come anytime, so you have to be paying attention all the time. I think God decided to work this way to keep us from getting lazy.

Some people think it takes a simpleminded person to sit down and talk with the Lord over tea. For a lot of my younger years…I’d thought such devotion was crazy too. Mama being so devoted was a problem for my unbelief, because I couldn’t help but respect her. You rely on your mama for so much. And once you imagine she might be crazy, even in just one part of her life, all of your own life feels less secure.

One day, feeling sick and struggling with a season of doubt about what her life really meant, Velma had a dream:

“I drifted and was inside my café. I saw the pots and pans and cups and saucer and grill. They were mine, and my gift of feeding people was the only gift I was sure belonged to me. I’d done it as naturally as walking for thirteen years. And my customers trusted me. They knew what days of the week I served their favorite soup. They knew that if no tomatoes showed up on their salads or burgers that it was because I couldn’t find decent fresh tomatoes that day. And if things were a tad spicier than usual, they figured I had a cold and my taster was off. Leeway’s citizens forgave me and shared their family news and praised my menu year in and year out. And I served them—on my feet ten, twelve hours a day, year in and year out. The food I gave them was mainly from recipes in my head, and no matter how many times I made a certain dish, it always felt like a new creation. And that gave me a deep-down happiness.

Until now. Now it suddenly hurt me to do it. It hurt me for whatever reason. But I could see that it didn’t matter. There was such a thing as being faithful to your own gift. I’d have to climb out of the attic and walk down the street and cook just because. Because it was my gift, my best gift, maybe my only one.

“You feeling better, Vellie?” Howard asked, as we walked down to open up the next morning.

“No, I feel terrible.”

Surprise flashed across Howard’s face.

“I feel worse than ever, Howard, but I’ve got responsibilities. “

“Everybody’s missed you these three days,” he said softly, his voice tripping through the green-gold air that smelled of coolness and fresh sun. ‘Bailey was at the hardware store yesterday, swearing that his intestines were acting up because they’d missed your split-pea soup on Tuesday.”

“Don’t these people ever cook for themselves?”

“Oh, they can cook,’ Howard said with a little smile. ‘But when you do it, they feel loved.”

Prayer, moral failure, decision-making, vocation, struggle, community, love, forgiveness and more all show up in Velma’s world. And this is the wonderful thing about Wright’s writing. It is a novel about a Christian, but not so much a Christian novel. In other words, it is the furthest thing from the formulaic, glassy-eyed, too clean and safe Stepford Christians that inhabit most of the junk in the Christian fiction section at the bookstore.

Velma makes you think about your own faith—and how to live it more authentically and holistically. It’s discipleship by fiction—and well worth the read. Check out this and other works by Vinita Hampton Wright.

[Via http://ponderanew.wordpress.com]

TEAMtalk | Football | Latest Football news, Results and Fixtures

Book Discoveries: New Uses for Old Books

2010-02-07T16:12:00.000+02:00

Books shouldn’t be judged if you buy them for purposes they weren’t intended to fill. But giving a book a new life is a wonderful thing. Jocasta Innes’s book, Paint Magic is a book reborn for me. In the 80s, I bought it to give myself some new ideas for creating interesting painted walls. I recently discovered that the same technique can be used in art projects. Paint Magic did a great job for that alternative purpose, and I’m delighted to recommend it for book artists, which is why I purchased it.

Use Jocasta Innes's "Paint Magic" for your journal projects, too.

Looking for some new techniques to create backgrounds for my raw-art journals, I flipped through the pages and found a section on using gesso (a background that prepares a canvas or board for paint) and another on stenciling.

Each technique has a description of the effect, then includes preparation, materials, equipment, how-to and some variations. There are wonderful photos of the finished result (on walls).

Sure, the book includes rubber stamping on walls, but for journals, I recommend Graining (p. 106), marbling (p. 114) and ragging (p. 53). The techniques can be easily adapted and give delightful results.

–Quinn McDonald is a writer and certified creativity coach who teaches writing and communication skills. Her second book, “Raw Art Journaling: Making Meaning, Making Art” will be available in 2011.

[Via http://quinncreative.wordpress.com]

Good News Pilipinas » Standard & Poor bullish on Philippine economy

The Sunday Salon: Mini Review

2010-02-07T16:08:00.000+02:00

I have several books that I have read this year and haven’t gotten the chance to review yet, and figure I will do several shorter reviews. You may notice that these are book that I rated lower. I figure that I usually have more to say about book I really like than ones that I don’t. These fit that especially because I didn’t feel strongly about any of these books, but wanted to talk about them a little.

Avalon High

by Meg Cabot

Rating: +

Summary

Avalon High seems like a typical high school, attended by typical students: There’s Lance, the jock. Jennifer, the cheerleader. And Will, senior class president, quarterback, and all-around good guy. But not everybody at Avalon High is who they appear to be … not even, as new student Ellie is about to discover, herself. What part does she play in the drama that is unfolding? What if the bizarre chain of events and coincidences she has pieced together means — as with the court of King Arthur — tragedy is fast approaching Avalon High? Worst of all, what if there’s nothing she can do about it?

Review

This was a great concept, but I thought the execution was not very good. The parallels were too direct and obvious and the story was very predictable. I got what would happen right away and once it was explained to the characters, it got worse. I wish I had liked it more, but I just didn’t think it worked. It was too trite and obvious.

Reading the OED

by Ammon Shea

Rating: ++

Summary

An obsessive word lover’s account of reading the Oxford English Dictionary cover to cover.

Review

I loved reading about A J Jacobs reading the encyclopedia, so I thought I would love to read about someone reading the OED, especially since i love words. This book lacked the cleverness of Know It All and was not as entertaining and I thought it would be. i read through the Cs and couldn’t read anymore. It took a fun concept and made it…well, not so fun.

If you love words, it is worth a try though. You might find some great new ones!

Black Beauty

By Anne Sewell

Rating: ++

Summary

An autobiography of a horse.

Review

I think this was a very clever book. Seeing things from the point of the view made me like horses a lot more (I have never been a big fan) and made me think about the horrible ways people sometimes treat animals. IT also made me think about how much animals return love and affection. I didn’t love the story, and probably would not really recommend it, but I am glad that I picked it up.

Project Princess

By Meg Cabot

Rating: +++

Summary

Mia goes on a school trip during spring break to buld homes for the less fortunate in West Virginia

Review

It is one of the in-between books in the Princess Diaries series and is very short. I liked that Mia was doing something to help others and thought that it did make her realistic because she thought about her boyfriend in addition to thinking about doing good deeds. If you have read the rest of the series, you should read it. If you skip it, you won’t miss too much though.

Read this week

The Guinea Pig Diaries by A. J. Jacobs

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Project Princess by Meg Cabot

Little lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodges Burnett

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

Currently Reading

The Love Story of J. Edgar Hoover by Kinky Friedman

The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

I hope you have a great week!

[Via http://caitieflum.wordpress.com]

Good News Pilipinas » Standard & Poor bullish on Philippine economy

Coming back to Torrance: a review of Incarnation

2010-02-07T04:08:00.000+02:00

I was reading around in preparation for teaching on Christology last week and ended up spending time in T.F. Torrance’s collected lectures published as Incarnation:The Person and Life of Christ (Paternoster). Every time I come back to Torrance I am reminded just how significant a theologian he was. His work is shot through with careful attention to the Biblical text, passion for the Gospel, and fluid clarity so characteristic of a seasoned lecturer.

Take the following passage on Christ’s assumption of fallen flesh:

When the Word became flesh, he became all that we are in our opposition to god in our bondage under law – that is the amazing act of gracious condescension in the incarnation, that God the Son should assume our flesh, should enter a human existence under divine judgement, enter in the situation where the psalmist cried Eli, Eli lama sabachthani, so that the Word or Son of God himself gave out the same cry when overwhelmed with the divine judgement upon our flesh (61).

Torrance took the post of Chair of Christian Dogmatics at New College, University of Edinburgh in 1952. The chair had previously been held by Hugh Ross Mackintosh, Torrance’s earlier instructor who had encouraged him to read and study the theology of Karl Barth. Barth would be Torrance’s longtime occupation, first studying with him at Basel in 1937 and later playing a significant role in the editing of Barth’s Kirchliche Dogmatik.

Incarnation comprises Torrance’s lectures on Christology and Soteriology delivered in his classes on Christian dogmatics at New College during the years 1952-1978. Torrance had gathered his notes during the years 2001 and 2002, but before they could be edited for publication he suffered the stroke that brough both his scholarly career to an end and the process of bringing these lectures to print. Thankfully for the editorial work of Robert Walker we, together with Torrance’s students who heard them first hand, can benefit from his immense learning, insight, and strength of faith.

The volume makes at least two significant contributions (both of whichWalker notes as well in the introduction). First, it offers the most systematic and complete presentation of Torrance’s thought available. While he had hoped to do so, he had never produced a dogmatics. Second, this provides a fine introduction to Torrance’s theology that will surely open the way for readers to mine the depths of earlier publications. If you have read any of Torrance’s other works, then you know that for all its liveliness and depth, it is not light going; it is challenging – immensely rewarding to be sure – but challenging. One hopes these published lectures would give readers encouragement to engage Torrance’s other works, which undoubtedly will reward.

Because, if they are anything like me, readers of Torrance’s lectures may just find a sense of home, a resonance with the Gospel long-proclaimed in the Church but far too rarely heard so clearly-resounding in the academy:

[H]ere in the full humanity of Jesus, as it is joined eternally to his deity in incarnation and atonement, man’s destiny as man is actually assured and restored to its place in God from which it has fallen; man’s wrong has been set aside in and with the judgement accomplished upon the humanity of Christ, and now in his humanity our new right humanity has been established before God (186).

Amen indeed.

[Via http://theologyforum.wordpress.com]

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NEED A LAUGH? READ LAURIE NOTARO

2010-02-06T16:54:00.000+02:00

The Lycan Librarian is known for her biting sense of humor, and, unlike many, is fully capable of laughing at herself as hard as at anyone else. It takes such humor to enjoy Laurie Notaro’s irreverent style and wit.

     If any of you happened to catch Dr. Oz on Oprah the other day, you may have been surprised to learn that a true, deep belly laugh burns off calories, so can actually serve as a weight-loss tool, and improve your health – if you are fortunate enough to find something to drive you into peals of helpless laughter every day.

        Laurie Notaro professional writing career began in 2002 with THE IDIOT GIRLS’ ACTION ADVENTURE CLUB, which dealt with, among other things, her drinking habits, something which, these days, makes many people gasp with horror. But Laurie laughed at herself, and the world laughed with her. I have followed her life through her books, and she has since grown up (as in matured), married, and had subsequent successful books. I admit, I enjoy her non-fiction more than I did her novel, THERE’S A (SLIGHT) CHANCE I MIGHT BE GOING TO HELL, but she has another work of fiction coming out in April, 2010, and since she is, undeniably, a crazy genius, I have already pre-ordered it for the Moonlit Library.

          Laurie likes to rave about the type of things that annoy most people: the person on the airplane who insists on reclining their seat back into the four inches of space the person behind them has, husbands who scold when their wives bring more books home while sneaking a pile of their own into the house, and people at book signings who actually have the nerve to tell her they thought she would be prettier. Some stories, of course, are funnier than others, but in each of her books, there was something, and often quite a few somethings, that made me laugh out loud. Her titles and the covers, alone, are hilarious, and if you want even more chuckles, go to Amazon and check out her books from the foreign markets. Even if you don’t read the language, the title is still pretty funny, and there are different, but equally amusing covers.

          Perhaps her humor isn’t for everyone, but whose humor is? There is no better medicine than laughter, so we must all grab the hilarity wherever we can find it.

[Via http://lycanlibrarian.wordpress.com]

Bill O'Reilly Bravely Defends Fox News Against Blanket Liberal ...

Steampunk, Scientists, and the Soulless

2010-02-06T16:37:00.000+02:00

In Gail Carriger’s fantasy horror novel Soulless, Alexia Tarabotti–a soulless spinster–is rudely attacked by a vampire which is against the rules of etiquette in this alternate Victorian England. She accidentally kills the vampire which prompts an investigation from Lord Maccon, werewolf and the head of the Bureau of Unnatural Registry. But as Alexia and Maccon delve into the origin of the misbehaving vampire, they discover that strange vampires are appearing while known vampires are disappearing. Something more sinister is at work than just a couple of forgotten manners.

I enjoyed reading Soulless. It’s an engaging cross-genre romp featuring supernatural creatures operating under Victorian strictures. And it featured an original conceit for the existence of werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and other types of undead: that some people have an excess of soul so that under certain circumstances, they just won’t die. This notion, it seems, eludes the antagonists who seek a more scientific explanation.

However, one thing that really bothered me about this book, and most other stories with scientist characters, is that the author failed to deviate from the stereotype when depicting scientists. Like the virgin/whore dichotomy that feminists lament, there is also a scientist dichotomy in genre fiction, too. Fictional scientists are either evil, mad, and amoral or brainy wimps with absolutely no common sense.

While it may be difficult to visualize people resembling Britney Spears, the elderly organist at the local church, or a champion skier as scientists, one should note that scientists are human, not cardboard cutouts. Some scientists are brilliant, others not so much. Some are photogenic while others need their teeth straightened. Personalities can range from the grumpy and megalomaniacal to the sweet and quirky to the downright “normal” (whatever that is). I am tired of authors taking the lazy way out or getting all their information from cartoons and fantasy notions of an ivory tower hermit who hasn’t changed his wardrobe since 1962.

Am I asking for too much? I hope not.

[Via http://syaffolee.wordpress.com]

Teens prefer reading news online to Twitter | Media | guardian.co.uk

Stieg Larsson Books

2010-02-06T04:25:00.000+02:00

Recently I read two of Stieg Larsson’s books.

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

- The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

The first in the series The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starts off slowly with the introduction of characters, but if you can last through the rough Swedish name translations to get a good understanding of what is happening – it is completely worth the read. The book builds continuously and keeps the reader’s mind alert and ready for then next thing coming. You become engrossed with the characters and what they are going to do next. In this first title of the series, the reader dives into the character Michael Blomkivist. The character of Lisbeth Salander is also being explored, but the reader still does not see the mystery behind her. It definitely becomes a book that you do not want to put down and want to stay up all night reading. The way this book ends if I did not know this was part of a series - I would have accepted the end of that book as a sufficient ending.

The second book in the series, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, keeps up with where the first book left off. This book picked up right where the last one left off, but it took a little while for the story to be pulled together again. While reading the first part – I was not quite sure where the author was taking the plot and how all the characters would fit into this book. However, Stieg pulled it off again. Lisbeth Salander is further expanded on – and the reader finds out a lot about her and the mystery behind her; well at least part of them. This book was definitely not as grasping as the first one, but it seems to be putting together aspects for a great Third title in this series.

I can not wait for that next title and will let you know what I think when it comes out.

[Via http://suzziepatoozie.wordpress.com]

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MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS

2010-02-04T16:41:00.000+02:00

Today I got to thinking about the most influential books in my life outside the most important book, the Bible … The theme that keeps coming back is Romans 11:36 – “For from him and to him and through him are all things. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

The Doctrine of God – John Frame
Desiring God – John Piper
The Pleasures of God – John Piper
The Sovereignty of God – A.W. Pink
The Holiness of God – R.C. Sproul
Chosen by God – R.C. Sproul
Willing to Believe – R.C. Sproul
Total Truth – Nancy Pearcy
The Institutes of the Christian Religion – John Calvin
The End for Which God Created the World – Jonathan Edwards
The Freedom of the Will – Jonathan Edwards
Religious Affections – Jonathan Edwards

[Via http://baldreformer.wordpress.com]

Stewart Hammers Fox News For Cutting Off Obama's GOP Q&A (VIDEO)

The Book Cover Process

2010-02-04T04:15:00.000+02:00

I’ve been asked several times how I pick the book for my weekly articles, so I thought I’d take a minute and fill you in on the very sophisticated and highly secret process:

1. I judge books by their covers. All the time. I hang out in the business and personal development sections of Chapters (Canada’s major retailer) and cruise the collections looking for interesting titles, subtitles and cover art. Of course, I also follow up on some recommendations, some books are sent to me, and some are new releases from authors I like. But for the most part, I’m into the gut-based selection method.

2. I read. A lot. I’ll typically start 3 or 4 books a week. not finish, mind you, but start. If an author can’t capture me within the first 25 pages (typically the intro and into the first chapter) I’m onto the next. Life’s too short to be spent on bland books.

3. I highlight. As an FYI, you never want to lend me one of your books. I highlight anything of interest (catchy line, new insight, well worded clarification). I write notes in the margins – notes for the articles, for workshops, or for my own business or life. I fold down pages (the bottom corner for some reason. Don’t ask me why) and generally chew up my books. I love them. They’re meant to be enjoyed, not framed.

4. I type out all my notes. Typically 5-9 pages of notes from each book. I think the most I had was 12 pages from Seven Habits. What can I say, it’s a great book!

5. I connect the dots. My favorite part of the article writing process is definitely the hour or so I spend reviewing my typed notes. I’m looking for a trend – something that may not even be explicitly stated in the author’s words. I’m looking for an idea that fits into the puzzle in my head of how personal development, corporate skills, entrepreneurship, life, communication, leadership, etc. all blend together. I’m convinced that if I read enough books and speak with enough thought leaders, I’ll find that eureka moment where it all becomes clear. Not there yet, but working on it.

6. I make it actionable. Ideas are great. But we can’t all be philosophers. My sole purpose for The Goose is to provide tangible, actionable take aways that you can put into effect in your own life immediately.

7. I write, Lindsay proofs, You (hopefully) read.

8. Repeat.

So there you go – the mystery process in a nutshell. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Via http://goosegems.wordpress.com]

Google News Blog: Starring stories in Google News

Jaron Lanier Is Not a Gadget

2010-02-04T04:06:00.000+02:00

Back in June of last year, I wrote: “When will we get to read a well-organized, well-researched work about the erosion of value of content that is written by someone with credibility who is not a recondite copyright scholar, a media industry shill, or an Internet Luddite? I’m still waiting.”

Well, the wait is over. Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto is a fabulous, fabulous book. Everyone reading this should buy it, right now.

Before I talk about the book itself, let’s get one thing out of the way: some call Lanier a “Luddite” because he “doesn’t get it.” This is a guy who invented Virtual Reality back in the 1980s, has technology research positions at UC Berkeley and Microsoft, has an IEEE Career Achievement Award (given just last year), and is currently at the cutting edge of research on the interface between computer science and medicine. Oh, and he shared an apartment with Richard Stallman just as Stallman was mapping out the movement now known as open source.

Jaron Lanier is many things (I left out musician, among others), but he’s not a Luddite. In fact, he has thought more deeply about issues of content, creativity, and humanism in the Internet age than just about any other writer on the subject. And his ideas are right on target.

In this book, Lanier asserts that the Internet is moving creativity and content to a “hive mind” or “noosphere” that eschews individual authorship and, far from encouraging a new age of creativity, flattens creative endeavors – from the perspectives of both economics and the creativity itself. He says that the growth of so-called Web 2.0 technologies will result in riches for “lords of the cloud” like Google but no one else – apart from a lucky few who are exceptions that prove the rule rather than harbingers of New Rules.

The first part of You Are Not a Gadget is admittedly a little rough going at times for those who, like me, have no background in philosophy. But it’s necessary for Lanier to set up an intellectual basis for the arguments he makes subsequently, so that they have credibility and do not come off merely as opinionated rantings (such as all previous books on this subject, e.g. Mark Helprin’s Digital Barbarism and Clifford Stoll’s Silicon Snake Oil).

The next section of the book looks at the content industry – particularly music – from the perspective of someone who is a technologist as well as a performing and recording musician. As I read this, I did something that I haven’t done in years: I broke out a yellow highlighter and started highlighting quotable sentences and paragraphs. Soon I stopped, because there were just too many.

Here are just a couple:

Ironically, advertising is now singled out as the only form of expression meriting genuine commercial protection in the new world to come. Any other form of expression is to be remashed, anonymized, and decontextualized to the points of meaninglessness. Ads, however, are to be made ever more contextual, and the content of the ad is absolutely sacrosanct.

My riff on a similar subject from 2007 is buried within here. And another:

The people who are perhaps the most screwed by open culture are the middle classes of intellectual and cultural creation. The freelance studio session musician … the stringer selling reports to newspapers from a war zone. Each pays painful dues and devotes yeas to honing a craft… They get nothing from the new system.

He then goes on to debunk some of the supposedly promising ideas for Music 2.0 business models. These include:

Kevin Kelly’s “True Fans” model (he’d love to see this happen but the evidence thus far is distinctly underwhelming)
The Radiohead free-download experiment (a “giant musical act from the old days of the record business, grabbing a few headlines by posting music for free downloading”)
The specialized aggregator (“…only a trickle of money is made. The aggregated musicians make essentially nothing.”)

Notice that he’s not talking about the major record labels; he’s talking about actual content creators. People who take the opposite of Lanier’s position all too often make the mistake of conflating the two.

Lanier explains that he would love to see new business models arise that will enable musicians and other content creators to make livings, but he’s not seeing evidence of that happening. Furthermore, he readily blames himself for having been part of the problem, as he did in the 2007 New York Times op-ed piece that first earned him notoriety among the free culture crowd.

Lanier doesn’t just lament the state of culture online; he provides reasons for how it got to be this way. He explains how certain aspects of Internet and Web 2.0 technologies encourage a lack of creativity (so-called mashup culture, he says, is mostly a canard), civility (“troll” behavior), industry, and other desirable human qualities.

To illustrate how the technology actually causes this to happen, he refers to the example of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), the digital music protocol that was designed back in the 1980s to capture sounds from digital keyboards. MIDI’s musically expressive capabilities are very limited, especially when applied to non-keyboard instruments, but the technology’s pervasiveness has had a deleterious effect on the music that people use it to produce. He also discusses the design of the Unix operating system and its repressive effect on software design ever since its origins in the early 1970s, and an alternative to Wikipedia called ThinkQuest that produced more authoritative content but died on the vine of scalability.

At the end of the book, Lanier goes back further, to the ways in which humans learn to interact with the world around them through childhood – a subject in developmental biology called neoteny. He compares human neoteny to that of other species with relatively advanced intelligences and capabilities, such as cephalopods (squid, octopus). This brings him back to virtual reality, a subject for which he apparently still has a soft spot after all these years.

And what of Lanier’s position on digital rights technologies? He shows some understanding of how they work. He calls DRM “troubled” and “cumbersome.” But at the same time, he says:

…it is often claimed by open culture types that if you can’t make a perfect copy-protection technology, then copy prohibitions are pointless. And from a technological point of view, it is true that you can’t make a perfect copy-protection scheme. If flawless behavior restraints are the only potential influences on behavior in [social norms regarding content], we might as well not ask anyone to ever pay for music or journalism again… Locks are only amulets of inconvenience that remind us of a social contract we ultimately benefit from.

And one of his ideas for reviving the music industry, a physical object called a “Songle,” would have to contain some form of DRM in order to work.

Lanier subtitles You Are Not a Gadget “A Manifesto,” possibly to position it against its intellectual opposite, the famous Cluetrain Manifesto of 1999. At that time, Lanier was also a big believer in climbing aboard the cluetrain. But now he’s older and wiser, and he’s changed his tune. He realizes that although the Internet holds a lot of promise for creative content, much of that promise is being squandered by limitations in technology and misconceptions of vision.

You Are Not a Gadget is the right person saying things that really need to be said, and saying them in a way that is as impassioned as it is carefully reasoned. It ought to be required reading for everyone involved in digital content.

Get it today.

[Via http://copyrightandtechnology.com]

OCNN: Ochocinco News Network Storms Super Bowl Media Day (VIDEO)

New Moon (part of Twilight series)

2010-02-02T16:30:00.000+02:00

Name of Book: New Moon

Author: Stephanie Meyer

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Audience: High school girls

Summary: This would be a fabulous book for literary circles, especially the response logs. The response logs would allow the youth to connect their own personal lives with the story, allowing them to express their connections and questions about the novel. This literary circle would have to be done over multiple weeks (possibly a 6 week session). The focus of the sessions would be different types of love, as seen in the love between Edward and Bella, Jacob and Bella, Bella and her father, Bella and the Cullen’s family, and Bella and the “wolves.” It would also discuss the hurt, pain, and aching reality of love as seen in the relationships previously mentioned. The hurt and pain experienced, especially by Bella in this book, is something every person will feel at some point in their life. And, often, it is during this time a person may feel the most unloved and farthest from God. This study can also focus on Bella’s trouble in discerning her love for Jacob in contrast to the love she feels for Edward.

This story is one of love and the fight for love. In the beginning of the novel Bella is attacked by Edward’s brother. Edward realizes he has, again, put Bella’s life in danger and leaves Forks in order to protect her. Broken hearted and seemingly purposeless Bella and Jacob Black, Edwards supposed “enemy”, become better friends. For Jacob their friendship is more than that, it is love. He takes over Edwards’s job of protecting Bella, and in doing so falls more in love with her, and she starts to fall for him. Although Bella has grown to love Jacob in one way, her love for Edward remains and at the end of the novel she is called on by Edward’s sister Alice to use that love to save Edward.

Literary elements at work in the story: This is a fantasy novel, but more than its focus on vampires it is its focus on the emotion and heartache of true love and friendship and its wonderful examples of self-sacrificing love that is worth noting.

Perspective on gender/ race/ culture/ economic/ ability: This book has wealthy vampires (both North American and French), Native American Werewolves, and the poor towns’ people of Forks.

Theological themes: Sacrificial, undying love; friendship; forgiveness.

Faith Talk Questions: (these questions would be based on the specific chapters we would have read- most likely 3-4 chapters a week in a small group setting. This would be a wonderful literary circle for this fall before the movie comes out)

What were some connections you all made with the story? Could you relate to how Bella felt when Edward left? Could you understand why Edward left? How did you feel about Bella and Jacob’s relationship?
Do you have any questions as to why something happened? Maybe, why did Edward have to leave? Did he still love Bella when he was gone?
How did you feel when Jacob became a werewolf? Who do you think protected Bella better and why? How do Jacob and Bella’s relationship differ than Edward and Bella’s? Have you been in relationships that are like these? Are these relationships healthy?
When Edward left what else did Bella lose? How did Bella grow closer to her father in Edward’s absence? How was that beneficial?
Where do you see love in these chapters? What type of love do you see? Have you felt that type of love or seen that type of love before?
Any criticism about these chapters?
Do you see any connections between the story unfolding and God? What do we see about the nature of God when we examine the emotions of Bella, Edward and Jacob?

Review prepared by Ashley Cheek, MDiv/MACE, Entering cohort Fall 2007

[Via http://storypath.wordpress.com]

openSUSE News » Its here! openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 1

Four More...um, no, Five More

2010-02-02T04:50:00.000+02:00

I added five more books to my ebooks tonight – Brimstone, Terminal Freeze, Still Life with Crows, and Cemetary Dance – all by Lincoln Childs & Douglas Preston; and “Death Match” by Lincoln Child. I can’t seem to find “The Relic” in ebooks so will have to see if I can buy it on ebay. Figure if I’m going to buy it in written form, I will only get it in hardbound.

Now I have sixteen ebooks to read – several are free ones by new authors that I’m not sure I will like. Hopefully they will get some more ebooks out soon of these two authors because, so far anyway, I really enjoy their books. I’ve read “Deep Storm”, “Riptide” and the latest one from the other day “Cabinet of Curiosities” which I highly recommend.

There are several more I want but will refrain from buying until I get these five read. Barnes and Nobel makes it so easy to buy ebooks – can get them with the push of a button. I downloaded the Kindle ereader for my computer as well thinking Kindle might have a few books I couldn’t get with the B&N ereader, however, I was wrong. Still, I have it now so I can get my coworker to “loan” me ebooks if she has any I want – I think one of our Captains has a Kindle too but bet he reads more the political thrillers which I could care less about. I don’t like religious thrillers either. My son is starting to get aggravated with me because I haven’t read “Angels and Demons” yet – will have to break down and buy it in ebook format I suppose.

I wonder what would be involved in publishing my own ebooks? Couldn’t they be scanned or typed into the required format? I have no idea and doubt it would work anyway because I’m not one for promoting my own work.

Oh well. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday! I will be thrilled when I’m off work tomorrow and have arrived, once again, to my days off!

[Via http://seamonster02.wordpress.com]

Global Voices Online » Haiti: News from Jacmel

Clear Moon, Frost by Amy Small McKinney

2010-02-02T04:36:00.000+02:00

Charles Louden* – The Fox Chase Review

Amy Small-McKinney writes from a humble yet intense place turning phrases and the constant drumbeat of metaphors. Small-McKinney celebrates some simple things in life:

From The Meaning of Life

“I am happy when I find the juicy orange/ I am happy when the sofa is on sale/ happiest when I have not lost my job.”

From Dillsburg, PA

“The frogs have begun whistling/ Black Walnut trees, their green globes/ the size of tennis balls, have not begun to shed/ or to make their mess, though they secret walnuts inside.”

Small-McKinney brings us back to stark reality:

From Found

“my house is gray. All color gone/ I lift up the light. It gathers in my hands”

From White Poem

“I walked scattered into the worm hand of myself/ I was nothing, I swear only scattered/ ashes before ashes, before the earth/ that refused to receive me”

Clear Moon, Frost by Amy Small McKinney is available from Finishing Line Press at this link: www.finishinglinepress.com

You can read the poetry of Amy Small McKinney in The Fox Chase Review at this link:

http://www.foxchasereview.org/09AW/14-ASmall-McKinney.html

Amy Small McKinney will read her poetry with Leonard Gontarek at The Fox Chase Reading Series, “Featured Poets Reading”, at 3 Sisters Corner Café in Fox Chase on April 24th @2pm.

* Charles Loudon lives on Cottman Avenue in Philadelphia, he is not sure if he lives in Fox Chase or Burholme depending on who he speaks with. He is frequent visitor to the Ryerss Library.

[Via http://foxchasereview.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: Krugman calls FOX News 'deliberate ...

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

2010-01-31T16:22:00.000+02:00

I’ve held off on posting a review of Watchmen because I’d been hoping to see the movie first, which is available on HBO On Demand right now, but the Writer wants to see it too and our schedules have prevented us from finding the couple hours necessary.

The main reason I want to see the movie is to see how they handled some pretty unlikable characters – The Comedian is a US army shill who tried to rape a fellow hero, Rorschach has the morality of Scott Roeder – able to justify vicious crimes by his uncompromising sense of morality, Doctor Manhattan has all but lost his humanity. I appreciated the sensitivity with which Silk Spectre’s affair with Nite Owl II was handled – while not middle-aged myself, I enjoy seeing a love story between adults who have pasts. I’m not sure if I was supposed to see Nite Owl as slightly pathetic – he really did look owlish, and not particularly heroic, in costume.

The other element that would seem difficult to translate to the screen is the layering, not only of each character’s arcs and flashbacks to earlier days of glory, as well as faux documents interleaved into the books, but also the framing and commentary provided by the pirate comic books being read by a young man sitting at a news stall. It’s occasionally a bit too on the nose, using “voiceover” in the pirate story to comment quite directly on the moral quandaries facing would-be heroes.

Ultimately, I am glad I read Watchmen, but I’m not sure I was entertained by it. The lack of sympathetic characters, the unrelenting negativity (it’s a Cold War work, focusing on Russians, the bomb, the economy, gang violence) – I enjoyed looking for all the literary allusions (the Gordian Knot lock company and so on) and was repaid with them being significant to the plot, but I really just wanted a happy ending.

[Via http://subwaybookclub.wordpress.com]

Profits almost triple for Microsoft's game division | News

The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore

2010-01-31T04:53:00.000+02:00

I mentioned RA Salvatore in my previous Book Review so I thought I’d throw this one up that I wrote in 2007. He is one of the few authors I buy the hardback. Check that, my dad buys them and passes it on to me.

Ah yes… everyone’s ‘favorite’ drow is back and just as invincible as before. In fact, the beginning of the book kisses his dark backside right away. Glimpse into the future, my brothers and sisters, and see the disgusting truth.

Yes, I realize that when a character becomes popular, the last thing an author wants to do is kill him off. I imagine that’s why both Wulfgar and Bruenor both came back from the dead in various books. Of course Wulfgar became the very first emo barbarian ever. OMG! My life is ruined… WAAAA!! How about Cattibrie? Can’t have a fierce warrior woman so let’s maim her and say she’s going to turn pussy mage then, okay?

But I digress. The fact is that the reason I keep reading the Whore of Wizards books is because, quite simply, he writes well. I like the way he weaves a tale, even if it is at the askance of his evil overlords in the Tower of Hasbro. Well MAYBE it doesn’t go that way but it sure seems that way. Of course this book hints in switching the characters over to the ‘new and improved’ 4e.

Remember the first Drizzt Drow (as I call it) books? He comes out of the Underdark and loses his innate drow powers… then BAM! 3e comes along and he mysteriously has them again. I call

bullshit.

Am I digressing again? My bad.

The story starts out in the future, assuring that the fanboi’s of Drizzt will still be bowing to the cock of Salvatore for a good long time… Oops… did it again… Er, showing that orcs and dwarves are living in peace with the rest of the races.

W T F ? ! ?

They’ve gone bat shit crazy! Is this to appease the whiney little gits out there that say… but all orcs can’t be bad because all drow aren’t bad because…. Etc….etc…. What’s next? An emissary from the kobold kingdom marches into Silverymoon for tea with Lady Alustriel? Oh… that’s right… they decided to do a little ‘cosmetic’ work to FR, didn’t they? Sigh….

Okay, the basic plot to this story is Many-Arrows has decided to back off on fighting Mithral Hall. His dream is to have an orc kingdom, not keep going on a bloody rampage and use his followers as cannonfodder. There’s only one problem… another orc, Grguch, doesn’t really like that idea and he feeds the bloodlust of other orcs (and his own half ogre/half orc breeds). They rampage through Moonwood, killing off Cattiebrie’s elf competition Innovindil and her Pegasus. They attack the dwarves as they try to repair the trade routes. Hot-headed Bruenor wants a war and goes seeking it with a small group. It’s the whole “kill the head and the serpent dies” ploy.

Well Many-Arrows doesn’t die. I never figured he would, honestly, but Grguch does along with Jack the Gnome. I’d say more about the Gnome thing but honestly, I thought he was an idiot character to begin with. Just another “let’s manipulate the stupid races” bit again.

Looking back, not a lot happened in this book. Wulfgar returned Colson to her birth mother after burying his idiot wife who stole the sword Khazid’hea from Cattibrie. He then returned to the frozen wasteland that was his home at one time.

Did I mention that a drow and surface elf got married and had kids. I think a little part of me died after reading the end of this book.

Will say this, however, about RA Salvatore. While it gets extremely old that Drizzt never loses any of his magical spiffy weapons or gets raked across the coals like the other main characters… okay, okay.. .there was that one book wher the elf chick he saved as a child came back to kill his ass but did you really go OMG! They killed Drizzt, you bastards! Nope, predicable much like the time Artemis ‘killed’. Maybe Drizzt is the Forgotten Realms equivalent of the Black Knight in Monty Python but I digress. The fact remains Salvatore is a good writer. As much as I whine bitch and moan about the Drizzt series, I’ll read the next one on that fact alone. He keeps the story driving and leaves unnecessary BS out of the book because I’m not really interested on which way Drizzt puts his TP on the roll. If it doesn’t drive the plot, don’t waste my time.

[Via http://kastil.wordpress.com]

Topicfire Creates Solid Breaking News Twitter Feeds For All Topics

Productivity blogger list results in unproductive practice

2010-01-31T04:51:00.000+02:00

If you’ve heard me speak about technology you know I’m a huge fan of Mark Briggs. In fact, I could literally touch my current Briggs reading, Journalism Next, from where I’m sitting.

So, imagine my surprise when I went in search of his advice on the best cloud server and found this amazing list of productivity blogs.

My fandom of all things Briggs was compounded when I saw Leo Babauta’s name first on the list. Anyone who ever has spoken with me about time management knows I also am a huge fan of The Power of Less.

Needless to say, Briggs’s list had credibility with me. So much, in fact, that I spent a good part of my evening following each of the authors on Twitter and adding their RSS feeds to my Google Reader.

Productive? I think not.

[Via http://thekrg.wordpress.com]

Perez Hilton: HUGE GaGa News!!!!

the rate at which I am reading has been slowed...

2010-01-30T16:36:00.000+02:00

when I was a kid, I would get a book on Friday and finish it within a week. If my friends were all busy or out of town, I could finish it in one weekend. Now that I am a mom of three little ones (6 1/2, 5, 3) I have had to become creative and crafty with where I get my reading in. I am always with a book in the car – just in case Ill get 5 minutes before work or before pickup at school – if the kids fall asleep as we are diving. I have often flirted with the idea of taking my two youngest to the childcare at the YMCA and instead of working out…..reading with a big cuppa something (gasp). I have friends who haven’t read a book since their child was born, these are also the friends who rarely take baths…two luxiories I have held tight in my grasp of my “Im not willing to let go of” repertoire. I am usually able to read a book in a good amount of time – even given my schedule, so the fast that I am moving so slooowwwlly through this new book has me quite baffled!

‘ that Krishna Das’s book is a hard read. In fact quite the opposite. The First 41 pages flew right by. I loved hearing his voice through his writing and hearing the stories of Maharaj-ji, and Krishna Das’s path to self discovery. When I first started reading it was like a new relationship, everything is exciting and light and I could feel the depth of this person. I flipped page after page as he looked to his guru with love and devotion and admiration, reading about a new friends life journey. As I continued to quickly read this wonderful book I all at once was zapped back into my present moment with one paragraph:

“we see ourselves as separate and different from other people. On the level of thoughts, physicality,and emotions, we certainly seem to be. This is the “optical delusion”, and yet it is what we experience. My stuff revolves around a different planet than yours. You have your planet, I have mine. But on the deepest level, our planets are actually each a reflection of the same thing- the self, the One – like the moon reflected in different pools: one moon, same light, many reflections. When the pool of water is calm and there is no debris floating on the surface, all of the reflections are identical. To the extent that we experience that, the way we live our lives changes. “

My reading pace slowed. I reread that paragraph a couple times. All of my stuff is rotating around my own planet – and depending on my mood I have been known to throw a few branches into my pool of water, I have often used the visualization with my children, of a pond of water with a treasure at the bottom. When the water is calm you are easily able to see the treasure but when the mood of the water is choppy it is very difficult to see clearly to the bottom.

I kept reading… and began bookmarking each page as I went forward. Each page has the depth of something I deeply desire to know and accept as my reality. Maybe that is why my pace has slowed. I am enjoying it though, and enjoying that I am in no rush to finish, other than my complete excitement to get to the next page.:)

Sharing his heart through music and chanting is the basis of Krishna Das’ own spiritual work—his way of serving the Divine within himself and others. “Chanting is a way of getting in touch with yourself. It’s an opening of the heart and letting go of the mind and thoughts. It deepens the channel of grace, and it’s a way of being present in the moment,” he says. Since 1994, the sound of his voice singing traditional Indian chants with a Western flavor has brought the spiritual experience of chanting to audiences all over the world. You can preorder Krishna’s book Chants of a Lifetime online at either HayHouse.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, or wherever books are sold. His book includes a free CD for personal chanting practice. More information on Krishna Das can be found at www.krishnadas.com.

[Via http://christinechristensen.wordpress.com]

Sherlock Holmes 2 News - FilmoFilia

Book review: 'The Sweetheart Of Prosper County' by Jill S. Alexander

2010-01-28T16:04:00.000+02:00

Fifteen-year-old Austin Gray is sick to death of standing on the curb while the whole parade passes her by . . . quite literally. Tired of the constant teasing at the hands of a local malevolent and wishing she could just branch out and find a place in her small Texas town, Austin hatches a plan to become a “sweetheart” — a position of honor in Big Wells’ No-Jesus Christmas Parade.

So she plots. And she works. And she comes to possess a sleek black rooster she names Charles Dickens — and she works with him every day, hoping to train him so well that he wins her an award at the county fair. Much to her single mother’s chagrin, Austin joins the Future Farmers of America in school and finds herself with a new group of friends — including Sundi Knutt, the reigning parade sweetheart. And with the help of her new buddies and a little magic from Charles Dickens, Austin just might transform her life after all.

Jill S. Alexander’s The Sweetheart Of Prosper County is a glimpse of life for one teenage girl struggling with the grief she feels over losing her father years before and her desire to become something more than what she is: a quiet, almost-friendless loner who spends her time working at her mother’s hardware shop or hanging out with Maribel, her best friend. Her rooster, a gift from a local Creole man named Mr. Bourdreaux, adds a new dimension to her otherwise sheltered existence — and working toward entering Charles Dickens in the county fair gives her a goal.

While I liked Austin and wanted her journey toward happiness and self-esteem to go well, I can’t say that I particularly connected with her — or any of Alexander’s characters. Austin’s rationale for joining the FFA, raising her rooster and striving toward becoming sweetheart is all about finding acceptance, but I didn’t feel like she really wanted to change . . . that she was actively striving to become a stronger person. Somehow, the plot felt thin — and it didn’t take long for me to become frustrated with Austin, who consistently did what her grieving mother asked her not to do — and I felt sad for her mother Jeannie, too. But not sad enough that I cared for them beyond merely reading about their lives in a book.

The novel is fast-paced and a very quick read; I finished it in just a few hours, and I’m happy to have read it. Fans of Southern fiction and small-town settings will find Big Wells, Texas charming and quaint, and the setting helped keep my interest. Those love coming-of-age stories with a touch of romance will find something to enjoy here, too.

I should note that my views on the story have been shaped by reading so many other excellent coming-of-age young adult novels recently, and it’s too bad for The Sweetheart Of Prosper County that I read Robin Brande’s Fat Cat right after it — and just before writing this review. Because if you’re looking for a transformative, powerful and unbelievably entertaining read, Fat Cat takes the cake. This Sweetheart can only stand in the shadows.

3 out of 5!

ISBN: 0312548567 ♥ Purchase from Amazon ♥ Author Website

Personal copy obtained through BookMooch

[Via http://writemeg.com]

All of the news from today's iPad announcement

The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey

2010-01-28T03:55:00.000+02:00

“These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me…and the one who cursed me.”

So begins the journal of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet. [summary from Goodreads]

The case starts out simple enough – the grave robber brings to Warthrop the corpse of a young girl inexplicably entwined with the dead body of a monstrous creature – but their search for what the creature is and how it got into the grave quickly becomes complicated. After a deadly trip to the local cemetery and some late-night dissections, Dr. Warthrop becomes convinced that the monster is an Anthropophagi, a hellish species his father had studied, and that the cemetery is their breeding ground. Their search to uncover more about creatures leads them from the graveyard to the mad house and into the past of both Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop.

The setting – New England in the late 19th century – is gloomy and bleak, perfect for such a dark story, and the haunted, driven characters fit the world perfectly. The Anthropophagi, far from being supernatural creatures, are wholly of the real world and are much scarier because of it – think about your local community being overrun by violent, man-eating animals at the top of the food chain and you’ll get the idea.

While the story has plenty of nail-biting suspense, hair-raising scares, and festivals of gore, it’s also a story about relationships, particularly of sons and their fathers: the son’s eternal striving to either live up to his father’s deeds, surpass them, or atone for them. Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop’s relationship is dysfunctional at best, shades of father/son and mentor/apprentice but not quite living up to either, but at the same time they need each other, if only because no one else needs them.

This is not a silly kid’s book about monsters that nobody would find scary. It’s not a B-movie. It’s not for the easily frightened or squeamish. What it is, is one of the best horror novels I’ve ever read (and I’m including adult books here, too), genuinely scary, fascinatingly gross, and psychologically complex.

If you like horror novels, this is the one to read.

[Via http://eplcoolcafe.wordpress.com]

Hotz releases PlayStation 3 hack | News

Hate List

2010-01-26T16:47:00.000+02:00

The Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Everyone has those books they come across and, almost to their own surprise, do not want to put them down…for whatever reason. While reading Jennifer Brown’s The Hate List, I found myself not paying attention when my husband was speaking to me, ignoring one of my most favorite TV shows, and avoiding sleep at all costs to keep reading…”just one more chapter!”

Valerie Leftman isn’t popular. In fact, Valerie spends much of her time at school and on the way to school being picked on, called mean names, degraded. Valerie fights to take back some dignity and control through her spiral-bound notebook, her Hate List. For Valerie the Hate List is a cathartic exercise – putting in print everything and everyone she hates, from her Algebra homework and her parents’ arguments, to the superstar jock who picks on her and her boyfriend. But for Valerie’s boyfriend, Nick, the Hate List becomes a seriously hateful enterprise; one day in May, Nick opens fire in their high school, killing several, injuring many (including Valerie), and then turning the gun on himself. Now Valerie is left to pick up the pieces of her life, to deal with the love she had for a guy who could perpetrate such acts of violence and to negotiate living in a town where many assume she is an equally guilty party.

The Hate List proves an incredibly unique and powerful novel, allowing readers to witness the events leading up to the school shooting, the shooting itself and the aftermath. The narrative is sophisticated, providing glimpses between the “present” and “past”-pre-shooting, the ”past”-post-shooting and “present,” and interspersed with newspaper clippings about the shooting and its victims. This title is the author’s debut and I was very surprised not to see it as one of the William C. Morris honor books! Jennifer Brown is definitely an author to watch!

[Via http://merreads.wordpress.com]

Catholic 'Womenpriests' Touted in WaPo News Story by Leftist ...

Maxwell's Silver Sermon

2010-01-26T16:04:00.000+02:00

Charlie looked at the bewildered victims of the crash on the beach and spoke for all when he said, “Guys, where are we?”

If you want to know how we got here (telegraph–television–blogs–Facebook–Twitter) I would highly recommend Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. The fact that a majority of blog readers will know the setting, time of day, and characters of the theatrical reference in the opening quote of this post tells us that Postman was on to something. The average consumer receives philosophical, theological, and cultural challenges through entertainment not through sustained conversation, study, or thinking. In fact what is usually passed off as “conversation” in today’s culture, and more to the point–today’s church, is anything but. If nothing else, read Postman’s eighth chapter “Shuffle Off to Bethlehem” which surveys the televangelist scene of 1985. The players have changed but the issues are all still there. Here are a few choice quotes:

“The first is that on television, religion, like everything else, is presented, quite simply and without apology, as an entertainment.”
“If the delivery is not the same, then the message, quite likely, is not the same. And if the context in which the message is experienced is altogether different from what it was in Jesus’ time, we may assume that its social and psychological meaning is different, as well.”
“Though their messages are trivial, the shows have high ratings, or rather, because their messages are trivial, the shows have high ratings.”
“I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.”
“I think it both and fair and obvious to say that on television, God is a vague and subordinate character. Though His name is invoked repeatedly, the concreteness and persistence of the image of the preacher carries the clear message that it is he, not He, who must be worshipped.”

[Via http://expositorythoughts.wordpress.com]

'Make Them Filibuster': Gov. Rendell Tells President Obama ...

Reading Lolita in Tehran

2010-01-24T02:18:00.000+02:00

I just remembered a book that’s influenced the way I think about literature and women’s rights as much, if not more, than Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own — Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

From amazon:

An inspired blend of memoir and literary criticism, Reading Lolita in Tehran is a moving testament to the power of art and its ability to change and improve people’s lives. In 1995, after resigning from her job as a professor at a university in Tehran due to repressive policies, Azar Nafisi invited seven of her best female students to attend a weekly study of great Western literature in her home. Since the books they read were officially banned by the government, the women were forced to meet in secret, often sharing photocopied pages of the illegal novels. For two years they met to talk, share, and “shed their mandatory veils and robes and burst into color.” Though most of the women were shy and intimidated at first, they soon became emboldened by the forum and used the meetings as a springboard for debating the social, cultural, and political realities of living under strict Islamic rule. They discussed their harassment at the hands of “morality guards,” the daily indignities of living under the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime, the effects of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, love, marriage, and life in general, giving readers a rare inside look at revolutionary Iran. The books were always the primary focus, however, and they became “essential to our lives: they were not a luxury but a necessity,” she writes.

Threaded into the memoir are trenchant discussions of the work of Vladimir Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, and other authors who provided the women with examples of those who successfully asserted their autonomy despite great odds. The great works encouraged them to strike out against authoritarianism and repression in their own ways, both large and small: “There, in that living room, we rediscovered that we were also living, breathing human beings; and no matter how repressive the state became, no matter how intimidated and frightened we were, like Lolita we tried to escape and to create our own little pockets of freedom,” she writes. In short, the art helped them to survive. –Shawn Carkonen

I remember the first time I picked up this book. I read the entire thing one spring afternoon, while procrastinating on my homework. It made me realize how much I was taking for granted. Nafisi, like Woolf, demonstrates the importance and almost revolutionary quality of being able to read freely, of being able to express oneself freely.

She’s one of the reasons I’ve read (and people always make fun of me when I admit this) pretty much every word of my homework assignments since I’ve been at Reed. Does that make me a nerd? Probably a little bit. At the same time, though, I really cannot imagine having limits on what I am allowed to say, limits on what I am allowed to read.

One of the most beautiful parts of her story, I think, is how literature became, as Nabokov says, ” a violin in the void.” The power of books to free, to help us grow, is amazing to me. It could very well be that I’m just a silly dramatic bibliophile, but I really do feel like language is one of our saving graces, as human beings. Imagination — just as in Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading – is what keeps our souls from being imprisoned. I’m reminded of stories of how soldiers survived years in prison camps — men who held on to sanity by composing or reciting poetry in their heads, by designing their future houses, by teaching each other through taps how to do complicated things like fix TVs or cars. It is really, as Cincinnatus C. discovers, one of the only ways we can truly liberate ourselves.

Some things worth reading:

Azar Nafisi on Nabokov

Interview on Reading Lolita In Tehran

Nafisi on her new autobiography, Things I’ve Been Silent About:

-Lucy

[Via http://shakespearessister.net]

Facebook unveils new games dashboard | News

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller

2010-01-23T16:48:00.000+02:00

Miller creates a collage of life experiences that can cause the reader to examine the foundation to their own faith. The chapters are an array of topics and each chapter is broken up by thought breaks. It is an easy read, but lacks a smooth flow. Novel readers may get bored or annoyed, but those who ponder a lot or who are ADD will thrive with there thought breaks.

If you put yourself into the book you will be changed. My favorite chapters: Confession, Love, Community and Marriage.

[Via http://markman700.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: New Dem concern: GOP may just vote for watered ...

Book Review: White Man's Burden

2010-01-23T04:31:00.000+02:00

How our "help" has fallen far short...

First up, for my (hopefully) monthly book reviews is William Easterly’s controversial, yet imminently logical The White Man’s Burden : Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good.

As a former head-honcho for places like the IMF–with an insider’s view on what has gone wrong with aid for so many decades–Easterly offers a candid, often disturbing view into the machinations of states, NGOs, and global conglomerates.

I truly believe this book should be read by all in International Development, from CEOs of non-profits to administrative assistants at the IMF and UN.

[Via http://education4everyone.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: Geithner reportedly told Wall Street that Obama ...

The Sister Exchange by Kevin McNamee

2010-01-23T04:29:00.000+02:00

Bill Cosby used to have a comedy skit about parenting back in the 70’s. One of the points he used to make is that if you have only one child you’re not really a parent. I didn’t quite understand how he could say such a thing, but that was before I had two young girls close in age who fight constantly. If I remember the skit correctly, Cosby said you weren’t a real parent if you only had one child because you didn’t have to listen to things like, “She’s touching me!”

In this charming and delightful book, Kevin McNamee tackles the issue of sibling rivalry in a fun and unique way. When Brianna, the oldest of two sisters, complains about her younger sister, Julianne, she tells her mother that she wants a new sister. Julianne is always bugging her, and following her around, wanting to do what she does, and it’s plain old annoying.

So, Mom calls up the Sister Exchange and asks to trade in Julianne. That’s when Brianna learns something surprising about Julianne and herself.

The Sister Exchange is one of those stories that will make you feel good by the time you reach the end. As your child follows along Brianna’s journey to trade in her sister, they learn how special siblings can truly be; that despite those little things about them that might bug you, you’re lucky to have them around.

In a fun and engaging way, McNamee has taken a serious issue and turned it into a story that will delight your children.

The illustrations by Kit Grady are the perfect compliment to this story. I was already a fan of her work, but she’s outdone herself in her creation of these two sisters and the many humorous illustrations of the potential sister replacements; though I have to say that Hissy the cat is my favorite.

A great story with a superb ending, The Sister Exchange by Kevin McNamee is definitely a book you’ll want to share with your little girls.

Rating:

Publisher: Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc

ISBN-10: 1616330155

ISBN-13: 978-1616330156

SRP: $10.95

Bookmark & Share

[Via http://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com]

BBC - Douglas Fraser's Ledger: Paperless news

the five factor diet

2010-01-21T16:24:00.000+02:00

so i went ahead and checked out 5 factor diet from the library because it’s currently all the rage. it’s based all around, you guessed it, the number 5, promising that it will provide you with 5 meals and recipes per day that each have 5 ingredients or less and take less than 5 minutes to prepare. in addition, you workout 5 days a week doing 5 different exercises for a total of 25 minutes.

while i genuinely thought i might find some inspiration here for my own lifestyle plan, i am sad to give this book two thumbs down.

the first few chapters are dedicated to trashing all other popular diets, and while many comments where well-researched and fairly grounded, i hate hypocrites and harley’s 5 factor farce isn’t setting the bar any higher than south beach or atkins.

harley then goes on to share about how smart and qualified he is to be writing this book. he includes a sob story about how he too was once fat. yawn. then you finally start getting into the good stuff, where he talks about the five components of each meal. he does mention the glycemic index, which i DO believe is very important when trying to lose weight:

What is the Glycemic Index?

Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs – the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels – is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss.

low gi foods will make you feel full and stay full for longer. they take longer to digest and do not cause huge spikes in blood sugar levels like high gi foods.

this is seriously the only concept that harley touched upon that was worth reading about. the rest of the book is dedicated to him supporting slim fast drinks (a.k.a. poison), and to popular celebrities swearing that this diet gave them the bodies they have.

my favorite recipe- this is for real, page 135:

“kashi go lean with nonfat milk”

ingredients: 2 cups cereal, 2 cups milk

to serve: place 1 cup cereal in each bowl and add the milk.

makes 2 servings.

read sarah’s review here. it’s hilarious.

[Via http://libbydelay.wordpress.com]

John Edwards admits paternity – Washington Post | Latest news ...

Interview with Civil War Historical Fiction Author Dot Ryan

2010-01-21T04:29:00.000+02:00

Dot Ryan, born and raised in Bee County in South Texas, makes her home in “the sparkling city by the sea,” Corpus Christi, Texas, with husband, Sam. Corrigans’ Pool is Dot’s first novel. She is busy writing her second and third works of fiction. You can visit her website at www.dotryanbooks.com.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Dot. Can you tell us what your latest book, Corrigans’ Pool, is all about?

Thank you for inviting me! Corrigans’ Pool is a Civil War era novel that takes place in and around Savannah, Georgia between 1861 and 1864. If you don’t mind, I’ve taken parts of the following description from the recent ForeWord Clarion Review of Corrigans’ Pool, which gave the book five stars out five:

The eldest of two daughters, Ella Corrigan rises to the challenge when a family tragedy results in an incapacitated mother and a father consumed by guilt. Despite the pressures of essentially running the family plantation on her own, she bears the burden of responsibility stoically, with kindness, efficiency, and little resentment for her lot in life.

Somewhat resigned to the possibility of never marrying, Ella is stunned by her reaction when she meets the dashing, if seemingly ill-suited, Gentry Garland. She repeatedly resists the attraction at first, resulting in moments both touching and amusing, until she finally accepts the love between them. From there, it doesn’t take long for Ella to begin envisioning a different, more enriching future—at least until the Civil War lands on their doorstep and Gentry strangely disappears without a word.

Devastated, Ella makes the fateful decision to marry neighboring plantation owner Victor Faircloth. Victor’s increasingly contemptuous violence toward those who serve his household sickens Ella, and a gripping mystery begins to unfold involving his rapidly disappearing slaves and the beautiful pool, called Corrigans’ Pool, on Ella’s family property. As the Civil War rages on, Ella finds herself fighting a war of her own to save her home, her loved ones, and the innocent victims of her husband’s brutality.

Villains and heroes are exposed in their true light, loves are lost and found, and the strength of human spirit ultimately prevails.

Q: Is this your first novel? If not, how has writing this novel different from writing your first?

Yes, Corrigans’ Pool is my first. I am presently working on the sequel to Corrigans’ Pool and two additional historical novels.

Corrigans' Pool by Dot Ryan (click on cover to purchase at Amazon)

Q: How difficult was it writing your book? Did you ever experience writer’s block and, if so, what did you do?

Writing Corrigans’ Pool was easy, it was learning to write right that was hard! As I said in one of my blogs: The desire to write is all well and good but first one must learn to write! I married right out of high school and continued my studies “catch as catch can,” afterward. Driven by my insatiable desire to write, I began a campaign of self-study, hours in libraries doing research, reading and re-reading dozens of books on writing, subscribing to every writer’s magazine I came across in, enrolling in every writer’s course available within reasonable driving distance from my rural home and, of course, reading as many novels as I could. I finished Corrigans’ Pool in 1982 … and lost every page of it in a fire a few months later, along with most of my research notes.

To make a long story short, I overcame my devastation and anger a few years later and began Corrigans’ Pool all over again.

Yes, I experienced writer’s block from time to time. To get past it, I leaned back in my comfortable writing chair and read a few pervious chapters. If that didn’t work, I went through dozens of scrap-paper notes containing dialogue and proposed scenes, all of which I had jotted down over a long period of time and stuffed into a large manila envelope. Usually, one method or the other worked.

Q: How have your fans embraced your latest novel? Do you have any funny or unusual experiences to share?

There is nothing like the thrill when readers e-mail or call to say they bought your book and absolutely could not put down! This has happened many times. One woman told me that she was reading Corrigans’ Pool for the second time and would probably read it again in the future. Getting a bit worried, I asked her if there was something in the book that she did no understand and she replied, “Heck no! I just love it that much! You will write a sequel to it, won’t you? When will it be out?”

Also, I have been told that books I donated to an area library are constantly checked out; that is a very good sign.

There are also great reviews by buyers of the book on the Barnes & Noble site. In addition, a book club in Moon Township, Pa read and discussed Corrigans’ Pool and gave it five stars. They are mailing their books to me so that I can autograph them. I am flattered and grateful.

All reviews, so far, have been good. I believe when other potential readers learn that Corrigans’ Pool is out there and being enjoyed, they will not regret buying it.

Q: What is your daily writing routine?

I write at least five days a week, sometimes into the weekend. There are days when I write from sunup to sundown or longer if the words are flowing. I get teased by my grown children when they drop by and find me in my pajamas in the middle of the afternoon. I tell them that my pj’s are my writing costume of choice and they might as well accept it. Besides, I’m all for comfort when exercising the brain.

Q: When you put the pen or mouse down, what do you do to relax?

I read or strum my old guitar. At one time early in my life, my hobby was writing songs. I have a box of my musical creations in the attic. A fantastic Texas singer, Joel Nava, was kind enough to put a few of them on CD’s for me. Just for fun, I will soon put these songs on my website under my blog, Memoirs of a Texas Dance Hall Queen: If you want a few laughs, go to dotryanbooks.com and read the Texas Dance Hall Queen blog.

Q: What book changed your life?

I’ve read books that affected nearly all of my senses, thereby giving me great pleasure as I read them, followed by enjoyable contemplation afterward. Other books have shown me darker images of life and human nature that perhaps I felt uncomfortable reading about but satisfied a need to be informed. For certain, these books changed my life in ways that improved me as a writer, but it is difficult to spotlight any one of them as the life changing book.

Q: If someone were to write a book on your life, what would the title be?

Tenacity Floats

Q: Finish this sentence: “The one thing that I wish people would understand about me is…”

…that next to my husband and children, writing is my life … so be assured that other novels are on the way!

Thank you for this interview Dot. I wish you much success on your latest release, Corrigans’ Pool!

Thank you! I enjoyed answering your questions.

[Via http://asthepagesturn.wordpress.com]

Nearly Half Of Google News Users Don't Go To Source | paidContent

City of Bones: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

2010-01-21T04:15:00.000+02:00

Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is almost content with her boring real life in Brooklyn. Trips to the Pandemonium Club for dancing and people watching with her best friend Simon add enough excitement, even if Clary is too shy to talk to anyone.

That changes when Clary witnesses three teenagers with mysterious tattoos murder another boy in the club. Clary is ready to report the murder until she watches the body disappear into thin air. The murderers being invisible to everyone but Clary also complicates matters.

But nothing is as it seems when the murderers explain themselves to her. Not murderers at all, the teens are part of the hidden world of Shadowhunters–warriors who fight to rid the world of demons.

Clary is drawn deeper into the Shadowhunter world when her mother disappears and demons start to attack. Suddenly Clary’s boring real life is anything but in City of Bones (2005) by Cassandra Clare.

The book itself is also anything but ordinary. Reviews have cited City of Bones as an unoriginal pastiche of other fantasies–a claim that, after finishing the novel, seems unfounded.

Clare blends elements of biblical myth, urban fantasy and suspense to create a truly unique story. The writing is snappy with wit and verve that might explain the comparisons between the book and the Buffy TV series.

As Clary delves deeper into the world of the Shadowhunters and the demons they hunt, Clare creates a richly developed world filled with vivid characters that readers will look forward to seeing again.

City of Bones is the first of Clare’s Mortal Instruments books. Clary’s adventure continues in City of Ashes. The first three of the series are already published with a fourth due out in 2011. Clare is also working on a prequel trilogy called The Infernal Devices. The first of the prequels, The Clockwork Angel will be published in 2010.

Possible Pairings: The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Paradise Lost by John Milton, The Descent by William Carlos Williams

[Via http://missprint.wordpress.com]

Jagex confirms publishing plans | News

Book Review: Dug Down Deep by Josh Harris

2010-01-19T16:53:00.000+02:00

Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters by Joshua Harris

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Josh Harris made a name for himself quite a few years ago when he wrote his book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”. “Dug Down Deep” gives us his story both before and after he wrote that book. It is both an interesting biography as well as a new manner of presenting basic theology. It is a very good approach. I was pleased to read it.Harris describes his carelessness in his life, his conversion, his pride, his humiliation, and the blessings that Christ used to bring him to where he is now. Harris is very open and transparent about his own mistakes. He is also truthful about what it took his mentors, friends, and family doing in his life to help him grow in the Lord. These are very useful things to know. Most of us will go through similar circumstances. It is a good thing to know that we are not alone.Harris grew up in a good, conservative environment only to rebel against much of it. He speaks of some of the shallowness he encountered in churches as well as some of the legalism. His story is the story of a man who had to find that the Scriptures are permeated with Christ above all else.As Josh Harris writes his story he brings in various theological concepts so that the reader is getting a doctrinal education while reading Josh’s story. I greatly appreciate his focus on doctrine as well as how he wrote the book. From the Bible to sanctification, to the uniqueness of Christ and more, Harris takes us on a theological and biographical journey that the reader will not soon forget.

Buy this book on Amazon or from the publisher.

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah

View all my reviews >>

[Via http://pastoralmusings.com]

Vanguard News Online

A High View of Scripture?: The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon

2010-01-19T16:50:00.000+02:00

A High View of Scripture?: The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon

Author: Craig D. Allert

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Baker Academic (June 1, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0801027780

ISBN-13: 978-0801027789

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Amazon

Eisenbrauns

With thanks to Caitlin Mackenzie at Baker Academic for this review copy!

Craig D. Allert is associate professor and chair of religious studies at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. A High View of Scripture? (hereafter HVS?) is the third volume in the Evangelical Ressourcement series which is a series that sees the value in patristic thought and seeks to integrate it into twenty-first century ministry. In HVS? Allert provides the non-specialist with a competent introduction to the formation of the NT canon as well as some food for thought concerning what may or may not be their understanding of the role that Scripture played in the early church.

In the first chapter Allert focuses on (mainly North American) evangelicalism and its view of the Bible through traditional lenses. Evangelical thought is heavily indebted to its battle against nineteenth century theological liberalism, and as such, tends to focus on the final form of the Bible and not on its formation. Allert’s book is one that seeks to help the evangelical reader appreciate the process that brought them their Bible, a process that should be taken into account if one genuinely wants to claim a ‘high’ view of Scripture.

The second chapter addresses the basics of the formation of the NT canon laying out three principle theories: (1) The NT was a spontaneous occurrence, (2) The NT was formed in the second century, and (3) The NT was formed in the fourth century. Theory 1 is extremely problematic and doesn’t accord with what we know from the patristic testimony. Theories 2 and 3 are taken up later in chapters 4 & 5 respectively. Allert also does well to define some key terms and lay out the criteria of canonicity (i.e., apostolicity, orthodoxy, and catholicity).

In the third chapter Allert sets the formation of the NT into its proper context, that is, within the community of faith. Too often, the church’s role in producing, collecting, and defining what would come to be known as the Bible, is overlooked in evangelical bibliology. To summarize Allert’s main point in this chapter, with a caricature of my own (not one that Allert uses); many evangelicals treat the Bible as if it fell from heaven like premium calfskin manna. But when one recognizes that the Bible is the church’s book then they’ll be dispelled of such notions and realize the avenue that God took in providing us with his special revelation.

In the fourth chapter Allert shows convincingly that there was no closed NT canon in the second century and that such an understanding of a canon of Scripture wouldn’t surface until the fourth century, and even then we don’t have what evangelicals generally think of as the closed NT canon. The argument that certain early writers referred to documents that later became part of the NT canon as ‘Scripture’ does nothing for the argument that they were considered canonical at that time. Nor will it do to argue based on the believed inspiration of a writing since many writings were considered inspired (and others were also called Scripture) that never made it into the NT canon. In short, Allert is urging against anachronism.

The fifth chapter examines the fourth century lists of Biblical books in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History and Athanasius’ 39th Festal Letter. In Eusebius we find a list divided by accepted writings, disputed writings, and rejected writings. Certain books that would later be accepted were still disputed in the fourth century (e.g., 2Peter or Jude) and appeared alongside writings that would never make it into the canon, so this shows that the NT canon was still quite fluid, but we do see an authoritative list of books like none that appeared before it. Athanasius’ Festal Letter on the other hand lists all 27 books that appear in our NT and labels them as canonical. The same list pops up in Carthage just thirty years later, but neither list settled the issue once and for all as can be seen by the disputed status of Hebrews and Revelation on other lists of fourth century writers.

The final chapter turns to the issues of inspiration and inerrancy. Allert rightly notes that at best we can only affirm that Scripture is inspired but past that we don’t know much at all. Even here we have to be careful not to assume that the standard proof-texts for inspiration have ‘the Bible’ in view or any kind of closes canon because of course such things did not exist yet. Inerrancy becomes relative because in the mind of many evangelicals it’s the logical conclusion of inspiration, that is, if the Bible is the product of God, and God cannot err, then the Bible cannot err. But this calls into question exactly what we mean by terms like truth and error and has to account for matters of interpretative methodology, and when it’s all said and done, if we can’t say much about inspiration then we can’t say much about inerrancy. As noted earlier, just because a document was thought to be inspired or was considered Scripture didn’t make it canonical nor would many evangelicals think these writings inerrant.

Craig Allert has given us in HVS? a book that’s both attentive and sensitive to history. He eschews anachronism at every turn and offers a number of correctives for modern evangelicals who read their current beliefs into the church fathers, and for this, he is to be commended. One of the most profound insights of this book is that early Christians didn’t place the authority of books that would later be canonized in their alleged canonical status or even their inspiration, but rather in their preservation of the teachings of Jesus and the apostolic testimony. This is a major point that many modern evangelicals would do well to remember. This work could benefit from a bit more qualification when talking about evangelicals. For example, Allert regularly refers to evangelicals generally, when it would be better to say ‘many’ or ’some,’ or qualify the statements with something like, ‘the evangelical authors I’ve read…’ or ‘the evangelicals I’ve spoken to…’

The final chapter also seems a bit disjointed. The latter half of it recounts the expulsion of Robert Gundry from the Evangelical Theological Society in 1983 over his commentary on Matthew. The majority of the ETS felt that he was denying inerrancy based upon their preconceptions about what inerrancy was when in reality Gundry was faithful to the doctrine as defined by the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in that he interpreted the text not based on what he thought it should mean, but rather based on what Matthew intended it to mean by employing midrash. While the recounting of these events was fascinating in its own right it lacked cohesion with the first half of the chapter on inspiration and didn’t fit the overall flow of the book. These criticisms aside, HVS? is a challenging book that will force readers to think about their views on tradition and Scripture, and hopefully cause them to appreciate the former as much as they might appreciate the latter.

B”H

[Via http://rdtwot.wordpress.com]

Intel's Hidden Bad News | BNET Technology Blog | BNET

Become a Tribal Leader !

2010-01-19T04:24:00.000+02:00

Jamaican politics is said to be “a struggle for scarce benefits carried on between hostile tribes perpetually at war”. Tribes are not always political though.

Many religions act like tribes also. Those they oppose are often quick to call them cults. Tribes can also be a powerful economic and social force as well.

“Since the dawn of civilization people have formed tribes, and research demonstrates that humans are genetically programmed to form into groups. Within every company there are tribes, often several, consisting of 20 to 150 people who know each other and work together. But while everyone tribes, the culture of each tribe is different, as is its effectiveness. Improving a tribe’s culture—and its chances for greater success—requires a tribal leader who not only understands the tribe but can leverage its collective assets to build a greater team.”

That quote is taken from a website promoting a book called “Tribal Leadership”.

Some believe buying such a book is a waste of time since they feel that a Tribal Leader cannot be trained or created but is a natural, a charismatic personality,someone great that spontaneously arises when the right conditions present themselves.

Obama used a “grass-roots” strategy, similar to the idea of building ever-enlarging tribes, to reach the White House. His strategy was flawless but his Personal Charisma is also undeniable.

On a more intimate level Mystery, a world famous Pick-Up Artist (PUA), a master of seduction, actually encourages his students to become “Tribal Leaders” because he says all women are biologically hardwired to respond most strongly to these “Alpha Male” types.

Mystery believes that the Charisma comes from having the leadership position. This is contrary to the commonly held view that Leadership is attaned by the one who exudes charisma.

Mystery says that, in the “Game of Seduction” at least, once you display qualities of Leadership, once you display “Social Proof”, you automatically become attractive.

This might also help explain people, such as Hitler, who possessed incredible public speaking Charisma yet were awkward in a personal setting. With a carefully crafted stage presence, with many symbols of Power, they can create a type of Charisma.

Obama said, at the largest gathering of Native American Tribal Leaders, last year, “Treaties were violated,Promises were broken. You were told your lands, your religion, your cultures, your languages were not yours to keep.”

Given the past, Obama said he wouldn’t have been surprised if the leaders hadn’t come, saying it showed “an extraordinary leap of faith.” Sitting at a table on stage in the Interior auditorium last year, Obama signed a memorandum directing all federal agencies to develop within 90 days a plan to improve tribal consultation. “These are challenges we can only face by working together,” he said.

Obama is clearly not just Charismatic but also an extraordinary leader in his strategic ability to create consensus, be authentic, visionary and inclusive.

Daniel Quinn believes the future will belong to tribes.

You may not have Obama’s leadership abilities but you can still shape the future by deciding which tribes you belong to.

According to marketing guru Seth Godin, modern technology has made it even easier for us to form into tribes and these tribes can now easily become Global, because of the Internet.

Seth Godin outlines the following principles for aspiring Tribal Leaders;

Firstly, Create a change, a meaningful Tribe will in some way challenge the status quo. It will seek to improve conditions.

Secondly, Tribes develop their unique culture: “A secret language, a 7-second handshake, a way of knowing whether you are in or you are out.”

Thirdly, tribes have curiosity: “about the people in the tribe, and about outsiders.”

Fourthly, the Tribe fosters Connection to each other. They allow people to achieve what they want more than anything….to be missed ! If you aren’t there other tribe members should notice and miss you.

Seth Godin agrees with Mystery in the end because he says “All tribal leaders have charisma. BUT, you do not need charisma to be a tribal leader. Leading a tribe gives you charisma. If you look and study the leaders throughout history, you will see where the charisma comes from. It comes from the leading.”

Finally Great tribes Commit: They commit to the cause, they commit to the tribe, they commit to the people.

Become a Tribal Leader !

[Via http://heavylogix.wordpress.com]

Non-Stop News -- Political Wire

Irish Folktales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) Edited by Henry Glassie

2010-01-17T16:07:00.000+02:00

Irish Folktales is a book edited by Henry Glassie, who is a college Professor of Folklore at Indiana University. The book has 122 tales divided into categories. The categories themselves sometimes have sub-categories.

The categories are:

1. Faith with the sub-categories of saints, and the priest and his people.

2. Wit with the sub-categories of the wise and the foolish, wits and poets, tall tales and outwitting the devil.

3. Mystery with the sub-categories of death and tokens, ghosts, away, encounters with Fairies, Fairy traits and treasures, enchanted nature, illness and witchcraft and strange sounds and visions of war.

4. History with the sub-categories of ancient days, war, rapparees, and later days.

5. Fireside tales with the sub-categories of Fenian tales, maturity and wit and faith.

The book itself though starts with an introduction. The introduction talks about how the editor got interested in the tales he is bringing to us in the book and he gives us a look into a little bit of how the study of folklore came about which was very interesting to read. Through it he establishes the rules behind recording these tales and how to go about doing it.

The tales are very enjoyable and can be used as stories for the kids (as I found out from experience). The fact that there are 122 tales, was interesting cause I found myself going through them very fast and in the end thought, huh, there is no way they were 122, they had to be much less. I loved the book, and I loved the style of the writing as well as the divisions of the book. A great addition anyone’s library.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

[Via http://celticscholar.wordpress.com]

LBS News - All Points Blog

Latest Writing Projects

2010-01-17T15:56:00.000+02:00

I have a number of exciting writing projects I am developing now. They are all on topics I have a keen interest in. In no particular order, the subjects include smoking, an artist’s canvas, fathers, home, success, and a novel.

The smoking one I am working on first. I received a number of interview sources through ReporterConnection.com for that one and will be using the interviews in the book. As well, ReporterConnection.com was used for the fathers book and the success book.

The artist’s canvas book is a creative collaboration of a piece of artwork that goes along with a book I am writing. I have been picking up the paintbrushes and doing art again recently and it is a true joy. The home piece is something close to my heart and the novel is too.

Please look out for these stories to published this year. It is a joy to write them and I have been reading up on a lot of great material to make them even better than my previous work.

[Via http://kakonged.wordpress.com]

Weekly International Travel News Roundup | Peter Greenberg Worldwide

Reading: Starting in the middle

2010-01-16T16:45:00.000+02:00

Right now I’m halfway through a very stupid book called Miss Julia Delivers the Goods. It is not my type of book at all, and the only reason I’m reading it is because I don’t want to hurt the feelings of the person who gave it to me. Why this person chose this particular book for me is absolutely mystifying, but whatever. I am reading the darn thing.

Now, this book is annoying for many reasons, and I thought about making a list of snarky bullet points, but decided against it mainly because it wouldn’t be fair. I mean, it’s not the author’s fault that I don’t care for lite fiction starring proper Southern ladies of a “certain age” whose lives revolve around church gossip and who think there’s no bigger crime than having a baby out of wedlock. There’s nothing inherently wrong with books that have blurbs like “Get ready for double the trouble and twice the fun in Ann B. Ross’s tenth Miss Julia adventure.”

– — –

However. This stupid book, it is actually making me think. Did you notice, from that blurb I quoted, that this book is the tenth in a series? And no, of course I haven’t read books one through nine. I never even heard of Miss Julia until she appeared under the Christmas tree.

I am not a big reader of genre fiction in general, and especially not genre fiction that comes in long series. One of my biggest gripes is the way so many writers handle the back story. Alas, they tell it to you over and over again, the same thing in each and every subsequent novel. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is a perfect example of this. Now the Plum novels are an exception to my general dislike of long series — they are riotously funny and I love ’em. But there’s no doubt that they’d be even better without the back story of Stephanie and Ranger, Stephanie and Morelli, how she became a bounty hunter in the first place, etc. etc. etc., being recited ad nauseum in each book.

Forget the back story, dear series authors. Just leave it out! Do your readers the honor of allowing us to figure it out for ourselves. We are not stupid. Please do not spoonfeed us.

– — –

That used to be my attitude, anyway. But now I’m kind of eating my words. Because I just realized something. When I read a series, I always start at the beginning. It’s just how I am. I am a methodical, linear, left-brain thinker. The idea of starting in the middle actually creeps me out. And now, with Miss Julia, I’m finding out that when you start in the middle, maybe you do need some back story. Not a lot, perhaps, but enough to make the motivation of the characters and the relationships between them, understandable.

See, there’s a weird situation in this novel. The main character, Miss Julia, apparently lives with and financially supports her dead husband’s mistress. And I have no idea why. That’s kind of a big elephant in the room, especially when the entire plot revolves around the aforesaid mistress’s pregnancy. There are also inexplicable undercurrents with the baby’s father. Again, I can tell there is history, but I don’t know what. I’m sure the author didn’t intend to create this particular type of suspense. It’s not fun suspense; it’s just puzzling and annoying. I’m sure if I’d started at the beginning of the series, I wouldn’t be in the dark right now.

– — –

I said I’m not a big reader of genre fiction that comes in a long series, but one huge exception to that, besides Stephanie Plum, is Patrick O’Brian’s glorious Aubrey-Maturin series. I have read all twenty of these Age of Sail novels again and again, and I never tire of them. One of the (many many) things I admire so much about these books is that the author gives no back story at all. And yet, these books are set in a time and place that really requires a lot of explanation: they are filled with quaint nautical jargon, history, geography, slang, botany, early nineteenth century “medicine” and much more that most of us modern readers have no clue about. But O’Brian doesn’t explain anything. He simply throws you in at the deep end, and as you come to the surface you gradually piece things together and figure out what’s going on. But somehow, you never feel puzzled the way I am puzzled about Miss Julia right now. That’s because O’Brian does help you along in subtle ways, using a variety of literary devices that never feel remotely expository or didactic.

For example, instead of outlining a complicated political situation directly to the reader, you find out about it indirectly, when Captain Aubrey gets his orders from the Admiralty. And in case you are wondering what the “Admiralty” is, that’s never explained directly, either. It’s just where Jack goes to get his orders. But its significance is abundantly clear. Furthermore, there are interpersonal relationships almost as weirdly unexpected as the one between Miss Julia and Hazel Marie. Oh, and there is a long stretch where O’Brian creates almost unbearable (but delicious!) suspense because you know who the traitor is, but the secret agent does not. And you know the traitor’s identity even if you’re not reading the books in order. O’Brian has to get you up to speed somehow, or the whole point of this particular multi-volume plot arc would be lost. He does it, again, in lovely subtle ways. He doesn’t tell, but he shows. One character keeps a secret diary. Another writes letters home. They have conversations and inner monologues. And it’s all good.

So, as I continue to plow through Miss Julia, I find myself wishing the author would take some lessons from my beloved P O’B. I’m not asking for paragraphs of direct explanation as to why the dead husband’s mistress is a beloved member of her household. There are lots of ways she could make that clear. But she should pick one! I like suspense, real suspense, but I shouldn’t be left in the dark about these basic and important pieces of the story. Ann B. Ross, go read some Patrick O’Brian.

– — –

Ok, fine, but there is a counter-argument. Ann B. Ross could very well come back and say that the onus is on the reader to read the books in order. I mean, I wrote this whole long post based on the assumption that authors should accommodate readers who jump in mid-series. Is that fair, though? Should a series author cater to fools like me who choose to start in the middle? Or do we readers owe it to the author to start at the beginning? After all, if authors didn’t feel obligated to clue in mid-series readers there would be no need for back story.

Hmmm. Interesting question. What do you think? Do you read series fiction? Do you ever start in the middle?

[Via http://burgoo.wordpress.com]

LBS News - All Points Blog

Eric Ambler: A coffin for Demetrios

2010-01-16T04:50:00.000+02:00

The English thriller writer Eric Ambler (1909-1998) is undergoing a revival – five of his classic novels from the 1930s have recently been republished by Penguin Classics. Ambler was called “our greatest thriller writer” by Graham Greene, who wasn’t bad at it himself, and Ambler is often cited as the precursor to writers such as John le Carre.

I’ve just read Ambler’s A Coffin for Demetrios (1939) and despite the obvious period touches (people communicating by ‘pneumatique’, for example, whatever that was) it feels very contemporary. The plot – which involves the heroin trade, stateless refugees, people smuggling, political assassinations, corrupt bankers and the sex industry – could have been written yesterday, not 70 years ago. It’s almost like a season of The Wire.

Ambler’s protagonist is Latimer, who is far from a dashing James Bond type. He’s a writer of cozy crime novels who has never been involved in anything dangerous. But when a Turkish army colonel (and crime fiction fan) tells him of a man named Demetrios who has been involved in criminal activities across several countries, and who has just been murdered, Latimer becomes fascinated. Never having met a real murderer, and after viewing his body in the morgue, Latimer embarks on a personal research project to uncover the facts about Demetrios.

His search takes him to Izmir (Smyrna) in Turkey, where Demetrios murdered a Jewish man before escaping from the great fire and massacre of Armenians in 1922, a historical event described by Ambler in horrifying journalistic detail:

“Dragged from their houses and hiding places, men, women and children were butchered in the streets … The wooden walls of the churches, packed with refugees, were drenched with benzene and fired. The occupants who were not burnt alive were bayoneted as they tried to escape.”

Next Latimer goes to Sofia, where Demetrios was involved in the assassination of the Bulgarian President, Stambulisky. This is another historical event - the liberal Stambulisky’s murder by right-wing terrorists in 1923 was a critical moment in the rise of fascism. Latimer goes on to track Demetrios’s progress through espionage in Belgrade, running heroin and people smuggling, before his final incarnation as a member of the board of a powerful European financial house, the Eurasian Credit Trust. During his investigations Latimer comes into contact with several of Demetrios’s former associates, a plausible and sinister collection of criminals and spies. Inevitably, he is drawn far deeper into Demetrios’s dangerous world than he intended.

Ambler’s political sympathies were of the left, which made him unuusal among thriller writers before World War Two – according to Thomas Jones in The Guardian, he “rescued the genre from the jingoistic clutches of third-rate imitators of John Buchan”. The career of Demetrios personifies Ambler’s view of Europe in the 1930s – a corrupt capitalist society in which businessmen, fascists and criminals work together in the pursuit of profit and power. This too may be regarded as a contemporary theme (see, for example Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine for insight into the workings of “disaster capitalism” today). As one of Latimer’s sources tells him:

“Come now Mr Latimer, be reasonable! The difference between Demetrios and the more respectable type of successful businessman is only a difference of method – legal method or illegal method. Both are in their respective ways equally ruthless.”

Latimer replies “Rubbish!” but observes elsewhere “All the Communists I have ever met have been highly intelligent.”

If A Coffin for Demetrios did no more than take us on a tour of the political, economic and social climate of Europe in the 1920s and 30s, it would still be interesting, but it’s a lot more than that. Ambler knows how to tell a story and the plot moves at a good pace (although you could quibble about the over-frequent appearance of helpful informants ready to tell everything they know). He’s a good writer, and a sharp political analyst:

In a dying civilisation, political prestige is the reward not of the shrewdest diagnostician, but of the man with the best bedside manner. It is the decoration conferred on mediocrity by ignorance.

Ambler’s revival is timely and his work is well worth discovering. The five novels recently reissued are Journey into Fear, Uncommon Danger, Cause for Alarm, The Mask of Dimitrios and Epitaph for a Spy.

[Via http://nickgadd.wordpress.com]

CBB Rolling News: Day 13 | The Sun |Showbiz|Big Brother

WILDFLOWERS - (Orphan Train Trilogy) Robert Noonan [Sharlet Liebel Review]

2010-01-16T04:26:00.000+02:00

Robert Noonan, author, creates desperate relationships among 19th Century abused children in A Trilogy: Wildflowers, Bridie’s Daughter, and Secrets. These books carry a social message. Orphan children are delivered on trains. Suspenseful events at a seaport town uncover intrigue and murder. Romantic ties are severed and reunited. Heroines rescue children and heroes support their escapes. A must read at Amazon and other booksellers.

The first book, Wildflowers, begins with three young girls aged eleven years. The children’s lives in 1898 are conflicted by their dire means and search of survival. In the second book, Bridie’s Daughter, readers experience adoptions by loving parents and abusers. Parents are from an elite class, farm workers and ranchers. Some children bond with parents and find love. Others run away. The third book, Secrets, is equally suspenseful and culminates the mysteries that are left dangling in books one and two.

========================================================

WILDFLOWERS

In 1898, Hillary Cook is a child devoted to her widowed mother and at 11 years old works. The textile mill in town puts children to work in the factory in 12 hour shifts 6 days a week. She and her young acquaintances meet briefly at work and share church services at a distance. Two of her close friends at work meet Sunday afternoons for their only day off to explore their world of wildflowers and make-believe stories. A significant mystery to them is the talk of children being transferred through their town regularly by train. Disaster befalls one child, then another, and another. These are children known to these three best friends. They cannot ever imagine that one of them might become a victim soon but, in fact, disaster is imminent.

Tragedy and a horrible ending await a child these girls know from the textile mill and a father is to blame. Another child they know is last seen staring out the window of a passing train and none can give the reason. The children forge friendships and adapt to common practices of abuse, poverty, growing up too quickly, and low wages for long hours and dangerous working conditions. Through conversations of town folk, personal experiences, and escapes, these young girls are indoctrinated into harsh and abusive risk-taking that even more mature natures should not have to endure.

Such turmoil in the lives of timid young ladies starts them imagining what they would be capable of enduring in a worst case scenario. Little knowledge is available for them to learn what goes on behind closed doors of abandoned boys and girls. But they learn from worldly children they meet in the streets on a trip to town that some prostitute themselves to survive.

Never mind that the worst of characters is none other than the boss at work who waits for young girls to express needs making them vulnerable to his lecherous advances. Nothing is free in his office as he trades favor for favor.

Life’s circumstances turn for the worst for Hillary, an only child, whose mother is desperately ill. One day, she becomes brave enough to ask for the boss’s favor learning too late of his malicious intent when he offers to pay the rent and doctor bills. She lives with her degrading secret. Her only hope is to leave this town as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

[Via http://sharliebel.wordpress.com]

Perez Hilton: Our Big News!!!!!!!

Book review: 'Breakfast In Bed' by Robin Kaye

2010-01-14T16:32:00.000+02:00

For Rich and Becca, it’s definitely not love at first sight — particularly when Becca’s first glimpse of Rich is as he’s stepping out of the shower. Her shower — the one in the apartment she just rented. Or so she thought.

The living arrangements are tricky — the pair have been promised the same New York City space by friends, and Becca arrives with all of her earthly possessions . . . plus a three-legged cat. Rich, a college psychology professor, has recently moved to the city to be closer to girlfriend Gina, an arrangement he thought was working out well. Until Gina unceremoniously dumps him, explaining she needs to be in a relationship with a man a bit more self-reliant than Rich. Someone who can wash his own clothes, clean a house and prepare a meal without the help of his doting mother, say.

Disheartened, Rich turns to Becca for help in becoming a “Domestic God” — a man who can complete any household-related task with pinache! He hopes Gina will be shocked out of her skull to discover how seriously he took her advice — and they’ll pick up their relationship where they left off. And since Rich and Becca can’t reach a conclusion regarding who can “keep” the apartment, Becca’s domestic lessons are a type of trade-off for keeping the peace between them as they co-exist in the space. As long as they keep their hands to themselves, of course.

Which, you know, of course they don’t. Who wouldn’t fall in love with Rich, a handsome, kind-hearted teacher (y’all know I love some teachers)? So what if he can’t even make toast and turns his clothes — and sheets — gray by perpetually messing up the wash? I’d be aggravated, sure, but then I’d set him straight. And we’d live together in perfect romantic harmony, chatting in about academia and eating perfectly-cooked Italian meals. In our gorgeous apartment. In New York City.

But, alas, it’s not that simple. Becca, an artist, has all kinds of emotional baggage from previous relationships — ones in which guys discovered she’s, um, filthy rich and then tried to take her for all she was worth. Understandably jaded, Becca is guarded — and totally not ready to open her heart to Rich. Robin Kaye does a great job of balancing Becca’s hesitations regarding Rich without making her very annoying the whole time.

Still, I wanted to shake her as the novel wore on. Nervous, fearful and full of all sorts of assumptions regarding Rich, Becca seemed unable to let go of her preconceived notions of the “type” of guy Rich was and actually see him as a man willing — and able — to change. There’s a weird subplot about how Rich needing to be in a stable relationship at the nudging of his boss, which just seemed like an obvious contrivance for the plot’s sake and didn’t work for me.

But beyond that? The dialogue was sassy; the chemistry between the leads was palpable. An entertaining, fun contemporary romance with a few laugh-out-loud moments and excellent peripheral characters. Mike, Becca’s realistically protective older brother, and his wife Annabelle, Rich’s sweet younger sister, provide some balance to the burgeoning love between their siblings. I had a little difficulty keeping the characters and their relationships straight at first, mostly because Breakfast In Bed is actually the third book in Kaye’s series, but I eventually got it all straightened out. And now I’m curious about the first two!

3.75 out of 5!

ISBN: 1402218958 ♥ Purchase from Amazon ♥ Author Website

Review copy provided by publisher

[Via http://writemeg.com]

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