Veterans, thank you.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

my little brother Ross, serving with his buddies in Iraq

Today we remember those who have served, and those who died doing so. Please remember to thank the veterans in your life today, this is a day where we can tell them how much they mean, what we appreciate about them and in that, showing them that we do not take for granted their service to our nation.

Iraqi Kids Playing with US Soldiers

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick

WWII soldiers

When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? ~George Canning

Iraq Memorial

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. ~G.K. Chesterton

Iwojima

My family who has served in the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard:
Thank you Ross.
Thank you Dad.
Thank you Grandpa Durand.
Thank you Grandpa Jackson.
Thank you Uncle Jack.
Thank you Grandpa Marble.
Thank you Grandpa Cox.

We Interrupt This Broadcast

Title: We Interrupt This Broadcast (10th Anniversary Edition)
Author: Joe Garner
Pages: 194
Yearly Count: 79

This is a composite of our history, the history that made us who we are as a nation, and globally as well (however the focus is certainly American news). We Interrupt This Broadcast is an amazing journey through our past and all the events that have shaped us into what we are today. Each historical event, for which was heard, "We interrupt this broadcast, for a special bulletin...", from 1937 to 2007, is included in this beautiful book. You can search through to find a specific even that you would like more information on, and then each is marked where you would go on one of the three audio CDs (included) to hear the narration by Bill Kurtis, as well as actual broadcasts. It is a stunning representation of the events that have made us who we are, the United States of America.

Listening, reading and seeing pictures for each event caters to so many senses. Thus giving the reader the feeling of glancing through the past, while hearing it, almost witnessing the pain, the joy the grief or the shame, as if there. Bill Kurtis' voice narrates in between actual footage from reporters and newscasters of the events that changed history.

I love each aspect of, We Interrupt This Broadcast, and will certainly keep it for my kiddos, for homeschooling, as it contains a wealth of history that we all need to know. If we are to learn from our past mistakes and victories as a nation, we have to remember them. If we do not want to commit the same mistakes twice, we need to heed the advice experience gives us, thus providing a future which learns from the past.

The newest events include:
America Under Attack (September, 11, 2001
Operation Iraqi Freedom (March, 19th 2003)
Hurricane Katrina (August, 29th, 2005)
The Virginia Tech Massacre (April, 16th, 2007)

and remember to:

This is on sale today!!!

Did you review this? let me know and I'll link to ya!!

First Daughter

Title: First Daughter
Author: Eric Van Lustbader
Pages: 400
Yearly Count b: 78

This is my second thriller of the year, and I can say that really enjoyed it. I didn't expect the darkness of the villan to be actually scary, and when I closed the book last night (yes it was 1am) and turned out the light, I could almost feel someone breathing on my neck...I knew that was the mark of a good thriller.

This book is the story of an investigation of one girl's death, and the attempt to find the captor before her best friend, who is the first daughter also reaches her fate in the arms of a crazy-head. People's lives are at stake, the nation is at stake. The first daughter isn't perfect, no one should expect that from her. It is left up to Jack, an fault-filled man who has many regrets, among them not being close to his daughter Emma, and the second, not protecting her while he still could have.

First Daughter is an extremely well written, well thought out, captivating read by Eric Van Lustbader. He is the author of what seems to be a million great thrillers, including the super-cool, insanely fun to watch Bourne series!! He was given the okay by those in charge of the legacy of the Bourne creator Robert Ludlum, and has helped with the direction of the Bourne films and has has written the following from the Bourne series :

1. The Bourne Legacy - (2004)
2. The Bourne Betrayal - (2007)
3. The Bourne Sanction - (2008)
4. The Bourne Deception - (2009)

Okay, so my review of this is that I don't even like thrillers and this one was so full, so rich and so well written that even a critic like me would love it. The plot was great, interesting and carried through well by Lustbader. The characters were human, Lustbader created an exciting group of real life-like characters. Human in their failures, their faults, their problems and their love. They were strong and made me love the read.



Like I said, Lustbader did and excellent job with this....what a great read!

I really enjoyed this, it was a blast!

Here is author Lustbader with the Bourne series movie star, Matt Damon:

Video Trailer for First Daughter:

and remember to:

Like Water For Chocolate, Is it on your shelf?

If you have this on your shelf and haven't read it yet, bust it out and read it with us at 'travel the world (from a comfy chair)'. We will be reading and discussing it this month. Saddle on up!

Like Water for chocolate by Laura Esquivel @ Book Blog's group


Everyone welcome!!!

Are you in??

Bible Illuminated: The Book, New Testament

Title: The Bible Illuminated: The Book, New Testament
Author/Publisher: Illuminated World
Pages: 275
Yearly Count b: 77

Background information about The Bible Illuminated:
The Bible Illuminated started out in Sweden, where it was first published in 2007, it was recently published in the US on October 28th 2008. The Bible Illuminated, The Old Testament is due out in 2009.

Brace yourself, this will be intense.

When I saw this mentioned on one of your blogs I decided I had to review it, as the Bible is a part of my everyday life. I saw the PDF format first, and I was impressed by the quality of the photos and the full colour edition of the Bible. And now that I have had my copy for almost a week I have several thoughts on it. This is not a regular review, because while I could review the Bible, I am more interested in reviewing this version or edition of The Bible Illuminated and not the text itself.

I have two takes on it (mixed feelings included), take one:

This is a beautiful rendition of the Bible, made with the intention of being more accessible to the general public, and people of all religions as it is published from the standpoint of "the Bible as literature". In saying that I believe that no time that God's word is read, does it come back without results. In God's words there is power, the power of truth and therefore if The Bible Illuminated brings His word to the unlikely places than there is power in that as well.

It is neat the way it asks the readers to find meaning in the photos. This would bring any reader to a place of interaction with the text and the photos, thus causing them to think about what is being said and how it affects them. That is good! To spread the word you have to plant seeds, and each time a curious mind opens up The Bible Illuminated, seeds will be sown.

take two:

The Bible Illuminated as much as it does have a more user friendly appeal, since there are pictures of rockstars and Hollywood beauties, it seems from knowing the intended purpose of the scripture that those very photos can be misleading, even missing the point completely. Let me explain: the publishers of The Bible Illuminated had people of all faiths read the text and put pictures together that they felt related in some way to the text. I know that if I were to be chosen to place pictures in the Koran or the Book of Mormon, without knowing its content well enough to do so I would place pictures that those who knew the books would squirm to see.

The Bible Illuminated is the Bible trying to be made more politically correct, more acceptable to the masses. And even though that would be more inclusive, that is not what the Word of God was intended for. However from the beginning it has been a text that was not acceptable, the Word of God does not blend lines together, it does not look pretty, yet in its rawness there is power.

I don't agree with blurred lines between our faiths, I do agree with treating all humans with respect, loving on them no matter who they are, but not in pretending that we all agree. I don't mind confrontation, and neither did Jesus. He was a pretty in your face man, he said what he thought even if the standards of that day were so different. Yes, He showed love, showed compassion, grace and mercy...but he never did so at the expense of the truth He proclaimed. He never washed out truth in order to make his message more acceptable, and He did not die accepted, He died the death of the condemned.

---

Either approach that you agree with, or if you agree with neither...this is an interesting publication of the Bible, The Bible Illuminated which I know we will be hearing about for some time.

Here are some questions and answers by the publishers, you can see their take on why they did this and what they were thinking when they did. enjoy.



What does the book look like?
It looks like a high-end magazine. “Bible Illuminated: The Book, New Testament” presents
the Bible as never seen before in full-color, glossy magazine format and illustrated
throughout with striking, sometimes provocative, contemporary photographs. Its meant to
be comfortable and easy to flip through and used as you would any Bible. There are no
verses and the text runs with columns and paragraphs just like in a magazine.

Why transform the Bible and not other texts of other faiths?

The Bible is something thats been around for 3,000 years. It has not only been the
source of many religions, but it is the foundation of our morals, ethics, values and our
history. Illuminated World has future plans to illuminate several translations of the Bible,
other literary works, including texts of other faiths. In early 2007, the Swedish version of
the book was successfully launched in Stockholm and now the efforts have moved to
United States to produce the first English version.

Bible Illuminated: The Book, New Testament will be available Fall 2008 and Bible
Illuminated: The Book, Old Testament in Spring 2009.

How was The Book created?

The team first tackled the project by formatting the Bible into a magazine style with
interesting images and running text instead of verses. The thinking is that this is a
format that most people are familiar with when reading. The Book was created to make
texts such as the Bible easier to pick up and read parts at a time. The hope is that
individuals can relate to, discuss and display on coffee tables or even carry in ones
pocket book. Dag Soderbeg states, “That was our inspiration – to make a version of the
Bible that people want to pick up, instead of hide away or just place on a bookshelf.”

Are any of the founders or business partners of Illuminated World religious?

There is no religious mission here. We believe that the success of The Book will be
driven by the fact that this is not coming from within any specific faith, religion or church.
We are from many faiths, backgrounds and beliefs and ultimately trying to create
something for the many and not just for the few.


What is Illuminated Worlds agenda? What is the goal in publishing The Book
and other “Illuminated” texts?

The goal is to drive an emotional reaction and get people to think, discuss and share.
Its meant to trigger bigger moral questions. It in turn will help people to understand the
common heritage between all religions through the Bibles text. We hope people will
find the images, design and layout intriguing—intriguing enough to talk about the actual
stories in the Bible and what the morals and lessons mean to them and to each other.
The more you know, the more you can participate in discussions about the world and
understand the bigger picture.


Who chose the images? And what were the criteria?

The publisher enlisted volunteers from trusted sources of different religions and faiths to
help pull out quotes that made sense to illuminate or call out within The Book. The
group then put together a design team focused on designing a layout with striking,
stunning, even provocative, images alongside the historical text and quotes.

What do the highlighted passages and sentences mean?

Whatever the readers wants them to mean. They were highlighted and underlined for
the reader to decide.



Who is Illuminated World trying to reach?

This book is meant to be for anyone and everyone. It is for people who currently own a
Bible but never read it, people who dont own a Bible or would never even consider
picking it up, as well as people who currently read or use the Bible, but would be
fascinated by this new, innovative design.
What should people do with The Book?

Share it, use it, and display it. We want people to flip through the pages and find
something that they relate to, whether its an image of a war-torn soldier or homeless
person, maybe a celebrity or an endangered animal—or maybe its a certain passage
paired with a powerful image that resonates with them for their own personal reason.
Its meant to be shared, carried on the subway or perhaps even read in the loo. Why
not?

What reaction is Illuminated World trying to get from the general public?

All reactions are welcome, from positive to negative. The publisher wants people to
respond honestly and, hopefully, embrace the concept and be open with the fact that its
meant to be a conversation piece…. And to get people talking to one another about their
own faiths, beliefs, etc.

What was Dag Soderberg doing before The Book project?

Dag owned an advertising agency that he eventually sold to one of the largest
international advertising networks in 1998. His former clients included Pioneer, Bjorn
Borg, Ericsson, Air France and Citroen among others – much of what he oversaw was
branding and marketing communications. He then began serving as an advisor and
board member to companies specializing in communications, leadership and marketing.


Have you read this book? Have you read the regular Bible? How do you feel about people blending the lines of faiths?

and remember to:

Congrats peeps :)

These five lucky duckies won Lost and Found!!
bermudaonion
Janel
Diary of an Eccentric
Sandra
avisannschild



These ducky luckies won Life After Genius:
softdrink
raidergirl3

Email me your addresses (by clicking on the "email me" tab below my header) and I will get them to the publicists at Hachette Book Group. :)

I do not email winners, so if someone in this group does not check back within 3 days I will re-gift the book! Hurry, hurry!

Congrats to you all...happy reading!!!

Presents!!!

What, if any, memorable or special book have you ever gotten as a present? Birthday or otherwise. What made it so notable? The person who gave it? The book itself? The “gift aura?”

When I lived in Spain, my grandma would send us tons of presents every year for christmas. I think because she thought we felt bad about living so far away from "the goods", as Spain was not so into consumerisim (back then).
Of all the expensive stuff we got, I had a favourite, one year my grandpa (not my grandma) made a special trip out to the store to find a book for me. My mom had mentioned that I was really into reading. He picked out Call of the Wild/ White Fang combo book, and wrapped it himself. I loved getting it, and reading it and that he had picked it for me. My grandma loved to shop, so she always bought everything for us, I was so pleased he got to choose something for me that he thought I would like. I loved it, still do.

all you NaNoWriMos!!!

Hey NaNo friends :)

The "author adds" are still down on NaNoWriMo, so to add me as a friend please go to my NaNoWriMo page. You can add me as a friend by heading there and clicking on "add as buddy" under my profile picture. I can't wait to be able to keep in better touch with all you fellow crazies!!!

Thanks Jena for this great idea!



(and writing)

Orbis Terrarum Completed Countries Updated Map

Excellent reading OT challengers!!! There are still many countries to read, but we have made some huge progress!

Happy reading!

NaNoWriMo: update 2

NaNoWriMo= National Novel Writing Month

I am writing a novel.(ahhhhh, freaky!!!)I didn't say that I know what I am doing, or that it will be good...just that I am taking the leap. The idea of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in one month. Haha, yes after which I will check myself in to a sterilized room with soft walls and locks on the outside of my door! (let's hope not)
So far so good...but I have no idea how what I have will amount to 50,000 words. I will keep you posted. Make sure you keep me updated as well!!! This is fun, but I am currently out of the honeymoon phase, right now I feel like I am writing like a 5th grader (no offense).
Yep, I will keep you informed.

I am at 7,707 words as of tonight.



(and writing)

PS. just so you know, this whole NaNoWriMo thing means I won't be posting as many reviews this month, or reading a whole lot.

where is my sticker?!

Poor is the community that has no heroes, poorer still is the one that having them, forgets.
-anonymous

VOTE! - I did. :)
We are lucky to have mail in votes here in Oregon...very lucky. The only thing we miss out on is the nifty "I voted" sticker...oh well.

Life After Genius

Title: Life After Genius
Author: M. Ann Jacoby
Pages: 401
Yearly Count b: 77

A brilliant first novel by M. Ann Jacoby. The portrayal of a lovable genius, Mead. Life After Genius is a mystery and thriller all at the same time. Mead, a genius in math and the sciences but finds his personal life quite lacking. He does not understand his parents, and they don't seem to understand him either. Mead has never had a best friend until Herman comes along in college. Is his friendship worth what Herman is asking of him? Mead can't help but get sucked into the trap over and over because he wants to believe he has a close friend, and Herman is as close as he has ever gotten to what is known as 'best friend'.

Through twists and turns Mead finds himself at home, running away from something, just a week before he is to graduate. The rest of the book leads the reader up to the reasons Mead would give his dreams up, and flee for home which is what he was trying to get away from for his whole life. Life After Genius is an exceptional portrayal of a misunderstood, and slightly (or immensely) taken advantage of genius. Everyone has their dreams for Mead, their goals he should reach but will his lack of social skills, and intuition be enabling or will that be his downfall?

I really liked it. I loved the quirky genius that Mead is, and how he relates (or doesn't relate) to life. I found myself wondering about him, about how he felt, and if he would make it. For most of the book you want to strangle everyone he comes into contact with, his mom, his uncle, his classmates, and especially Herman. Yet, Mead is such a lovable guy that this is not a downer of a book at all. It is like he is in a different space and time than everyone else around him, but is still affected by their treatment of him.


In an effort to just give this to one of my readers and not to just anyone, I am trying a new giveaway system, not so in your face, let me know what you think:

Want to win this? Comment by midnight on the 6th to enter.
I wish I could send it to any of you, but I am not sending it, the publisher is and they say: only US and Canada residents, and no P.O Boxes. I am sorry....I was an ex-pat at one point too.

and remember to:

The 19th Wife

Title: The 19th Wife
Author: David Ebershoff
Pages: 514
Yearly Count b: 76

About a group of remaining "Firsts" or Fundamentalists, who were the group Mormons who practiced polygamy and in some places still do, the 19th Wife is an insightful and intense read. Ebershoff goes into extreme detail informing the reader about polygamy (the past and present). In the beginning all Mormons were polygamists, but in our day only sectioned off groups (and some would argue that Mormon leaders) are still practicing. I enjoyed all the research David Ebershoff did about the Mormon cult and all the insight that was provided, even though the 19th Wife is a novel. Ebershoff interviewed many subjects and wrote the 19th Wife as a composite portrayal, for that reason it is a novel, however it is based on factual material. He performed interviews and obtained pertinent paperwork in order to learn about his subjects full circle.

This novel is divided in to parts, one is a modern day murder mystery in polygamist society in Utah. The second is the story of Brigham Young's 19th wife who left Brigham and went around the nation exposing the horrors of polygamy and the toll it was taking on the Mormon women and children, especially young boys. Both stories are very informative, captivating and well written.

One aspect I that made the book for me was that David does an excellent job in including personable characters. His characters are real, with real hurt yet not distant. The character development kept me engaged and interested in what was going to happen, I had a connection with them that carried me through the pages.

As much as it was interesting to read, I found it long. The 19th Wife is an amazing book, no doubt, but at least for me it slowed down in the middle. I was much more interested in the story about the modern day polygamists, which made reading trough the other story (the chapters are interwoven with each other) harder. If the topic is one that really interests you I could see you just devouring this read. I enjoyed it, but I just didn't absolutely love it. It is still worth the read for sure.

David Ebershoff's site on the 19th Wife
Listen to David Ebershoff interview on NPR

I read this as part of the TLC Book Tours, here are the remaining stops:

Wednesday, Nov. 5th: Anniegirl1138

Thursday, Nov. 6th: The Tome Traveller

Friday, Nov. 7th: Educating Petunia

Monday, Nov. 10th: The Literate Housewife

Wednesday, Nov. 12th: Diary of an Eccentric

Friday, Nov. 14th: Book Chase

and remember to:

the recap of the discussion on giveaways:

I wrote a post on giveaways in the book blog world a couple of days back, I didn't know the stir that it would cause to bring up giveaways. It really seems many of you have been thinking about it as well. From all of your comments, I have summarized what you said below:

Giveaways are good, everyone seems to like them. It is the book/ blog promotion that is grating on readers nerves. Things such as: post about this giveaway and get more entires. Folks seem to be getting annoyed at going through their Google reader finding nothing but "enter this giveaway" posts, which are starting to be the majority of the posts these days.

It also seems to be a common thread that you who do host giveaways, would rather actually give away the books to your readers than visitors that only come via someone else's blog, or through some website mentioning your giveaway.

Still it seems that most of us are all for the goods, you want to enter the giveaways that are something you would want, this is obvious since 65% of you voted that you enjoy giveaways, and 26% that you are getting annoyed with them. I think the irritation is due to the constant promotion and cross promotion of new authors and new books. Many of you good 'ol time bloggers (meaning those of you that have been around for even most of the year) have noted a crazy increase in these author and publicist promoted giveaways. And I agree with you on your comments that the older books, the classics, even books that are several years old are not being talked about because we are all getting so many new books to read, and we can hardly keep up with those.

What changes can we make to have this change now? Well, I know every blogger is their own boss, no one owns you and I am not trying to tell anyone how to run their blog. BUT if you are starting to feel a little bogged down yourself with giveaways, consider what you can do to change it.

These are the PERSONAL changes that I am going to make:
- I am no longer going to include the line: post about this giveaway on your blog for more entries, therefore I will give the book away amongst my readers for the most part.

- I will only host one giveaway at a time, and once I mention it I am not going to continuously promote it at the end of every blog post. I know this will make for fewer entries, but I don't like the advertising aspect that it brings to my blog when I do.

- I am going to cut my giveaway time down. I am not sure to what. I was thinking of giving my readers 24 hours to comment on the giveaway and then choose a winner. I actually really like the giveaways that I have seen hosted at times that go directly to the first commenter.

-In order to add some older books, and classics I am going commit to reading one book off my shelves every month. That is to start out. I am also going to tell authors and publishers from now on (thank you J. Kaye!!) that I will try their book, but I do not guarantee a reivew. I will put forth an honest attempt to read it, but if the book is not something that I desire to read after reading 50 pages into it, I will not finish or review it.

I am doing that because right now I feel I have the commitment to read every page, of the books people send me. I feel they have sent me the book, and it is almost like a payment for me reading it. I think I really need to take this into my hands and switch it up, buy informing them from the start that if it is not to my interest I will not guarantee that I will complete it. This will also do away with me reading books that I don't like, just to said that I read it. That really is the only aspect of book blogging that I do not enjoy. I don't want to feel that I am in a college literature class again.

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm on this topic. Let me know if you have any further suggestions to maximize the fun aspect of giveaways, and reduce the toll that it is taking on our little book bloggy world. Oh, and if you have any changes you have made or are going to make yourself that you want to share...be sure and share them!!! Let's keep talking about this peeps! You are so amazing :)

What do you think? What changes are you making? Do you agree, disagree....?

nanowrimo

it is late, 1:26 am to be exact. I just got carried away writing for nanowrimo. my user name is: bbexlibris

Find me if you are doing it too, I tried to figure out how to find the ones of you that I know are writing too, but couldn't figure out how to find you.

I just finished 2,020 words out of my 50,000!! Where are you?