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Announcing the 4 Rs Challenge!

Over the holidays, I participated in LibraryThing’s Secret Santa book swap.  I had fun playing elf for my fellow LTer and really enjoyed getting my presents in the mail.  Around the same time, Nicki from Fyrefly’s Book Blog posted about modifying that concept into a giveaway.  I added my two cents about it making for a good challenge and the next thing you know, the 4 Rs Challenge was born.

Now 4 Rs was a little colicky at first, so Nicki and I weren’t able to get much sleep, let alone get her organized and on a decent schedule until now.  Now we finally feel like she is presentable enough to take out into public.  We’ve cleaned up most of her messes, but please forgive us if we’ve missed a few things.  

Believe it or not, but 4 Rs is very flexible.  If you wanted to spend time with her to find out about some great books in genres you already enjoy, you can do that.  If you want to expand your horizons and try something new, who better to help you out than your fellow readers?

Here’s what we’d like to share about our new litle challenge of joy:

The 4 Rs stand for Recommend, Read, Review, and Repeat. We see this four-part challenge happening over a three month cycle.  The only obligati0ns are to sign up, provide a little information about yourself, be open to other’s suggestions, read one book, review it (on a blog, in LibraryThing, etc.), and join us again for the fall installment.  What could be easier than that?

• Recommend ~ (this is where the Secret Santa part got us started)  We’ve created a forum for all 4 Rs participants.  On the forum, you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself as a reader, and let us know why you’re joining the challenge.  If you are a member of LibraryThing or another similar site, include a link so that we can look through your electronic library.  Also let us know if you have a blog.  Provide any information you think would be important to someone wanting to recommend a book to you. Once you’ve introduced yourself, others can stop by and give you suggestions on books they think you’ll enjoy.
• Read ~ After your fellows 4 Rers provide recommendations for you, select one of those books to read.  You can of course read more than one, but this challenge only requires that you select one.  You don’t have to buy this book.  Feel free to bookmooch, paperback swap, or visit your local library.
• Review ~ Once you’ve read your book, let us know what you think.  Post your review on your blog, on Amazon, on LibraryThing, or even within the forum.  For those of you who do not have blogs, we’d be happy to post your review on the 4 Rs website if you’d like.
• Repeat ~ If this challenge is as much fun for you as we’re hoping it will be, stick around for the next round in the fall.  We’re planning to hold one each spring, summer, and fall.  We think the holidays are hectic enough on their own, so we’ll break from December through Feburary.

The 4 Rs challenge officially begins on June 1st.  As a small incentive for those of you early adopters who join and intoduce yourself on the forum within the first two weeks, I have a small incentive for you.  I have a pair of purpley-pink flip flop window clings from Window Whimsies, a one of a kind bookmark, and a book from my collection that I think you will like based upon your introduction.  The bookmark will match the book and/or the window clings.  It all depends on how the planets align themselves. LOL!

There will be more prizes along the way, too.  I hope that you join.  Click here to access the challenge’s blog. There is a great FAQ on the site that Nicki put together.  If you have any questions, be sure to check that out.  You should also sign up for the RSS feed so that you don’t miss a thing.  Here is a link to the forum, too. 

Nicki and I hope that you enjoy this challenge as much as we’ve had fun imagining it! If you do sign up, please let as many people know as you can.  The more people that join, the more successful this experience will be for everyone.

 

Can’t Go to the BEA? I’ve Got Prizes for You!

In case you didn’t know, Rebecca @ The Book Lady’s Blog has arranged BEAtwittyParty for those of us who are not among the fortunates at the Book Expo America in New York City this weekend. There are prizes galore and, although I didn’t get my prizes to Rebecca on time, I do have some prizes to help us celebrate despite the fact that we’re not at the book lover’s prom.  Here’s what I’m going to give away this evening:

Two Book Grab Bags!

Each bag will inclue four new trade paperback books, both fiction and non-fiction.  I’ve got eight books and I’m going to divide them without looking into two packages and mail them off to the winners.  How fun is that?  Take part in the BEAtwittyParty and one of my grab bags might be yours!

I am in Love

On Monday, Danny and I purchased a new car.  Our Escort is 11 years old and on the fritz and our 5 year old minivan has almost 110,000 miles on it.  In deciding which car to buy, there were many factors involved:

• We needed something reliable.
• The vehicle needed to carry two growing girls and their gear over the next 12 years.
• It had to be closer to the ground.  As the principle driver of the minivan, I found that I don’t like being so far above the road. I would be driving the new car during the week.
• The most important detail is that it must be comfortable for my husband.  At 6′7″, this is harder than you might imagine.  
• Oh yeah, we had to be able to afford it. Minor detail… LOL!

What we chose was all that, and so much more!

I’ve had several cars throughout the years – some old and some brand new.  I’ve never actually fell in love with my vehicle before.  As much as I’ve known men especially to spend hours on end with their vehicles, I never thought this pure emotion was possible.  I thought it was a Prozac worthy affliction.  Before, I would have rolled my eyes listening to someone talk the way I’m talking about my new car.   I’m daydreaming about polishing the dash with ArmorAll on the weekends.  I am parking her kiddy corner in an unused portion of the parking lot to avoid some schlep from dinging her up with his door.  I comopletely understand why there are clubs dedicated to a single type of automobile – and I want to find one for mine.  It’s really bothering me that it’s been raining every single day since we brought her home. In fact, I’m wondering if Mother Nature just isn’t jealous of me.  

I’ve even given her a name.  I’m tellling you – this is the kind of car that needs a name.  Not just any name, either.  She is a vehicle that needs a beautiful pin-up girl name.  I have to thank my co-worker John for helping me out in this department.  I named her Ruby.  No last name.  She doesn’t need it.

Would you like to see her?  Here’s Ruby:

Please note that I will not have a picture of me in my actual car until it stops raining and I can get her sparkling clean.

She’s a 2009 Chrysler 300 Touring Signature Series and she’s so pretty.  The chrome, the sunroof, the heated seats, the keyless entry and ignition, the 30 gig hard-drive (can you imagine how many audiobooks I can load in Ruby for my listening pleasure?), the power seats and steering wheel, the Bluetooth, the navigation system, the retro dash console with cute little clock in the center, the smooth ride, the power of the engine. Sigh…  Ruby is the car of my heart’s desire – and I didn’t even know it until I brought her home.

Can you tell that I’m in heaven?  The only thing I need to make this complete is a ruby rhinestone to hang from my rear view mirror to always remind me of what a gem Ruby is – and how blessed I am to have her.

Many thanks to all the folks at Bergland Chrysler Jeep of Roanoke!  You helped make this a wonderful experience.

A Lovely New Blog

I love book blogs.  There is always something new and exciting there for me to discover.  Just tonight, I discovered Michael Connelly’s new book The Scarecrow from reading Drey’s review (and then I immediately entered Dar’s contest with finger’s crossed!) and a lovely new book set in India entitle Atlas of the Unknowns by Tania James from Meghan’s latest post. There is so much to keep me busy in the book blogging realm that I often forget that there are other types of blogs out there.

Recently I started working on a project at work that involves recreating my company’s exisitng Intranet site. I’m working with Lauren in the HR department. We started talking about books and then blogging.  She has just started her own blog called Lovely Life of Lauren.  Lauren describes herself as follows:

girly girl. lover. dreamer. optimist. daughter. friend. professional. dancer. shopper. singer-in-the-shower. writer. hair-twirler. reader. party-goer. chocaholic. dog owner. romantic. adventurer.

Seriously, you’ve not seen hair-twirling until you’ve watched Lauren at work. LOL!  Her blog is just beautiful and stylish.  It so fits Lauren’s personality.  You never know what you might find there.  You might see a beautiful dress that Lauren’s thinking about buying (if I had her figure, it would already be in my closet!), a tip on some great facial cleaner, beautiful photography, ceramics, and information about the books she is reading (Gorgeously Green in case you’re wondering).  It’s so eclectice.  It makes me happy.

If you need a little inspiration in your day, you’re looking for a change of pace, or you just want to browse for some beautiful pictures or motivational quotes, you should check out Lovely Life of Lauren.  I wish I had seen her post about her HR certification test (don’t let the bastards keep you down, Lauren!) earlier – one so I could have given her a hug in person, and two so I could have used the following picture taken by Mary Ruffle in my review of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.  Wouldn’t it have been just perfect?

#166 ~ Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I am happy to be Jamie Ford’s tour host today as part of his Pump Up Your Book Promotion blog tour. I won a signed ARC copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet from Marcia at The Printed Page last year and have been looking for an opportunity to read it ever since. When Tracee asked if I would like to be a tour host, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t realize that today was a holiday when I committed, but in actually it’s the best possible date for this novel because today we remember those who fought for and served our country throughout the years.

Thank you Jamie and Tracee!

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Henry Lee is an unassuming man in his 50s who has lived in Seattle most of his life. His wife Ethel has recently passed away from cancer and he finds himself free to reminisce about his life during the “war years.”  He was born to a traditional Chinese couple who, although they lived and supported the United States, were Chinese first.  What they wanted for their only son is what feels like being torn in half by so many first generation Americans – to grow up being totally American while being totally Chinese.  It is all that much more difficult during WWII, when he had to wear a button announcing his race so as not to be mistaken for being Japenese.  To make his parents happy, he goes “scholarshipping” at a caucasion school.  He never fit in, until a Japenese girl named Keiko started ”scholarshipping” with him.  Their friendship began while serving food to the other students and grew as they discovered a shared love for jazz.  Their world is torn apart after Keiko and her family are forcibly evacuated and Henry’s parents learn of his relationship with the enemy.  When, the Panama Hotel undergoes renevations in 1986, the new owner discovers a basement full of family mementos from Japenese families forced to leave the city.  Can what is found in there help Henry find peace in his decisions he made during and after the war and find a way to bridge the gap between him and his only son Marty?

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a story about men and their relationships.  You have Henry in his youth struggling in his relationships with his father, the bullies at his caucasion school, they way he should feel about his country, and the still steady influences from his father’s homeland.  He also has positive relationships with Sheldon, the black jazz street musician who teaches him how to survive as an American minority, with Keiko and her family, and Mrs. Beatty, the caucasion lunch lady who isn’t as tough and uncaring as she would make herself out to be.  The older Henry still has not come to terms with the outcomes of some of those relationships.  He doesn’t quite get over his differencess with his father until he realizes that through his son’s eyes that he is not that much different.  There was one thing I wish that I could have told Henry from the very beginning.  I would tell him not to feel guilty or less loyal to Ethel because he wants to move on by way of taking care of the past.  A man who so lovingly and carefully takes care of his wife as she dies of cancer has nothing for which to feel guilty.

The strength of this novel for me were the scenes where Henry remembers history taking place.  I felt the great pain of those who believed the need to burn or otherwise destroy family pictures to keep themselves safe from coming under suspicion with the American govenerment.  I could feel the panic and anxiety experienced by the Japenese families being forced to leave behind their homes and belongings while their fellow citizens cheered.  Best of all were the feelings of relief and joy felt when VJ Day was announced.  After living through such a long period of war, the people needed that celebration.  Perhaps it would have been taking on too much, but I was surprised that the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not mentioned. I would have liked to have seen the emotions that Henry experienced when he found out what happened, especially if he was told by his father.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet told a story about World War II I had never read before and it was set in a city I would love to visit.   I enjoyed this novel, but it didn’t engage my imagination the way that I had anticipated that it would. As much as I liked Henry, Keiko, Sheldon, and Marty the story felt like it was at an arm’s distance from me, as if I were sitting at the breakfast table along with Henry and his father. Jamie Ford has a unique voice and and he used it well in this debut novel. I felt the details of Chinese and Japenese culture were interesting and added depth to the story.  There were times when I was fully engaged, such as when Kenry and Keiko try to listen to Sheldon play with Oscar Holden at the Black Elks Club and when Henry visits Keiko at the internment camps.  Stll, I never got to the point where I couldn’t put it down.  I had heard such wonderful things about this novel and assumed that I would devour it ravenously.  I wonder how my reading experience might have been had I only gone by the description? Sometimes expectations and anticipation can put undue burden on a book.  Have you ever experienced that?

+++++++

This book was also read as part of my War Through The Generations 2009 Challenge.

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To buy this novel, click here.

Bloody Hell, We’ve Got a Winner!

Calling Chartroose! Bloody Hell, I’ve got a Book Barrage for you:

You’ve won a copy of Daphne du Maurier’s Frenchman’s Creek and My Cousin Kate!

Please send me your address and I’ll pass it on to Danielle at Sourcebooks.  Congratulations!

#165 ~ The Blue Notebook

The Blue Notebook by James Levine

The Blue Notebook tells the story of Batuk, a 9-year-old girl who is sold by her family into prostitution in Mumbai.  We meet Batuk as a more experienced prostitute, living in what she calls a nest. It is from there that she lures her clients, makes “sweet cakes” with them, and writes in her blue notebook about her experiences. Batuk makes the best of her life and enjoys a friendship with Puneet, the only male prostitute in the group.  Puneet is the most popular prostitute in the house because he’s male, but Batuk learned her craft well and is the favorite female.  She found ways to be the most pleasing to her clients because it took them longer to finish, they paid and tipped better, and she needed to see fewer men each day that way.  It is her excellent service that earns her a break from the streets and a stay at a fancy hotel in Mumbai for with a wealthy client.  What happens there changes her life forever, but not in the the “Pretty Woman” way to which we are accustomed in the Western world.

I do not normally have difficulty reading dark subject matter.  I do much better with reading material than with movies in that regard.  This book was extremely troubling for me, especially during the sections where told of her family selling her into prostitution and where she was initiated into the life.  She was only nine years old and I could not separate my daughters from Batuk during those scenes, no matter how hard I tried.  I cannot imagine getting to the point where I would sell them into such a life.  I cannot fathom my husband taking her on such a trip and leaving her there.  I would walk the streets myself 24 hours a day first.  I would tear my own heart out first.  Yet I know that this is a luxury afforded me because I live where I live and have a job that is more than capable of supporting our family, even in these rough economic times.

The Blue Notebook is well written and in many parts quite lyrical.  For the most part it conveys Batuk’s story from the perspective and with the insight of a young girl working as a prostitute.  The way in which she describes her work made absolute sense to me.  From the beginning she associates what she does with sweet cakes and all humans play tricks with language to make the harshness of our realities more palatable.  There are times where I felt the narrator came off as too well educated, even after her ability to read and write were explained.  This didn’t hinder me while I was reading the novel and it most certainly didn’t take me out of the story.  It is true that living such a life would certainly force a young girl to grow up quickly, but there is a difference between growing up and having such a sophisticated thought processes. This really is a minor point considering that Batuk’s story was inspired by the site of a Mumbai street prostitute writing in a notebook.

After Batuk’s initiation, I put my book down and contemplated never picking it back up.  It wasn’t necessarily because it was so graphic, but because I kept screaming, “She’s only nine!” inside my head the entire time.  I contacted some of my reading friends, who encouraged me to finish it.  A novel that has the power to affect the reader in this way is too important to be left unread.  I picked it back up after a couple of hours and finished it before I went to sleep that night.  Despite the subject matter, I couldn’t put it down again. The Blue Notebook is a powerful novel. While I can’t say that I enjoyed it in a traditional way, I am grateful for the opportunity to read it.  Now that Batuk is a part of me, I can no longer look the other way.

******

In The Blue Notebook, James Levine does more than just sheds light on what is happening in this world. By donating all United States proceeds from the sales of this novel to the International and National Centers for Missing and Exploited Children, he is helping to make a difference.

To pre-order this novel, which will be published on July 7, 2009, click here.  

Related sites and articles by Zemanta

• 50 Child prostitutes rescued by FBI (telegraph.co.uk)
• Prostitution in India and the AIDS epidemic (pbs.org)
• Captive Daughters: Dedicated to Ending Sex Trafficing

A New Take on Historical Fiction

If you know me, you know that I love good historical fiction. Danny surprised me last night with some YouTube pressies that give that genre a whole new meaning.  They are short videos directed by Derek Waters about scenes from American history narrated by a very drunk person and acted by some pretty famous people like Jack Black, Paul Schneider, Danny McBride, and Michael Cera.  I don’t know which is more fun: watching these videos or acting out the narration, but I would love to find out.

Warning! Do not watch these videos at work or in front of your children.  They are hilarious, but they contain the foul language and bathroom habits of the severely drunk. 

Drunk History Presents: The Duel of Alexander Hamilton versus Aaron Burr

Drunk History Presents: Benjamin Franklin Discovers Electricity

Drunk History Presents: The History of Oney Judge, Fugitive Slave of Martha & George Washington (this is the best one of the bunch because of the hickups!)

Drunk History Presents: The Presidency of William Henry Harrison (Harrison’s dying words had me rolling)

I hope that there will at some point be more Drunk Histories.  I think that the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski story would be pretty darn hilarious.  Drunk Histories from other countries would also be great. I would love to listen to a drunk Brit tell the story of Henry VIII while someone like Julie Andrews acted as Anne Boleyn.

What story would you like to see turned in to an episode of Drunk History?

#164 ~ Precious ~ Book Review and Blog Tour

Precious by Sandra Novack

Today it is my pleasure to serve as Sandra Novack’ hostess on her Precious blog tour organized by TLC Book Tours.  What a great way to kick off the week!  Please see information on her entire tour and the giveaway at the end of this post. For more information on TLC Book Tours, their authors and all of their tour dates, please click here.

Sissy Kisch grew up in a confusing family during a confusing time.  Her family lived in a Pennsylvania steel town in the 1970s, where her father has been employed at the local steel mill for his entire adult life.  Her mother, Natalia, a gypsy child who luckily survived Krackow and was raised by a German couple, has left the family to go off to Florence with her boss.  She left Sissy and Eva, the oldest child by several years, to be cared for by their father.  In reality, since Frank worked long hours, Sissy was left in Eva’s care and Eva didn’t want to be saddled with the responsibility of raising her pre-pubescent sister while she was enjoying the freedom of not being parented at the age of 17. Shortly after Natalia’s exit, Vicki Anderson, Sissy’s former best friend turns up missing from the local playground.  Being virtually neglected all around, Sissy has to come to terms with the possibility of death, losing a parent, and growing up all alone while her home is in upheaval during one long, hot summer.

Precious has a very strong sense of time. I imagine a childhood in any era is unique, but Novack captured what it was like to be a child in the 1970s. Despite coming out of the 1960s, it was a more innocent time when children were still allowed to leave the house in the morning so long as they were home on time for lunch and dinner. Most parents stayed married, whether they should have or not. There was a darker underside, though. There were the children kidnapped and murdered and no one really liked to talk about it. Look the other way, and it won’t happen to your child. I have very vivid memories of the winter that Linda VanderVeen was murdered and then dumped in a snowbank in my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI. It’s 30 years later and I can still remember her last name as if it were my own. I remembered her living near my neighborhood and that there were two assailants, but the news story proves those memories false. Funny how your mind draws you closer to something traumatic than you really were. In this way, I could very much relate to Sissy (that and the bike envy, but that’s a different story altogether).  We both told ourselves stories and those stories become real.

Every single character in Precious is flawed, from the Kisch family, to Ginny Anderson, to Peter and Amy Fulton, and even the well-meaning but gossip-mongering neighbors. When characters are not hurting one another, they are acting out in a self-destructive way. Eva especially turns her anger over her parent’s relationship and her mother’s abandonment on to herself. She was too young and immature to see it at that time, but she couldn’t control her parents or Sissy. The only thing she could do was decide to control her sexuality. The hard truth was that her choices only served to highlight how out of control her entire life was. When others were able to pass off the responsibility for what happened during that summer, she always got caught red-handed. Of all the characters, I felt the most sad for Eva.

Novack’s writing is beautiful in so many parts. The first chapter and the way that she told the story of Vicki’s disappearance drew me in to this town and to the Kisch family in general. I remained interested in what would happen to all of the characters throughout, despite the fact that I didn’t care for any of the adults.  At some point we all need to let go of what happened to us in the past, especially if that has a negative impact on our parenting.  The only problem I really had with this story was Sissy’s name.  I know there is Sissy Spacek, but I didn’t like it.  No matter how much she hated to be alone, I didn’t think it fit Sissy’s character. Regardless, I would highly recommend Precious to anyone who grew up in or lived through the 70s, experienced troubled teenage years, or enjoys reading novels about family dynamics. You will not be disappointed in this experience – so long as you’re prepared and ready for a heavy read.  This is a dark novel and it doesn’t provide the reader with much emotional downtime.

+++++

Here is a full list of Sandra Novack’s other  TLC Book Tours Stops.  Check them out and see what they have to say:

Monday, May 4th: Fizzy Thoughts
Wednesday, May 6th: Book, Line, and Sinker
Thursday, May 7th: Redlady’s Reading Room
Sunday, May 10th, Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Wednesday, May 13th: Bookworm with a View
Thursday, May 14th: Pop Culture Junkie
Friday, May 22nd: Booking Mama
Tuesday, May 26th: Book Addiction
Friday, May 29th: Diary of an Eccentric

Click here to go to Random House’s website to read an excerpt from the first chapter of Precious.

******

To buy this novel, click here.

Mother’s Day Books Giveaway Winners

Here are the winners of my Mother’s Day Books Giveaway contest.  Congratulations to each of the winners!

  And the winner is… Liyana!

 And the winner is… Wendy W!

 And the winner is… MJ!

 And the winner is… Book Club Girl!

 And the winner is… Elizabeth S!

 And the winner is… Sharon A!

Please email me with your mailing address and I’ll have those books in the mail to you this week.  I hope that you enjoy them!  Please let me  know what you think.

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