If you’re here for the first time, I’d love if you could follow via email, RSS, LinkyFollowers or Networked Blogs. Just let me know your follow method of choice in the comments, and I’ll be happy to return the favor.
And if you’re not new, welcome back! Repeat visitors are better than when you wake up and think it’s time to get up, but then look at the clock and realize it’s still the middle of the night.
This week’s question:
What blogger inspires you?
Since it doesn’t have to be a book blog (although don’t get me wrong – I love SO MANY book bloggers), I’m going to pick Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. I’ve read her blog for years, used her Photoshop Actions, cooked tons of her food, and own the cookbook. Oh yeah, and I won an iPad from her. Seriously.
But the reason I admire her as a blogger is more than just because she holds the best giveaways ever. The giveaways are just icing on the cake of awesome that is Pioneer Woman. Allow me to list the awesome:
1) She’s hilarious and real. Her personality shines through in every one of her posts, be it about food, her kids, cattle ranching, or traveling the country on a book tour.
2) She posts entertaining content every single day.
3) She does this while homeschooling four children. I can’t even begin to imagine the amazing time management skills (which she says she is lacking, but compared to me, I believe this is a fallacy).
4) She’s written two cookbooks, a children’s book, and a book about the love story between her and her husband (which I read back when it was just content on her site, and it is hilarious). Again, I don’t know how she finds the time to write books, but she does.
5) She appears to be an honestly genuine and fun person, the kind I would want to be friends with if I met her in real life. (Which is something I’m still hoping happens someday).
6) She genuinely appreciates her readers, and although she is massively successful, she doesn’t let it go to her head. In all my years of reading her blog, I’ve never heard her say anything that comes across as bragging or entitled or superior. Which is probably one of the reasons she’s so popular.
I could probably keep going, but surely that’s enough for this post. Who inspires you?
It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.
You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.
Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!
Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.
Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!
Let me just start by saying this book is not for everyone. It’s tremendously sad. Sad to the point that another blogger I was discussing it with recently (well, the movie version, but still the same story) said she finished with a broken heart wondering, “what’s the point?” And I could totally see how you could come away from this book with that feeling. That said, I think if you go into the book with the right expectations, and you yourself have the “right” personality (for this book, not for…you know…life), it’s strangely beautiful. It’s one of those stories you can’t stop thinking about for a long time afterward.
I first read this book for a bit of a roundabout reason. I had seen the movie The Social Network, and I was totally captivated with Andrew Garfield’s performance. “What else has this kid been in?” I asked myself, and looked him up on IMDb. Lo and behold, he’d been in some artsy movie called Never Let Me Go that was based on a book. “I shall read this book, and then see the movie!” I proclaimed.
Because, as we all know, you always read the book first.
So I did. And then I saw the movie. And they are both haunting and sad and…well…strangely beautiful. (As a side note, while I think the movie is fabulously acted, I don’t think it really holds its own narrative-wise. So I would definitely recommend reading the book before seeing the movie).
Never Let Me Go is the quietest sci-fi dystopian you’ll ever read. So quiet, in fact, you may not notice that you’re reading sci-fi dystopian, because it disguises itself quite effectively as serious contemporary(ish) British literature. It is the story of three friends, Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth, who grow up together in the boarding school of Hailsham. Kathy carries a torch for Tommy from the time they are very young, but it is Tommy and Ruth that pair off through their teen years.
However, after leaving Hailsham and drifting apart, Kathy looks back on her time with Tommy and Ruth and wonders. For students of Hailsham are created for a specific purpose, and once they fulfill that purpose, their lives are complete. As the time for the three friends’ completion grows near, they reunite and examine whether there has been meaning in what they went through, or if they have any reason to hope for the future.
As I said earlier, this book is not for everyone. It’s a dystopian where it never occurs to any of the characters to try to overthrow the system. You want them to fight back, and they don’t, and you get your heart stomped on. Brutally. (I’m doing a great job of selling this book, aren’t I?)
But if you like quiet, difficult, poignant stories with strongly developed characters, this may be one to try. If nothing else, it’ll stick with you for a long time after you finish. And that in itself, even if you hate it, is saying something.
Also, if you like the book and want to see it interpreted visually, I think the movie works well as a companion to it. Here’s the trailer.
Also, I posted this in my most recent Top Ten Tuesday, but I absolutely adore this fan-made video. Perfectly captures the gutting emotion from the movie.
This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!
This weekend, one of the contributors over at TBatB, Jamie, is getting married! Congratulations Jamie!
In honor of Jamie’s big day, the topic this week is:
Top Ten Book Romances That You Think Would Make It In The Real World (outside the book)
This one’s fun, because so often in books (especially YA), the characters fall in “love” based on at least one (but most likely all) of the following factors:
1. They are both pretty.
2. They were forced to spend a prolonged period of time alone together.
3. They had an ADVENTURE.
And as we’ve all learned from watching Speed 2: Cruise Control, Annie was right. Those sorts of relationships don’t work.
Wait…we did all watch Speed 2: Cruise Control, right? That’s something we’ve all seen? Yes?
No? Well, that’s probably for the best.
So anyway, our task this week is to come up with 10 books that break free of the curse of insta-love and shallow love and love by proximity. The ones where the relationships would probably have a shot in the real world, where there are such things as morning breath and bad hair days and money problems and laundry and mowing the lawn. It’s tough, but I’m going to try my best.
Um, there may be some spoilers in here, since it’s kind of rare when the characters get together right at the beginning of the book, and yet I would still think they would have a chance in real life. Most of the time when that happens, it’s insta-love, and I’m pretty sure they break up next Tuesday. Sorry.
And it kind of kills me that I can’t put Buttercup and Westley on this list, but seriously, they fall in love based solely on her being pretty as she orders him snootily around her family’s farm, then he leaves, then she’s kidnapped. Twice. Hardly the foundation for a lasting relationship. So while I really want to believe that their true love is the greatest thing in the world (except for a nice MLT), I need to be realistic here.
As an aside, it’s possible I may have gotten carried away with the YouTube compilations. But I don’t care.
10. Kaleb and Lily, Timepiece. Maybe they wouldn’t have gotten married, but their relationship just felt natural to me.
[I’m sorry. The book’s too new. There’s no fan art or YouTube compilations to be had. Just pretend you see a picture of Kaleb dressed as a pirate and Lily dressed as a tiger, ‘kay?]
9. Kathy and Tommy, Never Let Me Go. These two need a shot in the real world. I mean, seriously. I spent the entire book wanting to pluck them out of their terrible, terrible circumstances and set them free in reality. If you haven’t read this book, it is immensely sad, and made all the worse by the characters’ calm acceptance of their fates. Run away, Kathy and Tommy! Run away!
[Warning: This video MAY completely destroy you. At least, that’s what it did to me.]
8. Clare and Henry, The Time Traveler’s Wife. Theirs is a bit of a chicken and the egg romance. What came first, the time travel or their love for each other? They each kind of lead to the other. However, especially in the book, it’s evident that they actually are compatible and they do go through some legitimate real married-couple problems together, so I think even without Henry’s odd condition, they’d still be able to make it work.
7. Jo and Friedrich, Little Women. Disclaimer: I wanted Jo and Laurie together so bad. It pained me when she turned him down. Like, physically, in my gut. But seriously, this relationship is more realistic. She doesn’t get together with her childhood friend, and instead grows up, finds a job, and meets a guy she actually connects with on an intellectual level. So even though I will always throw things when Jo refuses Laurie, I think this couple would make it.
6. Allie and Noah, The Notebook. While highly romanticized, the world of the book actually is the real world, and they do get married and grow old together. And it’s not like romanticized stories never happen in real life.
[Side note: The husband really enjoys this song. And who am I kidding, so do I. Judge if you must.]
5. Jane and Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre. I think what I love most about this story is Jane never strays from who she is to be with Rochester.
4. Elinor and Edward, Sense and Sensibility. Even in the world of Jane Austen, where everyone has their perfect match, I thought these two stood out.
3. Anne and Gilbert, Anne of Green Gables. I love the way their relationship grows from childhood rivals to cautious friendship to sweet romance.
2. Ron and Hermione, Harry Potter series. Their relationship is built on the foundation of a 7-year friendship. That’s pretty solid footing.
[I may or may not have watched this three times when I discovered it. And cried. Every. Time.]
[EDIT: I just found a better one, which is what is now shown here. The original Ron and Hermione video I used is here]
1. Claire and Jamie Fraser, Outlander. Best love story I’ve ever read. There ya go.
So, I’m behind on reviews. And I don’t have time to crank one out today. I apologize. I’m hoping to use the weekend to get caught up on life in general.
As an apology, here are some fun things that I’ve found recently (or not so recently) on YouTube that amuse me. My great love for finding awesome videos on YouTube could possibly also explain why I am behind in…other things. But let’s ignore that.
Happy Friday everyone!
MUSICAL AWESOMENESS:
There are a million and one covers of this song floating around. But this one is the best.
Yes, this is the same guy from Pentatonix. Craziness.
GEEKY MUSICAL AWESOMENESS:
Um, cellos + Star Wars = YES.
There’s some potty-mouthing in this song, so be warned before you listen in front of impressionable children. But seriously, Magic the Gathering? High-prescription glasses? These were my teenage years.
I had a REALLY hard time picking which Lindsey Stirling video to share, but this is the one I keep coming back to. Love. This. Music. (And the game. Especially Link to the Past.)
GEEKY HILARITY:
I cried the first time I watched this. Seriously. Couldn’t breathe.
THIS REALLY HAPPENS PEOPLE.
Obviously, there are many other amazingly entertaining videos out there that I would love to share with you. But I will save them for another day when I am behind and want to post something anyway.
DISCLAIMER: I did not re-watch all of these videos while making this post. I watched them afterwards.
If you’re here for the first time, I’d love if you could follow via email, RSS, LinkyFollowers or Networked Blogs. Just let me know your follow method of choice in the comments, and I’ll be happy to return the favor.
And if you’re not new, welcome back! Repeat visitors are better than finding a ten-spot in the pocket of your jeans while folding laundry.
Also, just as an FYI: I’m super-behind in my commenting and following. The past few weeks have been ridiculously crazy (this week alone we had a 4th birthday and a first day of first grade in our household), and I’m barely keeping up with my posting here, much less my interacting with other blogs. I do have every intent to catch up, but if you started following me in the past couple weeks and don’t think I’ve followed back yet, feel free to remind me. Refreshers never hurt.
This week’s question:
Q: What would you do over if you were to start your blog again from scratch?
Oh, so many things.
I would start out on self-hosted WordPress instead of the free version.
I would not post eight reviews on my very first day when I had no readers, and save absolutely none for later posting when I actually did get readers (still not sure why I thought that was a good idea).
I would not send really annoying emails.
I would not request books for review on NetGalley that I was only kinda sorta interested in reading.
I would jump on Twitter from Day 1, but put more thought into who I followed.
I wouldn’t worry as much about sounding “professional” and just talk like me.
Basically, the only thing I’d do the same is I’d keep my awesome header, because I love it. And my name, which were the very first words that popped into my head after “I should start a book blog.” Those two things are really the only things I did right, all those many (okay, 4.5) months ago.
