Author: stacybuckeye

T is for Trilogy Quiz – guessing closed

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Blogging from A-Z

Oh, the trilogy.  They seem to me everywhere these days.  Let’s see if you can put these trilogies in the correct order.  (You don’t need the whole title, just enough so I know what you mean)

I hope that you’ll try your hand at my (mostly) bookish quizzes every week, but it’s okay if you just want to play when the quiz interests you.  If you play you are eligible for a prize at the end of the round (sometime in June).  For all of the details, click here.  Submit your answers in the comment section – I will stop by and hide them throughout the week but try not to copy off anyone else :)   You have til Sunday to guess.

No need to know all the answers, one guess and you’ll be eligible for a prize.  No Googling:)

1. Stieg Larsson, author

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked Hornet’s Nest

2. Cormac McCarthy

All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain

3. Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass

4. Jennifer Donnelly

The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose, The Wild Rose

5. Tom Rob Smith

Child 44, The Secret Speech, Agent 6

6. Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

7. William Gibson

Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive

8. Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, Monsters and Men,

9. Kate Mosse

Labyrinth, Sepulchre, Citadel

10. Ally Condie

Matched, Crossed, Reached

Last week’s Name Game quiz here.  Leaderboard here.

S is for Sold on You by Sophia Knightly

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Sold on YouSold on You. Finished on 4-5-13, rating 3/5, romance, pub 2012

Straight-laced social worker Gabriella agreed to let herself be auctioned off for a fundraiser that would benefit her home for teen mothers and their babies.  Who knew that underneath those oversized clothes there was a rockin’ body that would make men, especially Dr. Marcus Calderon, see her in a new, white-hot light?  He paid a hefty price, but he also needed to convince her to be his fiance when his grandmother came to town that weekend.  He needed a conservative Latina impress the grandmother he so loved.  What he didn’t expect was that prickly Gabriella would hit it off with his abuela and that suddenly being engaged didn’t feel so bad.

An easy, breezy novella with a pretty good story and likeable characters (except when they weren’t supposed to be).  A few times I rolled my eyes at the clichés (a serious, conservative dresser has a world-class collection of sexy lingerie?  How shocking) but overall I thought it was a fun, light read.  I liked that Marcus loved his grandmother so much and she was a hoot.  And who doesn’t love the idea of a decent woman, working hard to make the world a better place, finding her sexy doc and living happily ever after?

I picked  this one up on my Nook.

R is for Resilience

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In honor of those in Boston and law enforcement who everyday put their lives on the line to keep us safe.

Nothing baffles the schemes of evil people so much as the calm composure of great souls. (Comte de Mirabeau)

The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.  (Napoleon Hill)

There exist some evils so terrible and some misfortunes so horrible that we dare not think of them, whilst their very aspect makes us shudder; but if they happen to fall on us, we find ourselves stronger than we imagined, we grapple with our ill luck, and behave better than we expected we should.  (Jean de La Bruyere)

Someone was hurt before you, wronged before you, hungry before you, frightened before you, beaten before you, humiliated before you, raped before you…yet, someone survived…You can do anything you choose to do. (Maya Angelou)

Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.  (Bern William)

That which does not destroy, strengthens.  (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Q is for Anna Quindlen, Living Out Loud

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Living Out LoudLiving Out Loud. Finished 4-19-13, rating 3.25/5, essays, 278 pages, pub. 1988

A collection of Quindlen’s columns that she wrote for The New York Times starting in 1986 until the book was published in 1988.  The columns range from her looking back to growing up in the 1960’s to her raising her own children.  I found that I really couldn’t connect with much in these columns.  There was such a focus on being a woman and what that meant for her in relation to feminism, having a career and children that I felt like I was past the birth cut-off date for optimal reading enjoyment.  It was dated, but since I am a woman and mother I was hoping to get more out of it.  I’ve enjoyed her novels but I’m not sure if I’ll read more of her nonfiction. There were a few of the columns that really spoke to me  and I’ll include a bit from them.  This was from my own library.

I work out for a very simple reason, and it is noy because it makes me feel invigorated or refreshed.  The people who say that exercise is important because it makes you feel wonderful are the same people who say a mink coat is nice because it keeps you warm.  Show me a woman who wears a mink coat to keep warm and who exercises because it feels good and I’ll show you Jane Fonda.  I wear a mink coat because it is a mink coat, an I work out so that my husband will not gasp when he runs into me in the bathroom and take off with an eighteen year old who looks as good out of her clothes as in them.   (from Stretch Marks)

It reminded me that too often we take our sweet time dealing with the things we do not like about our children: the marriage we could not accept, the profession we disapproved of, t he sexual orientation we may hate and fear.  Sometimes we vow that we will never, never accept those things.  The stories my friend told me about the illness, the death, the funeral and, especially, about the parents reminded me that sometimes we do not have all the time we think to make our peace with who our children are.  It reminded me that “never” can last a long, long time, perhaps much longer than we intended.  (from Gay)

I accept the fact that mothers and daughters probably always see each other across a chasm of rivalries.  But I forget all those things when one of my friends is down with the flu and her mother arrives with an overnight bag to manage her household and feed her soup (from Mothers)  in honor of my own mother who did this very thing for me this week.  Love you 🙂

P is for Postcrossing

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I almost titled this post Puke, but decided that not too many people would want to read it.  I was hit by the Puke bug early Wednesday morning and today have been out of bed for maybe 4 hours.  I am feeling better though 🙂

A few months ago I wrote a post about postcrossing.com (here), At the time I’d received 5 postcards from around the world – now I’ve received 24. Here’s the breakdown

  • Postcards by country

  • Country Received Avg travel (Received)
    1 Belarus 2 14 days
    2 China 1 42 days
    3 Czech Republic 1 35 days
    4 Finland 1 15 days
    5 Germany 3 8 days
    6 Israel 1 19 days
    7 Netherlands 2 11 days
    8 New Zealand 1 19 days
    9 Poland 1 79 days
    10 Russia 3 21 days
    11 Spain 1 25 days
    12 Taiwan 2 20 days
    13 U.S.A. 3 5 days
    14 Ukraine 1 22 days
    15 United Kingdom 1 10 days

And here are a few of the fun cards I’ve received. I received bookish ones002 Ones for the holidays007and ones that make me smarter008(sent to me by an ER doctor in Israel).

Here are some fairly standard messages009I never know where that next postcard in my mailbox is coming from and that’s a big part of the fun.

I’d write more, but I think it’s time I head back to bed.

O is for Open This Little Book

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IMG_1177Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier and illustrated by Suzy Lee.

When I read Kathy’s review (BermudaOnion’s Weblog) of this book I was intrigued by how clever it looked, but wondered if it would be too old for my almost two and a half year old son.  Kathy was sweet enough to mail it to Gage so we could find out.  She is a very generous book blogger and if you are not reading her blog you should be.  Thanks, Kathy 🙂

IMG_1167This is a book within a book within a book…I wasn’t sure Gage would ‘get’ the concept.  The first time I tried to read it he lasted about 3 seconds before he closed the book and said ‘”don’t like it”.  I decided not to take this too seriously since this has been his phrase of choice for the last week or so.  So, last night before bed we tried again and he flipped through the book forward and then backward.  Now that we’ve gotten him to ‘like’ it I know that we will have more fun with it.

This book is the argument for traditional publishing.  The pages must be touched  and flipped to really experience the unique aspect of the story.  It’s very visual.  Not only is it the story of a ladybug, a frog, a rabbit, a bear, and a giant, it is also a tool to teach small ones about sizes and colors.  Gage does know his colors but sizes  are something we’re working on so this will be great for that.  I love the concept and the physical appeal of this novel kid’s book.  I do think it will be best loved by 3+.

N is for the Name Game Quiz – guessing closed

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For some authors, two names are just not enough.  Good luck giving me the first and last names of these authors from the past and present.

I hope that you’ll try your hand at my (mostly) bookish quizzes every week, but it’s okay if you just want to play when the quiz interests you.  If you play you are eligible for a prize at the end of the round (sometime in June).  For all of the details, click here.  Submit your answers in the comment section – I will stop by and hide them throughout the week but try not to copy off anyone else :)   You have til Sunday to guess.

No need to know all the answers, one guess and you’ll be eligible for a prize.  No Googling:)

The past

1. Harriet Beecher Stowe

2. Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. Laura Ingalls Wilder

4. Zora Neale Hurston

5. Edgar Allan Poe

6. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

7. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

8. Louisa May Alcott

The present

9. Sarah Addison Allen

10. Mary/Carol Higgins Clark

11. George R.R. Martin

12. Joyce Carol Oates

13. Randy Wayne White

14. Orson Scott Card

15. Carlos Ruiz Zafon

16. Alexander McCall Smith

Answer’s to last week’s H Quiz here and to my Book Problem Quiz here.  Leaderboard here.

M is for Mailing taxes

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001Is anyone, like us, still mailing their taxes?  A decade ago, when I had my own Mary Kay business Jason, our household tax man, decided he didn’t want to mess with more complicated paperwork, so I found a CPA who was familiar with the Mary Kay business and we turned over our finances to him.  Once a year he comes to our house to meet with us and collect all the necessary paperwork, he brings it back when he’s done, and, the best part, he only charges $95.  Sounds too good to be true right?  The downside is some years, like this one, I’m pulling my hair out because it’s the 14th and he isn’t returning my calls or emails.  He’s always come through in the end, but last night’s 7:30 pm tax delivery was late even for him.

So, this morning I made the trip to the post office with the other silly folk just mailing their taxes today and waited for about 20 minutes to send them (along with a big chunk of change) off into abyss.  So, what about you?  Still mailing it old school on the last day like us?  Does your tax guy give you gray hairs too?  Did you pause before writing your check to think of all of the wonderfully bookish things you could do with your tax money or are you lucky enough to get money back to spend on bookish pursuits?

So, how many unread books do I have?

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I let you guys see my unread book wall and asked you to guess how many books you thought were in the stacks (here). Answers ranged from 350 to 1000!  As I cleaned everything up I realized that 3 books were missing from the stacks, but I can’t count them since they’re not in the picture.  Here’s the picture again…

You are looking at 769 books!  Many of you came close, but the one who was closest was Jen (Wander One Day) with her guess of 775.  She was only 6 off!  That is impressive.  Also impressive was the runner-up who was only 8 off and that was Kay (formerly of Purple Sage and Scorpions) with her guess of 761.  Jen will get to choose a book for herself from my stacks 🙂

Thank you all for humoring my yearly obsession.  One day I’ll get all of these read and they’ll move into my permanent library. Or if  I hate them I may offer them to you!

Oh, and since I took this shot a few weeks ago 4 new books have found their way into my house 🙂

L is for Les Roberts, Collision Bend

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Collision Bend (Milan Jacovich Series #7)Collision Bend. Finished 4-12-13, rating 4/5, 275 pages, pub. 1996

Book 7 of the Milan Jacovich series. (Book 1) (Book 2) (Book 3) (Book 4) (Book 5) (Book 6)

And the differences aren’t all physical differences, either.  It’s in the thinking.

Men, for instance, have great powers of concentration, almost a tunnel vision, that allows them to laser in on one spot;they are imminently suited to microsurgery, to rebuilding the transmission of a 1956 Thunderbird, and to many types of engineering.  Women, on the other hand, make wonderful executives because they are able to do several things at once, efficiently and well, and have remarkable peripheral awareness, something that is lacking in most males.  A woman president would probably do a hell of a job-better than many of the men we’ve had in the White House.

Chapter 15

Ex-cop and current Cleveland private detective, Milan Jacovich, is as old school as  they come.  He tells it like it is and doesn’t take any crap from people.  Milan has an ex-wife and two teenage boys but they don’t make an appearance, but his ex-girlfriend Mary, does.  When Mary blows back into Milan’s life it’s to ask for a favor, she wants him to prove her boyfriend innocent of murder, of murdering the other woman he was sleeping with.  Milan only wanted to hurt the guy, but he could not resist Mary and he takes the case.

Virginia Carville, a young television reporter is murdered in her home and Milan starts there, with her neighbor, bestselling romance novelist, Rosemary Kelley.  Milan shows his willingness to man up by reading one of her books, but then shows his prejudice by dismissing it.  This is one instance I thought Milan was being a little too old school 🙂 Milan has to dig to find other suspects, but when he does the storylines are compelling.  I wasn’t sure who did it, but they all deserved to get sent away for it.

I have expressed my love for Milan since discovering his first book years ago.  The fact that they take place in Cleveland and it’s nice to see my city represented was the attraction, but it’s Milan  that keeps me coming back for more.  He has such a common sense intelligence and steadfast character that you can’t help but love him.  The fact that he is tough enough to take care of himself and those he loves just makes me love him more.

This was not my favorite, BUT, I have never been disappointed in any of these mysteries and love recommending them.  Great main character and complex storylines make this series great.  Come on, get on the bandwagon 🙂  This was from my own library.