It’s a Patrick Quiz – guessing closed

March 12, 2013March 17, 201319 Comments

I thought this week we’d see if you can match these recognizable Patrick’s with something they said.

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.

Choices-Patrick Ness (author of Chaos Walking trilogy), Patrick Henry (politician, attorney), Saint Patrick, Patrick O’Brian (author of Aubrey/Maturin naval adventure novels), Danica Patrick (racecar driver), Patrick Swayze (actor), Patrick Dempsey (actor), Patrick Buchanan (moral authority), Patrick Duffy (actor), Patrick Stewart (actor)

1. “I found that dance was key to keeping depression out of my life. When you dance, things just go away, things don’t seem so bad. There’s no better way to take care of health than through something as joyous and beautiful as dance.” Patrick Swayze

2. “I would normally say ‘no’ to turning someone else’s idea into a book, but the idea was so strong and so vivid that I never felt like I was completely fabricating something she didn’t want. There was just enough material to kick me off, and have the freedom to let the story live and breathe while also celebrating her idea.” Patrick Ness

3. “I look forward to a time when my career is in a place where I can get out of Los Angeles and find a nice small town like I grew up in to raise my family.” Patrick Dempsey

4. “I know not what others may choose, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” Patrick Henry

5. “I wouldn’t know a space-time continuum or warp core breach if they got into bed with me” Patrick Stewart

6. “Obviously, I have lived very much out of the world: I know little of present-day Dublin or London or Paris, even less of post-modernity, post-structuralism, hard rock or rap, and I cannot write with much conviction about the contemporary scene.” Patrick O’Brian

7. I know what it takes to be fast and I feel like every year I learn valuable lessons about how to be better the next time.” Danica Patrick

8. “I go to my sons for everything, and they’ll tell me…many times, I’ll say, ‘I don’t think this is very good,’ and they say, ‘No, you have to do this.’ Or I’ll come to them and say, ‘This sounds pretty good. What do you think?’ And they say, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ So I go to them with everything. They’re my touchstones to the 21st century.” Patrick Duffy

9. “Peoples of European descent are not only in a relative but a real decline. They are aging, dying, disappearing. This is the existential crisis of the West.” Patrick Buchanan

10. “I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of many.” Saint Patrick

Answers to last week’s Women History Quiz here. Rules and Leaderboard here.

Saturday Snapshot – Gage before and after

March 9, 2013March 9, 201338 Comments

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online. Visit At Home iwth Books to participate.

Yes, it was only 30 degrees outside but the sun made me think we could finally come out of hibernation. Gage was excited to swing, but shivered the whole time so it was a short trip. As you can tell from the second photo he thought we cut it too short. Bring on spring already!

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

March 7, 2013March 7, 201320 Comments

Sense of an Ending. Finished audio 3-6-13, rating 3.5/5, published 2011

Unabridged audio 4 hours 38 minutes. Read by Richard Morant.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life.

Now Tony is in middle age. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.

-from Goodreads

It took me a while to get caught up in the story but once I did I really was invested in the whys and the whats of what happened to Adrian and Tony and their friendship. Tony represents what happens to so many people. Life becomes a series of compromises and comfortable choices rather than the fiery ideas of our youth. Tony had a good life, a quiet life and one that he recognizes by the end as a bit empty. His memories and the truth were sometimes very different things and this was the most poetic part of the novel, reconciling what happens to what we remember. I appreciate this sentiment more now in my 40’s than I would have even 10 years ago.

This won the 2011 Booker Prize and I was expecting a solid and quiet book based on some of the reviews I’d read. It was solid and in many ways it was quiet. I thought it was nice, but nothing earth shattering and I did think the end was somewhat of a disappointment. There was the vague sense of what but not much of the why. Tony wasn’t all that sympathetic of a character, but Veronica (an ex-girlfriend) was frustrating and by the end I was happy to be done with the both of them.

I thought the narrator did a great job and totally captured Tony, but I wish I’d read this one and was able to appreciate the language a bit more. The writing was beautiful and I might have liked it more if I had been able to take my time with it. Or maybe not, who knows.

I checked this one out of the library.

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay & Charles Fay, PhD

March 6, 201316 Comments

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood. Finished 3-5-2013, rating 4.25, 165 pages, pub. 2000

Parenting little ones can be exhausting until you discover Love and Logic. Take the exhaustion out and put the fun into parenting your little one. If you want help with: . Potty training. Temper tantrums. Bedtime. Whining. Time-out. Hassle-free mornings. and many other everyday challenges then this book is for you! This book is the tool parents of little ones have been waiting for. America’s Parenting Experts Jim Fay and Charles Fay, Ph.D., help you start your child off on the right foot. The tools in Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood will give you the building blocks you need to create children who grow up to be responsible, successful teens and adults. And as a bonus you will enjoy every stage of your child’s life and look forward to sharing a lifetime of joy with them

from Goodreads

I don’t read many how-to parenting books, but Gage has some behavioral issues and another mother recommended this to me.

Here’s what I liked

This really will help make dealing with misbehavior easier. You let go of the anger by feigning sincere empathy for your toddler/hellion. After only a few days of trying some of these techniques my blood pressure hasn’t spiked once 🙂

I like the philosophy behind it. All that love and empathy has to be good, right?

Concrete examples of what to do in a (limited) number of situations/meltdowns.

Very fast and easy read.

Here’s what I didn’t like

The tone was a little patronizing and some of the examples seemed a bit too good to be true. Not every kid is going to respond to this style and the authors seem unwilling to believe that.

The subtitle says it for ages birth to 6 years, but in reality there is very little here for the under 3 crowd and really nothing for under 2 (except to love your baby without anger and I’m not sure that really needs to be said. At least it shouldn’t).

The bottom line is that I would recommend this for any mom of a toddler. And I’m not the only one recommending it, I had to wait for it at the library and there are more parents waiting for me to return it!

Women History Month Quiz – guessing closed

March 5, 2013March 10, 201321 Comments

In honor of Women’s History Month this quiz is all about the heroines we find in classic literature. All you need to do is unscramble their names. To help you out I’ve even included the scrambled title of the book, if different from the name, but that’s not part of the answer.

1. EJNA EERY Jane Eyre

2. OHSJEEPNI HCRAM (ILLETT MWENO) Josephine March (Little Women)

3. NNAA ENNAKIAR Anna Karenina

4. HTZBLEIAE TETENBN (DEPRI NDA RDPEUCEJI) Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice)

5. NNEA HIRSYEL (ENNA FO ENGRE ABLGES) Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)

6. LETRCTAS H’RAOA (NOEG TIHW ETH NDIW) Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind)

7. GRTEMARA HEAL (THRON NAD UOSTH) Margaret Hale (North and South)

8. LMOL ALFSREDN Moll Flanders

9. ETSERH NNEYRP (ETH TLSCARE TERLET) Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter)

10. TUOSC NFICH (OT LIKL A KCIMOGNDRBI) Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Answers to last week’s Bookish Oscar Quiz here. Leaderboard here.

February’s 5 word movie reviews – with money for charity

March 1, 2013April 8, 201724 Comments

I saw some pretty decent movies this month. You know the drill, add your 5 words to mine and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and to see the other reviews you can add to. You guys really got off to a good start last month with $17 🙂

Silver Linings Playbook, 2012 (Cast- Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Di Nero, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker Grade B+

Love conquers all, with therapy.

Great acting; enchanted by story. (Kathy)

Jennifer dances and Bradley romances. (Jill)

Touching story. Humanity rises above. (Heather)

Outstanding; performances, story and romance. (Michelle)

Jennifer Lawrence is crazy, right? (Tony)

Les Miserables, 2012 (Cast-Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried) Grade B

Hugh’s Master of the House.

Anne cries and Hugh dies. (Jill)

Despite tragedy, good people exist. (Heather)

Astounding and breathtaking; wrenches heart. (Michelle)

Damn, Anne Hathaway can sing! (Tony)

Contagion, 2011 (Cast-Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle) Grade B-

Wash your hands or die!

It was all Gwyneth’s fault. (Jenny)

We are 24-48 hours from dying…. (Heather)

So creepy! Bad germs, bad! (Debbie)

Scariest horror film I’ve seen. (Michelle)

A germophobe’s nightmare come true. (Teddyree)

The Five Year Engagement, 2012 (Cast-Jason Segel, Emily Blunt) Grade C

Bumpy road to romantic end.

Laughter, tears, finally get there. (Teddyree)

The Big Year, 2011 (Cast-Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson) Grade C

Lotsa birds, not much else.

Quite silly, yet delightfully entertaining. (Michelle)

Cute, crazy fun chasing birds. (Leslie)

Eden Close by Anita Shreve

February 28, 201316 Comments

Eden Close. Finished 2-27-13, rating 4/5, 265 pages, pub. 1989

I consider myself a fan of Anita Shreve even though I’d only read three of her sixteen novels. So, when I saw that Diane had this on her favorites from 2002 list (reposted with 2012 favorites) and that I had it on my shelves I added it to my small 2013 reading pile. This is Shreve’s first novel.

Andrew, after many years, returns to his hometown to attend his mother’s funeral. Planning to remain only a few days, he is drawn into the tragic legacy of his childhood friend and beautiful girl next door, Eden Close. An adopted child, Eden had learned to avoid the mother who did not want her and to please the father who did. Then one hot night, Andrew was awakened by gunshots and piercing screams from the next farm: Mr. Close had been killed and Eden blinded.

Now, seventeen years later, Andrew begins to uncover the grisly story – to unravel the layers of thwarted love between the husband, wife, and tormented girl.

from Goodreeads

This book had all of the things I love about reading Shreve. The characters are complex and yet recognizable, the language haunting and beautiful, and the story told with a lingering sadness. Andy is not only dealing with the death of his mother, but of returning home for the first time in almost 20 years. As he packs up the house, memories of Eden and that fact that she is only across the driveway but may as well be a million miles away, keep him close and resisting a return to his real life with a job and a son. But ultimately Eden has always drawn him to her and when he can no longer resist he sees her for the first time since the shooting, the shot that took her sight. He is also navigating old friendships that are so far away from the man he is now.

I savored every word because her writing is so beautiful. There is something so familiar about her characters, insights that make you say, ‘yes! exactly!’ , sometimes out loud. In this way her writing resembles Elizabeth Berg. As much as I liked this one I did think that the story dragged in a few places, especially for as short a novel as it is. But the feeling of those two lonely houses alone together in a sea of farmland and the two old friends and would be lovers will be with me a while.

Let me leave you with a few passages about childhood.

And then, because he was seventeen, he had another realization-one that had possibly been lurking below the surface all along but now became, like many of the insights he was having that summer, a conscious thought: Even though you could love someone as much as he had loved his mother and she him, her only child, you could leave her if you had to. You could even look forward to leaving her.

section 1

But TJ and Andy accepted this embarrassment and his parents’ volatility as a give, much in the same way they unconsciously acknowledged that Andy’s mother was too fat and TJ’s mother was a social climber-these facts intruding upon their childhood, sometimes even causing them a moment’s pain or awkwardness, but ultimately easily dismissed as not being pivotal to their lives. The weather was pivotal. And the condition of the ice or the fishing. Or a stolen baseball glove or the offer of a driving lesson or a chance at the playoffs. Their parents, however seemed more like obstacles to be negotiated than central figures in the daily drama.

section 2

Bookish Oscars Quiz/Ballot – voting closed

February 26, 2013March 3, 201329 Comments

The Oscars have come and gone but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do some voting of our own. I want you to vote for who you think will win (who everyone else will be voting for!). More same votes = more points. You have until Sunday noon to submit your ‘ballot’.

Here’s how I tallied the votes. 11 points for answer, 9 points, for second, etc. No points if there was only one vote.

When you are heading to the ceremony, who would be the Best Arm Candy?

1. Sebastian Junger (photo from his website). 5 votes 2.Jasper Fforde (photo from Goodreads profile). 2 votes 3. Author Nicholas Sparks Nicholas Sparks (photo from his website). 4. John Grisham (photo from his website). 4 votes 5.Michael Chabon (photo from his Goodreads profile). 2 votes

Best Arm Candy for the guys

1.Chelsea Cain (the photo quality is bad because I took it with my iPhone). 1 vote 2.Jhumpa Lahiri (photo from Goodreads profile). 2 votes 3.Kristin Hannah (photo from Goodreads profile). 4 votes 4.Danielle Steel (photo from her website). 5.Gillian Flynn (photo from Goodreads profile). 6 votes

Best Song

1. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. 4 votes

2. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. 1 vote

3. Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt

4. A New Song by Jan Karon. 2 votes

5. The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer. 6 votes

Best Villain

1. Patrick Bateman (American Psycho). 3 votes

2. Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs and all the rest). 9 votes

3. Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley). 1 vote

4. Sauron (The Lord of the Rings)

5. Count Dracula (Dracula)

Best Character Named Daniel (in honor of much deserved Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis)

1. Daniel (The Shadow of the Wind-Carlos Ruiz Zafon). 9 votes

2. Daniel (Butcher’s Theater-Jonathan Kellerman)

3. Daniel Waterhouse (Quicksilver-Neal Stephenson). 1 vote

4. Daniel (The Tenth Circle-Jodi Picoult). 1 vote

5. Daniel Ames (The Associate-Phillip Margolin). 1 vote

Best Author Named Jennifer (in honor of adorable Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence)

1. Jennifer Weiner. 3 votes

2. Jennifer Crusie. 1 vote

3. Jennifer Donnelly. 6 votes

4. Jennifer Ashley

5. Jennifer Haigh. 3 votes

Best Book to Movie Adaptation

1. Lord of the Rings series. 4 votes

2. Harry Potter series. 3 votes

3. Hunger Games

4. To Kill a Mockingbird. 5 votes

5. The Silence of the Lambs. 1 vote

Best Title of 2012

1. Tell the Wolves I’m Home. 3 votes

2. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. 4 votes

3. New Ways to Kill Your Mother. 2 votes

4. I Suck at Girls. 4 votes

5. No One is Here Except All of Us

Best Cover of 2012

1. Bloodland: A Novel 2.5 votes 2. Telegraph Avenue 3. Misfit .5 votes 4. Shadow and Bone 2 votes 5. The Shoemaker's Wife 8 votes

Oscar Night Notes

February 24, 201325 Comments

I love the glitz and the glamour of Oscar Night. I love to watch all of the beautiful people arrive in their finest and do a personal critique of their dresses. Yes, I like to see who wins, but often that is the sideshow for me. Not so this year. Amazingly I have been able to see a few of the nominated performances this year so I am much more interested in who wins. I’ve bolded the ones I’m hoping will win.

BEST PICTURE

Armour

Argo – Sad I haven’t seen this one

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Miserables – Good

Life of Pi

Lincoln – Good

Silver Linings Playbooks – Very good

Zero Dark Thirty – Had no desire to see it but I did and was impressed.

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain – She carried a very good film

Jennifer Lawrence – Quirky and loveable.

Emmanuelle Riva

Quvenzhane Wallis

Naomi Watts – I want to see this one!

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper – Gets to show his talent (and his good looks)

Daniel Day-Lewis – Totally got lost in the part

Hugh Jackman – Was very good.

Joaquin Phoenix – Love him so I don’t know why I haven’t seen the movie.

Denzel Washington – He did a great job even if the movie left me feeling sad.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams

Sally Field – She was a little annoying in the role of Lincoln’s wife.

Anne Hathaway – Totally nailed it.

Helen Hunt

Jacki Weaver – Um, okay. Liked her but not what I consider one of the 5 best performances of the year.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alan Arkin

Robert DeNiro – Excellent

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Tommy Lee Jones

Christoph Waltz

So, who has your vote tonight?

Mannheim Rex by Robert Pobi with a GIVEAWAY!

February 21, 20134 Comments

Mannheim Rex. Finished 2-20-13, rating 3.5/5, 501 pages, pub. 2012

Recently widowered and grieving, Gavin flees New York City for the quiet of the country. His new home on Lake Caldasac has surprisingly few visitors, and the author soon learns why: a suspiciously high number of people have gone missing in the small town. The deaths have all been ruled accidents, but Finn Horn, a handicapped boy obsessed with fishing, knows the truth. There’s a monster in the lake. And it wants to feed. Thirteen-year-old Finn, who is dying of cancer, has only one last wish: to go down in the record books for catching a real-life monster. Battling demons of his own, Gavin joins Finn on his perilous quest to slay the nightmarish leviathan. An homage to the blockbuster Jaws and the classic American novel Moby-Dick, Mannheim Rex is a deep dark thriller that switches seamlessly between heartwarming friendship and heart-stopping action.

from Goodreads

I loved Pobi’s debut thriller, Bloodman, so I eagerly said yes when offered his newest book even if was about fishing, of which I have no interest. I’ve never read Moby Dick or Jaws, but the movie Jaws did make me view the beach differently in my youth, and the comparisons between those two books and this one are fair, at least to a point. This is a story about a monster in the lake, but I found the characters themselves and their bond much more interesting than the fishing aspect. Gavin is a fictional Stephen King, of sorts, and when his wife is killed he loses his mind and moves to this small lake town in New York. He meets Finn, a handicapped 13 year-old and the two from a special friendship. He also meets Dr. Laurel who is quite a bit older than his 37 years, but the two have a spark, a connection, right from the start. I liked the pseudo family they formed.

I thought some of the lake scenes dragged a bit and I very much disliked the last two pages. Do yourself a favor and skip them altogether. This was a complete departure from his thriller, Bloodman, and it’s solid, if not exactly what I was expecting. There was blood and guts, but mostly there was a lot of heart. I will be waiting in anticipation for Pobi’s next release.

So, for the giveaway, Cara at Wunderkind PR, has graciously offered a free copy to one lucky winner. If you would like to be entered just leave me a comment with a way to reach you if you win. If you want an extra entry post this on Facebook or post it on Twitter. Gage will draw a winner on March 2nd.

Stacy's Books

books, movies, and boy

Author: stacybuckeye