Easy as Two Quiz – guessing closed

November 19, 2013November 26, 201315 Comments

I like a clean title just as much as the next reader. Let’s see if you can put these two-word titles together. There are 14 titles. Oh, and the sixth word down on the first list is LOST.

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. 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!

Cloud Atlas, Killing Floor, Survival Lessons, Watership Down, Joy School, Lost Symbol, Wuthering Heights, Howard’s End, Backseat Saints, Still Life, Love Story, Revolutionary Road, One Day, Case Histories

Answers to last Political Unreality quiz here. Leaderboard here.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

November 18, 20135 Comments

Tuck Everlasting. Finished 10-12-13, rating 4/5, children’s fiction, 139 pages, pub. 1975

Doomed to – or blessed with – eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune. (from Goodreads)

I watched the movie when it came out in 2002, mainly because I’ve loved Jonathan Jackson since he first played Lucky on General Hospital. Surprisingly, I don’t remember much about it except that I enjoyed it. So, I when I read the book I knew about the magic spring but other than that my expectations were low. I read it for the 24 hour read-a-thon because I had it on my shelf and it was short. What a sweet treat it was.

I loved ten-year-old Winnie. She lived with her family at the edge of a woods and one day met Jesse who was there to meet up with his seemingly strange family who had literally discovered the fountain of youth. Winnie, being a young girl sheltered from much doesn’t put up much of a fight when the Tuck family kidnaps her and takes her back to their home. She falls a little in love with Jesse and the rest of the family and they with her.

Such a sweet story that tackles some very big issues. If you could live forever, would you? What are the ramifications if this fountain of youth was found and exploited? I’m thinking of a big drug company or even some part of the health care system that could sell immortality to the highest bidders. How would you live your life if you knew there would always be tomorrows? Such a weighty book for a slight children’s novel. I was captivated by it.

Book vs. Movie- Ender’s Game

November 15, 2013September 13, 202413 Comments

In 2008, my first year blogging, I listened to the book (review here) and fell in love with it. I forced my husband to listen too and he liked it so much that he went on to read a few more books in the series. As much as I love Ender, one book was enough for me.

Orson Scott Card carries controversy around with him in the form on his 1st amendment right to free speech. Many people chose to boycott the movie for that reason. I admit there are some people I do not support (ie use my money to support them by buying what they’re selling) because of their extreme insults or harmful views, but as long as they aren’t hurting anyone I tend to live and let live. But, I’d love to hear your opinion on this, maybe you’ll change my mind.

The Story/Plot – This science fiction story is set a few hundreds years from now and the Earth is at war with the buggers, an alien race who wants to colonize the planet. The military is using children to train to fight these buggers. The story is about their training.

The movie stayed true to the book, but there was so much skipped that the characters onscreen fell a little flat. So much of the story takes place in Ender’s head and that didn’t really translate to the film. Thumbs up -Book

The Visual – I ‘m glad that they waited so long to make the movie so that technology could actually catch up with our imaginations in some ways. My husband was worried about Battle School looking cheesy, but we were both impressed with the quality. Thumbs up- Movie

Characters vs. Actors – I fell in love with Ender when I listened to the book. He was only 6 when first sent to Battle School and there was much more detail about his life between the ages of 6-12 than there was in the movie. The extra detail gave me a chance to really care about this vulnerable and genius and character, where the movie didn’t. Asa Butterfield did a fine job of portraying Ender on the big screen, but there wasn’t the same connection for me. Harrison Ford was fine too, but my favorite actor in the movie was Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham and he had a very small part. Thumbs up- Book

(NO SPOILERS) The Ending – It’s been a while since I listened to the book and while the end was the same I thought there were some parts of the movie leading up to the end that might have been finessed. I was completely surprised by the end of the book, but the movie wasn’t as shocking because of a few things that happened. Or maybe it was just because I already knew what would happen, who knows? Thumbs up- Tie

And the winner is…The Book.

Now it’s your turn to vote

Other book vs. movie polls you can still vote on: (It Ends With Us) (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) (The Sun is Also a Star) (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) (Good Morning, Midnight/The Midnight Sky) (Before I Go To Sleep) (The Little Prince) (Charlie St. Cloud) (Far From the Madding Crowd) (The Girl on the Train) (Tuck Everlasting) (Northanger Abbey) (Me Before You) (And Then There Were None) (Still Alice) (The Blind Side) (The Fault in Our Stars) (The Hound of the Baskervilles) (Gone Girl) (Jack Reacher) (Ender’s Game) (Carrie, the original) (Under the Tuscan Sun) (The Secret Life of Bees) (The Shining, the original)

Political Unreality Quiz – guessing closed

November 12, 2013November 18, 201320 Comments

I was hoping to post this last Tuesday, on election day, but like most things political, nothing happens as fast as it should. Let’s see how well you do with these classic political dystopias.

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

Match these titles with one of the main character’s names.

1. Brave New World E. John the Savage

2. Fahrenheit 451 A. Guy Montag

3. Blindness B. doctor’s wife

4. V is for Vendetta H. Evey Hammond

5. Atlas Shrugged F. Dagny Taggart

6. The Handmaid’s Tale D. Offred

7. Animal Farm C. Napoleon

8. The Children of Men G. Dr. Theodore Faron

And can you name these two?

1984 by George Orwell and The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Happy guessing 🙂

A Gracious Plenty by Sheri Reynolds – loved it!

November 11, 201311 Comments

A Gracious Plenty by Sheri Reynolds. Finished 10-12-13, rating 5/5, fiction, 205 pages, pub. 1997

I chose to read this one for the 24 hour read-a-thon because I had it on my shelf, it was short and the cover has always intrigued me. Since it takes place at a cemetery that was an added facination since I love to visit old graveyards (well, I did when I had time for such things).

Finch Nobles (how’s that for a name?) takes care of the local graveyard in her small southern town. Her face, burned when she was a child, looks like a tree so she was ostracized for that. And then as she got older she realized that she could speak to the dead that ‘lived’ in the cemetery causing some very odd behavior, so she was ostracized for that. Not that she minded much since she had the vegetable man, the only one who would buy her home-grown varieties and Leonard, a police officer who found himself giving Finch more chances that she earned.

So, what’s with this talking to the dead business?

“I works like this,” the Mediator explained. “The Dead coax the natural world along. We’re responsible for weather and tides and seasons. For rebirth and retribution. You’re going to enjoy it, I’m sure. But if you want to know real enlightenment, you’ve got to lose the weight. All of it. And we’re not just talking about blubber here, either. We’re talking about burdens and secrets, buster. This is critical information, so listen up.

“In this place you’ve moved beyond experience. Now it’s your stories that keep you down. You can’t leave until you’ve told them”

page 34

That’s the outline, but in reality you don’t need to buy into this afterlife theory to enjoy the story. The well-worn, adamant, gritty character of Finch will keep you reading. This is her story, but with that comes the stories of those that live in her graveyard, and that includes her parents. It’s an odd story and I loved every page of it. (okay, there was a kitten story that troubled me, but other than that…) The dead in the graveyard were no sniveling spirits either, they wielded some major power over the living in the form of the weather, seen in all its glory for the book’s finale.

I loved the grumpy Finch and the loving way she tended to the cemetery, Reynolds painted a clear and beautiful picture of both. Highly recommended for those of you who aren’t afraid to try something a little different.

Weekends with Gage and Harry

November 10, 201318 Comments

I am a regular at our library. I do take Gage, but find it near impossible to actually shop for books so for personal time I tend to go before I pick him up from school about once a week. The limit for checkouts is 50. I am always very close to that – right now I have 49 items checked out. Books, audios, movies, play-a-aways, music cds…the majority are enjoyed by Gage. He loves books. We always have them on the table for before or after meal times and before bed. I brought home these three books weeks apart (our library will let you renew indefinitely as long as no one is waiting for it) and he loves them all.

Harry is read often in this house. At first I thought they might have too many words and be too long, but no worries he listens and looks the whole time. The illustrations are so great. They are bold and big and easy to follow.

We started with Harry the Dirty Dog. In this book Harry doesn’t like to take baths and runs away from home and after he’s had all the fun he can handle he gets tired and hungry and returns home, only his family doesn’t recognize him because he is so dirty. Gage may have initially fell in love because there is a train and any book with a train must be good. So cute and my personal favorite. It’s 32 pages and first published in 1956.

In No Roses for Harry he receives a sweater from grandma that he hates. He tries to ditch it but has no luck until a little birdy helps him. This one could be confusing at first, but after a few readings I think he started to get the concept of the sweater just being one long piece of wool. 32 pages and first published in 1958.

Harry and the Lady Next Door is the one I brought home this week and I haven’t warmed up to it yet, maybe part of it is the length, it’s 64 pages. It took two tries to get through the whole thing. Seriously, yesterday alone he wanted to read it at least 4 different times. I also think Harry is not very nice in this one, always trying to drown out the lady who sings too loudly next door, but it’s a teaching moment 🙂 This was published in 1960.

I know there’s at least one more Harry book. We’re sure to read it soon. These are classics. but I don’t remember reading these.

Did you read the Harry books growing up?

Filmish Friday- where are all the women?

November 8, 201310 Comments

Before I started blogging and looking more closely at what I read, I read so many more men authors than women. Now, after five years, I feel like my numbers are closer, maybe even . The same thing has happened these last few years as I’ve kept track of the new-to-me movies I watch. As I put the movie poster on my monthly post it seems so obvious that men dominate my movie watching as well. I always prepare my 5 word movie reviews as I watch them and last month after I added my first three I noticed that women were on all three and two only had women. It shouldn’t have struck me, but it did so I went back to take a look at the other movies I’ve watched this year and this was the breakdown of movie posters of the 48 movies I watched before October

23 had men only

2 had women only (and one was a girl, Les Mis)

17 were mixed with men and women

6 were other things (cartoons, no people)

Here are the movie posters of only gals that I’ve seen this year

I think that it’s sad that more women can’t lead a movie, well maybe Sandra Bullock by the looks of it. I like my alpha man fix just as much as anybody, but I think I can purposely choose more movies with leading women, just like I have done with authors. So, the last 2 movies I chose in October were ones featuring women. Maybe I’ll try to do a few months that I focus on one group or another. I’ve already gone boyish this month by seeing Ender’s Game, but I can offset that with Catching Fire, right?

How about you? Do you find yourself watching more male or female centered movies?

Preschool Germs

November 6, 20137 Comments

I’m sure that this won’t be the last time I’m sick this year since last year Gage brought major yuckiness home three times, but it seems too early for the cold I’ve got! Sorry I didn’t get the quiz posted yesterday, it’ll be up next Tuesday. We’re getting to the end of this round so I want to give you all a chance to participate.

The upside is that I’ve gotten the chance to rest my sprained foot as I spend extra time in bed 🙂 And read. For the first time since I started blogging I actually have 5 book reviews to write! Maybe I can catch up this week.

Stay healthy, friends.

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

November 4, 20137 Comments

I Feel Bad About My Neck. Finished 10-12-13, rating 3/5, non-fiction, 137 pages, pub. 2006

I thought this would be the perfect choice for the read-a-thon. I had it on my shelves, it was short, it should be funny. Nora Ephron has written some of my favorite movies: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail (hm, maybe it’s Meg Ryan I love?). The good thing is that it was short, the bad thing is that I still caught myself skimming. It’s not bad, it just didn’t hold my interest. I think I find essays like this more interesting in small doses and when I try to read them compiled in a book like this I don’t care for them. The average or boring ones ruin the good feeling from the great ones.

This was from my favorite paragraph…

When I pass a bookshelf, I like to pick out a book from it and thumb through it. When I see a newspaper on the couch, I like to sit down with it. When the mail arrives, I like to rip it open. Reading is one of the main things I do. Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel I’ve accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy was my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it’s a was to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it’s a way of making contact with someone else’s imagination after a day that’s all too real. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss. But my ability to pick something up and read it-which has gone unchecked all my life up until now-is now entirely dependent on the whereabouts of my reading glasses. (Blind as a Bat chapter)

I was going to make one funny note from each of the 15 chapters, but only made notes on 5, that’s not a positive percentage. A few things Iearned…

1. Necks go south at 43 and there’s nothing you can do about it. This probably struck me because I just turned 42.

2. I can buy a Metrocard bag/purse at the Transit Museum in Grand Central Station. I want one!

3. One Away friendships do not work. (both of you having slept with the same person)

4. Don’t romanticize your home. You can make another one.

5. JFK didn’t sleep with every intern.

It was okay, nothing to get too excited about but a quick diversion.

Our road trip to Vermont

November 2, 201313 Comments

Thought I’d share some camera phone pics from our road trip up to Vermont, first vacation sans Gage 🙂

We stopped in Westfield, New York, for lunch. Ate a a cute local diner and then decided to take a walk through the neighborhood before getting back on the road. As we were walking through this cute residential neighborhood, we saw this

Really? I stopped, curious. Jason refused to even acknowledge what he was seeing until I said I was going in and then he refused to come with me into some stranger’s house just because there was a sign in the yard. (I blame this on The Never List that we were listening to in the car) Well, as soon as he refused I was even more determined. I assumed that I was going to walk up that back deck and in. Um, no. As I got closer I saw that I had to go down these stairs to the basement and once there I had to ring a doorbell. Lucky for me Jason got nervous and followed me down. The man was very nice and we left $200 poorer. You just never know what places you will find to spend your money 😉 (we bought Gage’s birthday present – a Thomas Lionel train set, plus some other cute train stuff)

We spent the night in Syracuse and went to Destiny USA , which was awesome. It was an incredible place to spend time, a mall/movie theater/entertainment experience. Jason raced a car and we went to Wonder Works (LOVED) where I did fun thinks like get in a space shuttle and lie on a bed of nails.

The next day we arrived in Burlington and enjoyed finding the Earth Clock without a map (hey, it was at least a few miles from the hotel)

By the time we got there the sun was setting over Lake Champlain and there were a few people there talking about gods and goddesses. When they started beating the drums they brought from home we decided to try to find the hotel again. We enjoyed our few days in Burlington, great city that I’d visit again.

On our 15th anniversary we headed to Stowe, but with two quick stops. One at the Ben & Jerry’s factory where we took the tour (I am a loyal fan now. They are doing it the right way).

Then we stopped at the once home, but now hotel of the real von Trapp family. The family still owns the inn and they are also starting a beer label. There were no tours but we walked around and visited the gift shop. That was cool enough for me since I can’t count the times I’ve seen The Sound of Music.

This was the view. Beautiful, right? I need to watch the movie again!

Then we headed to the beautiful Stowe Mountain Lodge. When we checked in and told them it was our anniversary we immediately got upgraded to a suite that was nicer than our first three apartments! We loved our stay and felt very pampered. They even had shuffleboard out back. I was winning until I started talking smack and then Jason crushed me.