Category Archives: Blog

Teaser Tuesday (May 22): Under the Never Sky

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser today comes from Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi.

“‘Please! I didn’t do anything!’

A Guardian came up behind her. She caught a glimpse of him as his foot crashed into the small of her back, and then she was falling through the air.”

– Page 67

Top Ten Tuesday (May 22): Non-Bookish Websites

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It’s Top Ten Tuesday time over at The Broke and the Bookish! Time to make some lists and learn some stuff.

This week’s topic is [gasp!] not book-related. Unless you think that it is book-related in the sense that it is expressly not about books.

I think that made sense.

Maybe not.

Anyway, here’s the topic for the week!

Top Ten Blogs/Sites You Read That AREN’T about Books 

Disclaimer: This is hard. Most of the sites I read are about books. Or they’re blogs about my friends’ kids. I assume you’re probably not interested in those. But I do read a few non-bookish blogs. I don’t read all of these regularly, but when I do read them, I enjoy them. And here they are. In no particular order, because we’re really talking apples and oranges and kumquats here.

1. The Pioneer Woman. She does talk a little about books on here, mainly in her Homeschooling section, but the main reason I love her site are the step-by-step recipes (everything is delicious) and her posts about her life on a cattle ranch. Oh, and she also wrote a book, as well as a couple cookbooks. But most of the site is non-book-related. She also has the spin-off recipe site Tasty Kitchen, which makes my tummy rumble.

Photo Credit: Pioneer Woman

2. Hyperbole and a Half. I lost 2 hours of my life and laughed so hard I cried the first time I saw this blog. She posts sporadically, and actually hasn’t posted anything new in quite some time, but you can get lost in the archives forever. The MS Paint illustrations are what puts it over the top. Language warning on this site.

Image credit: Hyperbole and a Half

3. Cake Wrecks. A site about professional cakes gone hilariously wrong. You wouldn’t think there’d be that many humorously bad professional cakes out there that would be worth posting on the Internet. You would be wrong.

Photo Credit: cakewrecks.com

4. Sunny Tuesday. This is my friend Jessica’s craft site, and it’s the only strictly craft site I read. Her crafts are simple and always turn out super-cute, and make even a complete craft imbecile like myself feel like maybe I could tackle some of her projects.

Photo Credit: Sunny Tuesday

5. Jon Acuff. Jon is the author of the books Quitter and Stuff Christians Like, but although he is an author, his blog is mostly about inspiring people to pursue their dreams, whatever they may be, in a responsible and realistic fashion. He’s inspiring and hilarious. And as a bonus, he works with my husband, and his kids do weird things like lick the bottoms of their shoes. Which is the kind of thing (or the exact thing) my kids do.

Photo Credit: Jon Acuff

6. WHEDONesque. Where all things relating to the stories, actors, and various associates of Joss Whedon come together. I know. I’m a nerd.

Photo Credit: www.fond-ecran.com

7. xkcd. Sarcastic and often nerdy comics. You guys are probably learning too much about me today.

8. Epbot. From Jen, the mastermind behind Cake Wrecks. This is her personal blog, where she focuses mostly on geek girl crafts, steampunk, Disney characters, and Comic-Con. Again, you guys are learning too much about me. And again, I don’t actually attempt the crafts. I would destroy them, and not the kind of “destroy” that means “be so awesome I redefine the concept.” No, in this context, “destroy” = destroy. So I just like to look.

9. Rants From Mommyland. Funny posts about mommyhood. Makes me feel almost normal.

10. TVLine. Where I get the scoop on all the shows I watch. Or sometimes where I read about the shows I used to watch, because I don’t have time anymore to actually watch them.

Photo Credit: TVLine

 

I had to kind of stretch to actually come up with 10. Only the top 5 are blogs I read on a semi-consistent basis. But the important thing is: I finished the list. And that’s really what Top 10 Tuesday is all about, right? Finishing the list?

Right?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (May 21)

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Welcome to another week of It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Journey: the part of the week where I set ridiculously lofty goals for myself that I nearly always fail to achieve. But that doesn’t stop me from setting the bar high, because it would seem I am bad at learning my lesson. Speaking of which…

Guys, I have a confession to make.

I failed miserably last week. Failed. With a capital F-A-I-L.

I set out to read at least four books. I read one. ONE. Uno. The Book Thief was just a much heavier read than I was anticipating, and it swallowed my week. Plus, of course, life kept getting in the way. I went to an author event. I saw The Avengers. There were even more birthday parties (seriously, were all the children in my kids’ classes born in April and May?)

But instead of moving all of last week’s reads to this week, I’m changing it up. I’ve been asked to do a guest post on my friend Kelly’s blog in a couple weeks about dystopian books. And to prepare, I need to read some more dystopians. I’ve read some, but I need to read more. I know there’s no way I can read all the dystopians in two weeks, but I can at least put a bigger dent in them.

First off, I have to finish Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore. That will probably happen today, and I’m excited to announce that Shannon (who is ridiculously nice, FYI) has also agreed to an author interview sometime in the very near future when I can get my act together. So be on the lookout for that!

Then, TWO WEEKS OF DYSTOPIAN FUN. I may need a reality check when this is all over, people. On the docket for this week:

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. I’m so pumped. I’ve been itching to read this one for months.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I honestly have no idea what I’m getting into with this one, but I’ve heard great things.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Again, heard great things. Again, so pumped.

The Glimpse by Claire Merle. There aren’t an abundance of reviews out yet for this one, as it’s a June 2012 release, and what I’ve read so far have been severely mixed. Some love it, some vehemently hate it. So this one could be interesting. We’ll see.

I am banking on the fact that YA dystopians tend to go pretty fast. Plus, I do not have ALL THE ACTIVITIES planned for this week. Although my children do finish school tomorrow, which means the second half of my week is going to be kid-filled and chaotic. I’m hoping I can somehow squeeze in some reading around….that.

I need to get through these this week though, because I have some more potentially awesome dystopians planned for next week!

And yes, I know I’m setting myself up for some minor frustration by reading only book 1 of a bunch of trilogies. But a girl can only fit so much into two weeks. Books 2 and 3 can wait. I hope.

Off I go to mess with my sense of reality.

Feature & Follow #97: Perfect Vacation Reading Spot

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Welcome to Feature & Follow Friday, hosted by Parajunkee’s View and Alison Can Read! Let’s all discover some new blogs and new books, shall we?

If you’re a new follower, please follow via LinkyFollowers, Networked Blogs, RSS or email. They’re all in my sidebar. And if you add my button to your sidebar, that would be EXTRA awesome, but certainly isn’t required.

Be sure to let me know in the comments how you’re following so I can return the favor!

Now for this week’s question:

Q: Summer Break is upon us! What would be the perfect vacation spot for you to catch up on your reading & relax?

Well, I am happy to report that this summer, my husband and I are going on a cruise! It will be our very first cruise, and even more importantly, our first vacation with just the two of us since our 1-year anniversary. Eight years ago. Every vacation since then has either been with family or kids.

Yikes.

So I fully anticipate spending a good amount of time right here, curled up in the sun with a good book.

Aside from the cruise (since sadly, it’s only 4 nights, not the whole summer), if I had my druthers, I’d love to spend all summer at the beach. I could read by the ocean with a good book, the kids could play in the water and build sandcastles, and while I’m dreaming, I’ll throw in an awesome beach house with a super-comfy sofa where I could read at night too.

However, I live in Tennessee. We’re landlocked. And we can’t afford a beach house.

So…I think this will be a summer of sofa, park, and poolside reading for me, as usual. And you know what? That’s not too bad either.

Throwback Thursday (May 17): Jurassic Park

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Hey guys! I’m excited to announce that I’m going to start hosting a Throwback Thursday weekly meme with Mandi from Never Too Fond of Books! It’ll be a great way for us to reminisce about our favorite reads from years past, and introduce others to hidden gems they may never have found otherwise!

Coming soon: Fancy new button, fancy new guidelines, and general abundant fanciness.

I won’t be doing full-blown reviews for my Throwback Thursday posts. Instead, I’ll just be briefly highlighting books that may no longer be on the “New Releases” shelf, but still deserve a read.

However, some of my favorite Throwbacks will probably get the full fledged review treatment at some point. Be warned.

To kick off Throwback Thursdays, I decided to feature my gateway drug into the world of science fiction…

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1942-2008).

I first picked this up (a.k.a. stole it from my dad) when I was 12. I knew the movie was coming out soon (please don’t do the math to figure out how old I am), and I wanted to read the book first to figure out if the movie would be too scary for me.

I was a big wuss at 12. I was terrified of Batman. Please don’t judge me.

This was the first adult sci-fi I ever attempted. I didn’t understand a lot of the “scientific” explanations that Michael Crichton gave, but the book still completely drew me in.

I really believed that it made sense that they were cloning dinosaurs, and that the experiment got totally out of control. I felt like I personally knew the many assorted characters, from black-leather-clad Malcolm to hard-core Muldoon to disgustingly devious Nedry. My pulse accelerated with each dino attack and narrow escape. I felt pain at each brutal death. I went to bed after searching the dark corners of my room for hidden compys.

I ended the book completely in love with sci-fi. Thus began a decade-long semi-obsession with the novels of Michael Crichton, and a lifelong interest in all things sci-fi, from spaceships and aliens, to time travel and wormholes, to robots, cylons and cyborgs.

Thank you, Michael Crichton. You made me the nerd I am today. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This is a Blog Hop! Feel free to link up to your own Throwback Thursday post!